Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness. The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. Psalms 119:159-160
A high-water mark literally means the highest level that a sea, lake, or river reaches at high tide or highest stand. Figuratively, it means the highest level of achievement by an individual, group, or a body of work. The passage taken from Psalm 119 above is a great reminder of the preciousness of the whole of the Bible. As it is the word of the living God to mankind, we too ought to love the entirety of its revelation. There are no unimportant or insignificant portions of the Scriptures as they all build towards the same end, the glorification of our Great God who has granted redemption and reconciliation to fallen humanity through Jesus the Christ. That said, as with any composite work such as the Bible, there are certain “high water marks” that may be identified and found worthy of closer examination. This year in our Biblical Viewpoints lectureship, we are discussing a selection of these high-water marks in seven great chapters of the Bible.
David said it best when writing that, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7-ESV), and it just this revivification of the soul that these lectures aim to promote. The thematic sweep of this lectureship is broad as it ranges from considering the preciousness of the book itself to the faith it produces to the love that grows from that faith to its application in the home to the new manner of life being led by the Spirit of God which generates the hope of a resurrected body and a glorious home in heaven. When we consider that God knows all things (1 John 3:20b), and that He always promotes our greatest good (Deuteronomy 6:24; Hebrews 12:10), we may be certain that when He reveals His will in any given area of our lives it behooves us to know and follow it well.
It is our hope that this lectureship will promote a greater desire to engage the Scriptures by generating a deeper sense of awe at our great God and His glorious word He has revealed for us. In his effort to guard his readers against the destructive force of false teachers, Peter concluded with the need for them to “…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). It is in this growing knowledge that grace and peace are multiplied in the lives of God’s people. There is no magic formula by which this happens as faith still comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).
I hope you will join us all week as we consider this sampling of high-water marks of the Bible. If we receive His word and accept it for what it is, it will effectively work in us (1 Thessalonians 2:13) and bring us to the high-water mark of our own lives. Though we may seek fullness in any number of ways, the reality is that we are made complete in Christ and Christ alone (Colossians 2:9-10). May we all be “…filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him…” (Colossians 1:9-10).