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The 'Bible and Its Dibine Arrangement
Tabernacle Sermon by 'Reb. Len G. Broughton, T). D.
Stenographically tepotted foi The Golden Age.—Copyright applied for.
N my last sermon we were concerned
about the origin of the Bible. We
saw that for a period of about
2,500 years the world had no Bible;
that God used this period of time as a
preparation for the writing of His
word.
We saw also that Moses was the first
to write for God, and that his writing
I
was to begin at the beginning and give the history
of God’s dealings with man for the 2,500 years. We
saw that about forty other holy men were engaged
in completing the Bible, each, like Moses, hav
ing his special line of work to do.
We also saw in brief how r we got our Bible; the
various stages in its translation from the original
manuscripts down to the present time. Surely w T e
feel the presence of God as we trace this interest
ing history.
The Divine Plan.
Now we come to consider the divine plan in
the arrangement of the Bible. I do not claim to
have worked out all this by myself. I have gath
ered it to a great extent from others who have
had far better chance than I have had. We never
see the glory of God unless we see His plans. David
in that beautiful nineteenth Psalm breaks forth,
4 4 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the fir
mament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day ut
tereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowl
edge.” Surely this is true! But the man who
looks up into the heavens and fails to see the plan
of God in fixing the sphere of the planetary sys
tem cannot appreciate the glory of God. See how T
carefully He has done His work. Every star dif
fering from every other star, yet all alike in every
thing that is essential; every star fixed in its own
circle and not allowed to leave it. How wonder
ful! What a mighty hand fashioned it, and what
a mighty power governs it. Certain it is that
only a fool saith in his heart, 11 There is no God.”
But not only do we see the plan of God in
these great things but likewise in the smallest de
tails of His creation and government. There is not
a thing that ever received the touch of his creative
hand that is not according to the most perfect
plan. Look, if you will, at the w’ings of the but
terfly. In the construction of his wings are the
most perfect angles and lines that were ever ob
served. Every line and every angle is so arranged
as to form a complete whole.
God has ever been careful about the preservation
of His plans. Not even a sparrow falleth to the
ground without His knowledge, and even the hairs
of our heads are numbered. All this goes to show
God a great plan worker. The man who supposes
that God, because He is all powerful and can
make and unmake at will, is not concerned about
plans and specifications in creation and govern
ment, has failed to see God.
And with the same care for His plans in the
formation and government of the universe we find
Him forming the Bible. It is strange that men
of good, sound sense and reason can see and
appreciate God’s great and successful plan in crea
tion and at the same time fail to see the same in
the Bible. They admit the necessity for a Bible
and that God endeavored to meet this necessity
by inspiration, but they do not see the success
of it. The unbelieving, critical student sees a Bible
mutilated by man. This is because he does not see
God. It is ridiculous to think that in this the
most important work for man, the giving of the
Bible, God did what He never has done in any other
line of work, operate without a fixed plan, for cer
tainly, if He had a plan in the formation of the
Bible, that plan would not be complete until the
Bible was complete.
Thank God! Some of us have seen Him, and we
have seen Him as a great plan worker. One who
in the beginning wrought out not only His great
plans for the formation and government of the
world, but also for the Bible. And the reason why
this fact is not more fully comprehended is be-
The Golden Age for March 19, 1908.
cause skeptics do not know their Bibles. They
study all about the Bible, but do not study the
Bible itself. To see this great plan of God one
has to begin at the beginning and reverently fol
low every step through its sacred pages, looking
for God and God’s plan, and when it is found the
old Book will shine with a new luster. It will
have about it a new sacredness, and God, as its
author, will be worshipped with a new spirit.
The Bible as a Whole.
We see the plan of God when we study the
Bible as a whole, which is a good way to study
the Bible. Too many of us are content with study
ing favorite portions of the Bible —a sort of hop
and-skip method. What we want and what we
must have if we are to get a proper appreciation of
the Bible, is to study it as a great whole. Begin
at the beginning and travel through it as one
traveling through a great city —observing its main
thoroughfares and points of interest, until the whole
city is comprehended—so with the Bible. We want
to get a view of the whole of it that we may proper
ly appreciate any part of it.
Observing it in this w T ay we will be impressed
with some very striking facts. For example, we
will observe that the old Testament begins with
44 1 n the beginning God.” This is just what we
would expect. The Old Testament is distinctly
God’s voice to man, and it is perfectly natural that
the first line in it should announce God.
Then when we come over to the New Testament
we observe that it begins with Christ — 4 4 The Book
of the Generations of Jesus Christ.” This also is
perfectly natural. The New Testament is to dis
tinctly reveal Jesus Christ, and therefore it should
properly begin with Him.
See also the planning of God in the ending of
the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testa
ment deals with the matter of law. Man is tried
by the stern letter of the law, and hence it closes
with a curse. The message of the New Testament
is grace, hence it ends with a blessing.
Observe also another fact concerning the begin
ning and the ending of the Bible. It begins with
God and ends with man, and lying between these
two great personalities is what God has to say to
man, and if we divide the Bible in half we find
ourselves at Psalms 118:8, where we have both
God and man together. 44 It is better to take re
fuge in God than to put confidence in man.” How
significant this is! I do not say that it was God’s
design, and yet I do say that it is striking that
God and man standing one at the beginning and
the other at the end, should meet in the exact
center of it.
There is also seen the divine plan in the destruc
tive work of the devil at the beginning, and the
constructive work of Christ at the end.
In the beginning: God
created the heaven and
the earth.
Satan enters to de
ceive.
Man leaves God to run
the race alone.
Sin, pain, sorrow,
death.
Earth cursed.
Tree of life —man driv
en away.
Man hiding from God.
Paradise lost.
First Adam failed and
lost all.
First man attempts to
clothe himself.
Woman taken from
man’s open side.
Marriage of a sinless
man to a sinless wife.
Earth destroyed by
water.
Many tongues causing
confusion.
At the end: New
heavens and new earth.
Satan cast out that he
may deceive the nations
no more.
Christ leaves God to
save man.
Np more death, neither
sorrow nor crying.
No more curse.
Tree of life with right
to eat of it.
God dwelling among
jnen.
Paradise regained.
Last Adam, “He shall
not fail.”
Second man clothing
us.
Another side opened—
the church formed.
The marriage of the
lamb.
Earth to be destroyed
by fire.
Many tongues bringing
blessing.
The first miracle in the Old Testament is signifi
cant. In the Old Testament the first miracle re
corded is that of Moses turning water into blood,
which was a type of death, and was in keeping
with the whole spirit of the law. In the New
Testament the first miracle performed by Christ
was turning water into wine, which was a type
of life, joy and strength.
The first question in the Old Testament is God’s
call for man — 44 Where art thou?” The first ques
tion in the New Testament is man’s call for God —-
“Where is He?”
Surely these things have not occurred by acci
dent. Back of them there must have been a divine
plan.
The Plan of the Trinity.
But nowhere in the Bible do we see greater
evidence of a divine plan than in the prominence
given the Trinity. Everywhere attention is called
to the Holy Trinity—God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost. Man himself is repre
sented as a trinity—body, soul and spirit. The
enemy of man is represented as a trinity—the
world, the flesh and the devil.
Temptation is represented as presenting itself
in the form of a trinity. There is the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
It is significant that the two great temptations, one
of our fore-parents and the other of Christ, were
in keeping with this trinity of temptation.
In Eden Eve saw that:
The tree was good for food, 4 4 the lust of the
flesh.”
The tree was pleasant to the eyes, 44 the lust of
the eyes.”
A tree desired to make one wise, 44 the pride of
life.”
In Christ’s temptation in the wilderness we see
the same order.
4 4 Command this stone that it may be made
bread.” . . . Lust of the flesh.
4 4 The devil showed him all the kingdoms of the
world.” . . . Lust of the eye.
4 4 Cast thyself down hence for He shall give His
angels charge over thee.” . . . Pride of life.
Again the trinity is seen in the personalities of
evil —the devil, the beast and the false prophets.
And against those we also have the strength of
God —faith, hope and charity.
These do not seem to me to be accidental ar
rangements. They are bound to be the product of
the divine plan. Take for example the scriptures
as a whole in their reference to the trinity. The
Old Testament reveals, God the Father. The gos
pels reveal, God the Son. The Acts of the apos
tles reveal, God the Holy Ghost, and the epistles
give us the full revelation of the whole trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
These are only samples of the way the trinity is
used to reveal the plan of God in the scriptures.
Had we the time we might go on and show how
almost every great fact in the Bible is a part of
a trinity which has ever called attention to the
one triune God.
The Arrangement of the Books.
There is also seen a divine plan in the arrange
ment of the books of the Bible. In the Old Testa
ment there are thirty-nine books. In the New
Testament there are twenty-seven, making in all
sixty-six. These books have a most wonderful
arrangement according to their contents, and when
taken together as a whole show a wonderful devel
opment of the divine plan. For example, take the
book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible. In it
w T e have the genesis of the beginning of things.
The beginning of creation, the beginning of man, the
beginning of sin, the beginning of sorrow, the be
ginning of salvation, the beginning of the family.
In Exodus we have the book of the emergence and
redemption. In Leviticus we have the book of the
sanctuary and the atonement. In Numbers we
have the book of the wanderings of God’s peo
ple. In Deuteronomy we have the book of law and
obedience. So we might proceed through the whole
