Homeward Bound

The Bible’s Central Theme, January 16

Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.—1 John 3:2. HB 31.1

As an educator no part of the Bible is of greater value than are its biographies. These biographies differ from all others in that they are absolutely true to life. It is impossible for any finite mind to interpret rightly, in all things, the workings of another. None but He who reads the heart, who discerns the secret springs of motive and action, can with absolute truth delineate character, or give a faithful picture of a human life. In God’s word alone is found such delineation. HB 31.2

No truth does the Bible more clearly teach than that what we do is the result of what we are. To a great degree the experiences of life are the fruition of our own thoughts and deeds. . . . HB 31.3

The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, “They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4), the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme—humanity’s uplifting—the power of God, “which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57.) HB 31.4

Those who grasp this thought have before them an infinite field for study. They have the key that will unlock to them the whole treasure house of God’s word. HB 31.5

The science of redemption is the science of all sciences; the science that is the study of the angels and of all the intelligences of the unfallen worlds; the science that engages the attention of our Lord and Saviour; the science that enters into the purpose brooded in the mind of the Infinite—“kept in silence through times eternal” (Romans 16:25, R.V.); the science that will be the study of God’s redeemed throughout endless ages. HB 31.6

This is the highest study in which it is possible for man to engage. As no other study can, it will quicken the mind and uplift the soul. . . . HB 31.7

The creative energy that called the worlds into existence is in the word of God. This word imparts power; it begets life. Every command is a promise; accepted by the will, received into the soul, it brings with it the life of the Infinite One. It transforms the nature and re-creates the soul in the image of God.—Education, 146, 125, 126. HB 31.8