A Searcher's Treasures
An Independent Study of God's Word
by
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Obedience to the Old Testament laws was a way to bring us close to God. But it couldn’t get us completely there. Likewise, for young Christians, the law is the best tutor of all. The end of the law is love. Jesus Himself really issued only one commandment, and really it wasn’t new. It was to love both God and neighbor. This is a summation, a culmination, of the law. But before Jesus, enduring faith, eternal hope, and agape love hadn’t been born; and these bring us salvation. So what the law couldn’t do was done through the atoning work and resurrection of Jesus. But you might ask, Is the law even necessary today? Jesus said He came not to nullify the law but instead to fulfill it. Children of God, not yet sons and daughters of God who have a guaranteed inheritance, are carefully molded by the law. They are not yet secure, but woe to those who dislodge them. They feed on God’s word, pray, and fellowship to bring them closer until that day when they can be entrusted with the work of the Lord. The Holy Spirit is sent as a seal to assure them of their salvation and their readiness to enter the ministry of reconciliation of the lost. But that period of leaning on the law, both in the Old Testament and in young believers today, creates a special relationship with, and great love and respect for, God. The psalmist in Psalm 119:97-104 (as well as throughout God’s word) has learned the value and comfort of the law. It is better than any teacher and has more wisdom than any enemy. The psalmist has apparently meditated on the law so long and often that it is “sweeter than honey” to him. But in the last verse he shows the weakness of the law, in that since he has such understanding, he hates every false way he goes—every lie his tongue speaks, every evil word that comes from his lips, and so forth. It seems there is no forgiveness, that a sin brings him great remorse. No forgiveness from God or from himself. Yet he knows this is the right way to approach God, for the law has brought him to His doorstep. Tomorrow Jesus, unbeknownst to him today, will let him enter. A child of God trained by the law today by searching the word and obeying it, not so much by blindly learning from human teachers, for there are very many bad teachers, can enter that door in his or her lifetime and never look back. And once there, there is nothing that compares even remotely to a personal relationship with the triune God that is built on the truths of scripture.
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About the Book
“A Searcher’s Treasures”
An Independent Study of God’s Word
This book presents interpretations both old and new, both from the writer’s own studies and from the learned works of others. It is intended to help get Bible reading and study above the horizon and into view so that society can realize the greatness of God and better understand Him. The book challenges common beliefs to a degree, but to a greater degree it builds upon the foundations laid by the Church of which Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone. The writer’s hope is that the more we know about God, the less we will question His ways and the more we will want to love, serve, and obey Him. The author feels that the greatest goal is to be precious in the Lord’s eyes, and there is no better way to do that than to introduce souls to His kingdom.
The book delves into the realms of questions long-begging for answers, such as the role of evil spirits, their potential purposes, and how they can be accepted as real but yet responsive to mental health treatments. The book also searches out such things as the beginning of man in God’s image, the age of the earth, and an intriguing study of how God may have always had specific time intervals in the working of His will.
About the Author
Paul M Sivey
Paul resides near Hilliard, Ohio, USA. He is a lifelong Christian who has been a member of the United Methodist Church, but has attended several denominations. His family encompasses a variety of Christian denominations including Baptist, Mennonite, and his wife Carol is Roman Catholic. He was called by God at an early age, even before he began grade school. He felt after the fact that various circumstances set him apart beginning about the fourth grade. Although he never attended a theological school, he maintained deep personal convictions as he farmed and as he practiced as a civil engineer. It is this scientific background, coupled with his strong faith, which has led him deep into Bible study and writing as his interest has always been to find and declare scientific/Biblical harmony. It is in this vein that this book was inspired, although it is much more than that. It is for the most part a treatise on Bible interpretation that has led him into contemplating the meanings of Scripture and the abilities of Jesus (especially) and all the Bible writers to address multiple audiences at the same time to educate or entertain/feed or confuse. He has been left with an enormous and ever-growing appreciation of God’s Word—the Bible—and has read its pages beginning nightly in the second grade when he was first given a Bible and a devotional by his godly mother.