God's Revelation

“What is the chief end of mankind?” Calvin answered the very first question of the Geneva Catechism like this: “It is to know his Creator God.” Also, the Westminster Catechism answers the same question like this: “It is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” God, the Creator of all things and source of life, wants mankind - his masterpiece whom he created in his own image - to come to know him. It is because when we come to know God we can glorify him and enjoy him forever. To glorify him and enjoy him forever includes the fact that we enjoy eternal life. Therefore, Jesus said all of these in one word, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent” (John 17:3).

Then how can we know God? How can we, the creation, know the perfect God? It is impossible for us to come to know him all by ourselves. So God himself reveals to us the way to know him. We call this "revelation." And Jesus Christ is the best revelation of all. It is the Bible that unravels such revelation. Moreover, without the Bible, we cannot deeply realize that nature is the general revelation of God. So the Bible is the best guide that leads us to God. Here is the reason why we must go back to the Bible. Let us go back to the Bible. It is the way to understand the essence of Christianity and practice it.

Then what does “Go back to the Bible” mean?

First, it means we must acknowledge the Bible as the truthful and deep word of God and trust it as the supreme authority. Nowadays, many people research and teach the Bible, but not necessarily believe it. Especially, in universities where we serve, they plant unbelief about the supreme authority of the Bible and damage our fundamental faith. In such a time like now we must trust the Bible from our hearts.

Second, it means that we must receive the word of God as our spiritual food. In order to have an absolute faith and trust in the Bible, it is important that we experience the living word working in our real life. The Bible says, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt. 4:4).” In other words, without eating the word of God, our souls cannot live. Just as we must eat food and digest it to live, we can live as healthy Christians only when we experience the power of God’s word working in our practical life, not merely as knowledge.

Third, it means that we must read the Bible simply and regularly every day. This is so obvious. There are those who use the internet every day, but do not read the Bible regularly and every day. I’m ashamed to say that even as a missionary it is not easy to put this in practice faithfully. David loved the word of God so much that he confessed that he loved God’s commands more than gold, more than pure gold, and that God’s words were sweeter than honey (Ps 119:103, 127). So he stayed awake at night and meditated on the word of God (Ps 119:147-148).

Fourth, it means to go back to the purity and humility of early Christians as in the Bible. The early Christians loved the word of God and made every effort to meet together. They were brothers and sisters in Christ. There was no class division in the church; they were eager to serve and share with one another, and they were humble and ready to suffer even to be martyred for Christ and his gospel. But when the Catholics began to place the church authority and tradition above the Bible, they began to take the way of the world. So the motto of the religious reformation was “The Bible Only (Sola scriptura),” that is, “Go back to the Bible.” Nowadays, the church became materialistic and achievement-oriented, so it got corrupt. This can be found even in our ministry which has grown very fast during the last fifty years. Ultimately, if we don’t go back to the pure and humble faith of the early church as in the Bible, we will lose the power and fail.

However, if one doesn’t understand “Go back to the Bible” correctly, he can make a big mistake. It is to go back to the content of the Bible, not to take the cultural form of the time taking it literally.

Some time ago, I read an article that criticized our ministry. It said, “The Bible says to teach the Bible, not train disciples. Mt 28:19 KJV says ‘teach all nations,’ not ‘make disciples’..." "In the early church, teaching and preaching was not done by mission organizations or mission departments of mission associations, but by local churches...” “Since there are no elders, deacons or supervisors like in the early church, it is not Biblical...” At a glance, it sounds reasonable. But, he interpreted the meaning of “teach” very narrowly. In the Bible, to Jesus “to teach” the disciples meant the holistic raising of disciples (At least, in Korean, we say raising disciples, not training disciples). Also, it was the focus of Jesus’ ministry. Also, if teaching and preaching can be done only by local churches, we cannot explain the marvelous work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian history through the monastery movement, seminary, mission organizations and student evangelical movements. Also, why does the article claim that there are no elders, deacons or supervisors in our ministry? There are shepherds and by not using the fixed titles of hierarchy, we have established a horizontal church by laymen very similar to the early church. The essence of Christianity is the same now as 2000 years ago, but we cannot take the same format.

Fifth, it means to find the cause and the solution of problems and the direction from the Bible. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). The Bible teaches us what God’s will is toward us. The Bible rebukes us to repent our wrongdoings. The Bible corrects us to live a godly life. And it leads us to the way of righteousness. Therefore, if we hold on to the Bible, there are answers to all the problems. It is significant that Dr. Samuel Lee admonished us to go back to the Bible in time of hardship. Whenever our ministry made a fast growth, he struggled to find the future direction. Some thought to find the answer in theology. Some tried to find the answer in changing organizational form. Some approached the social welfare problem. Others tried to find the answer in public relations or joint activities with other organizations. All of them were right and urgent. And they must be done. But after hearing all of the discussion, Dr. Samuel Lee spoke one word, “Let us go back to the Bible.” He was sorry that we left out the most essential matter and were focusing much on the peripheral matters. It was the last instruction of the founder of our ministry who loved his juniors and the ministry more than anyone else did before his departure. While we face many practical problems to be solved, we must remember how he opened his Bible and meditated quietly without forgetting the priority.

In fact, “Go back to the Bible” is not only the last instruction of Dr. Lee, but it is what he said and practiced consistently throughout the UBF history from the very beginning until now. UBF is a group that loves the Bible so much. Its birth came from Bible study. The slogan of UBF which started in Korea was “Bible Korea, World Mission.” We always gave priority to the Bible. The renown Christian historians of Korea and leaders who participated in the “Bible Korea Movement” recognize that the term, “Bible Korea,” came from the student holiness college student evangelical movement in the 1960s by University Bible Fellowship (UBF). (The Gospel and the Circumstance, Publisher: Nondan, pg. 226, Prof. Kim, Hwe Kwon)

The reason why we in UBF could pioneer Korean campuses and send 1500 missionaries to 90 countries in spite of the short history of fifty years was because Samuel Lee, Sarah Barry and many ancestors of faith loved the Bible passionately. They were pure and humble as the early Christians. Our ministry loves the Bible and do world mission. We pray to make all nations holy, i.e. Bible-loving nations that raise and send missionaries to all nations to teach the Bible. When we get up in the morning, we eat daily bread from the Bible. We study the Bible one to one and write testimonies based on Sunday messages. We preach and teach the Bible. We received the wonderful spiritual heritage from our spiritual seniors to love the Bible passionately. And we are working hard to keep and preserve this heritage. It doesn’t mean that we will not change or insist only on our way; it means we will continue to grow keeping the essence of the Bible.

As time passes, UBF will have many traditions. Whatever may be our spiritual heritage or tradition, nothing can be placed ahead of “Go back to the Bible.” We must always observe and compare thoroughly everything if it is Biblical, focus on the Bible and not be afraid to accept things from outside our ministry. I believe that we have sufficient capacity to digest them.

During the twelve years of my missionary life in Panama, at times, I was shaky about my identity, met my limitation in raising disciples, and felt like giving up everything and leave. I suffered from sin problems and felt like dying. I faced unresolved migraine, drachma, my wife’s battle against cancer, my workload at my job and many problems that couldn’t be solved by my human strength. Whenever I had agonies: “What does God want me to do? What would Jesus do?” I opened my Bible and read it, eagerly longing to listen to the voice of the Lord God. And by God’s comfort and guidance, I am continuing my race of faith. The Bible became to me the only channel to listen to the voice of my Shepherd Jesus and follow him. Whenever I remember the late Dr. Samuel Lee’s last instruction, “Go back to the Bible,” it makes me think deeply how eagerly he must have sought the Good Shepherd Jesus our Lord.