Search the Scriptures
Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. – Acts 17:10-12 NKJV.
In Elkhart, Indiana while searching an apartment during a drug raid officers found a handwritten recipe for manufacturing methamphetamine in an unusual place. The meth recipe was written in a Bible on the last page of the Book of Revelation. Two of the residents of the apartment were arrested and charged with possession and manufacturing charges. Several months ago a methamphetamine lab actually blew up in the same apartment building. I guess what I find most strange about this is that one of the officers took time to read the Bible during the search! Probably, something drew the officer’s attention to the Bible, and they may have been searching for something other than drugs which would have required a more intensive search. I do, however, think that it is a wonderful thing that these officers were searching the pages of the Bible – searching the Scriptures.
In the comparison of the Bereans and Thessalonicans we see a stark contrast. Many of the Thessalonicans were hard-hearted, and close-minded toward the Gospel; they were unwilling to even listen to how the Scriptures could have been fulfilled through Jesus Christ. They had their story and they were sticking to it. They were just mad that anyone would have the nerve to even suggest that the Messiah had come, and they had missed Him. Their attitude is somewhat similar to the Muslim world’s harsh persecution of Christians today. If a Christian has the audacity to share their faith with a Muslim they risk being put to death. However, there are still Christians today with the same courage of the Holy Spirit spoken of by the apostle John as he says in Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
The attitude of the Bereans was an attitude of seeking the truth. The Bereans realized that they could possibly have missed out on something spiritually. In other words, the Bereans did not think that they had arrived spiritually and knew all there was to know about God and the spiritual world. They were willing to search the Scriptures to see if these things that Paul was saying could possibly be true. As a result of their study of the Scriptures many of them believed in Jesus Christ.
Even though we have the New Testament readily available to us today we still need to search the Scriptures. There are those today that would love to sell you their own personal religious philosophy based upon their spiritual experience. We must be careful to search the Scriptures to make sure that the “experience” is verified by the Word of God. As we prayerfully search the Scriptures does the Holy Spirit verify that these things are true or not.
If you are reading these words today, and you are not a Christian I want to challenge you to do as the Bereans did. Read the Bible beginning with the New Testament and ask God to reveal the truth to you as you search the Scriptures.
(Are you a truth seeker like the Bereans?)