What will your final words be to your family and friends? In the case of the Apostle Paul, his final message came from a Roman cell, written to his protégé Timothy as he faced execution under Emperor Nero. The letter of 2 Timothy, often acknowledged as his last known correspondence, brims with urgency — calling for faithfulness to the gospel, resilience in suffering, and vigilance against false teaching. Yet above all, Paul pointed to the ‘God-breathed’ word as the ultimate authority for “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). In just a few words, his parting counsel to a world he’d soon depart from was simple yet profound: Anchor yourself in Scripture.
God’s entire word echoes this urgency as it calls us to hold fast to its richness as if our very lives hinge on it. But this only makes perfect sense when we recognize that Scripture, as God’s inspired revelation, guides us from this life to the next, where, for those in Christ, our present is tethered to eternity’s promise.
And this idea goes back to long before Paul, in which Ecclesiastes explained how Scripture speaks to every moment of life: “For everything there is a season… a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). It’s a reminder that God’s word anticipates all we face.
Elsewhere, in Psalm 119:105, we read how the Bible is the “lamp” and “light” that guides us. Both Jeremiah and Psalm 1 characterize the person who treasures Scripture as someone who “is like a tree planted by water,” not fearing heat nor anxious of drought, but firmly planted and bearing fruit. “[H]is delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. … In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:2-3). Even Jesus Himself prayed for us to be in the word. To the God of the universe, His Father above, He prayed on our behalf: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
If Scripture reigns clear, and even Jesus prayed for the word to sanctify us, how could we do any less than dedicate our lives to the study and application of it? And yet, it’s one thing to read Scripture and to study it because we believe we should. It’s an entirely different matter to do so because we know and believe that we must.
God gave us His word for our benefit. When we read it, the words of life, from the Source of life, abundantly give us life. As the theologian Charles Spurgeon once said, “Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.” He also rightly stated that “within the Scripture there is a balm for every wound, a salve for every sore,” and that “no Scripture is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God’s garden bloom not only double, but sevenfold; they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.” A quotation especially relevant here is when he said, “Every promise of Scripture is a writing of God, which may be pleaded before Him with this reasonable request, ‘Do as Thou hast said.’ The Heavenly Father will not break His word to His own child.” And what did He say? He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5; Deuteronomy 31:6). “And behold,” said Jesus, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). His word states that when we are weary and heavy-laden, He will give us rest (Matthew 11:28). The Bible says that “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
Scripture says “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37), and that those in Christ will never taste death (John 8:51) nor feel its sting. The Bible says we have strength in Christ and that we can find true contentment in Him. In God’s word, we read that no flame will consume us, nor will any flood overwhelm us. Indeed, we learn in the pages of sacred Scripture that no matter the trial, no matter the valley, our Great Shepherd will get us through.
Scripture tells us that we are made with inherent dignity and value. It lays out the purpose of our existence. It explains the path we walk to glory. We may not understand everything in God’s word, but when it comes to the truths that fuel us to live, we have more than enough to chew on for eons upon eons. As Spurgeon stated, when we open the Bible and read it, we have every right to cry out: “God, do as You have said.” Most importantly, we have every reason to believe that He, indeed, will do the things He has promised in His word.
Paul’s final advice was to read our Bibles — to be planted in the word. And perhaps now it’s not hard to see why. These truths that get us through are found in no other source. Only Scripture contains God’s message to us in that He has loved us with an “everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Only the Bible reminds us that, despite inevitable trouble in this world, we can “take heart,” because Jesus has “overcome the world” (John 16:33). In God’s word, dear reader, we find love, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, and all the riches of Christ. It’s all there — everything we could ever need.
And it’s in reading of these truths, day and night, that we’re not only equipped for this earthly life, but where we grow in our affection for Christ. It’s where our desire for our true home deepens and matures. It’s where everything around us gets put into its proper perspective. The radiance of God’s glory shines from the pages of His word and illuminates our hearts, minds, and souls to live — to truly live — in the beauty of Him who laid His life down for His sheep.
It’s no wonder Paul’s final counsel before martyrdom was to plant ourselves in Scripture. When all around us fails, when life is simply too much, open the word and allow your Savior to capture your heart all over again. He never changes, and His word never fails. Turn to it and be filled by the well that never runs dry. As Isaiah 40:8 proclaims, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
One of Jesus’s prophesied end-time signs is a great falling away from the truth of God’s word, and we are seeing that happen, particularly with the denominational/institutional churches, including the Catholic Church. I owned and managed Christian Press for thirty-plus years, distributing Christian books to Bible Colleges and Christian Bookshops. Even back then, I was disturbed that most of the Bible Colleges had compromised by accepting evolution and, as a result, no longer accepted the foundational book of the Bible, Genesis, as literal truth, teaching real history about God’s perfect creation, man’s fall into sin, and the promise of a divine saviour.
We are living in the end times, and over two thousand scriptures prophesy Jesus’ second coming. This makes it even more important that you are anchored in Scripture. and are watching for the prophesied signs.
Adapted from an article in the Washington Stand by Sarah Holliday, March 7th 2025, Paul’s Counsel before Martyrdom: Read the Bible
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 