Experience and Knowledge

Someone once asked Bro. Rolfe Barnard, “Do you believe everything in the Bible?” He replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t experienced it all yet.” The fact is, we cannot really know anything spiritually that we have not experienced. The Book of Leviticus is all about redemption accomplished by Christ, the Lamb of God, our sin-atoning Substitute. But, before we can know anything about redemption accomplished for us, we must experience that redemption. Redemption was accomplished before we came to experience it, but it is not known until it is experienced. By the arrangement of divine providence, we come to the Book of Exodus before we get to the Book of Leviticus. The Book of Exodus is all about the experience of redemption. Leviticus portrays redemption accomplished. Exodus portrays redemption applied. But no one can know that he was redeemed at Calvary until Christ the Redeemer is revealed in him, causing him to believe. In other words, we come to know that Christ obtained eternal redemption for us when God the Holy Spirit makes the gospel effectual to us in the saving operations of his grace. That is precisely what we are taught in Ephesians 1:3-14.

Don Fortner

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