INTRODUCTION:
Our God is a speaking God. Right from the beginning of the creation of man, God had been speaking to human beings. God’s words have been recorded in the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. God has given us His Word so that we may live by it. The Word of God is very precious. Its value is incomparable. Blessed is the man whose heart is illuminated by the Holy Spirit to understand the Word of God, for in that person does the Word of God work. In the man who is enlightened to understand the Word of God, the Word of God works in many different ways according to its various natures. Basically there are ten different ways in which God’s Word works according to its ten different natures. Many Christians do not read the Bible regularly. There are very few Christians who read the Bible daily with discipline. Many do not touch the Bible for days and months together, and it is not too much to say that there are quiet a number of Christians who do not touch the Bible for years together. What is the reason for this neglect or lack of interest? There is no single reason for this tragedy. One reason is that some are Christians for just the name-sake, but they had never experienced salvation through Christ. These name- sake Christians will never read the Bible because they can never understand the glory, sweetness and value of God’s Word. But what about the truly born again believers?! They are genuinely saved by the power of the blood of Jesus. They have understood the power and meaning of the Cross. But still they do not spend time on the Word of God as much as they ought to. This could be because the children of God had forgotten what the Word of God can do in and for them. If only they are mindful and aware of how the Word of God works for their good, they would not have neglected it so much. If you are one of those true believers, neglecting to spend time on the Word of God, then I would like to turn on your interest and love for the Word of God through the following message by bringing to your remembrance how the Word of God works in you and what it will do in and for you.
The Word of God is compared to ten things in The Holy Bible. Each comparison signifies a different way in which God’s word works in us. Let us now meditate upon these things by the help of the Holy Spirit.
1) SEED:
According to Luke 8:11, the Word of God is compared to seed. The Word of God has the nature of a seed. It behaves and works like a seed. Let us first think about a seed. What does a farmer do with a seed? He sows it in the soil. Before sowing the seed, the soil has to be tilled. After that, they dig deep into the soil and sow the seed in the deep and cover it again with the soil. By taking proper care of it, the sown seed will germinate, grows into a plant and brings forth fruits according to its nature. There are many kinds of seed. Each seed produces fruit of its kind. A single seed grows into a big tree, produces fruits and become useful to many people. Even the Word of God works in the same way as the seed. The human heart is the soil. Before sowing the Word of God, the heart is to be tilled. It means that the heart is to be prepared and be ready to receive God’s Word. If the ground is not tilled then the sown seed has a very little chance to germinate.
Likewise, the Word of God will not bear fruit even after you listen to it if your heart is not ready before hand to receive it. You will keep on hearing the Word of God but nothing will happen since your heart is not prepared to receive it. Preparation and readiness of heart is very important in receiving the Word of God. You cannot hear the Word of God with lot of worldly thoughts filling your heart. Set your heart on hearing God’s Word. Hunger and thirst for it. Only then will the Word be sown in your heart. Prepare your heart by tilling it with repentance, humility and a readiness to do what God says. A repentant, humble and ready heart is a well tilled ground to receive the seed of the Word of God. Meditate deeply so that God’s word will be sown deep in your heart. If you do your part in sowing the seed in the right manner, then the seed, i.e., the Word of God will do its work in you in the right manner. When you properly prepare your heart, God’s word will be properly sown in you. Then the Word of God begins the work of a seed within you. Till now you worked to receive God’s Word, but from now on God’s Word will begin working in you. It germinates, grows into a plant and brings forth spiritual fruits which bring blessings to you and glory to God. Those fruits will also be enjoyed by your fellow believers. You will be a blessing to others. The name of Lord Jesus will be magnified in and though you. Just as there are many different kinds of seeds which turn into different kinds of plants, producing fruits, crops, medicine, etc there are also many words of God in the Bible which produce different kinds of fruits. Each Word of God meets a different kind of spiritual need both for you and for others around you. The key is to prepare your heart to receive any kind of God’s Word. Your work is to be prepared and to receive. God’s word will do the rest of the work. You need not worry about the spiritual or worldly blessings you should receive. You need not worry about how you could be useful and bring blessing to both God’s people and to the gentiles. You only need to worry about properly receiving the seed into your heart. Then the seed will automatically do its work in you. You will be blessed and be a blessing to others. If you want to become a useful person, then allow this seed of the Word of God to be sown deep in your heart. Give a chance for the Word of God to grow in you and afterwards see the miracles of God happening in and through you.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Col. 3:16).
Notice that God’s communication with us, which is normally referred to as the Word of God, is described here as the Word of Christ. That phrase is only used here and in one other place in the New Testament, but it reminds us of a very important truth.
The whole Bible is one story and it is all about Jesus Christ. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Scriptures… bear witness about me” (Jn. 5:39). On the road to Emmaus, Jesus took two confused disciples through the Old Testament scriptures, showing them “in all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27).
Jesus Christ is the central figure in the whole Bible, in both the Old and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament, He is hidden and anticipated. In the New Testament, He is revealed and enjoyed.
The whole point of the Bible is that we should come to know and enjoy and love and serve and believe in and live for Jesus Christ the Son of God, who is the Savior, the Lord of all.
This is the great theme of Colossians: In Him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (1:19). In Him, God has triumphed over all the dark powers (2:15). In Him, believers are rooted and built up and established in the faith (2:7).
The word of Christ, the Bible, is God speaking to us about His Son, or God speaking to us through His Son.
New Thinking about the Bible
The Christian church has been in agreement for nearly 2,000 years that the Bible is the Word of God, one that speaks primarily about his Son, Jesus Christ. I say nearly 2,000 years, because about a hundred years ago some people introduced a new and very different view of the Bible.
Charles Darwin grasped the minds and hearts of many people with his theory of evolution, suggesting that the world could be explained entirely by natural causes and processes. It’s fascinating to follow the story of how in the years that followed, some leaders in the church began to recast their view of the Bible in the light of evolutionary theory.
The church had always held the conviction that the Bible was God’s Word to us. The church believed that God exists, that God has made Himself known, and that the Bible tells us what God has said and what He has done. The Bible is essentially a story about God: God’s world and God’s Word to mankind.
But the new thinking turned all of that on its head. You can imagine how some began to say, “We’ve been told that the story is all about God. What if the story is really about us?”
If this were true, then the Bible would be the evolving story of human thinking about what God might be like. And the Bible would not be God’s words to us, but the record of our words about God. If you believe this, then it is reasonable to conclude that it began very crude, and over time, our view of God has become more sophisticated.
These are two very different views of the Bible. In the one, the Bible is God’s Word to us. In the other, the Bible is our word about God.
What you believe about the Bible will shape how you use it and respond to it.
If you believe that the Bible is a human word about God, you may want to read it for inspiration, but when it does not fit well with your view of life or of the world, you will feel free to disagree and choose your own path.
If the Bible is merely a collection of human words about God, it will be natural for you to say, “That was then, but this is now.”
Why the Word Matters: Three Biblical Convictions
Why is this important? What difference does it make? Why should anyone care whether the Bible is our speaking about God or God speaking to us? It makes all the difference in the world: Here’s why:
1. If God has not spoken, His promises are replaced by our wishes.
Think about some of the great promises of Scripture:
I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31).
My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory (Phil. 4:19).
Who said these things? If these words came from the mouth of God, if God said them, if they are indeed the Word of God to us, then they are promises on which we can depend. You can take them to the bank. You can build on them in every circumstance of your life.
But if these are human words about God, then they are not promises on which we can depend but merely wishes arising from the heart of Paul or from Isaiah, that we might also cherish.
If you believe that the Bible is our word about God rather than God’s word to us, you undermine the foundation of hope and replace God’s promises to us with our wishes about God.
2. If God has not spoken, His truth is replaced by our opinion.
The Bible says that God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love. These words are repeated no less than seven times in the Old Testament (Ex. 34:6, Neh. 9:7, Psa. 86:15, Psa. 103:8, Psa. 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2).
But whose words are these? If God spoke these words to Moses and the prophets, we can be sure that he is indeed gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love, because He is the one who said it. He has disclosed this Himself.
But if these words arose from the thoughts of Moses, David, Nehemiah, or Jonah, then we do not have truth that we can count on for our lives today. All we have is opinion that arose from the experience of these particular men, and it may or may not prove true for us today.
When you buy into evolutionary theory, conversations in small groups around the Word of God go something like this… Moses believed that God is gracious and merciful, but others have a different experience. What about you? What do you think God is like? How do you see him?
When the Word of God to us is viewed as our word about God, His truth gets replaced by our opinion—and that undermines the foundations of our faith.
3. If God has not spoken, His welcome is replaced by our journey.
The Bible is full of invitations:
Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live; I will make with you an everlasting covenant (Isa. 55:3).
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you (Jas. 4:8).
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow (Isa. 1:18).
Who said these things? If God said them (to and through the prophet Isaiah and the apostle James), then you can be certain that God is reaching out to us in love. That means we can come to Him with confidence. We can enjoy a true and authentic relationship with God because He has invited us to come to Him.
If these words were simply reflections of the thoughts or experience of James and Isaiah, they are only pointers on a journey. They tell us what others have found, but they offer no assurance that we will find the same.
If the Bible is viewed as our words about God rather than God’s word to us, you may have people reaching out and seeking after God, but very, very little finding. Why? Because what is lost is God reaching out in love through his Son, and what you have left is people seeking.
What’s at stake? If the Bible is our word about God rather than God’s word to us, then God’s welcome is replaced by our journey, and we lose the assurance of His love.
Do you see how much this matters? The basis of faith, hope, and love all rest on God having spoken—giving us promises, telling us who He is, inviting us into a relationship with Himself, and telling is how that is possible through His Son Jesus Christ.
When I think about all this, it makes me step back and breathe a big sigh of relief. Thank God for the Word of Christ!
____________
Photo: Unsplash
This article is an adaptation of Pastor Colin’s sermon, “The Word of God”, from his series, Soul Care: Part 2—Four Friends for Your Soul.
Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near — So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on Twitter.
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The Life-Giving Power of the Word of God in John 1
by
Cheree Hayes & BibleProject Team
1 year ago
John opens his Gospel with a riddle. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” What can we make of this? Why does John introduce Jesus as the Word of God?
Three important contexts influence John’s introduction.
- God’s words create life in Genesis.
- The books of Psalms and Proverbs further demonstrate the divine words and person from Genesis 1.
- Jewish and Greek literature contemporary to John’s Gospel reveal a larger conversation about the complex nature of Yahweh’s identity as the divine word of creation.
John draws from all three of these sources in his opening words, and as we understand each source more, we can better understand the prologue of John 1:1-18.
John 1 and Genesis 1
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” How did he do it? As we continue reading, we learn that God said, “Let there be light.” From there, a divine act of speech introduces a new day of creation. And since the third and sixth days include three additional moments when God speaks, the phrase “God said” is repeated a total of 10 times to describe the creation of the cosmos. So what does this mean, and how does this help us understand John’s introduction?
Speech is a human act, requiring a physical body. The author of Genesis understands God as a purely spiritual being, though, and he still tells us that God “said” things. Describing God with human characteristics is an example of an “anthropomorphism,” which is when authors use human characteristics or descriptions to talk about non-human things or beings. This example from Genesis 1 is the first anthropomorphism in the Bible, and John refers back to it in the opening of his Gospel. Somehow, God is using speech to create everything that has been made.
So let’s consider the significance of speech. God could have nodded, or blinked, or motioned with his hand, but instead he is described as speaking. Words express the mind, will, and character of a person. Words reveal identity. We can observe much about a person based on what we see, but we can’t begin to know them personally until they speak to us. When God created the universe, he spoke it into existence. “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14).
Creation begins with God speaking, and then a new creation begins when this speaking “Word” of God becomes a human being in the flesh, the living and active person of Jesus. As John says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of humanity” (John 1:4).
The Word of God in Psalms and Proverbs
While Genesis 1 introduces the divine person and creative speech of God, the books of Psalms and Proverbs explore this idea in greater depth. The key words and images of Genesis 1:1-3 are hyperlinked in multiple places throughout Proverbs and Psalms.
John’s introduction of Jesus reflects a deep understanding of these passages and shows us how he interprets them. For example, a comparison of John 1:3 to Proverbs 3:19, Proverbs 8:22-23, Proverbs 8:30, and Psalm 33:6 can help us understand how John saw Jesus as the embodiment of wisdom. Before God’s word became human in Jesus, he was the wisdom who laid the foundations of the earth. He sets the heavens in place, fashions the stars, and actively lives at God’s side.
The Word of God in Jewish and Greek Literature
John was not the only one who saw a divine figure behind the poetic hyperlinks to the creation account. Other ancient Jewish literature relied on a similar understanding. For example, early Aramaic translations and interpretations of Genesis 1:1 reveal that many understood the nature of Yahweh’s identity as the word of God.
From the beginning, by wisdom, the son of Yahweh completed the heavens and the earth.
or
From the beginning, by wisdom, the word of Yahweh created completed the heavens and the earth.
And the earth was waste and unformed, desolate of man and beast, empty of plant cultivation and of trees, and darkness was spread over the face of the abyss; and a spirit of mercy from before the Lord was blowing over the surface of the waters. And the word of the Lord said, “Let there be light,” and there was light according to the decree of his word.
The Aramaic Bible: Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis, trans. Martin McNamara, Vol. 1 (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1992), Genesis 1:1–3.
Additionally, ancient Greek philosophers understood the idea of “word” (Greek: logos ) as “the omnipresent wisdom by which all things are steered” and “the divine word received by the prophet, which becomes almost equivalent to God” (George R. Beasley-Murray, John, Volume 36, Word Biblical Commentary).
Ancient Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria provided the first synthesis of Jewish, biblical, and Greek philosophy. He identified the logos as a person and fused its understanding with the Hebrew Bible’s portrayal of Yahweh’s divine attributes.
John 1 and Hebrews
John’s riddle-like introduction of Jesus is strange at first, but Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs, and other Jewish and Greek literature all provide insight into John’s meaning.
In Genesis, creation began with God creating life with his word. This beginning was good, but when God’s creatures reject his words of life, all of creation spirals into death. The world needs a new beginning, so God continues speaking his divine word again and again. This theme continues in Psalms and Proverbs, as God’s words of wisdom are poetically continuing to shape all of existence, according to his own wisdom.
John recognized Jesus as the embodiment of this wisdom. Ancient Jewish and Greek literature also interacted with similar understandings about the identity of God and the nature of the cosmos. John weaves all these ideas into a stunning conclusion: the word at the beginning of life has now become human so we can see and know his life personally. We can now relate to the Word that shaped the universe. The Word is a person and he can reshape our lives.
The author of Hebrews further develops this idea.
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
Hebrews 4:12-13
The Word of God in Our Lives
The word of God became a person, living and active. He knows everything about us—not just because he created us but because he has become one of us. Look at the next verses in Hebrews 4.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16
The author of Hebrews shows us that the living and active word became a human who was tempted like we are and suffered like we do, so he can sympathize with our needs and weaknesses. Because of this, we are invited to keep our words aligned with his (Hebrews 4:14). And since his words are gracious and true, we can be confident and come to him for everything we need (John 1:14, Hebrews 4:15-16). This is how the word of God can actively shape and recreate our lives.
Jesus is called the Word of God in John’s Gospel because he is the human embodiment of the eternal word of God who created life at the beginning and is still actively initiating new creation life today. As we listen to Jesus’ words and let them shape and recreate us, we echo his creative words of life and participate in God’s mission to renew all of creation.
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John M. Frame
This article shows that the Word of God cannot be equated with the Bible. God’s Word includes His powerful speech (stating what will happen), authoritative speech (stating what ought to happen), and His personal presence. This is the self expression of God, or His Word. This article is about the nature of Scripture.
Source: Reformed Perspectives Magazine, 1999. 10 pages.
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The first thing each and every Christian must fully realize is that the Holy Bible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God.
There are many liberal Christians who are starting to question the validity and authenticity of the Bible. I will not use this article to debate the origins of the Bible, all of the authors who wrote the books, and how the different translations came into being. There are plenty of good books at your local Christian bookstore that deal with this topic very extensively.
After studying the Bible in its complete entirety – there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that all of the Bible is God-breathed – that all of it has come directly to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit.
For those of you who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, and that all of it has truly come to us from God the Father.
I will use this article to give you some extremely powerful verses from Scripture to show you that not only did all of the Bible come direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit to all of the authors who wrote all 66 books of the Bible – but I will also give you some powerful verses from the Bible showing you how powerful the actual words of the Bible really are, and how they can also help to change and transform you into the kind of person that God really wants you to become in Him.
The actual words of the Bible are anointed by the Holy Spirit Himself – and they have the full ability to completely change and transform you if you are willing to work with the divine truths that are contained in the actual words.
Jesus says in the Bible that you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. However, you first have to know what the real truth is before the truth can start to work to set you free.
This is why Kind David said we must meditate on the words of the Bible – so we can find out what their true meaning is and how all of these divine truths can apply to our daily lives. Meditating on the Bible means to think about, to chew on, to try and figure out the meaning of all of the different verses in the Bible.
Though the Book is long, God has made it as simple and easy as He possibly could. Think about this. There is only one Bible. In one Book, God has given us everything we need to know about Himself, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the basics of our salvation through His Son Jesus, how He wants us to live this life, the things that He wants us doing, and the things that He does not want us to be doing.
In this one Book are all the ways and commandments of our Lord, along with all the information we are ever going to need on what is awaiting all of us on the other side when we die and cross over – heaven for the saved and hell for the unsaved.
I believe the number one reason God created the human race was for intimate fellowship. Even to the amazement of the angels in heaven, God seems to have some type of special longing and love for the human race.
The fact that God would send His one and only Son Jesus down to our earth in the flesh to go through the worst form of physical death at the time He came, all just to bring us back to Himself, really does show us how much God really does love all of us.
The Bible tells us that the love that God has for all of us is like a “consuming fire.” These two words are showing us a love that is of maximum intensity. With this kind of intense, passionate love that God has for all of us, I believe He is trying to tell all of us one main thing – and that one main thing is that He is looking to enter into a one-on-one, personal, love relationship with each one of us.
Think about this – that the one and only all-powerful God of the entire universe is looking to make a direct, personal connection with you on an individual and unique basis.
If you really step back and look at the big picture and all the things that we see in this life – what is the one thing that most of us long for in this life? What is the one thing that will make you cry when you see this portrayed on the movie screens?
It is the longing for a true soul mate. It is the longing for a pure, true, and unconditional love from a person of the opposite sex. There is nothing that can satisfy the deeper longings of your soul the way that true love can. However, there is just one small catch with this scenario. Even though some of you may have found your true soul mates in this life, there is still one more thing that has not been met.
No matter how perfect you think your mate may be – your mate is still not perfect like God is, since the Bible tells us that all men and women have sinned and have fallen way short of the glory of our God. What this means is that no matter how good of a love relationship you may have with your mate, that person is still not capable of giving you a perfect love because that person is not perfect in their very nature and personality.
Thus, every single one of us still has that little hole in our soul that just cannot seem to be filled with anything else in our lives.
No matter how much money we have, no matter how many material possessions we have, and no matter how many loving children we have – there is still something missing and none of these things can completely fill that little hole that is in all of our souls.
God has purposely left a vacuum, a hole, and a void in each one of our souls when He created us. And the only thing that can fill this hole and void is God the Father Himself, His Son Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit.
There is absolutely nothing else on this earth that can fill that empty void. People are literally chasing after the wind trying to find anything and everything to fill that void – and no matter how many lovers they have, no matter how many marriages they enter into, and no matter how many toys they buy with the money they have – nothing they chase after in this life will fill that hole in their souls.
The only thing that will fill that hole in your soul is finding, and then entering into a true, personal, love relationship with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. There is nothing else that will fill that void!
Since God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are totally perfect in Their actual natures and have no dark side to Their personalities, then They, and only They, are the only Ones who are capable of giving you a perfect, pure, and unconditional love that no one else can give you in this life.
This is why the Bible tells us that we will find a peace that will pass all human understanding once we have accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior and have become truly born again. That peace we will find is the result of finding the one true Person who can fill that empty void that is on the inside of each and everyone of us – and that one Person is God Almighty Himself.
However, once you have found God through accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, there is now something you must do. You must now grow in the knowledge of God and grow in the personal relationship that He wants to establish with you.
And how do you start to grow in the personal relationship He wants to establish with you and grow in the knowledge that He wants you to have about Him? By diving head first into the Bible!
When two lovers first meet and fall in love with one another, the first thing they naturally and instinctively want to do is to learn as much as they can about one another.
How can you truly fall in love with another person unless you first seek to know everything you can about your lover, their past, where they have been, what they have been through, who are all of their friends and family, etc. Once you really fall into true love with someone, you will have a major hunger and desire to find out as much as you can about them and their past.
It’s the exact same way in our relationship with God. God obviously knows everything about each one of us since He is all-knowing, but we do not know everything about Him, His Son, or His Spirit. So the only possible way that we can learn all about God is to read and study from the Bible, since the Bible is the only Book that we have down here on this earth that will give us detailed information as to who the Three of Them really are.
If a true, born-again, Spirit-filled Christian is really in love with God, and really wants to deepen the personal relationship they have now established with Him – then the first thing that person will really want to do is to get into the Bible so that they can find out everything they possibly can about this awesome God of ours.
The more knowledge you gain about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit from studying the Bible – the stronger and deeper your personal relationship will become with the Three of Them.
As you will see in the Scripture verses listed below, there are several other incredible things that will start to occur in your life if you seek to study the Bible with the intentions on wanting to learn more about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in order to deepen your personal relationship Them.
I will break these Scripture verses down under their appropriate captions below so you can see how powerful the Word of God really is, and how it can help change and transform the quality of your life if you are willing to study, learn, and seek to apply the divine truths that are in this incredible Book.
Study these verses very, very carefully. These verses are showing you how powerful and anointed the Bible really is. Since all of the Bible comes direct to us from God the Father, you can completely trust and rely on that what you will read from the Bible will be 100% pure, solid, God-truth.
1. All of Scripture is Given to Us By Inspiration From God the Father
These first two verses will specifically tell us, without any other possible interpretation, that all of the Bible has been given to us by “inspiration of God” through holy men who were “moved by the Holy Spirit” to write what they wrote!
In other words – all of the words in the Bible have come direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. The specific authors of the Bible then wrote under the guidance, inspiration, and illumination of the Holy Spirit.
This is why you can completely trust that what you will read from the Bible will be 100% pure, solid, God-truth! There is no other book on our earth that contains direct words from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ other than the Holy Bible. God Himself has personally arranged that all of the revelation that He wants us to have in this life about Himself, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit would all be contained in this one incredible Book.
Here are the two specific verses giving us this incredible revelation:
- “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
- “… knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20)
The first verse specifically tells us that all of Scripture, not just some or part of it, comes direct to us by inspiration from God the Father. The second verse then takes it one step further and tells us that the holy men of God who wrote the Bible, all wrote under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit Himself. It also says that no part of Scripture was of any private interpretation of these authors.
The first verse also lays out the groundwork as to what the Bible is going to be used for – for establishing solid Christian doctrine in the real truths of God, and for instruction in the knowledge and ways of God so that we may all be made complete and thoroughly equipped to go to work for God in the calling that He has set up for each one of our lives.
These two specific verses are powerful, foundational verses in which our study of Scripture has to be based on. If you do not believe that all of the Bible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God – then the Holy Spirit is not going to move on you to start to really work the truths that are contained in the Bible to change, mold, and transform you into the kind of person that God wants you to become in Him.
Bottom line – if you want the divine truths that are contained in the Bible to really be able to change and transform you – then you will have to believe that all of the Bible comes direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. If you do not, then the Bible will have little or no transforming effect on you and your life.
2. The Word of God is Living and Powerful
As you will see in the following verses, the words that are contained in the Bible are living, powerful, and sharper than any two edge sword we can make on this earth.
In other words, the words in the Bible have God’s supernatural power and life in them. They are literally anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. This is why the words and the truths contained in the Bible have the supernatural ability to change and transform you into the kind of person that God wants you to become in Him.
That is why Jesus told the apostles to “feed” His sheep. When you read and study the Bible for increased learning, you are feeding yourself with direct anointed words from God Almighty Himself.
Many Christians who do not regularly feed off the Bible have no idea on what they are really missing out on. The Words that are in the Bible are pure, solid, spiritual food that have the supernatural ability to feed your mind, soul, and spirit. Nothing else will feed your inner man like reading from the Bible will.
Just like our human physical bodies need physical food to be able to survive – so does our mind, soul, and spirit. The food that we feed our physical bodies will not nourish our mind, soul, and spirits.
The only thing that can spiritually feed and nourish us on the inside are true, solid, spiritual truths. And the only true, solid, spiritual truths that can feed us to cause any kind of true spiritual growth to occur in this life are divine truths that come direct from God the Father and Jesus Christ.
There are no other spiritual truths from any other sources that we can feed off of that will cause any kind of true spiritual growth to occur in this life.
Any other source is just dead meat. It has no supernatural life or ability to change us because it is not coming direct from God the Father and thus has no anointing on it.
All other false religions and New Age type thinking have no supernatural ability to change and spiritually transform you in this life. Only the divine truths that are contained in the Bible have this supernatural ability.
Now here are 9 major power verses showing you how much supernatural life and power there really is in the Word of God.
- “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
- “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
- “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)
- “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63)
- “This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life.” (Psalm 119:50)
- “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart …” (Jeremiah 15:16)
- “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)
- But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4:4)
- “… as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1 Peter 2:2)
Notice all of the food analogies that God is using to compare His Word with. What He is trying to tell us is that when you are studying the words that are contained in the Bible for increased learning – you are spiritually feeding yourself with supernatural nutrition!
I believe that all of the above Scripture verses are trying to tell us one main thing – that the Word of God is living, powerful, and real spiritual food for the soul and spirit of every person who is willing to feed off of it.
3. The Word of God is Pure, Solid Truth
If the Bible is telling us that all of Scripture is coming direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit – then the next thing that the Bible will be telling us is that all of the words that are coming direct to us from God the Father are 100% pure, solid truth.
If God is all-perfect and all-powerful, then this means His intelligence and knowledge on all things is all-perfect. And if His knowledge on all things is all-perfect, then this means that all of the words that He is conveying to us in the Bible can be counted on as being perfect words, thereby giving us perfect knowledge.
This means that all of the Bible can be counted on as being 100% pure, solid, God-truth with no errors and mistakes. The Bible tells us that all humans will only know in part with what knowledge we are able to gain down here on this earth. Thus every book you read from human authors will never be totally perfect in the knowledge that the author is trying to transmit to you.
However, since all of the Bible is coming direct to us from God Almighty Himself – then the Bible is the only Book that we have down here on this earth that is totally and completely perfect in the knowledge that it is trying to transmit to us.
This is why the Bible has the ability to change your life. No other book on this earth has the amount of wisdom and knowledge that this Book has – and this is all because this knowledge and wisdom is coming direct to us from God the Father Himself.
Now here are 4 very good verses from Scripture that are specifically telling us that every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is 100% pure, solid truth.
- “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5)
- “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” (Psalm 12:6)
- “For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:4)
- “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Notice the first verse says that the words that come from God are “pure” words. The last verse then says that all of God’s words are “truth.” Put these two verses together and you get that all of the words that come from God are “pure truth.”
Pure means 100% pure – which means that all of God’s words are pure, solid truth with no errors or mistakes. This is why the Word of God is also called infallible and inerrant. If the Bible says that a thing is so – then it is so – end of discussion. You can literally bank your life on it!
4. The Word of God Can Sanctify You
If all of the words of the Bible are 100% pure, solid truth – then this means that all of the words in the Bible have the supernatural ability to sanctify you, especially since all of the Bible has the anointing of the Holy Spirit Himself on the entire Book.
God’s ultimate and highest aim for all of us after we become saved and born again is to sanctify us, to transform us, to mold and shape us into the express image of His Son Jesus. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to start this molding, transforming, and sanctifying work in us after we get saved.
However, the Holy Spirit needs something to work with in order to get this transformation process kicked into full gear – and that something is knowledge. God wants you to have full knowledge on exactly what it is He wants to change about you before He really starts to move you into this sanctification process with Him.
And where do you get the knowledge that will get God to start this sanctification process within you? From the Bible! There is no other book that we can learn and study from that will give us the direct knowledge that we will need from God the Father to get Him to start this sanctification process within us.
It’s the Word and the Spirit working together in a believer’s life that will get God to start working full force in their life so He can change them into the kind of person He really wants them to become in Him.
Here are several powerful verses from Scripture specifically telling us all of this. The first two verses will tell you that God can literally sanctify you by His Word.
- “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
- ” … that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:26)
- “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:9-12)
- “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3)
- ” … and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21)
- “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
Notice the last verse says that the Word of God can “effectively work in you.” This means when you start reading and studying the Bible in order to gain more knowledge about God – it will start to effectively work in you so you can start to change into the person God will want you to become in Him.
Just think of the power this Book has to dramatically change and transform the quality of your entire life. True inner happiness and fulfillment can only be found on the inside of your being, not on the outside with material things and possessions.
Hollywood is living proof that money, fame, and notoriety will not buy you true inner happiness. There are many in Hollywood who truly have what they think is “all” – yet they are miserable, unhappy, depressed, and go from one shrink to another – all in an effort to try and find what is still missing in their lives and why they cannot seem to find true inner happiness with all of the earthly wealth they have accumulated.
The only way to find true inner happiness in this life is to become saved and born again through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ – and then enter into a dynamic personal relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. From there, you are to start seeking after the knowledge about God and all of His ways by studying and reading the Bible on your own.
The personal relationship you will establish with God, and the knowledge that you will gain about God from reading and studying from the Bible is what will dramatically transform the quality of your life down here on this earth. Nothing else on this earth will do that for you!
5. The Word of God Will Give You Knowledge and Wisdom
The Bible tells us that we are to grow in the knowledge and ways of God. And the number one way in which we will grow in the knowledge of God is by reading and studying from the Bible.
There is no other way! If you do not seek to learn more about the Lord by studying from the Bible, then your spiritual growth in the Lord will stagnate and you will stop growing in Him.
There are no shortcuts to true spiritual growth in the Lord. You have to pay your dues, and those dues are that you have to gain and increase in knowledge about God and all of His ways before the Holy Spirit will start you on the road to true spiritual growth. And the only Book that will give you the knowledge that will cause true spiritual growth to occur in this life is the Bible.
And not only has God given us everything that we will ever need in this one Book – but He has also given us His Holy Spirit, whose main job is to “teach us all things” and to “guide us into all truth.”
Several verses I will list below will tell you that the Holy Spirit Himself will be the One who will personally open up the meaning of Scripture for you so that you can see the knowledge that God the Father is trying to transmit to you through this Holy Book!
This is a direct supernatural work that can be done for you by the Holy Spirit if you are willing to go into a seeking mode with Him when you study the Bible.
Here are several good verses telling us that the Word of God can impart true knowledge and wisdom to us, and that God does want us growing in the knowledge of Him, His Son, and His Holy Spirit.
- “… but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)
- “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45)
- “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)
- “However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth …” (John 16:13)
- Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31)
- “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another …” (Colossians 3:16)
- “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path … The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple … Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.” (Psalm 119:105, 130, 133)
- “My son, give attention to My words; incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.” (Proverbs 4:20)
All of the above verses are showing us how powerful the words that are coming direct from God and Jesus really are. The Word of God can truly change your life for the better – but only if you are willing to spend some good quality time seeking to understand what is in this most incredible Book.
6. The Word of God Will Stand Forever
The last thing you will really need to grasp on the power of the Word of God is that the Word of God will last and stand forever – both in this life and the next life to come, which will be heaven.
Here are 3 very good verses from Scripture telling us that the Word of God is not chained and that it will endure to all generations – both in this life and the next life to come, which means forever!
- “… for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained.” (2 Timothy 2:9)
- “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations …” (Psalm 119:89)
- “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
Not only will your study of Scripture profit you in this life, but it will also profit you in the next life to come – which will be heaven.
I personally believe that we still continue to study the Bible even when we all enter into heaven. I do not believe any one human can truly master the Bible in this lifetime. There is simply way too much knowledge, wisdom, and revelation that is contained in this one Book for any one human to be able to fully grasp all of it in this lifetime.
I believe that the Bible is like a treasure chest that has no bottom to it. And to think that all of this knowledge is contained in just one Book! Only a true God of the entire universe could have put this much knowledge and revelation into one Book.
Conclusion
I will leave you with one last thought. Each Christian must make their own personal decision on this. Once you have become saved and born again by accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior – you now have one of two choices to make.
You can either choose to press in and start seeking after God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by spending regular quality time in the Bible to learn as much as you can about the Three of Them – or you can just leave well enough alone, figure you have as much of God as you will ever need in this life, and go on your merry way living for the world and the things of this world – never increasing your knowledge base about the Lord, and never really growing in the knowledge of God and all of His ways.
I am afraid most Christians in this day and age are taking the latter approach. Most Christians have either never read the Bible in its complete entirety, or have read very little of it in their own personal walks with the Lord.
This is one of the main reasons we have started up this website – to try and show everyone how much working knowledge there really is in the Bible, and how this knowledge can dramatically change and transform the quality of your life.
As I have shown you with all of the above Scripture verses, the Word of God is:
- Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant
- Living, Powerful, and Anointed
- Pure, Solid Truth
- Sharper than Any Two-Edged Sword
- Can Spiritually Nourish Your Mind, Soul and Spirit
- Has the Ability to Sanctify and Cleanse You
- Has the Ability to Teach You, Guide You, and Direct Your Steps in this Life
- And Will Last and Stand Forever – Both in this Life and the Next Life to Come
What more can you ask for in one Book? Bottom line – there is simply no other book on our earth that has this amount of unlimited knowledge direct from God Himself. And it is all there for the taking for anyone who wants to dive in and take the journey.