Who God is
110. God – The Word
John 1:1-2 says,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He was in the beginning with God.”
Notice that this verse makes an astonishing claim! It says that the Word IS God!
John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth.”
Notice that this verse makes an astonishing claim! It says that the Word IS Jesus who became
flesh like you and me! Jesus IS
the WORD and He became a man like you and me!
I believe that there is a rule that you can use when reading the
Bible. When you see the word ‘WORD’ or ‘COMMAND’ (of God), you can substitute it with the
word ‘JESUS’. And when you see the word ‘JESUS’, you can also substitute it for the word
‘WORD OF GOD’.
The Hebrew language has no word for ‘WORD’.
Instead, it uses a word known as DAVAR for WORD.
‘Davar’ means
“the real thing.” The Word is the
real thing! In the beginning was
the DAVAR, the real thing!
Just stop and think about this for a moment and worship Him!
Mary said,
“Be it unto me according to thy Word.”
When the angel
spoke to Mary that she would be pregnant and it would be supernatural, even
though she was a virgin, she said, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
(Luke 1:34). The angel said, “For
with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37). Luke 1:37 literally means (in the original text) that each
time God speaks a personal Word, it has in it the power to produce what it
says.
Luke 1:37-38 says, “For with God nothing will be impossible. (That
means that all rhema has the power in it to fulfill what it says). Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant
of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed
from her.”
There are two words in the New Testament for the Word of God.
Logos: This
represents the entire Word of God as it was inspired by the Holy Spirit and
written by the hands of God’s servants.
Rhema: This means a personalized word spoken directly to you. This is when the Holy Spirit takes a
portion of the Logos and makes it personal for your life today.
Oh, if we could only get a hold of this
truth, we would spend more and more time fellowshipping with Jesus the Word
until thousands of seeds of the Word were planted in our hearts. Then these seeds would produce what
they say!
Some facts
about The Word:
1. Matthew 24:35 says,
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will by no means pass away.”
2. Hebrews 1:3 (Amplified
Bible) says in part that “the Word upholds, maintains, guides and propels the
universe by HIS MIGHTY WORD OF POWER.”
3. John 1:1-3, 14 (Amplified
Bible) says, “In the beginning
[before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God. All things were made
and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing
made that has come into being. 14
And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed
His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His
honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his
father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.” But no one recognized Him. Isaiah 53 says that when He comes, that
no one will think that He is worth anything. He was despised, rejected, one from whom men hid their
faces, seemed to have no worth or esteem. Most people still do not think that
The Word is worth anything!
4. How The Word works.
It is a seed. It does
not make noise. It contains
life. It contains the very race
and spirit of the speaker. Luke 8
and Mark 4 tell us about the Word.
The Word is sown in our hearts and the Devil comes to steal it. How? By taking advantage of the various conditions of our heart.
a.
The hard heart, the road.
At once Satan takes away the message which is sown in this type of “soil.” Some people are just shallow and don’t
care.
b.
The stony ground. These
people receive and accept at first.
But they have no real root. When trouble and persecution arise for the
Word’s sake, they become offended, displeased, indignant, and resentful; they
stumble and fall away. The Word is
lost. Some people can’t stand the
heat. They can’t see anything
growing right away, so they give up.
c.
Thorns. The Word takes and
grows but it is choked by cares, anxieties, distractions, pleasures, delights
and false glamour. Deceit of
riches, craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke the Word. Some people give in to peer pressure
and their desire to be popular and to have things. So the reason we do not believe others and do not believe
God’s Word is because of the condition of our heart. The reason we think others are lying when they are being
honest is because we are that way.
The reason we have a hard time believing God is because we cannot
believe ourselves.
d.
Good soil brings forth fruit; it does not depend on good weather, but
good soil. Luke 8 says good soil
is an honest, virtuous, just, noble and worthy heart. It produces 30, 60, 100 times the normal amount.
5. What Psalm 119 says about
the Word:
God commanded us to keep it in our hearts; The Word directs our
ways; We will not be put to shame; God will not forsake us; We keep our way
cleansed with the Word; That the Word will become more to us than all the
riches; I will see wondrous things in the Word; God gave us His Word so we
would not feel like strangers on the earth; God rebukes the proud and arrogant
who wander from the Word; The Word counsels me and delights me; The Word
revives and stimulates me (vs. 25); When I meditate in the Word I understand God’s
wonders; The Word will strengthen me when my life seems like it is dissolving,
hopeless; The Word will remove me from the way of falsehood; I have to choose the way of truth and
set the Word before me; God will give me a heart willing to run the way of the
Word; The Word will keep me safe from idols; The Word is only for those that
fear and worship God; The Word will turn away my reproach; The Word will renew
my life; The Word will bring me God’s salvation, keep me safe and heal me; It
will give an answer to those who taunt and reproach me (vs. 42); The Word will
give me liberty and freedom (vs. 45); It will keep me from being put to shame;
The Word brings hope and God’s will to my life; The Word will comfort and
console me in my affliction; The Word will heal and deliver from danger, it
will provide for your needs, it will comfort and speak to you, it will be with
you in danger, it will keep you from danger; When enemies attack the Word keeps
me safe; God’s favor and grace comes through the Word; It teaches me good
judgment, wise discernment and knowledge; It will keep us from going astray; It
will keep us safe when the wicked lie about us (vs. 69); The Word is better
than gold and silver; We were made to hear the Word; The Word gives hope, but
sometimes we have to wait and be still for it; The Word is hidden for those
that seek; God’s tender mercies come though the Word; It will make my heart blameless, sincere and
wholehearted; Even though I suffer sometimes, that is when I know to turn to
the Word; The Word is faithful and sure; Forever, the Word is settled in Heaven
(vs. 89); Unless I had been in the Word I would have perished; It kept me safe
when the wicked came after me; Everything has its limits expect for the Word
(vs. 96); It makes me wiser than my enemies; It gives me more insight than even
my teachers; I can keep that Word only when I stay honest; The Word is sweet; The Word is a lamp
unto my feet and light to my path; The Word heals and gives me life; The Word gives me joy; The Word is a hiding
place; I need to stay in good company of friends so that I may keep the Word;
The Word is better than anything conceived by man (vs. 129); It gives
understanding and comprehension to the simple; The Word keeps evil from
overtaking me; The Word is pure and I love it; Even when I am in trouble the
Word brings me delight; The Word binds me to eternity [It transfers the Life of
God to me]; I have childlike trust in Your Word; The Word brings God near to
me, nearer than my foes; It seems that when the writer was in trouble the Word
meant more to him; The wicked cannot work things out because they are far from
the Word; All of God’s Word endures forever; I rejoice at the Word as one who
has found a treasure; The Word causes me to praise Him; The Word causes God to
hear us and deliver us; It causes God’s hand to be ready to help; Even when I
go astray like a lost sheep, the Word stays in me to bring me back to God; Since the Word of God is the only
stable thing, then we need to measure all other words against God’s or their
character against God’s character.
Now open your Bible to Psalm 119 and read it yourself in this way.
6. What will the Word
do?
When Satan heard the Word in the Garden, he was defeated. When Pharaoh heard the Word, he let
God’s people go. When Moses heard
the Word, the Red Sea split. When
the walls of Jericho heard the Word, they fell. When Gideon heard the Word, his outnumbered forces
slaughtered the enemy. When Samuel
heard the Word, he wasn’t sure who it was. When Ellijah heard the Word, he raised the dead, stopped the
rain, and started it again. When
Naaman obeyed the Word, his leprosy was cleansed. When Goliath heard the Word, he was felled by a stone and a
youth. When Jehoshaphat heard the
Word, his enemies defeated themselves with a battle. When Nehemiah heard the Word, the temple and the wall were
rebuilt in record time. When
Esther heard the Word, she saved an entire nation. When Job heard the Word, even his suffering was worth it, he
saw God and his fortune was restored.
When David heard the Word, he was comforted, made safe and forgiven from
the worst crimes a man could commit.
When Solomon heard the Word, it was worth more than all the silver and
gold. When the maiden in Song of
Solomon heard the Word, she fell in love with her eternal lover. When Isaiah heard the Word, his lips
were cleansed and he foretold of a Savior who would die for our sins. When Jeremiah heard the Word, Israel
had to become slaves due to their sin, but then their slave masters were overthrown. When Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego saw the Word, He was with them in their fiery furnaces of life. When Daniel saw the Word, He had shut
the lions’ mouths. When Ezekiel
and the other prophets heard the Word, they saw the coming King who would save
them from their enemies.
When the blind man was touched by the Word, he saw. When the leper was touched by the Word,
he was clean. When demons saw the
Word, they fled. When the
Centurion heard the Word, his servant was healed. When the adulterous woman saw
the Word, she was forgiven. When
the prostitute touched the Word, she was made clean and loved much. When John
the Baptist saw the Word, he saw the lamb who would take away our sins. When
John saw the Word the first time, he saw God’s Word become flesh. When the
religious people saw the Word, they argued with Him and called Him demon
possessed. When the crowds saw the Word, they considered Him of no value and
traded his life for a thief’s.
They executed Him with the punishment of a criminal. Although He spoke this world into
being, they did not recognize Him as that bloody mess on the Cross.
When John saw the Word, in the Book of Revelation, he saw a
victorious One who conquered death, hell, and the grave; the One who was raised
from the dead clothed with a robe which reached to His feet and with a girdle
of gold about His breast, His head and His hair were white as snow and His eyes
flashed like a flame of fire, His feet glowed like burnished bright bronze as
it is refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many
waters. When Satan sees the
resurrected Word, he sees that He Is The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His eyes blaze like a flame of fire and
on His head are many kingly crowns.
At every one of our “final” battles in this life Satan sees Him with a
sword in His mouth on a white horse, dressed in a robe dyed in blood and the
title by which He is called is THE WORD OF GOD.
E.W. Kenyon makes some important comments about the Word of God in
his book “New Creation Realities,” page 5-12.
This quote is copyrighted material used
by permission only from Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society.
THE LIVING WORD
Our attitude
toward the Word determines the place that God holds in our daily life.
The Word should
always be the Father speaking to us. It should never be like the message from
an ordinary book. It should be as
real to you as though the Master stood in the room and spoke to you
personally. This Word was
designed by the Father to take Jesus' place in His absence. When He says, "The Father Himself
loveth you," it is a personal message to your heart. When the Master said again, "If a
man love me, he will keep my word; and the Father and I will love him and make
our home with him," that should be as personal as though you were the only
one in the world. It is as though
you were sitting at the feet of Jesus, and He looked down into your face and
said, "The Father and I will come and make our home with you. Be not
dismayed, for I am your God. I am going to be your strength; I am going to lend
to you my own ability. When
weakness comes, remember that I am the strength of your life. When you need
finances, remember that I said, 'My Father knoweth that you have need of all
these things'." You can whisper to your own heart, "My Father will
supply every need of mine. He
knows my needs and loves me. He
and I are one." Man's word is usually dead before the printer has finished
his work. Few words of man live
after a generation, but God's Word is different. It is impregnated with the very Life of God; it is eternal.
Heb. 4:12-13
gives us an illustration: (Moffatt's Translation) "For the Logos of God is
a living thing, active and more cutting than any sword with double edge,
penetrating to the very division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow –
scrutinizing the very thoughts and conceptions of the heart. And no created thing is hidden from
him; all things lie open and exposed before the eyes of him with whom we have
to reckon." This is one of the strangest statements about the Word in
Paul's Epistles. Notice this 13th verse: "That no created thing is hidden
from him." Of whom is he speaking? The living Word the Logos. "And
all things lie open and exposed before the eyes of him with whom we have to
do." The Word takes on personality; it becomes Christ Himself. Our contact
with the Master, then, is through His Word. And do notice, "the eyes of
Him." The Word then has eyes.
It sees our conduct and our attitude toward it. It is a living thing.
How deeply that
should impress us. I hold in my hands a Book with the very Life of God in it, a
Book that scrutinizes my conduct; that judges me; a Book that feeds this inner
man, my Spirit. It imparts Faith to my Spirit, builds Love into it. God's only
means of reaching me is through His Word.
So the Word becomes a vital thing. It has been rather difficult for some
of us to grasp the fact that during the first century, the Christian Church did
not have our New Testament.
The first
epistle that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians was the beginning of the New
Testament. It was written seventeen years after his conversion. 1 Thess. 2:13,
"Wherefore I also give continual thanks to God, because, when you heard
from me the Spoken Word of God, you received it not as the word of man, but, as
it is in truth, the Word of God who Himself works effectively in you that
believe" (Conybeare). Notice, it was "the Spoken Word" that was
all they had; whether Paul gave it, or Peter, or John, or any of the Apostles,
it was God speaking through human lips. It had not yet been put into writing.
Now you can better understand Acts 19:20, telling of that great revival at
Ephesus Luke used this expression, "So mightily grew the Word of the Lord
and prevailed." It was the Spoken Word. The Pauline Revelation was only
known to those had heard him. The other Apostles did not have it. They had what the Spirit gave them to
meet the emergency of the hour. It is a fact that Christianity is what the Word
says about Redemption, about the Body of Christ or the New Creation. We become
Christlike in the measure that the Word prevails in us. The Word is Christ
revealed. The Word is God present with us, speaking the Living Message of the
Loving Father God. The Word is always NOW. It is His Word to me today. It is His voice, His last message
during the first century, the New Testament. It becomes a Living thing in my heart as I lovingly act upon
it. It becomes a Living thing on the lips of Love. It has no power on the lips of those whose lives are out of
fellowship with Him, who live in the reason realm. His Word makes our ministry limitless. His Word is what He
is. It is the mind of the Father. It is the Will of the Father. It shows the
way to the Father. The Word is the Father speaking. You notice that it is
always in the present tense. The Word is the Bread of Heaven, food for our
spirits. Matt. 4:4, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Jer. 15:16 says, "Thy words were found, and I did eat
them. Thy words were unto me a joy and rejoicing of my heart." Job tells us how precious the Word is
to him. Job 23:12, "I have
not gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured up the words
of his mouth more than my necessary food."
When a child of
God looks upon the Word as Job did, then it becomes a Reality in his daily
life.
Job had no
Written Word; he had the Word spoken by angels. We have the Written Word. We have it printed in many forms so we
may carry it in our pocket. How
little we have appreciated the value of His message. Ps. 107:20, "He sent
His Word and healed them."
That Living Word that He sent was Jesus. Mark 16:19-20, "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had
spoken unto them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand
of God. And they went forth, and
preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the
signs that followed." Notice
that the Lord worked with them. I
believe that a revival would break out almost anywhere if the Lord worked with
those who preach, and if the Word was as real to them as the Spoken Word was
real to the Early Church. But the
word of man has gained the ascendancy and has more authority than His Word has
today. He confirms the Word today
everywhere that it is preached. I want you to notice how the Father makes the
Word good in the lives of men and women as they dare to act upon it. In the
closing sentence of the Gospel of Matthew, "Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the age," the believer can be sure that though he be forsaken
by all others, there is One who will stand by him.
But the thing
that has most deeply impressed my heart is the Reality of God in the Word.
He is not only
in the Word, but HE breathes HIS very life through it as it is unfolded. He said, "Where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." He is in the midst of them in the
Word. Jesus said, "If ye love
me, the Father and I will come and make our home with you" (John
14:23). If we could only realize
that when we open the Word, it is a Living Thing that we are implanting in the
hearts of men. The Word is God
present with us speaking the Living Message of the Living Father God. It is the NOW Word from Him to me. It is His voice. It becomes a living thing in the heart
of Faith. In Romans 10:8 it is called the "Word of God." It is His Word that gives birth to
faith in the believer. It is God's
faith expressed. You see, He is a Faith God and He always uses
words to do things. Heb. 11:3,
"By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the Word of
God." Hear Him whisper,
"By myself have I sworn" (Gen. 22:16). He was in the Word.
The Word was a part of Him.
You cannot separate a man from his words; neither can you separate the
Father from His Words.
How it thrilled
me when I read Hebrews 7:22 that Jesus is the surety of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the Word, and He is
the surety of the Word. The Word was
a living fact when Jesus spoke it.
It is still a living fact.
Jesus was a part of all He said; He and His Word were one. Jesus is just as real now as He was the
day He arose from the dead. His
Word is just as real now as when He inspired John or Peter or Paul to write
it. What He said was a part of
Himself. Reality throbs in it,
flows through it, lives in it. The
Word was; the Word is now what it was then. Here are some other assurances: Ps. 23:1, "The Lord is
my shepherd."
In John 10:14
Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd."
Isa. 41:10,
"Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy
god."
Romans 8:31,
"If God is for you, who can be against you."
Phil. 4:13,
"I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me."
Ps. 27:1,
"God is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"
Phil. 4:19,
"My God shall supply every need of yours according his riches in glory in
Christ Jesus."
Ps. 121 :1-2,
"My help cometh from the Lord."
Ps. 84:5,
"My strength is in Him."
Ps. 62:5-8,
"God is my refuge."
These are Living
Words, and as you feed on them they build you up.
The knowledge of
what Christ is and has done for you personally, builds faith in you. When I turn to the Word and read it as
His message to me, He confirms that message in my life. He confirmed the covenant made with
Abraham. He confirmed the Word
that Jesus spoke through the Apostles (Mark 16:20). Jesus said in John 14:15, "If ye love me, you will keep
my commandments." What was
His commandment? That we love one
another. He that loveth me and keepeth My Word, life it is, you see, that the
Father loves. Here are some other facts that we ought to remember. John 16:8-11,
"When He (the Spirit) is come, He will convict the world of sin, of
righteousness and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on Me; of
righteousness, because I go unto the Father; of judgment, because the prince of
this world is judged." What
is going to convince the world? Words in the lips of Faith. Only that Living
Word in the lips of Faith can take the place of an absent Christ. The Word talks to us. It takes the place of Jesus. The Word
is the Father speaking to us now. It has the same authority that it would have
if the Master stood in the room and spoke it. Faith in the Father is Faith in His Word. The Word takes on
all that our Faith demands. Jesus said, "According to your faith, so be it
unto you." As you consider
the Word and act upon it, it will become real to you. This Book, the Living Word, has God in it. The Word takes the place of the unseen
Jesus. Meditation in the Word is
like a visit with Jesus. In Josh. 1:8, God told Joshua to meditate in the Word
day and night; in other words, to live in it. Jesus said in John 8:31, "Abide in my word." The Word gets into your blood, into
your system and becomes a part of you.
The Word is inspired. Holy
men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, as they were borne along in
their spirit life. God spoke by the mouth of the holy prophets.
"The
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."
Every word
that God speaks has life in it. Remember Heb. 4:12, "The Logos of God is a
Living Thing." It is not like
man's words which die after a generation; God's Word lives. I love to think of it as the "prevailing
Word," as it was in Ephesus.
How it ruled over that wicked city!
Today the
Logos of God is ruling in the hearts of those who yield to its way.
The Word has the
authority of God in it now. It has the Righteousness of God in it. It has
Recreating power for the unsaved. It has healing power for the sick. It is the
very Bread of Heaven to the hungry in spirit.
I wish that
it could be like this: that when you pick up the Word it will mean that God is
present with you and that the Word is His attitude toward you now. It is His attitude toward sin, toward
Redemption, toward Righteousness, toward Eternal Life, toward the Sons and
Daughters of God. That is the Father's attitude toward all the issues of
life. My word is my will. The Word is the Will of the Father. God watches over His Word. What God
says is, becomes. God is Truth, so I will be true. God is Light, so I will walk
in the Light. You see, we learn to
act on the Word, as we act on the word of a banker or a lawyer in some crisis
in our life. I wonder if you ever
realized that the Father is jealous over His Word. He never set a low estimate upon it. He holds it in the highest regard. If He said it, that ends it. To His
enemies, it is but paper and ink; but to the Lovers, it is Life and health; it
is joy unspeakable. The preaching that produces little conviction, is caused by
the Word not having been in the heart of the teacher. We are to be sewers of
the Word. Jesus gave us in Matt.
13 a marvelous picture of the art of preaching.
It is
sowing the Word. It falls upon all
kinds of hearts, but the irrigation of the soil is dependent upon the sower.
If we irrigate
it with prayer and sometimes with tears, it is bound to bring forth a harvest.
Some of us forget the Word in hard places. Unconsciously, we walk by
sight. The senses take the reality
away from the Word, but as the spirit gains the ascendancy over the senses, the
Word once more has its place. Remember, your word is you. You must learn to say, "I gave my
word; I must keep it, no matter what it costs." If your word is of no
value, you will reason that the Word of God is of no value. I have found that
unbelief in the Word of God is largely because of people's lack of faith in
their own word. If you want to build the highest type of faith, be a faithful
person yourself. Believe in your
own word. Establish a reputation for truth; then the Word will be that to you
in your life. Here are some little facts that may mean much to your life. The
Word is on my hands. What am I
going to do with it? Am I going to act upon it, let it govern my life, or will
I just study it?
Will I sit in the Bible class and
study it and then go back to my room and study it but not live it? Nor let it
become a part of my life, but just an intellectual exercise? The Word is taking
the Master's place in my life. What I do with the Word will determine what the
Word will do to me one of these days. The Word will work in me, building Jesus'
life in me, building Life, Faith, Love, Grace and strength into me, or else it
will judge me in the last day.
What will it do
for me? It will work for me. If I
preach it and live it, it will work for me. It will reveal the very riches of my inheritance to me. It will give me courage to enter into
and enjoy my inheritance. It will
build the Master's steadfastness into me. The very character of Christ will be
built into me, and only He knows what it will do through me. It has saved the lost; it has healed
the sick; it has built faith and love in multitudes. Let the Word of Christ then dwell in you richly. You can so soak in the Word and the
Word so soak in you, that your word and God's Word become blended into
one. It will be your language and
your words, but it will be His Word.
His Word in you becomes a part of you. It has made you what you are; it will make others like
you. You are lost in the Word, but
the Word is found in you. The Word became Flesh once. It is becoming spirit in your spirit. The Word dwells richly in your
practice, in your conversation, in your prayer, in your convictions. You are using the Word to cast out
diseases, to bring money to people, to save lost souls. This Word and you have
become one.
You remember
that for more than fifty years after Christ's death, the Written Word was known
only in a very limited way.
The New Testament wasn't brought together until the middle of
the second century. The Words that Jesus spoke were not yet written. It was the "Spoken
Word." They were a part of
Christ and they breathed Christ's Nature.
Remember, the Word of God liveth and abideth. All right, speak the Word and it will live in the lives of
men who hear you. He said,
"I watch over my Word."
He will watch over the Word you preach and teach.
Jesus said, "If my words are living in you and you are
speaking them, I will live in them as they pass from your lips." The Word of Christ becomes a Living
thing in your lips. Speak the Word
fearlessly.
This quote is copyrighted material used by permission only from
Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society.
This lesson is the sole property of ISOB. It may not be altered or edited in any
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