How would you describe the Word of God, the Bible? History? Knowledge? Information of a spiritual nature? Is it Prophecy? Is it About Law? Is it Stories about keeping or not keeping the Law? Is it a jigsaw puzzle? God’s Word contains all of these elements, but as a whole what does it all mean? What is the substance of the Bible?
In written form, it reads like a Love Story from beginning to end. It’s about the God family’s love for each other, for their creation, and how one member of that family who has a title of the “Word” carried out His love by creating, redeeming, and saving His creation:
We need to remember when we read the Word that Love is its overall context. This is really about words written into our hearts and minds, not on paper. About a life defined by those words, God’s life. We can’t separate the Bible from God Himself.
God is a communicator, and He speaks into the human realm. Since the very beginning, He spoke through His creation, His prophets, His scriptures, through Jesus Christ, and even through the Holy Spirit working in a person’s mind. We can learn to know God better by seeking to hear Him in each way that He communicates.
The Bible also uses this phrase “the Word” specifically as a title for Jesus Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it . . . 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” (John 1:1-5,14).
He was God and He became human and in both cases He has the same title of “the Word”. The Greek for “Word” is Logos which means the expression of a thought. So, Logos can be thought of as the total message of God to Humanity. Christ embodied the total message which is why He is called Logos or the Word of God. That message is recorded in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation revealing the true nature of God, love, just as if He was speaking to us face to face.
The Word serves as God’s spokesman identifying the One whom God uses to convey information or instructions. “For I (Jesus) have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak” (John 12: 49-50).
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power . . .” (Hebrews 1:1–3 ESV).
Jesus reveals who God the Father is, what His character and nature is. He repeatedly points to scripture and the scripture points to Christ, yet the people were not willing to come to Jesus as their Messiah. He did not fit their mold: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5: 39–40).
Many people today focus on the person of Jesus and ignore the rest of the supporting scripture calling it “Old” and by doing so are missing out of some key information and understanding of God’s nature and how He is dealing with mankind. Paul says to Timothy that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16). In John 17:17 Christ prays saying “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
“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. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12–13). The words God speaks is living and active. “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
So, there is an important link between the written word of God and God Himself – that He and His family’s nature and character is the main subject of everything that is written in the pages of scripture. He identifies the purpose of His creation and mankind’s future in it with Him. The “good news” has been available for centuries; however, mankind has not profited from it. “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard” (Hebrews 4:2).
Jesus is also described in the book of Revelation as a conquering King: “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. . . He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Revelation 19:11,13–15). The nations will be corrected and retrained by the Word of God for their good, “they will learn war no more” (Isaiah 2.4; Micah 4.3).
Words can have a dramatic penetrating effect on those that hear them. At some point more will hear and understand if their hearts are willing. God is the One who searches the minds and hearts to discern who is willing to hear Him: “I, the Lord, search the heart, test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:10).
We cannot separate God from His Word. Two-way communication with God is important in creating harmony with Him and gaining His perspective. God wants a connection with us; His desire is for us to know Him and His righteousness. “‘For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,’ Says the Lord. ‘But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word'” (Isaiah 66:2). “But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24).
Proper communication begins with studying scripture in order to become familiar with our Creator’s heart and mind. Being like a Berean is a good beginning: “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).
Scripture reveals who God is. What He loves and what He hates. What He hates is a nature and character that is contrary to peaceful relationships with Him and each other: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).
He is a God of love who desires peace, eternal peaceful relationships and the fruits thereof: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22–23).
So why do so many human beings choose to act on the “works of the flesh” instead of embracing the “fruit of the Spirit”? Where is Love?
Tim Vail