The opening chapter of the Bible includes the phrase, “And God said,” ten times in describing the creation of the physical universe (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 28, 29). God spoke and it was done; His word has that supreme power. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth…For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:6, 9).
John’s Gospel account opens with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). This “Word” is identified in John 1:14 as Jesus Christ: God in the flesh, “And the Word was made 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.” The Word who made the world entered into His creation as a man.
After He died and rose again, Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus Christ is “the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15). He is king over the universe and all living things within it. The word of the king has power (Ecclesiastes 8:4). Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Jesus Christ upholds, “all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
Unlike this perishing physical universe, God’s Word is eternal (1 Peter 1:24-25). God’s Word was here before the world began (John 1:1-3). God’s Word upholds all things now (Hebrews 1:3). God’s Word will continue to be powerful even until the final judgment. Some dismiss its importance today, “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:5-7). There is nothing of more pertinence to life and death, to final judgment and eternity than the Word of God.
The dynamic force behind the physical universe and all of human history is God’s word. Often people spend their entire lives focused on this physical world around them and what goes on therein without giving attention to the spiritual dynamic which is behind it all: the Word of God. God’s Word gives spiritual, eternal life. Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Jesus’ words will judge us in the last day (John 12:48). The Bible is God’s Word. God breathed every word of it (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God’s Word is more essential to our daily sustenance than even physical food (Matthew 4:4 cf. John 4:34). To go against God’s Word is to go against the eternal plan that extends beyond this world, (before, during, and after it). It is senseless to go against it. Make God’s Word the dominant force in your life.
-Mark Day
Leave a Reply