Post by WatchmanRay on Jun 19, 2011 8:32:19 GMT -5
Many make the unfortunate mistake of taking the Bible to be the “WORD” of God. It is God’s word, but it is not “THE WORD”! This is not a play on words designed to confuse you, but rather it is a coming out of a truth that is vitally needed in the believer’s life. John 1:1 clearly tells us that the WORD was in the beginning with God and that the Word WAS GOD! We all know that the bible ISN’T God, but the Scriptures reveal that the WORD IS GOD! What we are seeing is a clear distinction being made by the Scriptures to indicate that the WORD OF GOD and God’s Word are two separate things although they agree in every way.
God is the Word and is a Living Supernatural Being, where the bible is a “record” of what the Living Supernatural Being – God – The WORD has said and done. This is important to note, because God can never and will never be replaced by any book regardless of its content. Many well meaning teachers and preachers over the years have unfortunately misinformed sincere believers that were seeking God concerning this truth.
Let’s take a look at some of the things that I have heard over the years and I’m sure you could come up with many more, but maybe some of these will be familiar to you as well:
God doesn’t talk to us anymore
God has told us everything we need to know right here in this book
The Bible is the voice of God for us today
The Bible is the only Word of God that we have today
The Bible has God’s final words and thought on everything for our life
If you can’t show it to me in the Bible, then it isn’t God
Even, “The study notes from the Spirit-Filled Life Bible, of which Pastor Jack Hayford served as General Editor, states this: “The absolute authority of the Bible over our lives is based in our conviction that this Book does not merely contain the Word of God, but that it is the Word of God in its sum and in its parts.”
There are many that may disagree with this truth, but they are unable to support their objections with the Scripture. There are at least 242 verses in the Old Testament that state “the Word of the Lord” with most identifying the Word of the Lord as being one that has come and/or said. The description of the actions of the “Word of the Lord” can’t be attributed to an inanimate object such as a book. Let’s take a look at these Scripture verses and let you draw your own conclusions. Here are some of the Scripture verses:
Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. (Hudson note: This is not an angel or it would say angel as in other places. Here the Word came and said. This is not a book).
Genesis 15:3-4 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
1 Samuel 15:10 Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
2 Samuel 7:4 … that night, the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying,
2 Samuel 24:11 … the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
1 Kings 6:11 And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying,
1 Kings 16:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani … saying,
1 Kings 21:28 And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
2 Chronicles 11:2 But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
Jeremiah 35:12 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Ezekiel 38:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ezekiel 37:15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
NOTE: In these instances the Scriptures reveal that the WORD OF THE LORD CAME unto them SAYING. These are things that a being does and not a book.
2 Kings 3:11-12 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
NOTE: Jehoshaphat was not saying that Elisha was packing a bible; he was saying that the WORD (God) was with him (Elisha) and that they could enquire of the Lord through him.
To see the confirmation in Scripture let’s take a look at the verses that gives an overview of the account in Genesis concerning creation:
Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, and 26
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Who did all of the creating and saying? ________________
Why are these verses so important at this juncture? Because the WORD is given credit for being in the beginning and being with God and being God who made all things and for any honest and serious believer they would have to agree that this account of “The Word” CANNOT possibly BE A BOOK!
John 1:1-3 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.
This accomplishment of the Word that is recorded in the bible in John 1 tells us plainly that ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM – Him whom? John tells us that this individual is, “THE WORD”. We commonly say God or Jesus, but the Scriptures declare plainly that it was the Word. With this we need to understand that the Word is God and Jesus was the Word made flesh.
John 1:14 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.
John 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
John 1:14 tells us plainly that the ___________ was made flesh; and that flesh that He became was ________________.
NOTE: The “only begotten of the Father” is JESUS. This tells us exactly who the Word became when He was made flesh. This is confirmed in the next verse as it states that “John bare witness of Him”. It literally states that John bore witness of the Word that was made flesh and in the Scriptures it identifies that the one that John bore witness to was Jesus. There is no mistaking the evidence that The Word that was in the beginning with God and the Word that was God became the flesh man that we know as Jesus. These verses clearly indicate that the “only begotten” Son of God is Jesus.
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
I can’t see anyone mistakenly thinking that there is no difference between Jesus and the bible. Jesus is the Word and the Word became the flesh man Jesus that loved us, gave Himself for us by dying on the cross for our sin, He was buried into the tomb and arose again after three days and three nights in the belly of the earth, He returned to the Father sending us the Holy Spirit to be with us forever. That is the Word of God that we speak about, not a book that is the record of the Covenants and the actions of the Word of God, which we call the bible. The Word is all powerful, loving, kind, gentle, merciful, gracious, everlasting, spirit, etc… As much as I love the bible and what has been recorded in it, it is not the person of God known as THE WORD.
(On your own read Colossians 1:1-29)
Another confirmation of this truth concerning Jesus and the Word is in the Epistle that Paul wrote to the Colossians:
Colossians 1:14-17 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
The preponderance of evidence throughout the Scriptures declares that the WORD is God and not a book. I understand how precious the bible is to all believers and it should be protected and preserved, but it MUST NOT REPLACE GOD – THE WORD! I am not taking away from the important contribution that the bible makes to every believers life when understood by the Holy Spirit, but let’s simply slow down and realize that God existed as the WORD in the beginning and the bible tells the accurate story of the accounts of God’s doings and sayings for all to research, study, see and read. We can be confident that the record that the Holy men of God recorded in the bible is true and accurate as God inspired them to give us a book of remembrance.
Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name
One thing that is overlooked by many is the fact that the bible had not even began to be written until Moses came along AFTER the ISRAELITE CAPTIVITY IN EGYPT! How did the Word of the Lord function and do what He did before all of that? Who was communicating the things that God wanted man to do to God’s people? Obviously, according to the Scriptures that I provided earlier we understand that it was the “WORD” of the Lord that came to them saying. They were hearing directly from God and not reading out of a bible or scrolls of God that didn’t even exist at that point in time.
Let’s recall a few of these events:
Adam and Eve were in the garden with God talking –
The trial that took place after the fall of man –
Cain slew Abel –
Enoch walks with God and gets so close God takes him with Him –
Noah is given specific instructions on how to build the Ark from the Word of the Lord and guess what? NO BIBLE
We see Abraham – Isaac – Jacob – Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah - That’s right NO BIBLE!
From Adam and Eve we have God communicating with His creation through the WORD of the Lord and yet it is nearly 2500 years later that God speaks to Moses and he writes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch, which are the first five books of the bible. Mind boggling isn’t it. These first five books given to Moses came from the Word of the Lord, Himself. The WORD of God can’t possibly be restricted to or replaced by the bible.
God is the Word and is a Living Supernatural Being, where the bible is a “record” of what the Living Supernatural Being – God – The WORD has said and done. This is important to note, because God can never and will never be replaced by any book regardless of its content. Many well meaning teachers and preachers over the years have unfortunately misinformed sincere believers that were seeking God concerning this truth.
Let’s take a look at some of the things that I have heard over the years and I’m sure you could come up with many more, but maybe some of these will be familiar to you as well:
God doesn’t talk to us anymore
God has told us everything we need to know right here in this book
The Bible is the voice of God for us today
The Bible is the only Word of God that we have today
The Bible has God’s final words and thought on everything for our life
If you can’t show it to me in the Bible, then it isn’t God
Even, “The study notes from the Spirit-Filled Life Bible, of which Pastor Jack Hayford served as General Editor, states this: “The absolute authority of the Bible over our lives is based in our conviction that this Book does not merely contain the Word of God, but that it is the Word of God in its sum and in its parts.”
There are many that may disagree with this truth, but they are unable to support their objections with the Scripture. There are at least 242 verses in the Old Testament that state “the Word of the Lord” with most identifying the Word of the Lord as being one that has come and/or said. The description of the actions of the “Word of the Lord” can’t be attributed to an inanimate object such as a book. Let’s take a look at these Scripture verses and let you draw your own conclusions. Here are some of the Scripture verses:
Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. (Hudson note: This is not an angel or it would say angel as in other places. Here the Word came and said. This is not a book).
Genesis 15:3-4 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
1 Samuel 15:10 Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
2 Samuel 7:4 … that night, the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying,
2 Samuel 24:11 … the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
1 Kings 6:11 And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying,
1 Kings 16:1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani … saying,
1 Kings 21:28 And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
2 Chronicles 11:2 But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
Jeremiah 35:12 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Ezekiel 38:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ezekiel 37:15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
NOTE: In these instances the Scriptures reveal that the WORD OF THE LORD CAME unto them SAYING. These are things that a being does and not a book.
2 Kings 3:11-12 But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
NOTE: Jehoshaphat was not saying that Elisha was packing a bible; he was saying that the WORD (God) was with him (Elisha) and that they could enquire of the Lord through him.
To see the confirmation in Scripture let’s take a look at the verses that gives an overview of the account in Genesis concerning creation:
Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, and 26
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Genesis 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Genesis 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Who did all of the creating and saying? ________________
Why are these verses so important at this juncture? Because the WORD is given credit for being in the beginning and being with God and being God who made all things and for any honest and serious believer they would have to agree that this account of “The Word” CANNOT possibly BE A BOOK!
John 1:1-3 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.
This accomplishment of the Word that is recorded in the bible in John 1 tells us plainly that ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM – Him whom? John tells us that this individual is, “THE WORD”. We commonly say God or Jesus, but the Scriptures declare plainly that it was the Word. With this we need to understand that the Word is God and Jesus was the Word made flesh.
John 1:14 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.
John 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
John 1:14 tells us plainly that the ___________ was made flesh; and that flesh that He became was ________________.
NOTE: The “only begotten of the Father” is JESUS. This tells us exactly who the Word became when He was made flesh. This is confirmed in the next verse as it states that “John bare witness of Him”. It literally states that John bore witness of the Word that was made flesh and in the Scriptures it identifies that the one that John bore witness to was Jesus. There is no mistaking the evidence that The Word that was in the beginning with God and the Word that was God became the flesh man that we know as Jesus. These verses clearly indicate that the “only begotten” Son of God is Jesus.
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
I can’t see anyone mistakenly thinking that there is no difference between Jesus and the bible. Jesus is the Word and the Word became the flesh man Jesus that loved us, gave Himself for us by dying on the cross for our sin, He was buried into the tomb and arose again after three days and three nights in the belly of the earth, He returned to the Father sending us the Holy Spirit to be with us forever. That is the Word of God that we speak about, not a book that is the record of the Covenants and the actions of the Word of God, which we call the bible. The Word is all powerful, loving, kind, gentle, merciful, gracious, everlasting, spirit, etc… As much as I love the bible and what has been recorded in it, it is not the person of God known as THE WORD.
(On your own read Colossians 1:1-29)
Another confirmation of this truth concerning Jesus and the Word is in the Epistle that Paul wrote to the Colossians:
Colossians 1:14-17 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
The preponderance of evidence throughout the Scriptures declares that the WORD is God and not a book. I understand how precious the bible is to all believers and it should be protected and preserved, but it MUST NOT REPLACE GOD – THE WORD! I am not taking away from the important contribution that the bible makes to every believers life when understood by the Holy Spirit, but let’s simply slow down and realize that God existed as the WORD in the beginning and the bible tells the accurate story of the accounts of God’s doings and sayings for all to research, study, see and read. We can be confident that the record that the Holy men of God recorded in the bible is true and accurate as God inspired them to give us a book of remembrance.
Malachi 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name
One thing that is overlooked by many is the fact that the bible had not even began to be written until Moses came along AFTER the ISRAELITE CAPTIVITY IN EGYPT! How did the Word of the Lord function and do what He did before all of that? Who was communicating the things that God wanted man to do to God’s people? Obviously, according to the Scriptures that I provided earlier we understand that it was the “WORD” of the Lord that came to them saying. They were hearing directly from God and not reading out of a bible or scrolls of God that didn’t even exist at that point in time.
Let’s recall a few of these events:
Adam and Eve were in the garden with God talking –
The trial that took place after the fall of man –
Cain slew Abel –
Enoch walks with God and gets so close God takes him with Him –
Noah is given specific instructions on how to build the Ark from the Word of the Lord and guess what? NO BIBLE
We see Abraham – Isaac – Jacob – Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah - That’s right NO BIBLE!
From Adam and Eve we have God communicating with His creation through the WORD of the Lord and yet it is nearly 2500 years later that God speaks to Moses and he writes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch, which are the first five books of the bible. Mind boggling isn’t it. These first five books given to Moses came from the Word of the Lord, Himself. The WORD of God can’t possibly be restricted to or replaced by the bible.