In the OT, the verb and noun forms are used hundreds of times for human and divine speaking, with “The Lord has spoken” being many of those. The very first chapter relates: “And God said . . .” several times as He spoke the universe into existence.
This alone demonstrates the power of God’s Word. What He says is truth, commands the weather, puts evil to flight, blesses and curses, makes promises and changes lives. He calls people to listen to Him and tells His prophets to speak on His behalf. All humanity will be held responsible to God because His word is not secret and the truth of His work has been made manifest to all creation:
Isaiah 45:19. “I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right.”
Romans 1:20. “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
God makes plain how His people are to live and what He does not want for us. These are some examples among many:
Jeremiah 29:13. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
Luke 10:27. “And (Jesus) answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
Zechariah 8:17. “Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”
The NT uses “logos” to express many forms of communication. In Greco-Roman literary culture, this term stood for the spoken word, “a message,” as well as what one does, “a deed.” The Synoptic Gospels identify Jesus as one who proclaimed the “logos of God,” and John 1:1–2;14 declares that He not only speaks for God but is God’s Word made flesh:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God . . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Colossians says that “In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” and “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”
The message or Word from God is that God is revealed in Jesus Christ and this Word that spoke everything into existence is now the final Word to humanity:
Hebrews 1:1–3. “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. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Another Greek term is also translated “word.” It is rhema and relates to individual statements, such as in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This is a direct statement to the human condition and to individual hearts. The Bible says that when anyone hears God speak this way, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25)
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. I see God’s glory in His Word, in His words to me and in all that He does. My life in Christ is so deeply tied there. It concerns me that the Bible is so easily shoved aside. Amos 8:11–12 warned it would happen:
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.”
How important that when I hear a message from the Lord, to realize there is no guarantee it will come again. I must read, study, and respond to God’s word as long as it is still available.
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