p. 3 | The Authenticity and Power of the Word

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 31, 1916

The Authenticity and Power of the Word

By George B. Thompson

CONCERNING the authenticity of the Word the psalmist says, “Thy word is truth from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.” Ps. 119: 160. The margin reads, “The beginning of thy word is true,” which seems to emphasize especially the unimpeachable record of creation. The Revised Version reads, “The sum of thy word is truth.” Concerning the power of God’s word, the psalmist further declares, “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.” Ps. 33: 6-9. Not only were all things created by the word of God, but it is by this same word that they are upheld. Heb. 1: 3.

Some scientists have found a fertile field for cavil and conjecture in the account of creation, and have scattered their infidel conjectures to the ends of the earth. But while the critics have died and their surmisings been forgotten, the Word of the Lord still lives.

The very libraries where these learned doctors sat and explored, dissected, and subjected to microscopical examinations the venerable documents of God’s Book, were brought into being by the influence of the Book they were trying to destroy. These men reined the Word of Jehovah to the bar of their own reasoning, and pointed out what they were pleased to

call inconsistencies, discrepancies, and errancy, but their own influence waned, withered, and died, and they are now forgotten, while the circle of influence exerted by the Word continues to widen. The blessings of modern civilization are ours because of the power of the Bible.

It is by the power of the word of God that nature brings forth its harvest. “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.” Gen. 1:11. The Hon. William Jennings Bryan has emphasized this great truth in the following words:—

“Last year as I was eating a piece of watermelon I was impressed with its beauty. I kept some of the seeds for planting, and I found that it took five thousand seeds to make a pound, and that very melon of which I was eating weighed forty pounds. I found that one little seed put into the ground, under the influence of the warmth of the soil, would gather from somewhere two hundred thousand times its own weight, and form a watermelon, the outside of which was green, with a lining of white, and a core of red, and all through the red, seeds scattered, every one of which was capable of doing the same thing over again. Where did it find its flavoring extract? Will any scientist tell us? Unless a man understands how a little seed can build a watermelon, he should not be too sure that he can place limitations upon the arm of the Almighty.”

We should indeed be pleased to have the scientist who is exploring the Bible in search of things that are unscientific, explain some of the things that are suggested by Mr. Bryan. Where does the watermelon find its flavoring extract? When they have explained this they can explain where the apple and the peach and the pear and the flowers receive their flavor and perfume. When they have explained by science the thousand and one things in nature before which they stand dumb, it will be more proper for these Gamaliels of science to turn the power of their scholarly minds to the work of dissecting the sacred books of the Holy Scriptures. The late Mr. Hastings, speaking of the work of criticizing the Bible, says:—

“The work of criticizing such writings is not to be rashly undertaken. It is an occupation for men who speak the words of truth and soberness. These records are hoary with age. They have survived the wreck of nations and empires. They have been, and still are, regarded with reverence, not merely by ignorant and degraded races, the worshipers of idols and the regarders of fetishes, but by the most intelligent and intellectual peoples on the face of the earth. The only nations which at the present time stand in the forefront of the world in art, in science, and in literature, are the nations which have read and cherished these books. They have entered into the civilization, the literature, and the jurisprudence of the civilized world; and it is impossible now to find a nation noted for art, invention, science, and progress, which has not paid reverence to these books.”—“Higher Criticism,” p. 12.

What men need is an anchor. It is easy to cut loose from our mooring, but who can tell where we will drift, or what rocks we may strike and become wrecked? God’s Word is an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast. It pierces the darkness and uncertainty surrounding it, with rays of clear light, and beyond the storms and tempests reveals a place of rest for the weary. Blessed Book! G. B. T.