The Word of the Living God
THE sweet psalmist of Israel, by the inspiration of the Spirit, sang: “I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and give thanks unto Thy name for Thy loving-kindness and for Thy truth; for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name.” Ps. 138: 2. VERY sacred indeed is the name of God. “Great and terrible,” and “holy and reverend is His name.” Ps. 99: 3; 111: 9. One precept of the Decalogue guards its sacredness: “Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” Ex. 20: 7, A.R.V. When one among Israel blasphemed the Name, he was put to death. Leviticus 24. God declared the meaning of Jehovah to be “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth; keeping loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Ex. 34: 6, 7. This is a part of the record of how Inspiration regards the wonderful name, the covenant name of our God. YET notwithstanding the holiness and awfulness of the Name, the psalmist declares that God has magnified His word above His name. “Magnify” usually means to make to appear larger than it is; but the original word means to twist together, to make larger. So God has magnified, made larger, exalted His word. His “word is truth.” John 17: 17. And in God's revelation of that truth, it comes to us interlocked and intertwined and interlaced, a strong and mighty power to hold and stay the soul which relies upon it. ONE might not know the exact pronunciation of God's name, the scholarship of the world generally concedes that we do not know; yet we may be saved by the power of the Name. We are not benefited by the mere term. It would mean little to us unless the word disclosed its wealth. It is by that word that all the glories of God's character are revealed. “God is love,” and the word tells it. He is just and merciful, wise and holy, true and faithful; and such is the revelation of His word. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made.” His words are spirit and life. His word is living and powerful, “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” His word “is truth.” And in the hearts of the receivers it works out characters like that of God. 1 Thess. 2: 13. Very many of the miracles of Christ are left on record to show those who should come after the power of the word to save. JESUS CHRIST is the Incarnate Word, the word made flesh. John 1: 1, 14. He was what He was in the flesh because of that word. He was the word transformed into living character. None more highly exalted it. “Learned” higher critics now quibble over Deuteronomy, fritter it away, discount its message, and otherwise belittle it, but the Incarnate Word thrice drew from its mighty arsenal the thunderbolts by which He vanquished the tempter. “It is written” was ever sufficient. Matt. 4: 1-10. How sad it is to see those who profess His name putting forth the effort they are, subtly, speciously, deceptively, to tear down or undermine the very word which was given by the Spirit of Christ, for which as Jesus He ever showed the highest reverence, and to which He rendered unquestioned obedience, and of which He said, “The Scripture can not be broken.” HE it was then of whom the Father spoke, “Without Him was not anything made that was made.” “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [“thru whom,” A.R.V.] are all things, and we by Him.” 1 Cor. 8: 6. By His Spirit the prophets spoke who “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” 1 Peter 1: 10-12. And therefore when He came in the flesh and taught the word, He was but expounding that which the Father had given thru Him to men. THEN let us receive it as the word of God, the word of Christ. Let Him, as He did with His disciples of old, expound unto us “in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself;” and as we enter into His companionship, we shall say, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” THE inspiration of God's word reveals its importance. That it might be forever “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroly furnished unto all good works,” God gave it by inspiration. Man needed infallible, unchangeable teaching, adapted to every age and time, but which neither the ages, nor the tempers of men, nor various sects, nor the influence of infidelity, could mold; therefore He gave a “God-breathed” rule of doctrine. “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Conscience is a creature of education, often “evil” and “defiled;” but God's4word is truth; its doctrines are pure, elevating, exalting, cleansing, confirming, and it offers to the believer everlasting hope in Christ, sure and steadfast.