The Word of God
Theme Verse: "Who do you say that I am?" Matthew 16:15
Readings: John 1:1-14, Genesis 1: 1-3, Hebrews 1:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Optional: Deuteronomy 8:1-5
Memory Verse: "In the Beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God. John 1:1 (Pre-K to grade 3)
"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105) Word received: My word is a light to your path, (For children and adults) Have you ever had the power go off suddenly on a dark night and you had to move around the house knowing that there were many things you could bump into or step on? If you found your flashlight and turned it on, what difference did it make to you? Or perhaps you were in a snowstorm and stuck by the side of the road because your own headlights just reflected the snow and you were afraid to move. Along comes a kind truck driver who asks you what the problem is and then tells you to follow his lights closely and he will lead you through the storm. God's Word, both Jesus as God's living Word and God's Word in Scripture (the Bible) are like that light in the darkness showing you, leading you through the darkness. Psalm 23 says "Though I walk through the valley of death (or deep darkness) I will fear no evil for you are with me." (Torre's illustration from Africa.) Do you have an example to share, either of such an adventure or when God's Word shed light on a situation of darkness you were in? Notice in John 1:4-5 how Word is tied to light and life.
Look at John 1:1-14. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) A word received: This is where I want you to begin: begin with me. I AM the living word which came down from heaven. I will write my word on your heart and fill you with my Holy Spirit. Come to me, let me make a new beginning in your life.
Stop and pray about this.
"Jesus is one with the Father; he is uniquely able to communicate God's heart and mind." (Spangler, p. 147,"Praying the Names of Jesus") Our words and our spirits are part of us- so it is with God. "John's gospel begins by calling Jesus the LOGOS (Greek for Word). Though the Logos was a term used in Greek philosophy, John echoes a Hebrew mind-set by using it to refer not to a rational principal or an impersonal force but to the One who created the universe by speaking it into existence." (Spangler, p.147) Jesus longs for us to respond to him so that he, Jesus the Word, may come and live with/in us. See John 14:23.
Where else in Scripture do we find something similar to John 1:1? Look at Genesis 1:1-2. It begins with the same words, "In the beginning" (before anything began) God IS (there never was a time when God wasn't there! God created time. Our past, present, and future are all present to Him. God created everything--by His Spirit (vs.2) and His Word. (vs.l3) .In each of the following paragraphs "God said"…and it happened! Remember how sometimes Jesus (the WORD) said a word and a person was healed? Jesus spoke and the storm stopped, the Centurion said, "Only say the word and my servant will be healed" and he was, Jesus spoke to the dead girl and she lived.
This story of creation is very different from the pagan stories about creation! Psalm 33:6 says "By the Word of the LORD (Yahweh/the I AM) the heavens were made, and all their host by the Breath (Holy Spirit) of His mouth." Notice how John 1:3 says, "Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made." (There are other references to this also.) Notice that although the word "Trinity" is not used in the Bible we see God, the three in one here.
God spoke through the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) but when the time was right God clothed his Word in flesh- skin and bones-a man like us. "The Word was made flesh and lived (tented) among us." Through the centuries people have learned skills and occupations by living with a teacher, a mentor and not just from a book. Even today plumbers and electricians become apprentices to a Master Plumber or Master Electrician. So God clothed his own Word in a human being (Jesus) (we call this the Incarnation) to reveal himself and do for us what we could not do for ourselves. The name, "Jesus" in Hebrew is "Yesh-u-a" (Joshua in English) meaning "Yahweh's salvation or Yahweh is salvation." (Remember how the angel told Joseph to name the baby Jesus "for he will save his people from their sins."
We are talking about God's Word in two ways: (1) God has spoken his Word to men and women and sometimes children for them to share with others. We find this in the Bible/Scripture. (2) God has sent his Word-become-flesh to us in Jesus. (Jesus on earth was still one in Being with his Father but he "emptied himself" of some of the privileges of being God while he lived and died on earth as a man. See Philippians 2:5-11)
Hebrew 1:1-2 talks about both, Jesus the Word and God's Word which we can hear in the Bible (Scripture). Have you ever felt personally spoken to when you read or remember Scripture? Are we listening for God to speak his Word (Jesus) and his Word in the Bible to us as we read? Are we asking for that? "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;" (Hebrews 1:1-2) A word received: You are living "in these last days" and I want to speak to you through my son: listen to him. This is what I told Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration: "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him!" (Matthew 17:5) Have you noticed that there is sometimes a difference between listening to someone and actually hearing what they say?
Deuteronomy 8:1-5, in the oldest part of the Hebrew Bible ( Jesus' Bible) talks about the importance of hearing and acting on God's Word. (For Christians this means in both Jesus and Scripture). Moses tells the people of Israel that God has put them in the wilderness to learn this. "And he humbled you…that you might know that man (people) does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds from the mouth(Word) of God." God's Word in scripture is food for us and Jesus gave his life for us and tells us in Matthew 26:26 "that Jesus took the bread, blessed it and broke it and said, 'Take eat; this is my body.'" Jesus wants us to "feed on him" Jesus said earlier, "I AM the Bread which came down from heaven" "the living Bread".(John 6:41) When the disciples didn't understand him he said, "The words I have spoken are Spirit and Life". The Bible often talks in pictures and stories to present truth to us in a way we will remember. Do we go to Jesus each day for him to feed us with himself as well as ask him to do that when we take communion? Do we ask for that when we take communion?
Hebrews 4:12 talks about God's Word as being "living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." This is true of Scripture sometimes as well as when Jesus himself speaks to our hearts directly. Jesus sometimes speaks to us in that "still small voice" that Elijah heard on the mountain.. Sometimes God uses that to reveal to us our real situation, our real motives and needs--so that he can change them.
The Psalms frequently speak to us about God's Word in Scripture (but often it describes Jesus the Word also.) Psalm 119:105: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 107:20: God's word heals, "He sent forth his word and healed them and delivered them from destruction." Jesus also heals by a word and with his word. God's Word tests us sometimes. "He sent a man before them-- Joseph--who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him." (Psalm 105:17-19) A word received: I want to test you and refine you; I want to purify you for my purposes. Joseph became a man who led and saved his family because of my refining work in his life.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17) A word received: I want to prepare you for my work, for my kingdom work. I will do all of that by making my word come alive in your heart and your mind. Turn to me, ask for me to make the Scriptures come alive for you. Regularly reading and memorizing scripture is one important way to hide God's Word in you inmost self. "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11) Remember that God's Word will not return to him empty but will accomplish the purpose for which he sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
The last book of the Bible show who wins! Jesus the Word of God is coming in his Second Coming as King and his Name is the Word of God and yet he carries his battle scars, a robe dipped in blood, which he shed for our salvation on the cross. (Revelation 19:11-15)
Note [from the Preface to the New King James Version of the Bible]
"In closing, let readers be encouraged to approach the Bible "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The same Holy Spirit who originated the Scriptures must also make them clear to the reader, for the truths they contain "are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). It is through the work of the Spirit of life that the Word of life accomplishes its purpose in human hearts and minds. May God teach us His life-giving truth as we submit to Him, that He alone may be glorified."
"Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105 When I was a lay missionary teacher with the Order of the Holy Cross (a monastic order of the Episcopal Church) in Bolahun, Liberia (1962-1963) there were times when I traveled at night using what was called a "bush lantern" (probably what we would call a Hurricane Lantern). Those walking trips through the jungle and the verse above from Psalm 119 have become for me a model of the Christian life. The lantern didn't give off much light, but it did give enough to show me the next step or two. Since I carried it by its wire handle, the lantern was down low next to my feet. Because the lantern was low, any bushes or grass beside the path would throw up large, frightening shadows which I would see if I took my eyes off the light at my feet. Sometimes as I approached a village, I would see the cooking fires in the distance. Their light was a reassurance that I was heading in the right direction, but was useless for seeing where to place the next step. For that I still had to rely on the light from my lantern – going a step at a time. Jesus, I want to walk as a child of the light, please help me to clearly see the next step you want me to take. Thank you.
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