The Inspired Written Word and the Eternal Living Word are forever inseparable. The Bible is Christ portrayed; Christ is the Bible fulfilled. One is the picture, the other is the person, but the features are the same and proclaim their identity (Pierson, Arthur T., Knowing the Scriptures: Rules and Methods of Bible Study,  p. 33).

Our knowledge of Jesus is limited without an in-depth understanding of the Scripture. We learn who God is through the window of truth in the Sacred Pages of Scripture. And we understand who we are.

In my previous post, the advantages of reading the Written Word of God teach us God-secrets,  right and wrong, keeps from sin, guides, and intensifies love for God and others (read it here). More than half of Americans wish they read the Bible more. Don’t be one of them. Become a student of the Word.

The Bible is often neglected when it’s thought to be irrelevant or hard to understand. Others say, “I just don’t have the time.” Bible reading isn’t for the casual Christian or the religious person. But it is for those earnest and persevering truth-seekers who pursue abundant spiritual growth and answers to the questions of life. 

This Book is the Eternal Living Word about the Eternal Living Word, Jesus. He is the Word. Jesus spoke the Word of God and continues to speak. Each page is alive! (Hebrews 4:12-13).   

The Bible is God’s book, divinely articulated through pen and paper, always new, with a superhuman level. Though reading through many times, it can never be fully discovered. The Spirit of God imparts heaven to the reader and brings a depth of soul-work through correction, conviction, instruction, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16), as it prepares one for the eternal.   

The Scriptures portray and reveal Jesus and the Father. “In the Person of His Son, the Logos, the Word incarnate, the Father made Himself known as never before, with new clearness and fullness of revelation” (Pierson, p 4).

“We are to learn the mind of God from the words of God.”

Gregory the Great

JESUS IS THE WORD

Jesus was present in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” and in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” 

Notice this triple description of Jesus, the Word— In the beginning, Jesus WAS the Word, was WITH God, and WAS God. 

In the creation account of Genesis 1, God spoke a word, and it happened. Nine times in this first chapter, “And God said” (let there be light, sky, plants, etc.) is followed with the affirmation, “And it was so.” God’s spoken Word, out of nothing, brought everything into existence. With a word, the stars were set in place. A word stopped the oceans from covering the earth. A word gave man the breath of life. 

“And the Lord said,” continues to speak his voice through the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles as they filled the pages of the sixty-six books of the Bible we hold in our hands. 

Jesus came to earth as the Word of God, telling God’s love to His children. “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” John 1:14

With the power of His words, Jesus called Lazarus from the dead after four days by saying, “Lazarus, come forth.” And he did.

When Jesus healed the sick of the palsy, He said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk” (John 5:8). And Immediately, the man did.  

Calming the storm, Jesus said, “Quiet! Be Still!” Then the wind died down, completely calm (Mark 4:39).

Just one Word, the storm calms. Just one Word, healing happens. Just one Word, the dead rise. 

The Apostle John further describes Jesus in Revelation 19:13-15, “and his name is the Word of God” who strikes down the nations with one Word from his mouth, like a sword.

JESUS AND SCRIPTURE ARE ETERNALLY INSEPARABLE

Jesus and the Scriptures are eternally inseparable. The Bible is Jesus; Jesus is the fulfilled Bible. The Scriptures give us the picture of Jesus, and Jesus is the person, both containing the same features and proclaiming their true and similar identity.

You have magnified Your Word above all Your name (Psalm 138:2 NKJV).

SCRIPTURE TESTIFIES OF JESUS

Jesus told the religious Pharisees that although they studied the Scriptures, the Word didn’t dwell in them, nor did Jesus. “…nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.” (John 5:39).

Following the Resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus declared to the perplexed disciples, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

Dr. Pierson emphasizes the Scripture and Jesus. “In the volume of the Book, it is written of Me” (Psalms 40:7). The Holy Scriptures and the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ are so inseparably bound together, that whatever impairs the integrity and authority of the one correspondingly affects the other. The written Word is the Living Word enfolded: the Living Word is the Written Word unfolded (Pierson, pg 28).

Jesus is the Word of God, who came in the flesh to help us understand God’s greatness, love, mercy, and forgiveness. We hold in our hands the divine words from God’s mouth.   When we read the Scripture, we are reading the Word of God. “These are the faithful and true sayings of God” (Revelation 19:9, 22:6).

God spoke at creation, and it was so.

God spoke to and through the prophets, “And the Lord said.”

God spoke through Jesus, the Word Carrier to earth.

God speaks through Scriptures, God’s Holy Word, individually to each of us, and reveals life-changing God-secrets!

CONCLUSION

How much do we value the Word – the Old Testament and the New Testament? One without the other is incomplete. In the Old Testament, Jesus is defined as a prophecy and amplified, explained, and illustrated in the New Testament. 

The Old Testament prophets longed to see what we now see and understand through the pages of Scripture. Although hidden from their time, the message is now unveiled through Jesus and the pages of our Bible, the inspired written Word of God.

Peter reminds us, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:10,11).

Isn’t it extraordinary that our Bible, the WORD OF GOD, carries the same title as that of Jesus, the WORD OF GOD? If we love Jesus and desire to know Him more, do we maintain the same desire for the pages that testify of Him?

Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Our Bible delivers the changeless truths, exact, unvarying, and eternal words spoken from God’s mouth. Since the beginning of the earth, God’s appointed sun still rises each morning. The stars still shine each night, and seasons come and go. What God said in the beginning “was so.” Nothing has changed, nor has His Word. 

The more time we spend getting to know the written Word, the more we will know and love Jesus. his divine Book mirrors its Author as it reveals, unveils, magnifies, and glorifies Him from whom it originally was given. Can we love Jesus without loving the Word of God? It seems impossible.

PRAYER

Lord, I desire to love Your Word. Help me embrace it. I long to love you, Lord, with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Joshua 1:8