We began the theme of God’s Word across the ages by going back before time when God’s creating Word spoke everything we know into existence. We also explored the channels and methods by which God has communicated His Word to human hearts. We studied His engraved Word which He etched on the two stone tablets and made central to His covenant with Israel. We focused on His prophetic Word which He made known through the voices and writings of Old Testament prophets. That brought us to the high point of His revelation to humankind in His incarnate Word in the person of His Son.
From the life, work and words of Christ, God spoke His clearest and fullest revelation. Even so Christ Himself declared there was more to be revealed than He could disclose during His earthly ministry. The Holy Spirit’s ministry would include completing divine revelation through the inspired preaching and writing of the apostles and their close associates.
All that had gone before led to the written Word, the Holy Bible, as the final and complete self-revelation of God to human hearts. Last week we pondered God’s encrypted Word in the Book of Revelation with its message of hope for the Church and judgment for the enemies of the gospel.
Eternity future
One other idea remains. Just as the Word of God was spoken in eternity past before time began, so His completed revelation will endure into eternity future.
Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.” Just before 1 Peter 1:24 repeats this declaration from Isaiah, it likens God’s Word to imperishable seed and describes that Word as “the living and abiding Word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23). Toward the end of His earthly ministry Jesus declared, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35).
Eternal hope
God’s enduring and imperishable Word gives us the basis for eternal hope. From new birth by the Word (1 Pet. 1:23) through spiritual growth by means of that same Word (1 Pet. 2:2) to the consummation of God’s plan of eternal salvation, as 1 Peter 1:25 affirms, “The Word of the Lord remains forever.” God’s abiding Word is the foundation for our hope. His Word holds out to us hope that will never disappoint or stop short of realization. We can embrace what the psalmist confessed, “I hope in Your words” (Ps. 119:147).
Solemn oath
After noting that humans give their word and then confirm it with a solemn oath, the Book of Hebrews speaks of Christian hope based on God’s eternal Word. Underscoring the changelessness of God’s Word, the declaration is made by two immutable things that it is impossible for God to lie — His Word and His solemn oath. God’s sure Word and His confirming oath combine to give us hope that is like “an anchor of the soul” (Heb. 6:19).
All God’s children can enter into the hope expressed by the psalmist by making his prayer our confession, “Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89).
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