Part 1 (2/2)
”Let all the heathen writers join To form one perfect book: Great G.o.d, if once compared with Thine, How mean their writings look!
”Not the most perfect rules they gave Could show one sin forgiven, Nor lead a step beyond the grave; But Thine conducts to heaven.”
It is the voice of the Almighty. Very different it is from the sacred books of the non-Christian religions. In those writings it is man speaking about G.o.d; in the Holy Scriptures it is G.o.d speaking to man.
The difference is as great as heaven is higher than earth. Here it is not man groping in the darkness after G.o.d. In this book of G.o.d's revelation we see the divine arm reaching down to save the lost, and hear the voice of the loving Father calling to His children, every one and everywhere. ”Incline your ear,” He calls; ”hear, and your soul shall live.” Isa. 55:3.
The Word That Creates
We must have something more than instruction; we must have a word of power that is able to tell of sins forgiven, and to conduct us beyond the grave to heaven. One of the greatest of China's sages, Mencius, said, ”Instruction can impart information, but not the power to execute.” That touches the crucial point. We must have instruction that can come with power divine to execute. We have it only in G.o.d's words.
Christ said: ”It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63.
The words of G.o.d are living words. When G.o.d spoke in the beginning, ”Let there be light,” lo, the light sprang out of the darkness. There was power in the word spoken to bring forth. ”Let the earth bring forth gra.s.s,” was the word of the Lord: and the earth was carpeted with its first rich greensward. So through all the work of creation, the creative power was in the word spoken.
”By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” ”He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:6, 9.
Even so, when this word speaks instruction to man, there is creative power in the word, if received, to work mightily in the soul that is dead in trespa.s.ses and sins. Man must be born again, be re-created. That we know; for Christ says, ”Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again [”from above,” margin], he cannot see the kingdom of G.o.d.”
John 3:3.
And the word of G.o.d--the Bible from heaven--received by faith, is the agency by which this new birth ”from above” is wrought. This is the declaration of our text: ”Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of G.o.d, which liveth and abideth forever.”
1 Peter 1:23.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HEALING THE CENTURION'S SERVANT
”Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Matt. 8:8.]
The Word That Works Within
Not only does the word of G.o.d give the new birth, making the believer a new man,--the past forgiven and a new heart within,--but the word that re-creates abides in the believing heart that studies it and clings to it, to work in the life with actual power that is not of the man himself. To the Thessalonians, who had ”turned to G.o.d from idols to serve the living and true G.o.d,” the apostle wrote:
”For this cause also thank we G.o.d without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of G.o.d which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of G.o.d, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” 1 Thess. 2:13.
The word itself works within, and works effectually. There is nothing mechanical about it. The mere letter profits nothing. The Bible on the center table, unstudied and unloved, has no magic power. But G.o.d promises to abide by His Spirit of power in the heart that listens to His voice and trembles at His word. Jesus Himself tells us the secret of this power of the word to work in the believing heart:
”If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23.
No wonder, then, that believing and receiving the word brings divine power into the life, making it possible for transformations of character to be wrought, for victories to be won and obedience rendered to every command of G.o.d.
Simply believing G.o.d's word touches the current of everlasting power, even as the trolley arm of the electric car reaches up and touches the current of power flowing through the wire overhead. The faith that takes the living word brings the power divine into the heart to move all the spiritual mechanism of life's service.
The Word Our Safety and Defense
When Christ came to live as our example in the flesh, and to give His life a sacrifice for sin, He, the divine Son of G.o.d, made Himself like unto His brethren. ”I can of Mine own self do nothing,” He said. John 5:30. Tempted and tried, He found His defense in the Holy Scriptures.
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