Faithfulness and the Word of God
Faithfulness and the Word of God
In the previous post we discussed faithfulness with a special emphasis on faithfulness in challenging times or times of suffering. The focus of this post continues with the theme of faithfulness, but with an emphasis of the “word of God” and faithfulness.
We previously cited 1 Kings 13: 11-25, wherein God sent an unnamed prophet to confront the king of Israel (Jeroboam) concerning his deliberate disobedience to God’s instruction to worship the Lord God of Israel and Him alone. We gave attention not only to the unfaithfulness of Jeroboam, but also to that of the unnamed prophet. It is true the prophet’s unfaithfulness resulted from the deception of an older man claiming to be a prophet. The deception was real, but it did not excuse the unfaithfulness of the unnamed prophet whom God had instructed not to eat or drink anything while he was in the region to which God sent him. It is possible for one to empathize with the prophet due to the deception, but we must be careful to understand that God (the words of God) had given him instruction, but he disobeyed it. Had he remained faithful to God’s instruction to him, he would have been less susceptible to the deception that led to his death.
This incident reminds us of the importance of knowing who we are as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and the imperative of knowing and doing the will of God. In Luke 8:21 Jesus Himself declares that those who are rightly related to Him as His family are those who hear the word of God and do it. Such an emphasis arrests our attention as it magnifies the pre-eminence of the Bible as the infallible, inspired, and authoritative word of God for us.
Isaiah declares the word of God as the truth which will not pass away.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever. (NASB)
Again, our Lord is identified as the “Word of God” in John 1:1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (NASB)
In John 17:17 our Lord identifies the word of God as the instrument of the true followers of Christ sanctification.
Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (NASB)
Hebrews 4:12 describes the Word of God.
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (NASB)
Finally, the word of God is the follower of Christ’s only offensive weapon in the spiritual warfare in which every authentic believer is engaged, according to Ephesians 6:17.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (NASB)
This brief review of the identity, power, and purpose of the “Word of God” certifies the supreme importance of “the word of God” in the believer’s life. The realization of its supreme importance causes one to give a strong “Amen” to the statement of William Chillingworth, the 17th Century writer who, after vacillating between being a Roman Catholic or a Protestant, affirmed himself as a Protestant, stating, “The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of the Protestants.”
The Bible as the “Word of God” is supremely important for the people of God. One cannot overemphasize this statement. As we affirm commitment to the “Word of God,” we must recall the words of Christ, who confronted the Pharisees with their bibliolatry when chastising them saying, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me.” (NASB)
This statement is a sobering rebuke to all believers who would substitute the knowledge of the Bible for true and authentic eternal life through the knowledge of the Father and His Son Jesus the Christ (John 17:3).
The unnamed prophet of 1 Kings 13 would have continued to be faithful had he been resolute to obey God’s word. We too can be faithful, as we hear and abide in the Word of God. Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (NASB)
The resulting benefit of hearing and obeying the Word of God is unparalleled in all of eternity. “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (NASB)
Let us be faithful in and through the Word of God the Father, in Christ Jesus our Lord.