God communicated with all of the patriarchs with His spoken voice, through dreams, visions, etc. His Word to all of these individuals served as a guiding influence in their lives to bring the nation of Israel into existence.
Throughout the Old Testament God continued to speak to His people through His prophets.
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
Much of God’s Word came into existence through these prophets, who not only spoke God’s Word, but also wrote it down. God’s Word through the prophets was a constant guiding influence for the nation of Israel as they came into existence and their prominent role among the nations. God used over 40 people from every walk of life over a period of 1600 years to write His word. In all of this, He spoke with continuity from Genesis to Revelation. Amazing!
The Influence of the Word in the New Testament.
Jesus and The Word of God.
Hebrews 1:2 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;
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Even though Jesus was the Word made flesh, He also used the written Word to validate Who He was and His ministry.
The Word of God in the Formation of the Early Church.
It was relied upon when choosing someone to take Judas’ place. Acts 1:20
Peter used it when validating the move of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:16
This is an important point to remember for us as well. There are sometimes things that go in the life of the church that are called movements of the Spirit that cannot be validated by the God’s word. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:14 and 1 Thessalonians 5:21 not to be swayed by every wind of doctrine, but to test and prove all things.
Paul constantly referred to the Word in the Old Testament with the phrase “It is written” (See Romans 1:17,3:4, 9:33, 10:15, 11:26, 14:11, 1 Cor 1:19, 14:21, 15:45.
Peter also referred to Paul’s letters as Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:15-16
The Role of Scripture in the Church.
Scripture is the ultimate authority. 2 Timothy 3:1
The Church is the pillar and ground of all truth. 1 Timothy 3:15
Our Responsibility to Scripture.
We are to read and meditate in it - Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:1-5.
We are to study it - 2 Timothy 2:15
We are to rightly divide it – 2 Timothy 2:15.
We are to test all things – hold fast to that which is good – 1 Thessalonians 5:21
When we are faithful to God’s Word we will be extremely blessed in all that we do. We see this in Psalms 1 and Joshua 1.
