CHRIST - THE WORD OF GODLesson #38
Revelation 19:13
"His name is called The Word of God." The doctrine declared by this name given to our Savior is of immense importance. All our knowledge of God, all our hopes of grace and life, all our salvation is wrapped up in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God. In the New Testament, our Savior is frequently referred to as the Word of God (John 1:1-3; Heb. 4:12-13; II Pet. 3:5; I John 1:1-3; 5:7).
Some, seeking to undermine the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures, have suggested that the apostles got their idea of the eternal Logos, the eternal Word, from the writings of Plato. But that is not accurate. Plato got his idea of the eternal Word from the writings of the Old Testament Scriptures and from the writings of the ancient Jewish theologians who expounded them (Psa. 138:2). Those ancient Jewish writers frequently referred to the Messiah (the Christ) as the Word of God. So the apostles, especially when writing to Jewish believers, used that name to refer to Christ, being inspired to do so by God the Holy Spirit. What is the significance of this name? Why is the Lord Jesus Christ called "The Word of God"?
OUR SAVIOR IS CALLED THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE HE IS THE SON OF GOD (John 1:1). As the word, whether silent or expressed, is the birth of the mind, the image of it, and equal to it, so the Lord Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father. He is the express image of the invisible God. Indeed, Jesus Christ is God, in all things co-eternal, co-equal, and one with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God" (John 1:1-2). Notice John’s language. "The Word was God." He could not be more emphatic and clear in teaching both the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity. Quite literally translated, the text reads, "God was the Word. The same was in the beginning face to face (as an equal) with God." Yet, as the word and the mind are distinct from one another, so the Father and the Son are equal, but separate and distinct Persons within the triune Godhead. "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (I John 5:7). So when the Scriptures declare that Christ is the Word of God, they are telling us that...
1. He is God (Heb. 1:8).
2. He is the only begotten of the Father (John 3:16).
3. He is a distinct Person, separate from the Father and the Spirit (John 14:16-17; II Cor. 13:14).
4. He is one with the Father and the Spirit in the sacred Trinity (Deut. 6:4).
The doctrine of the Trinity is a vital doctrine of the gospel. It is a doctrine taught through the current of Holy Scripture and by universal consent of all the inspired writers. It is written as with a sunbeam through the Word of God. The trinity of Persons in the eternal Godhead is displayed in all the works of God revealed in Scripture: creation, providence, and grace. The ordinances of divine worship, the mediatoral work of Christ, the songs and prayers of God’s elect, and the benedictions of grace all show forth the tri-unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the one God. But the doctrine is plainly stated in the text referred to before - I John 5:7. "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one." "This text is so glaring a proof of the doctrine of the Trinity, that the enemies of it have done all they can to weaken its authority, and have pushed hard to extirpate it from a place in the sacred writings" (John Gill). Almost all modern translations of the Bible either omit this verse altogether, or put a footnote in saying that it should be omitted. But the objections raised against its inspiration are groundless. There was never any dispute about it until Erasmus mistakenly omitted it from the first edition of his translation of the New Testament. We worship one God in the Trinity (tri-unity) of his sacred Persons. And the second Person in the triune Godhead is called "the Word of God." He is Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God. The man Christ Jesus is God manifest in the flesh (II Tim. 3:16). He so thoroughly reveals God that he says, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:4-11). Indeed, all the fullness of the incomprehensible God "dwelleth in him bodily" (Col. 2:9).
CHRIST IS CALLED THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE HE IS THE LIVING WORD OF WHOM THE WRITTEN WORD SPEAKS. I cannot stress this fact too much. The Bible is not a book of history, a book of morality, or even a book of theology. It is a book about the Son of God. This is exactly what our Lord taught his disciples on the Emmaus road (Lk. 24:27, 44, 45). Jesus Christ is "all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27; I Cor. 2:2). All the Old Testament Scriptures promise and portray him. The four Gospels present him. Acts, the Epistles, and the book of Revelation proclaim and praise him.
No man preaches the Bible except as he preaches Christ. No man teaches the Bible except as he teaches Christ. And no one understands the Bible except as he understands how it directs him to and shows him the glory and beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God is like that box containing precious spikenard the woman broke to anoint the Savior. When it was broken open "the house was filled with the odor of the ointment" (John 12:3). God’s servants, in preaching and teaching the Scriptures, break open the precious Word containing Christ crucified; and, as they do, the house is filled with the sweet aroma of Christ. Cherish the Bible. Read it diligently and carefully. It is the inspired Word of God, infallible and without error. But it is to be cherished because of the Person revealed in it. Take Christ out of the Book of God and you have nothing left but processed wood in leather bindings with gold edges. Christ crucified is the key that unlocks the treasure chest of Holy Scripture; and Christ crucified is the Treasure contained in that chest.
OUR SAVIOR IS CALLED THE WORD OF GOD BECAUSE OF THE WORKS ASCRIBED TO HIM. He is the Word of God who spoke for God’s elect in the council of peace and covenant of grace before the world began (Psa. 40:6-8; Heb. 10:5-10). In the council chambers of the triune God, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke for us as our Surety, agreeing to do all his Father’s will for the accomplishment of our salvation. His blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant (Heb. 13:20). His blessings are all covenant blessings, bestowed upon the chosen from eternity because of Christ’s word of promise as our Surety (Eph. 1:3; II Tim. 1:9; Heb. 7:22). His delights were with his people from everlasting (Prov. 8:31). Because of his wise representation of us as our Wisdom, upon the ground of his Word, God’s elect were "accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6), before the world began.
Christ is the Word of God by whom all things were created (John 1:3; II Pet. 3:5). Evolution is a myth, invented and perpetuated by atheism. Christ our God is the Creator of all things. He spoke all things into being out of nothing. As he spoke all things into being, so he constantly upholds all things by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3). The "laws of nature" and "balance of nature" by which men imagine the world is sustained are nothing less than the execution of Christ’s mighty word. The sun will burn as long as he fuels the candle. The earth will stand as long as he holds it up in the midst of nothing upon the foundation of his word.
As the Word of God, Christ is both the Revelation of God’s Being and the Interpreter of his will (John 1:18). It is not possible for man to know God apart from Christ, the Word. No man can know the mind of another, unless he expresses his mind in his word. And no man can know the mind of God, except by God’s revelation of himself in Christ, his Word. Christ has, by his doctrine, his life, and his sin-atoning sacrifice, shown us that God is holy, that he delights in mercy, and that he saves his people graciously, upon the grounds of justice satisfied (Rom. 3:24-26).
It is as the Word of God that the Lord Jesus acts as our Advocate in heaven (I John 2:1-2). He speaks to God the Father on behalf of all his chosen, redeemed people (John 17:9, 20). Our Advocate is One whom God will hear - "Jesus Christ the Righteous." He pleads with God for us for the non-imputation of sin to his redeemed. The basis of his plea is his shed blood. "He is the propitiation for our sins."
It is Christ, the Word of God, by whom we are given and preserved in eternal life (Heb. 4:12-13). As in the old creation, so in the new creation of grace, all things have their being by Christ, the Word of God. Notice what the Holy Spirit tells us about Christ as the Word of God in Hebrews 4. He is living, powerful, dividing, and discerning (vv. 12-13). He is in the heavens (v. 14). He sympathizes with us (v. 15). He is ready, willing, and able to help us in time of need (v. 16).
Jesus Christ is "the Word of God." "Christ’s person is a revelation of God. Christ’s work is a revelation of God. He is in the Father, and the Father in him. His words and works are the words and works of the Father. In the manger, he showed us God. In the synagogue of Nazareth, he showed us God. At Jacob’s well, he showed us God. At the tomb of Lazarus, he showed us God. On Olivet, as he wept over Jerusalem, he showed us God. On the cross, he showed us God. In the tomb, he showed us God. In the resurrection, he showed us God. If we say with Philip, ‘Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,’ he answers, ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father’ (John 14:8-9). This is God whom Christ reveals, as the God of righteous grace and gracious righteousness, is the God with whom we have to do" (Horatius Bonar).
Jesus Christ is "the Word of God." He is God’s exalted Word, exalted above all his name (Psa. 138:2). He is the One exalted in the written Word. Let us ever exalt him as the Word of God because he is the Son of God, because he is the One of whom all the Scriptures speak, and because he is the One by whom God is made known to us and in whom we are made known to God!