The unchanging Word of the One True God

Heb 13:5-6; Dt 31:8; Gen 28:13-15; Mt 28:18-20  I will never leave you nor forsake you until I have done what I have spoken to you.

Do we believe this? This is the Word of the LORD to us, as it was to Jacob, and to Joshua and the children of Israel.

The last couple of months we have heard messages from different teachers regarding God’s word, knowing the truth, reading the Bible, God’s order in families and in local churches/congregations. What has been common to all of these is we have all been teaching from what is written in the whole of the Bible – the Tenach and the New Testament. We may disagree on how we understand and interpret some of what is written, but we agree that the authority is found in the written Word that we have received. 

Our salvation is secured by the Word of God. He says that whoever believes on His Son, the Messiah, the Lord Yeshua/Jesus, who was sent from Heaven to die on a cross in Jerusalem, shedding His blood for an everlasting New Covenant, by which our sins are forgiven, and God’s righteousness is reckoned to us who believe, we will not perish but inherit everlasting life in the presence of God in a new heavens and new Earth. He also says, that whoever does not believe in Jesus Christ His Son, will forever be separated in the lake of fire from the presence of the living God of the living. (Jn 3:13-19)

Do we believe this?! The good, and the bad? 

Gen 3:1-5  Did God really say? the serpent said to Eve. Yes, she responded: If we eat, or even touch, the fruit that He said not to eat, we will die. The Devil in the serpent said: No, you will not die, but will become like God. (“Listen to me, says Satan: Do not believe what our Creator said, or that He is good; disobey Him, and you will become like Him!” No! If we disobey God we become like the devil.) 

The serpent deceived and misled Eve, lying to her. She doubted whether God really said to her husband, Adam; and Adam disobeyed what YHVH spoke directly to him, and he ate the forbidden fruit with his wife. Adam, I believe, added to the commandment of God by telling his wife not to even touch the two trees in the midst of the garden. God did not say “not to touch”, but “do not eat” from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was there; the tree of life was “edible”. Eve answered the serpent with what her husband had told her. The serpent took away from what YHVH had said, in telling Eve that she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit. That sin of Adam’s disobedience separated spiritually humans from God from that moment until today, death entering in, and we must be born-again from Above by the Holy Spirit to restore that relationship and fellowship with our Creator, who is also our Redeemer and Savior in Yeshua/Jesus. (Gen 2:8-9; Jn 3:3-8; Rom 5:12-21)  

Do we believe this?! Or are we still giving our ears to hear other voices other than our Good Shepherd? In Revelation, it is written that the false prophet of the antichrist will look like a lamb, but speak like a dragon. A lamb is innocent and cute; a dragon is very dangerous and scary! This is a great deception in order to deceive the elect, if possible. Can we discern the truth by knowing the Lord and His Word, or will we be deceived because we have doubts? (Rev 13:11) Does our own speech match the truth of who we are as disciples of Yeshua, or are we causing doubt in others when they hear us talk?

How sure and authoritative are the Holy Scripture? 
Dt 4:2; Pr 30:5-6; Rev 22:18-19  “Do not add to, or take away from, the Word of YHVH.; lest you be found a liar, and cursed!” 

Again, I ask if we believe this. Our lives depend upon it! If we add to or take away from what the Holy Spirit, or the Lord Himself says, or what the Father has spoken, then we make Him a liar, or else someone like us who are ‘yes’ and ‘no’, without being trustworthy with our own words. Let GOD be found true, and every man a liar! We are saved by grace when we recognize and confess that we can never justify ourselves, for there is no one righteous but YHVH, according to the unchanging Scriptures. (Ps 14:1-3; Ps 53:1-3 [4 Heb]; Lk 18:18-19; Job 40:6-8; Rom 3:4, 9-18) 

The fear of YHVH is the beginning of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, which at least means that we that there is a God, and that He is YHVH, and that we will believe that God says what He means, and that He means what He says. His Word judges us; we do not judge God! If we do, He will be found righteous, and we ignorant. (Is 66:1-2; Heb 12:12-13; Job 42:1-6) Our God knows our hearts when we have questions, whether we, like Job, have a heart for Him even if we do not know why He is letting us suffer; or whether we are rebellious and want to accuse and blame Him, justifying ourselves.

Mal 3:6; 2Tim 2:11-15; Rom 11:25-36  “I am YHVH, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O children of Jacob.” Jesus Christ is faithful to who He is: He cannot deny Himself, even if we are faithless. Our salvation is secured in Him because YHVH does not change! His word does not change! (Gal 1:6-12) If this is the hope that He has given to the children of Jacob (the Jewish people), while they still reject Yeshua as the Messiah and Son of God, how much more can we be certain, who know and believe and abide in the truth? God cannot deny Himself. His word is Him; Yeshua is the Word made flesh. He and the Father are one.

Ps 138:1-2 “You magnify Your Word above all your Name.” There is an expression: you are as good as your word. Our reputation is very largely based on whether we are known for speaking truth, and for whether we do what we say. Sometimes we will say, “I don’t know who said it, but it’s true”. Our words have power, and we will be held accountable for what and for how we speak. God’s Word is unchanging, and will never be broken, but will accomplish what He wants. It does not matter that many do not believe this; His word will be fulfilled! (Rom 9:1-9) YHVH is a covenant-keeping God who keeps all of His promises.

We may at times receive a prophetic word for us personally, but we need to discern whether this is actually from the Lord or not. Is it in accord with the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit? And, if we receive it as being from the Lord (rightly or wrongly), we are not to try to fulfill it ourselves. If it is from God, He will bring it to pass. Abraham and Sarah are given to us as an example.

Jn 12:44-50; Ps 119:89   Jesus says that He does not judge, but the word that He has spoken will judge unbelievers on the last day, because they did not believe what was spoken by Jesus from the Father in Heaven. Forever His word is settled in Heaven! It cannot be touched; it cannot be changed — not by the devil, not by angels or demons, not by humans: Heaven where God dwells is above and outside His creation! This is our assurance, and God is good! 

IF, and it is only a rhetorical ‘if’, YHVH were to break even one tiniest “tittle” of His word, everything, including Himself, would die and “not be”. Coming in the flesh, as He did in Yeshua/Jesus, was to come in weakness against the stronger spiritual being, Satan. Jesus, as a human being, could be tempted, but being God with us, He was found without sin. The devil, though, continued to try to catch Yeshua in His words, to try to cause Him to react as Adam and other fallible humans do, trying to make Him “prove” to him and to people that He is the Son of God. Praise the Lord, Yeshua was perfectly obedient, even unto death on the cross, found spotless as the Lamb of God, who took upon Himself on the cross all of our sins, and takes away the sin of the world! YHVH has magnified His Word above all His Name! 

Lk 16:16-17; Mt 24:35  Yeshua/Jesus says, “It is easier for heaven and Earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” These heavens and this Earth will pass away, for God says so, and Yeshua’s words will never pass away! YHVH has promised a perfect new heavens and a new Earth, once He has completed all of His purposes for this “very good” Creation.

God will not, and cannot, change His word given through Moses and the Prophets. Whatever changes we have in the New Testament over the Law that was given through Moses to Israel are changes and differences that YHVH allowed for and hid in the Law and the Prophets, but that did not come to light or take effect until the Gospel was revealed through Yeshua the Messiah, His death and resurrection, and the giving of the Holy Spirit to any and to all who believe it. (Jer 31:31-34; Ps 110:4; Heb 7:11-19; Eph 3:1-13)

All this shows us how important it is that we know and keep God’s word, and that we read with understanding good translations (if not the original languages), which will more accurately present what the Holy Spirit inspired the writer to record, rather than someone’s own subjective paraphrase. A paraphraser’s words and understanding can change over time; God does not change His, and He has perfect understanding and wisdom.

“On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite heart, and who trembles at My word.” (Is 66:1-2)