As I have said and written many times, when it comes to things of the spirit, it all comes back to the Word.  Everything begins with, is carried through and ends with THE WORD OF GOD.  Without the Word in print we would know nothing about God, Christ, holiness, salvation, eternity, etc.  Jesus–“the Word” (Jn. 1:1-4,14)–was THE WORD OF GOD MADE FLESH.  True Christians, those who “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6) are also THE WORD OF GOD MADE FLESH.  This Truth was brought out by the Lord Himself through Moses in Leviticus 26:12 and Ezekiel 37:27.  The Almighty said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM (OBEDIENT ONES) AND WALK (THINK, SPEAK AND ACT) IN THEM.”  True Christianity is God manifesting Himself through man, just as He did through Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus was the Son of God.  Those who obey Him are sons of God.  This is what makes His Very Elect “A CHOSEN GENERATION, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PECULIAR PEOPLE “(1 Pet. 2:9).  The key that unlocks the door to being chosen, royalty, priests, holy and peculiar is God’s Word, specifically the part His Word plays in one’s life (“walk”).  One’s “walk” is either God’s Word (will/Truth) come to life in human form, or it isn’t.  Either God is “walking” in us or He isn’t.  It’s all or nothing.

Recall that a rich man came running to Jesus, fell to his knees and asked him how to receive eternal life.  After learning that the man had kept the Law since childhood, Jesus told him that “ONE THING” separated him from eternal life.   All he had to do was rid himself of that “one thing.”  The man believed Jesus.  Recall that he “went away sad” because he could not bring himself to get rid of that one and only thing (desire for more things) that separated him from God.  Jesus told him how to do what needed to be done.  But his lust was too strong.  Satan won; the man lost because of ONE SIN.

There are many things that will keep people from receiving salvation at the return of Christ.  The Introduction to this website helps to reveal who is and who is not a chosen, royal, holy, peculiar priest of God.  Every one of those sins is written about in the Holy Word of God.  This series will focus on God’s Word and the absolute necessity for knowing, believing and obeying it.  In order to fully understand the importance of the Word of God one must know that the Holy Bible is God in written form and that Jesus (“the Word”) was the Holy Bible in human form.  As I said: IT ALL COMES BACK TO THE WORD, MEANING TO GOD AND TO CHRIST.  Let us begin this ultimately important study by looking at what the Word says about itself.

Jesus had sent out 70 disciples with His commission to preach the gospel, cast out demons and heal the sick.  They had come back exclaiming that: “Even the devils are subject unto us.” (Lk. 10:1-17)  Later, when He had told them that they would need to become more like Him in order to continue in their ministry, all but 12 of them “left Him and went back into the world” (Jn. 6:60-66).  Jesus then asked the 12 who had remained with Him: “Will you leave Me also?”  At this point the Apostle Peter made the premier statement relative to the importance of the Lord’s Words: “Where would we go? YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.”  Notice that he did not say, “You have the body that will be sacrificed so that man can have eternal life.”  Or, “You will be raised from the dead so that men can be saved.”  Note it: PETER EQUATED GOD’S WORD WITH ETERNAL LIFE.  Notice also that Jesus did not correct him.  GOD’S WORD CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM ETERNAL LIFE.  THEY ARE INTERDEPENDENT.

Jesus Himself made this abundantly clear when He said: “… the WORDS THAT I SPEAK, they are spirit and they are LIFE ” (Jn. 6:63).  Not “This body I will sacrifice is life,” but “the Words I speak are life.”  Later, in 12:47-50, He said that He Himself will not judge those who do not believe His Words, but that THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK, THEY WILL JUDGE MANKIND.  He also said that to reject His Words is to reject Him.  In Luke 10:16 He said that to reject His words proves that one DESPISES BOTH HIM AND HIS FATHER.

Jesus also proclaimed that He did not speak of His own volition; His Words were not His own, rather HIS FATHER GAVE HIM THE WORDS HE SPOKE.  Then He said: “I know that HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE LIFE EVERLASTING.  WHATSOEVER I SPEAK, THEREFORE, I SPEAK EVEN AS THE FATHER HAS SPOKEN UNTO ME.”  He spoke ETERNAL LIFE into the hearts (minds) of His followers.  Note that Jesus called God’s Words “COMMANDS.”  Every Word of God is a command.  We either obey His commands or we do not.  Those who do will rise to meet Christ in the clouds during the first resurrection and rule and reign with Him forever.  Again, everything comes back to the Word.

King David said this to His Lord: “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet; a LIGHT unto my path” (Ps. 119:105).  In this world of darkness, David knew that he needed God’s LIGHT to guide Him to where God commanded him to go spiritually.  GOD’S WORD IS HIS LIGHT.  Recall that Jesus said that as long as He was in the world He was the light of the world, and upon His death the disciples would be light of the world.  The light He offered to the Jews of the Holy Land and the light His apostles would offer it to all men everywhere (Mat. 24:14) was His Word which He had told His prophets and apostles to record.  His Word is His light to the nations which was at first carried by foot and now through electronic transmission.  This is the Word that must be believed and obeyed in order to inherit eternal life.  No one is exempted from this Law.  As the following will attest, this rule included Christ’s own family members as well as His disciples.  It also included Christ Himself.  The Lord’s Messiah, being a man, had to choose to obey Him.  He chose correctly.  So must we.

In Matthew 12:46-50 Jesus made it clear that neither His mother Mary nor His half-brothers and sisters were His spiritual “brethren”–children of God.  He defined His spiritual brethren as “They who do the will of My Father in heaven, (only) they are My brethren.”  Mary and family had to make the correct choice.  We know that some of them did.

In John 15:13,14 Jesus was talking to His disciples when He said: “Greater love has no man than He lay down His life for His friends.”  He then said to them, “You are My friends, IF YOU DO WHATSOEVER I COMMAND YOU.”  The disciples had to make the correct choice.  Are we better than His original disciples?

What the Father and His Son said is recorded in the Holy Bible.  Our spiritual standing with them depends on our obedience to Their Words.  Again, everything comes back to those Words.  L.J.