Friday, March 27, 2015

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

- This is a quote from Isaiah 40:6-8. All people are like grass; they eventually die. Life (flesh) is fragile and short. All the glory of people is like the flowers of the field; they can flourish and look beautiful for a while but they eventually wither and fall. Wealth, health, beauty, strength, fame, power, accomplishments...are fleeting and passing away. All earthly things perish. You cannot take any of it with you when you die. That's why we should be eternally grateful to God for our new birth, living hope, & imperishable inheritance and live in humble submission & utmost reverence to Him. "The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and His righteousness with their children's children--with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts." (Psalm 103:15-18)

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour,

The paths of glory lead but to the grave." (Thomas Gray)

- But the Word of the Lord remains forever! The Gospel of Jesus Christ will never pass away. "Amidst all the revolutions on earth, the fading glories of natural objects, and the wasting strength of man, God's truth remains unaffected. Its beauty never fades; its power is never enfeebled. The gospel system is as lovely now as when it was first revealed to man, and it has as much power to save as it had when first applied to the human heart." (Barnes) Focus on what matters. "Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs." (Jonathan Edwards) It is indeed foolish to put our trust in anything temporal. Trust in God and trust what God says for His Word is trustworthy, living, active, and enduring/indestructible.

"Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts dated about A. D. 900. The Dead Sea Scrolls, in startling agreement with the Masoretic text, dated to about 150 B.C. But now archaeologists have discovered a pair of tiny silver scrolls that date back to about 600 B.C.! While digging at the site of a fifth-century church in Jerusalem, researchers found a Roman legionnaires' cemetery. Exploring still deeper, they found a small burial cave containing the scrolls. Very carefully, less than a hundredth of an inch at a time, the scrolls were unrolled. On each of them appeared an excerpt from the book of Numbers that included the word Jehovah. And these scrolls date back to the days before the exile to Babylon, earlier than liberal scholars supposed that the Pentateuch had even been written! The Bible has been wonderfully and accurately preserved. Copies of portions of the New Testament, dating to within fifty years of the original manuscripts, have been found, and they coincide with what we have today The Bible can be trusted as the inspired, inerrant Word of God." (D. C. Egner)


"THIS BOOK contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.
Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.
It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword and the Christian's character.
Here paradise is restored, heaven opened and the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand object, our good is its design and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.
It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever.
It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labour, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents." (Unknown) 
I wrote a Haiku based on these verses:
People like grass die
Their glory is like flowers
They soon fade and fall

But God's Word endures
Focus on what truly counts
Share the Gospel, y'all

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