In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was a person. The Word was God, Himself.
But the Word was not written down. It was God. It was alive. It is still alive. And it knows everything there is to know … everything possibly knowable is known only by the Word. And the Word has unimaginable creative force when it speaks …
Genesis 1:3 (NET)
God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light!
Ten times in Genesis 1 God, who is the Word, speaks. The Word expressed itself with intention, decree and command, and through tremendous phases of indescribable energy and matter release, creation comes into being at the behest of the Word … and it was all good. The Word expressed itself in the form of divine, sovereign decree – indisputable, irrevocable, all-powerful and unstoppable.
Psalms 33:8-9 (NLT)
“Let the whole world fear the LORD, and let everyone stand in awe of Him. 9 For when He spoke, the world began! It appeared at His command.”
Isaiah 55:11 (NLT)
“It is the same with My word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”
In the beginning was the Word. In the beginning was the Voice. The Word had personality, and so, it spoke. When the Word spoke back then it brought the world into existence. The powerfull nature of the word of the Lord is a prominent theme in Genesis 1. Meditating carefully on that ancient Hebrew narrative, it introduces the Law, the words and commandments from the Lord that must be obeyed; there is no alternative position to the Word. The ten decrees of God in the Genesis 1 creation narrative, anticipate the ten “words/decrees” in the ten commandments.
In the beginning was the voice. The voice spoke. It still speaks.
Hebrews 1:3b (NIV)
“The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. …”
The Word continues to speak, to go forth, and all things – every atom, every molecule – is given energy, order and stability. Everything holds together in synchronistic harmony as the Word continues to speak, continues to express itself, to decree and command things that cannot be undone, or changed, or diverted.
John 1:1 (NIV)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
In the ancient Greek text of John’s Gospel “with” here implies not just proximity, but intimate personal relationship. As one scholar (M. Dods) noted, “with” stated here means more than this, it expresses the presence of one person with another. That person, who is “with” God, is Jesus Christ. He was with God in the beginning. He was God. And, in agreement with God, Christ, the Word, expressed Himself. The Voice rang out and all creation was formed from nothing …
John 1:3 (NIV)
“Through Him [Jesus] all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.”
In the beginning was Jesus. He was the Word. He was the Voice. The Voice spoke. He became flesh and walked and talked with us, and when the Word spoke, diseases fled, demons fled, food multiplied, storms were stilled – and death lost its grip …
John 11:43 (KJV)
And when He [the Word become flesh] thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, “LAZARUS, COME FORTH!”.
Because the power – all power and authority – is in the Word.
The Voice of the Word still speaks the sustaining, creative power of the universe.
John 1:4 (NIV)
“In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
This is eternal life, which is more than mere immortality as the Psalmist prophesied.
Psalms 36:9 (NIV)
“For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.”
In the beginning was the Word. At the end of history, as we know it, will be the Word. And beyond the end … will be the Word.
Revelation 19:13 (NLT)
“Jesus wore a robe dipped in blood, and His title was the Word of God.”
Between now and then the Word will continue to speak. To woo His lost lambs home. The rhema Voice will be heard by millions of God’s people, too. The Voice will be whispered by Holy Spirit to the people of God to sustain them, hold them, protect them, heal them, encourage them, revive them, guide them … until He comes again.
All this to say one crucial thing to you this week: meditate day and night on God’s (logos) Word, so that the (rhema) Voice will be more and more clearly, more and more powerfully heard in your spirit, such that bold, confident, ruthless faith arises in the heart of every born again and the power of THAT word is in your mouth. Every day.
Psalms 119:11 (NIV)
“I have hidden (planted, buried) Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.”
In this way the Word becomes Voice to us.
Mark 13:31 (NIV)
[Jesus] “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.”
Think on these things. Read the Word. Get the Voice in your spirit.
Ps Milton
[Sources: M. Dods, “The Gospel of St. John," The Expositor's Greek Testament, 1:684; ).