God’s Providence and The Preservation of Scripture (Pt. II)

(Part II)

            Here are eight assurances that God’s word will be preserved as long as time shall continue. May they comfort your soul as you read the words which “proceed from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4).

The Old Testament Declares that God Will Preserve His Word for All Time

            David affirmed God’s preservation of his word: “The LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations” (Psa. 100:5).

            Isaiah wrote, “The grass withers, the flowers fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40:8). Peter quoted this statement, referencing it as “the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (I Pet. 1:24-25). Neither Isaiah nor Peter could make such statements without the assurance of God’s preservation of Scripture. They knew God was actively preserving his word.

The Sure Preservation of Scripture That Saves Us is Confirmed in the

New Testament

            Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you (I Pet. 1:22-25).

Preservation Involved God Insisting That His Revelation Be Written

            God facilitated a written word. Soon after his baptism, Jesus faced Satan’s temptation and successfully resisted by repeatedly using the phrase, “It is written…”

            It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4).

It is written again, “You shall not tempt the LORD your God” (4:7).

Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve” (4:10).

            The basic fact that the Word was transmitted in writing is demonstrative of God’s determination to preserve that Word. If, instead of being written, revelation had been passed down from generation to generation in an evolving form, we would never be able to depend on our Bibles. Folklore, handed down through storytelling over many years, always suffers from human forgetfulness and miscommunication. It is, thus, untrustworthy.

            When Jesus defeated Satan (Mt. 4), he reached back and quoted passages from Deuteronomy 6 and 8 that were over a thousand years old. When he said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” he was quoting the written Word, while declaring that it originated from the mouth of God. He was able to use these passages to resist the tempter because they were written down and written accurately. Those verses were first written in the distant past, but they stood written in Matthew 4 literally means “It was written then, it stands written now” (Strong’s). God preserve his word.

            Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Mt. 24:35); he was testifying that, when this world has been destroyed and reduced to a memory (2 Pet. 3:10-11), his words will live on. If a man does not believe that God has preserved his word through the centuries, he cannot fully trust in Jesus, as God’s infallible Son.

To be continued…

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The Spiritual Sword

By Glenn Colley