“FOREVER, O LORD, Your word is SETTLED IN HEAVEN.” (Psa. 119:89) This is a crucial verse in the longest chapter in the longest book in the Bible, and it is surely one of the greatest verses in the Bible. It conveys the amazing news that the Word of God (which is the theme of the entire 119th Psalm) has EXISTED FROM ETERNITY PAST and will continue to EXIST FOREVER IN THE FUTURE. It was eternally settled in the mind of God before the world was created. God’s Word comes to us in the Bible and here, it tells us something about itself. It tells us three wonderful things about its own character.
- IT IS FOREVER: It’s eternal, it’s not temporary. It doesn’t change with fashions or the events of history or the attitudes and thoughts of man. It’s forever – THE ETERNAL WORD.
- IT IS GOD’S WORD: It’s not man’s word. It didn’t start with man. It came from God. It’s the revelation of God Himself – His ways, His thoughts, His attitudes, His purposes, His laws. Men were the channels through which it came, but as with all the Word of God – GOD IS THE SOURCE.
- IT IS SETTLED IN HEAVEN: Nothing that happens on earth can ever change the Word of God. It’s not subject to the decrees of kings or emperors, nor to the opinions of politicians or to the violence of armies. It’s out of reach of all those evil forces; it’s settled – FOREVER IN HEAVEN.
“The righteousness of Your testimonies IS EVERLASTING; Give me understanding, and I shall live.” (Psa. 119:144) The eternal validity of God’s words are stressed in other verses as well. “Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of old that You have founded them FOREVER.” (Psa. 119:152) There are so many uncertainties in this life, it is wonderful to know, “The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments ENDURES FOREVER.” (Psa. 119:160)
Isaiah and Peter echo an eternal theme. “The grass withers, the flower fades, But THE WORD OF OUR GOD STANDS FOREVER.” (Isaiah 40:8) “…you have purified yourselves by obeying from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of IMPERISHABLE, through the LIVING AND ENDURING WORD OF GOD.” (1 Pet. 1:22-25)
READ IT, TRUST IT, HIDE IT IN YOUR HEART.
-Bill Stockham