The disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Tell us, what will be the sign of Your coming?” Jesus said to them: “Take heed that NO ONE DECEIVES YOU (blepō: to turn your thoughts away). For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will DECEIVE MANY.” (Matt. 24:4-5)
Let’s go back to the creation where, “…God said, “Let Us make man in OUR IMAGE (tselem: a reflection of the creator) according to Our likeness…So God created man in His own image…” (Gen. 1:26-27) The Hebrew word for shadow (tsel) comes out of the word tselem, and we don’t look like shadows, but our shadow behaves EXACTLY LIKE WE DO. We are a mirror image of God, except we’re human. I’ve heard people say the Eve was naïve but I do not agree because God created them perfect. So, why did they fall? Because Satan, “…is a liar and THE FATHER OF LIES.” (John 8:44) The first thing he did was to very cleverly lie to them about what God said, “The serpent (devil) asked the woman, “DID GOD REALLY SAY you must not eat the fruit? “You won’t die!” the serpent replied. “God knows that YOUR EYES WILL BE OPENED as soon as you eat it, and YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD, knowing both good and evil.” (Gen. 3:1, 4-5)
The devil convince Eve and Adam that they were inferior so, Eve thought, “we can be so much more useful to God” so, she ate and Adam did as well, directly disobeying God’s VERY SPECIFIC COMMANDMENT (Gen. 2:16). How can we protect ourselves from deception? By being familiar with the WORD OF GOD! Because “…the word of God is LIVING and POWERFUL, and it exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Heb. 4:12) How can this Word be Alive and Full of Power? We have to know WHO the Word of God is.
“In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…the WORD BECAME FLESH and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of THE ONLY BEGOTTEN of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-3, 14) John the revelator said, “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and…He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called THE WORD OF GOD.” (Rev. 19:11-13)
Jesus is the LIVING WORD, the scripture is the LIVING WRITTEN WORD, that why it is alive and full of power!!! One more very important fact about the Word, “All Scripture is GOD–BREATHED (theopneustos: the combination of theos, meaning God, and pneustos, meaning to blow or breathe) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED (exartizō: to furnish perfectly) FOR EVERY GOOD WORK.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17) It’s useful because when we read it, God BREATHES THE LIVING AND POWERFUL WORD into our very being.
THERE IS NO OTHER BOOK IN THE WORLD THAT CAN DO WHAT THE WORD OF GOD CAN DO IN OUR LIVES…
-Bill Stockham