The Book that literally becomes ALIVE

Galatians 3:8 says, 'And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

“Notice it didn’t say, ‘And the scripture, fortelling’ because the scripture didn’t fortell it; it was a mystery hid in God. God planned it, He knew He was going to do it, but He never told anybody about it until He revealed it through Paul. But the scripture, knowing we were coming . . .

“You see how Paul attributes an attribute of God Himself to the scripture? That’s weird. What did the scripture do? It ‘preached before the gospel unto Abraham.’ Paul says the scripture preached the gospel, but you go back to Genesis where that quote is, and it’s Jehovah. It’s God talking to Abraham.

“Abraham didn’t have a Bible. He didn’t have scripture. The word ‘script' means writing. Abraham didn’t have anything written down as a message from God. In fact, the Book of Genesis wasn’t written until after Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt, and it’s written by Moses. So what you’ve got here is something being said that can’t happen unless you recognize that, in the Bible, God makes His Word equal to Himself.

“In Paul’s mind, when the scripture did it, it was God doing it, and when God did it, the scripture said it. The psalmist says about God ‘that thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.’

“In the Bible, God equals/equates His Word with Himself. I don’t know any other way of saying it. When you deal with God’s Word, you’re dealing with God Himself and conversely, if you’re going to deal with God, you have to deal with His Word. Every contact you have with God OUTSIDE of the objective pages of a Bible is on an inner, subjective level.

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“You see, God, when He speaks it and He writes it down, that’s Him talking. Hebrews 4:12 says, [12] For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

“He starts out talking about the Word of God and ends up talking about the Word of God personified as a ‘his,’ and he says, ‘It’s a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.’ That’s talking about God. He takes His Word and describes His Word as though He’s describing Himself. He gives God’s attributes to His Word.

“Romans 9:17 says, [17] For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

“That’s a quote out of Exodus 9:16. Back there it says Jehovah said: ‘I Jehovah.’ Here it says ‘the scripture saith.’ Once again, He uses the Scripture interchangeably with Himself.

“Romans 9:17 is God the Spirit’s commentary through Paul and He interchanges the two. God Himself isn’t shy about saying that His Word is equal to Himself. The connection between the written Word and the LIVING Word is astounding. In the Bible, they are absolutely inseparable! Jesus Christ is called ‘the Word. ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ Capital W. It’s a title. It’s a proper noun.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.’ That’s interesting. He’s WITH God; He and the Father are there. They’re separate people but He’s with Him. ‘And the Word was God.’ He was equally God but separate in His person. ‘All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.’ He’s the Creator God. He’s the speaker of the godhead.

“Then He says in John 1:17, ‘The Word became flesh.’ So we know who the Word is. The Word is the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the godhead. But the Bible is called the Word of God.

“Revelation 19 says that when Jesus Christ comes back, 'he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called The Word of God.' He is the living Word of God, but the Bible is the written Word of God, and the connections between the two are so astounding that you can’t really separate them. When you deal with one you deal with the other.

“Both have two natures. Jesus Christ is God but He’s also man. He’s the man Christ Jesus and yet He’s God. ‘Thy throne O God,’ the Father says to Him in Hebrews 1:8. So God the Father thinks Jesus is God and He thinks He’s the man: ‘The Word became flesh.’

“The Bible is the Word of God written by God Himself (‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God’) and yet He used holy men of old. He used men as pen men.

“Both the LIVING Word and the WRITTEN word can save you. Jesus Christ, Hebrews says, can save to the uttermost those that come to God by Him. James 1 says it’s the ‘engrafted word’ that is able to save your soul.

“Both the living and written word judge you. Paul says he was gave a witness by His resurrection that He’ll be the judge of all men. In John 12, Jesus says ‘[48] He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

“Both live and abide forever. Jesus is one who lives forever. The Word of God is the incorruptible seed that lives and abides forever.

“Both can be received. John 1:12 says, ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.’ Paul says, ‘As ye have received Christ Jesus so walk ye in him.’ He says about the written word, ‘I thank God that when you heard the word we preached unto you, you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God.’ How do you receive the living Word of God? By receiving the written Word. You can be made alive by it. You’ll be judged by it.

“You say, ‘Which one is it?’ It’s both because they’re one. They both are the living and the written. Jesus is ‘the way.’ Psalm 119:32 calls the Word of God ‘the way.’ Jesus is ‘the truth.’ He said, ‘Sanctify them by thy word; thy word is truth.’ Jesus is the life. 
Paul says, ‘Hold forth the word of life.’

"Jesus calls the Word of God ‘the bread.’ John 6:33 says, ‘For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.’ The Bible says, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’

“Jesus is the light of the world. About the Bible, it says in psalms, ‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Jesus says ‘from the beginning.’ I John 2:13 says, ‘I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.’ Psalm 119:160 says, ‘Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.’

“There’s this connection of similarity between both of them. John 10:30 says, [30] I and my Father are one. Jesus was born of God. I Peter 1:23 says, [23] Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.’ Jesus Christ sanctifies you. He sanctifies all them who come to God by Him. Jesus said, ‘Thy word is truth; sanctify them by thy word.’

“The Word works in you. Paul said, ‘It’s Christ working in you. It’s the Word of God that works effectually in you that believe.’ Jesus Christ makes you free. ‘Stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ has made you free.’ He said, ‘You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’

“What I’m trying to say to you is that when you’re dealing with the scripture, the written Word of God, you’re really dealing with God Himself, and if you’re going to deal with God Himself, you’re going to have to do it by dealing with His Word. You can’t separate the two.”