Translating deity thinking

Hebrews 4:12 says, “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.”

Jordan explains, “That word 'quick' means alive but it doesn’t mean just alive. It means ALIVE like, ‘Productive ALIVE!’ That’s why it’s translated ‘quick.’ The idea of it being quickness; it’s alive. Really the word means to ‘function in all the parts.’ Efficiently. You’re functioning, you’re in a state of activity, but it’s the idea of being able to respond without delay.

"Can I tell you that God’s Word doesn’t take forever to work in your life. You’ve got a problem and you bring the Word of God into that problem, you know what God’s Word says about that problem? It won’t take 6 weeks, 6 months, 2 years to fix the problem. If it takes that long it’s because you aren’t believing it.

“God’s Word will work quickly; it will function quickly! It’s alive! And it doesn’t hesitate to do its work. It doesn’t hesitate to energize you. It doesn’t hesitate to change your attitude about things. Or to change your actions. You know your actions come from the way you think.

“The Word of God works internally in you because it’s life. And let me say it again, it will work QUICKLY. It will give life without hesitation. It’s powerful. It’s a ‘discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart.’ That’s a quality of God.

“It’s like the Book is. When you talk to that Book, you’re talking to God. Now the reason for that is is because it’s the Word of God. When you read that Book, it reads you. It’s a weird book in that sense.

“Because it’s a Book that literally reaches into your heart and evaluates what’s going on inside of you and He says it’s powerful. There’s a dynamic, living quality and ability to God’s Word.

*****

“Psalm 33 says, [1] Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
[2] Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
[3] Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
[4] For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.
[5] He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
[6] By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

“I love that ‘play skilfully.’ You know, a lot of folks play with loud noise but He says ‘play skillfully.’ That means be on pitch. Here’s what you’re to sing and praise and be excited about: ‘For the word of the Lord is right.’

“The first criteria of your Bible means to be right. God’s Word is associated with the breath of His mouth with His speaking. And all of the things you see out here were made when God SPOKE some words. You see that?

“Hebrews 11:3 says, ‘Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.’

“There’s Psalm 33:6! You weren’t there, you see. You have to take it by faith. By faith we understand. By the way, He doesn’t even say we know. He says we understand. You understand some things.

*****

“They had this debate the other week between Ham and Nye. You can look at the facts; the bare biology, geology, anthropology. That kind of stuff, you can look at the facts, but by faith you get understanding.

“You find out what’s behind all of this. There’s a wisdom, a knowledge, an understanding by God by which He created those things that you can only know by faith in what He tells you.

“ 'So the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.’ So the physical reality of the universe was made that it was not made out of things that appear! Well, if it’s not made out of something that appears—if it doesn’t appear, what is it?! if it’s not visible, it’s invisible. Wow, that’s smart!

“God used some resources within Himself to create a physical universe. The physical universe was a manifestation of a spiritual reality that resided in God.

“Have you wondered why in the beginning, God created two realms--visible and invisible? Colossians 1:16 says, ‘For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.’

*****

“Have you ever wondered why He says in Genesis 1:1, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ Why'd He do it that way? Why didn’t He just say, ‘In the beginning God created the universe,’ because that’s what He did. Isn’t the earth part of the heaven?

“Why would Paul say ‘visible and invisible’? He’s communicating something to you about what you’re reading here. When you understand what He was doing, what you understand is that the physical were made by things that are not seen. He took something out of the spiritual reality in Himself and created the visible.

“So the physical is going to really be a manifestation of a spiritual life. So, in your Christian life, when we talk about the outward being an expression of the inward, what are we really talking about? Exactly that! That’s how God works in His creation.

*****

“II Timothy 3:16 says, ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’

“You see that word ‘script’? He’s talking about all the stuff written down. Scripted. It’s given by inspiration of God. You see that word inspiration? God literally took His Spirit and put it into some words and somebody wrote them down. He breathed out some words. He said some things.

“And all Scripture, all the stuff that’s written down here, is given by God, putting His Spirit in some words that somebody then wrote down.

“Inspiration has to do with God putting His Spirit into words that are then written down. What’s written down is given to you by God putting His Spirit into some words. That’s what inspiration is. It’s God giving some words that are then written down.

*****

“Job 32:8 says, ‘But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.’

“I read that just so you can see again that issue about inspiration has to do with there’s a spirit in man and the inspiration gives understanding. There’s a connection between the spirit and inspiration.

“Listen, there’s a spirit in man. Genesis 2:7 says, ‘And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.’

“How do you make man? You form man out of the dust of the earth and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.

“God inbreathed a spirit, the breath of God, and that breath of God has to do with what God’s doing when He writes His Word. Jesus said, ‘Man should not live by breath alone but by every word that proceeds out of the MOUTH of God.’

*****

“II Peter 1:20-21 says, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
[21] For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

“Notice we are talking here about the Scripture. So, here’s how the Bible comes into existence. God speaks. He breathes out some words. Those words are then put into written form in a book. They’re written down in the Book of God. So what’s written down? The words that came out of the mouth of God.

“It starts out with a spiritual reality. This form that you hold in your hands, you’re talking about how God reveals Himself.

*****

“You ever heard anybody talk about how you can’t have a divine translation? You know how dumb that is?! What do you think it took for God Almighty (God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost)?!

“They’re talking among themselves before they ever thought about creating you. And they’re just talking among themselves. What language do you think they talked in?

“How would you take deity thinking and translate it into a finite language that a human could understand? There’s the real translation problem. Translating it from Greek to English, or from Greek to Swahili, that’s a cinch compared to taking deity words and putting it into human words.

“If God could do that, you don’t worry about translating between your languages. That ain’t no big deal! He could take His thinking and put it into human language and do it in such a way as to say, ‘That’s my Word.’

“I got over worrying about translating years ago when I realized that. God reveals Himself. God speaks His revelation to us. Then He has it inscribed in a book. Then He preserves that book through history. What’s He preserving? The spiritual reality that He spoke preserves it and it now resides in written form!”