Monday, October 26, 2015

The Unchanging Word

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV)

The writer of Hebrews has just spent a whole chapter writing about the great people of the faith—Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, as well as others not mentioned by name but by their demonstrative faith.  And he uses these individuals who lived many centuries before his audience’s time as sources of encouragement to continue in the faith.  

In our culture today, we tend to dismiss the past as irrelevant to the present and the future.  And believers tend to look to current figures for encouragement rather than those who have gone before us.  Perhaps it’s because we think we have little in common with those who lived decades or centuries before us.  With the rapid advances in technology how could we ever be able to relate to those who lived without computers, smart phones and social media, or even without cars, planes, and electricity?  

Yet, people of faith for nearly two millennia have read the words written above.  The same can be said for all of the New Testament.  One constant for followers of Jesus down through the centuries is the Word of God.  It is the same today for us in the 21st Century as it was for people in the 4th Century, in the 10th Century, and in the 18th Century. While in those early centuries, it was read aloud rather than read individually, it is the same Word.

So now imagine a crowd gathered around a church leader listening to him read and teach on the Sermon on the Mount as Matthew or Luke records it.  Imagine Martin Luther, the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century, diligently translating the Bible into the common German language of the day, or John Wesley preaching on Ephesians 2:8-10 to a 17th Century crowd.  It is the same Word that we read and hear today.

Thus, as the Hebrew writer is pointing out, there is a common thread between believers through all of history.  We share the faith in the Lord Jesus and have the Word to guide us and encourage us—the unchangeable Word that has spoken to believers down through the ages.  While the world has undergone unfathomable changes since Jesus walked the earth, His Word has remained the same.  

So today, as you read the Scriptures, realize people who have lived hundreds, even thousands of years ago, read or heard the same words. And as they were encouraged by them and obedient to them, so may you be as well.

© Jim Musser 2015

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