God’s word is awesome! When I accepted Christ as my personal savior, the King James Version of the Bible was all I had. Although the old English seemed stiff and strange to me at times, it was also beautifully poetic. The 23rd Psalm is a great example that still resides in my memory. As I studied the scriptures at that young age a miracle took place; my heart understood that which my mind should have had trouble grasping. God’s word came alive and spoke to me as I learned about His majesty, power, love, grace and forgiveness through the words and actions of His Son. I also learned valuable lessons from the stories of men and women who turned to God and even those who turned away from Him.
Today we are blessed with some great modern translations of the Bible. If you have been following this blog you know that when I quote scripture it is from the NLT version unless otherwise noted. A friend who studies the original Hebrew and Greek tells me it is the most accurate of the modern translations. The Amplified version expands on the multiple meanings for words or phrases and the Message uses colorful descriptions. In addition to the English translations, the complete Bible has been translated into 553 languages, the New Testament into 1,333 languages and at least one book of scripture has been translated into 2,932 different languages and I’m sure translators are working hard on new ones as I write this. Which of them is the inspired word of God? All of them!
How can that be? It is because the inspired word of God is not about language; it is about God’s message to us. As long as His message resonates within us, we can be sure it is His inspired word. The miracle of God’s word is that it comes alive when seekers and believers read it. The message impacts each of us in a very personal way. There are times when a verse or passage literally jumps off the page at me when I need it most. There are other times when I am reading a very familiar verse or passage and my mind is opened to a whole new aspect that I had never thought of before that has specific application for me now.
Three of the Gospels record these words of Jesus, “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33) John’s Gospel describes Jesus as the living Word of God.