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 | | From: | admin | | Subject: | Preservation or Restoration- Post #3 | | Date: | Sat, 13 Nov 2004 14:52:16 GMT |
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 | The following is a continuing post from the Book "Which Version is the
Bible" by Floyd Nolen Jones. Chapter 1, pages 3
Which Version is the Bible? Ó
Copyright 1995 · Floyd Jones Ministries, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. This book may be freely reproduced in any form as long
as it is not distributed for any material gain or profit; however, this book
may not be published without written permission.
WHAT DOES GOD HIMSELF PROMISE CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES?
Let us examine some verses where God has promised both to give and protect
His Word.
"Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word
to perform it." (Jeremiah 1:12)
Here God says He is watching over His Word to perform it - to make all that
He has said come to pass.
Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass
away." (Mark 13:31)
God did not promise to keep the original piece of material upon which His
words were given. He says His Words SHALL NOT PASS AWAY. Therefore, this
promise demands that we still have them on planet earth.
Jesus also says, "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man
be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
(Mark 8:38)
Why this verse if God has not preserved His Word?
"But the word of the Lord endureth forever." (I Pet.1:25)
This is a direct quote of Isaiah 40:8. God has said that His Word will
endure forever! He did not promise that the original piece of paper, rock
or vellum would exist forever but that He would preserve the Word - forever.
"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand
for ever." (Isaiah 40:8)
".. for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." (Psalm 138:2)
Look at that! God says He has magnified His Word above His name! That is
incredible for supposedly THE name was so sacred to the Jews that they did
not even pronounce it.
Jesus said "... and the Scripture cannot be broken." (John 10:35)
Thus, on the basis of God's many promises we declare and proclaim to you
that we have in our hands the absolutely infallible inerrant Living Word of
Almighty God - that God has promised to keep His Word as revealed through
these Scriptures. But there is more!
"The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of
earth, purified seven times. Thou shall keep them, O Lord, thou shall
preserve them from this generation forever." (Psa.12:6, 7)
This is a promise from God! Christian, do you believe it? He says He will
preserve it. He did not just promise to give the originals pure and free
from error - He promised to preserve the text forever!
"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."
(John 12:48)
Since God's Word will judge us, are we to believe that God will judge us by
something which He meticulously gave us and then lost along the way? Would
it be just and fair of God to judge us with these words if they are no
longer trustworthy - to hold us accountable when our guide is not 100
percent reliable?
In Matthew 5:18, Jesus said not "one jot or one tittle" shall change in the
Word of God. Specifically, He was speaking of the Old Testament. We are
being taught today that perhaps the Old Testament is not true, that it is
full of contradictions, scribal errors, etc., but Jesus said that it was
true and unerring - even to the smallest detail - and He was not referring
to the originals, but to copies of copies of copies.
"Do you not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that
accuseth you, even Moses in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye
would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his
writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John 5:45-47)
Was Jesus speaking of the "originals"? No, for they did not have the
originals. They had copies of copies of copies of the originals yet Jesus
said "not one jot or one tittle" had been changed. If God has only promised
the "ORIGINALS" to be pure then Jesus erred in His assessment of the
Scriptures. Should these statements of Jesus concerning the Scriptures be
inaccurate then He is not Lord, no longer all knowing, no longer all God.
"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they
are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have
life." (John 5:39-40)
The ultimate purpose of the Scriptures is to lead us to Christ - and then to
guide our lives. If the Scriptures are not accurate, if they have been
changed or altered, if they have been lost so that we no longer have the
Word of God, how can we come to Christ for they are the Holy Spirit's
implement to testify of the Lord Jesus.
As set forth in the preceding paragraphs, we have Scripturally demonstrated
that faith in the preservation of the text is a basic Bible doctrine.
Furthermore, the context of these many promises is not that God's Word is to
be preserved in a jar somewhere in a cave or desert, lost for hundreds of
years waiting to be found and restored to the believing remnant of the
Church. The context is very clear in Second Timothy 3:16-17 that the
inspired Word was given by God as a deposit to the Body of Christ "that the
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works".
Therefore, for God to accomplish this stated purpose for His having given us
His Word - it must remain accessible to the disciples of the Lord, Christ
Jesus!
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