F the many statements which the Bible makes concerning the Word of GOD, none is more significant, and surely none is of greater importance to dying men, than the statement that the Word of GOD is a living Word.

      In Philippians ii. 16 we have the expression, "The Word of Life." The same expression occurs in I. John i. 1. It is here used of JESUS CHRIST, the Incarnate WORD, whereas in Philippians it is apparently the Written Word that is spoken of. The Written Word and the Incarnate WORD are so identified in Scripture that it is not always clear which is referred to. The same things are said of each, and the same characters attributed to each. The fundamental resemblance lies in the fact that each is the revealer or tangible expression of the Invisible GOD. As the written or spoken word expresses, for the purpose of [17] communicating to another, the invisible and inaccessible thought, so Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Word, and the Holy Scriptures as the Written Word, express and communicate knowledge of the invisible and inaccessible GOD. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the FATHER." "Believe Me that I am in the FATHER, and the FATHER in Me" (John xiv. 9, 11).

      In Hebrews iv. 12 we find the statement that "The Word of GOD is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (R. V.). Clearly this refers to the Written Word. But the very next verse, without any change of subject, directs our attention to the SEARCHER of hearts (Rev. ii. 23), saying: "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do."

      Again in I. Peter i. 23 we read of "the Word of GOD which liveth," or more literally, "the Word of GOD living." Here again there might be uncertainty as to whether the Incarnate WORD or the Written Word be meant; but it is generally understood that the latter is in view, and the quotation from Isaiah xl. 6-8 would confirm this idea.

      From these passages we learn that the Word of GOD is spoken of as a "living" Word. This is a very remarkable statement, and is worthy of our closest examination and most earnest [18] consideration. Why is the Word of GOD thus spoken of? Why is the extraordinary property of life, or vitality, attributed to it? In what respects can it be said to be a living Word, or Word of Life?

      But the expression "living" as applied to the Word of GOD, manifestly means something more than partaking of the kind of life with which we are acquainted from observation. GOD speaks of Himself as the "LIVING GOD." The LORD JESUS is the "PRINCE OF LIFE" (Acts iii. 15). He announced Himself to John in the vision of Patmos as "He that liveth." Eternal life is in Him (I. John v. 11.)

      It is clear, then, that when we read: "The Word of GOD is living," we are to understand thereby, that it lives with a spiritual, an inexhaustible, an inextinguishable,--in a word--a Divine life. If the Word of GOD be indeed living in this sense, then we have here a fact of the most tremendous significance. In the world around us the beings and things which we call "living" may just as appropriately be spoken of as "dying." What we call "the land of the living" might better be described as the land of the dying. Wherever we look we see that death is in possession, and is working according to its invariable method of corruption and decay. Death is the real monarch of this world, and we meet at every turn the gruesome evidence and results of the universal sway of him who has "the power of death, [19] that is, the Devil" (Heb. ii. 14). "Death reigned" (Rom. v. 17), and still reigns over everything. The mighty and awful power of death has made this earth of ours a great burying-ground,--a gigantic cemetery.

      Can it be that there is an exception to this apparently universal rule? Is there, indeed, in this world of dying beings, where the forces of corruption fasten immediately upon everything into which life has entered, and upon all the works of so-called living creatures,--one object which is really living, an object upon which corruption cannot fasten itself, and which resists and defies all the power of death? Such is the assertion of the passages of Scripture which we have quoted. Surely, then, if these statements be true, we have here the most astounding phenomenon in all the accessible universe; and it will be well worth while to investigate an object of which so startling an assertion is seriously, if very unobtrusively, made.

      Before we proceed with our inquiry let us note one of many points of resemblance between the Incarnate WORD and the Written Word. When "the WORD was made flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us" (John i. 14) there was nothing in His appearance to manifest His Deity, or to show that "in Him was life" (John i. 4). The fact was demonstrated, not by His blameless and unselfish behavior, nor by His incomparable teachings and discourses, but by His resurrection [20] from the dead. The only power which is greater than that of death is the power of life. He had, and exercised, that power, and holds now the keys of death and of Hades. (Rev. i. 18, R. V.)

      Similarly, there is nothing in the appearance and behaviour (so to speak) of the Bible to show that it has a characteristic, even Divine life, which other books have not. It bears the same resemblance to other writings that JESUS, the Son of Mary, bore to other men. It is given in human language just as He came in human flesh.¹ Yet there is between it and all other books the same difference as between Him and all other men, namely, the difference between the living and the dying. "The word of GOD is living."

      It will require, therefore, something more than a hasty glance or a casual inspection to discern this wonderful difference; but the difference is there, and with diligence and attention we may discover some clear indications of it. [21]

[LIWE 17-21]