AT YOUR WORD: What is the basis of our gospel and ministry?

                                          Theological Conference, Joe Martin, April 2, 2022

INTRODUCTION:

          As I was thinking about the mountains that Rebekah and I went on, in Israel, I remembered several, the Mt. of Olives, Mt. Zion, Mt. Gerizim, the Mt. of the Beatitudes, Mt. Carmel, etc.  Those were some exciting times especially 1978, when we went into the “occupied territory” at Shechem, Nablus (Jacob’s well).

 

                          

 

          We hired an Arab taxi to take us to the top of Mt. Gerizim, which according to the Samaritan’s was the rock of Isaac’s sacrifice. (John 4:20, “this mountain”) It was a very windy day, and the only thing up on top were about twelve Israeli soldiers, a gun emplacement, and a blue sign, “The Rock of Isaac’s sacrifice.”   It was a beautiful day, we could see all the way down to the Jordan river to the east, and across to the north of Shechem, Mt. Ebal.

 

                   

 

          I was remembering the covenants of the Old Testament about Ebal and Gerizim, and Joshua. However, almost immediately, the Israeli soldiers “got on our case” with tough words, basically saying, “you dumb Americans,” this is occupied territory!   They kidnap Americans and you’re coming up here in an Arab taxi?  They took us down the mountain, loaded us up in a military vehicle, with soldiers and automatic machine guns and drove us out of “occupied territory” saying, “Don’t do this again!”  Exciting times I tell you!

          The historic Ebal and Gerizim event is found in Joshua 8.   “…The ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had given command at first to bless the people of Israel (Joshua 8:33 )   “There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly… .” (Joshua 8:35)  Bill Schlegel, in his Satellite Bible Atlas, has a great picture of both Ebal, and Mt. Gerizim. (p.44)

 

                     Rebekah & Arab taxi! 

 

          Another mountain I love, is Mt. Mulanje, about 40 miles east of Blantyre, Malawi, near the Mozambique.  The reason I like it, is that it sits near the border and in the middle of our churches there.  Anthony Buzzard, Jim Mattison, Rebekah and I, etc.  spent many days, hours, at the Mulanje View Motel in the gazebos, teaching the pastors, Abrahamic, biblical faith.   We would also have regional meetings which included the Mozambique pastors who would come across the river on the border about twenty miles away.  There will be more on this later, related to teaching there.

          

 

 

MT. CARMEL STUDY:

 

          Still another mountain of biblical fame is Mt Carmel.  It is beautiful also,  especially looking across to the west viewing the gorgeous Mediterranean sea and the beaches below and the port of Haifa just to the north.   We could also see over to Har Megiddo, Mountain or Hill of Megiddo, 15-20 miles SE, and across the Jezreel valley over towards Nazareth, about 30 miles away.   It got a little freaky when I started thinking about the Jezreel Valley, and Har Meggiddo, then Armageddon!  While on top of Carmel, I remembered the GREAT battle of Elijah there, as recalled in I Kings 18.   I’ve done a lot of thinking about that for this presentation!

 

AT YOUR WORD…   I Kings 18:36

          “At the time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, ‘Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and           Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that at Your word I have done all these things.’ ” (CSB)

         

          Here is a short review of the situation.   Elijah is in the northern kingdom Israel, about 850 b.c., with Ahab and Jezebel ruling what has become a very idolatrous kingdom.   He challenges the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets  of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table to a “showdown.” (I K. 18:19)   Each side gets a bull to put on each altar.  You know the story, the idolaters get the first try to call down “fire from heaven” to consume the bull on the altar.   From morning until noon (I K. 18:26)… they leap around the altar, cried with loud voices and cut themselves.  Verse 29 says, “…they raved until the time of the evening sacrifice.”

          Elijah is pretty detailed when he takes over:

          V, 30- he repaired the altar of YHWH which had been torn down

          V, 31- he took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes…

          V, 32- he built an altar in the name of YHWH and dug a trench around…

          V, 33- he arranged the wood, cut the ox in pieces, and laid it on…

          V, 34- he said, “fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering

                     “Do it a second time” and they did it a second time

                     “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time

          V, 35 The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench…

 

NOW comes the big prayer that I think we should focus on:

 

          36-"O LORD (YHWH), the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be                                known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have                         done all these things at Your word. [Heb. Rt. DBR, DVR] 

          37-"Answer me, O LORD (YHWH), answer me, that this people may know                      that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back                           again."

          38-Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood                             and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water

          39- When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said,

                     "Yahweh, He is God!  Yahweh, He is God!" (1Ki 18:39 CSB)

 

 

Hallelujah!   ( Zondervan, NIV Interlinear, Kohlenberger )

What could our ministry be like if we did things totally, or at least as close as possible, “at His Word?”  I would like to review the OT, and NT notions of the word of God, and emphasize that we should concentrate our ministries around the major points of the sure Word of God.   I would also like to point how Jesus is the walking, talking Word, giving to us the same … word of God to evangelize and go out with, especially the Kingdom message.  

 

Dabar, etc.,  DBR,    דָּבָר  

 

          Dabar or Davar (modern pronunciation) is the “big one” for “word” in the Hebrew.  It occurs in various forms about 2,662 times (Bibleworks).  It could be speech, word, words, speaking, and things.  “Word of the LORD”, in the lemma forms occur 440 times.  The first one is in Genesis 15:1, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision… .”   (דְבַר־יְהוָה    )    “Word” is also emer, omer, emrah, imrah, with often a meaning of saying or speech.

          God’s first two words in the Bible, Gen. 1:3  YeHiy  OR      יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר

 

 

          Jeremiah has dabar YHWH occurring the most with 68 times; Ezekiel 58, Numbers 57, I Kings 38, Leviticus 37, Exodus 32, Deut. 20, etc.   I remember several old time preachers saying “If it doesn’t say THUS SAITH THE LORD we shouldn’t be preaching it!”  Maybe not a bad idea?  Even the “protoeuangelion”, first gospel (Gen. 3:14,15) has “The LORD God said… I will put hostility (enmity KJV) between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.  He will strike you head, and you will strike his heel.”(CSB)  The second big good news according to Paul was preached to Abraham (Gal. 3:8) in Genesis 12:1-3 which says, “The LORD said to Abram… in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  Most of us would think that means the plan of the Kingdom through Jesus.

          Exodus 7:1 and John 10:35b help us to understand that it was important for early leaders to focus on the word of the LORD.   Moses, one of the first reluctant prophets, was told, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘See, I make you as God to Pharaoh… .” (Exodus 7:1) [note, the italicized is NOT in the Hebrew, it is elohiym, neither is the capitalizing of God/god ]   With Jesus saying, “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came…why do you say I am blaspheming, because I said, ‘I am the Son of god?’ “  (John 10:35,36 NASB)   I SAID, “Uios tou Theou eimi !”  I am the SON of God!

 

          Working towards Jesus, one has to review another evangelical prophecy.   Deut. 18:18,19דְבָרַי֙ בְּפִ֔יו וְדִבֶּ֣ר אֲלֵיהֶ֔ם   My Words… in his mouth & he will speak to them...

דְבָרַי֙ = ,suffix, 1st person singular, Noun Common Masculine Plural

          'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.  ¹⁹ 'It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.  (Deut. 18:18-19 )

          “My words” is the singular construct debaray, Word/Message, first person singular, MY!   The warning of verse 19 seems to be clear.  As the prophet speaks MY WORDS and someone does not listen to him,  “I myself will require it of him.”  The Hebrew, is maybe, “seek him out”?   But, it appears NOT good for the person that rejects that particular prophet.   The LXX, has ekoikeo,  to vindicate, to avenge, first person singular, I will avenge, seek out?  Ex. 34:7 Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.

 

 

          We will get to it more in Jesus’ message, if it is Jesus ( J ), but if we do not take up Jesus’ message, which is God’s message, God himself will call us to account.

          In Amos 8:11, we seem to have a prophecy of a famine of the word of the LORD.   “Hear this! The days are coming-- this is the declaration of the Lord GOD-- when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. (Amos 8:11 CSB)

EXAMPLES TO CONSIDER:

Adam and Eve     

          God said, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat:

             ¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shalt not eat of it: for in the day                                         that you eat thereof you shall surely die. (Gen 2:17 )

            Eve said, …unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

             ³ But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of                                     it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (Gen 3:2-3 KJV)

          … ⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant                                         to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and                                                did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Gen 3:6 KJV)

 

Noah

          But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Gen 6:8 KJV)

          ¹³ Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence    (hamas) because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

             ¹⁴ "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

             ¹⁵ "This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits,   and its height thirty cubits.

            ¹⁶ "You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in     the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. (Gen 6:13-16 )

            Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did… (Gen 6:22 )

                        ( What would have happened if Noah HAD NOT followed directions?  Capsized in a storm?)

 

Abraham, Gen. 12:1-3 The Abrahamic Covenant

          Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;

            ² And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you            shall be a          blessing;

             ³ And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families            of the earth will be blessed."

                        [He suggested, and tried other ideas. L ]

            ¹⁶ "I will bless her [Sarah], and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a      mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

             ¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one      hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"

             ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" (Gen 17:16-18 )

    Eventually Abraham got true Abrahamic Faith.   If God SAYS it, it will happen.

Moses

 

FIRST TIME: Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink."

            Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of     Israel;   and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

             ⁶ "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will     come out of it, that the people may drink." (Exo 17:2, 5-6 )

            And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. (Exo 17:6 )

 

SECOND TIME: "Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place?      It is not             a          place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink." (Num.20:5)

 

            The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

            ⁸ "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock   before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock            and let the congregation and their beasts drink."

 

            "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?" (Num 20:10 )

            Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth           abundantly (Num 20:11 )

 

The Prophets

Isaiah:  Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, (Isa 1:2 )

            Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; (Isa 1:10 )

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. (Isa 1:18)

For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isa 2:3 )

So the word of the LORD to them will be, "Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line

    (Isa 28:13)

⁵ Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word:  (Isa 66:5)

 

Isaiah 49:6:  (A big one from the first Suffering Servant Song!)  My God is my strength!

 

 

My Salvation  Yeshuah-tiy, 7 times Hebrew, 12 times English   H to T for feminine

 

Jeremiah:

            1:1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests …

             ² to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah (Jer 1:1-2 NAU)

 

            The word of the LORD came to me saying, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" (Jer 1:11 NAU)

                        (almond tree…)

            ¹³ The word of the LORD came to me a second time saying, "What do you see?"  (Jer 1:13 )      

                     (boiling pot…)

 

The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. (Jer 31:3)

מֵרָח֕וֹק יְהוָ֖ה נִרְאָ֣ה לִ֑י וְאַהֲבַ֤ת עוֹלָם֙ אֲהַבְתִּ֔יךְ עַל־כֵּ֖ן מְשַׁכְתִּ֥יךְ חָֽסֶד׃

 (Jer 31:3 WTT)

From a distance, YHWH appeared to him…VeAHaVaT Olam,  Loved you  Olam!

Root, DBR YHWH… Jeremiah 68x, Eze. 58, Num 57, I K. 38, Lev. 32, Et. 20, etc.

 

 

Logos, Rhema, etc  NEW TESTAMENT

          In the New Testament, logos, occurs 330 times, rema, in the lemma, occurs 68 times.   The English, “word,” occurs some 206 times.  There are many renderings of logos.   Of course this is a giant study, especially with John chapter one.  Several meanings of logos can be reviewed, reason, speech, statement, communication, what’s in the mind alone, plan, blueprint, etc.

          The T.D.N.T., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 4, has seventy-four pages on this discussion, much by Kittel.  A few of my favorite tidbits:

 

          “The development of logos is exactly parallel to that of lego… the sense of collection,                                         counting, reckoning, calculation, account, narrative, word, speech, etc.”

                        (Vol. 4, 73-74) 

            “After the age of the ancient epic, logos is used for ‘what is spoken’ in the widest and                                             most varied sense.”  (74)

            “From the second half of the 5^th century (BC) it is used subjectively for man’s ratio, his ability                         to think (synon. with nous), reason.”  (78)

            “No matter how we construe it as used by the Greeks, it stands in contrast to the “Word”                                                 of the OT and NT.” (79)   [VERSUS… what God or Jesus SAID… Preached]

            In Hellenism, “the particular logos of man is only part of the great general logos.” (85)

            “In connection with theological logos speculation, …Osiris is the half personified logos created                                by Isis, a spiritual reflection of the world. … Hermes tells how by God’s mercy he    became                       logos and hence uios Theou.” (86)  

                                   [ then along comes Philo “the Jew” circa 1^st century b.c.}

            “The Logos concept plays a considerable role in Philo. This is shown at once by the fact that            he uses it over 1300 times…. .  logos Theou…(or Theios logos) in the sense of the ‘divine reason,’ the ‘epitome of divine wisdom.’” (88)   [ Versus…  only ~300x NT !! ]

            “This logos Theou or Theios logos, as the new use with the gen. shows, is no longer God         Himself… It is an ergon of God.  It is a god, but of the second rank.”   “God has begotten the kosmos noetos as His first-born son.  This is equated with the logos.” (89)

 

          Onward… “It seems that Philo did his utmost to make the relation between God and the logos as complex as possible.” ( plato.stanford.edu, “Major Philosophical Themes and Methods in Philo”)   I remind you, and me, of the old Jerusalem Bible quote of Ecc. 7:29, “God made man simple, his complex problems are of his own devisings.”

          The T.D.N.T. continued with some clarity, “The roots  AMR [to say] and DBR [word, speech] are the main Hebrew equivalents of the Greek logos, also logion, rema, resis.  … The basic classical word for logos in history and law, prophecy and poetry, is however, dabar, ‘word.’” ( 92-93)

 

BACK TO THE BIBLE:

 

If one were to take Jesus at his word (J), he says in John ,

"He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. (cp. Dt. 18:19)

⁴⁹ "For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.

⁵⁰ "I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me." (Joh 12:48-50 NASB)

 

When anyone hears the word (logos) of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart (Mat 13:19 )

Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. (Luke 8:11)

          WORD of… Occurs 89 times in the New Testament. (NASB)  Forty-two times it is the “word of God,” 16x word of the Lord, 4x word of truth, 2x word of his grace, 2x word of Jesus, etc.  Etc. includes, word of… the Kingdom,  the woman, Isaiah, exhortation, promise, faith, the cross, wisdom, reconciliation, of life, mouth, His Power, righteousness, the oath, my perseverance, their testimony.

 

My Words… Jesus:

 

          John 14:24   the word which you hear is not Mine (Joh 14:24 NASB)

 

          Matthew 24:35  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass                      away.

          Mark 8:38  "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and                      sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He                                comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

          Mark 13:31  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

          Luke 1:20  because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their                              proper time."

          Luke 6:47  "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them             Luke 9:26  "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will                            be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the                       Father and of the holy angels.

          Luke 21:33  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

          Luke 24:44  Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you                      while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the                      Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."

          John 5:47  "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

          John 14:24  "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word                              which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.

          John 15:7  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you                         wish, and it will be done for you.

KEY –Parable of the SOWER  (Mt. 13, Mk 4, Lk 8),  & Jesus’ Sending

        When anyone hears the word of the kingdom (Mat 13:19 )   9x seed

                    As he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road (Mar 4:4 )   8x  seed

                    Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. (Luk 8:11 )  7x seed

          The euangellion of God, is based on God, His Thought, His Plan; it is based on the coming Kingdom prepared for believers since the foundation of the world;  it is based on a way to cleanse us to enable us to enter.   When Jesus said, “it is finished” the ultimate sacrifice, “once for all,” was made for us to enter the Kingdom.  Lord help us live lives accordingly. 

          Paralleling, is the importance to Jesus in Luke, 4:43, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose,” are the directions to believers to follow Jesus’ example.

          Luke 8:1:  Soon afterwards, He began going around from one city and village to                                   another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God.

          Luke 9:2,3 And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform                      healing. And He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey…’

            Luke 10:1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in                                     pairs ahead of Him

          Luke 10:9  … heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of                                     God has come near to you.'

Acts 1:3  He also presented Himself alive… (and for)  Forty days and speaking                                 of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Acts 1:8  …You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and                                      Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth…

          Acts 4:12  And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under                        heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

          Acts 8:12  But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the                                       kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,                                     both men and women. (KJV)

          Let’s look at Paul a little closer.  Jesus was a preacher of the Kingdom of God, the “Son of Man” that was to rule it, and grace and truth, how about Paul?  In the last chapter of Acts, Luke gives us the kathexis, orderly report of things at the end of Paul’s life.  Please pay careful attention to the emphasis when Paul had to defend the “sect,” that was spoken against everywhere!   His preaching, teaching, included, ONE God, versus Rome’s Polytheism.  See I Cor. 8:6… “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things… .”

 It included the Kingdom of God versus the empire of Caesar. WE have a similar situations!

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?                                 How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will                                         they hear without a preacher?

            2 Tim. 2:2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many                                  witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others

          Heb. 2:2,3  ² For if the word (logos) spoken through angels proved unalterable…

                      ³ how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

          Heb. 4:12  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-                                         edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit…

          Rev. 5:9,10 "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You                                         were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every                                               tribe and tongue and people and nation.

                    ¹⁰ "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they                        will reign upon the earth."

          Rev. 11:15  The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,                                       and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (KJV)

          Rev. 19:6  Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, has begun to reign!

 

          Rev. 19:13 He wore a robe stained with blood, and His name is the Word of God

 

            Rev. 21:3  …they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

 

          Rev. 22:3,4  There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of                                       the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;  ⁴ they will                                    see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.