Purer Words Have Never Been Spoken!

In this day and age, what was once hotly debated has become an accepted fact by many, concerning the nature and accuracy of the Bible. To many who actually claim to serve the Lord in public ministry, the Bible is not completely the Word of God, but rather contains the Word of God. When studying the Bible, those who hold to such ideas start with a foundation of doubt in whatever passage that they find themselves, because each passage has to prove itself to be the Word of God.

This is just the opposite of the kind of faith that you see from David in Psalm 12. By faith and God's direction, David wrote, "The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve them from this generation forever." (Psalm 12:6-7, NKJV) This is a wonderful analogy to explain God's preservation and purification of His words.

The words of God represented by the Hebrew Scriptures had gone through a purification process before ever being written for David to read. Silver was purified through a process of heating it up to the melting point, which would cause the impurities (dross) to float to the surface where it could be removed from the molten silver. What was to be written Scripture, was purified seven times before ever being recorded, but this refining process had to occur in the lives of those whom God would use to write His Word. If God's Word is the silver, human lives are the earthen vessels to which the Word of God is delivered, and human thoughts and ideas are the impurities to be removed, but what is the fire that does the refining? Clearly in Scripture, that purifying fire that has delivered to the world the pure Word of God is the Holy Spirit of God. On the day of Pentecost, ten days after the ascension of Jesus Christ, the apostles stood to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ with supernatural power and accuracy, as physically evidenced by the appearance of "fire" upon each of them. Peter explained their behavior to the crowds, saying that the gift of the Holy Spirit was the only explanation for what they were seeing and hearing (Acts 2:33). Near the end of his life, Peter also said, "...prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:21, NKJV) This was also the testimony of David near the end of his life. He said, "The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His Word was on my tongue." (2 Samuel 23:2, NKJV) David could look at all of the Scripture written up to that point and say that he knew that it was just as much God's Word as what God had delivered through his own life. Peter could look back from the New Testament and say the same thing, recognizing God's ability to deliver His Word in pure form, despite using human instruments.

David not only spoke of the purification of God's Word, but also the preservation of it. He said first that God would "keep" His Word, like one who keeps a promise. God will do what He has promised to do. This should not be a difficult concept to understand or believe. God's track record speaks for itself in human history. Even Balaam, an ungodly prophet-for-hire, understood this foundational truth about God. He said, "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19, NKJV) This brings us to David's second observation, that God would "preserve" His Word "forever." If God intends to "keep" His Word, then He also wants to "preserve" His Word so that we might know what He has promised and will perform according to His Word. That is why, more than any other ancient writing, the Scriptures have survived the firestorms of human history, even when those fires were directed entirely at them. Not only has the Word of God stood the test of time, it exists still as the number one best-seller and the only one that was written by God Himself! It's no wonder that Isaiah wrote, "...the word of our God stands forever." (Isaiah 40:8b, NKJV)

No purer words have ever been spoken than the Word of God, which is otherwise known as the Bible! If you can believe that you are ready to have your life changed by it!

"Lord God, thank-you for Your Word. For years I struggled with doubt and abandoned Your Word, but no longer. May Your Spirit put a fire in my heart for Your Word so that I will hear what You have said and know You that much better. Amen."