As we prepare to celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus then I want to look at an often overlooked aspect of the Christmas story. We are told in scripture that Jesus is the Word and that the Word became flesh. (John 1:1-2 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.) (John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.) We will look later at some more places that show Jesus as the Word. It is important to understand the significance of Jesus as the Word becoming flesh and what it really means. John 1:1-2 shows us that Jesus as the Word and the second person of the Godhead has always existed and has been there since the beginning. John 1:1 clearly shows the Word was with God the Father in the beginning and is God. Jesus would have to be God to have been around since God has. Jesus as God has no beginning. John 1:14 shows only the beginning of Jesus as the God-man in the womb of Mary. John 1:14 is really what the Christmas story is all about. Normally at Christmastime we always focus on Jesus as a baby in a manger, but do not fully understand that that baby was the Word who became flesh. You must understand that as I showed in John 1:1 that the Word is God and so 1:14 is showing us that Jesus has to be God as well and that when Jesus became flesh, then it was God in the flesh. One of Jesus’ names is Immanuel which means “God in the flesh”. (Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.) It is important to understand that the Messiah and the Saviour had to be God as only God could fulfill this role as a sinless man. God as the Word became flesh or a man for us in order to bring salvation to his creation. Jesus lowered himself even below angels. (Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.) Today cults, false religions, and too many people see Jesus not as God, but as just a man. Most as a good man, but a man none the less. Jesus as the Word is God and it was that Word who became flesh. If the Word is God and the Word became flesh then Jesus has to be God. When Jesus came on that first Christmas then his only purpose was to bring salvation to man. We have seen this in my study on the “I am statements of Jesus”. (John 12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.)
Jesus is mentioned as the Word a total of seven times in scripture. We have seen the first four times in John 1:1 and John 1:14. The next two are found in I John. (I John 1:1-2 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) Just as the gospel of John starts off by proclaim Jesus is the Word and God, so does I John 1. In I John 1:1-2 we see Jesus was there from the beginning. Again someone can only be at the beginning if they were God. John then says that he and the other disciples had heard and seen with their eyes and handled or touched the Word of life. This confirms John 1:14 that Jesus as the Word became flesh. Jesus as flesh could be touched and seen and be heard when he spoke. He was not spiritual and invisible like angels. It is important that Jesus was seen and could be heard, for this confirmed that he was flesh and he had to be flesh in order to take our place on the cross and die for our sins, but he also had to be the Word as God in order to bring that salvation. John confirms here that Jesus was the God-man. He never gave up his deity when he became flesh. Jesus could be heard and so as the Word people could hear God. As the Word, Jesus gave his seven “I am” statements in John confirming he is God. I John 1:2 goes along with John 1:14 showing that the Word became flesh. This verse says that Jesus or the Word of life was manifested which means made known to man. The Word became a man. The verse continues by saying that Jesus gives eternal life. Verse 1 calls him the Word of life. This shows that it is only Jesus who can give you life. As the Creator Jesus gave birth to us all, but as the Saviour he gives everlasting spiritual life to those who call upon him. No one can have life without Jesus. He holds the universe together and that includes our bodies, but more important than our physical bodies he gives us spiritual life as a person can only be born again and reunited with God by his Son Jesus who is the Word. (Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.)
The next verse that shows Jesus as the Word is I John 5:7 which shows Jesus as a part of the Godhead and clearly as the second person of that Godhead. (I John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.) This verse shows Jesus as the Word is one with the other two persons of the Godhead showing there is one God.
The final time we see Jesus as the Word is found in Revelation 19:13 where he is called the Word of God. (Revelation 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.) The very words that Jesus speak, show he is God. Jesus as the Word spoke the universe into existence. (Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.) His very word will also end the Battle of Armageddon. The very words of God are compared to a sword. We see in Revelation 19:13 that the clothes Jesus is wearing is a vesture dipped in blood. That blood was the precious blood that Jesus shed for us on the cross at Calvary in order to bring us everlasting salvation. This blood was God’s blood. This blood purchased the church as Acts 20:28 tells us. It is only this blood that can bring us salvation.
Notice that all seven occurrences of Jesus and his name of the Word are all found in books written by the apostle John. This is probably because John saw more of Jesus in his full glory as God than anyone else when Jesus revealed himself to John while giving him the book of Revelation.
Jesus is the living Word. He is alive today and seated at the right hand of God the Father. He arose from that grave on the third day. This sets Jesus apart from all other religious founders as they are all dead. I have already mentioned how the Word spoke the universe into existence. When Jesus was in the garden praying just before his death then when the men came to take Jesus as prisoner then Jesus asked them who they were looking for knowing full well it was him. They told Jesus they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said “I am he”. Upon hearing these words from Jesus the men fell backward and to the ground. (John 18:6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.) This is how powerful the Word is as his very words show he is God and put fear into men.
As I said, Jesus is the living Word. We are also told in scripture that scripture is called the word of God or the word. Scripture is the written word and Jesus is the living Word. It is important to understand that these two are connected and go hand in hand, but they are distinct just as the three persons of the Godhead are distinct one from another. Today most modern corrupt counterfeit bibles capitalize word of God when speaking of scripture. Most Christians do the same when writing and speaking of scripture as the word of God thinking they are being reverent. This corruption is wrong and needs to stop. Again, the written and living word are connected, but they are not the same. The King James Bible with its built-in dictionary and number patterns clearly show this as only the living Word is capitalized while word in referring to scripture is lower case. By capitalizing word for both, then you lose the distinction between the living Word and the written word. The King James Bible is the written word of God. While it is the living word of God and very much alive with its number patterns, built-in dictionary, and many other things to prove this, then it is still the written word. The King James Bible speaks to our hearts if we let it, but it does not speak to us literally or verbally the way the living Word did when Jesus walked on earth. Jesus became flesh, while scripture is always written and never becomes a person. Scripture is all about the living Word as we will see, but they still must be kept separate. It was the living Word that became flesh that first Christmas, not the written word which had not even been completed. Just as Jesus grew into a man, the word of God also grew as God the Holy Ghost revealed it to holy men of God until it was complete. Today scripture is alive in that it will change the heart of man if they will let it do so. We should treasure our King James Bibles, but never say our KJB is God whereas with the living Word Jesus is God. The King James Bible is the words of God, but not God. The words I speak are my words, but they are not me. They reflect who I am, but they are still not me and it is the same with the written word of God in the King James Bible and the living Word of God in Jesus.
The living Word and the written word are very much connected and to curse the King James Bible is basically the same as if a person cursed Jesus to his face. Rejecting the King James Bible is rejecting the living Word, but they are distinct one from another. Scripture as found in the King James Bible speaks of Jesus throughout the Old Testament. Jesus was partly revealed in the Old Testament, but is clearly revealed in the New Testament. Jesus spoke about how the Jewish leaders did not recognize that the Old Testament spoke of him. Jesus told the Jewish leaders and the people to search the scriptures as they testified of him. (John 5:39 ¶ Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.) (John 5:46-47 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?) Moses showed Jesus as the Creator and as the Word which spoke all into existence. Abraham told the rich man in hell that if his brothers did not believe the written word as written by Moses and the prophets then they would not believe if someone came back from the dead. (Luke 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.) The word of God is far more powerful than a person coming back from the dead. If someone does not believe the written word which speaks of the living Word, then there is nothing that will convince them, even a miracle of the dead coming back to life. After Jesus’ resurrection, he met two men on the road to Emmaus and told of himself throughout the entire Old Testament starting with the books of Moses and continuing on through the prophets. (Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.) This means he would have also gone through the psalms and all books since all of scripture as the written word points us to Jesus as the living Word.
Jesus’ words are referred to as a sword in Revelation. (Revelation 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.) It is this very sword or the very words of Jesus that will end the tribulation, cast people into the lake of fire, and later speak a new heavens and earth into existence. Just as a sword is deadly, so is the word of God as the very words of the Word will bring all to their knees one day to tell him he is Lord. This includes Satan. Scripture is also compared to a sword and described as being even sharper than a twoedged sword. Scripture as the written word of God will convict even the hardest of sinner if they will let it and it will bring them to their knees and to salvation by Jesus the living Word. The written word convicts us and shows us our need for a Saviour, but it is the living Word that saves us. (Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.) The written word of God is called the sword of the Spirit. (Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:)
The written word is referred to as holy scriptures just as Jesus is the holy child of God. (II Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.) (Acts 4:30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.) Scripture is holy because it is the very written words of God and Jesus is holy because he is the living Word.
Scripture as the word of God is pure. The King James Bible is God’s pure words, not the modern corrupt counterfeits that try to imitate the written word of God. (Psalm 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.) (Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.) Jesus as the sinless Lamb of God and living Word is also pure having never been defiled by sin.
Just as we all need Jesus the living Word for life, then we also need the written word of God for life. Jesus said we are to live by every word of God. (Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.) It is this written word of God that will lead us to the living Word of God.
We see the connection between the written and living word of God in how the tribulation saints will be slain for the word of God. (Revelation 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:) Here it speaks of the written word of God, but they were also slain for their testimony of Jesus. The two go hand in hand. Another example of this connection between the two can be seen in I John 2:14. (I John 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.) John speaks of the word of God abiding in believers. Jesus the living Word of God abides in us, but so does the written word of God if we read scripture. It is the written word that shows us we have overcome the wicked one by receiving the living Word.
Scripture or the written word of God will never pass away just as the living Word will always exist. (Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.) The written word cannot pass away since it is the written words of God and since God cannot pass away then neither can his words.
The living Word and the written word are inseparable, just as the Godhead is inseparable, but they are distinct one from the other just as the three persons of the Godhead are one from another, but are one. The living and written word are also one in that the written word is alive as we saw in Hebrews 4:12 in its ability to split soul and spirit asunder. Only the living God could do that. Other scriptures show the connection between the living Word and written word, but also how they are not the same. The living Word is Jesus and the written word is the words of God or scripture. Please show this distinction in your writing just as God does in his written word, the King James Bible.
As we celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus, let us look at the baby in the manger as more than just a baby. That baby was none other than the living Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. This baby was God in the flesh who fulfilled the written word so that he might come and bring salvation to man. Let us see the inseparability of the living Word and the written word, but do not make them the same. Thank God that the Word became flesh for if Jesus had not become the God-man on that first Christmas then we would have never been given the salvation that the written word promised us. Make this coming Christmas a day that we give thanks to the living Word. If you are not saved, then please call upon Jesus today and receive the living Word so that he may abide in you.
