The Miracle of God’s Word
In the beginning God created [spoke into existence] the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . and the Word was made flesh . . . and we beheld His glory (John 1:1, 14).
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;
(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;)
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full (I John 1:1-4).
The word communication is high-tech today. Most Americans spend their time creating, processing, or distributing information. An estimated 60 to 70 percent of us work in the field of information in some form. That has increased from 17 percent in 1950!
Communication, according to the best-selling author, John Naisbitt, is the number one Megatrend for society as a whole.
Businesses are spending fortunes teaching their people how to tap into the information revolution. The world of education seems obsessed with the ability to communicate.
And in the high-touch areas of life, marriage counselors keep insisting that communication is no longer a luxury (it never has been), but is absolutely imperative to a healthy marriage. In our churches and civic organizations, there are seminars and lectures on speaking and writing effectively.
In every area of human existence, there is an overwhelming emphasis on communication, and there should be. Communication is one of the highest levels of man’s ability. It is one of the key physical capacities which sets us apart from animals, at least to the sophisticated degree we are able to achieve.
His Voice
In such an atmosphere of hearing, sharing, and talking, have we forgotten to listen to the greatest Communicator of all? Has the explosion in communication robbed us of hearing the voice of the eternal God? Has the sensing capacity of our inner person become too dull to see, hear, and believe?
We must not be so overwhelmed with the information glut that we do not hear the voice of God. The miraculous beauty of His communications to us is breathtaking. Creation is a voice from God that penetrates the darkest corner of the universe. The atheist of Russia or China cannot keep this voice out. His personal communication, the Word or logos, transcends all human logic. That is, the Voice became Flesh so that His message would be in reach of the dullest mind. Yet, His most intimate communication is His personal presence in the human heart. We can know Him as our individual Savior and Lord. This intimate communication involves a two-way conversation. Our God yearns to be involved in the most intimate way possible in our life.
Now we are dealing with high-tech communication; as high as heaven itself.
And God Said!
In the beginning, God created. It was His personal communication. God spoke the world into existence. The energy of His words became substance and material. He said, "Let there be light," and there was light! There would never be a need for argument or proof. It was a communication of power and might unlike anything the universe has known since. It is hard to imagine! Our sun, a mere glint in the entire cosmos, was instantly created into a gaseous globe almost 900,000 miles in diameter, with its temperature increasing from 10,000° F at its lowest visible level to many, many million degrees at the center. And almost 93 million miles beyond that sun, another globe, 7,900 miles in diameter, appeared from nowhere to join that intergalactic display.
On this globe today, six billion-plus inhabitants of the earth are still able to view God’s miraculous communication through creation.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is not speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line (or direction)is gone out through all the arth and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun (Psalm 19:1-4).
God has communicated His glory through all of creation. No one is completely hidden from it. The Lord wove His design into every fabric of the universe, from the invisible electrons to the mammoth planets and far-flung galaxies.
How can a person look at the incredibly complex design of the heavens and not believe in the God of creation? Or how can a person be an atheist or agnostic when he contemplates the intricacies of the human hand or eye? To disbelieve defies design.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20).
Man can understand the Designer from the results of His design. No, one cannot experience the new birth without accepting Jesus, but the created world is a most explicit testimony of the great Creator.
A Goya or a Wyeth captures some part of creation on the canvas–the graceful figure of an athlete or the rich hue of a forest–and the people exclaim, "What an expressive, talented, artistic genius!" Those paintings may even sell for thousands of dollars.
But those same people may completely ignore the Creator who first formed that human figure, who set in motion the chemical miracle which makes the leaves change from green to red.
Our Father has spoken through creation. The grandeur of the mountains and the beauty of the sky all point to a God who desires the best for His children. He can be seen wherever you look.
All humans agree that there was a beginning. The problem, especially during this century, has been that few scientists agree how it all got started. One theory is this: "In the beginning, nothing, and nothing plus nothing became everything." This does not make sense. It takes a lot more raw faith to believe that the world started with nothing and became everything, than just to believe that God plus nothing equals everything.
God made the world from nothing to communicate the universal fact of His design and love for creation. Everything fits together too well not to believe. The balance of nature is much too specialized to be a cosmic accident.
Creation Also Involves Consciousness
Beyond that, man is driven to seek God. The great anthropological studies all point to cultures and civilizations longing to know the Creator. There are many bizarre attempts to serve Him, to make contact with the One True God, to have a relationship with Him. Even Karl Marxx wrote, "Man is incurably religious." Where did that drive come from?
It is incredible to read about the Inca civilization of South America. Not one ounce of evidence seems to suggest that they knew anything about the God of the Bible or Jesus Christ, His Son. At the same time, there is much proof that the central motivation of their cultural development was a belief in some form of a higher power.
The secular media suggests that their great architectural achievements, built high in the Andes Mountains, were expressions of their desperate desires to reach the gods. Some of these mountains are 20,000 feet above sea level.
There has never been a human yearning greater than the conscious effort to find God. Man’s moral nature is too well defined, too similarly formed, for him to be anything but a descendant of Adam, the original image of God. Granted, the centuries of rebellion have taken a tremendous toll, and unregenerated man hardly seems related to the Creator, but the moral nature (conscience) remains intact, although often perverted.
Forced to face the facts, no one can effectively argue against the claim that God has spoken plainly to mankind through His creative design.
Dr. Arthur Compton, a Nobel Prize winning physicist, stunned many of his colleagues when he wrote the following:
For myself as a scientist, faith begins with the realization that a Supreme Intelligence brought into being and created man. It is not difficult for me as a scientist to have this faith. Why? For it is incontrovertible that where there is a plan, there is intelligence. An orderly, unfolding universe testifies to the truth of the most majestic statement ever uttered–"In the beginning God created."
God’s Personal Communication
In the beginning [before all time] was the Word [Christ] and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 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 (John 1:1, 14).
Far beyond the spectacular creation of the universe, the greatest event which ever happened on the earth was that God sent His Son to live among men. This was the most miraculous communication of all the ages. God sent His own Son to descend from the supernatural and to invade the natural. He cared enough to send His very best. It was His personal communication or message to His creation. What a way to say, "I love you, and I want your fellowship."
Man has lived in a three-dimensional world. He has been limited by space, time, and matter. But Jesus Christ came from the region beyond all human limitation, from the spirit world of the heavens, from an unlimited sphere–"In the beginning was the Word."
Yet He came to earth.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient utno death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:5-11).
This kind of human love is beyond comprehension. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ was certainly no esoteric reincarnation. It was more than just moving from one human sphere to another, as the reincarnationists believe. Jesus was God–eternal, unlimited in presence–yet He became a man with natural limitations. Still He broke the bonds of death with His victory over hell and the grave. He took upon Himself all human guilt and sin, and He opened the holiest communication between God and man.
No wonder He can forgive a sinner! No wonder He can perform miracles! Everything about God is miraculous, supernatural, and He is God. Why do we want to separate all His attributes? Why do we try to make Him a mere stained-glass effigy? He is God! He has no limitations. Miracles are no problem for Him.
Everything about God’s creation was good; He said so. And everything about Jesus’ coming was good. Christ didn’t miss one nuance in His obedience to God’s plan. He said, " I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (John 17:4).
His work continues to unfold through His followers.
God’s Intimate Communication
According to First John, the purpose of all communication from God is that He might have fellowship with His children. This boggles the mind!
How is it possible that the God who created the universe could actually be interested in speaking to us today? Would He really desire to listen to us?
It is true. Everything He has done has been to reveal Himself to us. We can know Him personally. We can have an intimate relationship with Him.
I will never forget when Jesus Christ became more to me than just my Savior. Without a doubt I was born again. I was a new creature and had been for ten years. Yet I did not have a close, personal, and intimate relationship. I was reading the Book of John on my knees, carefully and with deep hunger. I wanted to now Him as I had never known Him. Before the experience was over, Jesus Christ communicated Himself to me until I actually stood in His presence, wept over His nearness, and was changed forever.
E.W. Kenyon, in his book, The Father and His Family, explored this incredible truth:
The whole plan of Redemption is:
- The Father God’s dream for a family.
- Redemption from a sin catastrophe.
- The Dream coming true.
- The Family Home, the new heaven and the new earth.
The entire plan of redemption is a revelation of the heart-hunger and loneliness of the great Father God; the first step in this stupendous drama of creation was God’s dream and His blueprints of man’s beautiful home.
No prospective husband-father ever dreamed more ardently of the home-nest than did the Father God over the contemplated home of His child–the human; so He took ages on ages to build an earth-home, to store it with treasures that only His mind could conceive and His power create.
After He had perfected an earth, He placed the stars and sun and moon and wonderful constellations throughout space, and to each of these, as well as unseen worlds, He fastened the earth by the invisible cords of gravitation.
Each star and constellation is held in its place by the word of His power, and each one has a regular course marked out over which it travels.
Each star and planet, each constellation, and group has its own office work to perform for the earth, God’s wonderful home for His human, His child, His family.
This book is a story of Love’s processes to save man from himself and to present him a faultless, happy family in the presence of the living Father God.
God’s intimate communication is, to quote the great songwriter Gordon Jensen, "as close as the mention of His name." No one can open the lines but the owner of the heart. And no one can close those lines, but that owner.
God wants to speak the supernatural to each of us. He wants to bring peace where chaos now exists. He wants to release blessed assurance of His control. He wants to come in and have an intimate, loving, personal communication with each of His 4 billion creations.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).
The Father’s desire is this miracle of communication. The supernatural lines are open to those who listen and obey.
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not (1 John 3:1).
But just as the potter, however talented and skillful, cannot fashion a beautiful vessel from a lump of clay which is never placed in his hands, neither can God make that person into a vessel honoring to Him unless he puts himself into the Lord’s hands. He waits to sit centerstage in your life.
The Mighty Power of Prayer
Very few believers have truly experienced the power of prayer. I think maybe I am close to becoming such a man, but I must confess I am not there yet.
I had an experience that opened my heart to what the Holy Spirit prayer is all about. For four years we had wrestled our way out of an impossible financial situation. Just before the recession of 1980-82, we had finished a building and were in debt over half a million dollars. Interest on this loan moved to over 20 percent with a payment of over $8,000 per month. In those years, we struggled to continue all our ministries while slowly paying our way out.
As we faced another $25,000 bond requirement, plus a $36,000 monthly payroll, and at least $30,000 in monthly expenditures, it was simply impossible. I had come home from the office to rest. Lying on our sofa, my heart almost exploding, the Holy Spirit moved into the room like a whirlwind. It was overwhelming!
The Holy Spirit inspired an experience of prayer like I had never known. I began to bind the devil for his curse against our finances, and immediately followed by releasing a miracle from God on the financial situation. I stood, as God’s man, with the authority He means for us to have and use at His discretion and for His glory. Peace flooded by heart and the gloom has not returned.
The following month, when all the above was due, we broke all records. Our average daily receipts were $2,600, with total receipts for the month of $79,982.12. Incredible!
Communication is indeed one of the highest capacities of man. To commune with one another, either in a simple conversation, on the level of literary genius, or in some form of technological mastery, is indeed a fantastic capacity. I’m grateful for such God-given abilities. Yet to talk with the Creator, hear His voice, or experience His personal whisper in our heart, is the ultimate joy. Once the human heart has heard His voice, no other message will suffice. He wants each one of us to know the miracle of His communication. Such miracles are the Father’s delight!