Words from a different World
“The sum of Your word is truth,” Psalm 119:160
Words from a different World
Word – What does God say? Words! But not the kind of words that we think of in our world. We think of words as symbols for the real thing. Our concept of “word” is essentially Greek. It is tied to “thought”. There are no thoughts without words. Words bring thoughts into clarity and structure. In our world, words are about meaning.
But in the world of the Hebrew, dabar (word) is about a lot more than just meaning. In Hebrew, words are power. Words aren’t just concepts. They are manifestations of real energy and force because they come from the God who speaks. When God said, “Light” (that’s the way the verse really reads), light came into being. Words have incredible power. They are real, living energies.
Words in Hebrew are active forces. God reveals Himself in words because words are alive. We have vestiges of this worldview when we talk about the “living word”, but we have scaled it all down to mean nothing more than Jesus Christ. That is not what the Bible says. The Bible says that God’s word is the living word, from the very first word He ever uttered to us. Jesus is the final, complete, perfect living Word, but He is not the only living word. Every time we read, “The word of the Lord”, we are transported into the Hebrew world where this word is now alive. This word confronts me, convicts me and commands me because it draws me into relationship with the living God who spoke it. In the Hebrew world, the word and the thing that the word describes are one and the same. The word is a power, a force that works in the world. This is why God can say that His word will not return to Him without results. This is why God creates with just a word. And this is why God’s word is truth.
David tells us that whatever God says is the living material force of God Himself expressed in language. God and His word are one and the same. God did not give the Law as some set of moral principles to live by. God is the Law. What the Law says is the character of the living God. That is why it cannot change, cannot be twisted, cannot be subverted. The word of God is the manifestation of God Himself. Every spoken word creates a relationship between what is said and what it truth. God established this relationship when He used words to create reality. Therefore, in the Hebrew world, the words we speak should model the divine endowment words were given by God. If my words do not manifest truth, I trample on the God of words.
In the Hebrew world, there are no “white lies”, “true lies”, “fibs”, “fabrications” or “exaggerations”. There are words of truth because God is the author of words and there are perversions. Every word is a moral issue.
What will you say today?
