‘Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever’ (Psalm 119.160).

By Pastor M. J. Harley, a Vice-president of the Society

What God said in eternity past is unknown to us except from when He chooses to reveal it, and the extent to which His choice extends. However, we do know that, ‘from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God’ (Psalm 90.2). When David said, ‘The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool’ (Psalm 110.1), he is indicating communication between the Persons of the Godhead which would otherwise be unknown to us. Likewise, ‘The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek’ (Psalm 110.4); surely this indicates the speech of God in Heaven before the world was created. 

The Lord has invested His inscripturated Word to us with the same unalterable truth and power. God’s Word is His word whether spoken or written. From the first word of the Bible until the last it is all true. John tells us God’s choice of His words are to be our guide when he writes, ‘And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written’ (John 21.25). ‘These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name’ (John 20.31). The Scriptures are written for the purpose of imparting salvation through His Name. Inasmuch as a selection has been made known to us in His Word, we have all that we need to know about the way of salvation. We need nothing else, except the Spirit to direct our thoughts concerning it. The Holy Scriptures bear the same powerful Word of God, tailored in His Divine wisdom for our benefit.

Scripture contains all we need to know. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, ‘The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times’ (Psalm 12.6). The words of Scripture contain a true record of creation, when no man was present; only God Himself could describe it as it was. It is true concerning the fall of man, that we might know our unredeemed condition. It is also true concerning the worldwide flood, that we might see the wrath of God revealed against all ungodliness. We do well to exercise faith in the declarations of Scripture when it is pitted against the theories of unredeemed scholars; ‘I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation’ (Psalm 119.99). When Scripture contradicts widely held and widely taught beliefs about creation, the nature and origin of evil, marriage, and many other matters, its integrity stands high above what the best human minds (all fallen) seek to make popular in their rejection of God.

Nowhere else is the true being of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed, and His true mission as Saviour and Redeemer, than in the Holy Scriptures. The whole Old Testament reveals the background of His incarnation. His work upon the cross, His atonement for His people’s sins by the shedding of His blood, is given its true significance only in Scripture. The reality of resurrection for all His people is verified by His own resurrection. We know infinitely more about Jesus Christ from the Bible than what secular historians and philosophers are able to reveal; our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ rests solely on the truth of the Scriptures.

In short, the truth about everlasting life is guaranteed by its origin in the Person of the Word of God declared in the Scriptures. What the Father and all Persons of the Godhead declare in Scripture is precisely as the Creator sees and speaks things, and by definition must be one hundred percent true. The Bible is His Word inscripturated. With the greatest of skill, as silver tried and perfectly purified, the Lord has kindly made available to us all His thoughts and purposes which we need to know to be saved. By His Spirit, He has guided the Scripture writers, fallible men, to compile an infallible record.

God’s private words to other members of the Godhead are unknown to us, but the Bible is of equal perfection and power as those words of God unknown to us. The power that brought to pass the words, ‘Let there be light: and there was light’ (Genesis 1.3) is the identical power to that which records them. Furthermore, in the same way as ‘Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever’ (Psalm 119.160), the everlasting Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will have the last word. There will be speech from the judgment seat, and it will share the same utmost truth and purity which is communicated in the Holy Scriptures. It will be the last word upon our lives against which there is no appeal.

Some might alter the Scriptures or omit parts to suit themselves in an attempt to escape God’s Truth. But beware lest any of us fall into this snare: ‘If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book’ (Revelation 22.18–19). We must be very careful that we do not fall into this temptation in our private meditations if we baulk at what the Scriptures say about the plague of our own hearts. We must not dismiss its statements or invent our own alternatives. Let us hold fast to Scriptural truth which never changes, for God’s ‘Word is true from the beginning: and every one of [His] righteous judgments endureth for ever’.

First published in Quarterly Record 650 and online 17 February 2025.