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The Life-giving Word
Lesson 4
How powerful is the Word of God when brought into contact with one's life?
"For the word of God is quick [literally, "living"], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged 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." Hebrews 4:12.
What was Peter constrained to say about Christ's words?
"Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." John 6:68.
What did Jesus declare regarding His Father's commandment?
"And I know that His commandment is life everlasting." John 12:50.
What great truth did God wish to teach us, when He gave the daily manna to feed the children of Israel?
"And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." Deuteronomy 8:3,16
What happens when we feed upon the true, heavenly manna?
"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts." Jeremiah 15:16.
What reference did Jesus make to this same life-giving manna?
"But He answered and said, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4.
How did God's will for Christ's life become His food?
"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4:34.
What name is given to Jesus, since He was the Revealer of God's thought to mankind?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." John 1:1. "And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God." Revelation 19:13.
What did this Word become?
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1.14.
What was in this Word that we so much need?
"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." John 1:34.
What is Jesus therefore also called?
"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." 1 John 1:1.
What did Jesus declare Himself to be?
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst." l John 6:35.
What did He say would be given to those that partook of this God-given bread?
"As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so He that eateth Me,even he shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. " John 6:57, 58.
What did Jesus really mean when He said that we should eat His flesh?
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63.
NOTE. -Thus we clearly understand that to eat the flesh of the Son of God is to live by His words. As one has said, "He who by faith receives the word is receiving the very life and character of God."-Christ's Object Lessons, p. 38.
What is it that God will let us taste right now?
" And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come." Hebrews 6:5. (See Jeremiah 15:16.)
Tasting it, what do we learn?
"0 taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him." Psalm 34:8.
Does God want us to ask for this Bread daily?
"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6: 11.
NOTE.-When "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us," the thought of God was revealed in human flesh. When holy men of God "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," the thought of God was revealed in human language. The union of the Divine and the human in the manifestation of God's thought in the flesh is the mystery of godliness and is the same mystery in the union of the Divine thought and human language. The two revelations of God, in human flesh and in human speech, are both called the Word of God, and both are the Word of life. He who fails to find Christ thus in the Scriptures will not be able to feed upon the Word as the life-giving Word.
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