Jesus warned that we will be judged regarding our allegiance to him and his words.
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. Luke 9:26 (NKJV)
Satan’s chief strategy has always been to plant doubt in our hearts regarding God’s character and the truth of his words in order to break our allegiance and obedience to God.
We see this played out in the Garden of Eden, when he questioned Eve, “Did God really say?” After casting suspicion on God’s character and truthfulness, he countered God’s truth with a lie, which she and Adam believed.
It is important that we grasp that Satan made Eve and Adam feel foolish and ignorant for taking God at his word, instead of figuring out things for themselves.
Satan still seeks to shame anyone who simply believes what is written in the Bible.
The author of the letter to the Hebrews wrote:
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3 (NKJV)
We learn from the opening passages of John’s gospel that Jesus is the Word of God who became a human, and everything was created by him.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. John 1:3 (NKJV)
We also know from John’s gospel that the one who created everything came to earth to die as a living sacrifice to restore us to a right relationship to his heavenly Father. Sadly, those whom he created, for the most part, refused to believe that he was and is who he claimed to be. A relatively few people, whose hearts were open, believed that he was and is the promised Messiah King of Israel.
Jesus knew that his purpose was to die for our sins and that he would rise again after three days. How did he know this? The only thing he could rely upon was what is written in the Bible.
Our Lord Jesus had absolute confidence in the truthfulness of God’s Word – all of it. He taught that it cannot be “broken.” (John 10:35)
Leading up to his death, he told his disciples that everything would happen to him as was written.
Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. Luke 18:31 (NKJV)
As he hung upon the cross enduring the mockery and taunts of his enemies and the excruciating pain of crucifixion, feeling his life blood drain away, he only had God’s promises to which to cling. He “put all his eggs into one basket,” so to speak. Jesus bet his life, his ministry, his reputation, and his eternity – everything – on the truthfulness of God’s Word.
As the “second Adam,” Jesus passed the test of the ages: he displayed full allegiance to God and his Word.
After he rose from the dead, he appeared to two discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaus. He gently rebuked their despondency, indicating that it was caused by a failure to believe the Word of God.
Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:25–27 (NKJV)
He called them “foolish” because they did not believe everything in God’s Word! He said they were “slow of heart to believe.” Faith resides in the heart. It surpasses what the intellect can comprehend. Only those whose hearts are open are able to believe God’s words. To everyone else, the written Word seems to be foolish.
Jesus did not condemn them, and he will not condemn us when we stumble through lack of faith and allegiance to God’s Word, but he will correct us and challenge us to believe every single word of God.
But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” Luke 4:4 (NKJV)
We are not allowed to pick and choose which words of the Bible we are going to believe. We either believe all of it or everything in the Bible comes into question.
When Paul was on trial for his faith, he declared that he believed everything written in the Bible. (Acts 24:14) He said in another place that the written Word required him to speak about what he believed. He had no other recourse.
God required Paul to show public allegiance to Christ and to his Words.
And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, 2 Corinthians 4:13 (NKJV)
Today it seems that many Christians believe that it is possible to show allegiance to Christ without making a stand for every word of God written in the Bible. Jesus contradicted this false notion in my opening verse above (Luke 9:26).
God gave us the written word upon which our faith rests.
Every word of God is tested and true. (Proverbs 30:5) John said that what is written is given to us so that we can “know and believe.” (John 20:31, 1 John 5:13) Paul said that faith bursts into bloom in our hearts by “hearing” the word of God. (Romans 10:17) The Lord warned us against invalidating God’s written word with our man-made traditions. (Mark 7:13) These are not only religious traditions. Anything that is handed down from one generation to the next that contradicts God’s Word is a demonically inspired tradition.
I believe the days are upon us when we too will need to have complete reliance upon the written Word as deception grows in intensity. I believe that taking such a stand brings honor and glory to God.
