The Word of God and the Rule of God

In the last chapter Willard helps us understand how the still, small voice of God is vital to an ever-increasing relationship with God. In this chapter he will explain to us what place words, especially God's words, have in reality. For there is a certain power that lies in words, and when one comes to understand how they function in life, one will unlock new depths in their life with God.

The centurion understood the power of words. In the gospels he was famous for telling Jesus, "Just say the word and my servant will be healed" (Luke 7:7 CEB). Just say the word? How would saying a word cause his servant to be healed? Let's see.

First and foremost, "The power of the word lies finally in the personality that it conveys." Words, therefore, are not just sounds or symbols, but they point to someone, they represent someone. They are like ambassadors given plenipotentiary power to act upon the wishes of the one from whom the words originated. However, unlike diplomats or ambassadors that can be seen, words are often unseen (at first they are always unseen since they are thoughts), therefore their power is of the spiritual sort. One can see this power exemplified in the way kingdoms function. The power of a king or queen cannot be seen, but based on their word entire nations will react accordingly.

Words, as Willard points out, have tremendous creative power. This is not only true of God who said (that is, he thought in his mind) this and that, and this and that happened in the material universe(Genesis 1), but it is also true of humans. In the same way light is a direct result of God's speech, so nothing that exists in the world does so without being connected to someone else's word. We may not be able to speak a steak dinner into existence (I would abuse this power if I could), but when we make a steak dinner it is always an expression of our word (our thoughts, feelings, and intentions).

There is, however, a part of human life where what we say in our minds is done in physical reality. "This," says Willard, "is in the voluntary motions of the body—such as the hands, the feet and the face—and the voluntary wide-ranging journeys of our inward thoughts." He continues:

"We do not consciously learn how to move our fingers, our tongues or our feet. Here there are no channels we must go through under normal circumstances. The action is immediate, and in our conscious processes there is no “how” about it. Our thought and intention is there, and the body with all the physical intricacies moves in obedience."

This idea should help one understand how, with extreme ease, God speaks things into existence. It should cause one to see how Jesus, without even breaking the slightest sweat, could command things to happen that result in them happening right away. It is because the realm that is under his control (the entire universe) simply responds to his word. This is why the writer of Hebrews says, he "upholds the universe by the word of his power." Your body is the place where you reign. Therefore by the word of your power you command fingers and limbs to act and they do. The entire created universe is under the domain of Jesus, therefore, what is it for him to command the winds and the waves to cut it out? The fact that Jesus could do these things also shows us how Jesus is, in truth, The Word of God. For he does what God thinks (John 5:19-20).

This helps us understand what the aforementioned Centurion understood about Jesus. Recall that the centurion sent people (by his word) to tell Jesus that he needn't come to his house. All Jesus needed to do for his servant to be healed was "say the word." That centurion understood that the only way Jesus could've healed all the people he was healing, was if Jesus had authority over sickness and disease, the way the Centurion had authority over the servants in his house. He understood that, as Willard said, "For Jesus, his healing this servant would be like our saying, 'Now I’ll raise my hand.'" This is a powerful thing to grasp!

The word directs actions and events.

When we come to understand that Jesus, as he proclaimed at the end of Matthew's gospel, has all authority in heaven and on earth. Then, like this Centurion, we can rely on his word to change things in our world.Human beings can also be entrusted with the word of God. The Old Testament narrative reveals time and time again how God entrusts regular human beings with his word. Both in the frequent "Thus says the Lord's," and the displays of power wrought through the prophets, we see normal men and women authorized too use the power of God's word to change things in the physical universe in ways that only God can. They become, essentially, a word of God.

In the New Testament this process is seen most clearly in Luke 10. In this chapter Jesus sends the 12 out to do what he does, "proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." They do so with ease. He then sends 72 others to do the same thing. When they return, also having experienced success, Jesus knew that his mission would be a success, because he saw that his Father entrusted all things into his hands, and now those he equipped could wield the power of the Word against the forces of evil.

Willard closes by saying a word about the use of God's word in and through human life. He notes that on some occasions the friends of Jesus simply spoke the word of God to a particular situation (see Acts 3:6-7), and on other occasions they asked God (prayer) to work in a situation (see Mark 9:29). This is the right of the people of God, both then and now. It is here, however, that many people get nervous, and begin to withdraw. Says Willard, "The suggestion that we should possibly be healing the sick, casting out demons or raising the dead by our participation in the word and power of God may leave us baffled, angry, rebellious and guilt-ridden."

To those who are troubled he writes these helpful words:

In a life of participation in God’s kingdom rule, we are not to make things happen, but only to be honestly willing and eager to be made able. If we are to exercise the word and rule of God in ways regarded as spectacular by human beings, Jesus is our model, as always. And that means above all that there will be nothing forced or hysterical about it and that we can count on God himself to lead us into whatever we are to do. He will do this in a way that is suitable to our lives and his calling for us. Beyond this we should always keep in mind the words of Jesus to his seventy friends on their return from their mission: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Lk 10: 20).

And what of the Bible? The Bible is simply one of the results of God's speaking. However, it is important to understand that, "while the Bible is the written Word of God, the word of God is not simply the Bible." This should be easily understood at this point in Willard's book. For we have seen how creation is a word of God, dreams and visions are a word of God, Jesus is the ultimate and living Word of God. The Bible is the unique record of God's recorded speech and acts of salvation in human history. Thus it serves as our guide to life, and a guide, as we have seen in this book, to understanding how God speaks.

The Bible, as the written word of God, is a wonderful means of helping people constantly encounter the living Word of God. "All may hear the living Word by coming to the Bible humbly and persistently, with burning desire to find God and live in peace with him."

And with that, let's turn to the Bible.

Take some time to hear God in Scripture by reading and praying through Psalm 19:1-6; 119:89-91. If you like you can use the method I adopted from Jeanne Guyon.