The transformative power of the word of God

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2). I don’t know if there is an opening sentence that is as powerful as that one in the entire bible! I bet you an entire sermon series can be preached just on those two verses. Even as I typed this verse, I was reminded of the fact that “flesh and blood” did not reveal this truth to John, it was a spiritual truth, the work of the Spirit in him that made it come alive. The fact that Jesus is the word of God incarnate is quite lofty for our minds to comprehend fortunately for us, we serve a God who is patient with us and who did not leave us to ourselves to figure out spiritual truths, instead, He gave us His Spirit to reveal these things to us and how grateful we are! One such revelation is the fact that there is transformative power in the word of God. The word of God is important for the believer in Christ because it is the word that sustains him throughout his life on earth and it is the vehicle that the Spirit of God uses to remind them of who God is. As I close my reading of the book of Nehemiah, I was once again convicted of the power of the word of God in transforming lives and its importance thereof in the lives of the believers. We cannot live without it; it is crucial for us, a non-negotiable if you will. Let’s see how it played out in the book of Nehemiah.

One of the reforms Nehemiah did upon his return to Jerusalem was the reinstitution of service in the Temple of God. As you might recall, Jerusalem was slowly being inhabited by Jews that came from the Babylonian exile, the numbers were not much but they were enough for a new beginning. Most of the earlier Israelites that returned were Levites who were set apart by God to serve in His temple. Although, Jerusalem was getting repopulated, the issue was that Israelites were not the only ones living in Jerusalem, other nations were represented there as well. Instead of being a homogeneous nation, comprised of Jews only, Jerusalem was very diverse. This diversity brought upon its own challenges one of it being the lost identity of Israel. As God’s people, they no longer remembered who they were, nor did they even know the God that had made them His. Being an exile will do this to you. If you recall, in the book of Daniel, different names were given to Daniel and his friends. It goes to show the extent to which Jews had to now identify with their oppressing nation. As time passed, they eventually became Babylonians. They might have looked like Israelites but in their living, thinking, and acting they were Babylonians. Nehemiah knew that. Ezra too knew that. That is why, one of Nehemiah’s reforms was to reinstate the service in the Temple of God. God had to be put back at the central place in the Israelite’s community so that the Israelites would know this God who saved their ancestors and made them into a nation they now called Israel. With the reinstitution of the service in the temple came the reading of the word of God. The word of God was often read by priest and specialists of the law would explain it. This happened during the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. It had happened in the past during the seventh month as they were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8). During this feast, the word of the Law had to be read before the people according to Moses’ instructions (Deuteronomy 31:11). As the word of the Law was read, people’s hearts were touched, and they wept. However, because this was a joyous celebration commanded by the Lord, “Nehemiah, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites” had to urge the people not to weep. Nehemiah said “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10). Two things that transpired from Nehemiah’s statement: first, God has to be honoured above our feelings or our conditions. The way to honour God is by respecting His commands. The way to respect His commands is by obeying them according to all that He has said. What God says is what we ought to be doing. Second, a good thing that is not done at the right time or according to instructions is not good at the end. It becomes sin. Although the reverence and sorrow over the sin that the people of Israel were displaying was good, it nonetheless was misplaced. It was not the right time to be weeping and mourning. We should pay careful attention to God’s instructions in all that we do.

As the word of the Law was being read, the specialists of the Law would also be explaining its meaning to the people so that all could understand what the Lord was saying. So, there was the hearing of the word that was happening on one hand and there was its explanation to bring about understanding that was happening on the other hand. No wonder the people were able to see their faults and shortcomings! The point is clear: the word of God is transformative. When it is heard, the Spirit uses it to transform us into beings that are more and more in line with our Maker. That transformation then flows into every aspect of our lives. In the case of the Israelites, more reforms were put in place by Nehemiah, and this was simply because of the word of God! For example, the word of God forbade Israelites from doing any work on the Sabbath. However, the contrary was being done and Nehemiah had to rebuke his countrymen because the Sabbath had become a day for business. Nehemiah reinstated the proper honouring of the Sabbath by chasing foreign merchants and closing the gates of the city for the Sabbath (Nehemiah 13:19). Another example, Israel was forbidden from marrying foreigners and Nehemiah reminded that to the people recounting the story of their great king Solomon who was led astray because of foreign women. Moreover, Nehemiah reminded the people that none of the Ammonites or Moabites should ever be admitted into the assembly of God because of their conduct towards the Israelites in the past. Because this was read from the Book of the Law, the people made the change and excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent (Nehemiah 13:3). This is the transformative power of the word of God! As it is being heard, the Holy Spirit moves it in our hearts, and it changes and transforms the way we live. This is the same way the Spirit works in us today when we open our bibles. From the book of Nehemiah, I want to close by listing three ways the word of God was used in order to encourage us to do the same: 1) the word of God was read; 2) the word of God was taught or explained; 3) the word of God was applied.

Indeed, the famous verse “faith comes through hearing the word of God”(Romans 10:17) finds its full expression in such context. The more you hear the word, the more your faith in God is being built. It is not surprising that reading the word of God would be number one in the ways in which it was used in the Old Testament because God instituted it that way. We have to read His word if we want to know Him better and by extension know ourselves. Like the Israelites, we too live in a foreign land, we are exiles in this world who identify oh too well with the culture and the government of the land rather than identifying with our own government that is from heaven. A remedy for us is to read the word of God. The second way we ought to use the word is by receiving teaching of it in order to understand it. This is where meditation and being taught the word come in play. We must be humble enough and recognize that we do not understand it all, so we should sit under sound teaching. Listening to good sermons, reading books that teach certain passages in detail, etc.. Being taught the word is important because we serve a God who wants us to be fully conscious of why we follow and love Him. The third and final way we can use the word of God is by applying it. We must be doers of the word. You have heard this multiple times, we have to apply the word to our lives, to our context, to everything we do. This alone is an act of humility. It shows that we honour our Father, that we believe Him and that we trust Him to lead us anywhere He’d like. Yet, this might be the hardest one for us to do as believers. Unfortunately, I do not have a quick solution for you except than to tell you discipline is required to obey the word of God. Killing your flesh is required to obey the word of God. Stripping yourself off pleasures is required to obey the word of God. Yes, it is difficult; yes, it sounds impossible, but I tell you it is very possible and you come out a winner. In fact, our Father in heaven has already granted us the victory as the song by Shane and Shane says, “I am fighting a battle you have already won!”. Victory is our portion, believers, victory is our portion! So, remember that you are not disciplining yourself to be victorious, but you are disciplining yourself because you are victorious! You are simply wearing your true identity in that moment. I pray the Lord Most High through the Spirit’s help strengthen and grow you as you read His word, are being taught, or teach His word and apply His word. As you do that, the Word of God will be even more alive in your life. Amen.