Hi all,
Last week I shared the tradition of ‘standing on the Word’ and the examples in scripture of Peter and Paul who ‘stood’ based on personal revelation the Lord gave them for their situation and life, rather than thumbing through verses to find one that fit their situation. I ended asking where the Lord got His revelation. That may have caused some head scratching because we all assume the Lord Jesus is the source of the revelation – but is He?
“Unto us a son is given; unto us a child is born” is how Isaiah 9:6 starts in one of the most recognizable prophesies about the Lord Jesus Isaiah makes. Notice the dual nature of Messiah – He is the Son given, who became the child born. He is both 100% God and 100% man. What does that mean?
The fact Jesus Christ is both the Son given and the child born is reflected in His name and title: Jesus refers to His humanity, the name given to Mary for the child in her womb. Christ is the anointed One of the Father. He is therefore Jesus Christ. The God-Man.
Being God means He existed before He ever became the child born. He was Christ the Son first and foremost, who was later given to become the man Jesus. The fact the Father God gave Him is a clue as to whose revelation we are receiving from the Lord Jesus. In my series “I AM; Who Jesus is and Where He Came From” I go into detail concerning the origins of the Father-Son relationship and Christ’s appearances in the Old Testament, but I’ll hit some high points here.
Understanding the Word of the Lord
In I Samuel 3 it opens saying “The Word of the Lord was rare in those days, there was no open vision”, to establish the context for what is about to happen. This classifies for us that a visitation from the Lord is called ‘an open vision’. As we’ll see, Samuel’s eyes were wide open to see the natural, but he also saw the Lord in His realm.
The boy Samuel is on his bed and he hears a voice call to him; “Samuel. Samuel.” The boy gets out of bed and goes to the high priest, Eli, certain he had called to him. But Eli told him it wasn’t him who had called, and this happens three times. Verse 7 is interesting in an explanation on why the boy didn’t recognize the voice: “Samuel did not yet know the Lord; neither was the Word of the Lord yet revealed to him.”
After the 3rd time Eli told Samuel to answer the voice and stay put, which he does. Verse 10 says this: “Then the Lord came and stood as He had at the other times, and said, ‘Samuel, Samuel’.” Notice – the Lord came and stood as He had the previous times. Who was this Lord that came to Samuel’s bedroom that night?
Verse 21 tells us: “The Lord appeared again in Shiloh to Samuel, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel as the Word of the Lord.”
Samuel set the stage
Samuel was prophet in Israel in the time of the Judges for which that book is named. The time of Judges was after Joshua died but before Saul became King. Samuel was the last judge, for he anointed Saul and later David as kings. Other judges over the centuries of the time of the judges included Deborah, Samson, and Gideon.
Samuel therefore being the prophet or Seer as he is called that* established the kingship of Israel, serving as the type of all prophets Israel would have. How the Lord treated this first prophet was how He treated all the rest of them in the OT. That is the reason the phrase ‘the Word of the Lord’ appeared to Samuel is important. *I Samuel 9:9, 13
Other ‘Word of the Lord’ mentions
The Lord appeared to Samuel who knew Him as the Word of the Lord – this is an appearance by the Son to be given, Christ, who appeared to him. We must keep this first and foremost, He is the Word from the Father God to people – the Word of the Lord (Father God). Jesus is not a ‘stand alone’ Person nor concept nor even are His Words written in pen and paper stand alone verses – they proceed from the Word and that Word proceeds from the Father.
After Samuel the Lord appeared to his successors in the same way, as the Word of the Lord, and when you read ‘The Word of the Lord came to…” it is vital to understand that is the Person of the Word of the Lord – Christ – and the proof is that when you see that phrase the prophet will say He talked to them, or Him appearing or something he saw.
Consider…
“Jeremiah…to whom the Word of the Lord came…the Word of the Lord came to me and said before I formed you in the belly I knew you and called you…then the Lord stretched forth His hand and touched my mouth and said…” 1:1-9
“The Word of the Lord came specifically to Ezekiel…and I looked and a whirlwind came out of the north and a fire enfolding itself…” (His vision of the throne and cherubs) Ezekiel chapter 1
“The Word of the Lord who came to Micah…which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem…” Micah 1:1-2
“…came the Word of the Lord to Zechariah, saying…” Zechariah 1, in which he describes visions (actually through most of his book)
As I said earlier, I don’t want to go into full detail and if you want more information you can listen to my “I AM” series, but understanding that starting with Samuel Christ appeared to the prophets as the Word of the Lord is important.
John 1:1-14: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and lived among us.”
The ‘Word’ he is talking about is that Word of the Lord who appeared to the prophets, and finally, after centuries appearing to prophets through the centuries, actually ‘became flesh and lived among us.’ WOW. He is the Word of the Father to man – up to now just specific prophets and people in the Old Testament. But He became human, for us all.
So that means…
The Person of the Word of the Lord, the Person of the Word of the Father, is our Lord Jesus Christ. To Adam He was the Lord God in the Garden of Eden. To Abraham He was Jehovah Jireh and El Shaddai, to Moses He was Jehovah Nissi (banner) and Rapha (healer) – but all those appearances before Samuel were unique and specific to the situation. Centuries later He appeared to Samuel as the summary of all those revelations of His character and more, as the totality of the Word of the Lord (Father) for man.
To Samuel He summed it up as the Word of the Lord (Father), and then THAT was summed up as the Word from the Father when He became conceived in Mary’s womb as THE message from the Father – Peace on earth and good will TOWARDS men.
That isn’t peace man to man, but God the Father whose angelic army appeared to the Shepherds, said proof of His good will towards men is that His Word became flesh and lived among us. Amazing. So now we see that ‘standing on the Word’ certainly is not picking a verse ourselves upon which we stand our ground – the example through the centuries is that of men and women who received a specific Word of the Lord for their situation – in the NT we saw Paul and Peter.
Next week I’ll close it out with more New Testament realities about the Word of the Lord who came to become that man…and where He gets His ‘words’ for us…until then, blessings,
John Fenn
