God Has
Preserved &
Will Preserve His Word
Psalm
12:6-7 “The words of the LORD are pure
words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them,
O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” KJV
PSALM
33:11 -- “The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all
generations.”
Psalm 33:11 says God’s thoughts would not be lost but rather would stand to all
generations, and we know from passages such as 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 that these divine
thoughts have been expressed through divinely-chosen words. “Which things also we
speak, NOT IN THE WORDS which man’s wisdom teacheth, BUT WHICH the Holy Ghost
teacheth...” The
promise in Psalm 33, therefore, is also a promise of the verbal preservation of Scripture.
PSALM 100:5 -- “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth
endureth to all generations.”
PSALM 111:7-8 -- “The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his
commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and
uprightness.”
PSALM 117:2 -- “... the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.”
Psalm 100:5, 111:7-8, and 117:2 promise that the truth of God will stand forever and
endure to all generations. This could mean that sound doctrine in general will be
preserved, as those who take a naturalistic view of preservation contend, but comparing
Scripture with Scripture we know that this cannot be the true interpretation. We know that
God’s truth is not expressed to man merely in general doctrinal terms, but in
divinely selected words. God has not merely given man a pattern of truth; He has given the
very form of truth in the Scriptures. It is this verbally inspired truth that the Old
Testament is promising will be preserved. Psalm 100:5 connects Bible preservation with God’s
goodness and mercy. It is because God loves man that He has given His Book. Psalm 100:5
reminds us that the same love that motivated God to inspire the Scriptures motivates Him
to keep them.
PSALM 119:89 -- “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”
PSALM 119:152 -- “Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast
founded them for ever.”
Psalm 119:89 and 119:152 promise that God’s Word is eternally settled. No matter
what the Devil and wicked men do in their attempt to destroy or corrupt the Word of God,
they will not succeed. Ultimately the Bible will not be corrupted or lost. God did not
found the Scriptures merely to be in Heaven. He delivered them to men in this world.
PSALM 119:160 -- “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy
righteous judgments endureth for ever.”
According to Psalm 119:160, even the very earliest portions of God’s Word,
Genesis and the other writings of Moses, are infallibly inspired and will be preserved.
ISAIAH 40:8 -- “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God
shall stand for ever.”
ISAIAH 59:21 -- “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit
that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy
mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,
saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.”
Isaiah adds his “amen” to the doctrine of preservation. According to Isaiah
59:21, it is the very words of God which will be preserved. Note that the preservation of
God’s Word is connected with its usage among believing people. The Scriptures will be
preserved by use, not by disuse.
MATTHEW 4:4 -- “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
MATTHEW 5:18 -- “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
MATTHEW 24:35 – “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is very specific in His teaching about the preservation of
Scripture. He teaches that man must have the very words of God, and He promises that His
WORDS will not pass away. In Matthew 5:18, He says the very JOTS AND TITTLES of God’s
Word will not pass away! That is certainly a promise of verbal preservation.
MATTHEW 28:18-20 – “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world. Amen.”
MARK 8:38 – “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this
adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he
cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
1 TIMOTHY 6:13 – “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable,
until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Verses such as Matthew 28:20, Mark 8:38, and 1 Timothy 6:13 take for granted the
preservation of Scripture. Each generation of Christians is required to keep and to teach
all things that Christ commanded, not only the commands He gave in the Gospels but those
He gave through the Apostles. This would not be possible unless the Lord’s commands
are preserved in detail in the Scriptures.
1 PETER 1:23 -- “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever.”
1 PETER 1:25 -- “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you.”
The
Apostle Peter tells us that the Word of God is preserved perpetually, and this includes
the Word that has been preached to us in the gospel writings. And by gospel writings we
must understand Peter to mean the whole of the New Testament, not just the first four
books, for Hebrews 2:3 instructs us that the gospel “at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.”
REVELATION 22:18-19 -- “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the
plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of
the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out
of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book