THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD

THE INCORRUPTIBLE WORD

    Everything in this present world is, to use the biblical phrase from Romans 8, under the "bondage of corruption" - God's great curse because of human sin. The apostle Peter points out that the inorganic world is composed of "corruptible things”, such as silver and gold (1 Peter 1:18).  But so is the organic world, which is based altogether on "corruptible seed."  The term "corruptible" simply means "decaying" and this ever-present corruptibility is essentially what scientists have called the law of increasing entropy (also known in science as the “2^nd Law of Thermodynamics” (heat motion)).  The word “entropy” carries with it the idea of “disorder”.  This “tendency to disorder” can be observed in many everyday occurrences.

a)    A house or apartment can get messy and disordered all by itself.  It takes a planned effort, coupled with actual work, to reverse this tendency and bring the dwelling place back into a state of order again.

b)   A pile of bricks will never assemble itself into a brick house, by random actions such as wind, rain, earthquakes, cooling/heating, etc.  But a brick house will fall into a pile of bricks, given enough time, under the action of the same things.

c)    A transmission from your local TV station gradually gets contaminated with static and distortion, and eventually becomes unwatchable.  “Information” gets lost.  The party game of “telephone” is an illustration of how correct information can get overpowered and contaminated with noise. 

d)   A hot object cools off all by itself.  But an object never gets hotter all by itself.  Heat never flows from a cold object to a hot one, making the cold one colder and the hot one hotter, unless energy is pumped into the system.

e)    Any living thing ages and finally dies.

  So that’s the nature of this world.  But God has promised that he will create a new Earth one day.  Then, there will be no more curse (Revelation 22:3) “This corruptible must put on incorruption" (I Corinthians 15:53).  Those who will inhabit the new Earth will have been "begotten . . . again, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that does not fade not away” (1 Peter 1:3-4).  Everything in the new Earth, including you and I, will be incorruptible. 

     But to return to this present world in which we live: Albert Einstein once said that in all the known universe there is no known exception to the 2^nd law of thermodynamics.  Therefore, everything in the present Earth is corruptible.  But there is one exception! – an exception that Albert overlooked.  It is by this exception that we who were born under the bondage of corruption were translated into the incorruptible world of everlasting righteousness.  What is that exception?  The incorruptible word, the Holy scriptures.  The scriptures reveal the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, through which a believer is born again, and is instructed in righteousness, and is sanctified (set apart).

(1 Peter 1:23) “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”

(Psalm 119-89,111,152) “Forever, 0 LORD, Thy word is settled in heaven. ... Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever...  Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them forever.”

"Heaven and earth shall pass away”, said the Lord Jesus, "but my words shall never pass away." (Matthew 24:35).

How indescribably precious is our Bible, the written Word of God!  The one and only thing in the entire world not subject to the laws of decay.

So what’s the golden nugget in this discussion?  This: know that when you hold your Bible in your hands, you are holding something that has within it a source of eternal power, an inner radiance that never diminishes.  Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.  A lamp that never dims, a light that never fails.  Our Bible has come down to us across the centuries, error free, in spite of endless copying, and hundreds of translations.  This, therefore, is wisdom: to hold the word of God in our hearts, to read it daily, to memorize those passages that speak to us most powerfully, and to let it be the compass of our lives.  Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.  Only the never-decaying power of God’s word can protect us from the decaying power of sin and evil. 

In closing, ask yourself this question.  Do you personally cherish the privilege of reading the Bible?  Many people in this world have no such opportunity.  To read the Bible (assuming they can even find one in their language) is to risk persecution, even imprisonment or death.  To sincerely desire the pure milk of God’s word is one of the marks of the true Christian.  Anyone who does not thirst for its living water is overdue for a serious self-examination. We are like cups with holes in the bottom – we need to be constantly refilled, or we quickly run dry.  So if you are able, take your Bible, grasp it, lose yourself in its pages, drink deeply of its living water.  And you will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here’s a couple of extra golden nuggets.  If you want intimacy with God and you want to be assured of his presence and his closeness, then open your Bible to Psalms 139 and immerse yourself in this wonderful chapter.  You will sense that God is closer to you than your very breath.  Next, if you want to know what happens to you after you die, then immerse yourself in First Corinthians 15, and be assured that God has every intention to one day release you from the bondage of corruption that all of us experience in our earthly bodies, and remake us into something beautiful and incorruptible.  The incorruptible word can sustain us throughout our lives, and show us the way to eternal life.