----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 11:39 AM
Subject: The Word


> I was looking for a file I have been working on lately and as I scanned
> through the directory, I ran across this.  I wrote it about a year and a
> half ago.  It likely was posted on here but here it is again.
>
>      A long time ago, there was a single voice.  The voice spoke
> from the totality of darkness and said,  "Let there be light and
> there was."  Thus God revealed Himself by His own spoken Word.
>
>      From the earliest days of man's creation, the spoken word was
> law.  there was nothing that was written because it was superceded
> by the spoken Word of God which became the language of men.
> Later, when God made covenant with man, he did so by His spoken
> word.  The spoken word covenant was confirmed by the shedding of
> blood.  Before the coming of Christ, the sacrifice symbolized the
> blood covenant between God and man.  It wasn't just any sacrifice
> but the sacrifice which God spoke to man by way of man's obedience
> to God and His law.  Later, of course, the commands were written
> by God as a reminder of His already spoken words.  Later still,
> God inspired His followers to write what He spoke and revealed by
> His Holy Spirit.  Jesus, God's only begotten Son, fulfilled the
> entire law for us including becoming the supreme blood sacrifice
> once and for all.  Thus, God's Words were fulfilled eternally.
>
>      In the beginning of mankind, he began living by his own words
> because such is the nature of the Creator.  Human covenants were
> thus established by words alone.  The cutting of covenants became
> the outward symbol of agreement.  The cutting of the hand in order
> that blood may flow served as the blood covenant and thus when men
> shook hands who were in agreement, the testimony of their
> agreement could be felt in their hands which served to physically
> confirm their spoken words to be the whole truth and nothing but
> the truth in God's stead.  The placing of the left hand upon the
> Bible in a court of law and the raising of the right hand to swear
> is, therefore, not an accidental occurrence.  the lifting of the
> covenant hand, with its scars, showed the person was a man of his
> word.
>
>      Today's modern man decided that words were not enough and
> began the writing of contractual agreements which, theoretically,
> would hold up in a court of law as legally binding.  Yet
> contracts, treaties, and agreements are broken every day.  Man's
> word is no longer the Word of God in practice or belief.  Yet, the
> Believer in God, and the one who has accepted the covenant
> relationship by His only begotten Son, once again, by word only,
> has become the promised covenant with God.  The covenant one can
> now once again live by his words because his words have become
> God's Words restored.  To confirm covenant with man again, God's
> own righteousness is thus imparted to the man who confesses Jesus
> Christ as Lord.  Man needs not to write what he believes; he only
> has to say it before God's eternal court.  The Holy Spirit is the
> Spirit of Holy eternal witness which is the circumcision made
> without hands that is the Holy Spirit of promise.  We have become
> the seed of Abraham and inherit the promise.
>
>      I was amazed, recently, when the Hispanic man with one arm
> came and gave my youngest son an estimate for all the concrete
> work my son needed for his new home.  This included the basement,
> the pad for the garage, and a driveway.  When their conversation
> was complete, the man said, "Do you need me to draw up a
> contract?"  My son said, "Do we need one?"  The man said, "I trust
> you.  I need no contract.  Your word is all I need."  My son said,
> "You have my word," and thus they agreed.  Everything was done and
> no paper contract was written as an agreement; their own words
> bound them to the truth.  It is sad to think that such agreements
> by word used to be the norm and now is rare.
>
>      For the Christian, we have the privilege, if we so choose, to
> live by our word once again.  Furthermore, we also have the right
> of speaking God's Words in place of our own.  This, too, is
> covenant in origin.  The two parties would exchange vows, words,
> which sealed their allegiance to each other to the exclusion of
> all others.  God has exchanged His Word with us, His Son, who now
> abides in us through the personage of His Holy Spirit.  This gives
> us legal right to use His name and His Words in relationship to
> His work and for our own lives.  Do you have a contract with God
> through Jesus Christ His Son?
>
>
>