From time to time I hear people say that the “Word of God will not return void.” What does this mean? I often hear this in the context of affirming that the Preacher will see souls saved or that the lost person reading their Bibles will be saved. But is this true? Is this what the Bible teaches? Is this what the phrase actually means?
It is taken from Isaiah 55:11:
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
I guess I am not convince that this verse (and its context) is talking about the Bible or even Preaching. It seems to me that this is talking about the supremacy of God and how His will, will come to fruition.
This is just speculation, but I wonder if we could make a connection between this and Jesus from John 1:1:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Perhaps Jesus will not return Void? Surely he hasn’t.
What do you all think about the Word of God not returning Void? Is this really an affirmation of our work here on Earth? or an affirmation of God’s supremacy throughout all the ages?
Lew,
First, I think you are right about this not applying to preaching – which, by definition, would not be God’s word, but man’s word, even if it is explaining God’s word. (Was that confusing?)
I think it would be difficult to make a lexical connection between Isaiah 55:11 (ρημα – “word”) and John 1:1 (λογος – “word”). However, you still may be onto something. The Hebrew verb translated “prosper” is צלח (“make prosperous, bring to success”). What’s interesting about this verb is that it is only used in three other places in Isaiah: 48:15, 53:10, and 54:17. The first two are usually considered to be messianic. So, this could refer to Jesus, but it would take a little more work to make a connection.
-Alan
Alan,
I appreciate your comment. Don’t worry, it was not confusing, I understood fully what you meant.
My statement about the Word being Jesus was really just conjecture. I have not had time to study it further than this post. But it was something I just threw in the air to make others (like yourself) think – and maybe do some preliminary work for me; thanks :).
I really have no problem with this specific text meaning that God’s Word (i.e. what he speaks) will not return void – without any “major” connection to Jesus. (I quote major, because obviously God’s Word has something to do with Jesus).
Now, I hope that wasn’t too confusing.
God’s Glory,
Lew
I think you are right. I think we often misconstrue times where the bible says word as meaning the 66 books of the bible. At the same time, I believe that His word is never empty and is living and active and all that!
Lew,
Comments are not allowed on your “1 Year Ago Today” post. Was this intentional? The reason that I ask is that someone just pointed out that the same thing happened on one my recent posts – from the same day as yours, I think. For some reason, Blogger did not automatically allow comments. Just thought I’d say something in case this was not intentional.
-Alan
Bryan
I agree, His word (in every form) are all those things. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Alan
Thanks for the heads-up.
Lew