152. Spirit and Word not Depart
Isaiah 59:21 As for me, this 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.
The Word and the Spirit are equally important in converting the person, sanctifying the soul, and making salvation effective in the individual believer. The Spirit uses the Word to create faith, to justify, and to sanctify. The Word depends on the Spirit to reach the soul with life-changing impact.
The Lord sends forth His Word to accomplish Salvation and Redemption, and it will always accomplish the purpose for which He sent it. The Lord sends forth the Spirit with the Word to make it alive and reach the goal of forgiveness and salvation. The Spirit applies the Word of Law to convict of sin and prepare the heart to believe the saving Gospel. Then the Spirit applies the Word of Gospel to change lives forever. The Word has profound and eternal meaning; the Spirit makes it meaningful, real, and personal.
Without the Spirit the Word can be distorted by human sin and faulty reasoning. The life-giving Word can become a dead letter, treated like a scientific object without spiritual life. And without the Word the Spirit can be empty of meaning or substance, and humans can get carried away and drift away by every wind of doctrine subjectively believing false teachings.
But God promiseS us both Word and Spirit to unerringly put us on the path of truth and life. This Word and Spirit were put in the mouth of Jesus, who is the Word of God. Jesus says, “My words are spirit and they are life.” This Word and Spirit shall never depart from the Servant, ever. That same Word and Spirit continues in and will not depart from His Seed or from the mouth of His seed’s seed. The seed of Christ includes all those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. His seed is the Apostles and Prophets who are inspired by the Spirit to write the Word. His seed’s seed is us who read and hear the Word written by the Spirit and transmitted to our ears and hearts by the Spirit. This very Word and Sprit will never depart from us forever. Heaven and earth will pass away, but the words of the Lord will never pass away. Every Word that the Spirit has implanted in our hearts lasts forever. Our bodies and our earthly lives are temporary and will pass away, but the engrafted Word dwells in us and will be with us in eternity. This eternal promise is ours.