The Certainty of God’s Word for the Joy of His People

Posted by Pastor Pat on February 6, 2011

“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”

(John 15:11)

The stability of the Christian life is built on the bedrock of God’s Word.  We believe what He has said is true and will most certainly happen.  Yet the certainty of His Word is built on the supremacy of His rule.  His Word will happen because His will cannot be thwarted (Daniel 4:35).

Our ultimate joy rests in knowing God will never let His Word fail.  The hope we have is not tentative or speculative as if to say there is the slightest chance that it will not happen.  Our hope is a confident anticipation and our joy is real and firm despite our circumstances and surroundings.

Listen carefully to the following three verses (John 15:11; 6:24; 17:13).

John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

John 16:24 “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.

John 17:13 “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

The joy Jesus gives is personal and intimate.  A joy that is full.  It fills the container to overflow.  It is a stabilizing joy.  It is the kind of joy that brings victory in the midst of defeat.  It empowers the fallen, lightens the downtrodden, and invigorates the exhausted.  This is biblical, Christ-exalting joy.  It is the joy that finds its fuel from the Word of God.

Our joy is built on the bedrock of His Word.  Isaiah 55:11 gives us this promise.

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Isaiah 46:9-11 echoes this same truth.

9 Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.

Our joy rests in knowing His Word is certain.  Yet His Word is certain because His rule is absolute (Psalm 115:3 “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” [see also Psalm 135:6]).  If God cannot determine, with certainty, the outcome of what He has said to be true, then we have no right to rest confidently in His Word.  If God says something is going to happen, then a “million” actions will precede the outcome to insure the declared results.  No event happens in isolation to its surroundings.  The unfolding of life does not happen in historical vacuums.  In the end the reign of God must be absolute or there can be no certainty in the outworking of life.  If life does not find it footing in the supremacy of His rule, history, the present and the unknown future becomes the smudged imprint and discombobulated outworking of a belligerent creature.

It is because God controls the means and the end that His Word is certain and thus we have a peace and joy that truly passes human understanding (Phil. 4:7).

Today, as you joy in all that He is for you and you are in Him realize that such contentment is possible only because God has made a promise to you that He will fulfill.  As long as He reigns, His Word is certain.  May such truth cause you to see that He is enough in this life and in the life that is to come.