Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified.
II Thess. 3:1
Paul gives a priority not only to the need for prayer, but also that the Word might be given weight and value. David, in Psalm 138:2, also gives acknowledgment to the high value God places upon His Word
“For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.”
A name is hugely significant—the name of God includes all the perfections of God; all that He is and all He has revealed. These include His justice, majesty, holiness, greatness and glory. And yet He has magnified something even above His name—His Word—His truth. This may be referencing “the Word”… the Son of God who was called “the Word.” Certainly, this would be appropriate and right. It would be a correct conclusion to acknowledge God has set Jesus above all else. It could also be taken to that of the written Word of God—The Scriptures which are the written word about Jesus, and of which the Word points towards.
This is of great help in firming up our salvation. Our salvation rests upon the Word, which God has magnified above His name.
With the above in mind, three quotes from saints of earlier days—
First from Jeremiah Burroughs
“It may be when there are some extraordinary works of God in the world, thunder, lightning, etc., we are ready to be afraid. And oh, the great God that doth appear in these great works! Were our hearts as they ought to be when we read the Word, we would tremble at that more than at any manifestation of God since the world began in all his works. Might we see more of the glory of God in his Word than in his works.
Second from John Lillie
“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. But mightier far is the word by which a lost world is redeemed. This is the “word” that he hath “magnified above all his name,” as displaying at once the exceeding greatness of his power, the resources of his manifold wisdom, and the blended glories of holiness and love.
Finally from Oswald Chambers
“Jesus Christ says the message of the Bible is about Himself—we cannot interpret it according to any other key. ‘… no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.’ We can prove anything we choose from the Bible once we forget the message Jesus says it contains. ‘The test that you know the Bible is that you understand what it is driving at; it is expounding Me, giving the exposition of what I am after.’”
May we see the Word of the Lord running swiftly in our own lives, may He be glorified, may we grow in grace and knowledge of Him—
Maranatha!