The King James Version - Part II The Efficacy of the Word

The King James Version: Section II. The Efficacy of the Word

Table of Contents

Continued from The King James Version: Precise Translation versus Fraudulent Texts and Heretical Translations – By Gregory L. Jackson

The Efficacy of the Word

The snake oil salesmen of the world want to sell us, at a high price, various notions and potions that are effective. They avoid and berate the one thing effective, the Word of God. The Spirit was so far ahead of us that the idea of the effectiveness of the Word was written into the Scriptures, wisely foreshadowing those days when people desired and pursued everything but the Bible – as effective.

Outside on March 13th, 2021, the rains are pouring down on our garden, trees, and weeds. North of us, the city of Denver is promised one of the biggest snowstorms of history. No one would dare claim that the soil and plants will be the same after rain falls and the snow melts. The rain will feed the fungi, bacteria, and earthworms that tend and feed the flowers and crops. The snow will protect the plants against the freezing, dry winds of destruction. Underneath this blanket, creatures will be relatively warm and comfortable, the ice crystals locked together to form a blanket ideal for recycling, warmth for now, moisture for later. In the snow and rain is something no city or well can offer – usable nitrogen, the building-block of life, the green of the Green Old Deal.

The best definition of effective is something that always works, unlike anything made by man. The bridge over the Mississippi River in Moline was once an object of awe, but now it is being demolished because it no longer works. Effective would also mean – never fails us, unlike our cars that fail to start on the coldest days or smolder and burn without warning. No one has ever created an effective plan that does exactly what the leaders projected and hoped. If a general in the army said, “This plan will work exactly as we have hoped, with no change or disasters or mishaps,” the soldiers would laugh, and the officer would be replaced.

God’s definition of effective is clearly revealed in Isaiah 55 – and sadly, this all-encompassing passage is almost universally ignored.

KJV Isaiah 55: 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

This reminds us that no one can discern the thoughts and plans of God. Besides that, His manner of working is far superior to anything we can grasp, so we have to start with humility and subordination to Him.

KJV Isaiah 55: 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Verses 10 and 11 point out what we should know, without questions, about the rain and snow, their cycle of coming down from heaven (a familiar motif in John) and returning. Nor can we dispute that rain and snow have a peculiar trait far more productive than anything man can produce – the power to make things grow. Farmers say, “Irrigation keeps the crops alive. Only rain can make them grow.” God’s Word is just like the rain and snow- it never returns without results. This double negative makes it impossible to find an exception to the effectiveness of God’s Word. One retiring minister said he was a failure, so I questioned him:

Did you preach and teach the Word faithfully? “Yes, I tried.”
Did you baptize and give Holy Communion? “Yes.”
Did you visit people with the Word and Sacrament? “Yes.”
Are you saying God’s Word was not effective? Using their own standards, the Church Growth fanatics would have admit that their words are not effective.

The second Promise is that God will accomplish what He pleases. The truth is – money, members, and buildings do not prove a thing, and we cannot judge now or in the future where God’s Word will flourish. We can predict that replacing God’s Word with raffles, prizes for attendance, entertainment, soft drinks and snacks, and warmed-over bar music will accomplish nothing in God’s plan. The third Promise is that God will prosper His Word, which means the results will be so great – such as the Reformation – that no one can dispute the results are from Him.

In short, the effectiveness of God’s Word is guaranteed in Isaiah 55 three ways:

God’s Word always works and is never a failure.
God’s Word always does exactly what He wills.
God’s Word will prosper all His plans.

Reading this passage gives us confidence (confidence, literally “with faith”). Teaching this passage turns people away from the false gods of the marketplace to the Holy Trinity revealed in the Scriptures.

The Clarity of the Scriptures

God revealed His will in the Scriptures so that everyone could understand the basic teaching of Christianity. This has been called the perspicuity of the Scriptures. (Five-syllable words cloud the intent of the original.) Because of the unity and harmony of the Bible, readers can use the brightest portions of the Word to shed light on those passages they find difficult at first.

No one should think that a Biblical scholar or theologian guards the door to understanding the Bible. Invoking human authority is a classic logical fallacy – that something is true because a highly rated person claims it. Often that fallacy is elevated to a denominational level or a matter of family pride – “Are you saying my church body is wrong” or “My Uncle Fritz always taught this.” We should test the spirits, by comparing what is claimed to the plain language of the Word. Those who teach error are vexing, but they encourage us to study more and gain a better understanding. Hunger is the best sauce when eating food, and hunger for spiritual truth is stirred up by those who would starve us of the Word.

KJV Isaiah 55: 1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

The Spirit Never Exhausts Our Knowledge

The Vatican got most of the Protestant denominations to switch to Rome’s patented three-year lectionary, which gave ministers more variety to ignore. The value of the historic lectionary comes from the repetition of the basic lessons in the Epistles and Gospels. If a minister studies the same passages every year, using Luther and Lenski and other faithful authors, he will grow in comprehension and knowledge. The Spirit’s work is such that the deeper we go into the Bible, the more we appreciate and understand. Some passages, so mysterious to the pastor at first – especially those difficult ones like the Canaanite woman*– hit us like thunderclaps with their truth and clarity, once studied and considered.

*The Canaanite woman keeps pleading for her daughter, and Jesus’ silence and responses are used falsely to show a shocking hardness of heart. The miracle shows she kept her trust in Jesus when all evidence of hope seemed to be missing – so great was her faith – the essence of this remarkable story. This miracle teaches us the patience of faith which could only be revealed by a long, vexing challenge to the woman’s faith.

Old Testament – The Torah, Prophets, and Writings

Martin Luther

In Judaism, the Old Testament (tanakh) is divided into three sections:

The Torah consists of the Five Books of Moses
The Prophets are all the prophetic books
The Writings include the rest of the 39 books of the Old Testament.

Many consider the Old Testament to be exclusively law, condemning sin, and the New Testament to be Gospel, showing us the Savior.* The Hebrew word torah does not mean law, but teaching, so it includes not only law, but God’s blessings and Gospel Promises. If we think of that meaning in Psalm 1, the message is one of daily guidance for all Christians. Luther practiced it, considering the meaning of passages and words for days.

* Jesus taught the greatest sin, the foundational sin, is not believing in Him. John 3:36. Therefore, the primary and essential work of the Christian Church is to teach faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior.

KJV Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the teaching (torah) of the Lord; and in his teaching (torah) doth he meditate day and night.

Equally important, the Old Testament holds Christ the way a cradle holds a baby. We may not see the baby in its cradle, but we hear the voice and see the movement of the child’s blanket. The Five Books of Moses contain the gold ore from which the divinity of Christ is fashioned in the New Testament, as Luther wrote.

When Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden for disobedience, God promised the Savior, the First Gospel – KJV Genesis 3:15 – “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” And so the Savior would be harmed, but Satan would be vanquished, forever injured by the power of the Gospel.

Eve believed the Promise and thought her newborn boy was the Savior. The Hebrew clearly states in Genesis 4:1 – “I have gotten a man, the Lord.”

Abraham believed that he would begin a line leading to the Son of David establishing an ever-growing and eternal kingdom – he was justified by faith in Jesus Christ. KJV Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” The Apostle Paul argued repeatedly that Abraham was justified by faith.

Exodus

The Exodus is more about the Son of God than spoiling the Egyptians.* When Moses saw the Burning Bush in Exodus 3:2, two natures were united – the fire and the bush, and yet the fire did not consume the bush. “Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” Likewise, the Two Natures of Christ, human and divine, are united in One Person.

* Fuller Seminary devotees use Augustine’s “spoiling the Egyptians” phrase to justify themselves for copying the Enthusiasm of Gospel salesmen, marketing marvels, and hocus-pocus professionals.

God called from the Bush and identified in a three-fold manner, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.* When Moses asked for the Name of God, He said, “Tell them I AM sent me to you.” (KJV Exodus 3:14)

* With the help of a Lutheran teacher, I gathered the Trinitarian passages in the Bible – The Holy Trinity Revealed in the Scriptures. It is great to have assistants when I need them.

When the religious opponents claimed Abraham as their father, Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” which only God could declare. (John 8:58) The I AM passages in the Fourth Gospel are God’s Name. That is why the opponents picked up rocks to stone Him.
A lamb without blemish provided the blood for the doorposts, so the Angel of Death would pass over the homes and spare the first-born sons, establishing the Passover Meal, foreshadowing the Lord’s Supper. KJV Exodus 12. This also began the custom of “What does this mean?” for Lutheran catechism.
The Son of God led them out of Egypt, as a pillar of cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night. KJV 1 Corinthians 10:4.
Water miraculously came from a rock, John 4

God provided bread from heaven, John 6.

One of the strangest stories in the Exodus was the command to place a brass serpent on a pole to cure the poisonous bite of the serpents, KJV Numbers 21:9. “And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” But the meticulous calendar of Promises is solved by Jesus Himself –

KJV John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Scholars Are Divided – The Prophets

“Scholars are divided” is an ideal way to deflect controversy and back away from it. The Rationalists, who place human reason over the Scriptures, will claim something like “There are two different Isaiahs, the second one starting at Isaiah 40.” If they are challenged for asserting that in church or seminary, they will say, “Scholars are divided.” Every topic in the Bible has been discussed and debated from the earliest days. A German journal, Theologische Rundschau, summarizes one topic at a time – in articles that are often 100 pages long. Many so-called problems in the Scriptures were addressed and answered centuries ago, but they are often brought up again. “Scholars are divided” is a true statement, but the claim is not honest when used to cloud a concept.*

* One liberal pastor tried to tell an adult class that the Gospel of John was written centuries after Christ. When a class member objected, citing the conservative denomination’s commentary, the visitor said, “Scholars are divided.” Why be evasive? – that does not answer whether the Apostle John wrote the Gospel.

The Two Natures of Christ – Divine and Human

Many consider the Book of Isaiah the grandest and most glorious of the four major prophets, which include Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The Two Natures of Christ are taught with great clarity in this book, and the importance of John as the forerunner to the Messiah is also predicted.

Messianic Promises often leap out of the Biblical texts, going from an ordinary setting to the distant future, from current events to God’s far-seeing plan. That is why Luther found the Bible like the mines his father developed. In mining, veins are followed for their enormous value, especially precious metals. However, the Bible is a mine where the spiritual treasures are never depleted and increase over time as the sources are explored.

The Virgin Birth is a perfect example of the mundane being turned into a future miracle beyond and above human reason. The prophet with King Ahaz with a command from God. He must ask for a miracle, either in sky above or the depth below.

KJV Isaiah 7:11 Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.

King Ahaz is a doubter, so he covers that up with his arrogant, holier-than-thou reply –

KJV Isaiah 7:12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.

This was not a divine suggestion, something to debate, but a direct command from God. The response expresses the wrath of God from having His gracious offer refused piously.

KJV Isaiah 7:13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

God’s response is pivotal for modern theologians and clergy, who reduce the Biblical message to their shrunken view of God’s power in the Word. The initial modernist triumph was changing the Revised Standard Version of verse 14 to something like this –

RSV Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman[b] shall conceive and bear[c] a son, and shall call his name Imman′u-el.[d]

The current RSV notes are –

When the RSV first came out, a product of the Left-wing National Council of Churches, as noted earlier, Isaiah 7:14 translated the Hebrew word almah as “young woman.” Blowback from all over the US led them to replace young woman with virgin, and the change was footnoted “or young woman,” a clever trick to reduce their claim and to come back later with the original mistranslation. This method is quite popular in all the modern translations. The notes usually have no explanation, so the reader is supposed to trust these Bible-makers. Denial of the Virgin Birth in the RSV of the 1950s, was a major scandal in the US. Everyone talked about it and spoke against it. I remember the topic being discussed when I was young. Unfortunately, there was no repentance, only a smokescreen, replacing the Virgin Birth in the main text but footnoting – “or a young woman.”* The New RSV and current RSV have “young woman” in the main text and “or virgin” in the footnote, showing how text and footnotes are easily switched a few decades later.

* The erosion was gradual and helped by the intellectuals’ adoration of Karl Barth and his mistress Charlotte Kirschbaum. The two were adept at doctrinal double-talk, too. I knew about their blatant adultery in Frank Fiorenza’s ND class, in the 1970’s. Members of the Barth society figured she wrote most of the Dogmatics – while Karl wrote online the outline.

No one needs an education in Greek and Hebrew or an elaborate explanation to see that the RSV and its clones created a clumsy contradiction. God offered King Ahaz the greatest possible miracle while assuring him of future peace. However, Ahaz haughtily refused. Are we to assume that an even greater miracle, a direct sign from God, would be a young woman having a baby? As winsome as that image might be, it clashes with the context of the original command – Ask for a miracle. And then the modernists assume, in the future, the New Testament would quote and reference Isaiah 7 in error, we must imagine, turning a young woman’s pregnancy into the Virgin Birth of Christ! Although the Virgin Birth in Isaiah was not under fire until recently, not even in the latest Greek New Testament today or the latest hip paraphrases question the wording. But – the switch did take place in the Unitarian-style teaching of the first Evangelical Lutheran Church in America presiding bishop in America, Herb Chilstrom, a former professor, and bishop. He denied the Virgin Birth and therefore the Two Natures in Christ and called the event a baby born out of wedlock. Doubts about the Bible have consequences, and doubts turn into anti-Christian dogma.*

* The false claim that the Virgin Birth is only found in Matthew and Luke is explored in this book. The Two Natures are another expression for the same truth, the Word became flesh.

Isaiah 9 confirms the divinity of the Messiah. The critics work over Isaiah 7 with their opposition to the Virgin Birth, passing by “God with us” – Immanuel – as if insignificant. However, there is method in their mad pursuit of almah – they distract people from the contradictions of their traditional birth advocacy. Even better, they do not argue both points, almah, and Immanuel, but the trigger on the death trap – those who doubt the harmony of God’s Word and God’s will.

KJV Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

So much can be said about these grand titles; the first one parallels the Virgin Birth of Isaiah 7:14 and the Immanuel name. In Isaiah 9:6-7, a child is to be born, a son. He is human but the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. Jesus said in John’s Gospel, “I give you peace, but not the peace the world gives you.” The apostles moved out into the world’s wrath with the peace of forgiveness and salvation, leading people into the peace Christ established with His resurrection. Thus, He is both human and divine, as the two passages so clearly show.

But there is more. God promised Abraham an everlasting and ever-growing kingdom, greater than the stars in the sky. But no earthly kingdom has fit that description. Portugal owned the maps and ruled the seas. Hardly anyone could name its capital today. Imperial Rome withered down and finally became Italy, only after the city-states were united in 1861 by Victor Emmanuel II. The Byzantine Empire, 1100 years in existence, dwindled to become Turkey and Constantinople became Istanbul. The present proves the past was true in KJV Isaiah 9 – “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.” there is no end to the government and peace of the Kingdom of God, governed with the righteousness of faith, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

Continued in The King James Version: Part III The Forerunner and the Biblical Shepherd Theme