The word will stand forever

The Verse of the Day speaks of the Word of God as enduring forever:

Matthew 24:35 (NLT):

Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

The New Living Translation renders Mark 13:31 and  Luke 21:33 in the exact same way:

Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

In Luke 1:37(NLT) makes a similar declaration

For the word of God will never fail.”

Although the verse is translated “For with God nothing will be impossible”, in the New King James and other versions, the American Standard Version puts it this way:

Luke 1:37:

For no word from God shall be void of power.

No matter how you express it, the Word of God will never disappear, never fail, but it will endure forever. So says Isaiah 40:7-8 (NLT):

The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the Lord.
And so it is with people.
⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.”

The closing statement from Isaiah 40:8 is repeated in 1 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)

But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

More than thirty years ago, I learned a valuable lesson about the fleeting nature of plant life in a most memorable way. I was living in rural Northeastern Ohio in an area where a massive oak tree stood out as a landmark on a peninsula near a large body of water. Within a couple of years the leaves on the top of the tree did not bud and grow out, as the dead branches began to increase year by year. Despite efforts to save the dying tree, the mighty oak was cut down and removed, leaving only a gigantic stump. After witnessing what occurred, I was inspired to write this:

The Old Oak Stump

The grass withers, the flower fades,

 because the breath of the LORD blows upon it:

 surely the people are grass.

 The grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God stands for ever.

Isaiah 40:7-8

 

I stand dead center on the old oak stump,

The ruin of a woodland monument,

My feet encircled by the woody rings

That number far beyond remembered years.

I read between the lines of annual

Reports a history of all you have seen:

You saw the Shawnee dance around his fires;

You knew the name of each German who came

To farm, to build, and to beget his sons

Under the shaded beauty of your boughs;

You spread your arms and offered shelter as

A dwelling place for bird and beast and boy.

Yet time’s swift stroke condemned the tenement

As progress served its eviction notice.

Men leveled the tree whose lease had expired,

Legend of a people, long since cut off,

Like meadow grass overgrowing the land

Where I stand and read man’s life history:

Fleeting as baby’s breath, man’s day sprinkles

Grasslands for a season, then blows away.

All life evaporates like dew, except

The Word of God, which ever shall inspire.

 

Ken Whitson offers a musical reminder: “The Word Will Stand Forever.”