blessed by the word

Revelation

1:3

Blessed by the Word “In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is

the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man‘s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it. To you I return my sincere thanks for the very elegant copy of the great Book of God which you present” (Abraham Lincoln to the Loyal Colored People of Baltimore, September 1864).

Blessed by the Word John, with the aid of inspiration, understood the

blessings of the Word.



“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near”(Rev 1:3, ESV).




The Book of Revelation contains 7 Beatitudes & the first one concerns the blessings of Scripture.




The Book of Revelation contains 7 Beatitudes & the first one concerns the blessings of Scripture.

We want to study this Beatitude that we might be “Blessed by the Word.”




Who are those “Blessed by the Word”?




Who are those “Blessed by the Word”? Those who:

DELIVER THE WORD;

DISCOVER THE WORD;

DISCHARGE THE WORD.

Blessed by the Word

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy” (ESV).

Blessed by the Word The ESV translators have added “aloud” but with

good reason.


good reason.

It’s obvious that reading aloud is intended, for John also pronounces a blessing on the one who hears.


good reason.


In the early church, the reading of Scripture was very important.


good reason.



“When this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea”(Col 4:16, ESV).


good reason.



Col 4:16.

“I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers” (1 Thess 5:27, ESV).


good reason.



Col 4:16.

1 Thess 5:27.

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tm 4:13, ESV).

Blessed by the Word Justin Martyr, writing his First Apology, in the middle

of the second century says, “On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits.”

Blessed by the Word In the early church, the reading of Scripture was

quite important.


quite important.

Many in the early church were illiterate.


quite important.

Many in the early church were illiterate.

Scripture had to be copied by hand.

Blessed by the Word The inspired epistle sent to a congregation would be

the only one in existence.



Books were very, very expensive.




Because of the expense of books, copyists saved space/money by cramming words together.





The entire New Testament was written without spaces between words.





The entire New Testament was written without spaces between words.

Therefore, people read aloud to sound out the words & provide the spaces.

Blessed by the Word

Blessed by the Word This points to the importance of Scripture.


The church came together to hear the Word of God.



Scripture is important – it is the Word of God.




“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tm 3:16, ESV).




2 Tm 3:16.

Paul was thankful that the Thessalonians accepted the word he preached “not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thess 2:13, ESV).


This also points to the importance of sharing the Scriptures.



Those who could read didn’t keep the Word of God from those who could not read.




We cannot keep the Word of God from others.





When Paul wrote to the Colossians, he says that the gospel “has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Col 1:23, ESV).





When Paul wrote to the Colossians, he says that the gospel “has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven” (Col 1:23, ESV).

Has the gospel “been proclaimed in all creation under heaven” in our day?

Blessed by the Word

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear.”

Blessed by the Word God’s people have often wanted to hear God’s Word.


Ezra “read from [the Law] facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law” (Neh 8:3, ESV).


Ezra “read from [the Law] facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law” (Neh 8:3, ESV).

“They stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God” (Neh 9:3, ESV).

Blessed by the Word

Blessed by the Word It is by hearing the word that we learn about God.


Moses commanded the elders to read the Law to all the people every 7 years.


Moses commanded the elders to read the Law to all the people every 7 years. “That they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess” (Deut 31:12-13, ESV).


Moses commanded the elders to read the Law to all the people every 7 years (Deut 31:12-13).

The Law was read to the people after the Babylonian Captivity (Neh 13:1).




As the people heard the Law, they “found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God”(Neh 13:1, ESV).

The people then put the foreigners out of their midst (Neh 13:3).




As the people heard the Law, they “found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God”(Neh 13:1, ESV).

The people then put the foreigners out of their midst (Neh 13:3).

They didn’t know God’s Law about foreigners, because they didn’t know the Word of God.

Blessed by the Word It is by hearing that faith comes.


“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17, ESV).


“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17, ESV).

Faith only comes through the hearing of Scripture.

Blessed by the Word Obedience also comes through hearing the Word.


Moses “took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient’” (Ex 24:7, ESV).


Ex 24:7.

During the reign of Josiah, the Book of the Law was found as workmen were repairing the Temple.


Ex 24:7.


Shaphan, the king’s secretary, read the Book of the Law to the king who greatly mourned.


Ex 24:7.


Shaphan, the king’s secretary, read the Book of the Law to the king who greatly mourned.

“The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant” (2 Ki 23:3, ESV).

Blessed by the Word The word of God has great power to change lives.


The gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16, ESV).


The gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16, ESV).

“The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12, ESV).

Blessed by the Word “Instantly, as the sentence ended—by a light, as it

were, of security infused into my heart—all the gloom of doubt vanished away.”

Blessed by the Word

“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it.”

Blessed by the Word John pronounces a blessing on the one who

discharges—i.e., obeys—the Word.

Blessed by the Word John pronounces a blessing on the one who

discharges—i.e., obeys—the Word.

It does little good to hear the Word & not obey it.

Blessed by the Word “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving

yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (Js 1:22-25, ESV).

Blessed by the Word Knowledge of Scripture must be combined with

obedience.


obedience.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21, ESV).


obedience.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21, ESV).

“Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk 3:35, ESV).

blessed by the word

Spiritual