Forever

Forever

Isaiah 40:8

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8 (ESV)

Around this time every year, early Fall, Tammy and I usually go to Lowes, Home Depot... even Wal-Mart and Tractor Supply, looking at Mums. Chrysanthemums look like Autumn. But... the prettiest plants... the ones with the most vibrant blooms, in the store, won’t last very long in your yard. They’ll bloom out quickly and you're left with lots of green stems, but little to no flowers come Thanksgiving!

But then... that’s the nature of flowers! Their beauty can be striking... vivid, alive, full... but the blooms don’t last forever.

Isaiah uses this image of withering flowers... to remind us of something profound, and True.

Every age, every generation has its passing glories. Kingdoms rise and fall, ideologies flourish and decay, and even the strongest of people and most amazing achievements soon fade into obscurity.

Isaiah’s words pierce through the facade of permanence and reminds us of the frailty and temporal nature of this life (and the things of this life)... while at the same time pointing us to the enduring certainty of divine truth. This world shifts like sand beneath our feet. There’s only one Rock that remains unmoved — the Word of our God.

The context of Isaiah 40 is comfort. God is speaking to a people who are facing exile and judgment, yet He assures them that His promises are unchanging. Israel’s glory will fade like the flowers of the field; God’s covenant Word endures forever.

Isaiah is using the symbolism of grass and flowers, in contrast to our accomplishments of pride and strength. It’s all fleeting. “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field” (v.6). No matter how impressive our accomplishments, they are subject to time and decay.

And that fact humbles us, as it should! It dismantles our vanity and reminds us that we are creatures... we are NOT the Creator. We are mortal, not immortal. The very same breath of God that gives life can also take it away. And that goes for nations, empires, and philosophies... all wither... but God’s Truth remains steadfast.

As John Owen (a puritan, and Covenant theologian from the 15th Century) said, “The Word of God is the stable rule of faith and obedience, given to us from the immutable God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.”

(John Owen, The Divine Original of the Scriptures)

In other words, the Word of God’s not some old, outdated, ancient writing that you and I can pick-up as casually as the newspaper! God’s Word is the living revelation of the never-changing God. When everything else changes, His Word stands; it endures. Forever!

“The Word of our God will stand forever.” That’s both a declaration and a promise. The enduring Word reveals the enduring character of God Himself. His faithfulness guarantees that His promises cannot fail.

Of course, Jesus echoed this truth in Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

The Scriptures endure, not because of ink and paper it’s written on... but because the Spirit of God breathes through it. The same power that created the universe sustains His Word across generations. This is why the Church, grounded in the Word, cannot be destroyed — because the Word itself is indestructible.

Of course, for Believers in Christ, the unchanging Word is a wellspring of comfort. When our hearts are weary and our world is uncertain, you and I can rest in the eternal promises of God. His covenant love, revealed in His Word, cannot be broken.

The Heidelberg Catechism, Question 1, beautifully captures this assurance:

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. “That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.”

Our comfort was never intended to be found the fleeting & temporal things of this life... but in the enduring Word that reveals Christ, our Redeemer. The same Word that endures forever has declared us justified, adopted, and sanctified through the blood of the everlasting covenant of Christ.

Even when Truth is treated as relative and Scripture is dismissed as outdated, Isaiah’s words challenge us to stand firm. The grass withers — so will cultural idiolatry. The flower fades — so will worldly wisdom. But the Word of God endures, forever. It stands firm.

Let’s always be careful to build our lives upon that Word. Let our preaching, worship, and living be governed by its unchanging authority and sufficiency of the Bible. To depart from the Word is to build on sand; to stand upon it is to build on the Rock of Ages.

Everything else fades — beauty, strength, wealth, nations — but the Word stands, forever.

May we, as People of the Book, hold fast to the Word of God, not as a relic of the past... but as the living voice of our God.

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. — 1 Peter 1:25.

Amen.