In this five-chapter epistle of I Peter, Peter has been writing to saints who have been suffering and facing death, so he writes of living things.

In v.1-10, he writes of living hope. In v.11-22, he writes of a living salvation. Now, in v.23-ch.2:3 He writes of a living word. The Bible. And what a living word it is!

Charles Dickens said it was the best book he ever read. Andrew Jackson said it was the rock on which our republic stands. Abraham Lincoln said it was the best gift God ever gave to man. Herbert Hoover said reading it was a fundamental necessity of American life. Dwight Eisenhower said reading it renewed his strength and faith. But one of the many statements that the Bible makes concerning itself, is the statement found in v.23 it is a living word!

In Philippians 2:16, Paul called it the “word of life.” In Hebrews 4:12, the writer says it is powerful. But Peter says the word of God is living.

It is alive, it is a living thing! Now, I realize it is a book. Actually, it is 66 books made up of 1,189 chapters which include 41,173 verses, 774,746 words or 3,566,489 letters. When I pick it up, it doesn’t do anything. So how is it alive? In what way is it alive? Is it the ink on the pages? Are the pages alive? What does Peter mean when he says it is a living word?

First, it is alive itself. God speaks of himself as a living God in II Cor. 6:16. Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Life in Acts 3:15. The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of life. So God lives, Christ lives, and the Holy Spirit lives.

Now, Peter says the word of God lives. In fact, the word of God is more alive than you and I. Verse 24 says flesh is like grass, it withers and dies, but the word of God abides forever. See the contrast?

The word of God is alive and everything else in our world is either dead or dying. Death is the monarch of this world. The world is like one huge cemetery with everything in it either dead or dying. People that talk of living it up don’t realize that they are dying while they speak of living. But there is one thing in this world that is alive with an inexhaustible, inextinguishable light, and that is this book! This book is the only object that corruption cannot touch, whose validity cannot be removed, whose reality cannot deteriorate, whose truth cannot decay.

How do I know it is alive? There are five reasons for it being alive:

Its lasting freshness. In every generation, in every age, in every person that picks it up it is alive and living and fresh. I have many other books in my library that I have read a number of times, but after a few readings I exhaust their knowledge. Not the Bible. The lasting freshness of the word of God says it is alive;

It is never obsolete. I went to a book sale once and picked up 34 books for just $10.00. I left behind mounds of math, science, and psychology books. Do you know why these books were so cheap? Do you know why they had to cart out thousands of books that could not be given away for free? Because they were old and obsolete. The Bible is never obsolete! Never! Not one thing in this book has ever been proven to be scientifically incorrect or historically inaccurate;

It is indestructible. DeWitt Tallmadge said that “every great book that has ever been published since the first printing press was lifted has directly or indirectly derived much of its source from the word of God.” John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” is borrowed from the Bible. Spencer’s writings are imitations of its parables. John Bunyan saw in a dream what the apostle John had seen in a vision. Yet everybody and their brother has tried to kill this word and they have never put its light out;

It is a discerner of hearts. It has a living insight into me. The Bible is able to rip a man wide open and reveal to him who he truly is. It even has the power to detect my motives. It discerns my needs and it uncovers my repression. It tells me what I am;

It produces growth. In the Parable of the Sower, it is likened to a seed because both the word and seed are growing things. In Peter 1:23, it says, “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God.” Not only is the word the seed itself, but the agency which conveys that seed. The word of God produces life. And, it is the word of God that you hear that produces that life. The test of a living thing is whether it produces growth.

The word of God does; therefore it is alive.

Secondly, not only is it alive but it is a life giving word. It not only has life it gives life.

The living word produces a new life in the new birth. The mystery of this living word is its power to reproduce. The word of God can create in you a seed that is incorruptible and you will be begotten again.

James, in talking about how Christians are made, says, “By the exercise of God’s will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, making us the first fruits among his creatures.”

It is the word of God that does the job! It is the word of God that plants a seed that springs into new life. The new birth is accomplished by the Holy Spirit using the word of God! That is how Christians are conceived. That is how sons of God are created. The only way you can become a child of God is to be born by the word the seed of a new life.

When a person truly hears the word of God and receives it into their heart, that word becomes a spiritual seed, quickened by the Holy Spirit, and it produces new life. What is that one ingredient that is absolute necessary to be saved? It is the word of God. In John 6:63, Jesus said it is the Spirit that gives life. So, it is the Spirit of God using the word of God that produces life. II Tim. 2:15 calls it the living truth.

What is the difference between truth and living truth? Someone comes to me and says I am wretched, I am lost, I am on my way to hell give me some truth. I say, it’s simple: Three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles. Doesn’t do a thing for them, does it? It’s true, but it is not living truth. Geometry theorems are true, but they never redeemed anyone. The word of God is living truth. It is able to quicken and make alive. So, the word of God is alive. It’s able to give life.

Third, it sustains life. Verse 23 says it is abiding. Life demands food, doesn’t it?

In I Peter 2:2, Peter says, “desire the word to grow thereby.” Like newborn babies long for milk, you long for the word! The word of God makes you alive and then by feeding on it, it sustains your life. I think that is why we find so many emaciated Christians. They suffer from malnutrition.

Because they never study the word and they are undernourished.

Jeremiah 15:16 said, “thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was the joy and delight of my heart.” Peter says desire the milk of the word. Some Christians are undernourished, that’s why they can’t tell right from wrong. I Timothy 4:6 says be a good servant of Christ Jesus constantly nourished on the word. The nourishment of a believer is the word of God, and we need it like a baby needs milk.

The word of God: It is alive itself, it gives life and it sustains life. But I must warn you – reading this book is habit forming. Regular use causes loss of anxiety and a decreased appetite for sin. If you read too much or for too long you will experience an increased sensation of love, peace, joy and compassion.

So let me ask you:Are you hungry? Are you feeding? Are you growing? Or just growing older?

Fact Box

There are 535,600 minutes in a year. It takes about 4,240 minutes to read the entire Bible. That leaves you with 531,360 minutes to do whatever else you need to do.

There are 8,760 hours in a year. It takes about 71 hours to read the Bible. That leaves you with 8,689 hours to do with whatever else you need to do.

There are 365 days in a year. It takes a little under 3 days to read the Bible. That still leaves you with 362 days for whatever else you need to do.