THE KINGDOM, POWER, AND GLORY

A Word About Translations

It is very helpful for us to understand the process of how we got our Bibles. First, the original authors were inspired by the Spirit of God as they wrote their books or letters. Scripture describes them as being carried along by the Spirit, and the words they spoke as being breathed out by God. So although the Lord used men to write His Word, He inspired them to say what He wanted them to say. So we can confidently say that the Lord was the ultimate author of Scripture. And because the Lord is the One who inspired Scripture, the original writings were without error of any kind. The Bible was written by over 40 different people, on three separate continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe), in three different languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic), over a period of 1500 years (1450 B.C. to A.D. 50). Yet as you read the Bible, it is a unified whole with no contradictions. Only God could bring that about. But how were these books passed down to us?

Before Gutenberg invented the printing press, every book was carefully copied by hand. Scribes would meticulously copy texts word for word to create additional copies. You can imagine what a painstaking process this was. These handwritten copies are referred to as manuscripts. The New Testament books began to be copied almost as soon as they were written. That would have been as early as around AD 40 for some of Paul’s letters. They continued to be reproduced this way until even after the invention of the printing press in AD 1440. Because of this, we have a vast number of manuscripts. Some are fragments, while others are complete books or even entire Bibles. Just to give you an idea of how many manuscripts there are; there are around 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. In addition to that, there are about 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300 manuscripts in other languages.

Since things were copied by hand, it would be expected that some occasional errors could occur. How many errors are we talking about and how serious were they? In the roughly 25,000 manuscripts that we have, there are around 200,000 variations in the text. Hearing that sounds overwhelming until you realize that all of those except for about 50 are simple misspellings or flipping of words. The remaining 50 have nothing to do with any major doctrine. The one here in the Lord’s prayer is a perfect example of that. Sometimes scribes would make deliberate alterations to the text. These changes were normally minor, and aimed at improving readability or clarifying what they considered to be unclear passages. Most often, they were trying to enhance the understanding of God’s Word. If these minor errors and edits in Scripture concerns you, take heart from the sheer number of manuscripts produced over the centuries. Remember, there are a little over 25,000 manuscripts. The next closest ancient manuscript was Homer’s Iliad with 643 copies. Most ancient manuscripts have ten or less copies. And what we see from all of these manuscripts of the Bible is an amazing preservation of the original texts. As a matter of fact, the early church fathers quoted Scripture extensively in their writings. Because of that, we could reconstruct all of the New Testament except for a few verses from their writings. As pastor and author John Piper notes, “No other ancient book comes close to this kind of wealth of diverse preservation.” All of these resources allow us to produce a Greek text which is at least 99.5% accurate, putting no important Christian teaching in doubt. So we can have confidence as we read our Bibles that we are, in fact, reading God’s Word.

So to sum up, these numerous copies we have enable us to track and understand the changes and corrections made over time, which are well-documented. Additionally, writings from early church leaders, some of whom were direct disciples of the Apostles, include scriptural quotations that affirm the accuracy of our texts. Above all, we have the assurance that our Sovereign God has overseen every stage of this process, guiding the Church’s careful stewardship of His word throughout history. He has promised that His Word will never fade away, and the Bibles we hold in our hands are proof that He has and will preserve His Word for us.

Word for Word: NASB, ESV, KJV, NKJV

Thought for Thought: NIV

Paraphrase: NLT, Message, The Living Bible

Doxology

If we are to enter God’s presence with thanksgiving and praise, shouldn’t we leave in the same way?

Doxology- In Christian worship, a hymn in praise of the Almighty; a particular form of giving glory to God.

Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”

1 Chronicles 29:10-13...

The Kingdom

Your kingdom come, for the kingdom belongs to You!

Daniel 2:44 “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,”

Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,” (see Matthew 16:18)

The Power

Your will be done, for the power belongs to You!

2 Chronicles 20:6 “and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.” (see Job 42:2 Job 23:13)

See Daniel 4:34-37...

The Glory

When we speak of God’s glory, we are speaking of His splendor, majesty, and magnificence; His perfections and excellence, His honor, praise, fame, and renown. In other words, we are speaking of just how wonderful He is.

Hallowed be Your Name, for all glory belongs to You!

1 Timothy 1:17 “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Psalm 29:9 “The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, “Glory!””

Isaiah 6:3 “And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!””

If we should do all things to glorify God, how much more should we seek to glorify Him in our praise and worship?

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”