God’s design in the inspiration of Scripture is to literally make His Word equal to Himself.

“We have a saying in the world, ‘A man is as good as his word,’ and that’s God’s design,” explains Jordan. “When you’re dealing with God’s Word, you’re dealing with God Himself—God’s own words. It’s simply not like any other book that’s come down through history.”

In Matthew 22:31, Jesus Christ asks, “Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God?” and then cites Exodus 3:6.

Jordan says, “Now, years ago in my life that verse right there (in Matthew) changed my whole viewpoint about the Bible; it revolutionized my thinking about what God’s Word was. I realized that what I was reading was what God said! When I read the Bible, I’m reading God’s words!

“It’s a strong statement about how the Lord Jesus Christ viewed the written text of the Word of God He had in His possession. He said, ‘It’s not just what Moses said or what Moses wrote; it’s what God said to you! Haven’t you read that?!’ ”

In Exodus 4:15, God actually instructs Moses regarding his brother Aaron, “And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.”

Jordan explains, “God said, ‘I’ll take my words and put them in your mouth, Moses, and then you transfer them over.’ It’s pretty obvious what’s going on—just look at verses 28 and 30. God puts the words in their mouth; the words the men are speaking are words God puts in their mouth!”

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When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai holding the Ten Commandments, he first said to the people, “And God spake all these words, saying . . . ”

Jordan says, “You see, when Moses spake to them, he gave them the w-o-r-d-s that God gave him to say. Notice in Numbers 11:24 (‘And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD’) Moses got the w-o-r-d-s and communicated them to the people.”

In Numbers 22:38, Balaam the seer, who wanted to curse Israel on behalf of Moabite King Balak, prophesied against his will after God forcing him to utter words he didn’t want to speak. The verse reads, “And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak.”

Jordan explains, “Balaam’s saying, ‘I ain’t got no choice—that’s all that’ll come out of my mouth because I’m God’s spokesman!’ ”

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II Samuel 23: 1-2 reads, “Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
[2] The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.”

Jordan reasons, “Now, that’s some claim to inspiration, brother! There’s a man conscious of what’s going on! He says, ‘The Spirit of God spake by me and His word was in my tongue.’ ”

“Come over to Mark 12:35 and notice the attitude of the New Testament people about what David said. What does the Lord Jesus think about it? Does He think David’s being a little over-zealous? Is that bibliolatry? I mean, ‘Do you have a hyper-view of inspiration, David?’

“Jesus says, ‘For David himself said by the Holy Ghost,’ confirming the inspiration of Scripture, my friend! Not only did Jesus, but the Apostle Peter did too. Peter says in Acts 1:16, ‘Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.’ Peter’s obviously confirming God’s inspiration of the Old Testament.

“Come to Acts 28:25 and notice Paul does exactly the same thing. He quotes Isaiah 6. Notice, by the way, he writes, ‘Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet.’ That’s the prophet Isaiah. Sometimes names are spelled differently because, while the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testament was in Greek.

“Both of those languages are dead languages which is a great advantage. When you hear people complain about the Old English, do you know there’s a tremendous advantage to the fact it’s not in use today?

“People say, ‘Oh, I can’t understand it; we need to update it,’ but see the language we use today is in constant flux. The Old English, just like the Greek and Hebrew, are dead languages, meaning it doesn’t change. The meanings are static; therefore you don’t have to wonder what the words mean in a given situation. We can depend on a consistent definition for them.

“The medical profession, for example, uses Latin. I had a Latin teacher in college who, on the first day, told us a poem we should learn: ‘Latin is a language, as dead as it can be. First it killed the Romans, now it’s killing me!’

“A doctor can write down a phrase in Latin and know a hundred years from now it’ll mean the same thing it does right now. It doesn’t change its meaning. And so God, as He’s preserved this thing forward, as we have this King James Bible, it’s an advantage, not a disadvantage, that it’s in a dead language.”

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Twice in Acts 3 alone we’re told “God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” In Luke 70, we’re told Zacharias, being filled with the Holy Ghost, confirmed that God “spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began.”

Jordan says, “If you just read the Bible and take what the Bible writers and speakers say about inspiration, you don’t have much problem understanding that the Scripture came right out of the mouth of God and God has made His Word equal to Himself.

A great passage in Jeremiah 1, where God tells Jeremiah He’s going to use him as His mouthpiece, reads, “Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
[5] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
[6] Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
[7] But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
[8] Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
[9] Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.”

Jordan reasons, “When you get out preaching the Word and people start making faces at you, there’s your passage! I used to use (Jer. 1: 8, 9) when I preached in the rescue mission as a young man. I said, ‘Lord, I’m not going to be afraid of them.’ They would make faces and try to scare a 17-year-old kid to death, and they could have flat done it to me, but a passage like that can give you some courage.

“God said it to Jeremiah and did it to him, and He’ll do it for you too! God says, ‘I have put my words in thy mouth.’ Now, that’s fascinating! Jeremiah was to write down and give out the revelation of God in God’s own words.

“In Jeremiah 5:14 and 6:18, when they reject what Jerry says, God says, ‘You’re rejecting me.’ God’s equal to His Word.

“In Jeremiah 36, you read about Jehudi, the man who with a pen knife destroys the Word and casts it aside. God instructs Jeremiah, ‘Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel.’

“Understand something, there are a lot of prophets who never wrote anything down, but a lot of them did, and when God gave that prophet a prophecy or a thing to say—God wrote down stuff too. So you’re not just talking about oral communication; you’re talking about written words also.

“Jeremiah dictates to his secretary Baruch and it says Baruch ‘wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.’ Now, there isn’t any way to describe that except dictation; you don’t have to be afraid of that word dictation.

(Editor’s Note: To be continued . . . )