Old Testament readers would pick up the reference at once. God’s Word in the Old Testament is his creative utterance, his power in action fulfilling his purpose. The Old Testament depicted God’s utterance, the actual statement of his purpose, as having power in itself to effect the thing purposed. Genesis 1 tells us how at creation “God said, Let there be . . . and there was . . .” (1:3). “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made. . . . He spoke, and it came to be” (Ps 33:6, 9). The Word of God is thus God at work.
