Psalm 12:6–7 (KJV)
“The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
The Divine Promise of Preservation
From the beginning, God not only revealed His Word—He pledged to preserve it. Scripture does not leave preservation as a mere theological hope; it establishes it as a divine certainty. The same God who “spake, and it was done” (Psalm 33:9) is the God who safeguards every word He has given.
Jesus Himself declared, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). This is not poetic language—it is a prophetic guarantee.
Throughout history, the Scriptures have faced opposition from empires, false religions, corrupt institutions, and even lukewarm believers. Yet the Word has stood unchanged in authority, unbroken in purity, and unmatched in endurance. Its preservation is not the achievement of scribes, scholars, or translators—it is the work of God.
The Old Testament: Preserved Through Covenant and Custody
God entrusted the Hebrew Scriptures to Israel, saying, “What advantage then hath the Jew? … unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Romans 3:1–2).
This was not merely a cultural assignment; it was a sacred stewardship.
A people entrusted with the sacred text
The meticulous care of the Jewish scribes—the Sopherim and later the Masoretes—was more than academic precision; it was providence at work. They counted letters, checked spacing, verified every line. They were guardians of revelation.
Attacks that failed
Kings burned scrolls, nations destroyed temples, and enemies scattered God’s people. But every attempt to silence the Scriptures only highlighted the Lord’s faithfulness. When Jehoiakim cut Jeremiah’s scroll and threw it into the fire, God commanded the prophet, “Take thee again another roll” (Jeremiah 36:28).
No fire can consume what God intends to preserve.
The New Testament: Preserved Through the Church and the Spirit
Jesus promised His disciples that the Holy Ghost would “bring all things to your remembrance” (John 14:26). This divine assistance ensured that the apostolic writings were accurate, Spirit-guided, and authoritative.
Proliferation by design
Within the first few centuries, thousands of copies of the New Testament circulated across continents. This widespread distribution—far greater than any other ancient writing—made corruption impossible without immediate detection.
Persecution that purified
Roman emperors attempted to eradicate the Scriptures. Believers were executed for refusing to surrender copies of the sacred text. Yet the more the empire persecuted, the more the Scriptures spread.
As Jesus said, “the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).
The Providential Path to the English Bible
God continued His preserving work through the centuries. From the early translations into Syriac, Latin, and Gothic, to the labors of men like Wycliffe, Tyndale, and the Reformers, the Scriptures crossed languages and borders.
Tyndale’s burning spark
William Tyndale paid with his life to put God’s Word into the hands of the common English speaker. His dying prayer—“Lord, open the King of England’s eyes”—was answered powerfully as English translations multiplied in the years following his martyrdom.
The culmination in the King James Bible
In 1611, a committee of godly and learned scholars produced the Authorized Version. Drawing from the preserved Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Traditional Greek Text, the King James Bible became a faithful, enduring witness of God’s preserved Word in English.
Its influence shaped doctrine, worship, evangelism, and global missions for centuries.
Preservation in the Last Days
Scripture warns that in the final generation many will turn away from sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3). False teachers, moral compromise, and spiritual apathy will challenge the authority of the Bible. Yet even in this prophetic landscape, the Word stands firm.
The preservation of Scripture is not just a historical fact—it is an end-time necessity. A Church facing deception must cling to an unchanging Bible. A world racing toward judgment needs a lamp that still shines. The preserved Word is that lamp.
God’s people today must not merely believe in preservation as a doctrine; they must treat the Scriptures as the preserved, perfect, and final authority for faith and life.
Conclusion
The preservation of the Word of God is one of the greatest testimonies to the power and faithfulness of the Lord. Empires have fallen, languages have changed, cultures have shifted, and spiritual darkness has risen—but God’s Word remains.
From the tablets of Moses to the scrolls of the prophets, from the parchments of the apostles to the English Bible in the believer’s hand today, the Scriptures have endured unchanged in truth and unchanged in authority.
The God who inspired the Word has preserved the Word.
And in an age of confusion, deception, and compromise, that preserved Word continues to declare with unshakable certainty:
“Thus saith the Lord.”