9 minute read · Updated February 2026

What God Calls His Word: Eight Pictures of Scripture

By Lance Lambert

This is an excerpt from How to Study the Bible (free), a message from Lance Lambert's Through the Bible series.

It is interesting, for instance, to discover what God calls His word. There is, in fact, no part of God's word which God cannot use at some time or another to really meet us in our need. Let us explore the eight remarkable pictures Scripture uses to describe itself.

A Seed

He calls it, in Matthew 13:19 and onwards, a seed. It is a seed which is sown in us and will grow. It will convert us and then it will grow and it will bear fruit. Much fruit, in fact.

Milk and Solid Food

And then in 1 Peter 2:2, we're told it is milk. When we are very young and we can't take solid food, then God's word is milk to us. So you must never think that once God has sown His word in your heart and it's taken root and it's beginning to grow and you're a true child of God, that there's not something in God's word for you. However simple your outlook, however young you are as a Christian, well, then you see, there's something for you. God's word is called milk. We are told to desire it as newborn babes.

And then we are told in Hebrews 5:14 that when we are a little older, it's solid food. When we've got beyond the milk stage, we still need milk. But when we're beyond just milk, then there's solid food in the Bible. And we're told that solid food is for those who are full grown, it says.

A Lamp

Then again in Psalm 119:105, we are told that God's word is a lamp to lighten our path, to guide us. Do we need guidance? Do we need to know something of a situation we're in? Do we need to understand God's will for our lives? Do we need to understand God's purpose in its most general and greatest lines? Well, God's word is a lamp.

Not only will it give us personal light and show us the way. Not only will it lead us, as it were, into all truth, but it will show us on a much greater scale if we would know what is the purpose of God from eternity to eternity.

A Mirror

And in James 1:23, we read that the Bible is a mirror in which we can see ourselves. There's a very great need for us to see ourselves, to see whether we're growing in the Lord, to see what's ugly, to see what's untidy, to see what needs cleaning up, to see just what we're like. And God's word is a mirror. And if we're honest when we come to God's word, then we shall see things as they really are. We shall see a reflection of things in God's word. It will tell us the truth about ourselves. We shall see a reflection. It's no good saying that reflection is someone else. That reflection is me. I'm looking into it.

A Fire

And then in Jeremiah 23:29, God's word is called a fire. A fire that burns and purifies, burns up the dross and purifies what is true and valuable. So God's word is like that. If you and I are honest and if we want to go on with the Lord, then God's word will be a fire in our bones. And it will burn up what is dross if we allow the Lord to have His way. And it will purify what is of Himself. "Thy word," it says in one of the Psalms, "O Lord is tried," and it's tried by fire.

A Hammer

And then again in the same verse, Jeremiah 23:29, we're told that God's word is a hammer and it breaks what has got to be broken. If there's something in you which has got to be broken, you can be quite sure that God's word will break it in the end. God's word is a hammer. And sometimes we don't like certain parts of God's word. There are some people who only read certain portions of God's word because they know those are the comforting portions. I always feel a little fearful about promise boxes in that direction, for you cannot fail to get some comforting promise from a promise box.

But you see, God's word at times is a hammer. And you know it is for our own well-being that part of our nature gets broken. If there's something in us that needs breaking, then thank God, God's word will break it. It's a hammer in the hands of the Holy Spirit.

A Laver

And then again in Ephesians 5:26, we are told that God's word is a laver, a washing bowl, a washing place, and there we can be washed continually and we can be kept clean. Jesus said:

And the psalmist said:

God's word is a laver. And every time we read God's word, it cleanses our minds. Now, are you troubled by evil thoughts? Read God's word, you'll find it has a cleansing effect upon your mind. Are you bothered about other things? You feel dirty? Read God's word, you will find it cleanses you. Somehow it purifies the atmosphere. It purifies the mind. "Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."

Well, God's word is a laver, and the priests had to continually come back to the laver to wash in it. And so you and I have got to continually come back to God's word that we may be washed, we may receive that washing by the word.

A Sword

And then, of course, in Ephesians 6:17, God's word is a sword. And in Hebrews 4:12, it is a sword that does something in us. It's a sword that divides soul from spirit. Now, that's really almost a surgeon's knife. God's word can be like that. It's not a blunt instrument, it's not an instrument that hacks its way into you. It is just like a surgeon's knife. God knows exactly what He's doing. And by His word He can sever things. He can just get in on the inside and He can say, "that's Christ and that's you."

He can discern the thoughts and the intents of the heart by His word. "Search me, O God, and try me and see whether there be any wicked way in me." God does it that way. But also God's word is a sword to be held in our hand for defence and for victory. In Ephesians 6:17, we're told that it is "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Get it into your hand and you'll be able to withstand the devil in the day when he comes. When the evil one comes, you've got God's word in you and you can deal with evil and you can defend yourself by the word of God. And not only defend yourself, you can overcome the evil one by the word of God.

Now all these things, this is what God's word is. We've been talking about a lot of the technicalities of God's word, the structure of the Bible, the growth of the Bible, the text of the Bible. But you know, this is the thing that's most important. This is the way God uses His word with us and to us.

About Lance Lambert

Lance Lambert was one of the most distinguished Bible scholars and speakers in Israel in our day. He had an itinerant teaching ministry worldwide.

Born in 1931, Lance grew up in Richmond, Surrey and came to know the Lord at twelve years of age. Later in life, Lance discovered his Jewish ancestry and became an Israeli citizen in 1980, making his home next to the Old City of Jerusalem.

Lance became noted for his eschatological views, which placed him in the tradition of Watchman Nee and T. Austin-Sparks.