God’s Word and His Elect

[Posted May 8, 2007]

[Updated June 1, 2022]

Dear Mike,

I want to thank you so much for freely sharing the truths that God has shared with you.  I now find myself more and more dissatisfied going to church each Sunday.  Not that I ever was real comfortable in the first place, as too many things never made sense and neither did the answers which were given.  My wife and children are happy that I go, so as a compromise I print your papers and discretely read them during the service.  I am outgrowing church now, and it is the only way I can survive it.  I have learned much from your writings and have much more to learn.  There is one very important concept that I am having problems understanding even though I have read much of your site.  Christ ‘is, was and will be’ and I can certainly understand that.  However, you seem to apply ‘is, was and will be’ to every spiritual truth, in an ‘is, was and will be’ application to us and our lives.  What are the scriptures that tell us to apply Christ as ‘is, was and will be’ to understanding scriptural spiritual truths as ‘is, was and will be’ and to apply it in an ‘is, was and will be’ manner to us?  Thanks. God be with you.
W____

Hi W____,

Thank you for your question. I am grateful that you are benefiting from what you are reading on iswasandwillbe.com . It’s hard to imagine very much of what is on the site being read in any orthodox Christian church. Rest assured, at the appointed time they will “cast you out of their synagogue.”

Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

Isa 66:5  Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

Luk 21:12  But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

You ask:

“What are the scriptures that tell us to apply Christ as ‘is, was and will be’ to understanding scriptural spiritual truths as ‘is, was and will be’ and to apply it in an ‘is, was and will be’ manner to us?”

Here are the scriptures which tell us to apply God’s Word in an Is, Was, and Will Be manner to ourselves inwardly:

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

In these first few verses of this book which unveils Christ, we are told that this book is “signified” and that we are to “keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand… [for] things which must shortly come to pass.”

Are these words speaking only of the sayings of this book of Revelation? No, they are not. How can we know this is so? Here is how:

Psa 119:160  The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. (ESV)

To which Peter adds this:

2Pe 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture at all is becoming its own explanation.”
2Pe 1:21 For not by the will of man was prophecy carried on at any time, but, being carried on by holy spirit, holy men of God speak.” (CLV)

What both of these verses are telling us is that the book of Revelation, with all of its signs and symbols which we are to “keep”, cannot be understood apart from all of the admonitions and definitions given in the all the rest of scripture.

Why is that? It is because “not by the will of man was prophecy carried on at any time, but being carried on by the holy spirit, holy men of God speak.” If holy men of God speak by the holy spirit, it does not matter when they are speaking. The holy spirit of God will never contradict itself. We must “keep the saying of the prophecy of this book,” meaning the entire word of God.

God’s Word cannot be divided to make certain parts apply only to certain people at certain times, with never any application to all others unless there is a qualifying statement which tells us these verses apply only to a certain group for a certain time. For example, Christ stated very clearly that no one before Himself had “come down from heaven”:

Joh 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Another example of some words that come out of the mouth of God that are qualified is Christ’s statement that “he that is least in the kingdom of heaven… is greater than” any Old Testament individual:

Luk 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Those words out of the mouth of Christ Himself qualify those who will be in the kingdom of God, excluding John the Baptist and all the great men of the Old Testament. If we neglect those qualifying words, then we are not “liv[ing] by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

In the same manner, when we are clearly told:

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Here are a lot of words which qualify who is and who is not in the first resurrection. That group is qualified as being “blessed and holy” above “the rest of the dead” who we are told will not live again until the thousand years are finished. The word “until” qualifies the timing of their resurrection just as the words “first resurrection” qualify the timing of that blessed and holy few who are given to be in that first resurrection and rule with Christ for a “signified… thousand year… reign”, in which “The Lord and His Christ will rule the kingdoms of this world with a rod of iron. Notice that it says the saints will rule the kingdoms of this world – not over other saints.

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever [A thousand years and then continue reigning in the great white throne judgment].
Rev 11:16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

These are all words which qualify who is rewarded at that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” and who is not rewarded at that time.

All men of all time must “Keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” means that all men will fulfill every words that comes out of the mouth of God exactly as it is qualified for them to fulfill it.

Is the holy spirit referring only to the book of Revelation when it tells us that we must keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book? What does our Lord teach us:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

How does one live by “every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God?” How do we “keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand?”

The book of Revelation alone has seven angels and seven churches. Within those seven churches are every spiritual problem imaginable. This is followed by a vision of the “four beasts and four and twenty elders” around the throne of God, a book sealed with seven seals and a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The seven seals include four horsemen, a fifth seal which is souls under the altar crying out for justice, followed by the sixth seal. Just look at what is in this sixth seal:

Rev 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

This sixth seal contains this ominous warning: “the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” The seventh seal, which immediately follows, is the seven trumpet judgments. The seventh trumpet judgment is the seven last plagues, and within all of this we are introduced to two witnesses who torment them that dwell on the earth with fiery words which proceed from their mouths, a great red dragon and woman who brings forth a manchild who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. This is followed by a woman who rides on the beast mentioned earlier. Riding this beast is equated to “committing fornication with the kings of the earth, [and] being drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” This woman rules the nations and commits fornication with the kings of those nations. Those nations make war with the lamb and those who are with Him. The nations are subdued and ruled for one thousand years with a “rod of iron.” At the end of this time of enforced outward dictatorship the nations rebel against and attempt to destroy their heavenly rulers. This rebellion is immediately put down and is followed by a great white throne judgment/lake of fire which is defined as the second death.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

The lake of fire is followed by a new heaven and new earth in which God, through Christ, comes to be all in all. Then this book ends repeating the same words with which it is introduced:

Rev 22:6  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

“These sayings are faithful and true, [they are] the things which must shortly be done… blessed is he that keeps the saying of the prophecy of this book” including all of its qualifications of who, when, and where these words apply.

Twice we are told to “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book if we want of be blessed.” Twice we are told “I come quickly” and that these sayings must shortly be done. Then this book concludes with this stern warning:

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

This warning is taken from another book which was also to be kept and done:

Deu 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

If we take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, and deny that those in the first resurrection will “not be hurt of the second death” (Rev 2:11 and Rev 20:6) then God will take away our part out of the book of life, our part out of the holy city and our part out of ruling the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years, and all the other blessing and honors found in the things which are written in this book.

My question is always, “Other than the qualified words which separate those who are cast into the lake of fire/second death from those who are given to have a part in that “blessed and holy first resurrection, which part of the sayings of the prophecy of this book are not for you? What part of the sayings of the prophecy of this book are for someone else at some other time past or future?” If you put anything in this book, its sins of the seven churches, its seals, trumpet and vials, off on someone else either in the past or future, then you are saying that you are not to “live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” and that vast parts of the sayings of the prophecy of this book are not for you. In doing so, you have both added to and taken away from the sayings of the prophecy of this book which twice told you: “These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done [in our short lives].

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Can all the sayings of the prophecy of this book be anything other than spiritual and inward? What say the scriptures?

Pro 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

We delight in “keeping the sayings of the prophecy of this book… after the inward man.” The book of Revelation is just a part of the gospel of the kingdom of God. It, and every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, reveals the king of that kingdom. With that in mind, let’s answer the second part of your question:

“What are the scriptures that tell us to apply Christ as ‘is was and will be’, to understanding scriptural spiritual truths as ‘is was and will be’, and to apply it in an ‘is was and will be’ manner to us?”

If we can establish that everything Christ ever spoke was to be taken inwardly, except for His qualifying words, then we have established that “the scriptures… tell us.. to apply it in an ‘is, was and will be’ manner to us.”

So we will go to Christ’s own Words to establish that every word He spoke was to be kept inwardly, generally speaking.

In Matthew 13 we are told that Christ spoke in parables to the multitudes. In fact we are told that “without a parable spoke He not unto them:

Mat 13:34  All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

Why did He speak only in parables? Christ’s disciples wanted to know why He spoke only in parables to the multitudes. Having those parables written down and recorded for us today they are, to this very day, serving the same purpose for which Christ originally used them in speaking to the multitudes of His day. So why did He speak in parables? What do Christ’s parables have to do with whether His words are “to apply… in an is, was and will be manner to us?” Here are the answers to both of those questions:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

So Christ spoke in parables for two reasons: 1) “Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.”

That is the first reason given. A select few are given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

However, there is another second reason for Christ teaching the multitudes in parables. “Without a parable spoke he not unto them” tells us that all of Christ’s parables were about the secrets of the kingdom of God, which the multitudes were and are “not given to understand.”
What does this have to do with the second part of your question? It has everything to do with it. Let me repeat that part of your question before showing you why knowing that Christ’s parables are all about the secrets of His kingdom answers your question:

“What are the scriptures that tell us… to apply it in an ‘is, was and will be’ manner to us?”

We have already seen that the entire book of Revelation and “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” is to be lived by man. If we can now demonstrate that this is also true of all of Christ’s parables, we will have “two witnesses… things new and things old” telling us that we are to first take all of God’s words, except those otherwise qualified, as applying inwardly to us:

Let’s see where all these “secrets of the kingdom… not given to be understood by the multitudes of Christ’s disciples, to this day, are to be found. Here is where all these saying we are given in signs and symbols and in parables are all to be found and to be “kept”:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

There it is; “the kingdom of heaven” the secrets of which “it is not given to [the multitudes of Christians] to understand;” the very subject of “every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God,” the subject of every parable Christ spoke to the multitudes, the subject of all the signs and symbols of Revelation, and the subject of every story in the Bible in type and shadow, from Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21 is [all] within you, and if you are to keep these words you must accept the fact that you are one of the few at “this present time”, in whom the kingdom of God resides.

I often wondered why God told the “servants of the householder” to let the tares grow with the wheat “until the harvest.”

Mat 13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Like the entire Orthodox Christian world, I saw all of God’s Word only in its outward, future or past application. I could not see “the things of the spirit.” I did not know that the parables were all about “the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” I also certainly did not see all of these parables about the kingdom of God as being “within” Mike Vinson. So my thinking was that the enemy had come and introduced false prophets with false doctrine into the church. I knew who those false prophets were, and they certainly were not me. Those false prophets were all those ministers ‘out there’ somewhere on TBN or somewhere within the Catholic and Protestant worlds, which I had come out of way back in 1973.

Coming to understand that God’s Word is all Is, Was and Will Be, has finally given me the ability to see that I was still very much steeped in the doctrines of Babylon, long after having stopped weekly church attendance. I lived for many years after 1973 believing that Babylon was apostate Judaism. That is what A. E. Knoch, the founder of the Concordant Publishing Concern had taught, and that was what I believed. Babylon was certainly not something I thought had ever been within me. Babylon was ‘out there’ somewhere. When, finally, I came to see that Babylon was not Judaism, I still thought of it as being the deceived Protestants and Catholics of this world. I still could not see Babylon as a spirit within. It was still out there somewhere.

It took a “great [spiritual] earthquake,” an event which challenged whether we were even expected to “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book” to awaken me to the depth of the Truth that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4).

Now I see clearly that indeed the tares and the good seed of the Truths of God’s Word, of necessity, must grow together “with the wheat, until the harvest.”

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

We are plainly told that the “burning” of judgment does not begin until Christ comes and begins to “destroy… the man of sin” within you and me and everyone “with the words of His mouth and with the brightness of His coming.”

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work [That’s right, the beast, “that wicked” has been sitting on the throne of God in God’s temple for two thousand years already]: only he who now letteth [restrains] will let [restrain], until he be taken out of the way. [As long as we see God’s Words only outwardly, we are restrained from seeing the true inward application, but when God finally opens our spiritually blind eyes then…]
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Where is all of this occurring? Is it taking place in the carnal nation of Israel? Is “that wicked,” that “man of sin” being revealed in Europe? If that is what you think, then you are right where you need to be so that the great red dragon can “deceive the whole world.”

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

How does He “deceive the whole world?” Does he convert them all to the Islamic religion? Absolutely not! Islam is not “strong delusion” which would “deceive the very elect if possible.”

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

“The whole world” is not the world of pagans. It is the world of “false Christs and false prophets.” These are the very same people who will remind Christ of all the wonderful works which they have done in His name:

Mat 7:22  Many [“the whole (Christian) world”] will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Where are these verses fulfilled? If I cannot see that these very verses are prophecies of just how deceived I had been and am even now still confronting on a daily basis; if I cannot see that I have “kept those things which are written… in the words of this prophecy,” then my part in this book is yet to be fulfilled.

Rev 1:3  Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 22:6  And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

God has “sent His angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.” He repeats time and again: “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

If any of these things are outward, eschatological and dispensational, other than those things which are specifically qualified as not applying to the Lord’s elect, then the God of the Bible is a liar who said “these things must shortly be done.” These things are not meant to be understood primarily as outward, eschatologically or dispensationally, they are to be “already working” inwardly, even in the days of Paul and John, both of whom already have been guilty of seeing only the outward kingdom in their own lives:

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [Greek: aions, ages] are come.

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

There it is as clear as it can be stated. “The last time” is inward and within in the lives of God’s elect since the days of the apostles, “even now” two thousand years later.

In closing I am going to quote the apostle Paul in 2Thessalonians 2. I am using the Rotherham’s translation simply because it is a much better translation of this part of God’s word:

2Th 2:1 But we request you, brethren, in behalf of the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2 That ye be not quickly tossed from your mind, nor be put in alarm – either by spirit, or by discourse, or by letter as by us, as that the day of the Lord, hath set in:
2Th 2:3 That no one may cheat, you, in any one respect. Because that day will not set in – except the revolt come first, and there he revealed the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction,
2Th 2:4 The one who opposeth and exalteth himself on high against every one called God, or an object of worship; so that he, within the sanctuary of God, shall take his seat, showeth himself forth, that he is, God:
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, while I was yet with you, these very things, I was telling you?
2Th 2:6 And, what now restraineth, ye know, to the end he may be revealed in his own fitting time;
2Th 2:7 For, the secret, of lawlessness, already, is inwardly working itself – only, until, he that restraineth at present, shall be gone, out of the midst:
2Th 2:8 And, then, shall be revealed the lawless one, whom, the Lord Jesus will slay with the Spirit of his mouth, and paralyse with the forthshining of his Presence:
2Th 2:9 Whose presence shall be according to an inworking of Satan, with all manner of mighty work and sign and wonders of falsehood,
2Th 2:10 And with all manner of deceit of unrighteousness, in them who are destroying themselves, because, the love of the truth, they did not welcome, that they might be saved;
2Th 2:11 And, for this cause, God sendeth them an inworking of error, to the end they should believe in the falsehood,
2Th 2:12 In order that should be judged who would not believe in the truth, but were well-pleased with the unrighteousness.

In this chapter, Paul is dealing with the “fullness now” doctrine which, to this day, plagues God’s people. Paul’s contention is that the “man of sin” or “man of lawlessness” will never be seen by any of us “except the revolt come first”. Only then will “the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction” be revealed to us. Now look at how this “man of lawlessness” is described:

2Th 2:4 The one who opposeth and exalteth himself on high against every one called God, or an object of worship; so that he, within the sanctuary [Greek: naos, temple] of God, shall take his seat, showeth himself forth, that he is, God:

He sits in the “sanctuary of God,” (Greek: naos, temple), showing himself as the arbiter of his own future, he thus considers himself “that he is God.”

Paul says he has already discussed this with these Thessalonians. What had Paul taught them was the sanctuary (naos) of God?

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple [Greek: naos, temple] of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple [naos] of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Did Paul’s definition of the “sanctuary of God” (REV), temple of God (KJV), change when he was writing to the Thessalonians? Of course not. That is why he uses the words “within… inward… and inworkings.” The whole orthodox Christian world is thinking outwardly and dispensationally in spite of the fact that Paul tells us repeatedly that the temple and sanctuary of God is within and inward.

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Paul and all of God’s apostles and writers are consistent in their use of Words. They are all writing under the inspiration of the holy spirit. The temple of God is within His people. That is where He dwells as long as the beast known as ‘Mike Vinson’ is not sitting on Christ’s rightful throne, the heart and mind of ‘Mike Vinson’ and the heart and mind of each of us.
I hope this has helped you to see that God’s Word is Christ. I hope you can see that if Christ Is, Was and Will Be, then Christ’s Words which are “every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God” is also to be applied within “His body which is the church” (Col 1:24) in an Is, Was and Will Be manner. That is the very character of His Word, always considering the qualifying statements which exclude the elect from being ruled over for a thousand years or being hurt of or having a part in the second death/lake of fire/white throne judgment. The fact that His words “never pass away” is the very character of His Word.

Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Mike