Heb.4:12,13 – For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer.
This is one of those verses that most Christians know but not in the context of the passage that it is found in. God’s word is alive and powerful but what is exactly intended by the Lord in this passage? These verses are describing Christians who are not walking in the fullness of what has been purchased for them. Paul repeatedly reminds us “Today if you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts”. This passage is about entering into the life of the Spirit, life in the presence of God. We are repeatedly told that we cannot enter into God’s rest because of unbelief, because we have not really heard and believed His word. This is the word that is active, that pierces and prepares our hearts to live in His presence. Here is how Murray describes this.
“They have been earnest words with which the writer has been warning the Hebrews against unbelief and disobedience, hardening the heart and departing from God, and coming short of the promised rest. The solemn words of God’s oath in Ps. 95 have sworn in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest, have been repeated more than once to urge all to give diligence lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. He is about to close his warning. He does so by reminding them of the power of the word of God as the word of the omniscient One, of Him with whom we have to do, before whose eyes all things, our hearts and lives too, are naked and open.”
Reading the word, listening to His voice, is where this work happens. He purifies our heart by faith and draws us into the holiest of all. His word convicts us, draws us, comforts us, inspires us, fills us, and brings us into His glorious presence. This is the life purchased by the blood of Jesus; let us draw near with confidence and drink in this glorious God.
1 thought on “THE PENETRATING POWER OF GOD’S WORD”
Getting in The Word and “eating and drinking” today enables me to start my day equipped no different than the importance of breakfast to fuel the start of my physical work. I am convinced the pattern is well established for our bodies, (3) meals a day to sustain and grow also translates for our spiritual growth. The difference being, we are born with an appetite for food and drink and only when we are born again does a different kind of appetite introduce it self to us. The similarities are profound, the difference being this new appetite doesn’t come naturally and requires our consent, daily.