Monday 8th
Hebrews 4:12-13
NIV (v12) – ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’
ESV (v12) – ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’
We return from where we were yesterday and the wonderful subject concerning the Word of God.
A verse I left out yesterday is found in Jeremiah that says, ‘Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?’ (23:29)
I mentioned yesterday that the Word of God is so powerful that it can break the stubborn and hardened heart of an unregenerated, evil and wicked individual. In our text it says that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword that penetrates or divides the soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, the writer is expressing that the Word of God is so sharp it can cut between that which we see as impossible to cut, and then continues, it can cut so sharply that it can discern the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. It can reach where nothing else can reach. When a surgeon does heart surgery, he sees the flesh, the blood, the various intricate bits and pieces, and even with the sharpest scalpel he cannot see the sin, but the Word of God can reach into the human heart and prod, and pierce so that the sin is uncovered and revealed and hopefully repented of and washed away.
The first thing I want to share today is that we need to realise that the Bible we hold in our hands (or have on our electronic gadgets) is completely different to any other book we may hold or have because it is the Word(s) of God. Now I have hundreds of books, which I cherish, different themes, different sizes and of difference in importance, but the most treasured and the most valuable is the Bible, for it is the very Word of God to mankind, to be more personal, it is the very Word of God to me. And I thank God for his Word, I thank God for the hundreds upon hundreds of times in which at the very right moment God’s Word has spoken into my heart. As the Psalmist said, ‘Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.’ (119:105) As we read the Word of God and suddenly something is pricked in our conscience, it is the Word as a sword that is at work, it is piercing into our thoughts and our intentions, it is doing its work to either keep us on track or to put us onto the right track, and so we need to heed the piercing, using the language from yesterday, we need to hear what God is saying and to act appropriately by applying the revealed Word to our lives.
The doctrine of the Word of God is another of those subjects which is vitally important, and we being Pentecostal and Evangelical believers accept the Word of God as being the authoritative Word of God and as our only source of instruction for doctrine and practise. We believe in it as being inspired by the Holy Spirit and thus is a book we should treasure.
Both Paul and Peter remind us of the exclusiveness and usefulness of the Word of God, first Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’ And Peter in 2 Peter 1:19-21 ‘And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’
We could cover so much more on the subject of the importance of the Word of God, but within the context of our going through the book of Hebrews, I conclude, may we always be willing to hear the Spirits voice speaking through the Word of God and allow him (the Spirit) and it (the Word of God) to do their work in our lives, whether to encourage, to rebuke, to correct, to train, and above all to bring us before God with a heart of worship and thanksgiving.