I’d like to start out simply by reading the passage for today. No cute stories or anything to get us going, because I really believe this passage speaks for itself. In many respects, we ought to believe that it does not need any introduction.

Hebrews 4:11-13 J.B. Phillips New Testament

^11-13 Let us then be eager to know this rest for ourselves and let us beware that no one misses it through falling into the same kind of unbelief as those we have mentioned. For the Word that God speaks is alive and active; it cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword: it strikes through to the place where soul and spirit meet, to the innermost intimacies of a man’s being: it exposes the very thoughts and motives of a man’s heart. No creature has any cover from the sight of God; everything lies naked and exposed before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

How would your life change if you committed to meeting with God every day?

The writer of Hebrews tells us the Word of God “is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing 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” (Hebrews 4:12).

God’s Word is complete power. God watches over His Word to see that his will is accomplished (Jeremiah 1:12). His Word is His plan, and His plan is something He makes happen. And so, He promises, “So will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). God’s Word never fails! The writer of Hebrews says the Word is “active” (in other words, it has energy and power, Hebrews 4:12).

According to 2 Timothy 3:16 God’s words are “God-breathed” — not in-spired, meaning some kind of vague power or ghost breathed into man’s preexisting words, but literally breathed or spirited out of the mouth of God. So as 2 Peter 1:21 tells us, these words did not originate in the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The Word sanctifies (purifies, cleanses) — “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). No wonder the apostles gave themselves to undistracted prayer and the Word of God (Acts 2:42-47, 6:1-4, 13:1-3)!

Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God, Who is traced to every single page of the Written Word of God. All that He is, stands in stark contrast to all that we are. His penetrating eyes search out all the dross that is rooted in the fallen soul of man. His Word of Truth exposes everything in me that is not of Christ: my-self, my-hypocrisy, my-insincerity, and my-unbelief. (Mark 9:14-29)

The Word of God is living, because He is the living God Who breathes life into us and in Whom are the WORDS of eternal life. The Word of God is active. It is fully dynamic and miraculous. It is vigorous and lively because the Spirit of the living God is the eternal Source of power, that moved holy men of God to pass on His supernatural message to us – through the very living Word of the living God.

The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. It is like the razor-sharp blade of a double-edged sword, with the ability to cut into the deepest recesses of all that is spiritual and divide it from that which is of the soul. It can differentiate between words, actions, thoughts, and motives, that are looking to Jesus and words, actions, thoughts, and motives, that have placed self on the throne of their life.

So penetratingly piercing is the Word of God, it has the ability to separate the soul of man from the born-again spirit, just as the butcher’s razor-sharp blade slices the joint of meat from the marrowbone. The Spirit of the living God is able to judge the deepest thoughts and intentions of the entire heart of every man.

Every spoken Word from the lips of Christ are Life and Truth. All the written Words of Scripture give wholeness and health and life to those who believe. How vital to take His Word deep into our hearts? God’s purpose, for all who believe, is to conform us into the image and likeness of Christ, and the stark reality of Scripture is the contrast of God’s amazing grace towards us… with our own rebellion. It contrasts His faithfulness with our near hysterical unbelief.

The Word of truth exposes our deceitfulness and our unworthiness. It can cut our evil hearts to the quick just as the penetrating look of the eyes of Lord Jesus brought His denying disciple into the depths of distress and repentance. Gazing deep into the powerful Word of God is a penetrating, soul-searching exercise, for it cleaves, severs away any foolish boasting in ourselves and exposes any prideful perceptions of our own worthiness! Nothing is left for anyone to hide.

The action of the Word of God on the spirit and soul of every believer is a life-long process that continues to cut away all that is of the old man and conform the new life we received at Salvation into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an ongoing operation in the inner recesses of every believer, which will be fully and finally completed at the rapture/ resurrection of the Church, when we shed the last remnants of our old fallen self, through our transformation into the image and likeness of the lovely Lord JESUS.

Throughout this life, the Word of God in all its fullness, continues to lay bare the truth, in the inward parts of man, silencing forever our own weak protests and unjustifiable defences. The razor-sharpness of God’s Word can crush, to the uttermost, all that is of our old fallen flesh, and bring the believer’s old sin-nature to the end of itself.

It is in His gracious, loving-kindness God brings each of us to face such depths, so that He can purge out the old Self and form in us the pure and holy nature of the Lord Jesus. The sharp, active, living, powerful, wonderful Word of God, is used by the Holy Spirit in each of our lives, to convict, convert, comfort, and conform us into Christ’s likeness, and to prepare us… during our lifetime, for the spiritual rest, eternal life, and future glory, that is laid-up for us in heaven.

The Word of God will continue in each of our lives to be living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, as we sojourn in a land that is not our home. The Word of God will never stop piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, on this earthly journey to our heavenly home. It will never cease splitting the good from the evil, the heavenly from the world, right from wrong, faith from fear – and that which is of Christ from that which is not – for the Word of God is able to judge every single thought and intentions of every single heart.

Let us, in humility of heart, and patient endurance, permit the testing work of the Holy Spirit to penetrate deeply into the depth of our being as He examines truth in the inward parts, and lays bare the hidden thoughts and intentions within. Let us embrace the everlasting truth that God’s Word is living and active, powerful and sharp… and allow Him to complete the good work He has started within. May we rejoice that God’s WORD is sharper than any two-edged sword and cuts deeply to the place where soul and spirit meet, the place where joints and marrow meet – for our eternal good and for His ever-greater glory.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Thank You, Father, for the living, powerful Word of God. I pray that whatever it takes, Your Holy Spirit would continue to convict, convert, comfort, and forever conform me into the image of the lovely Lord Jesus, so that I become the person You want me to be. May I never hinder the work of Your Holy Spirit within, as He continues to divide my born-again spirit from my sin-sick soul. Root out all which is not of my Savior Christ and use me I pray, as a conduit through Whom You can flow, unhindered, into the lives of those around me. I Thank You that You loved us so much You purposed to change all who believe, into the image and likeness of Christ Jesus, in Whose name I pray, Alleluia! Alleluia AMEN.

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