GOD’S WORD IS LIVING AND POWERFUL

“For the word of God is LIVING and POWERFUL, and sharper than any two-edged sword” – Hebrews 4:12

GOD’S WORD is LIVING and POWERFUL: “For the word of God is LIVING and POWERFUL, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb.4:12). The author of Hebrews in chapters three and four admonished his readers to be diligent to enter into God’s rest. In order to do that, they must claim the promises of God which are found in His Word. They must hear the Word and believe in it. They must trust in the good news of Jesus Christ and embrace it. The Word of God is living, active and sharper than any two-edged sword and it will penetrate deeper than any deception of sin can ever go and reveal what is truly valuable and truly worth trusting.

Verse 11 says, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”  This ‘rest’ refers to God's restful salvation in time and heavenly home in eternity. So this is an urgent plea to be earnest and careful not to throw away the offer of God's rest. Failure to enter into God's rest reflects Israel’s example of disobedience in the wilderness: “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Heb.3:19). Their failure to trust God’s Word – His promises that He would care for them,  give them victory, forgive them, and be merciful to them – kept them out of His rest, and it could keep out others (Heb.4:2). They didn't believe God, but murmured in their troubles and wanted to turn back to Egypt rather than follow God.

The word did not profit them, because they did not believe it: “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Heb.4:2). God wants us to be diligent to hear the Word, the good news, and be diligent to believe in it, to trust it, embrace it, hold to it and be satisfied by it. Verse 12 provides a reason, support or ground for the call for diligence: This Word is living, active, sharp, and discerning.

"God’s Word" is the revealed truth. The Bible is not a collection of ancient religious writings. It is God's recorded self-revelation of Himself. The expression “Word of God” refers to the spoken or written Word of God (Rev.2:12; 19:15). The sharp, two-edged penetrating sword comes from His mouth and accomplishes His will. “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa.55:11).

God’s Word is living. It is constantly alive. It is like a grain of corn planted in a field. God's spoken and written Word is alive: “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you” (1Pet.1:23-25). The Word is Life and gives Life!

God’s Word is active – powerful, dynamic, full of energy. It does things no human being can possibly do. It touches where nothing else can touch to restore life. It is energizing. News articles, televisión, and social media may  inform  us. Well-written novels may motivate us. Poetry may captivate us,  but only  the living, active, Word of God can transform us. His Word possesses inexhaustible vitality and dynamic efficacy. The vigor and the potency of His Word are seen in its operation as His creating Word (Heb.11:3), His  sustaining Word (Heb.1:3), and  His regenerating Word (2Cor.4:6; 1Pet.1:23).