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The Word of God is Living and Active

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.

Hebrews 4:12

This verse has been on my radar for quite some time, but I have never really taken the time to consider it fully. Perhaps, if you’re like me, the context of this verse eludes you. And maybe you’ve never taken the time to consider it either.

I aim to do two things in this writing. First, I want to try and explain why I think this verse is where it is in the book of Hebrews. Second, I want to shed some light on the first part of the verse that has encouraged me this morning.

This verse comes at the end of a long section of Hebrews stretching all the way back to chapter 3 verse 7. The passage begins:

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…”

The writer goes on to speak of Israel’s disobedience and their failure to enter the Sabbath rest that God has promised His people. The glorious news is that the promise of that rest remains (4:6) and all who believe in Christ will enter into God’s rest (4:3). The writer is arguing that God’s rest will be fully experienced after this life on earth has ended.

On a quick tangent, as I observe people, I find that most everyone is looking for rest. People are very intentional about saving for retirement, trying to win the lottery or strike it rich so that they can golf all day long, and any number of other things that they hope will bring rest at some point in their lives. As Christians, we are promised true rest that will extend throughout eternity. As people are naturally drawn to rest, we can share with them the hope we have of a rest that makes retiring in Florida look like manual labor!

So, back to Hebrews. As I have been getting closer to tackling this verse in the last couple of weeks of study, I have been asking the question, “Why is this verse here?” What was the Hebrews writer trying to communicate?

He has just finished a convincing argument that believers will enter into God’s rest and turns his focus to the Word of God. Just as he began the passage with “as the Holy Spirit says,” he ends the passage with God’s Word. He is exhorting us, just as he challenged his contemporaries, to receive God’s Word with humility today. We are all aware of how fragile life is. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us. There is no better time than today to respond to God’s Word.

The writer is calling us to seek wisdom, which only comes from knowledge of God. And if we aren’t seeking wisdom as if it were silver and hidden treasure, then we aren’t honoring God with our lives.

There is great news in this verse for us. God’s Word is living and active. It is alive. It is not outdated. It is not culturally irrelevant. It functions as well for us in today’s world as it did in centuries and millennia past. Our external problems may be unique due to technology, but the condition of our hearts is no different than that of Adam and Eve after the Fall. We are sinners and we need God’s Word to pierce our hearts and make us new.

In this verse, we receive this promise. God’s Word is not only alive, but it is active. Just as God never sleeps, His Word never stops working to accomplish all that He has purposed for it. It is at work in us. And its work in our lives will be completed on the Day of Jesus Christ’s return.

I rejoice this morning because God’s Word is alive in me and active in my life! I pray along with the Puritan writer, “Holy Trinity, impress the Gospel upon my soul until its virtue diffuses every faculty.” I want God’s Word to penetrate my heart and sever all ties I have to this world. That is true freedom. And that freedom will bring me home to God’s rest where Jesus is.

So, I challenge you with this as I consider it myself. If I am not storing up God’s Word in my heart, how is His Word going to do all that He desires it to do in my life? Am I doing all I can to have my life saturated by His living and active Word? Am I daily receiving His implanted Word with meekness? Am I a doer of His Word?

Join me in thanking God today for His Word. How desperate we all are for His Word to transform our lives.

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