The Word of God is…

Hebrews 4:12

 

The Word of God is a name for Christ as well as for the Scriptures. It is difficult to say whether this text speaks of the written Word (The Bible), or of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the incarnate Word (John 1:1-3). The fact is, we cannot sever the two. Christ is the Word, of whom all the written Word speaks (Luke 24:27; 44-47). The Word of God is what it is because the Lord Jesus Christ is embodied in it. Hebrews 4:12 tells us seven things about the Word of God. It is…

 

1. "The Word of God"

 

The Bible is God's final, full, complete, and perfect revelation of himself and his will to man, inspired, inerrant, infallible (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:19-21). Since the Book of God is complete, we no longer have and no longer need the signs of the apostles. God no longer gives revelation (in the strict sense of the word) to men. The Holy Spirit now gives us illumination by the Word, revealing Christ to us; but he does not give additional revelation.

 

2. Living

 

“The Word of God is quick." “Quick” is an old English word. It means alive, or living. This is a living Book, the Word of our living Redeemer (1 Peter 1:23-25; James 1:18). The Word is the living seed of the Holy Spirit, by which chosen, redeemed sinners are born again. God's Word has life in itself. It is the living and incorruptible seed. It creates life where it comes. Our words pass away. God's Word lives on (Isa. 40:8).

 

3. Effectual

 

"The Word of God is quick, and powerful" It brings conviction and conversion. It gives comfort to believing hearts and confirms our faith. The Word of God has power to elevate our hearts and minds to Christ and things above. Christ and his Word are active and effectual. He spoke for the elect in the council and covenant of grace (Heb. 7:22). He spoke all things out of nothing in creation (Heb. 11:3; Gen. 1:6, 9). He spoke and revealed the Father (John 14:10). He speaks and the dead come forth (John 5:24-25).

 

4. Cutting

 

"The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." The Word is all edge. It has no blunt side. It is alive all over. It wounds, in one way or another, all who touch it. You cannot come near the Word of God without its having some effect on you (2 Cor. 2:14-16). Our Lord came not to send peace but a sword.” When this Sword begins its work in our souls, it wounds and kills. Yet, it kills nothing but that which ought to be killed -- our pride, self-righteousness, envy, lust, and sins.

 

5. Piercing

 

"The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.” It forces its way into the hardest of hearts. It can find its way to its mark. It penetrates the smallest opening, like the arrow which entered between the joints of the harness. Although the soul and spirit are invisible and the joints and marrow are covered and hid, so penetrating is the divine Word that it reaches the most hidden and secret things of men and women. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Christ knows the heart and will make manifest all that is in it by the Word (Luke 16:15).

 

6. Discriminating

 

It divides “asunder soul and spirit.” It separates the precious from the vile, the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats. It divides "joints and marrow," families and churches, and does so by its own penetrating and discerning qualities.

 

7. Revealing

 

"The Word of God is …a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It cleaves a man and exposes up the secret thoughts, imaginations, and corruptions of his heart, like a butcher splits a carcass and exposes all within.

 

All this we have seen in the preaching of the word of God. Have you not felt it to be so? Does the Word of God pierce your heart? Does it reach your soul? If it does, thank God for it. Does this Sword of the Spirit prick your heart? Does its edge draw out the blood of your heart's lusts? Bless God for it. Would you not thank a surgeon, who used his knife to lance your diseased body, and sever from it a deadly cancer? Though he caused you great pain, you would thank him for his service, and pay him, too. How much more ought we to bless God for his work for, in, and upon our souls by his Word.

 

The puritan, William Gurnall, wrote, “There is not another sword like this in all the world that can cure with cutting; not another arm could use this sword, to have done thus with it besides the Spirit of God.”

 

O Spirit of God, send your living Word into my heart! Pierce my very soul with that Sword which alone can heal it and give me life!