◄ What Does Hebrews 4:12 Mean? ►

Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God, Who is traced to every 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.

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 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 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 soulical. 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, that 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 marrow-bone. The Spirit of the living God is able to judge the deepest thoughts and intentions of the 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 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 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 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 cuts away any foolish boasting in ourselves and exposes any prideful perceptions of our own worthiness!

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 that 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 the thoughts and intentions of every 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 greater glory.

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 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 that is not of Christ and use me I pray, as a conduit through Whom You can flow, unhindered, into the lives of those around me. Thank You that You loved us so much that You purposed to change all who believe, into the image and likeness of Christ Jesus, in Whose name I pray, AMEN.