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Hebrews

Hebrews 
Day 
Day 101

Sharper than any two-edged sword...

Text: Hebrews 4:12

MORE THAN JUST A WRITTEN TEXT

The author of Hebrews firmly believes that the Scriptures are much more than just a holy religious text. The following may be said about what he believed (Hebrews 4:12).

1. The word of God

This phrase in itself is most significant. The Scriptures represent the word that God speaks to mankind! They are never seen as mere religious literature!

2. The Word of God is living (“zon”)

This understanding echoes what Jesus Himself said about the word that He preached.

“The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
John 6:63b

a) The word of God has a life of its own.
b) The word of God can create life in the humble and diligent reader of the Scriptures.

3. The Word of God is powerful (“energes”)

a) It is full of divine “energy” (power).
b) It creates power in the person who believes in the Lord’s word.
c) Many of the psalms extol the power of the word of God (Psalm 119 in particular).
d) Ponder this text from the book of Isaiah:-

“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.”
Isaiah 55:11

4. It is sharper than any two-edged sword

Two sets of imagery are used to convey the idea of the sharpness of the Word of God:-

a) That of the soul and spirit (limited human understanding does not enable us to distinguish between the functions of the soul and spirit).
b) That of the joints and marrow (limited medical knowledge in the first century made it impossible for doctors to easily distinguish the bones and the marrow).