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Review

Last time we finished our study of the Hebrews writer’s cautionary tale of the Israelites’ rebellion in the wilderness of Sinai and his admonition for us not to follow in their failure, but rather to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and thereby enter into God’s promised rest.

Jesus – The Living Word of God

Now we come to one of the best known passages in the entire Bible.

¹²For 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. ¹³And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. _{[Hebrews 4:12-13 – NKJV]}

We have spoken before about the reverence in which the Word of God is held in Jewish life and tradition. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the Jewish scribes whose respect for God’s Word and devotion to the faithful replication of its texts enabled us receive it virtually unchanged since ancient times. Of course, since the four gospels had not yet been written, the first-century Jewish believers to whom Hebrews was written would have understood the written Word of God to be – The Torah תּוֹרָה (Law: Genesis – Deuteronomy), The Nevi’im נְבִיאִים (Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi), and The Ketuvim כְּתוּבִים (Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles). Possibly, the letters of Paul, Peter, and John which had been written up to that time may also have been considered holy writ by these Messianic Jewish congregations. We have no way of knowing. Certainly, they would not have been held in the same high regard as The Law, The Prophets, and The Writings – particularly the Torah. Moses had commanded that this Book of the Law was to be kept in the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle…

“Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; _{[Deuteronomy 31:26 – NKJV]}

Furthermore, the LORD commanded Joshua that the Law was to be studied continually…

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. _{[Joshua 1:8 – NKJV]}

The longest chapter in the Bible – Psalm 119 is devoted entirely to exaltation of God’s written Word…

Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You. _{[Psalm 119:11 – NKJV]}

This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life. _{[Psalm 119:50 – NKJV]}

Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path. _{[Psalm 119:105 – NKJV]}

You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in Your word. _{[Psalm 119:114 – NKJV]}

Your word is very pure;
Therefore Your servant loves it. _{[Psalm 119:140 – NKJV]}

The entirety of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. _{[Psalm 119:160 – NKJV]}

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Christians who study God’s Word day-by-day, know that God often reveals some new aspect, or insight into a passage of scripture with which we think we are thoroughly familiar.

For me, the instance of this supernatural quality of the Word of God that springs most quickly to my remembrance was the last morning of our church men’s retreat some years ago. At these retreats, the elders of the church, our pastor, and sometimes an invited guest would preach messages that all pertained to a specific theme. The theme that particular year was – Man Up!, based on…

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. _{[1 Corinthians 16:13 – ESV]}

The main thrust of our pastor’s message was clear – Men who shirk their calling from God to be strong spiritual leaders within their families bear a part of the responsibility if their children are not saved. That message struck me to the very heart, since I failed miserably in training up my own sons in the fear of the LORD. Heartbroken over my lost sons, I struggled in prayer throughout that night. The next morning, I was desperately seeking reassurance in the Word of God. He impressed upon my heart Mark 16. As I started to read, I realized it was a passage with which I was already very familiar – the story of the women who came to anoint the body of Jesus and found His tomb empty after His resurrection. In my arrogance, I even told God that, although I am very grateful for the Gospel of His resurrection, this passage wasn’t the reassurance I was seeking from Him. Then I came to verse 7 where the angel said to the ladies…

“But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” _{[Mark 16:7 – NKJV]}

Although I had read this passage many times before, I had always simply skipped over in my mind the particular reference to Peter. Recall that Peter had completely failed his LORD Jesus on the night of His betrayal. First, along with John, Peter fell asleep instead of watching and praying as Jesus requested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then, when the Jews came to arrest Jesus, Peter tried to take matters into his own hands by cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant Malchus with his sword.  But worst of all, Peter denied to those gathered outside the high priest’s house where Jesus had been taken that he even knew Jesus, just as Jesus had foretold during the Passover meal the previous evening. No doubt Peter was crestfallen and guilt ridden by his own weakness and failing of his LORD in a time of great crisis, especially since he had proudly boasted that he would be loyal to Jesus even to the death just a scant few hours earlier. Peter was surely crippled with guilt over so miserably failing his LORD, and so was I that night at the men’s retreat over my own failure to properly fulfill my God-ordained role as the spiritual leader of my children.

Thankfully though, God uses His Word to “meet us where we’re at“ as my pastor at that men’s retreat is fond of saying. In leading me to that particular passage the next morning in the midst of my spiritual despair, God knew it would bring to my remembrance the reason the angel was careful to emphasize to the women that they should tell Peter about Jesus’ resurrection – It was Jesus’ intent to restore Peter to his proper place as a minister of the Gospel despite his own weakness and failure. With this reminder, God also intended to restore me and reassure me of my position in Him despite my weaknesses. It is such instances when God uses a specific passage with which we think we are thoroughly familiar to minister to us, that we usually think of when we ponder the statement in Hebrews 4:12 that God’s Word is alive.

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But that’s only part of the picture. Certainly, any Christ follower must hold God’s Word in the highest regard just as the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews did. We do believe that the Bible is the written Word of God – utterly perfect, and spoken by the Spirit of God to those who committed it to writing for us. As Paul wrote to Timothy…

¹⁶All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. _{[2 Timothy 3:16-17 – NKJV]}

God’s Word – the Bible – is worthy of our honor because by His Word, God makes Himself known to us. We wholeheartedly agree with King David, when he writes…

¹I will praise You with my whole heart;

Before the gods I will sing praises to You.

²I will worship toward Your holy temple,

And praise Your name

For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;

For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. _{[Psalm 138:1-2 – NKJV]}

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All these things are certainly worthy of our devotion, but the Hebrews writer is also making another very important point in this passage that we should not miss. Notice that in Hebrews 4:13 the writer continues the exaltation of the Word of God he began in Hebrews 4:12, referring to the Word of God using masculine pronouns – His and Him. It is clear, therefore that in speaking of the Word of God, the writer is referring to Jesus Himself –

• Jesus is the Word of God.
• It is He who is “…living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.”
• It is Jesus who pierces “…even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow.”
• Jesus is “…the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.“
• Nothing is hidden from Jesus
• He is the One “to whom we must give account.“

Let’s consider these points one at a time.

Jesus is the Word of God

Despite the protestations of cults like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, John’s gospel makes it crystal clear that Jesus is the Word of God who created the world.

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. ⁸He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹²But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. _{[John 1:1-14 – NKJV]}

⁹Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. _{[Philippians 2:9-11 – NKJV]}

What is this Name of Jesus which is above every name?

¹¹Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. ¹²His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. ¹³He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. ¹⁴And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,  followed Him on white horses. ¹⁵Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. ¹⁶And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. _{[Revelation 19:11-16 – NKJV]}

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It is He who is “…living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.“

As we have just seen, Jesus is indeed the Word of God. The fact that Jesus is alive again through His miraculous resurrection from the dead is the central tenet of Christianity. As Paul wrote to the Corinthian church…

¹²Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. ¹⁴And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. ¹⁵Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. ¹⁶For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. ¹⁷And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! ¹⁸Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

²⁰But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²²For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. _{[1 Corinthians 15:12-22 – NKJV]}

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” _{[Revelation 1:8 – NKJV]}

¹⁸And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. _{[Matthew 28:18-20 – NKJV]}

¹⁰Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. ¹¹Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹²For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

¹⁴Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; _{[Ephesians 6:10-17 – NKJV]}

It is Jesus who pierces “…even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow.”

On the last day of creation…

…God _{[אֱלֹהִים ‘elohiym]} said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;… _{[Genesis 1:26a – NKJV]}

As we saw in our first study in Hebrews, the Hebrew word for God used in this verse – אֱלֹהִים ‘elohiym – is a plural noun implying more than two, thus reflecting the triune nature of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Spirit. Just so, human beings have been created in the image of God with a triune nature – body, soul, and spirit – an inferior trinity if you will. Having made man’s mortal body from the dust, and endowed him with his eternal self-awareness or soul, God then breathed man’s spirit into him – giving him life.

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. _{[Genesis 2:7 – NKJV]}

Since we know that it is Jesus who performed the work of Creation by the Word of His power, it makes sense that He is also able to penetrate into these fundamental components of our being to the very heart of our nature – the innermost thoughts and feelings that we don’t share with anyone, and are scarcely even aware of ourselves.

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Jesus is “…the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.“

Since God is our Creator, it stands to reason that He knows everything about us. One of the three “omni” characteristics of God is that He is all-knowing – omnisicient.

Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite. _{[Psalm 147:5 – NKJV]}

Indeed, God has the ultimate learning impairment. Since He already knows all things, it stands to reason that He cannot possibly learn anything new. Prideful mankind would like to think that we are able to keep our innermost thoughts and feelings to ourselves, but God who forms our hearts and breathes His life into us knows everything about us – even the things we deceive ourselves into thinking are our own secrets.

Hell and Destruction are before the LORD;
So how much more the hearts of the sons of men. _{[Proverbs 15:11 – NKJV]}

Speaking to us by the prophet Jeremiah, God asks a rhetorical question about the heart of man, and then gives the answer…

⁹“The heart is deceitful above all things,

And desperately wicked;

Who can know it?

¹⁰I, the LORD, search the heart,

I test the mind,

Even to give every man according to his ways,

According to the fruit of his doings. _{[Jeremiah 17:9-10 – NKJV]}

⁴³Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, ⁴⁴came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

⁴⁵And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”

When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?'”

⁴⁶But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” ⁴⁷Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.

⁴⁸And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” _{[Luke 8:43-48 – NKJV]}

Yet even in His earthly flesh, Jesus – God with us – was clearly still able to discern the thoughts and intents of people’s hearts…

¹And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. ²Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. ³Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. ⁴And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

⁵When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

⁶And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, ¹¹“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” ¹²Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” _{[Mark 2:1-12 – NKJV]}

Nothing is hidden from Jesus

Most of us have secret aspects of our lives that we would prefer to remain known to ourselves alone. I don’t know about anyone else, but I can attest that in my own life, I hid the besetting sin from which Jesus has rescued me from everyone – even my wife and family. Even now, having been forgiven by Jesus and washed clean by His blood, I prefer not to discuss it with anyone. There are also other episodes from my past, that I have not talked about, nor do I plan to reveal them.

My pastor in California was fond of saying, “Sin makes you stupid.” Even with the conviction of God’s Spirit whispering to our hearts, somehow we are able in our sinful pride to convince ourselves that our sins are somehow secret even from God. After King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, when he heard she was pregnant by him, David had her husband – Uriah – murdered and then quickly married Bathsheba to cover up the adultery. When the dust settled, David thought he had gotten away with these heinous sins free and clear (2 Samuel 11). Yet even though David was a called a “man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) and God had chosen David in his youth to be anointed as king (1 Samuel 16), somehow he was able to believe that he had covered over his sins so well that they were hidden even from God. It was only many years later, after the painful lessons concerning his sins, and the suffering of his family because of them that David came to the realization that God knows all things. There is nowhere we can hide from God’s Spirit. Nothing is hidden from God…

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

²You know my sitting down and my rising up;

You understand my thought afar off.

³You comprehend my path and my lying down,

And are acquainted with all my ways.

⁴For there is not a word on my tongue,

But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.

⁵You have hedged me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is high, I cannot attain it.

 

⁷Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

⁸If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

⁹If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

¹⁰Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”

Even the night shall be light about me;

¹²Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,

But the night shines as the day;

The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

 

¹³For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

¹⁵My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them.

 

¹⁷How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

¹⁸If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;

When I awake, I am still with You.

 

¹⁹Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!

Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.

²⁰For they speak against You wickedly;

Your enemies take Your name in vain.

²¹Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

²²I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them my enemies.

 

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

²⁴And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting. _{[Psalm 139 – NKJV]}

Looking Ahead

Now that we have thoroughly examined the concept of Jesus’ character as the Living Word of God, it’s time for us to move on to perhaps the main theme of the book of Hebrews – Jesus’ role as our Great High Priest. We will see that Jesus fulfills that role not due to inheritance as a member of a specific select group, but by his very nature since eternity past and forevermore.