Hebrews 4:12a

Hebrews 4:12a

The Word of God is living and active

At first sight, this verse may seem like a giant, sideways leap away from the matters that have occupied our minds since chapter 3:7. After all that discussion about “Rest,” the writer is suddenly evaluating the effectiveness of the Word of God! Is he going off at a tangent then? No, because in the previous verses he has, three times, implored us to not harden our hearts if we hear God’s voice. And what is the primary means by which the Lord our God speaks to us? Through His Word, it is His voice. There follows therefore, a brief but very astute summary of the nature and value of God’s Word to assist us when we are trying to understand how we might enter His rest. 

Whilst the Lord is undoubtedly alive and well and seated on His heavenly throne, we His earthly children need constant and immediate instructions about how to live our lives and to cope with the challenges and responsibilities that face every true follower of Yeshua. As our journey through this Epistle has already shown us, the Scriptures are not a dull, literary, intellectually-appealing collection of writings – anything but! For those who have open minds and who are prepared to be guided by the Holy Spirit, this sacred Bible is the most dynamic and active source of writing the world has ever seen! Nothing is like it, no other scholarly effort compares with this, the reading of, and mediation upon, these words put us in direct contact with the One who wrote them! It doesn’t matter if you are new and young in faith, whether you are well-read and literate or have very simple academic skills, the Word of God comes alive and quickly turns into something that is treasured and loved, unlike any other form of literature. The wonder of God’s Word is revealed primarily in obeying it, not just knowing it. This is the living Word; it is truth revealed. Why is this? Because Jesus Christ is the Word and by the Spirit of God, He uses written texts to speak directly to us, these words pour from His heavenly throne directly into our minds and into the situations of every believer who is willing to receive them. This is the Kingdom of God at work in ways that no other collection of human words has ever been able to do. This is heaven communicating directly with earth, and it is an incredible privilege to be selected to own and read God’s Word but also to be given the spiritual ability to understand a little of what it means. What is so mind-blowing is that every one of us is different and yet is addressed personally. Wow! Hallelujah! 

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