Hebrews 4:12 says God’s Word is living and active. So what is it doing in all that living and activity, where you are concerned?

Ponder with me the fuller passage from Hebrews 4:12-16. Then we’ll look closely at verse 12, from The Passion Translation:

For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, and it pierces more sharply than a two-edged sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and marrow meet! It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts.

Hebrews 4:12-16, The Passion Translation NT

The living Word of God is just that: alive, just as you are alive. That means it is animated and engaged with the world in which it lives. It is not just a dusty old sentence written in ancient ink; it is relevant now, in your present circumstance.

Word of God is translated from the Greek, logos theos. In my recent post “Jesus: The Logos of God” I explained what logos means. In short, logos is best understood as a textbook or a portrait that accurately reveals or educates you about a subject or a person.

Frankly, the idea of a textbook or a still portrait doesn’t sound that “alive.”

Yet the writer also said it is active.

I chose the Passion Translation above because when it says the word of God is “full of energy” it really captures the Greek word energes the author used. Energes speaks of an energy or power that is always active. God’s Word is always doing something in you: challenging, comforting, or making you wise.

We certainly love the idea of being comforted and made wise, but what about being told that the logos Word of God will never fail to exercise its energy and power to perform heart surgery on the one who believes it?

And that, right after being so emphatically instructed to “enter God’s rest”!

That is what causes me to slow down and ponder Hebrews 4:12.

Not just what it says, but where it says it: sandwiched between two dramatic statements which seem to oppose each other.

It comes right after the author’s passionate plea for you to enter God’s rest. Towards that goal he has just said, not once, but three times, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Then he seemingly changes the subject, to describe the Word (logos) of God.

Does logos refer to the Scriptures, or Jesus himself, whom the Apostle John called “The Word made flesh”?

Is it referring to the written word (the Scriptures in your Bible) or is it about the words God has spoken and is speaking today? The answer to both is YES.

God’s Word, however you encounter it, is living and active, full of energy and power.

The author of Hebrews paints a verbal picture for you of God’s Word being like a sharp double-edged sword, strategically slicing your inward parts, laying your heart bare before God so He can judge your secret thoughts.

I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound restful to me at all.

If you’ve read Exodus and Leviticus, you’ll recognize the reference to the work of the High Priest. I can picture the knife in the Priest’s hand, having killed a sacrificial lamb on behalf of the worshiper, then carefully extracting and examining the heart and other organs before washing them and burning them on the altar as a sacrifice of repentance and worship to God.

THEN, after the dire idea of a sharp knife slicing your inner parts is fully formed in your mind, the author of Hebrews spins you around 180 degrees, bringing you face-to-face with your Jesus. He reminds you that Jesus is the one who has walked in your shoes and is now the High Priest.

Jesus, he says in Hebrews 4:15, is able to sympathize with you in your weakness, because during His earth-suit days He was tempted in every way, just as you are — yet was without sin. He is now on the throne, ready to offer you mercy and grace.

Are you a little lost?

Good. You’re right where I thought you would be. Let’s see if we can sort this out together and connect the dots, starting with entering God’s rest.

God wants you to listen to His voice, both His words in Scripture (spoken long ago but still alive and active!) AND His words being spoken to your spirit. (Both should always agree, by the way.)

God’s Word is going to challenge you. It isn’t going to coddle you or always make you feel good. If anything is lurking in your heart that will rob you of the promised life God is holding out to you, He wants to cut it out.

How does He do that? Oddly enough, it’s your total faith in God’s Word, your choice to love it and surrender to it, that triggers its power, that releases its energy in you. Without a doubt, God’s Word will lay your heart laid bare. It will expose and judge every secret thought and attitude. But don’t be afraid of this! Don’t run away from it, because it’s not as scary as it looks. Why?

Because Jesus is your High Priest. And any uncleanness in your heart that is judged doesn’t result in punishment or death, because Jesus washed you and took your punishment for you.

No, Beloved, here’s what happens when the Word lays your heart bare before God, and judges you: mercy is waiting to show you compassion. To say, I understand, my child. You are forgiven. Now, let me give you all the grace (ability and strength) to change that thought, fix that attitude, heal you of what led you astray in the first place.

I know this is true, because I have experienced it. I know what it is like to stumble across a scripture that makes me uncomfortable. To hear God tell me something that exposes an idol in my heart. Something that feels like, if I surrender to it, I’ll lose a piece of myself somehow. And, in fact, that’s exactly what happens. But what I’ve ever lost is something I didn’t need. Something that was robbing me of life and peace and beauty. Something I’m always so glad, later, that I no longer have lurking within. The Word of God, His truth, always leads me to freedom.

And then it happens, every time. I relax into the love of God, grateful for His kindness and compassion, and rest anew in His love.

Hebrews Chapter Four is a roller coaster ride, for sure. It pulls you up high on entering God’s rest, then drops you abruptly into heart surgery, and finally glides you home into the arms of Jesus. It’s a good ride.