The word of God is alive 21 April 2021
Key verse: Hebrews 4:12 “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
One of the great reformations in the Old Testament began by accident or was it? Josiah, the young king of Judah, had ordered Hilkiah, the high priest, to make repairs on Jerusalem’s derelict temple. Josiah we are told “did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.” 2 Kings 22:2. What was found by workers promised to do much more than just spruce up the temple. Hilkiah said “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord” 2 Kings 22:8. This was no accident. Josiah had sought to bless God by fixing the temple, and God blessed Josiah in return by placing in his hands the most powerful force in the world for reformation and revival, hope and joy, peace and salvation. The Lord had returned that which had been lost, the Word of God. We see Josiah reading the Book of the Law, he gathered the godliest people around God’s word and they put into practice the things they read in the scriptures, the result was a renewal of the covenant with God and the restoration of the blessings that come through faith in him. What Josiah learned so many years ago is something that believers have learnt ever since. This is what Peter is speaking about “Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. For All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. That word is the good news that was announced to you.” 1 Peter 1:22-25.
This view features prominently in Hebrews. Read chapters 3 & 4, the readers are told to hold fast to their faith under hardship, that a failure to believe the message of Jesus Christ is to forfeit the great salvation that God has offered, backing this up with text Psalm 95. Written by David around 1000 years before the book of Hebrews. David also encourages his readers not to give up, reflecting on the exodus generation’s unbelief, which had led to their destruction. Drawing on the example written in Psalm 95:7-9 and it is these words that the writer of Hebrews applies to his generation, asserting that the words written by David not only have relevance but also have authority over those who read them in his own time. They were experiencing the beginnings of persecution because of their faith in Christ. These words were relevant then and are relevant now in our time, especially seeing the same things happening now. This point is aptly summed up in the key verse “Indeed, the word of God is living and active.” These words may have been spoken and recorded by men but after thousands of years they are still relevant. How can this be? How can the words of Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, John and many others, which after all are the words of men, be living and active? The reason is seen throughout Hebrews and the whole of scripture ‘Because they are also the words of God’.
How, then, is scripture the word of God? That question was important to the apostles, because they regarded what the Old Testament writers had written as the authoritative word of God. Paul makes this clear saying “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. It is through His word, that God teaches us, rebukes and corrects us, trains us, and equips us for every good work. When we come to God’s word in faith we open up our heart and mind to the teachings of scripture, either as it is preached or in the reading of it. The word comes alive within us because it is sent by God for that purpose. He lives and acts in you through his living word. Paul tells us that Scripture is “God breathed” 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV), but he doesn’t tell us how this is, fortunately 2 Peter 1:20-21 gives us more insight “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God”. By prophecy, Peter does not just mean future prediction, but the whole prophetic revelation of God’s teaching, it is the work of the Holy Spirit working through men. This is why we can say that the word of God is “living and active.” When we read scripture, we should remember that it is God’s word to us, it is not simply something that is relevant to us, it is authoritative and binding just as it was on the original readers. It is timeless and living precisely because it is the word of God, remember “Not one of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” Joshua 21:45, and we have the promise of Jesus “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:3. Let us with joy, praise God for the knowledge that He is true to His word “Is the LORD’s power limited? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” Numbers 11:23