How the Word of God exposes man.
By Ken Blue
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:11-12.
The context is revealing that there is nothing in our life that is hidden from the all-knowing eye of God. The Word of God is the instrument He uses to lay open all our thoughts and intents. Man may not be aware of these himself, but the Word of God exposes all to the individual. Heb. 4:13.
The Word of God is “quick,” or alive.
No other book on earth is like the Word of God! Men discover that not only is it alive, it is life giving. It speaks to the inner man in a multitude of ways. It pleads, it warns, it comforts, it convicts, it leads, and it guides. Of all the books ever written, it is the only one that has life, and imparts life.
The Word of God is powerful.
It has power to revive the spiritually dead. It has power to save, and to sanctify. It makes the week strong. It fills the hopeless with hope. It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces. It can take the heart of stone and reduce it to powder or clay. Therefore, it has the power to convict, to convert, and condemn.
The Word of God is piercing, and there is no limit to its reach.
Not only must the priest kill and skin the sacrifice, it must also be dismembered. A sharp knife was required to separate the joints of the bones. Thus, the priest was getting deeper inside the slain animal with each cut. Just so, the Word of God does more that skin us. It pierces to the very joints that hold us together. No wonder Isaiah could say, “…Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:5. Many souls have cried those words as they read or heard the Word of God. It dismembers us, and who can stand under its all piercing eye?
The Word of God is a discerner of our thoughts and the intents of the heart.
Many times these are hidden from our own eyes. But, the Word of God goes even deeper and reveals these to us. You may ask, how much deeper can it Go? The priest’s knife had the ability to divide the very bones and reveal the marrow. That is where the blood was made. The skeleton hid the marrow, but with the priest’s knife God lays wide the bones, and exposes the deepest, innermost part of the animal. This is what the Word of God does. It exposes those secret part of our life, and lays bare the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Now we can understand why lost men hate the Book, and why backslidden Christians ignore it. They cannot hide from its all seeing eyes. Oh, how it ought to make us tremble, as we contemplate the truth that the outward man, and the deepest recesses of our soul are naked before Him.
Pastor Ken Blue was born in Boswell, Ark. In 1955 he accepted Christ as his Savior. He and his wife Joyce were married in 1955. They have 5 children. He graduated from Midwestern Baptist Bible College in 1969 and started the Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood, Wa. where he pastored for 39 years. Because of health issues (ALS) he was forced to resign as pastor. It is his desire to continue to be used of God to help pastors and believers through this ministry.