4. The Living Word and the Perfect Priest Hebrews 4:12 – 5:10
HEBREWS CHAPTER 4 VERSE 12 TO 5 VERSE 10
4. The Living Word and the Perfect Priest
4. The Living Word and the Perfect Priest Hebrews 4:12 – 5:10
On October 31, 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church. That singular event was the tiny spark that lit an enormous fire that spread throughout all of Europe, and even all of the world. It began what we now call the Protestant Reformation.
Years later, Luther wrote about what made it all happen. What was it exactly that led to this great transformation of the world? Luther’s answer captures the essence of the Reformation:
“I simply taught, preached and wrote God’s Word. Otherwise I did nothing … The Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.” (Luther’s Works, Volume 51, p 77)
The world wasn’t changed through political maneuvering or a big army or lots of money but by the power of the word of God. That is God’s main instrument to change the world—and to change us personally.
Hebrews 4:12-13 captures this truth in one of the most profound passages in the Bible. It is one of the best summaries of what makes God’s word so special.
At first glance, it may seem that these verses are out of place, as though our author suddenly changes topic. But they flow quite directly from the prior verses. Recall that in verse 11, we received yet another warning that we should obey God, lest we fall away like the Israelites. And then in verses 12 and 13 the author explains why we should listen to God: because his word is living, active, and powerful. It is always trustworthy and true.
The Danger of Disbelief
Before diving further into this passage, we should pause to observe that this theme—God speaking his word to his people—has marked the book of Hebrews from the very beginning. Remember how the letter began: “Long ago … God spoke.” Then, in chapter 3, the author gave a particular instance of God speaking to his people as he cited Psalm 95:7-11. That passage recounts how God spoke to his people in the desert and they didn’t listen to him.
Thus, when our author uses the phrase “the word of God” in Hebrews 4:12, he is no doubt referring back to the promises made in Psalm 95. God was inviting his people to join him in his rest, but they didn’t listen. They did not believe God, and as a result they did not enter his rest (3:19). This promise of rest is open to us too, and the way of entering it is the same: believing God’s word.
Whether or not to believe God’s word is not merely a technical, academic question. No, it is a question of salvation. It is a question of eternity. 4:11 tells us that if we do not trust God and believe the promises he offers in the gospel, then what happened to the Israelites will happen to us: we may “fall.”
Have you ever thought about how remarkable it is that the Israelites did not believe, even after all they had experienced? Even those who had witnessed the pillar of fire that led them through the desert, and the sea parting, and water springing from a rock, would not believe. We, who have not seen these things, need to realize that unbelief is a danger in our lives too. It is a problem with every human heart.
We doubt God’s promises for many reasons. Perhaps we think our way is better—we decide that with our small, fallible minds, we understand the universe better than God does. Perhaps it is the fact that God does not always bring about his promises instantaneously; he moves at his own pace, and we become impatient. Perhaps it is listening to false teachers—people who distort God’s word and confuse us about it. Perhaps it is the messages we hear from the world, telling us that God’s word is not really trustworthy and that a rich, full existence can be found elsewhere. Perhaps it is experiencing a terrible trial, which leads us to think, “If God let this happen to me, he can’t be real.”
Whatever the trigger, we all have a propensity in our fallen hearts to doubt God’s promises. So, the author of Hebrews needs to reassure us that God’s word is worthy of our trust. He accomplishes this by laying out three attributes of God’s word. It is personal, it is powerful, and it is penetrating.
God’s Word Is Personal
Sometimes we have a tendency to view the Bible as just a book filled with helpful information. It is like a religious encyclopedia: if you want to get facts about Jesus, about God, or about salvation, then this is the reference tool you use. As a result, the Bible can seem a bit stale, static, or even lifeless.
But verse 12 begins with a remarkable declaration which shatters this misunderstanding: the word of God is living. What does that mean? It means that a living person is revealed in it. Since God’s word is empowered by the Holy Spirit, when we encounter the word, we encounter God. It is through God’s word that we meet him, learn from him, and have fellowship with him.
In this way, the word is remarkably personal.
Theologian John Frame captures this wonderfully:
“When we encounter the word of God, we encounter God … His word, indeed, is his personal presence. Whenever God’s word is spoken, read, or heard, God himself is there.” (The Doctrine of the Word of God, p 88)
It is not that the paper and the binding are somehow divine. The Bibles we hold in our hands are just physical objects. But when the content of the message and the words themselves take root in our hearts, God is meeting his people.
This highlights what makes the Bible different from every other book. Imagine, for example, that you went to the library and checked out a book about Abraham Lincoln. In that book, you may learn a lot of facts about him—his upbringing, political career, role in the Civil War, and so on. But there is one thing you will never get in a book about Lincoln: you will never meet him.
That is not the case with the word of God, whose author is not dead. By the power of the Spirit, God manifests himself in the words of Scripture. This is the stunning difference between the Bible and every other book in the world. God’s presence is actually encountered in his word. This is a personal, living book.
This reality has implications for why we think the Bible is true. We typically believe that the Bible is true for very impersonal reasons: it conforms to the facts of history, has reliable manuscripts, and so on. But we can also believe that the Bible is true for personal reasons: because we recognize that it contains the voice of someone we know and trust. Jesus said as much: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
A second implication is that there is no place for statements such as “I like Jesus, but not the Bible.” In the Western world today, we are seeing the rise of popular spirituality, which is a way to feel that you are contacting God while bypassing the means which God has given for that. People say that they do not want to be constrained by the Bible; they do not believe in the authority of God’s word but only in their own personal experience. But God has manifested himself in his word. That is the primary way of meeting and interacting with him.
A third implication is that we need to recognize that any encounter with the Bible is a serious matter. If God’s power is manifest through his word, then studying the Bible is not to be taken lightly. We don’t want to tinker around with the Bible as if it’s a hobby. When we encounter the word, we are encountering the Lord of the universe—and that is a sobering thing to consider. This ought to shift the way we think about how we study his word.
God’s Word Is Powerful
The second feature of God’s word is that it is powerful. It is not just living but also “active.” The word “active” in Greek is energes, which is where our English word “energy” comes from. The word of God is energetic, powerful, and mighty. It doesn’t just say things; it does things. It is busy working, changing, building, convicting, encouraging, exposing, rebuking, giving light and wisdom, carving out the path of our lives, and showing us the truth of God.
At the very beginning, God spoke the world into existence. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he used the power and energy of God’s word to rebuke and push back the lies of the devil. Then there are Jesus’ miracles, performed by speaking. “Lazarus, come out” was a divine decree (John 11:43). Jesus calmed the sea simply by saying to the waves, “Be still” (Mark 4:39).
This is the kind of thing that the word still does. We don’t have Jesus standing beside us physically anymore, but we do have his words in the Scriptures, and those words are “active.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Scripture is sufficient for all this—it is everything you need in order to live a life of godliness and service of Christ (2 Peter 1:3). It is so powerful, so energetic, and does so many things that it can help you with any problem in your life. It equips you for every good work.
Yet we turn to other things. Have you noticed how big the self-help section is in most bookstores today? Have you seen the amount of “life advice” content there is on social media? While such things can sometimes provide helpful common-grace insights, people are missing out on the all-sufficient power of God’s word. We should not doubt that God’s word is powerful enough to accomplish in our lives whatever is needed.
God’s Word Is Penetrating
This leads us to the third feature of God’s word: it is penetrating. It is “sharper than any two-edged sword.” This is the crescendo; all the rest of Hebrews 4:12-13 relates to this.
The reference to a “two-edged sword” would have been one that the audience recognized. No doubt the author was referring to the Roman short sword—known as a gladius. This was not the long sword that we typically think of from the times of knights and castles. No, this was the standard sword for the Roman legions, short but sharp, and designed to cut through the enemy’s armor in close combat.
Likewise, God’s word is designed to cut. Indeed, it is made to penetrate the hardest substance on the planet—not granite or diamonds but something even harder: the human heart.
We know this, of course, because we’ve likely tried to reach another person’s heart and found it to be hardened by sin and impossible to touch. We’ve even tried to reach our own heart and realized that it, too, can be stubborn and intractable. As a result, sometimes we just give up and try to change the outside rather than the inside. So we put on a show, play a part, look like a good Christian, go to church; but on the inside, things may remain a mess.
We know that true change, lasting change, has to start with the heart. And the only thing sharp enough to touch it is God’s word, empowered by the Spirit. It pierces “to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow” (v 12). It is like a surgeon’s knife: incredibly precise and razor-sharp. Unlike any literal sword, it is able to cut the soul. If you want to reach people in your life—if you want to reach yourself—this is the thing to do it with. God has given you this divine instrument which has been designed to affect the heart.
So, if the purpose of God’s word is to penetrate the heart, what does it do once it gets there? It exposes who we really are: “discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The word of God is not just a way to get to know God but also a way to get to know yourself. When you read the Bible and let it penetrate your heart, you will see things about yourself that you never saw before. You will see your real intentions, your real motives, and your real character. This is a good thing because there is rot and mildew built up in our hearts which need to be exposed.
We all make resolutions about how we would like to change, but we cannot change ourselves unless we have an accurate perception of where we are starting from. The word of God gives us that. It lays it all bare. We try to hide who we really are from each other, from ourselves, and from God. But verse 13 tells us that “no creature is hidden from his sight.” The word of God will show you who you really are and what your real problems are. It will get into your heart and heal it.
Why does that matter? Because if you don’t deal with those things in your heart that are tripping you up, then you might find yourself like the Israelites—doubting, disbelieving and turning away from the living God. God’s word does surgery on your soul in order to prevent you from falling away and losing the rest that God has promised you.
In his word God is personally present; through his word he powerfully acts; and by his word he penetrates to the place that no human can ever reach—the human heart. All that together makes one simple point. Is God’s word trustworthy? Should we rely on it and believe its promises? The answer is absolutely “Yes.”