We’ve reflected on rest as being in God’s presence, but we haven’t made a direct connection between God’s Word and rest. Of course, when we stop to think about it, it is absolutely clear, since obedience requires us being aware of the Law. Let’s explore this some more in Today’s Holy Nougat.
Hebrews 4:12 CEB
[12] because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions.
Penetrative Word
It is almost incongruous to see the connection between our Nougat and the previous conversation about finding rest in God. Especially since this language is a bit more battle-oriented, thus making it feel less ‘restful’. Yet, it is.
Having explained the purpose of God’s rest, and connected it to Christ Himself, our Hebrews writer tells his audience to safeguard their access to God’s rest. In other words, access to God’s rest can be denied if we live in disobedience to God. If, as Romans 10 asserts, knowledge of God is acquired through the Word, then it follows that securing our spot in God’s rest requires knowledge and application of God’s Word in our lives.
Self-Check
Are we souled out on God’s Word?
Deeper Dive
I don’t know that the Hebrews author intended the word ‘Word’ as a pun (i.e., a play on words), but it could be taken in that light. For thanks to John’s Gospel, we know that Y’shua IS The Word of God Who existed before the beginning of Creation (see John 1:1). And, thanks to Genesis 3, we are also very aware that God had a ‘secret weapon’ that would defeat the enemy of our souls. Ephesians 1:9-10 suggests that Y’shua is the secret weapon. When we combine the sense of all those passages, we realize that Jesus, the Word, is God’s Secret Weapon that has defeated the enemy. In Him there is Life and Truth (see Y’shua’s own revelation in John 14:6, of Himself as the Way, Truth, and Life).
Yet, we also tend to see Scripture (both Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament) as God’s Word. Luke 4 takes us on a journey between Jesus and the enemy of our souls, where they both referred to the Word of God in ways that suggest it is our weapon. (If you haven’t read of Y’shua’s temptations previously or recently, this is a good time to do so.) Both Y’shua and the devil quoted Scripture. And, in the course of their discourse, distinctions were made that could be seen as separating soul from spirit and joint from marrow. At the end of that round, God’s Word remained victorious.
As believers, i.e., followers of Jesus, we spend time with and in God’s Word. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:17 to be offensive in our spiritual warfare by using God’s Word as our sword. Obviously, there is power in God’s Word.
It is worth noting, the Greek for ‘Word‘ in our Nougat is ‘logos‘; also used in John 1; not ‘rhēma‘, which is the offensive weapon of Ephesians 6. The Topical Lexicon in Strong’s Concordance online further clarifies:
Rhēma focuses on a specific utterance — spoken, remembered, or freshly quickened by the Spirit —whereas Logos embraces the broader, comprehensive message. Rhēma highlights immediacy, particularity, and personal address. It further presents logos as: ‘divine self-disclosure (Hebrews 4:12). [Its] usage binds together thought, utterance, and reality, so that what is spoken both reveals and effects‘.
This indicates that that which cuts to the heart of the matter to determine motive is not only a what, but a Who. And that Who is Jesus Christ, Y’shua, the Son of the Living God, our Lord and Saviour. The What is the total unfiltered message of the Gospel: Y’shua’s death and resurrection – without which there is no hope for finding our rest in God.
So when our motives are pure, we can find true rest in God’s Word, Jesus Christ. He keeps us away from wayward thoughts and action, by God’s Spirit, giving us the recall to confidently assert ‘It is written … !’ May we find God’s Word to be our defence from the onslaught of the enemy.
Point to Ponder
Not only do we need to spend time in and know God’s Word, but we must be versed in using God’s Word as a sword for defence and offence in the battle for souls.
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May all we seek be found in Christ
