A Sword of Judgment
There was a period in my young Christian life when I was depressed due to difficulties I was facing. For many days, I could not regain the strength for my daily routine. At that time, I was active in memorizing Bible verses. As I was asking the Lord for help, suddenly I happened to notice one of the memory verse cards dropped on the floor of my living room. I picked it up and read it. Instantly, I was lifted from the depression. The Lord granted me strength through the verse, which says:
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12, NASB).
At that time, I understood the verse to mean that God’s Word powerfully brings about changes in our lives and gives us strength in times of trial and temptation. However, later, when I began to examine the verse in light of the background of Hebrews 3:1-4:13, I realized it has a different meaning.
I am thankful God even uses His Word taken out of context to accomplish His purpose in our lives. However, as diligent students of God’s Word, we must always strive to find the intended meaning of passages.
Hebrews 4:12 is in the context of warning the Jewish believers against falling away from their Christian faith. More specifically, in 3:7–11, the author of Hebrews admonishes them not to fail to enter God’s rest. In exhorting them to remain faithful to God, the author brings in a negative example of disobedience — the wilderness generation of Old Testament Israel.
The quotation of Hebrews 3:7–11 comes from Psalm 95:7–11, which looks back to two incidents that occurred after God delivered the people of Israel from Egypt. The first incident took place when they grumbled against Moses because there was no water. In spite of their rebellion, God graciously gave them water by having Moses strike the rock (Exodus 17:1-7). The second incident is found in Numbers 14, which is known as the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea. This place should have been the end of their wilderness sojourn. But the people of Israel disobeyed the word of God by refusing to enter the land of Canaan after they heard the spies’ negative report. The author of Hebrews juxtaposes these two incidents of disobedience to indicate that they were not able to enter the Canaan rest because of unbelief (3:19).
Using the wilderness generation as an example, the author of Hebrews warns his audience not to fail to enter God’s rest which, he repeatedly points out, still remains open for the people of God (4:1–10). Based on this fact, he exhorts them to be diligent to enter that rest so they may not fall, by following the Israelites’ example of disobedience (4:11).
What is the reason they should not imitate the negative example of disobedience? It is because the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart (4:12). In other words, this verse speaks of the judgmental aspect of God’s word. Here, the word of God does not refer to the Bible as a whole, but specifically to the Christian message they heard when they first believed in Jesus (1:1–2; 2:1–4). The implication is that, if they reject God’s final message spoken through the Son and fail to enter God’s rest, then this very word of God will bring about judgment on them — just as the wilderness generation received the divine judgment when they rebelled against God’s word spoken through Moses.
So, what is the lesson that can be drawn from Hebrews 4:12? It reminds us that, while the Bible contains many verses that speak of its positive benefits (e.g., Psalm 1:1–3; 19:7–9; 119), it also has a negative element of bringing about God’s judgment in our lives if we are disobedient to Him. So, in light of this negative aspect of God’s Word, let us pay much closer attention to it and be obedient to Him in our Christian walk.
Victor Rhee, Ph.D., is an associate professor of New Testament language and literature at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University.
© Biola University 2005