Title: The Power of God's Word
(Hebrews 4:12-13)
In verse 12 of today's text, there is a reference to the Word of God. “The word of God is alive and has movement,” he said. The reason the author of Hebrews refers to God's word here is because God's promise of rest and all the fulfillment of that promise can only be fulfilled by the word of God.
1. What is God's Word?
We need to know what is the Word of God. Hebrews 1:1 says, “The God who in ancient times spoke to our ancestors in various parts and in many ways through the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days through his Son.”
Here we can see that the Word of God has appeared to us in two forms. One said that God spoke to our ancestors through a prophet. We call this word the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the message that God gave to the prophets to the ancestors of Israel.
2. What did God do with the Word?
What did God do with His Word? Because the word of God is the word of the Almighty God, it has the power to make everything happen according to the word. It is said that God did His creative work through His Word. Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we know that the whole world was created by the word of God.” What was created by these words is mentioned in Genesis 1:1.
We can know the work of the power of God's word through Ezekiel. When Ezekiel was taken to the deep valley by the power of God, his eyes were filled with only the bones of the dead. God looked at these bare bones and asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” At this time, Ezekiel commanded the bones according to God's command. Then the bones moved according to the word of God prophesied by Ezekiel, and they became the great army of the living Jehovah. Since the word that God proclaims is the will of God, it is natural that the word will be fulfilled.
We are people who believe in the fact that the history of mankind is completely carried out according to God's plan without a single point of error. The rest of God, once promised through the Word, is also certain in this context. Even if God spoke through a prophet thousands of years ago, those words will continue to live and work on this earth without being destroyed until the word of God is fulfilled.
“The word of God is alive and has movement,” he said. To have kinetic power means to live and work. So what does it mean to say that the word of God is alive? It means that there is the power of God to be fulfilled according to the word of God in the word of God.
God's Word becomes the standard of judgment. The Bible has clear standards for judging us. That standard is the Word of God. When we stand before the God who judges mankind in the future, these words of God will become the standard and will be questioned and judged. In John 12, Jesus said, “There is one who will judge those who reject me and do not listen to my words; my words will judge them at the last day.” All mankind, without one exception, will be judged by the Word of God.
There is absolutely no case of being forgiven by a person's work or being saved through a person's virtues or good deeds. Forgiveness or salvation is accomplished only through the Word of God. For example, if we want to know who God judges, we can easily find out by looking at what God's Word says about this issue. John 3:18 says, “He who believes in Him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been judged because he did not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
From these words we can get a clear answer. It reveals the fact that God's judgment was only concerned with the question of whether to believe or not believe in the name of the Son of God.
Conclusion: To enter God's rest, you must not disobey God's word. Verse 7 says, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” It tells us that even though the Sabbath rests for God's people, only those who strive to enter the Sabbath according to the Word can receive the promise. We are all God's people in the covenant of rest. This covenant is in effect until the Word of God gives us rest. Instead of following the example of disobedient Israel, you should try to believe in the promise and enter into rest.