Hebrews 4:11-13 – God’s Word is powerful and working

Verse 11 issues a call to stay focused and diligently seek to enter the promised rest. Believers must not emulate the bad examples of the disobedient Israelites, who had their blessings forfeited through unbelief. Having sounded the warning, verses 12-13 then gave very clear indications of the power of the Word of God. The writer had been urging his readers to be practicing Christians and not just be people who merely professed the faith. He had exhorted them to be diligent in seeking to obey God. In verse 12, he began with the conjunction “for” to link the things he was going to say, to his earlier discussion. Earlier, he had called on them not to emulate the disobedient Israelites who defaulted on their entry into the rest of God. Their failure, he surmised, was due to their disobedience to the Word of God. He wanted them to know the power of the Word of God with the hope that they would be obedient to it.

Here, we are shown how God’s Word has the ability to do a powerful work in the hearts of the people who will hear, and allow it to expose their weaknesses; and then obey its prescription. He asserted that God sees and knows everything and has the ability to read our very thoughts. Hence, it would be foolhardy to disobey His life giving and sustaining Word. To ignore it would be at the perils of entering into the certainty of judgment. So in two verses, the writer called on his readers to be diligent to maintain a right heart for God. The reason he said, was because God’s powerful Word could expose sin, and nothing could be hidden from Him.

Several things indicate how the Word of God is powerful. Firstly, the Word of God is living. It is current and will never go out of date. It will speak to all issues of life for all times. Secondly, God’s Word is active. The word “active” is translated from the same word as “energy.” It simply means that the Word of God is effectual and will definitely accomplish the plan and will of God. Thirdly, it is sharper than any two-edged sword. The Word of God is able to cut deep into the core of our being. It deals with the issues of the soul and spirit.  Fourthly, it is piercing. It reaches the human conscience that remains open to God’s dealing. And finally, the Word of God is the authoritative judge of man’s thoughts and the intentions of man’s heart. The “thoughts” here is referring to negative emotions such as anger and envy that a person conceals from others. The “heart” is referring to a person’s inner most being. The implication is that the Word of God is able to judge our inner most thoughts and feelings.

God’s Word would expose sin; but never for the purpose of embarrassing, but to restore that person. A person can never deal with the sins that he or she is unaware of. That’s where the Word of God comes in, to cut through the peripherals and the fog; and get to the heart of the matter. The Word would deal with the core of a person’s life, the thoughts and the feelings; and reveal things that are offensive to God. Thus enabling a person to repent and be restored to God.

In verse 13, the writer moved from discussing about God’s Word to God Himself. Here, we see that God is omniscient. It is impossible to hide from God for He sees everything. The term “open” literally means “naked.” Our innermost being is ever naked and lay bare before God. Nothing is hidden from the eyes of God. The phrase, “… with whom we have to do” simply means we are accountable to God. The purpose of the writer was to have the readers align their hearts with God through faith. He wanted to show that finally they would have to give an account of their lives to God.  

There is a need to be serious with the Lord and His Word. No one can merely slide along in the faith and slip unnoticed into God’s promised rest. Why? His Word will find us out. The exhortation is for us to prayerfully and thoughtfully interact with The Word and the Lord Jesus. We will experience His gentle and yet healing touch when we come to the Written and the Living Word. Without a doubt, we will definitely experience a deep and abiding touch.