When I was in college I learned to rappel as part of my military instruction. To rappel you get into a in a waist harness and a rope is run through the harness. To go down a cliff or off a helicopter skid all you have to do is to release the rope from the hand behind your back as you push off with your legs. To stop just put your hand back into your back. I found all my weight was supported by the rope while my hand rested in my back. I could stay there as long as I wanted with no effort on my part. The only necessity to be able to rest was that I place my hand in position on my back.
The author of Hebrews tells us that God will allow us to find His rest. And He will support us in this rest. The key idea of the passage is we must be diligent to enter the rest God has provided for His people. And there are two necessities by which we are to enter this rest.
I. We Must Cling to the Word of God
The first necessity by which we are to enter this rest God has provided for His people is we must cling to the Word of God. We must have faith that the Bible is God’s Word. We must cling to it as our source of authority. In verses 12-13 the author describes the character of the Word of God for us.
A. The revelation of its character
First we notice the revelation of its character. And there are two aspects to the revelation of the character of the Word of God.
1. It is alive
First, the Word of God is alive. What does the author mean that the Word of God is living? It is relevant. The Word of God is never out of date. The application of the Word may change from generation to generation but its relevance to life is always contemporary. It speaks to our own hearts with the clarity of a freshly written document. It does, that is, if we have prepared our hearts to hear it. We may lack discernment in seeing what is right or wrong if we’ve not accustomed ourselves to hear from the Word. The author of Hebrews describes this in chapter 5. At the end of the chapter he says, “”Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” But even someone who has been newly acquainted with the Word of God can receive nourishment if his or her heart is open to hear it. Peter says in his first letter if our hearts are filled with dishonesty we will not be able to hear its message. And Peter uses an interesting word play in that passage. He says we cannot be filled with the un-deceitful Word of God if we haven’t repented of our deceitfulness. So please don’t think you’ll find joy in God’s life giving Word if you are not willing to turn from your sin. You can read it all you want but if you will not read it with a repentant heart God will not make it come alive to you and bring you the joy of hearing His voice.
But the wonderful truth of the matter is God’s Word is living. It ought to excite the heart of every person who is set to seek God and find Him. God said we must come to Him with the faith that believes He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. When we come to God’s Word we must set our heart to receive from Him by believing it. Now some passages of Scripture may be more profitable for someone to read than other passages but the truth is every portion of Scripture teaches us about God. And for this reason we must come to it expectantly. Each time before you read the Scripture, pray and ask God to open your heart to reveal Himself to you. God has said He wants to make Himself known to us so believe His promise. But if you will not come in faith, believing and trusting Him and His Word don’t expect such a response from the Word of God.
The Word of God is relevant to our lives because God knows the heart of mankind. The issues with which He deals in His Word are issues that touch each person. This is why God is able to say, “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man.” God knows how to communicate to the human heart and He has done this through His Word. The Word of God is living. Have you experienced the living power of the Word of God? Have you found it speaking directly to the issues of your heart as you read or hear from it? I know this has been the testimony of some of you. You have asked God for direction through His Word and He has given you the answer.
But let us be careful so we do not treat it like one of those magic eight balls in which you ask it a question and it gives you the answer according to your own whims. God does answer people through His Word. But He answers those who really want Him and His kingdom. If God does not answer you is it because you have really wanted your answer instead of His answer? Have you refused to hear His answer? Have you said, “Tell me anything but this Lord”? I hope you would not be like those in Jeremiah’s day who said they were seeking God’s Word but were looking for affirmation of their own self-centered desires. In Jeremiah 42, the people who were left in Jerusalem asked Jeremiah for help. They said they wanted to know whether they should go to Egypt or stay in Jerusalem. They said, “Please pray for us to the Lord your God that the Lord your God may tell us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.” The Lord did tell Jeremiah what to do. He told the people to stay in Jerusalem and He would bless them. Jeremiah 43 records their response. It says, “As soon as Jeremiah . . . finished telling all the people all the words of the LORD their God” (they said) “You are telling a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, “You are not to enter Egypt.” What was their problem? They had their own plans, their own dreams and they wanted them sanctioned by the Lord. But when the Lord would not sanction their plans they changed the Word of God. They said, “The Bible doesn’t have anything to say about where I should live. The Bible doesn’t say anything about whom I should marry. The Bible doesn’t say anything about what I should do with my spare time.” The truth of the matter is the Word of God is filled with wisdom for our instruction. “It is profitable for doctrine for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous living so the man and woman of God should be fully equipped for every good work. Those in Jeremiah’s day did not find God’s appointed place for them because they refused to submit themselves to the Word of God. Will you? God’s living Word speaks with the authority to say we had better pay attention if we would enter God’s rest.
2. It is active
The second aspect to the revelation of the character of the Word of God is it is active. Not only is the Word relevant to what we experience today but also it is accomplishing the purpose for which God has sent it out. He has said His Word will not return empty-handed. In Isaiah 55 He says, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” God’s Word is actively accomplishing its purposes in our lives. If we agree with God’s Word in our lives, that is if we believe it, it will bring to us salvation and great spiritual prosperity in our lives. If we disbelieve His Word it will lead to our destruction. But in either case it will accomplish His purposes. We cannot stop His Word.
The author describes the Word as that which is like a sharp two-edged sword. The Word of God, as a sword, accomplishes its purpose. Unlike a physical sword that pierces and divides bone from bone, this sword works spiritual internal surgery. It separates between the thoughts and intentions of the heart. God’s Word works in such a way as to bring conviction into the life of a person. The Scripture says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else . . . who can understand it?” However, the Word of God penetrates even to the heart and reveals those thoughts and intentions of our hearts that are not in tune with God. God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts nor my ways your ways.” How then do we know God’s thoughts? We find them in His Word. And His Word shows us how we need to change our thoughts to conform to His thoughts. This is the spiritual internal surgery of the Word of God. Are you submitting yourself to its cutting action? Will you allow God’s Word to penetrate your thoughts and intentions and cut out that which is opposed to God? The old saying is true; God’s Word will separate you from sin or sin will separate you from God’s Word.
Unfortunately today many will hear the Word of God and what it says but will harden their hearts against its work. They know the Scripture says this is right or wrong but will instead insist the Word of God must make exceptions for them. They refuse to humble themselves and submit to its authority. They want to be the authority instead of allowing God’s Word to be. In this they end up in some pseudo-Christian environment in which they call themselves Christians and yet will not fully submit to the Christ of whom they claim to be a part. But if we want to enter God’s rest we must cling to His Word. It is only available to those who will do so.
B. The reason for its character
Now having seen the revelation of the character of God’s Word we come to the reason for its character. And so let us examine the reason for its character. Why could we say God’s Word is so effective to root out sin? Why does it cut like a sharp two-edged sword? Verse 13 answers this question. “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Behind God’s Word is His penetrating gaze. There is nothing hidden from His sight. He sees us, not just our actions but also our heart attitudes. He sees it all and uses His Word to reveal it! “All things are open and laid bare” to His eyes. We are helpless; we are unprotected. There is no place to hide from the penetrating gaze of Almighty God. We are naked before Him. There is no armor, no covering, sufficient to protect us from God’s eye. There is no kryptonite to keep God from seeing into the walls of our heart.
The author makes a play on words here. Literally the end of verse 13 says, “All things are laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we must give an account,” or to whom we must give a word. If our word conforms to God’s Word then we will be accepted. If we have our trust planted firmly in God’s Word and its work in our life then we will enter His rest. But if we reject God’s Word we reject God’s rest. Please do not think you can have the rest of God unless you cling to the Word of God. Unless you take God’s Word as your source of authority you cannot have God’s rest. It is the plumb line for our lives. It is the answer to how to live. If it doesn’t penetrate our heart and life how can we expect the sweet rest of God to penetrate it. This is the very difficulty with which the author of Hebrews was dealing. The people were not allowing faith in the Word of God to gain hold in their daily living. They were saying one thing with their mouths but their hearts and lives were following something else. Only an active faith, through the active Word of God, can bring someone into God’s promised rest. Only a faith that lives out what it says it believes can bring you into the rest God is willing to give you. But you must have a faith which is energized by the living and enduring Word of God. And you can only have that if you have been truly born again. This is what Peter says in His first letter. “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, the living and enduring Word of God.” If the seed of God’s Word has not taken firm root in you then you will not find God’s rest. If we are to enter God’s rest we must cling to the Word of God.