The Penetrating Word of God

God’s Word is beyond all we can think or imagine in both wisdom and power. God has spoken and He speaks. His Word is living; and it gives life (Jn 6:63; Heb 4:12). It also searches and judges (Heb 4:13). It creates and it destroys. The Word of God does not fail to accomplish what God sends it to do.

When the Holy Spirit implants the Word of God into the good soil of an elect soul (Mt 13:8; Jas 1:21), the seed of His Word takes root and grows within the heart and mind of the one who was made spiritually alive by the very same Word (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). God sends a preacher to sow the Word; and by God’s design it works to harden the hearts of some, while it nourishes and cleanses others.

These two groups of people comprise the whole of humanity throughout history. In the beginning, God spoke all things into existence. His works were finished from the foundation of the world (Heb 4:3); and all that He did was known to Him (Acts 15:18). God is the architect and builder of all things; for from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36; Heb 3:4; 11:10).

We know these facts from one source — the Word of God. All that God has revealed to us regarding that which He intends for us to know is written in the Holy Bible. One person receives and believes the special revelation of God, to the saving of his soul (Jn 1:12–13). Another person rejects God’s revelation of Himself; and he is damned for eternity. The divine logos is described as a double-edged sword that is sharp and active (Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16; 2:12; 19:15, 21). It cuts and separates.

It is utter vanity for a person to judge the Word of God instead of being judged by it. That is exactly what disobedient unbelievers do. Without the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:17), the natural man is not a lover of God (Jn 5:42) nor the truth of the Gospel (2 Thess 2:10). In fact, zealous unbelievers will twist the Scriptures, in order to promote sin and sinful lifestyles. In their hearts, they hate God and His Word (Rom 1:30; Jn 7:7; 15:18–25). This is why they killed the prophets in the Old Testament, murdered Jesus, and martyred all the apostles of Jesus except John, who they persecuted and imprisoned.

God’s Word tells us that the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom 1:18). All have sinned as children of wrath (Eph 2:1–3), but not all are condemned to eternal punishment in fiery hell (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7). Those whom God has delivered from slavery to sin and into the kingdom of God are no longer under the condemnation of God (Rom 8:1). As the propitiation for sins of believers throughout the world, Jesus shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of sins committed by His chosen people against Him (Eph 1:7; 1 Pet 1:19). Simply put, Jesus saves the people of God from the righteous wrath of God (Titus 3:5).

Believers in Jesus are taught by God’s Spirit to understand God’s written Word (Jn 14:26; 16:13). The written Word sanctifies the saints into conformity to Christ Jesus, the Word of God incarnate (Jn 1:14; Rom 8:29). As the perfect God-man, Jesus reveals God the Father to us that we might walk by God’s Spirit in holiness (Gal 5:15, 25; 1 Pet 1:15–16). This is the will of God, for the people of God, as it is revealed in the Word of God.

God upholds all things by the Word of His power (Heb 1:3), even the wicked for the day of evil (Prv 16:4). Our primary example was Judas Iscariot, the son of perdition (Jn 17:12), prophesied by David and inscripturated by him some 1000 years before he betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ (Ps 41:9; Jn 6:64, 71; 1 Cor 11:23). David prophesied in the power of the Holy Spirit, who has given us all the Holy Writ (2 Pet 1:20–21).

The Scripture cannot be broken because God does not change (Heb 6:17). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). Heaven and earth will pass away but God’s Word will not pass away (Mt 24:35). It stands forever as the eternal Word (Rev 14:6). It is from everlasting to everlasting. God’s Word abides, forever (Is 40:8; 1 Pet 1:23).

God preserves His written Word as only He can do. Our adversary, the devil, is a liar and only seeks to destroy humanity with his deceptions (Jn 8:44). The Word of truth sets us free from the devil’s stronghold on the minds of people (2 Cor 4:4). The serpent lied to Adam and Eve (Gen 3), resulting in their death. Nothing has changed. The father of lies is ever leading people on the wide way to destruction through his media empire (Mt 7:13; Eph 2:2).

Meanwhile, God’s Word teaches us God’s means for advancing His kingdom on earth…the called man of God preaching the Word of God (Acts 16:10; 1 Cor 1:18, 23; 2:2; 4:1; 2 Tim 4:2). Of course, sinners consider Gospel preaching to be foolishness because they have no capacity for understanding God or His ways (1 Cor 2:14–15). Having not received the Spirit of Christ because they do not belong to Him (Rom 8:9), they rebel against God in a demonstration of reprobation (Rom 9).

A remnant of people from the mass of humanity are chosen by God for salvation (Rom 11:5–6; 1 Thess 1:4; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 2:9). When the man of God preaches, the Holy Spirit calls all men everywhere to repent of their sinful rebellion and turn to God (Acts 17:30). The Spirit makes the Gospel call effectual in God’s elect redeemed people, in God’s appointed time, in order to add them to Christ’s church (Mt 16:18).

The Word of God penetrates every aspect of their being. Conviction of sin is followed by the grace of repentance (Acts 5:31; 11:18). The elect soul is made alive to God (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13), as the Spirit causes that one to be born again of God (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3). The Word gives life that is new (Rom 6:4), abundant (Jn 10:10), and eternal (Jn 5:24; 6:63, 68; Acts 13:48). This is the life of God in the soul of man (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; Gal 2:20).

The abundant life is the sanctified life (Rom 15:16; 1 Cor 6:11; 1 Thess 5:23; 1 Pet 1:2). God’s Word causes the true believer to be set apart from the world. Holiness in the saint is a product of the indwelling Spirit of holiness (Jn 17:17; Rom 1:4; 1 Pet 1:15–16). Just as the Spirit of God has penetrated the soul; so, the Word is at work in the depths of the believer’s heart and mind.

The elect, redeemed, regenerate soul receives God’s Word by God’s grace. The believer in God’s Word rejoices in the powerful effect the Holy Bible has had and is now having on his life. This is the gift of God that never stops giving…life to those in Christ. It is judgment to those outside His reign of grace. May these truths truly penetrate your mind to understand and be in your heart to delight in Him, who is Himself the unfailing Word, forever and ever. Amen.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

September 19, 2023