"For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his
sight:but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing
then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:12-15).
The apostle sets before us the instrument which God employs to judge the unbelief and all the
workings of the heart which tend to lead the believer into departure from the position of faith, and
which tend to hide God from him by inducing him to satisfy his flesh and to seek for rest in the
wilderness.
To the believer who is upright in heart this judgment is of great value, for it is that which enables
him to discern all that has a tendency to hinder his progress or make him slacken his steps. It is
the Word of God which, as the revelation of God, and the expression of what He is and of what
His will is in all circumstances that surround us, judges everything in the heart which is not of
Him. It is more penetrating than a two-edged sword. Living and energetic, it separates all that is
most intimately linked together in our hearts and minds. Whenever nature _ the "soul" and its
feelings _ mingles with that which is spiritual, it brings the edge of the sword of the living truth
of God between the two, and judges the hidden movements of the heart respecting them. It
discerns all the thoughts and intentions of the heart. But it has another character:Coming from
God, it brings us into His presence; and all those things which it forces us to discover, it sets in
our conscience before the eye of God Himself. Nothing is hidden; all is naked and manifested to
the eye of Him with whom we have to do.
Such is the true help, the mighty instrument of God to judge everything in us that would hinder
us from pursuing our course through the wilderness with joy. What a precious instrument this is:
solemn and serious in its operation, but of priceless and infinite blessing in its effects and
consequences.
It is an instrument which, in its operation, does not allow "the desires of the flesh and of the
mind" liberty to act; which does not permit the heart to deceive itself; but which procures us
strength, and places us without any consciousness of evil in the presence of God, to pursue our
course with joy and spiritual energy.
But there is another help, one of a different character, to aid us in our passage through the
wilderness. We have a High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
He has in all things been tempted like ourselves, sin apart; so that He can sympathize with our
infirmities. Christ of course had no evil desires. He was tempted in every way, but apart from sin.
Sin had no part in it at all. But I do not wish for sympathy with the sin that is in me; I detest it;
I wish it to be mortified_judged unsparingly. This the Word does. For my weakness and my
difficulties I seek sympathy; and I find it in the priesthood of Jesus. It is not necessary, in order
to sympathize with me, that a person should feel at the same moment that which I am feeling_
rather the contrary. If I am suffering pain, I am not in a condition to think as much of another’s
pain. But in order to sympathize with him I must have a nature capable of appreciating his pain.
Thus it is with Jesus when exercising His priesthood. He is in every sense beyond the reach of
pain and trial, but He is Man. Not only has He the human nature which in time suffered grief, but
He experienced the trials a saint has to go through more fully than any of us has. Thus His heart,
free and full of love, can entirely sympathize with us, according to His experience of ill, and
according to the glorious liberty which He now has to provide and care for us. This encourages
us to hold fast our profession in spite of the difficulties that beset our path; for Jesus concerns
Himself about those difficulties according to His own knowledge and experience of what they are,
and according to the power of His grace. (From Synopsis of the Books of the Bible.)