The Sword

The Sword

There are many opinions concerning God’s Word. The more opinions there are, the less oneness there is. Having your own ideas about the Word is often considered to be independence, in contrast to all those who repeat what others have said before them. We live in an age of conflict, with people saying that you have to fight for your personal point of view. People break with the old and the new; they take sides and choose points of view, all according to whether a person is weak or strong. People’s minds are in turmoil; a thousand voices call out that they have found the right thing, yet often it is only a new invention instead of the old truth. Those who shout loudest do not always have the best merchandise; they also are apt to lower their price in order to find buyers. The waters of Siloam that flow quietly go deeper; they don’t make much noise; they don’t dilute their truths in order to get many followers. Their rivers do not flow according to people’s hearts in order to bow to them, but whoever wants to drink its water must himself bow at its bank. There you can drink of life, not opinions; of fellowship in the body of Christ, not of divisions.

There is too much talk and too little action. People speak much about God’s Word, but they use it all too little.

Let us use an example of how God’s Word is being treated. Five brothers have the sword of the Spirit (God’s Word) lying in front of them. The first one says about the sword, “Well, in my opinion, it is like this . . . .” The second brother says, “I understand it in this way . . . .” The third brother says, “The way I view the matter, it . . . .” The fourth brother says, “I have always assumed and have always heard it explained that . . . .” And so each one, with his chosen wisdom attempts to surpass the others with their confused opinions and understanding of the sword. The fifth brother, standing there and listening to their conversation, is filled with zeal because of the others’ folly; He grips the sword (instead of preaching about it) and swings it powerfully against the four brothers, cutting down all their imposing philosophical musings without giving them any quarters, saying, “You fools! The way to understand the sword is to use it!” Then opinions fall silent, understandings collapse, views run their way, and the practical and simple truth is revealed over a heap of opinions and assumptions lying in ruins.

The purposes of the sword are understood only after it pierces the heart, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. The thoughts and intents of the heart are not to judge the sword. Peter used the sword so that they were cut to the heart. (When he saw the effect of it, he understood fully its intended purpose and its power). All those who use the sword of the Spirit in the power of the Spirit have only one opinion of the sword, which the Spirit Himself reveals to them. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same opinion.” 1 Cor. 1:10. The fountainhead of the meaning of life is its effects, not the head’s interpretations. Those who use God’s Word will rejoice together, for they have garnered the same thoughts concerning its wonderful characteristics and its undreamt of effects in the school of the Word. Therefore they are firm in the same opinion which life itself has formed for them.

Many people desire the fullness of the Spirit as a pleasant blessing, but not so many of them want to use the sword of the Spirit. In order to be able to use the sword of the Spirit on others, you yourself must have experienced its sharp edge. Those who do not use it on themselves will not use it on others either. Therefore such a person will present a false love that says, “You must not wound anyone.” A sword that does not wound? In other words, only beautiful, poetic expressions about God’s Word without its wounding and healing power! The sword is sharpened and polished in order to be given into the hand of the slayer. Ezek. 21:11. Here all false love in which the flesh wraps itself must yield to the power of life. The power of life results in the death of the flesh and all its opinions and assumptions, until all that is left is life’s fullness, with all of its own clear expressions and thoughts that are not divided against themselves.

The flesh is content with talking about Christianity; life requires an active Christianity. One of its first acts is to hew down talking Christianity like a tree without good fruits.

Try and you will discover that the sword of the Spirit will never become dull because it is being used; on the contrary, you will become powerless by not using it. You will fall prey to the thousands of religious opinions about the Word that are current in our days; you will reap emptiness and lose life’s content. Paul exhorts us with the following words, “Let no one defraud you of your reward, taking delight in false humility . . . .” Col. 2:18. Many people present humility as the opposite of battle preparedness. Humility is not something that vacillates or is soft or cowed down. Humility is having a mind that bows clearly and decisively under God’s will in order to do what He says. Humility is to bow to what is right. Besides a false, soft love, there is a false, soft humility, tolerance, and forbearance. It is these false virtues—Satan’s copy of the fruits of the Spirit—that Paul warns against. They are so much more deceptive as they present themselves in a form of spirituality and in Jesus’ name. However, their motive and their aim is simply to spare the flesh. There is therefore no one who finds men of the Spirit with the Spirit’s sword as hard, so inclined to wound, so unloving, as those who possess such false virtues. They immediately cry out about love, about harsh judgments, and about a lack of humility if just the utmost point of the sword touches them. All their false virtues are also truly pleasant for the flesh. Many people who have not understood their state have laid the sword down and have lost their reward. In these days we have a multitude of believers who blow their trumpets for these false virtues, and many people speak well about them; nevertheless, God and those who have understanding call out, “Woe to you!”

Those who have understanding, who find each other in the unity of the Spirit, enter into the great purpose of life: God’s accomplishment of His plan with man. They become one.