DAVID AND GOLIATH: THE SPIRIT OF FAITH AND THE SPIRIT OF FEAR
Chapter 18
YOU ARE THE SHEATH AND
THE
SWORD OF THE LORD
02-13-05
Scroll down or click here for diagram.
THE TWOEDGED (LOGOS AND RHEMA) SWORD OF THE LORD
Commentary: You are “the sword of the Lord” (Jud 7:18,20), and your body is the sheath (scabbard, holster: Acts 2:1-13). The sword is the Word of God. The Swordsmith creates and “proves” (Rom 12:2) His sharp sword by first submitting the raw metal to extreme melting heat in the burning fiery furnace, which separates the impurities from the base metal. He then pours the molten metal into a model or mold in the form of the sword desired, in our case we are a twoedged sword (as was Jesus Christ: Heb 4:12 logos – seed - Law; Eph 6:17 rhema – fruit - Grace). The twoedged sword is then thrust back into the burning fiery furnace until it becomes red hot. Then the red hot sword is placed upon an anvil and smitten repeatedly with a hammer to sharpen it; and then the sharpened sword is immediately and completely immersed into water to seal its sharpness.
1.
(Jer 23:29) Is not my word
like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh
the rock in pieces?
2.
(Rom 12:1,2) I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
ye present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by
the renewing [renovating:
renewing /// restoration] of your mind, that ye may prove
[i.e. having been put to the test
successfully] what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
3.
(Heb 4:12) For the word [logos] of
God is quick [alive, lively],
and powerful [active, operative:
effective], and sharper than any twoedged 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.
4.
sharper = Gk: G5114. (to cut; more comprehensive or decisive than G2875,
as if by a single stroke; whereas that implies repeated blows, like hacking);
more keen: sharper.
5.
(Luke 8:11) Now the parable
is this: The seed is the word [logos]
of God.
6.
(Eph 6:17) And take the
helmet of salvation, and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word [rhema] of God:
7.
(John 12:47,48) And if any
man hear my words [rhema: everybody heard the word in the Sower Soweth The Seed
parable], and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge
the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my
words [rhema - Grace], hath one that judgeth him: the
word [logos - Law] that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in
the last day.
Commentary:
The righteous wrath of God the Father
burns, “For our god is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29), against all sin in the
“iron furnace” of Egypt (Deut 4:20), a furnace of melting heat which softens
the hardness of our hearts and separates sin from us. The love of God the Son (“And the Word [logos]was made flesh, and dwelt
among us” John 1:14) is the hammer that smites the melted metal (prepared
ground) of our hearts, that drives the seed of God’s word
deep into our softened hearts like nails into a wooden cross, and further
shapes and sharpens us (to shape and to sharpen are one). God
the Holy Spirit is the water (the rhema word of the Spirit) which washes
us (Eph 5:26) and seals the love of Jesus Christ (the seed) inside us by
encompassing us, like the water of a raindrop encompasses a speck of dust,
with the word of God. “Hast not thou made an hedge about him” (Job
1:10).
1.
hedge = Heb: to entwine, i.e. shut in (for formation, protection
or restraint: fence.
THE HEDGE ABOUT OUR BODY, THE HEDGE OF OUR BODY,
THE SHEATH OF OUR BODY IS LOVE, i.e. GOD’S WORD
(Gen
6:14) Make thee an ark [Noah’s
ark] of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch
it within and without with pitch [Sacrificial
agapao Love].
1.
pitch = Heb: to cover (spec. with bitumen); fig. to expiate or
condone, to placate or cancel: appease, make (an) atonement, cleanse,
disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, to pitch, purge
(away), put off, (make) reconcile (-liation).
(Exo
25:11) And thou shalt overlay it [the
ark of the covenant] with pure gold [Sacrificial
agapao Love], within and without
shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
THE SWORD OF THE LORD, DRAWN FROM HIS SHEATH
(Rom 8:16-19) The
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God: And if children, then heirs [a sharer by lot, inheritors]; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together [exalted to dignity in company]. For I reckon that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory [dignity, glory (-ious),
honour, praise, worship] which shall
be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God.
(Heb 10:17,20) And
their sins and iniquities [illegalities,
violation of law, wickedness: unrighteousness] will I remember no more. Now where remission [forgiveness]
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness [confidence] to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated [dedicated] for us, through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
1.
(Mat 27:50-53) Jesus, when
he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the
veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the
earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies
of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his
resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD (Joel 2: 1-11)
(Rev 19:11-16) And
I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him
was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a
name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The
Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And
out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite
the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his
vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Amen
