Two-Edged Sword V
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
For the last few months we have been looking at the Son of Man in the seven golden candlesticks, declared of John in the Book of Revelation. Out of His mouth issues a sharp two-edges sword. The Book of Hebrews declares the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and Spirit. This is where we have been concerning ourselves.
In the Book of Colossians 2:11, Paul writes, “and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Does this actually mean our physical flesh body has been removed from us? We know the answer to that, as we are all moving around in a flesh body in the earth. So, what does Paul mean in the operation of circumcision here described?
To understand this, I suggest we look at the Book of Romans. In Chapter 6, Paul writes do we not know that we have been baptized into the death of Jesus Christ? He says we are buried with Christ in Baptism to walk in newness of life. Paul writes, our old man has been crucified with Christ that we should not serve sin. Here in the Book of Romans is the description of the removal of the body of flesh. This is the work of the cross which you and as believers are partakers of. This is the work of the Sword of the Spirit, removing the old man that the NEW MAN would come forth. This is the work the Holy Spirit is revealing in our hearts.
You and I all were born in sin and shaped in iniquity through the natural birth, as the Psalmist cries in Psalm 51. Every man born of woman comes forth in this order. Every seed brings forth of its own kind. The seed of man brings forth after Adam. Through one man’s disobedience sin and death came upon all men. We all lived in this man and were the embodiment of Him. As the embodiment of Adam, or the natural man, we did not know God. We did not know life. We were filled with the soul or natural life. Our minds and hearts were filled with that which is of the flesh. That was all we really knew. The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 2, that the spirit of man knows the things of man. He did not know God. This is the soulish life, the things of man.
The cross of Jesus Christ is our solution to know not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. It is our solution to come to the knowledge of the Lord. Through His cross we are circumcised. The circumcision is the removal of the flesh, or embodiment of the man of sin that was upon our heart. In the place of this man, the man of flesh and death, we are NOW being filled with the man of Spirit and Life. This is the circumcision, the removal of the old man from our hearts and minds and being filled with the New Man who is Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes that the first man was made a living soul and is of the earth, earthy. He is the embodiment of the earth and that pertains to that realm. He writes the second man is the Lord from heaven and is a life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is the destination of you and me. We embodied the earth man in ourselves. We are to embody the Heavenly Man, who is Christ. This embodiment is right here right now as we know Him. As we have known the man of the flesh, we manifested Him, because we embodied Him. Now that man has been removed through the work of Jesus Christ that we may bear forth the fruit of another man.
Our soul, mind, and inner man must come to the awareness of this New Man. Christ must be revealed in our hearts that we bear Him. We are made knew to be the embodiment of Jesus Christ. “Now you are the Body of Christ and members in particular.” These words that Paul wrote are not just to be ink on a page, but words written in our hearts, our core, to bear about in our bodies the reality of Jesus Christ who we contain within. Glory to God in the Highest. Our salvation has come, the crucifixion of the first and the life of the second! Glory to God!
