Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand.

 

Wednesday, August 30, 2023


Psalms 148; 149

1 Kings 1:1-31

Acts 21:27-39


Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand.


In this pagan temper tantrum people call the “culture war”, there is a certain attack which, like all other attacks, reveals the truth of the gospel if you know where to look. You would have heard of it; I am referring to this idea that words can constitute violence. The knee-jerk politically-minded response is to scoff, because violence is something involving sticks and stones, whereas names have no power to hurt. But let’s spend a moment looking at this idea with a Biblical mindset, granting that words may be able to cause something approaching violence, and investigate where those types of words might be found.


If we were to believe what the Bible teaches us about humans and humanity, we would have to admit that every single human being bears the image of God in a way that cannot be turned on or off (Gen 1:27). A modern type might describe it as the spark of divinity which resides in all of us. We would also have to accept that the Bible teaches that there is no such thing as an atheist; there are only rebels, and former rebels (Rom 1:18-23).


If, then, there is something about the high praises of God that bear resemblance to a two-edged sword, we see that this “two-edged sword” is both the word of God in general (Heb 4:12) as well as the explicit words spoken by Jesus (Rev 1:16).


Since, then, this word of God, the words spoken by the Word, Jesus Christ, resemble a two-edged sword, we could say that this constitutes a type of violence. These are the words that judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart; through these words we are all naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account (Heb 4:12-13). The question is: how does your relationship with your Creator affect the words He speaks to you? Are they a two-edged sword? Or has He beautified you with salvation, and become His high praises?

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