The Two Cuts of the Double-Edged Sword

Hebrews 4:12

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

As the Scripture describes, the living and powerful Word of God is actively speaking to us and effectively working in us. And when it comes to the promises He gives us, the Word is also sharper than a two-edged sword which cuts in two directions. First, like with Jesus, God takes us by His Spirit to the wilderness of testing and trials (Matthew 4:1) because in this place He helps us know and understand His purpose for our life and develops us according to our calling.

This place is also designed to cut our carnal ways and influence of the spirit of this world in us. This is required because our spirit needs to envelop our soul and that way we become more sensitive and responsive to the promptings of the Spirit of God instead of reasoning everything and allowing doubt and unbelief to derail us from the course God wants us to take. This makes it hard on our flesh at the beginning but the more we obey God’s promptings and mandates, the more we will take on His easy yoke and light burden (Matthew 11:28-30) as we receive His grace to do the things He has called us to do.

What is more, in this place, while God is cutting away every enemy from within us, He is also working with us for the development of the anointing that will make our calling unique that will be used in partnership with Him for the second edge of the sword that will remove every enemy of our harvest from without. This second edge of the sword will also set the captives free when we reach our place of assignment. Therefore, the greater the time of preparation we go through, the greater the anointing to fulfill God’s purpose for our life. That is why understanding our great necessity of spending time in His presence is crucial during our time of preparation as well as when we reach our place and time of assignment.

Some examples of people God took through this process of being cut in the wilderness of testing with the first edge of the sword are David, Joseph, and Esther. Each of them went through periods in which God needed to remove the things that hindered them from reaching their place of destiny. David needed to learn to conquer his fears represented in his dealings with the lion. He also needed to overcome his carnal and sensual cravings represented in his dealings with the bear. 

To explain more, a sensual craving is when we use our senses to rule our emotions. This means that if it looks good, sounds good, tastes good, feels good, or smells good, then we might think it is a good thing. Our emotions, as part of the three components of our soul, along with our mind and our will, are useful to take into consideration because they can help us sense things of God and also warn us about things of the enemy. However, it is dangerous to be ruled by our emotions when God is asking us to be ruled by His Spirit as He leads us by our spirit to do something that is unusual or that does not make sense to us. We are called to not be moved by what we see or hear with our natural senses, but to discern with our spiritual senses the source of whatever it is we are encountering in our walk with Him. Isaiah 11:1-3 says,

¹Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
    yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
² And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³ He will delight in obeying the Lord.
    He will not judge by appearance
    nor make a decision based on hearsay. NLT

This is what going through the wilderness of testing does: it helps bring our soul back to life in the areas where it was cut by the hurts and sin we committed when we were influenced by the spirit of this world so that we can make our spiritual senses strong and be able to discern the things we encounter and, according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, give each situation the proper treatment. In other words, we will show the righteousness of Jesus and our Christlikeness to those we are called to influence because we have learned to be conformed to His image and likeness.

Joseph experienced his cuts from within when he was thrown in the pit by his brothers, then sold to an Egyptian slave driver, placed as an administrator in Potiphar’s house where he was wrongly accused which got him sent to prison, before he could go to the palace. Esther also needed to go through her twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for her purification. This was needed before she found favor with the king and was chosen to become the queen that would replace Queen Vashty.

As mentioned, the other edge of the sword cuts our enemies from without. When this happens, the enemy that used to taunt and harass us because it had things in common with us through the enemies we had within will find our house clean. There’s no more fear because we have learned to walk by faith and not by sight, there is no pride because we have learned to humble and submit ourselves to God and wait for the due season He has chosen to exalts us to our place of assignment, and every idol we had raised before has been toppled. Jesus said in John 14:29-31,

“’I’ve told you this ahead of time, before it happens, so that when it does happen, the confirmation will deepen your belief in me. I’ll not be talking with you much more like this because the chief of this godless world is about to attack. But don’t worry—he has nothing on me, no claim on me. But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father’s instructions right down to the last detail. “Get up. Let’s go. It’s time to leave here.’” MSG

When it is time for us to see God use the second edge of the sword to remove our adversaries from without, there cannot be anything in common with the enemy left in us. In David’s case, we saw this when it was time for him to deal with Goliath the giant sorcerer. By this time, David’s spirit was strong and he was ready to push back the enemy of his advancement towards God’s promise to him to become King of Israel. So as he partnered with God, he saw the forceful use of the second edge of the sword that was used in him, but this time it was used to cut off the enemy of his destiny.

Joseph was also made strong through the trials that tested God’s promise to him and he was able to see the enemy of the prosperity of Egypt be dealt with. Egypt was the land he was given to rule as second in command to pharaoh and its enemy was a devastating famine. As Joseph triumphed over his enemies within during his time in the wilderness of testing, He was promoted to an important and strategic position that helped make Egypt at that time, the most powerful country on earth due to Joseph’s ability to destroy the famine in that land and his family was able to prosper there too. 

In addition, after Esther completed her period of cleansing and by staying true to her Jewish roots, she received favor with the king and, after hearing about Hamman’s plot against the Jews, she realized that she was not going to be saved even if she was in the palace. So after fasting three days, Esther went and presented herself unannounced before the king even though that was against the law. But instead of losing her life, she received the scepter of redemption. What followed was that Esther invited both the king and Hamman to dinner two days in a row and on the second day she uncovered his evil plot against her people to King Xerxes. This caused Hamman to be hung on the gallows he had lifted for Mordecai, Esther’s uncle who revealed the plot to her and commanded her to speak to the king in order to see the removal and termination of the enemy of their people. 

In essence, the two edges of the sword are used to cut us first, and when God has removed from within us everything that would hinder our advancement to our destiny, then He applies the second blade of the sword to remove the enemy from without that had tried to stop, derail, or cause us to forfeit our destiny. As we partner with God, we will be able to tell the giants in our land that the same God who gave us victory over the fears and sensual cravings within us, will now give us victory over the enemy of our calling and we will see it terminated and removed. 

Now, please pray with me. Heavenly Father, I give myself to you humbly and wholeheartedly and invite you to cut from within me every enemy that is harassing my soul and the fears as well as every sensual craving that could derail me from reaching my destiny purposed by you. I ask that as you have a hold on me, that you strip me bare of all those things so that the enemy of my calling will have nothing in common with me. Help me to love spending time in your sweet and precious presence where I can be renewed and be conformed to your image and likeness more and more each day. This way, as I partner with you, I can see the removal of the enemy of my destiny. I ask this with thanksgiving in advance, in the mighty name of Jesus. To God alone be all the glory.▪