THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews
Message Two—The Dividing of Soul and Spirit
Scripture Reading: Heb. 3:12-13; 4:1-2, 12-13
I. We need to beware of having an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God—Heb. 3:12-13: (1998 ST, msg. 10)
A. Unbelief is so evil because it insults the living, faithful, and almighty God, preventing us from entering into Christ as our Sabbath rest—Heb. 3:10, 19; Psa. 103:7. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
B. Although God is living and faithful, the evil heart is hardened against Him, and its unbelief causes us to turn away from Him—Heb. 3:7-8, 12. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
C. Nothing honors God more than our belief, and nothing dishonors and insults Him more than our unbelief—Num. 13:31-33; 14:7-9, 24, 30. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
D. In order to be people of faith who are well pleasing to God, we need to exercise our spirit of faith and keep our hearts turned to the Lord, looking away to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith—Heb. 11:6; 12:2; 2 Cor. 4:13. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
II. “The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart”—Heb. 4:12: (1998 ST, msg. 10)
A. The children of Israel are a type of us, the New Testament believers (1 Cor. 10:6a, 11), in our participation in the full salvation of God: (1998 ST, msg. 10)
1. In the first stage we receive Christ and are redeemed and delivered from the world just as the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
2. In the second stage we become wanderers in following the Lord, just as the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness; our wandering always takes place in our soul. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
3. In the third stage we partake of and enjoy Christ in a full way, just as the children of Israel partook of and enjoyed the riches of the good land; this is experienced in our spirit. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
3. The Hebrew believers were wondering in their mind what to do with their Hebrew religion, and this wondering in their mind was a wandering in their soul, not an experience of Christ in their spirit. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
B. The writer of the book of Hebrews advised the Hebrew believers not to stagger in the wandering of their soul but to press on into their spirit to partake of and to enjoy the heavenly Christ: (1998 ST, msg. 10)
1. The very Christ who is sitting on the throne in heaven (Rom. 8:34) is also now in us (Rom. 8:10), that is, in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), where the habitation of God is (Eph. 2:22). (1998 ST, msg. 10)
2. At Bethel, the house of God, the habitation of God, which is the gate of heaven, Christ is the ladder that joins earth to heaven and brings heaven to earth—Gen. 28:12-17, John 1:51. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
3. Since today our spirit is the place of God’s habitation, it is now the gate of heaven, where Christ is the ladder that joins us, the people on earth, to heaven, and brings heaven to us. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
4. Hence, whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter through the gate of heaven and touch the throne of grace in heaven through Christ as the heavenly ladder—Heb. 4:16. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
5. The staggering Hebrew believers were wandering in their soul and had neglected their spirit, but the new testament is absolutely a matter in our spirit, not in our soul—Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22; Gal. 6:18. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
C. The Hebrew believers’ soul, with its wondering mind, its doubting concerning God’s way of salvation, and its considering of its own interests, had to be broken by the living, operative, and piercing word of God that their spirit might be divided from their soul—Heb. 4:12: (1998 ST, msg. 10)
1. As the marrow is concealed deep in the joints, so the spirit is deep in the soul—Psa. 51:6; 1 Pet. 3:4. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
2. Just as the dividing of the marrow from the joints requires mainly the breaking of the joints, the dividing of the spirit from the soul requires the breaking of the soul. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
D. Whenever we read the Bible, it must be living, energizing, and sharp enough to divide our soul from our spirit and discern our thoughts and intentions, revealing which are of and for the self and which are of and for God—Heb. 4:12: (1998 ST, msg. 10)
1. We must mix the word with faith by means of all prayer in spirit in order for it to be living and operative—Heb. 4:2; Eph. 6:17-18. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
2. The living word of God must pierce into our being and deliver us from our wondering mind and wandering soul into Christ as the Sabbath rest in our spirit. (1998 ST, msg. 10)
a. The knowledge of the truth does not come from a daily self-examination; there is no spiritual value to constantly asking ourselves whether we are of the spirit or the soul. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, (Set 2) Vol. 37: General Messages (1), msg. 25)
b. All we have to do is allow God’s word to shine within us. This word is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is so sharp that it can pierce through bones. Once this word comes in, we will immediately know what is of the soul and what is of the spirit. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, (Set 2) Vol. 37: General Messages (1), msg. 25)
E. We do not acquire this discerning power through a process of learning, but through inward enlightenment. Our hope before the Lord is that His word will come in, shine, and show us the part of our personal life and work that is soulish and the part that is spiritual. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, (Set 2) Vol. 37: General Messages (1), msg. 25)
III. May the Lord be gracious to us and grant us inward light, so that we have an inward seeing and an inward discernment. Discerning the spirit from the soul is the foundation of Christian discernment. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, (Set 2) Vol. 37: General Messages (1), msg. 25)