Hebrews 4:12 — “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double–edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

When we designed our church we intentionally made the cross prominent. As you enter our church from the parking lot, you immediately see the cross over the door. Then, lined up with that cross is another cross above the doors that lead from the narthex into the nave. Continuing in a straight line through those two crosses, you come to the cross above the altar. Above the altar, on the roof of our church is another very large cross. The cross of Christ is very important to us, and so we wanted to make sure that it was a main focus in our building.

And we have done the same thing in designing our stained glass windows. You will notice that there is a large cross which is very prominently displayed in each of the windows. It is the largest symbol in each window. And, especially as the light shines through the windows on a bright day, those crosses take on a very glorious appearance. The cross is glorious to us, because it is through our Lord’s death on the cross that our salvation has been purchased.

And as we have seen in our sermons on these windows, the message of each symbol leads us to the cross and teaches us something about our Lord’s sacrifice, and what it means for us. The same thing is true of this window we are considering tonight. It is message will take us again to the cross. And on the way, it will teach us some very important things. So, this evening let’s take a look at another of our stained glass windows.

The one we are considering this evening is an open Bible. On one page is a picture of two stone tablets with the numbers one through ten written on them in Roman numerals. These obviously are meant to represent the tablets with the ten commandments that Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai. Then, the other page in the Bible has on it the picture of an oil lamp which is brightly burning. Then running through the center of the Bible is a large sword. You probably noticed at the top of this sword is the appearance of a cross.

The connection with our text from Hebrews is apparent. Both the window and the text are about the Word of God, the words of the Bible. That, in fact, is the first thing that we notice in our text. In speaking about the words of the Bible, it refers to them as the Word of God. In doing this, the writer of Hebrews has in mind what St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God.” Very simply, this means that the different writers of the Bible were moved by God the Holy Spirit to sit down and pick up their pen and write. And what they wrote was not their own ideas and thoughts, but the very words which God wanted them to write. So, reading the Bible is unlike reading any other book. For the Bible is not the word of men, but the very Word of God.

Now, when we say that the Bible is God’s Word, this means even more than to just say that the Bible is a book that God wrote a long time ago. In other words, the Bible does more than just tell us about God. In the Bible, God actually engages us and deals with us. This is brought out in our text, when it says, “The Word of God is active and living.” That means that it does something. The Bible is not a book of dead, outdated words from the past. It is a living Word. It is God speaking to us now. And when God speaks, things happen. This word of God does something. As God says through the Prophet Isaiah, “My Word will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

God’s Word is active and living, and it is also powerful and effective. Our text says that it is “sharper than any double–edged sword.” A double–edged sword was a very powerful weapon in its day. It was a short, light, sword that Roman soldiers carried. Because it was light in weight, it could be wielded quickly, and with two blades it could cut in both directions. It proved to be a very effective weapon. But our text says it can’t even begin compare with the power of God’s Word. God’s Word is “sharper than any double–edged sword, that penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” God’s Word cuts deeply, all the way to the soul. This power and effectiveness of God’s Word is depicted in our window by the sword that runs through the Bible.

But notice again the sword in our window also has the appearance of a cross. This reminds us that this sword is different from the one carried by the Roman soldier. The purpose of the Roman soldier’s sword was to kill, the purpose of this sword is to give life. But as in the case of the cross, there must first be death before that new life can occur. In other words, the Bible must first kill the sinner before it can make him alive with God.

Now this killing and making alive that the Bible does is brought out also in our window. It is found in the two symbols on the two pages of the Bible. The symbol of the tablets with the ten commandments represents God’s Law. All of God’s Law is summed up in the ten commandments. Then the symbol of the lamp on the other page represents the Gospel, the Good News of salvation by God’s grace in Jesus Christ. As any of our confirmation students can undoubtedly tell you, these are the two messages of the entire Bible: Law and Gospel. These are the two ways that God speaks to us in the Bible. He speaks to you with Law and He speaks to you with Gospel.

Although both Law and Gospel are from God, each has a different purpose. The purpose of the Law is sometimes to guide us and show us how to live according to God’s will. But the main purpose of the Law is to kill the sinner or the Old Adam in us. The prophet Jeremiah has this purpose of the Law in mind when He writes, “‘Is not My Word like fire,’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces.’” The Law does this by showing us that we personally are sinners against God, and then showing us that the wages of sin is death and condemnation. The purpose of the Law is to kill every bit of security that we might have in our own righteousness and works as a means of salvation. As our text from Hebrews says, the Law is like a sword that cuts deeply and “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” The Law goes very deep inside us and shows us what we really are as sinners, and what we really deserve because of our sins.

An example of this is seen in St. Peter’s Pentecost Day sermon. The law in that sermon penetrated deeply into the hearts of many in the crowd, so that we are told that they were “cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers what shall we do?’” That’s what the Law of God does. It puts the sinner to death. And this Law of God is depicted in the two tablets in our window.

But then in our window, on the other page of the Bible, we see a lamp. This represents the other message from God in the Bible. It represents the Gospel. Now we know the purpose of a lamp. It is to bring light into a dark place. And that’s exactly what the Gospel does. It brings the Light of Jesus Christ into the darkness of our sin, death, and condemnation. It tells us that though we are dead in our trespasses and sins, there is a Savior.

And now, once again, we have arrived at the cross. The message of the Gospel is that Jesus, the Son of God, is the Savior because He has gone to the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His suffering and sacrifice have redeemed us from sin and death. This Gospel is the message that God speaks to us once the Law has shown us our true condition and made us repentant of our sins.

And now all the benefits that Christ earned for sinners on the cross He brings to us through the Gospel. The Gospel is like a light shining in a dark place. In the midst of the darkness of sin and death, it shows us the way to salvation and eternal life through Christ. As we sang in our sermon hymn:

That’s the lamp in our window.

So, the sword in our window cuts deeply into our hearts and puts us to death through the Law. But through the Gospel that sword has become a scalpel which has given us a new heart and new life, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior, who now comes to us in God’s Word. That’s the picture that we have in this window.

As a congregation we are strongly committed to the Bible. We are committed to the Bible because we believe it is God’s inspired, inerrant Word. But even more, we are committed to the teachings of the Bible because we love our Savior, who first loved us. It is in response to His great love, which we see in the cross, that we trust Him and believe that His Words in Holy Scripture are the words of salvation and eternal life.

And so this evening we dedicate this window which pictures our commitment to Christ and His Word. Amen.