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“Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”

It would be interesting to read through the Bible, imagining the sounds of hammers in the lives of people as God fulfilled his plan of salvation. For 120 years, the hammers of Noah’s family echoed through the valleys as the huge ark took shape. Moses’ hammer beat a sheet of bronze in the form of a snake, which saved the people when they looked to it and believed God’s promise. The most famous hammer sounds of history, though, took place on a hill outside of Jerusalem when a Roman soldier drove spikes into the hands and feet of Jesus. Little did that unidentified soldier know that he was dealing a death blow to Satan as he nailed Jesus to the cross. The blows of that hammer were the culmination of God’s plan to crush the devil’s power and free people from his dominion.

The crushing blow which Jesus gave to Satan by his death and resurrection resounds in the message of the gospel. This is the power of God for salvation. God’s Word is like a hammer. The Word of God recorded in the Bible has the power to lead people to saving faith in Jesus. Martin Luther wrote, “Although the Word is unimposing and seems to be nothing while it proceeds from the mouth, yet there is such boundless power in it that it makes all who cleave to it children of God.”

This is the confidence that we have in the Word: it does the work of bringing people to faith in Jesus and gives them eternal life. It can do these wonderful things because it is the inspired, errorless Word of God. When we tell people the Word of God, we don’t have to say, “I think” or “It could be.” We can assure people with the truth—God’s truth.

God wants us to get the Word out, and he will use it to produce results according to his will. God’s Word is the hammer that breaks apart the rock of unbelief and fills people with the confidence of eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Dear God, use your Word of Truth to give me assurance of my salvation through Jesus, and use me to speak your powerful Word to others. Amen.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.