Being Cut to the Heart with Joy; willingly becoming a Living Sacrifice

“They were SAWN IN TWO” (Hebrews 11:37).

“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” (Hebrews 4:12 Amp.).

“Now upon hearing these things [the Word of God as preached to them by Stephen], they [the Jews] were CUT TO THE HEART AND INFURIATED, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen]” (Acts 7:54 Amp.).

In the course of faith exercised some were sawn in two, made martyrs for their faith; they are in the Faith Hall Of Fame listed in Hebrews (and the world was not worthy of them).  There are also pretenders, spawns of Jannes and Jambres, who feign to mimic holy martyrdom by deceiving many into believing they too can saw people in two, or be sawn in two, and live and be happy.  “These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit”; “They have depraved and distorted minds, and are reprobate and COUNTERFEIT and to be rejected as far as the faith is concerned” (Jude 1:19 NASB; 2 Timothy 3:8 Amp.).

Indeed, “Sawing a woman in half is a generic name for a number of stage magic tricks in which a person (traditionally a female assistant) is APPARENTLY SAWN OR DIVIDED INTO TWO or more pieces” (Wikipedia, Sawing a woman in half).  Magic is very popular today; magic is also based on deception or trickery, the modus operandi of the kingdom of darkness.

In God’s Kingdom and economy, division is more like multiplication, attrition more like nutrition, and subtraction more like addition; what God has put together, let no man separate, but also, what God has separated, let no man put together.  When man splits atoms, disaster follows; when God splits Adams, victory follows.  Often, what is divisive to us is cohesive to Him, and likewise, what is cohesive to us is divisive to Him.  It’s like we use Enron math and cooked books, whereas He uses MIT math and raw data; Einstein said that God does not play dice, but if He did, He’d win.

The losing of our souls here to gain them in the hereafter is an emotive separation, a violent thing which we naturally oppose and often object to, but a necessary thing, a division in God’s divine economy which ends in victory and multiplication and salvation.

Surgery heals, but not until it further wounds; God’s incision, God’s separating soul from spirit is a surgical strategy.  He must separate us from our sins by separating us from the soul which sinned (and therefore must surely die); but no worry, God’s endless life (in Christ Jesus in us) which He possesses and gives to us in our spirits will resurrect us.  Though it kills our hearts to lose our souls, God applies the paddles of His endless life power and brings us back from the brink of death.  He is the Great Physician indeed!

Do not be deceived by those who dare to separate only in theory and malpractice; you DO have to die to live, you DO have to embrace the cross, you DO have to be circumcised, you DO have to lose to win, surrender to victory, be judged to mercy.  We, like the father of faith must raise our knives; we must be sawn in two!  Indeed, “He [Abram] brought all these [sacrificial animals] to Him and CUT THEM IN TWO” (Genesis 15:10 NASB).

We are going to be cut to the heart, cut to the quick, by God’s sword, His scalpel; either we appreciate it (knowing how sick we are) or we foolishly become infuriated and gnash our teeth (stupidly thinking we are healthy).  The Great Physician is great not only because of His surgical skills, but also because of His perfect diagnoses and prognoses abilities.  He, better than His patients, knows what ails them, and how to heal them.   

“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a LIVING SACRIFICE” (Romans 12:1 Amp.).