The Judge of the Divine Word – Part 2 – Hebrews 4:12-13

A due, holy consideration of the omniscience of Christ is a great encouragement unto the meanest and weakest believers, who are upright and sincere in their faith and obedience. To this purpose are all these properties of Christ proposed unto us, and to be improved by us. They all are suited to give encouragement unto us in our way and course of obedience. Hence is he able to take care of and to encourage the least beginnings of grace in the hearts of his disciples. It is his office to take care of the whole seed of God, of all the work of the Spirit of grace. This he could not do without that all-discerning ability which is here ascribed unto him. By this he takes notice of the beginning, increase, growth, and decays of it, from first to last. Hence he says of himself, that he “will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax,” Matt. 12:20. Be our spiritual strength but like that which is naturally in a bruised reed, which is the next degree to none at all, he will not break it; that is, he will take care that it be not bruised, despised, or discouraged, but will cherish it, and add strength unto it. The smoking of flax also expresseth the least degree imaginable of grace; yet neither under his eye and care shall this be quenched. – John Owen