For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, Hebrews 4:12.
If one man has a bible that distinguishes the Hebrew words for Lord by Capitalizing every letter in one form of the word (LORD), and capitalizing only the first letter in the other Hebrew word when translating (Lord), and another man had the exact same translation of the bible but it failed to distinguish between those two Hebrew names for Lord by the use of capitals, could we say that each man's bible was just as accurate?
I think that most of my readers know that one of the qualities of the King James Bible is that the King James Bible distinguishes between the word "Lord" when it is translating the word "Adonai" as opposed to "LORD" when it is translating the word "Jehovah". An astute reader of his English Bible can know the differences in two names of God just by observing the capitalizations.
In reality that is an oversimplification. One of the wonders of a King James Bible is the glorious array of names for God that are wrought by the mere shift of capitals and the combinations of titles. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD, Ezekiel 34:31. There are three names for deity in that verse. Two of them would be the same if it were not for the use of capitals.
Let's look at that verse without the benefit of distinguishing capitalizations. AND YE MY FLOCK, THE FLOCK OF MY PASTURE, ARE MEN, AND I AM YOUR GOD, SAITH THE LORD GOD. Did the two verses say the same thing? If all you were doing was listening to it be read, yes they did. But, if you were reading them, one of them would show you a distinctly different name than the other even though both are both translated as the English word "God". One of them is written as GOD, the other is written as God. Those two words are not the same, not because of the actual letters, but because of the use of capitals.
So who would have the sharper sword, the person with a bible careful to keep each capitalization exact, or the person with a bible that made no difference and only used block capital letters? Obviously the person with a bible which carefully kept each name and title of God distinct by the use of capitals would be able to discern the Godhead more perfectly as long as that person trusted the book in his hands.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known, 1st Corinthians 13:12. I pity the poor person who thinks that we can't know God like he knows us until Jesus returns. God doesn't know me by looking at me. He knows me through his word. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do, Hebrews 4:12,13.
According to that verse, God reads us through his word. God sees the lost man through the eyes of the law but yearns to see him through the word of the gospel. An encounter with the word of God is intended to reveal the innermost secrets of a lost man's heart. But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth, 1st Corinthians 14:24,25. By taking the word of God and prophesying (using God's revelation of himself in the word of God to tell a man the future) the preacher has let loose the Lion of the Tribe of Judah into the unprotected heart of his listener. Oh how well do I remember that day! After years of doubts and vexation, the word of God broke through to deliver me after the last barriers that I had erected using false professions and sham professions of faith were finally breached. I had been chained to a fetid filthy chamber of sin deep within my heart.
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light
My chains fell off, my heart was free
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me?
Charles Wesley 1738
How well did Elihu express the need for God to pierce the human heart when he preached the first complete sermon ever recorded in the word of God! He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light, Job 33:27, 28. God has always required repentance, and it has always taken the grace of God to work that repentance so that a sinner can clearly see the undoing of his own heart through the eyes of God.
That is exactly what happened to the woman at the well in John 4:29 when she said; Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? I have heard foolish preachers claiming that she exaggerated when she said that Jesus told her everything that she ever did. These are men who either have forgotten that awful moment when their entire being was laid bare through the preaching of the word of God, or they are this new wave of Fundamental Baptist preachers who have never had that happen.
Nevertheless, the point that I am making is that God searches us through his word. Through his person being the word of God itself, and through him being the Word of God incarnate, Jesus Christ searches the hearts of men through his word. He, Jesus Christ, discerns our hearts. It is impossible to separate Jesus Christ the incarnate Word of God from Jesus Christ the word of God in Hebrews 4:12, 13. They are one and the same.
While you are reading your bible, your bible is reading you. That's how God knows you. That's what the verse says. Then how do you know God? [B]ut then shall I know even as also I am known, I Corinthians 13:12. You can know God just like he knows you, through his word. You can take that peephole that God is staring at you through and turn it around on him. You can discern the thoughts and intents of his heart. The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations, Psalms 33:11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end, Jeremiah 29:11.
The Lord has revealed himself through his word. It is no longer a darkened glass which you need to scrunch your face up to in order to see through darkly. It has blazing light on either side. God can see you quite clearly and you can see him quite clearly. God has invited you to take the word of God and discern him.
The sword of the spirit is sharp enough to discern the entire Godhead in all of his many facets as he reveals himself to men. What my readers need to reconcile themselves unto is the idea that capitalizations are a major force in God's revelation of himself. He invites you to divide each and every name that he has for himself and carefully dissect them. He will reveal himself through a King James Bible over and over again. He uses capitals to do that.
Some of my readers still can't see a purpose in my continual harping over the minute differences in the letter "s" as it is rendered from one King James Bible to another when using the word spirit or Spirit in Mark 1:12, 1st John 5:8, Genesis 6:3, Acts 11:12, Acts 11:28 and many more that are frequently changed. Capitals are and have been one of the means by which the Holy Ghost has manifested the Godhead to man. To have a bible printed by the modern Cambridge plates, or a bible printed with the Oxford Text, or any of the myriad bibles printed by editors who have no plumbline with which to guide themselves is to have a sword that is not as sharp as it could be.