August 4, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the next 13 days we will be spending time together walking through the book of Hebrews! Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians who were undergoing persecution for their faith and considering running back to Judaism. The author of Hebrews takes an in-depth look at the practices and regulations of the Old Testament as articulated in the Torah and argues for how Jesus is both superior to each of them and supreme over all of them! The author also warns his audience of the grave danger facing them should they choose to now reject Jesus and return to their former way of life. These warnings can and should make us feel uncomfortable as we read through the book together; allow the Spirit to do what He wants to do in your heart through them! Overall, the message of Hebrews is that Jesus, the Son of God as well as our Savior and Messiah, is infinitely superior to anything or anyone else we could give our lives to, and He is worthy of all our devotion and worship. Jesus is greater!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This chapter begins with the continuation of the warning which the author began in chapter 5. Putting aside for just a moment the way that the rest of Scripture colors how we interpret this passage, the warning in verses 4-8 should make us feel uncomfortable, even scare us a bit. The author is warning his audience that for those who participate in the community life of the church, seeing God\u2019s power at work, who seem to be Christians but then fall away from the faith, there is no chance for repentance. He says that such people are essentially re-crucifying Jesus, once more putting Him to open shame and humiliation, and for such people it is impossible to be restored to repentance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The assumption is, of course, that genuine believers will\u00a0not<\/em> fall away from the faith. But that shouldn\u2019t keep us from taking this warning really seriously; the person the author is describing looks basically identical to a genuine believer from the outside. If hearing the truth of the gospel, seeing the Holy Spirit move, and witnessing true instruction from God\u2019s Word as well as God\u2019s mighty power demonstrated is not enough to bring about true, heart-level repentance in a person, then nothing will. A person can seem to be one of God\u2019s children by all outward measures, but the true test is whether or not they persevere in the faith until the end!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The author then reassures his audience that he does not believe them to be people like this, having seen the fruit of their good works, and encourages them to hold onto their hope until the end as well as to imitate those who \u201cthrough faith and patience inherited the promises\u201d (v.12). The immediate example the author gives of this type of patient faith is Abraham, who waited to receive the promise of a son from God and then finally did receive it! We are to imitate this kind of faith and endurance as we await the fulfillment of all God has promised us in Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All of this, says the author, encourages us to \u201chold fast to the hope set before us\u201d (v.18). This hope which is set before us is Christ Jesus Himself, who has gone behind the Temple\u2019s inner curtain as our high priest in order to give us access to the Father! The hope which is in Christ acts as an \u201canchor for the soul\u201d (v.19), granting us stability and steadfastness as we hold to it. As we hold fast to our hope in Christ, we can rest assured that this hope will never let us down, that as long as He is our anchor we will not be moved!<\/p>\n\n\n\n