Most religions of the world follow a moral code and
each of these is similar in many ways with the others. These codes are put into
place to make people and life more pleasant, harmonious, and manageable. Most
people believe these moral codes are acceptable and necessary to living a full
life. Would most people think their lives are successful when all is “cashed
in” on their deathbed? If your goal in life were to amass the most wealth, you would
have to judge your life based on that. What, though, is next after amassing
wealth and your death has arrived? If success to another person were to do with
their life whatever they wanted, they would have to judge on their deathbed if
they had done everything their heart desired during life. What, though, is next
for them? Can they affect what they do next or before their death? If success
to another person were to aid needy people through actions, donations, and
words, they would have to decide at the end if they had done enough to appease
their desire to help. Could they have done more? What is next for them; did they
cure the cause of death or ease the pain of a loved one after someone has
died?
There is only one way of life that is ultimately
successful; this way is Jesus. As a follower of Jesus,
you may amass wealth, live an exciting life, or aid people in need, but you do
not have to ever wonder what is happening next when you get to your deathbed. God does not
call all people
to live poor, to be strict, ascetic followers of Him, or
to work only for Him and not the needy. God calls people to follow Him. In
following God, you will touch people in need, you can acquire wealth, and you
can have an exciting life while at the same time reaching out to spread the
Good News of Jesus’ sacrifice which gives
victory over death. None of the other ways of life can promise with absolute
truth they have
victory over death, that there truly is a life after death. Jesus is the way to have this
ultimate, sincere life. The writer of Hebrews stresses who Jesus is, what He
did for us, and what our responsibilities are as followers of Him. Let us look
at Hebrews 10 (NASB).
18 Now where there is
forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Jesus' sacrificial offering
of himself as the "once-and-for-all" sacrifice has forgiven
all sin if we ask for forgiveness. Because this forgiveness is available, no
other offering ever needs be made again.
19 Therefore, brethren,
since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
Since (transition from what Christ has done for
us to our privilege) we can have confidence, free, fearless, cheerful courage,
boldness, and assurance:
a. We have confidence to
enter the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum where the Ark of the Covenant is and God’s throne and seat are. In essence, we can enter
into God’s presence. This Holy of Holies is hagios
in Greek. It is that which is different from all else and set apart. Exodus
26:33 refers to this place as the “holy of Holies”
and in Hebrews 9:3, with an altar, as the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat upon
which God sits. The Holy of Holies behind the veil of the curtain in the temple
was the place God set apart for Himself. Jesus’ death and
resurrection tore this veil making it accessible to every person who accepts
His forgiveness.
b. Before, the Law made us
aware we were sinners and we had to offer continual sacrifices enter the temple
to worship Him from afar. We had to cleanse the outside
of ourselves to be able to go into the temple. The sacrifices were to clean the sin from
ourselves on the inside, too. These sacrifices were never enough and, so, the
Jews performed them again and again. Jesus has fulfilled the Law, become the perfect
sacrifice and the only
sacrifice that will ever be needed to forgive our sins.
c. We can now enter the Holy of Holies
with confidence and boldness knowing Jesus has bought our forgiveness with His blood. Now
God no longer
remembers our sins and misdeeds
nor do they impede our way to be before God who is on His throne.
d. Jeremiah said in chapter 31:34b, “…they will all know Me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I
will forgive their
iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Even the Old Testament people
knew there had to be a better sacrifice.
e. Iniquity is depravity,
perversity, and guilt. Sin and iniquity affect a person on both the inside and
the out. God cleanses a person inside and out when he accepts Christ’s gift of forgiveness upon confessing his sins. Their God cleanses a person's conscience from the guilt he
or she carried from the sins he or she committed.
20 by a new and living
way which He inaugurated for us through the veil,
that is, His flesh,
Jesus was able to offer us this forgiveness of sin by a new and
living way, by his flesh and blood, a sacrifice that does
not need repeating each year like the blood of animals. Jesus inaugurated or
opened a new way for us through the veil/curtain, which separated us from the
Holy of Holies. His death tore the veil that separated us from God should we
wish to seek Him. Jesus’ inauguration of this new living way was by initiation;
He opened the door for us. It was by consecration; He set us aside to be His own
through His sacrifice. It was by dedication; He knew from the beginning of time
humanity would need cleansing to be with
Him forever. He dedicated Himself to this need, but He also dedicated us for
Himself from the beginning of the world. He made a new way by which we could
come before God.
Jesus is our priest who not only
offered a sacrifice for our sins, but He is a great priest who was the sacrifice for our sins. He is the
Priest over the house of God, the children of God and God’s
temple. This Great Priest is Jesus Christ. As we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for the forgiveness
of our sins, after our confession, then we become a part of the priesthood of
Christ in the house of God, the Church of all believers. We are purified by the
blood of Christ and dedicate ourselves to God alone, to follow Christ solely. We
can have a relationship with God and be able
to talk to and hear from Him. Jesus Christ becomes our
intermediary through His sacrifice on the cross.
Christ gave
confidence to us to enter the Holy of Holies. He gave a pure and perfect priest, Jesus Christ, as our intermediary. He called us as
His priests dedicated to God alone.
22 let us draw near
with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Jesus, giving us these
things, these privileges, the ability to walk into the presence of God and to be a
priest of God, now
calls us to our responsibilities.
The first responsibility is to draw near to Him.
Jesus provided the
way for us to draw near to Him; Hebrews reiterates the way in this verse, with
a heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience (guilt) and a body
washed with pure water both through His blood.
We cannot just walk into His presence with a
lackadaisical attitude. We must walk in with full assurance of our faith, with a sincere heart. What does this mean? If we
doubt we are saved or Jesus’ sacrifices was not
enough, then we are not cleansed and we cannot be in the presence of God. A wall is still between God and us, just as the
veil in the temple was between the Holy of Holies and the main temple court.
We must walk into the presence of God knowing with
full assurance Jesus’ sacrifice was enough
and He died for each of us, you and me. We must walk in with confidence and a
sincere heart knowing, with faith Jesus cleansed us inside
and out from our evil thoughts and deeds. In addition, if we wish to be in
God's presence, we must first confess our sins and receive
His forgiveness for whatever stands in the way, now, between each of us and
Him.
The writer of Hebrews continues our
responsibilities as believers and priests of God. We must hold fast to the confession of our
hope without
wavering. Wow, that sounds big. How can we do that?
Holding fast means to keep secure, keep firm
possession of, to get possession of, or to take for ourselves. We must believe with a
sincere faith in our Hope. We know our hope for eternal salvation is in Jesus. Our faith tells us of
this hope. In the Bible, faith is the first of
the three greatest gifts. The one following is hope. Without faith, there can
be no hope.
In verse 22, we saw to what/whom our hope is bound. The
Greeks taught elpis/hope is one side
of a coin in literature. One side of the coin is misery and the other is hope
or expectation. This is like our “tossing a coin” where we place our hope that
one side will flip up for us so we can get or do what we want. Life is like
this two-sided coin. When we did not know Jesus, we were hopeless and
living in terrified misery/fear over what will happen to us. When we became a
Christian, we live in hope knowing with whom we will live with forever after
this life and live with hope as we face difficulties on earth.
Our hope is based on
our faith in Jesus, that He is the only
sacrifice we will need
to be able to be in God’s presence and with
the triune God forever in heaven. This is our Christian hope and Jesus is the
basis for this hope. Our faith is in Jesus. Since our faith is in Jesus and we
know God, who promises us eternal life in Him, is
faithful, God grounds us firmly in our hope in His promises. God is true to all
His promises; God is utterly faithful. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:9 said, “God is
faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus
Christ our
Lord.”
Faith, Hope, and Love. Because of God’s love for us, He
sent His Son, Jesus, to be the once-for-all sacrifice for our sins, which we can receive by faith and which
gives us hope for eternal
life with Him in His kingdom and a victorious life
now on earth.
The author of Hebrews gives a final responsibility
to the believers, to consider how to stimulate each of our brothers and
sisters to love and good
deeds. We must
think of ways to encourage and hold
accountable other believers to not just believe (and vice
versa), but put into action the love of God, which came
through the salvation He has given
them. God's love infuses us as we become His children through the Holy Spirit. As believers, we should work out our salvation in
the world through good works and deeds (Philippians 2:12). If our salvation is
true, then we will not be able to stop the out-flowing of God’s love to others.
Part of our responsibility is not just to do good
deeds but also to encourage other believers to do good deeds. We must
consider (reflect upon and determine) how to encourage/stimulate a believer to love others in
words and actions. The Greek word from which our word stimulate originates is paroxusmos,
from which our word paroxysm comes. It means encouraging someone to
increase and make reoccur God-like love in words and deeds. Encouraging others
is an action that, like coughing, often occurs in “bouts and fits.” Actions
beget actions beget actions. In the process of encouraging and stimulating
words of love and good deeds, we stimulate ourselves and the cycle continues. Love
is never-ending. “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things (1 Corinthians 13:7 NASB).
25 not forsaking our
own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another;
and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Our final responsibility, says the writer of
Hebrews, is to remember to assemble together so we can encourage each other more
and more as you see the time of Christ’s return is approaching. “Not forsaking” means not
leaving helpless, abandoning, or deserting. It means not leaving behind. Each
Christian needs other Christians. No one of us is complete without the whole
body of Christ. No one of us can serve
every function of the body of Christ. We need each other for support, teaching,
encouraging, prayer, and communion.
Assembling is a gathering together of people for a
purpose, in general. In respect to Christians, assembling is a gathering of
believers to devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, prayer, and the Lord’s Supper. The writer of Acts stated
in chapter 2 verse 42, “They were continually devoting themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”
(NASB).
Encouragement comes through
relationship with other people and through God. God is relational and made us to be in
relationship with Him and other people. Just because we are Christians does not
mean we are self-sufficient and do not need relationships with others. God made
us in His image and, since He is relational, we will always need relationships.
As Christians, the best relationships, by and large, come within the body of
believers.
Encouragement in Greek is parakaleo, which means to entreat, beseech, make an appeal to,
urge, please, beg, ask, and invite. It also means to comfort, or exhort. It
comes from the word from which Paraclete
(Holy Spirit, comforter) comes. We
believers need to be in relationship within the body of Christ. God has given to us this gift of the body of
Christ to support us,
to appeal to us, to exhort us to action, and to comfort and encourage us. We cannot face the battle on earth alone. Each
person in body of Christ needs support to from other members of the body in
facing life because life on earth will be difficult at times. At times, we will
need the support of someone to stand up for us when we become tired or weak. Hebrews
3:13 (NASB) says, “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is
still called today, so that none
of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” We need to
be in an assembly/fellowship of believers because we need the ministry,
accountability, and encouragement relationships of Christians brings.
As the day of the Lord’s return becomes imminent, we
will see our need for other believers grow. We will see evil win more battles
and see people give over to the dark side of life. We will see people give up,
nations go to war, and the earth begin to crumble. This will increase more and
more as the time of Christ’s return comes closer.
As these dark days become more frequent and longer, more than ever we will need
the assembly of believers to encourage us to not faint in our walk with Christ. We
will need them to offer support and comfort. They will need us to be there for them.
As we get closer to the day of Christ’s return, we should find ourselves
growing stronger in our beliefs in the Lord and our relationships with God and others. If
we find we are becoming “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,” then we need to
spend more time in relationship with God and more
time receiving strength and encouragement from His people.
Throughout this passage from verses 18-25, we see
why each of these privileges and responsibilities occur. They are possible
because Jesus said He has
come (Hebrew 10:7 NASB).
By this, will we have been sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… For
by one offering He has
perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also
testifies to us; for after saying, ‘This
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I
will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them.’ He
then says, ‘And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
(Hebrews 10: 10, 14-17, NASB).
This is why we can have confidence to enter the
Holy of Holies and how we have become priests who are able to stand
before God without
ceremonial cleansing. God washed our sins from us by the perfect atoning
sacrifice of Jesus’ blood, offered of His
own accord because of His love for us, so we can be
with Him in His kingdom. These are our privileges. Our responsibilities as
believers are 1) drawing near to Him with a sincere heart, 2) holding fast to
the confession of our hope without wavering, 3) considering how to
stimulate each other to love and good
deeds, and 4) assembling together to encourage one another.
We receive the blessing of God by being
followers of Christ and we are
to pass on those blessings. We are to pass on our
faith and belief to other
believers through encouragement. We are to pass on to others the Gospel so they
can acquire the victory over sin and death through Jesus. Paul said in 2
Timothy 2:2, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many
witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”
(NASB).
We are relational. We have an upward relationship
with God and He a downward relationship with us. We are
also to have horizontal relationships with others, to support/encourage and to minister/exhort. To be a follower of Jesus means
we expect it to change our lives and relationships in such a way we must,
from an inner compulsion, live out what God has put into us, His love, through words and good deeds. All the while, we
must be ever vigilant within ourselves that we are not so outward focused we do
not see the beam of wood in our own eye. We have all sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God. We all need forgiveness and atonement each day.
