November 2nd Hebrews 6
1: Therefore leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2: Of the
doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the
dead, and of eternal judgment. 3: And this will we do, if God permit. 4: For it
is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the
heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5: And have tasted
the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6: If they shall
fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to
themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 7: For the
earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth
herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 8: But
that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing;
whose end is to be burned. 9: But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of
you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 10: For God is
not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed
toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11:
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope unto the end: 12: That ye be not slothful, but followers of
them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
God
cannot lie
13: For when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14: Saying,
Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15:
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16: For men
verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of
all strife. 17: Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of
promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18: That by
two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us: 19: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20: Whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after
the order of Melchisedec.
The writer to these Hebrew speaking
Jews, encourages them to go on from the basis principles of acknowledging Jesus
of Nazareth as the Messiah, not laying the foundation again of a turning back
to their covenant God, of ceremonial cleansing, of the laying on of hands, the message
of the resurrection from the dead and of eternal judgment. It is possible to
turn from the light of the Gospel of the Kingdom back to the darkness of
rejection of their Messiah. It is possible to rejoice in the light of Christ,
to have a taste of the heavenly gift, to partake of the ministry of the Holy
Spirit (in a superficial way). To taste the good message of the coming Kingdom
and to have a taste to authority of the world to come. (Which the apostles exhibited
with great power) However after being enlightened with ‘the glad tidings of the
coming king’ to turn from it and to fall away. If they do fall away, they are
unable to turn again unto repentance. Why is that? Because having heard and
rejoiced in their Messiah they now reject him. God refusing to allow them
another opportunity to think again. This is not salvation. This is referring to
the repentance of Israel
at the preaching of the kingdom. The Children of Israel rejoiced at the
preaching of John and Christ and the Apostles, yet later they turned from it
and rejected the message of the coming kingdom - finally. A good example of
this was the crowds who welcomed Christ on the Palm Sunday but cried out for
his crucifixion on the Friday. By turning from Christ they made a final choice.
God would hold them to their rejection. The writer says, l have high hopes for
you that you will not reject the Message of the Kingdom which was preached to
you. He says, God is not unrighteous to forget your works and labour of love
under the law. You have shown kindness to the saints, God will remember that.
We long that you all will show the same conscientiousness in doing good to the
full assurance of hope in the kingdom right on to the end. (Entrance into the
kingdom is based on doing good works under law for Israel) Don’t give up or fall
asleep, but be followers of those who through faith and longsuffering will
inherit the promises made to the fathers and to Abraham in particular. When God
spoke to Abraham he said swore by himself that he would fulfil his promise,
that he would bless Abraham and multiply him. And so after a long time, Abraham
obtained the promise. When men swear, they swear by a greater than themselves
and an oath is a confirmation of the certainly of the statement and an end to
all strife. And so it is with God, when he wanted to show to the heirs, the
certainty of the promise and the unchangeable nature of the promise he
confirmed it with an oath. By two things which are unable to be changed. First God
cannot lie and second he cannot change his promises. Therefore we have a very
strong assurance that those of us that have fled to Christ for a refuge,
(believing Jews) so that we might lay hold on the hope that is set before us.
(The hope set before the Hebrew is the hope of eternal life and resurrection
into the blessings of the kingdom, which will be the fulfilment of the promises
to Abraham.) This assurance is an anchor to the soul in the storms of life
which we Jews face daily. The hope is sure and steadfast it is anchored into
the holy place. Our forerunner has gone on ahead – Jesus who has been made a
priest after the order of Melchisedec.
No comments:
Post a Comment