Congregational Bible Experience Day #72: Hebrews 4-7

Congregational Bible Experience Day #72
Bible Reading: Hebrews 4-7

Introduction: In a densely packed few chapters, the author of Hebrews treats with utmost seriousness facets of the Christian life that many of us give only a nodding acknowledgment. His expectation is that apathetic and disinterested Christians will be awakened out of their sleepy, inward-looking self-preoccupation and outward to Jesus, in whom, alone, eternal hope is to be found. The alternative is to lazily drift along, presuming on God's graciousness to carry us all the way to heaven. That is not at all how the Christian life works; that is a false presumption with - as we shall see - perilous consequences

This passage is possibly the most challenging that we have read together so far. It's difficult to follow the author's logic as he pastors these apathetic believers towards a deeper commitment to Christ; his imagery and allusions are unfamiliar to those outside a Jewish heritage; his sermon applications from Old Testament stories (for example, 3:16-19; 7:1-10) are, well - to modern ears - not that obvious; and his warning about the dangers of falling away from Christ (6:4-8) is probably the most stark in all of the New Testament. This is all heady - and stretching - stuff!  Let's attempt to lightly tip-toe our way through it…

Chapter 4 begins with our author continuing to remind his readers of the momentous and far-reaching consequences that arose when the Children of Israel refused to enter the Promised Land through fear, unbelief and hardness of heart (see Numbers 13-14 for the story, Psalm 95: 7b-11 for an inspired commentary, and Hebrews 3:12-19 and 4:6-7 for his warning and appeal). What is 'hardness of heart'?  Its character - summarised in Numbers 14:10-11 - is revealed as treating the Lord with contempt; refusing to trust His promises; and choosing to listen to human voices of despair rather than to God's own words (see Psalm 1: 1-2).  The author of Hebrews is desperate that the readers of "today" - that is, "today" - now, here and now! (Hebrews 3:15-16; 4:7)  - do not share their forebears' rebellious hardheartedness and so fail to enter the ultimate "Sabbath rest" of eternal salvation (4:1-2, 11) by disregarding or ignoring what God has said and promised.  The concern is the original readers - and potentially all who read this book - may become 'hard of hearing'  because of a hardness of heart (5:11).

This is a 'clear and ever present danger'; which is why the author describes God's Word - the Bible - as living and active, sharp, cutting, powerful, having the ability to read our hearts (4:11-13), revealing and exposing to our own awareness our own unbelief and drift towards hardness of heart. Potentially, if we give no heed to God's Word, we are no better than the unbelieving Israelites. God speaks to us through His Word folks!  We must listen and obey. But why? Why must we listen and obey? Why should God be trusted? The next section addresses this question.

The answer (4:14-16 - as an introduction to 5:1-10) is not just that God knows we are weak and need His help, but that Jesus, as a great High Priest - now fully human as well as fully God - in His compassion for us feels our weaknesses, for He suffers whenever His people are being tested and tempted. Jesus was exposed to the full range of human testing and so He empathetically "knows" our weakness when tempted to sin and our helplessness when being tested to remain faithful. But He remained faithful to God throughout His lifetime of earthly suffering, and so is able to help those in need  (5:7-9).  In addition (7:1-28), this priestly identification with us, standing as the perfect intercessor between the Holy God and sinful man, in whom we must depend, is modelled - not so much upon Aaron and the Levitical priesthood - but upon the somewhat obscure character of Melchizedek (5:10; Genesis 14:17-20).  Like Melchizedek , Jesus has been personally appointed to this position by God (7:1), rather than being a priest simply through family descent (v16); like Melchizedek, Jesus is both a priest and a King (v2-3) ; and like Melchizedek, Jesus will be a priest for ever, and unlike the Levites - not just for life (v16b-17, 23-25). (One of) Jesus' roles in future glory will be to eternally intercede  for His people.

The author's primary application and relevance of all this - in case you were wondering - is his appeal for his readers to make every effort to progress towards Christlike maturity (5:11 - 6:20), for they haven't made much headway thus far.  They should have been 'teachers' by this point, but they still need to be spiritually bottle-fed (5:12).  As in the physical realm, the quality and quantity of food consumed by growing children largely determines their health and vitality, so the measure of our spiritual maturity is determined by our intake of spiritual food, namely, God's Word, and by practical obedience and training in righteousness (5:13-14). 

Those who are not exhibiting the spiritual maturity expected of them, says Hebrews, should not be the target of an evangelistic drive 'to get them really converted this time' (6:1-3)!  Rather, those in whom the life of Christ is present must be encouraged to take more spiritual exercise, in obedience and acts of active faith, and have a greater intake of the spiritual nourishment of God's Word to strengthen and sustain them. Those who do not comply or show any true interest to grow in Christ, the inevitable outcome will be to drop away from Christ entirely (6:4-8). In such instances we ask: did they lose a real faith in Christ - and so their salvation? Or, were they ever truly Christian and can they come back into the fold? In other words, can we lose our salvation, and can we start again?  The answer Hebrews gives is "no", to both questions.

When we deliberately walk away from Jesus, resisting and rejecting God's Spirit, there is no way back. All they may expect, is judgement. My own personal understanding of this passage is - that such "believers" just mentioned were not at all truly converted or regenerated by God's Spirit, for true faith - that arises in a true and living relationship with God - will always persevere in obedience, if ever so imperfectly, sustained by God's gracious and sovereign care. The warning of spiritual danger and its consequences are real and cannot be ignored; but such is God's loving care that what He has begun He will ensure is completed and that the fatal desertion of Christ and the Gospel will not happen. Our responsibility is to keep going in obedience and in pursuit of maturity - as evidence of the reality of our living faith and our eternal relationship with God. Christian maturity is not an option nor is it just for a few; rather it is the evidence of a real and living faith.  No life, no growth; no growth, no life.