The theme of Hebrews 10 up to this point has been to stir each other up to share love and good works together. These are behaviors of perfect unity with God and among each other. The author of Hebrews now asks the opposite question about what happens if we instead allow ourselves to sin deliberately:
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:26-31; Deut 32:36; Heb 10:27; Mt 10:28).
This is not about accidental or infrequent sins that are cleansed by the covenant of the blood of Jesus. It is about rejecting continuously the covenant of grace and forgiveness through the redemption paid for by Jesus. Be fearful of backsliding – it is more terrifying for a fallen believer to be in disunity and disobedience in the presence of the living God than a common criminal who does not know better.
“But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (Heb 10:32-36).
There is no temptation, no suffering, no affliction that can of its own power bring you down if you maintain your confidence in the blood of Jesus. Endure and endure some more until you have done the will of God faithfully. At the end, there is great, eternal reward:
“‘For, yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him (Heb 10:37-38; Hab 2:3-4; Jn 16:16; Ezekiel 18:24).”
“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Heb 10:39).
What is the most powerful behavior of perfect unity with God, a behavior that cannot be overcome by evil if maintained in perfect unity with each other as believers?
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