THREE RESOLVES – Hebrews 10:19-25
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 11, 2015 under PM Bible Study |
PM Home Bible Study Group; November 11, 2015
Hebrews 10:19-25
Theme: The writer of Hebrews urges the believer to embrace three key resolves in response to God’s grace to us in Christ.
All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated.
We come now to the key passage to the Book of Hebrews. It contains the exhortation that the previous chapters have been building up toward. It’s the response that the writer calls his Jewish readers to embrace in the light of all that Christ has accomplished for them. It’s the passage that shows us how Jesus has now fulfilled for us all that had been symbolized in the Old Covenant; and how we can now embrace the New Covenant realities with full confidence. It’s the passage that motivates all of the practical exhortations that follow in this letter. And it’s the passage that describes to us—in a very wonderful way—the freedom we have as forgiven and redeemed people to draw as close to God as human beings can now draw. It is truly an amazing and encouraging word from God!
This passage is best divided into three key resolves. The first has to do with our relationship to God: “Let us draw near”. The second has to do with our relationship to this world: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope”. And the last has to do with our relationship with each other: “Let us consider one another”.
I. ‘LET US DRAW NEAR” (vv. 19-22).
After having set forth the sufficiency of Jesus’ one sacrifice on the cross, the writer urges his readers—in terms that a Jewish reader would recognize as the language of the Old Covenant made new:
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22).
A. Note the provisions he says God has made for us through Christ.
1. First, he speaks of our having “boldness”. Note that he does not urge the reader to ‘work up’ boldness, but rather affirms that he or she ‘has’ boldness already. This is not a matter of feeling, but of objective provision based on the sufficiency of Jesus. We have the right, in Christ, to approach God freely and confidently if we will but exercise it. This is a boldness that is necessary; because the call is to enter into the very Holy Place of the tabernacle in the heavens. That is the inner area of the tabernacle that only the High Priest was permitted to enter into once a year—and only on the Day of Atonement; and that only with much sacrifice and blood. For anyone else to dare to enter, or for the High Priest to enter on any other terms, would have meant death. But now, in the New Covenant that Christ has brought about for us, we are reminded that we have the right to enter in “boldly”—that is to draw near with confident assurance of absolute acceptance by God, and without any fear of punishment or judgment at all. This, he says, is not ours in any way that bypasses the need of blood; for it has been inaugurated for us—or “consecrated” for us, as it is in the New King James translation—by means of the blood of Jesus. It is a “new” way—speaking of a New Covenant; and it is a living way—speaking of one that is characterized by a living relationship rather than one brought about through the dead sacrifices and that results in our life rather than our death. And it is “through the veil, that is, His flesh”. Just as in the Old Covenant tabernacle, a veil had to be passed through in order to enter the Holy Place—a veil that separated the sinner from God. But Jesus has now taken that veil away through having borne our sins upon His own body on the cross—causing the veil of the earthly temple to be torn in two from the top down to the bottom when He died (Matthew 27:51). There remains then no barrier to keep us out of full fellowship with God. We are fully reconciled to Him.
2. Second, he speaks of our having “a High Priest” over the house of God. This High Priest is none other than Jesus Himself. He is not like the High Priests of old, who themselves needed sacrifices for sin; and who themselves had to be continually replaced because of death. Jesus, being the High Priest of a new order of priesthood—the order of Melchizedek (6:20); and His serving over a New Covenant that replaces the old, He is a High Priest whose work for us is perfect and complete. In nothing of the Old Covenant then was anything over-looked. Rather, everything is fulfilled; as the writer tells us,
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:11-15).
B. With these provisions in place, the writer urges us to draw near into the very Holy of holies for full fellowship with God.
1. We can do this “with a true heart in full assurance of faith”. This is because we’re not sneaking in, as it were, ‘under the tent’. Everything that has been needed for anyone to enter into the presence of God has been given to us by faith through Jesus Christ. We never need to fear that we’re getting in under terms that will eventually get us thrown out. We stand by faith in the grace of God; and are fully welcomed into His fellowship.
2. We can do this “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience”. We might be tempted to hold back from drawing near to God because of our remembrance of all our sins of the past. The devil seems to delight in reminding us of them. But not only has God completely washed us clean in His sight in a judicial sense; but He has also graciously confirmed to us that our sins are forgiven by His having risen Jesus from the dead. Jesus, as Romans 4:25 tells us, was “delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification”. God even confirms this to our hearts; so that when our past sins—and even our present or future failures—tempt us to hold back, we can trust anew in the full atonement for sin purchased at the cross, confess our failures, thank God for His forgiveness, and walk boldly to His throne. Jesus has truly paid it all!
3. We can even do this having “our bodies washed with pure water”. We sometimes mistakenly think that God only cares about saving our souls. But He has made us with both a body and a soul. Our full glorification will include the resurrection and glorification of our present bodies. But just as there was a laver in the tabernacle of old by which the priests could wash their bodies for service to God, our freedom to enter into His presence even includes a body washed clean in His sight from the filth of this world. No wonder we are invited to draw near “boldly!” We are truly pure in His sight through and through!
II. “LET US HOLD FAST” (v. 23).
That first resolve has to do with our relationship with God. But now, a second resolve is given that has to do with our relationship with this world. Many of the people to whom the writer was sending this epistle were Jewish people who were suffering under the temptation to draw back from their devotion to Jesus because of the persecution they were receiving. They were tempted to return to the old ways of Judaism in order to avoid suffering in this world. But he exhorts them,
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (v. 23).
A. Our “confession” means that we say the same thing as the gospel says, and that we concede whole-heartedly to its testimony about Christ, and that we publicly declare that our faith is in Him. We are to “hold fast” to that confession in the sense that we do not let go of Christ—no matter what we may suffer for clinging to Him; or of our profession of faith in Him—no matter how much pressure the world applies to us to deny Him. As the writer says elsewhere;
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).
B. Note that we can have great assurance in this, because the basis of our certainty is not in ourselves but in Him; “for He who promised is faithful”. God the Father has made promises to us concerning our destiny in His Son; and He will never fail in any of those promises. As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9;
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:4-9).
Our future in Christ is as sure as the promises of God—even more; as sure as the God who made the promises! He is infinitely and eternally faithful! We can hold fast to our confession—even to death.
III. “LET US CONSIDER ONE ANOTHER” (vv. 24-25).
The first resolve has had to do with our relationship to God; and the second with our relationship to this world and its pressures upon us. But the third has to do with our relationship to one another.. He writes,
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (vv. 24-25).
A. He began this passage by calling his readers “brethren”; and we, as brothers and sisters in Christ—joined together in Him to one Father—are to set a high priority upon our relationship with one another. We are to “consider” one another, and keep one another in our thoughts. We are never to be ‘loners’ in the Christian faith, but fellow-sojourners in our walk with Jesus. God’s plan, after all, is for us to be together forever in Christ.
B. Why are we to “consider one another”? It’s for a practical purpose; “in order to stir up love and good works . . .” To “stir up” here means to stimulate and encourage one another. Our fellowship with each other is to constantly remind us of the call to love one another. Just as Jesus loved us, we are to love each other. This was His “new commandment” to us (see John 13:34-35). But it’s not just a matter of emotion. It also involves action. We are to also stimulate and encourage one another to the actual practice of “good works”. We need each other for this.
C. And because of this, we need to make this resolve an active one that shows itself in regularly assembling with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
1. There is a temptation, in times of persecution, to withdraw from the body of Christ, and to cease association with fellow Christians. And even in the present cultural attitude of indifference—when “church” is frowned upon as passé, and when the idea is spread around that ‘organized religion’ (read that to mean ‘meeting in a local church’) is no longer needed—we need to resist the temptation to cease joining together in fellowship; “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some . . .”
2. In fact, in a time of persecution or when the local church is dismissed as a thing of the past, it’s even more important that we resolve to keep meeting together. The time is drawing near—and perhaps already here—when a promised ‘great falling away’ will occur. As Paul wrote;
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth (1 Timothy 4:1-3).
In times such as these, it becomes all the more necessary that we resolve not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, “but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (v. 25).
* * * * * * * * * *
So then; in the light of all that Christ has done for us—in the light of all that has been given us in the New Covenant over which He serves as our High Priest—why would we delay? Let’s not hold back. Let’s not remain idle. Instead, “Let us draw near!” “Let us hold fast!” “Let us consider one another!”
