Hebrews 10:23-25. The more we realize and use our privilege of drawing near to God within the veil, the better we shall be able to face the path with its dangers through the wilderness. Thus the exhortation, “Let us draw near,” is followed by the exhortation, “Let us hold fast the confession of the hope” (JND). There is a bright hope set before us, and He that has given the promise of the hope will be faithful to His word. But there is the danger of giving up “the confession” of the hope by settling down in this world. It is only as we look to Him who is faithful that we shall be able to hold fast without wavering.
Moreover, in the midst of sorrows, difficulties and dangers, we shall need the mutual support of one another. We may at times be tested by isolation, but practical fellowship is God’s way for His people. Let us then consider one another and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The vanity and self-sufficiency of the flesh may esteem the help of others of little value; but a true sense of our own nothingness will lead us, not only to look first, and above all, to the One who is faithful, but also to value the support of our brethren. And those we value we shall consider, seeking to draw out the love we need and the practical help of their good works. Alas! how easily the flesh, carried away by a little bit of spite, can indulge its spleen to provoke a brother by deliberately and needlessly saying what is known to be offensive. Let us rather seek to provoke to love by showing love.
None can neglect the gathering together of God’s people without loss. To forsake the gatherings of the saints is a sure sign of waning affection. Oftentimes a course of habitual neglect of the meetings precedes leaving an assembly to turn back to the world or worldly religion. As “the day”—the day of glory—approaches, the difficulties will increase, making it all the more needful that we should seek the support of one another and not neglect the assembling together of the saints.
Hebrews 10:26-31. The apostle has considered the danger of letting go our hope, slighting one another, and forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Now he warns us of the more serious danger of apostasy that assails the Christian profession. The willful sin is apostatizing from the Christian faith. The apostle is not speaking of a backslider who may go back into the world, like Demas, of whom we read in another epistle. Such an one can be recovered. The apostate not only gives up Christianity, but he takes up some human religion after having professed Christianity. He practically says, “I have tried Christianity, but I find Judaism, or Buddhism, or some other religion, better.” For such there is no more sacrifice for sin, only a fearful looking for of judgment. Such an one treats with contempt the Son of God, despises the sacrifice of Christ, and insults the Spirit of grace.
The apostate must be left to God. It is not for us to take vengeance. God cannot trust us with vengeance. We are definitely told that vengeance belongs to the Lord. The apostate will find that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:32-34. Further, the apostle warns us not to be discouraged by sufferings, reproaches and afflictions. There is the ever-present danger of shrinking from the path of faith because of the reproach and suffering entailed. These believers had begun well. Having been enlightened by the truth, they at once found themselves in conflict for the truth. But in that conflict they endured, and whole-heartedly associated with those who were suffering for Christ’s Name. They even took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing they had in heaven a better and enduring substance.
Hebrews 10:35-39. Such confidence will have its bright reward, but in the meantime we need patience to submit to the will of God while waiting to receive the promise. The waiting time is but a little while, then “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Until He comes, the path of the believer is a path of faith. It ever has been for, in days of old, it was as true as it is today that, according to the words of the prophet Habakkuk, “The just shall live by faith.”
God will have no pleasure in the one who draws back. The apostate draws back to perdition: but of those to whom the apostle is writing, he can with confidence say, “We are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”