Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

With this passage the writer gets into some advanced theology and doctrine, something for which we should all strive to be ready to study.  The first of those advanced topics about which the writer speaks is what happens when one who accepts Christ turns away from Him.  The writer tells us that those who turn away from God after experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit will never turn back to Him.  I have thought about this quite a bit, because I know several people who had an experience with God in their teens, fell away in their 20s, then later returned and became fervent followers once more.  On the other hand, I know a few people who followed a similar path, but never turned back to God (I have also read stories about a few more).  Looking at what I know about these people I think I see the difference.  The latter all seemed to have rejected God because they did not want to be subordinate to anyone, not even God.  While the former more or less lost their faith because of poor support systems when they faced troubles or hardship, coming back to God when the Spirit brought revelation into their lives.  Every time I read this passage I try to think through this difference and figure out how to explain it.  Unfortunately, I always feel like I cannot quite make it clear.  I guess the key difference is that people who lose their faith, who drift away from God because they stop believing that He exists, can turn back to Him, but those who know God exists but reject Him anyway will not.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

Much of this letter is an exposition based on Psalm 110, although the writer does take references from other portions of the Old Testament.  Today’s passage focuses on Psalm 110:4, where the psalmist writes:

You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.

He says that this means that the Levitical priesthood, and the Law which established it, could not provide for perfection to be obtained.  If perfection could have been obtained through the law which established the Levitical priesthood, a different order of priesthood would not have been necessary.  The writer then explains that perfection could not be obtained through the order of the Levitical priesthood because those priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sins year after year, and they would all eventually die.  However, Jesus offered a sacrifice once for all time, did not need to offer sacrifices for His own sins (since He did not have any), and, once He was resurrected, would never again die.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

I find this passage hard to write about because I feel that the writer has done such a good job of putting together the complex argument he is making that I am not sure how to highlight the key points which he makes.  The writer tells us that Jesus is our high priest, but He is not a priest of the Law of Moses.  Those priests were commissioned to serve in the earthly Tabernacle and Temple, which were but copies of the heavenly, eternal place of worship.  Further, those priests only served until their death.  Jesus, on the other hand, serves as high priest in the heavenly Tabernacle and in the direct presence of God.  Jesus also lives forever so there will never be a time when He is no longer high priest.  Jesus will be able to intercede between God and man for eternity.  The writer discusses how in the copy of the Tabernacle which existed on earth there was a veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, a veil which was torn when Jesus died on the cross.  That veil is no longer necessary because Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and now we can enter directly into God’s presence where Jesus will intercede for us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 6-9.

Interestingly, the translators’ notes in the footnotes says that the words translated here as “evil deeds’ literally translate as “dead works”.  Using that makes more sense of what the writer is saying than what they chose here: “So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from dead works evil deeds and placing our faith in God.”   The writer appears to me to be telling his audience that they should be past arguing about the importance of rituals and particular actions.  In particular, the writer seems to be discussing the rituals and practices of Jewish Law, although I do not believe his point applies exclusively to them.  He goes on to point out how the high priest under Mosaic Law was so constrained to continually offer sacrifices that he was unable to truly intercede on our behalf with God.  Jesus does not suffer that liability, since His one time sacrifice was sufficient for eternity.  This means that Jesus can function as an advocate before God for us.  Just as each of us will die once, so Jesus died once.  And since Jesus was resurrected, we know that He will be there to bring us before God for resurrection if we put our faith in Him.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 6-9

The writer says something here that I struggle with explaining.  Those who have known and accepted Christ and then rejected Him will never turn to Him once more.  The reason I struggle with this is that I have known some who turned away from God and then returned to be faithful servants to Him.  Yet, I also know several people who fit into exactly what the writer is describing.  They once fervently served Christ, but something happened and they chose to turn away from what they knew to be God’s will.  I still pray that I am mistaken and that the Holy Spirit will reach out and transform them, but looking at the decisions they have made I cannot see any way that they would ever return to God.  They knew the glory of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, but have chosen to reject both.  I hope with all that I am that I am wrong.