Hebrews 6
“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” Hebrews 6:1-2
There is that word again, “therefore”. The last few verses of Hebrews 5 were talking about spiritual maturity. The writer of Hebrews is giving further instructions to them to grow up. They, nor are we, to remain stagnate in our faith. We love the basics, we remember our repentance, we think on all those things that are basic, but our faith should be growing. The next few verses were hard to read and were hard to understand. I don’t ever want to try to appear to make scripture say what I want it to say. But to handle rightly the word of truth.
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” Hebrews 6:4-6
I read these verses in several translations and I looked at several different commentaries. I think one of the things the writer is saying here is, if someone has truly had a spiritual experience with the Lord, he has walked with the lord, they have tasted His goodness and seen His power and then have “fallen away” that they will become so bitter that it is impossible to get them to turn to the Lord again. The term “fallen away” here implies that they have taken on a lifestyle of sin. We all sin, and we all fall short of His glory, but this person who was super spiritual and then completely turned his back on the blessings and the goodness of God is not just falling by committing a sin, this person has fallen away and is entangled in a lifestyle of sin. This is one reason we should do everything in our power to keep our walk fresh every day and to continue to grow up in Christ and to guard your hearts and minds in Jesus. You make no mistake Satan doesn’t give up so easy. If he can’t own you, he will do everything in his power to cripple you and to make you fall away from a life in Christ.
The writer goes on in the next few verses to encourage his audience, and us that though he gives this warning, we do not have to dwell on that. But that we can focus on the hope that we have in Christ.
“And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Hebrews 6:11-12
God made a promise to Abraham. He promised to bless and multiply Abraham and Abraham patiently waited to see the promise fulfilled. Now if you know the story of Abraham, you also know that he didn’t do everything just perfect. Yet still God did fulfill his promise to Abraham just perfectly. Seeing God fulfill his promises to others, Abraham as well as to others around us today should give us encouragement to hold onto the hope that is before us. When you read God’s word you see God fulfill his promises. And when you walk with Him daily and you walk alongside others who are walking with Him, you see God fulfill His promises as well. Then you can hold onto hope because:
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19-20
Thank you Lord that you are our steadfast anchor even when we do not see what is ahead of us, that we can anchor our soul to you and enter into your holy place.
Restore 