Thoughts From Hebrews - Day 29

                                        Hebrews 10:32-39

 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,

“In just a little while,
    he who is coming will come
    and will not delay.”

38 And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith.
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back.”

39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.


     2000 years after this is written, we 21st century Christians have the same problems. Certainly in some areas of the world Christians are imprisoned, lose their possessions, are tortured and killed, but here in the West we can focus on another aspect of these verses - the gradual dissipation of spiritual passion or the loss of zeal. In this passage, the author discusses that this group of believers received the "Light" and they stood up for it even if it meant suffering - they did it joyfully because they were confident that this life was just a vapor compared to the eternity of their Heavenly home with Jesus. They knew that they had better and lasting possessions waiting for them in Heaven. They knew that His return was right around the corner. They were motivated by the desire to hear Him say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." The problem was, He didn't come quickly and mocking, and beating, and imprisonment, and being considered as an outcast, and being poor got old. As George Bailey says to Clarence the angel when Clarence says he doesn't have money because they don't use it in Heaven, George says "Well, its pretty important down here". It's tough to keep the fire going when you get beat down on a daily basis.

       Fast forward 2000 years and the youth group just returned from their summer retreat all fired up to follow Christ. Six weeks from now that zeal will be gone. The medical mission to Brazil just returned with over 150 saved but 6 weeks from now it will be ancient history. How can we keep the passion going? How do we keep the fire aflame? I see 4 hints in this passage.

      First, the word "Light". The Psalmist says, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."  God's word is a light that points us to The Light. If we aren't daily in the Word we will start thinking like the World because we are immersed in it.  Ephesians 5:26 tells us that the Word can wash our minds, so we need to constantly be in it to keep the fire burning.

     Secondly, the words "side by side". I feel refreshed when I have fellowship with other believers. They think like me and "get" me and I'm encouraged that I am on the right track and my zeal is restored. It is essential to pray side by side with someone also. Schedule a time to pray with someone on a regular basis and make it a priority that doesn't get bumped.

    Third, the word "publicly". These believers weren't secretive. They were sharing their faith, in pairs, which greatly increases your zeal. It's funny that one of the signs of lack of passion, not witnessing, is remedied by witnessing. I guess the same could be said of reading the Bible and fellowship, too. I guess that's why the church in Revelation that lost it's first love passion was told to repent and return to doing what you used to do and the passion will come back.

     Lastly, identify what "possessions" are possessing you and sell them. Nothing sucks passion from a relationship like spending time with a possession. A friend of mine would go to work every morning and his young son would run to the door give him a hug and tell him how much he loved his Dad. Soon the dad gave in to the persistence of his son and bought him a computer. Now when the dad leaves he hears from a distant room, "Bye, Dad. I love you." The son is busy with his computer. 

       Or do you even want your zeal back?

Thoughts From Hebrews - Day 28

                                            Hebrews 10: 26-31

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.


   Wow, the wrath of God! This is what a lot of unbelievers would give as an excuse for why they aren't a Christian. It appears like God is saying. "Worship me, or I will send you into the raging fires of Hell". He is sort of like a Donald Trump God, "Agree with me and you are fine. Disagree and I'll fire you." Is God really that petty, proud,and tyrannical? (BTW I am a Trump supporter, I just acknowledge his HUGE character flaws unlike most of his fans)

    First of all we have to remember that Hell was created for the devil and the one third of angels, now called "demons", who - although created by God and given all the wonders and blessings of eternity of Heaven - chose to rebel against God and try to thwart everything He does from then on. They became the enemies of God and they will get an eternity with none of the goodness that God bestows on the universe. They didn't want Heaven and are currently "squatters" on this earth enjoying the common grace of God but soon they will be given what they wanted, the opposite of Heaven - Hell. So when you say that God made Hell for all humans that don't bow the knee to Him, that would be incorrect.

   Second - let me develop this. As I study Genesis, at the very start of the Bible, I see God saying to Adam, "The day you eat from this tree you will die." That was the only "no", everything else in their perfectly eternally constructed planet was a "yes". But when Satan convinced them that God was a mean God, they chose to rebel and follow their own rules thus choosing Satan's side and the future that he has to offer rather than the future  that God was offering. But even in that, God gave mercy and they didn't die like He had said. He covered them instead and began a complicated plan which would end in the death of His Son to pay for our rebellion so we could spend eternity with Him. God raised up a nation through Abraham to reveal Himself to the Earth and bring His Son to the Earth through this nation. In a bizarre passage in Genesis 15, God foretells to Abraham,

“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

     According to this, the one thing keeping the Israelites from the promised land, the one thing that caused Joseph, possibly the most righteous man in the Bible, to be sold into slavery, rise to power, bring his family to Egypt to survive the famine only to be enslaved, mistreated then brought out only to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before beginning to take the land - the one thing delaying all that was that one nation, the Amorites, opposed to God from the beginning, was given 400 years to realize that God was not against them but for them and come to Him, even though God knew over those 400 years that their behavior would so deteriorate that for them to be wiped out would be totally justified. That is what the author of Hebrews refers to as the "Spirit of grace".

   Or how about this one. Peter says in his 2nd epistle,

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

   In context, Peter is talking about the Lord's return and like the Israelites being delayed headed into the promised land because God waiting for the repentance or absolute degradation of the Amorites, God is delaying our joining Him forever in Heaven because He is waiting for mankind to repent or to be so evil that there is no alternative but giving up on them. We have a condition like that in medicine called "irreversible shock". The patient is still alive but they have been in shock so long that they can't be rescued. Every organ has been damaged so badly by the lack of perfusion that they are beyond hope even if, say, you stop the bleeding.


    Are there signs in our society that we are approaching that end stage of degradation? Let me give you three.

   1. Recently a bill passed in the senate called "Born Alive Survivors Abortion Act" was voted down. The bill basically said that a baby that is born alive from an abortion must get treatment to save its life like any other baby born alive. And this was voted down! This follows laws in states like Virginia that allow abortions to occur at the approval of one physician up to the due date for the mental health of the mother. God has destroyed nations for their treatment of the innocent and you have to wonder how long He will tarry.

   2. Rights for pedophiles? There are voices out there trying to make pedophiles an accepted group saying "love is love". In fairness, as I read more on this it hasn't gained a whole lot of momentum but when it does, and it will, how long will the patience of God last?

   3. Have you heard about John Allen Chou? Probably not because there has been very little outrage which is a sign of our depravity. This young man paid fishermen to sneak him onto an island off India that is isolated from civilization and protected by the government. This tribe kills any outsider that sets foot on their island. John felt called to share about a savior who died for them so they could spend eternity in Heaven. Shortly after he arrived on the island, fisherman witnessed him being killed. Instead of outrage at a people that could do whatever they wanted to visitors like in the days of Sodom and Gommorah and the people of Gibeah in Judges 19 , the government is prosecuting the people that took him there. The comments on social media were decidedly outraged at this young man for imposing white man's religion, bringing 21st century diseases to this isolated group, not respecting peoples' privacy, etc. The fact that 8 months later this is forgotten shows the depravity of mankind.

       In summary, God created Eden and Heaven and never said, "Your staying here is contingent on you worshipping me." The existence was so awesome and He was so clearly infinitely greater than any of His creations that the natural response would be love, gratitude, worship. Instead, Satan and His Angels rebelled against God so God prepared a place for them to go (Matt. 25:41) where none of His goodness would be. It's called Hell. Satan then convinced all of mankind to rebel against God but yet God loved us so much that He sent His Son to rescue us from the destination we are all headed for and waits patiently while the world goes down the toilet for a person here and there to realize their depravity and accept God's goodness, until He can wait no more. I don't see that as an angry, self centered, tyrannical God but a merciful loving one and I'll worship Him any day.