When a thought-provoking writer concludes what He has said he will bring to bear the truth of his conclusion to elicit a response from those who are reading. The author of Hebrews is a thought-provoking writer. He has spoken for several chapters on the priesthood of Christ and its purpose in God’s New Covenant. Now in summing up this material he gives us something to think about. He doesn’t want to end this wonderful section without any kind of spiritual prompting. He doesn’t want to leave his readers spiritually dull, but stirred up to go on living for Christ. And so the key idea in this section is after having explained the priesthood of Christ, the author now encourages his readers to follow through in their Christian profession.
I. The Outcome of What Has Been Said
The first aspect of this passage we note is the outcome of what has been said. In these verses we have the author’s summary statement of what he has written in detail. And we can say he describes two precious benefits that have been given to us. We will see in the next part of the passage that these two benefits are the basis for what he tells us we should do.
A. A confident communion
The first precious benefit that has been given to us is a confident communion. In verses 19&20 he says, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.” The author says we have a confident communion now available to us because of the priesthood of Christ. We can have access with God. And it is not a cowering, fearful access. The author says it is a confident access or literally a bold access into God’s holy place, heaven. We have this access as a blessed privilege from God Himself and the author describes this confident communion with God in two ways.
1. New position
First he says we have a new position. Verse 20 notes that our access comes through, “a new and living way.” This phrase carries the meaning, “previously unavailable” (Guthrie p. 342). What a great way to describe this access. Prior to Christ’s sacrifice the Jews had to worship through the temple in Jerusalem. Now we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ possess a previously unavailable access to the Father. This gives us our new position.
2. New door
Secondly, he says we have a new door. In verse 20 he says Jesus inaugurated this new and living way for us through the veil, that is, His flesh. The author describes that the body of Jesus broken for us on the cross has become in a sense like the veil in the temple. However, notice the difference between the veil of the temple and the veil of Jesus’ body. Whereas the veil in the temple was a barrier to access with God, whereas it acted as an obstacle to fellowship with God, the veil Jesus has made in His body has become a doorway. This veil does not prevent access; this veil allows access. And in reality it is the only way to gain access to God. There can be no other way. Jesus, the open veil, allows everyone to enter. But it only allows them to enter through Him. If a person will not repent of their sin and trust in Jesus as their Savior they have no access. He has made the doorway but it is not a wide doorway. The doorway is wide enough to allow access to those who have humbled themselves and received Jesus as their Savior. But it is no bigger. It is as small as an eye of a needle but large enough to allow the biggest sinner who has repented to come in.
Jesus made a similar statement in John’s Gospel. In chapter 10 he said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved.” And He also said, “He who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.” People will try to get into the sheepfold in other ways but they will not be saved. Jesus is the door. He is not a closed door but an open door. His veil does not keep people out; it allows people in. But they must come through Him alone or else they will be lost. Those who seek to come in by their good deeds will be lost. Those who seek to come in by their religiousness will be lost. Those who seek to come in through enlightenment or reincarnation or transcendental meditation will be lost. Those who seek to enter by the Buddha or by Allah will be lost. Even those who seek to enter by another Jesus (as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11) will be lost. You might ask how it is possible to have another Jesus? This is someone called Jesus (or the Christ) but is not the Jesus of the Bible. It might the Mormon Jesus who was a spirit brother of Satan and a byproduct of a physical relationship between Mary and God. This Mormon Jesus was man but became a god by virtue of His good deeds and adherence to the law. It could be the Jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who was created by the Father but was not the eternal God Himself. These other Jesus’ cannot save. They are not the door and will lead others to an eternity of torment not eternal joy in the presence of God.
The author of Hebrews does not want us to miss this precious benefit of confident communion with the Father we have obtained by our relationship with Jesus Christ. And the encouragements we will see later are based on this.
B. A personal priest
The second precious benefit that has been given to us is a personal priest. Not only do we have confidence to enter the holy place but we see in verse 21 the author says we have a personal priest. “Since we have a great priest over the house of God.” Jesus is our personal priest who has offered His sacrifice of Himself for us. He is the One who intercedes for us. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” He is this mediator on our behalf. He is our personal priest why? He is over the household of God. And what is the household of God? The author defined it back in chapter 3 verse 6. There he notes, “Christ was faithful as a Son over His house – whose house we are.” We are the house of God. The house of God is not the building we meet in. The house of God is each believer because God lives inside us. This is why we have a personal priest.
In this New Testament economy, the Spirit of God indwells every believer. In Colossians 1, Paul calls this, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Because Christ lives in us we have the confident expectation of eternal life. Paul describes, in greater detail, what it means for Christ to live in us in Colossians 3. He says, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” Christ is now our life. He is the One who lives in us. Since He lives in us we are the house of God.
What does it mean we have a personal priest? Jesus now intercedes on our behalf. We cannot be lost because He pleads on our behalf to the Father. When the accuser of the brethren, Satan, comes before the Father and accuses us against Him, the Son pleads His own sacrifice on our behalf. When Satan seeks to destroy us Jesus intercedes for us so we will not fall away. Even as Jesus said to Peter, “Satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you.” We need not fear the onslaught of spiritual warfare against us because greater than our own prayer for our strength we find that Jesus Himself intercedes for us. And our prayers are effective only because Jesus brings them to the Father for us as our personal priest. What a wonderful privilege to have the Son of God interceding on our behalf. What a precious benefit to have one who loves us so much He never fails to pray for us. As a matter of fact, the author of Hebrews says, “He ever lives to make intercession for us.” Hallelujah, what a Savior!
II. The Encouragement from What Has Been Said
Having looked at these two precious benefits from the author’s discussion of Jesus’ work for us we come to the encouragement from what has been said. The author says that because of what we have heard we should be doing some things. And he encourages us to do them faithfully not because we are adequate in ourselves but we have a wonderful Savior who has given us confident communion with the Father and has become our personal priest. These four encouragements are given to us. Let us embrace them wholeheartedly and carry them out diligently.
A. Come near to God
The first encouragement the author gives us is to come near to God. We note this in verse 22. He says, “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Now the author says we need to come near to God. And we need to come with a sincere or true heart. We can’t hide anything from God. We can’t play games with Him. We must come to Him with an open heart ready to confess sin that His Word brings to our minds. And the author says we can come in the full assurance of faith. God wants us to come to Him. God wants us to know Him better. The author says that we have been cleansed both inwardly and outwardly through Christ’s sacrifice. We have had our hearts sprinkled. That is the guilt of our conscience has been wiped away and we have been given a new heart. Our bodies have been cleansed and this speaks of the removal of the filth of our outward acts of sin. The words he uses, sprinkling and washing have an Old Testament context to them. The blood of the sacrifice sprinkled upon the altar symbolized the blood of Christ that cleansed our sin. And the washing spoke of the ritual washings in which the priests partook. It showed they were clean or pure to carry out the work of the priesthood. This symbolized the washing of the regeneration of the Spirit of God in a person. The author also alludes to Ezekiel 36:25ff where Ezekiel says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances.”
Since Christ has cleansed us and given us this confident access to the Father the author says we must take advantage of it. We must seek to come to Him and desire to know Him. This means we must take time with Him. Our lives are fast paced. They are flying. Yet if we do not slow down to take time to draw near to God we will not know Him and the joy of His presence. But what is it that goes out the window when we are rushed? It is our time with God. Please don’t give me the excuse that you are too busy for I more so. When I was a nuclear engineer officer and was working 12-hour shifts 7 days a week I still spent time in the Word. I still spent time praying. I still sought to read the Scripture and pray with my wife. When I was in seminary I worked 20 hours a week at FedEx. I took 14-16 graduate credits that included about 10,000 pages of reading each semester. I was in class about five hours a day and spent from noon to 9 studying. Plus I taught a Sunday school and worked with the youth group. Yet each day I blocked out an hour of time to read the Bible and pray. I knew if I didn’t schedule it in I would schedule it out. I didn’t spend an hour of time with the Lord each day because I am better than others but because I know where my strength comes from. And if you won’t take time to spend with the Lord you will not draw near to Him. I read this week from someone that was speaking about the frenzied pace of our society. They said, “We are no longer trying to keep up with the Joneses, we are trying to keep up with the gerbils.” There we are in the cage running around on that stupid wheel thinking we are going somewhere. And when it doesn’t seem we are getting anywhere we start running faster. But you’ve probably seen it. What happens when the gerbil looses their grip? They start spinning around on the wheel backwards because they don’t know how to get off. We are just like that. We try to do more and more. We cut out our time with God because we think it will somehow save us time not fully understanding that our time with God is like our oxygen. Try cutting that off sometime. You start getting all panicked and unnerved and frantic when you can’t breath. Why do you think there is so much anxiety disorder today? People are going without their spiritual oxygen. They are neglecting God. It was Martin Luther who said that he felt most of his day was wasted if he didn’t spend the first three hours in prayer. We might laugh at a sentiment like that today. But look at how much he accomplished for God. And how much have we accomplished for God? Who do you think is right?
The author encourages us to draw near to God. He knows that we have been given this great privilege to seek His face and come into His presence boldly. The question is will you take advantage of that privilege. What will you do with the oxygen you need? Will you hold your breath even though there is an abundance of it around you or will you breath deeply? God is our oxygen. Or as Jesus once said, “He who drinks of the water I shall give him will never thirst. He wants you to come to Him and breath deeply of His life giving air. Come near to God.
B. Cling to what we have believed
The second encouragement the author gives us is we need to cling to what we have believed. Verse 23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Because we have Jesus as our priest we can cling to our faith. The author says we must do this but he wants us to understand it is not because of something in us that we will continue to persevere. It is based on the faithfulness of God. “He who promised is faithful.” God will fulfill what He has said. And because of this we can cling to what we have believed. Because of God’s faithfulness we have this hope. It is not that we are trying to hang on but that God holds us. We are attached to Him. He holds us in the palm of His hand and nothing can remove us from that place.
And so the author encourages us to cling to what we have believed because God is faithful to what He has promised. He has given us this firm anchored hope that is sure and steadfast and we will be saved. Don’t give up this confidence you have because God is faithful. Aren’t you glad that your salvation is based on God’s faithfulness and not your own? We probably would have cast ourselves off a long time ago if it was based on our faithfulness. Cling to Him. He is faithful.
C. Considerately provoke one another
The third encouragement the author gives us is we need to considerately provoke one another. In verse 24 the author tells us, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” The author tells us we need to be thinking about or considering how we should motivate one another to do what is right (that is considerately provoke).
As believers we must be characterized by love and good deeds. Now the world has its own view of love. Let everyone do what they want. The Scripture, however, says, “Speak the truth in love.” We are to tell people what is right or wrong in a loving manner. And we are to show love for others by doing what is best for them. This is love. We don’t give our children everything they want but what is best for them. Loving people isn’t telling them their behavior is ok, it is warning them about the consequences of their actions and sharing with them about a loving Savior who can deliver them from those consequences.
We need to love one another in this body. This is how Jesus said the world would know that we were His disciples. If we are not loving those in our church how are those around us going to know that we truly belong to Jesus. Jesus said this was the distinguishing mark for a believer. And we need to encourage one another in love.
The author says that our encouragement should also extend to promoting good deeds. As Christians we should be about doing good to others. This is what our Savior did and we should be like Him. Peter tells us this in Acts 10:38. “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” Part of our business as Christians is to seek to do that which is good. Because our hearts have been changed by the Holy Spirit who lives in us it should be a joy to us to do what is good. And we should seek to do good as an opportunity for others to see Christ in us so we can tell them about our Savior.
In Galatians 6:9 the apostle Paul says, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” This is another reason we should seek to encourage one another to love and good deeds. We need to motivate others to love and good deeds because sometimes we grow weary. And when we notice our brothers or sisters growing weary in loving others and doing good we need to come along side them and stir them up. Remind them that it is not too long before we see Jesus. Even if He doesn’t come we only have a short time maybe only another 40-50 years before we die. Don’t give up. Don’t be disheartened because it doesn’t seem like you are seeing results from your effort. Keep living for Jesus. Keep doing what is good. Keep pressing on. Keep looking to our Savior for strength. Keep on keeping on. Encourage one another.
D. Continue meeting until Jesus comes
The final encouragement the author gives us is to continue meeting until Jesus comes. He says it in verse 25. “Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
This is related to the previous encouragement. How can you know when someone is not continuing to practice love and good works? When you don’t see them around anymore. It is a good sign that something is wrong and they need encouragement. Even while the author was writing at the time of Christianity’s beginning there were people who were in the habit of not meeting together in the church. They stopped attending. They began to drift away. Perhaps they had sin in their life and the preaching was too uncomfortable. Maybe they were angry at someone and they didn’t want to see that individual instead of getting it right with them. These people need to be encouraged not to forsake assembling together. They must be reminded how much they need the company of other believers and be involved in their lives.
Now this passage isn’t saying we need to be here every single time something is going on in the church. It doesn’t mean we need to be here whenever the doors are open. But it does mean we should be significantly participating in the life of one another in the church. If someone will not come out to church there is something wrong with their walk with the Lord. There are no lone ranger Christians. God has designed us in the church to need one another. God has placed within the body, members who have different functions. God has some work for every believer. They need to prepare themselves for it and be ready to serve Him and one another through the gifts God has given them.
The author closes this section by speaking of the increasing importance of meeting together as the day of Christ’s return draws closer. The Scripture says there are several things that will happen to make it all the more important that we continue to meet together and encourage one another through the Word of God unto love and good works.
We can find this in many places in Scripture but we will focus on Jesus’ description of the end times in Matthew 24. First, the Scripture says wars, famines and earthquakes will increase. In Matthew 24:7 Jesus says, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.” Isn’t this what we see happening? Don’t we see a move toward war in so many places. World War I, the war to end all wars, was followed by World War II. And beside the wars we have been involved in there have been ongoing wars between nations both large and small.
Next, there will be increased persecution of Christians. In Matthew 24:9, he notes, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.” Last year more Christians were martyred (over 150,000) than in the first 1000 years of Christianity. And this is on the rise. There are attempts to remove our ability to speak the truth of the Word of God in our country. You can’t call an immoral person a sinner because that is hate speech. There is a pastor in MA right now being threatened with prosecution because a person came to him for counseling who is living a homosexual lifestyle and the pastor told the man this was sin. We should expect to see increased persecution.
The next thing that will happen is many will fall away. Persecution will divide the real believers from the false believers. When false believers see there is a cost and not a current personal benefit to be a Christian they will leave. Jesus said next, “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.” When people begin to lose their property for being a Christian and standing for truth those who have only made a profession of faith but do not possess real faith will leave. Let me ask you, if you were told you will lose your house, your children, your job if you don’t say that everyone’s faith is just as valid as faith in Christ, what would you do? If you were told you will lose these things if you don’t stop saying people living together is wrong or that homosexuality is wrong what would you do? Will you deny the faith? Things will not get easier. This is why the author says we must continue to meet together to encourage one another to do what is right. How will we be encouraged to do this unless we gather together to hear the Word of God and provoke one another to love and good works.
After this falling away, Jesus said there will be an increase in Christian deception. In 24:11 he said, “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.” This is happening today. The Internet is rampant with it, TV has filled the airwaves with false teachers. You can find whatever you want to hear to have your ears tickled if you won’t endure sound doctrine. And people will fall for it because they don’t know the Scripture. They are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.
Next, sin will gain a greater and greater hold upon people and the love of many will grow cold. In 24:12 He tells us, “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.” As sin abounds and people shoot each other up with guns and shoot themselves up with drugs, as immorality gains footholds in every section of society, as we see more horrifying things on the news people will cease to care about others. The love they have for others will die away and all that will remain will be their love for themselves. Look out for number 1. That is all that matters now. Protect yourself
As we see the day approaching we must more diligently meet together. We must more conscientiously encourage one another. We must seek to help one another as we see their hurt. Take the time to look around. Who do you know that is not here? Have you taken the time to find out how they are doing? Have you called them to see if they need encouragement? We need to be about this as believers. Especially as we see the day approaching and I see the day approaching. Do you see the day approaching?
Friends, we have a confident communion with the Father available to us through our great priest Jesus. Will you take advantage of these benefits to come closer to God, cling to what we have believed, considerately provoke one another and continue to meet until Jesus comes? I hope you will put these into practice in your life. If you have not put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior I hope you will do so today. Jesus died for your sin and rose again so you might receive His righteousness. Will you place your trust in Him?