WARNINGS

There was a time in the distant past when believers were tempted to go back into Judaism in order to escape persecution. Judaism was a recognized religion under Roman law, but Christianity was not. Due to the persecution the budding church faced, some believed that they could avoid this persecution by going back to Judaism for a time and then after the persecution was over they would return to Jesus Christ. To help encourage these second-generation believers, those who had come to know Christ after He had been crucified and rose again, the Book of Hebrews was written. This book is filled with multiple reasons for the believer to hold strong to the faith, including showing that Jesus Christ is greater than the angels (Hebrews 1:6), greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:3), He is our High Priest (Hebrews 5:6), and His sacrifice is sufficient (Hebrews 10:10). However, the Book of Hebrews is not just filled with encouraging verses to the believer to remind them of how great our God is. In fact, there are a few verses that can be described as “warnings” to the believer. It is these “warnings” that we will be studying in the next few weeks.

Among other things, the Book of Hebrews is a book of evaluation.  At the time it was written, it encouraged those Jewish Christians to examine Judaism and Christianity. When comparing the actions of Jesus Christ against the legalistic Judaism, the Jewish Christians saw that what Jesus Christ offered was better and His promises were eternal and gave us a perfect standing before God. Other sacrifices, obeying the law, or the Levitical priesthood cannot offer this perfect standing, it cannot offer a once and for all redemption. Today, we face a similar choice. Do we continue to hold to Jesus Christ and His eternal promises? Or do we slip into what the world offers, which only promises eternal death? If we are not continuing to grow in the Lord by being in His Word daily, we forget His teachings and will begin to slide backwards. This is not saying we lose our salvation, but you cannot stand still in your faith. You must be moving forward. This is why the “warning” passages were written.

First, I want to clarify something, these so-called “warnings” are not exactly warnings at all. Instead they are an exhortation or encouragement to trust God and listen to His Word. “22 Brothers and sisters, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you quite briefly.” Hebrews 13:22. These warnings encourage us to trust God and show the spiritual consequences that will happen if we do not.

The warnings were not written to scare the believers, instead they were written to remind the believer that we have encouragement in Jesus Christ. “18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us.” Hebrews 6:18. Nor were they written as an indicator of genuine belief. These warnings were written to born-again believers, not “professors” of the faith. If they were written to unsaved individuals then the warnings would have not meaning because these people were already not listening to God. Therefore, the warnings were not written to make you believe that you could lose your salvation. This would go against what is taught numerous times throughout the Bible. “13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13, “28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”” John 10:28-30, and again in Romans 8:37-39, “37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Over the next couple of weeks we will go through these “warnings”, to see that we have encouragement in Jesus Christ and to hold fast to Him and the eternal promises that He has given those who believe in Him.

Seek the truth and encourage one another,

Alex