Wednesday 31st
Hebrews 10:19-39
NIV (v22-25) – ‘Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.’
ESV (v22-25) – ‘Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he
who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.’
Continuing from yesterday we have the third of the ‘Let us’ statements to look at, ‘Let us consider’, consider what? Consider how to stir up one another – now today if we are stirring it is usually implied that we are stirring up trouble, but in the context of this letter it is to stir up or as the NIV says to spur us on in our faith, and in particular toward our love and care for each other, our meeting together for we need to be encouraged as the writer says even more as you see the Day approaching.
The Hebrew recipients as I mentioned yesterday may have been going through difficult times, and one of the ways the writer wanted them to be encouraged was through the mutual support of one another, when they may have felt hated by the world, then show love toward one another, when perhaps it was difficult to get through life with possible risk because of their faith then show your love by good works, caring and supporting one another and then meet together, for in meeting together, by being in fellowship there was that sense of togetherness that helped them realise they were not alone, it was an opportunity to find the encouragement needed to persevere. And we today may not be undergoing the same difficulties the early believers were having but we do have pressure and opposition, and the ‘let us consider’ to the Hebrews is also important for us today. We need each other as the family of God, I need you, you need me, we need each other and we need to show mutual support for one another and we need to have fellowship with one another for it is very often in that place where we come together as God’s children that we get the encouragement that we need.
The final thought in these verses is ‘and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.’
The word Day is with a capital D, signifying that it is not just any old day but a particular Day. It is the Day of the Lord, the Day of the Lord’s return, the Day when a sifting will take place, the Day when those who have trusted in Christ will be taken and all others will be left behind. It is a ‘let us’ ‘all the more’ because the writer didn’t want anyone to fall back, to fail at the last hurdle, he wanted each one of the recipient of his letter to be sure to finish the race. We need to heed the same advice, ‘and all the more as we see the Day dawning near’, Jesus is coming again, don’t be caught napping, don’t be caught out unaware, keep focused on Jesus, look up, for your redemption is near.