Hebrews 10:35-39 "Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. "For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in Him." But we are not those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul."
This is one of the most touching passages I have ever seen in the Bible when we see it clearly in context. We are not to cast away our confidence that our sins have been purged by Jesus. This has great reward. We are rewarded with the Presence of the Almighty God! You have need of endurance in the gospel, so that after you have done the will of God, which is to believe the word of His grace, you may receive the promise of His Presence without fear of punishment. Verse 37 shows the loving Father heart of God. He is coming to us to see who will draw near and fellowship with Him. Now the justified shall live by faith that our sins have been purged by Jesus. But if anyone draws back from God due to fear of punishment, instead of drawing near to Him without fear, God does not receive the pleasure of our fellowship. God is not mad at us and is not counting our sins against us. But if we believe that He is, then we will draw back in fear. If we believe He is counting our sins to us, we have reverted back to an Old Testament mindset. We are not those who draw back to the judgment under the Old Testament law, but of those who believe the gospel to the saving of our soul or the cleansing of our conscience. It makes me love God as I write this when I see He loves us so much.
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." This has been quoted so many times. What is the actual context? Now faith in the gospel, that our sins have been purged by Jesus, is the substance of things hoped for, entering into His Presence without fear of punishment, the evidence of things not seen. We have the Presence of the Unseen God in our hearts. Hebrews 11:27 confirms this. Speaking of Moses, it says that by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." It means that without faith that our sins have been purged by Jesus, it is impossible to please Him by drawing near to Him. We will be afraid of Him otherwise. He who comes to fellowship with God must believe that He is and that He will reward us with His Presence and love as we diligently seek Him. Why do we have to diligently seek Him? We have a conscience that needs to be cleansed and renewed by enduring in the message of the gospel, that He by Himself purged our sins.
Hebrews 11:39-40 "And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith ,did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us." This verse opens up the whole chapter of Hebrews 11. Some people have called this chapter the Hall of Faith. These two verses are saying that these Old Testament believers obtained a good testimony before God and people, but they did not receive the promise of God living within them. These Old Testament heroes lived before the cross of Jesus and were not born again. Verse 40 says that they should not be made perfect apart from us. The book of Hebrews has used the word perfect in regard to the conscience. So until Jesus shed His blood on the cross, these Old Testament believers could not be perfected in their conscience before God.
We have seen the focus of the first 11 chapters of Hebrews. God wants us to hold fast to the gospel, that Jesus purged our sins on the cross and sat down at the right hand of God. Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of our entire lifetime. Holding to this Good News will cleanse our conscience before God so that we can approach Him without fear. Before the writer of Hebrews ever begins to discuss walking in holiness, know that our hearts are to be established in the word of righteousness. Jesus purged our sins once and for all. We are not to draw back to an Old Testament mindset. We are to draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance that our sins have been punished in Jesus and there is no more punishment for us. When this is complete and our conscience is cleansed, then God teaches us to walk in love and holiness. We do not walk in holiness to gain God's favor. We already have His favor when we trust in Christ. We walk in holiness to properly express His true nature of love in and through us to other people. We will see this in Hebrews chapters 12-13.
Keith Oliver
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