“Rebellion” - Part 2

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews 10:26-31

From this short passage in Hebrews 10, I have come to wonder about the faith of some of my so-called friends.  I say “so-called” because I experience very little fruit of there being a saving Spirit within them; I get the feeling that their faith maybe have been falsified… and in this, I am scared of losing them to the schemes of the Devil.

This warning passage deals with the sin of apostasy, intentionally falling away, or defection, and is one of the most serious warnings of all of Scripture…  Apostates are those who move toward Christ, hear and understand His gospel, and are on the verge of saving belief, but then rebel and turn away.  Often in cases where one seemingly comes to Christ without the support of a true church, there likely may be a large number of self-proclaimed Christians who think and say that they believe and put their trust in Christ alone but part of their hearts still embraces sin & rejects the LORD.

The Greek term of “sin willfully” in verse 26 carries the idea of deliberate intention that is habitual; the sin is rejecting Christ deliberately.  These are not isolated acts.  According to Mosaic legislation, such acts of deliberate, premeditated sin require exclusion from the congregation of Israel (Num.15:30-31), from its worship (Ex.21:14), and also excluded the individual from sanctuary in cities of refuge (Deut.19:11-13).

We should know that these apostates have specific spiritual knowledge, not just general (cf. Heb.6:4; 1 Tim.2:4).  While their knowledge was not ineffective or incomplete, the application of the knowledge was certainly flawed.  In essence, they were unable to trust God completely with their entire lives, unable to love Him with ALL of their heart-soul-mind-and-strength and thus unable to genuinely love others as themselves nor obey His commandments.  This rebel is beyond salvation because he has rejected the only sacrifice that can cleanse him from sin and bring him into the Father’s presence; for to turn away from that Sacrifice leaves him with no saving alternative.

Since the judgment of the rebellion is certain to happen, so it thus generates fear (v.27).  The description of judgment and fury is similar to that in Isaiah 26:11, and ultimately, it results in eternity in the lake of fire–hell.  As also clearly indicated in Matthew 11:22-24, there are varying degrees of punishment in hell, and thus even a worse punishment for those who trample Christ under their foot than those who ignorantly reject God.  In the ancient Near east, one of the gestures used to show contempt for someone was to “lift up the foot” against or toward them (see Psalm 41:9).  To walk on top of someone or something was a more extreme gesture showing utter contempt and scorn.  Thus, such contempt demonstrates a complete rejection of Christ as Savior and Lord.

These people who spurn the Son of God also makes Christ’s blood out to be something “common”, which is the same thing as saying it is unclean or defiled, implying that Jesus was a sinner and a blemished sacrifice.  Such thinking is truly blasphemous, for such people treat as unholy Jesus’ death; their rebellion cheapens the blood which ratified the New Covenant & which set Christ apart to God.  Consequently, this rejection of Christ insults the Spirit who worked through Him and who testifies of Him.

We live in a postmodern age and culture of apostasy where we must continually exercise discernment in all aspects of our lives, especially in our relationships with seekers, Christians and churches.  As it Paul writes to the Thessalonians, “test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thess. 5:21-22)  With this mindset of discernment in hand, let us use the mind of Christ we have been given to make careful distinctions in our understanding of truth and error, right and wrong, true Christians and apostates–so that we can measure everything and everyone against the very Word of God.

(Continued in Part 3, coming soon…)

“Rebellion”:
Part 1-Worshippers Rebel
Part 2-False Faith
Part 3-The Apostasy of Young and Old
Part 4-Abandoned by God
Part 5-Deprived of Restraining Grace