希伯来书

Meditative Reflection
The Futility of the External

“They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.” (Heb. 9:10)

As much as it was grievously wrong for the Jewish Christians to desire to return to their former way of religious lives under the Law of Moses, one can almost sympathize with them in a sense because the “new order” under Christ (9:10), which emphasizes a worship in “spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24), does lack the external attractiveness that accompanied the “regulations for worship” of the old tabernacle (9:1) such as:

- The wearing of the colorful robe of the high priest

- The solemnity of the meticulous rituals of slaughtering the sacrificial animals on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16)

- The visual sprinkling of the blood and the laying on of hands on one of the goats

- The accompaniment of incense and singing of the Levites

Compare all this to, say, the Lord’s Table, which was most likely celebrated in the home where the house churches met and was administered by one of the brothers in humble clothing. What were visible included only the wine and the bread on an ordinary table. In terms of ritualistic reverence, the “new order” cannot compare to that of the “old covenant”, and yet, the author of Hebrews forcefully points out that, in spite of their nostalgic sentiment, the old covenant’s regulations for worship are nothing more than external and outward rituals (9:10, 13).  They could do nothing for our souls (9:14).

This is a solemn reminder to us as well that we do not rely on external rituals of worship nor any mystical or nostalgic setting in our approach to worship, but simply “draw near to God with a sincere heart full of assurance” (10:22) of the completed work of eternal redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Meditative Reflection
We All Have to Give an Account to God

“Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment…”. (Heb. 9:27)

Though we like to say that tax and death are the only sure things in life, the former might not necessarily be sure, but the latter certainly is!

Even though everyone knows that “a man is destined to die once”, many live as though they will never die, or if they die, it is no big deal.

If we really are conscious of the fact that we will die one day, and we will not be able to take anything away with us, why then would we hoard and accumulate earthly treasures, fight and grab every opportunity to be rich, worry and fret over fame, fortune and power? These are all temporal things that will mean nothing, and gain us nothing when we die. If non-Christians live like that, it might be understandable, yet the consequence is most horrible, because “after that (they will) face judgment” (9:27). But for Christians to be sucked into the same rat race and so-called American dreams, that is more than tragic!

To die is a big deal, because for Christians and non-Christians, “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” (Rom. 14:12)

While I have visited some who were dying without hope in Christ and it was most tragic to see how they faced death in despair, I have also visited dying Christians whose hearts were heavy. For even though they knew they had been forgiven, they had lived their lives mainly pursuing the things of this life and were full of regrets in life, They were going to see their Lord.

Meditative Reflection
Sin Stains!

“But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Heb. 10:3-4)

“The concept of sin as a defilement is a significant emphasis in Hebrews. The contemporary Church has tended to forget this insight. Ironically, whenever the Church neglects a central aspect of the truth, God will jolt the collective memory of His people through the secular world.

"A clever TV commercial depicts an attractive cruise director approaching a passenger: ‘Why Mr. Jones, loosen up your tie. You’re on a cruise!’ As she adjusts his tie she steps back and blurts out, ‘Oh, no, Mr. Jones. You’ve got ring around the collar!’ And Mrs. Jones groans, 'Oh, those filthy rings!’. Then the appeal for the product is made.

"Why does an advertisement like that attract our attention? What is there about dirt that finds a response in us? Why does a mother say to a small child going out to play, ‘Now, don’t get dirty?’ Why after a demanding day of hard physical labor and perspiration, do we say, ‘I feel filthy; I’ve got to have a shower’?

"God has built into our consciousness a sensitivity to the fact of feeling filthy at the surface of our lives as a means of summoning us to recognize that sin makes us dirty within. We have a tendency to forget that fact. Sin corrupts. It is not simply a violation of the law of God; it is a violation of our personhood. Sin stains us, and demands cleansing… (According to the writer of Hebrews) sin (is) not simply alienation or the expression of a broken relationship. It is a reality that stains the sinner and renders him vile. Sin defiles: this is one aspect of the truth (in Hebrews).”
(William Lane, Hebrews, 122-3)

Meditative Reflection
Sinning Deliberately

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” (Heb. 10:26)

The warning given by the author of Hebrews against the deliberate sinners has given rise to many different interpretations and practices since the early church, so allow me to quote the insight of the well-respected conservative scholar, F.F. Bruce as follows:

“This passage was destined to have repercussions in Christian history beyond what our author could have foreseen. By ‘sin deliberately’ he means something like sinning “with high hand” (RSV) (Num. 15:30) for which no pardon was provided by the Old Testament law of atonement. He has already emphasized that despising the saving message spoken by the Son of God must carry with it penalties even more severe than the sanctions attached to the law of Moses, ‘the word spoken through angels’ (2:2); and he repeats the same argument here. The context suggests that something much more serious is in his mind than what Paul calls being ‘overtaken in any trespass’ (Gal. 6:1)— after all, he has pointed out more than once that in Jesus Christians have a high priest who can succor them when they are tempted, sympathize with them in their infirmities, and bear gently with them when they stray from the path through ignorance. What he has in mind is rather that ‘deserting the living God’ of which he spoke in 3:12, that renunciation of Christianity against which he warned his readers in 6:4-8. To have received the knowledge of the truth and then reject it is to give up the only way of salvation. ‘No further sacrifice for sins is left’ which can avail for those who have deliberately abandoned reliance on the perfect sacrifice of Christ. That outright apostasy is intended here seems plain from the language of v. 29. The man who has committed this willful sin is described as having ‘spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace’ (RSV).

"Our author is not given to wild exaggeration, and when he uses language like this, he chooses his words with his customary care. To spurn the Son of God, to trample Him underfoot (as the word literally means), ‘denotes contempt of the most flagrant kind’ (Moffat); to treat the covenant blood of Christ, by which alone His people are sanctified, cleansed, and brought to God, as no better than the most common death, is to repudiate decisively both His sacrifice and all the blessings which flow from it; to outrage the Spirit of grace is in the words of Jesus, to be ‘guilty of an eternal sin’ (Mk. 3:29). Anyone who was convicted, on adequate testimony, of a deliberate breach of Israel’s covenant law was liable to the death penalty: ‘your eye shall not pity him’ so ran the inexorable sentence (Deut. 13:8; 19:13 etc.). But that was the penalty of physical death; the spiritual death which lies in store for the apostate under the new order is a ‘much sorer punishment’."
 (NTCNT, Hebrews, 261-2)

Meditative Reflection
Though Dead, Still Speaks!

“And by faith he (Abel) still speaks, even though he is dead.” (Heb. 11:4)

It is important to note that the author of Hebrews is not discussing the theological treatise about faith, but is addressing an audience who have faced and are still facing severe persecutions that include public insult, imprisonment, and confiscation of property (10:32-34). Allow me to share with you a familiar story of Polycarp (AD 69-155), the Bishop of Smyrna, where the church suffered as mentioned in Revelation 2:8-11. He would certainly be familiar with the words of exhortation in Hebrews 11, and at his age, might well be among the first audience of this letter:

“Polycarp appeared to have been in his nineties when persecution broke out in Smyrna. When it became evident that a Roman festival would become an occasion for the severe harassment of Christians, a majority in the church persuaded their aged pastor to retire to a farm outside the city. There, in the company of a few friends, he spent time in prayer.

"Christians in Smyrna were arrested and brought before the Roman Pro-Consul, who sought to persuade them to take the oath of allegiance to the emperor, acknowledging Caesar as Lord, and to offer pagan sacrifice. A man named Quintus was remembered because ‘he played the coward’ and complied, but most of the Christians from Smyrna remained true to Christ. They were scourged, burned alive, tortured on the rack, and torn by wild beasts. After a few days of this public spectacle, the crowd in the arena became restless and called for a search to be made for Polycarp.

"Polycarp was moved to still another farm, but he could not remain hidden. A young slave revealed under torture where he could be found, and the police captain, with a detachment of cavalry, was dispatched to bring him to the arena. When Polycarp entered the arena, there was a deafening roar from the spectators, but it could not drown out the heavenly voice which the aged pastor heard: ‘Be strong Polycarp, and play the man'.

"The Pro-Consul apparently had never seen Polycarp previously. When this venerable old man stood before him, he was deeply moved. He urged the old pastor to respect his age, and pressed him to take the oath, swearing by the genius of Caesar: ‘Take the oath and I will let you go. Revile Christ.’ Polycarp replied without hesitation: ‘For eighty-six years I have been His servant, and He has never wronged me. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?’ (Martyrdom of Polycarp, 9:3). When every effort at dissuasion had failed, the Pro-Consul sent his herald into the arena to announce three times, ‘Polycarp has confessed that he is a Christian.’ It was decreed that Polycarp should be burned alive. He was bound and consigned to the flames.”
(Lane, Hebrews, 92)

Indeed, Polycarp “still speaks, even though he is dead”. (11:4)

Meditative Reflection
Never Too Old to Embark on the Journey of Faith

“By faith, Abraham, when called to go to place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Heb. 11:8)

It is obvious that the age of mankind saw a marked decrease after the Flood. Although Abraham and Sarah both lived beyond a hundred, they were in their senior years as they obeyed the call of God to move all the way from Ur to Canaan. Genesis 12:4 tells us that Abraham was 75 years old when he set out from Haran to the Promised Land—the final destination of which was a mystery to him. But he obeyed (Heb. 11:8).

As some commentators point out, nothing was mentioned about the first 75 years of Abraham’s life, except that he was living with his father’s family in a place of idol worship, and that his father’s family worshipped those gods (Joshua 24:2).

Would you make such a major move when you are in your senior years? Would your spouse be willing to make such a move? "Why did God not call me much earlier, when I was younger, more resourceful, more useful, and more at ease in adapting to changes?" If Abraham did ask some of these questions, it would only be logical!

We have no clue as to why God only chose to call and use Abraham in his senior years. Perhaps, his father was such an obstacle that he had to wait for his death. Perhaps Sarah was not quite ready until she realized that there was no hope to have a child, and moving away from their land and country didn’t matter anymore. As I said, we do not know. But one thing for sure, God knows when it is best for us.

In recent decades, we have witnessed more and more Christians being called to “leave and go” in the latter part of their mid-life. I became aware of this “movement” of God in the seventies when I learned that a prominent Chinese pastor decided to answer God’s call to be a missionary to Africa. He was seventy years old, not much younger that Abraham when he left Haran. Since then, I have seen God calling Christians to “leave” from their established business or career, and “go” into gospel ministry as full-time workers or as lay Christians, and for some, even leaving their families. These are people, like Abraham, who spent a good part of their lives in spiritual obscurity. But just the same, their obedience has become a blessing to many, even to the Kingdom of God.

Meditative Reflection
The Mother of Faith

It is more than obvious that Abraham, the father of faith, overshadows his wife, Sarah, as he was chosen by God to be the blessing of all the people on earth through his seed, the Messiah—Christ Jesus.

But Sarah was chosen as well, in not only bearing the seed, but also in being the wife of the father of faith. We often like to say, “Behind each great man is a great woman”. This is, in essence, the eulogy by the Apostle Peter as he says, “You are her daughters if you do what is right and did not give way to fear” (1 Peter 3:6). In other words, in the expression of her faith, Sarah did what was right and did not give way to fear. And indeed, there was much to fear as the wife of Abraham.

It is true that this matriarch was no “pushover”, though unfortunately she was often remembered for her harsh treatment of her maidservant Hagar and her child, Ishmael. But given ancient customs, she could have treated her maidservant far more severely for her disrespect. As much as she must have exerted pressure on Abraham, she did defer to Abraham for the final decision. Peter testifies, “Sarah…obeyed Abraham, and called him her master.”

Indeed, we should remember Sarah for her obedience to Abraham.  She was

1. Willing to uproot from their homeland and probably sold everything they had;

2. Willing to believe in her husband’s incredible word about a vision of moving to a destination that he had no idea of;

3. Willing not to settle and buy land, but rather to continue to live in tents for her entire life even as they grew in wealth;

4. Willing to go through the most dangerous territories and end up being taken as a concubine twice by kings; she potentially sacrificed her own sexual purity for the sake of protecting her husband’s life; 

5. Though she’d probably know after the fact, having to risk losing her only son, the son she loved, as her husband obeyed the most outrageous demand of God.

To follow such a crazy husband takes incredible faith!

Since Abraham is called the father of faith, shouldn’t her obedience make her the mother of faith!