“For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.” Hebrews 6:4-8

We are now reaching some adult teachings the author wanted to share.It is impossible to bring back a Christian to the same kind of repentance he experienced at salvation. The author is not talking about pseudo-christians, those who come to church and don’t know Christ or about people who were never saved. No, the author is talking about Christians. They were enlightened by the truth of the Gospel and they have experienced the grace and goodness coming from the heavenly throne. They have received the Holy Spirit like any Christian when they were saved. They were touched by the Word and know its power. If these people turn away from Christ and deny Him, it is impossible for them to be restored unto repentance.  We had a small introduction of this theme in Hebrews 3:12-19.

If one turns from his evil deeds and comes to the Truth, grace is bestowed unto him. But when one turns from the Truth to return to the world, he is doing it consciously. He is defying God and publicly declaring that he refuses God.

The author portrays it as someone “nailing him(Jesus) to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame”. No, grace can no longer be shown but judgment should be expected for such an awful act.

When someone has sinned that does not mean that he is no longer a child of God. The relationship is still there but the communion between the Holy God and the Christian is affected until things are made right. The author is not talking about these cases but talking about a radical decision one made to stop following Jesus. It can also happen that someone wandered away due to false doctrines and difficulties of life. To this extreme, there’s still a chance to be restored unto repentance. For example, James said:

“My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.” James 5:20

John differentiates between these 2 cases well:

“If you see a Christian brother or sister sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.”

What the author of the Epistle is talking about is about this sin that leads to death that even praying won’t change anything. They have held Jesus to public shame and chased the Holy Spirit who was indwelling in them.  They have insulted the Spirit of Grace and this sin will never be forgiven Jesus said.

“I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven,but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences ”  Mark 3:28

We read in 2 Timothy 2:11:

“This is a trustworthy saying:If we die with him,we will also live with him.If we endure hardship,we will reign with him.If we deny him,he will deny us.If we are unfaithful,he remains faithful,for he cannot deny who he is.”

We are often unfaithful but He remains faithful to us and don’t forsake us. No one can snatch us from Jesus’ hands but if we want to leave Him, He won’t beg us to stay. But if we deny Jesus, He’ll deny us.

“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.” Mat 10:33

There’re some people who no longer want to follow Christ and turn to other gods. Others won’t turn to other religions but simply no longer want Christ to lead them.

There’re still those who deny Christ by the way they live. They can profess to be Christians but by their fruits we see evidence that they are not really what they claim to be .

“…But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.” Titus 1:15,16

Paul talking to the Galatians Christians:

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Gal 5:21

And again talking to Ephesians Christians: “You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.” Eph 5:5

These Christians persisting living in sin will not have part to the heavenly place. If someone has been a Christian and is continuously living an immoral life, he is proving that he no longer wants to follow Jesus. These people are deliberately living in sin and there’s no sacrifice which will ever cover their sins :

“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.” Hebrews 10:27

The bible has a lot to say about it. For example, Peter said :

“They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.” 2 Peter 2:20-21

This can also be considered apostasy. Repentance is when you turn away from your former way of living to Christ. Apostasy is when you turn away from Christ. There’re many such preachers nowadays who have turned away from Christ but still in the church. They live in sin and even justify what they do.  Others turned to other religious systems. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance. Even if it ever happen that they want to return to Christ, grace will not be shown to them. It’s better that these people never knew Christ because they will be judged more severely. What happened to Esau will happen to them:

“You know that afterward, when he wanted his father’s blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he begged with bitter tears.” Hebrews 12:17
The author also compares it to a field that bears thorns and thistles and is burnt.

Hebrews 6:8 remembers me John 15 where Jesus said:

“Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”

If one no longer remains in Christ, it is severed from the Vine, is cut off and thrown away. Once it is cut off, it cannot be ingrafted again(it was already ingrafted before). It is gathered and damned for destruction. If one has been saved, he is forever saved only if he remains in Christ – the Vine.

“So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.” Hebrews 6:1-3

As we saw at the end of chapter 5, the author was quite annoyed with the lack of maturity of those who have been in the church for so long. They have become slow to understand, spiritually dull, lacked discernment and were not enough mature in the faith to be able to teach others.

Even if he found himself limited to share his thoughts because of the reader’s immaturity, he goes on anyway to discuss about some important things. There has come a time where we need to leave milk and move to solid food. If we keep on giving milk to everyone because of those immature in the faith the church will not be able to grow up in maturity. The author says that he cannot go over again about the fundamental teachings of Christianity such as the repentance from sin.  Do we still need to teach Christians that adultery and stealing are sins? Do we still to teach about the importance of having faith in God? It breaks my heart to see that believers still have a partial understanding of the doctrines of Christianity. Many of them do not know or do not believe with all their heart that Jesus is God.  What is hindering us?

By the way, some research have shown that excessive consumption of milk causes a child to be full and refuse other nutritious foods and become underweight. Is it what happened to church goers? They can no longer assimilate solid food and are still weak in the faith.

Everything that the author has been sharing so far is based on the assumption that the believers do understand doctrines like repentance, salvation, godliness, baptism, laying of hands, the resurrection of the dead and the coming judgement. I think it’s right time in the churches to move on to adults teachings because there’re probably some mature men and women who are being given milk because of those who don’t want to make an effort to understand. We are not talking here of new believers but of those who heard over and over again the basic teachings of Christianity. I heard only once in my life a sermon based on the epistle to the Hebrews where mention was made about the High Priest and the torn veil. Does it appear to be elitism if sermons are drawn from the epistle to the Hebrews? Are our preachers giving solid food? If not, is it because the preachers have only milk to give or because the hearers cannot assimilate it? Solid food is not about teaching how to cast demons, how to prosper (that’s not even milk) or how to have a bunch of spiritual gifts. God does not care how big your house is, whether you are an expert demon hunter or can predict the future. No sir, solid food are teachings that make you come closer to the Lord. It’s those teachings that make you grow in wisdom, live a holy life and bear the fruits of the Spirit (love,joy,faith,kindness..).

In the coming verses, the author would like to give some teachings for adults.

“There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word.You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” Hebrews 5:11-14

We have reached the end of chapter 5 and with the amount of information we got so far, we see that the author had a lot things he wanted to extrapolate but he found himself constrained because the readers were apparently not yet ready to receive solid teachings. In the introduction to the epistle, it was mentioned that the author was unknown. Here we have a clue that there were at least 2 mature men behind the writing of this epistle.

The author does not hide that he has deep thoughts to share. But he is also aware of the lack of maturity of the readers and calls them to spiritual growth. This is indeed the very reason of the writing of this epistle. These Jews had the laws and had so many proofs of the supremacy of Christ. They were probably trying to bring Judaism in the gospel and starting to wander away. The author emphasizes that these Christians have been in the church “for so long”. How was it possible that these elders were still spiritually immature? Is not it what we see today in many churches? We see many people who have been in the church for 20-40 years and we do not see fruits of maturity in their life. They still have to be reminded to pray, feed their soul with the Word, to have faith, to flee from sexual immorality and persevere. They should have been spiritual fathers and mothers – leaders who give a living testimony of Christ. Paul wanted believers to imitate his example because he himself imitated Christ’s example. Are our elders able to teach? Are our elders full with wisdom and led by the Spirit? Are they examples to follow?

The author cannot digest that he still have to remind these people about the basic teachings of Christianity. He compares them to babies who have to be given milk because they are not ready to digest solid food. One who is still with the elementary teachings does not know yet how to live a godly life. Solid food is for the mature, for those who know Christ, for those whom Christ is the central being, for those who do not tremble in persecution, for those who have discernment and cannot be fooled by false doctrines. Milk is given to a new believer by one adult in the faith. But what we see is that those who are supposed to be adults in the faith are still with milk. In other words, you should be teaching advanced mathematics but you still need someone to teach you how to add and subtract?

With experience, the mature believers no longer see things grey but either black or white. They grew in wisdom and are able to discern what is right and wrong. There’s the fragrance of Christ in them. They are men and women led by the Spirit. They can be bold and gentle at the same time. They can appear to be judgmental  but full of love at the same time.

It is through the knowledge of the Son of God that Christians grow up in maturity:

“until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” Eph. 4:13

Epistle to the Hebrews

“While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:7-10

This remembers me the Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane

“He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood” Luke 22:41-44

Jesus knew what was awaiting Him. He voluntarily came to give His life as an offering for sin. Can you imagine what it means to be crushed by the God almighty?

“But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,he will have many descendants.He will enjoy a long life,and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied.And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.” Isaiah 53:10,11

In Isaiah 53, we see that it was foretold that Jesus would be beaten, whipped and insulted. But is there something more painful than being crushed by the Lord Almighty?

In Psalm 22 we read:

“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help?Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief.”

Jesus has been saying many times that He is one with the Father and now we see the Father abandoning, crushing Him and leaving Him with no reply. Why such a sudden separation? Because our High Priest bore our sins. He went into the Most Holy place in heaven to make the expiation of the sins. The Son was God’s provision, He is the Lamb which takes away the sin of the whole world (John 1:29). After the Son accomplished His work on the cross and said “It’s done”, then God’s wrath was appeased. The Catholics are wrong to say that the virgin Mary intercedes for people. This is a gross mistake and blasphemy towards the blood of Christ. It’s the Son who did all the work for the salvation.

Can you imagine God the Son obeying? He was not obeying because He was inferior to the Father but because He wanted to make Himself a servant on earth. When we looked at His glory on earth and the glory the Father had, we can understand why He said ” The Father is greater than I am” John 14:28. The agenda of Jesus on earth was to bring glory to the Father, not Him.

“I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.” John 17:4

In the book of Revelation, we see the glorious Jesus, as God.

For 33 years this man Jesus obeyed God the Father. Have you disobeyed your parents at least once? Jesus was perfect in obedience. Not only that, the miracles He did and what the words He spoke were in perfect accordance to the Father’s will.

“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.” John 14:10

“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” Phil 2:5-8

Jesus lived all His life not doing His will but the will of the Father. He did it voluntarily because He knew there was no other way. This is why His obedience made Him a perfect sacrifice.

“But Samuel replied,“What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” 1 Sam 15:22

The obedience of Jesus made Him a perfect sacrifice. God Almighty took great pleasure in the submission of His Son. There’s no sacrifice on this earth which could ever pleased God Almighty because everyone disobeyed God. God was even bored with sacrifices (Malachi 1).

Jesus’ perfect obedience was itself a living sacrifice and His death on the cross was the consumption of His fragrance. God Almighty elevated the Son of Man to His own glory for the perfect work He did. Yeah, in the order of Melchizedek this High Priest is.  For eternity His priesthood remains. The Lamb of God came once for all and His sacrifice endures forever. He never dies and no one will ever have to replace Him.

“Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders” Revelation 5:6

The Lamb which has been slaughtered is a continuous living sacrifice.

“Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins. And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs.And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was. That is why Christ did not honor himself by assuming he could become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him,“You are my Son.Today I have become your Father.”And in another passage God said to him,“You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:1-6

The author is starting to elaborate a bit more about the (high)priesthood of Christ. A highpriest had to of the tribe of Levi and a descendant of Aaron. The descendants of Aaron were recorded to keep this office within family.  The highpriest alone could enter the holies of holies once a year. His way of dressing was different and was highly considered.

Obviously, the highpriest had to be a man. He had to represent the people of Israel to receive the forgiveness of sins. Since he was a man, he could understand that the people were not always right with God. He knew that sin was everywhere, even within him. So he also had to offer a sacrifice for his sins when he was presenting himself before God for the nation. No one can choose to be appointed a high priest, this person had to be called by God.  The people had to bring their gifts/sacrifices and give it to the highpriest with the hope of getting God’s forgiveness. Could you imagine if you had to do the same thing nowadays?

Now the author is introducing Melchizedek. This Melchizedek had the characteristic of having no genealogy(or no record was written about his genealogy). We do not know his origins, we do not know who were his parents and when he died. This is particular for a highpriest. He existed before Aaron. As we’ll see in Hebrews 7, the fact that we do not have evidence of who were his parents and when he died makes him someone who existed and never ceased to live(because we do not have it recorded). Where is the tomb of Melchizedek? No one knows.  Jesus did not self proclaim Him Highpriest, He was called by God. Being called by God has precedence over genealogy. Like Melchizedek, Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron and had no biological parents because He was conceived by the Spirit. Where is the body of the crucified Jesus? We don’t know simply because His body is not in the tomb.

A highpriest was like a mediator between God and man. The people were too unholy to come in God’s presence. Only one man could come in God’s presence and this highpriest knew that he was unworthy. In Jesus we find a Highpriest who is both God and man. So he’s more than a mediator. We cannot find Jesus origin on earth because His origin is divine. When you talk to Jesus, you’re talking to God Himself. He’s the divine Bridge between our sinfulness and God’s holiness. Yeah God’s provision is perfect.

Ignorant and wayward people are probably those people who did not know God’s law and sinned. Yeah or it could be these sheep going astray who do not have a shepherd as Isaiah 53 said.

Let us contemplate the sacerdotal prayer of our Highpriest:

Who will teach the ignorant and wayward people?

“Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.” John 17:17,26

Who sent Jesus?

“Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. ” John 17:18

If Jesus is a Highpriest, should not He offer a sacrifice?

“And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.” John 17

Should not Jesus be a mediator between God and man?

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”

Should not He be a priest in the order/caliber of Melchisedek and have no record of the beginning of His existence? Should not He be someone who brings the people closer to God?

“Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began” John 17:5

“Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!” John 17:24

We are talking about God the Son, Jesus Christ who came in flesh. A Highpriest who is both God and man came.

“And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

This man Jesus reconciled man to God.

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews 4:12-16

This is a verse we often like to use to describe the power of the Word of God so I won’t go through much detail about it’s importance. The last 3 chapters are enough to prove the power of God’s Word. These chapters pierced right through my heart  and the Word written in the coming verses will make you bow down to your knees.These verses are alive. God’s Word is a cure for unbelief, it convinces us of sin, it rebukes us, it grants us wisdom and encourages us.

I need to mention though that God’s Word is destined for hearts of flesh and cannot penetrate hearts of stone. As the parable of the sower said, there’re different kinds of heart on which God’s Word fall. The Pharisees had the very Word of God made flesh spoke to them but they failed to recognise He was the Messiah and even thought Jesus was demon possessed(John 8:48). Jesus said : “And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message...So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me?” John 8:37,45

Jesus’ Word could not penetrate their hearts because their hearts were hardened.

How are verses 12-16 related to the previous ones?  The point is that the author wants to emphasise that everything said in the scripture regarding this rest is true. How can we be sure of that? Because it’s God’s Word which says so. It is alive and powerful. The Word of God is not just a lightly spoken Word. It has the power to convince. It occurred to me to argue against God’s Word but when I continued to read, I eventually realised that God’s Word gave me the answers I needed. People do not really know the way I think and cannot always give me the right and precise answer regarding God. But God’s Word has the right answer to any individual honestly seeking an answer. Read God’s Word and you’ll see sin in your life. Read God’s Word and you’ll find hope. Your wife, husband, colleague and friend can give you thousands of counsels and still you will ignore them. But when you read God’s Word you see it speaking right to your soul. You’re seeing yourself in a mirror and if you’re honest with yourself you have to admit that God’s Word rightly judged the state of your heart.

The Word of God made flesh knew what there was in man’s heart.

John said about Him : “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” John 2:25

Jesus already knew that Zacchaeus was on the fig tree (Luke 19), than the Samaritan woman had 5 husbands(John 4), that the disciples were murmuring among themselves, that Judas would betray Him (John 6), that the Pharisees wanted to kill Him (John 8:40) or that Lazarus was already dead (John 11).

God’s Word is always true. As Paul said:

“Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:‘So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.’^” Romans 3:4

There’s always a reason for what God does. If we argue with God, we will eventually find ourselves embarrassed if it’s God who starts to question us.

The point is that when God said something in the present, it’s as if it’s already done in the future. This concept of time is only valid for us and God is not dictated by it. God does not say something and then changes His mind as we human do when we realise we are doing a mistake. God’s Word is tested and remains valid.

The Hebrews were being warned against unbelief and discouragement. The author used the Word of God to encourage them. He quoted so many verses in the Old testament to argue his case and this was the best thing he could do.

We’ll soon go through Hebrews 6 and we’ll again see that there’s certainty in God’s promise. There’s a rest awaiting us, let us hold to this living hope. God not only promised but even made an oath by taking His holy name as guarantee.

“Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance….People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

To summarise, the author wants to say:

“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.”

The author gave many reasons to persevere so we need to hold firmly to what we believe. Let us boldly come into God’s presence. Let us not fear or feel guilty of our past sins. Jesus our High Priest is Himself the One calling us. He forgave us. We will find grace no matter how sinful we have been. Yes today is the day when we need grace the most. Let us rest in God’s presence, today.