Hebrews 6: 1-20

This chapter contains another stern warning to the Hebrews. We find it in verses 4-6: It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who has tasted the goodness of the word of God, and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

That's a stern warning, indeed. For if we reject Christ in our lives, we are crucifying him to ourselves.

And who would want to commit this kind of spiritual suicide?

Oh, no! As Christians, we need to keep the death and resurrection of Christ very much alive in our hearts. Because he rose from the dead, we are given the key to eternal life. Rejecting Christ undoes all that and it's the same as if our sins had never been forgiven.

This passage in Hebrews warned those guys to get back with the program of living a life of redeemed people who claimed the gift of salvation from God. The warning in these verses is just as serious for us today.

We just cannot let ourselves wander off into fields of temptation where Christ doesn't matter.

And it's pure folly to live our lives with this notion that when times get rough, or times get short, then we'll get ourselves back to worship like we're supposed to. The message to the Hebrews is that it's easier to stay connected than it is to get reconnected.

So don't go wandering off. Keep Christ alive in your heart.

Then this letter to the Hebrews takes on a note of promise, starting at verse 9: Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case -- things that accompany salvation. God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Remember the promises, the Hebrews are asked.

All down through the ages, prophets and leaders from Moses forward, the people had to be reminded that God had made a promise to them. And then, because Jesus came to earth, died and was resurrected, all people who believe in Christ can have that same promise for themselves. In this very act of God's divine love, all of us can read the promises God made to Abraham and know that we, too, have this very same promise. We became children of God through Jesus Christ.

We become heavenly heirs and inherit the kingdom of heaven through Christ's suffering and death and resurrection.

From verse 13, we read (NRSV): When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, "I will surely bless you and multiply you." And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute.

In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.

We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

Keep in mind that "this hope that enters the shrine behind the curtain" is a reference to the curtain separating the Holy of Holies. This curtain in the temple marked the boundary beyond which only the High Priests were allowed to go.

It is beyond this curtain where the Torah was stored, when not in use for worship.It is this huge, heavy curtain in the temple at Jerusalem that was torn in half -- from floor to ceiling -- at the moment of Christ's death. Jesus went behind that curtain -- even though he was not a Levitical high priest. But he became the most high priest when he died for our sins.

Melchizedek was also described as a "most high priest." Melchizedek had occasion to minister to Abraham. And even though Melchizedek was called a most high priest, he was not from the tribe of Levi either. So he and Jesus shared the fact that they were both referred to as "most high priests." Neither of them were Levitical high priests.

That was a very big deal to the Hebrews. And it is to Bible students even today.

Incidentally, the tearing of the temple curtain coincides with an earthquake that occurred at the time of the death of Christ. This is a real moment in recorded time. I can't find my reference at the moment but I remember reading that this particular earthquake is purported to have been in the range of a 7.5. That's a huge earthquake.

From Wikipedia, I found this: The church historian Eusebius of Caesarea (264-340) in his Chronicle, cited a statement of the 2nd-century chronicler Phlegon of Tralles that during the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (AD 32/33) "a great eclipse of the sun occurred at the sixth hour that excelled every other before it, turning the day into such darkness of night that the stars could be seen in heaven, and the earth moved in Bithynia, toppling many buildings in the city of Nicaea. In the same passage, Eusebius cited another unnamed Greek source also recording earthquakes in the same locations and an eclipse. Eusebius argued the two records had documented events that were simultaneous with the crucifixion of Jesus. (read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_eclipse)

Christ entered the Holy of Holies and takes us with him into that special place. His death and resurrection wills our soul with the hope of eternal salvation.

We become gifted in the promise of God, just as Abraham had.

So, whenever you get in a position where you tend to lose hope, when you feel yourself slipping back into the humanness of your temptations, when you want reassurances of the promises of God, put a paper clip at the top of the page in your Bible that will mark Hebrews 6 for you. Let this chapter be one of your Biblical anchors that will keep you moored to Christ.

And just like the Hebrews had to be reminded, we too have to be reminded sometimes that there's one thing for sure in all of heaven and earth and that is: God's promises come true. And how do we know that? Because it is impossible for God to tell a lie. It says so in Hebrews 6:18.

Believe it!

Note: Just to make a clarification about the Temple Veils. They were big -- 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and the thickness of a man's palm. They were so heavy, says one writer, that it took 300 priests to move them into place. The Veil being torn from top to bottom was of such significance because it meant that God's own hand torn it in half. Other notes about this event and the resulting requirement for the Sanhedrin to move out of this area of the temple to a trading area, can be found at: http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/mysteriousevents.html##