Piercing Questions from Hebrews

I was reading through the letter to the Hebrews this week for my personal devotions.  The letter was written to a group of Christians who were suffering for their faith.  They were weary of the persecution, and they were being tempted to withdraw from Jesus and return to their synagogues.  That would have been familiar, easy, and safe.  They would have been spared from further persecution.  Some had already turned back, so that trail had been blazed for anyone else who wanted to follow people out of the Christian faith.

The writer to the Hebrews, therefore, pours out an impassioned plea that the faithful remain faithful.  He details how Jesus Christ is superior to Old Testament worship and ways.  He is the fulfillment of all prophecy.  He is the guarantor of all the promises.  He was faithful to the saints of the past who had trusted in the promises of a Savior to some, and some of those saints also suffered persecution for the faith.  The Hebrews who were being written to were not alone.

To abandon the faith, a person needs only to do one thing--forsake the Church.  God's people gather together to hear the word and to receive the sacraments.  They offer each other mutual encouragement, consolation, admonition, and prayers.  To intentionally remain away from this gathering almost guarantees the loss of faith.  (Those who are sick, deployed, or homebound do not stay away intentionally.  They have no choice.)  With this in mind, the writer to the Hebrews asks these piercing questions which we all do well to ponder so that we do not become weary, lazy, or negligent.

Therefore, we need to pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.  For if the message that was spoken through angels was valid, and every transgression and disobedient act received a just punishment, how will we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? (Hebrews 2:1-3)

How much greater punishment do you think will be deserved by the person who trampled the Son of God underfoot, who considered insignificant the blood of the covenant, by which he was sanctified, and who insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29)

See to it that you do not refuse to listen to the one who is speaking.  For if those people did not escape when they refused to listen to the one who spoke God’s message on earth, how much less likely is it that we will escape, if we turn away from the one who spoke God’s message to us from heaven? (Hebrews 12:25)