THE FORMER DAYS.
Hebrews 10: 32 - 34 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings; Partly, being made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used. For you both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves have a better possession and an abiding one.
Continuing with the SECOND HALF-PRACTICAL.
Hebrews Chapters 10: 19 - 13: 25
Of a Life in the Power of the Great Salvation.
In THE FOURTH WARNING
Hebrews 10: 26-39
Against sinning willfully and drawing back.
BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY
The solemn Warning now, just as was the case in chapter 11: 9, turns to encouragement and exhortation. As there, the Hebrews are reminded of the former days, when they were first enlightened and the time of their first love. But, in the previous instance, they were told that God was not unrighteous to forget their work and love; here they are urged themselves not to forget what had taken place. Call to remembrance the former days. The retrospect would call up the joy with which they once had sacrificed all for the name of Jesus, would humble them in view of past backsliding and present coldness, would stir within the desire and the hope of regaining the place they once had occupied. Call to remembrance, he says, the former days, in which you endured a great conflict of sufferings, in not only bearing reproaches and taking joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, but also in compassion towards and being partakers with others who were in bonds.(The rehearsing of what is recorded in the first seven chapters of Acts. emphasis added)
It is a sad thought that a community that had so remarkably proved its faithfulness to the Lord, in the midst of persecution and suffering, should in a few years have gone so far back as to need the Warnings that have just been given. And yet it has often been so. In some cases it happened that the persecution ceased, and the spirit of ease and of sloth, or of worldly prosperity, obtained the mastery. In others, the persecution lasted too long, and those who had appeared to forsake all, succumbed to the severity and length of the trial. The Hebrews were not only an instance of such defection, but of so many other cases, in which Christians, after having begun well, wax weary, fainting in their souls. They stand out as beacons to Warn us of the danger this Epistle so strongly urges--- that the best beginnings will not avail unless we endure to the end ( 3: 14; 6: 11; 12: 3). They call us to remember that we need a faith and a relationship that stands fast and lasts; because it has its steadfastness, as the Epistle teaches, in the promises and the Oath of God; in the hope within the veil; in Him the surety of the New Covenant, who is seated on the right hand of God, the Priest after the Authority and power of an Endless Life, the surety of the Everlasting Covenant.
In reminding them of the past a very remarkable expression is used to indicate what the power was that enabled them at first to endure so bravely. You took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves have a better and abiding possession. The Christian stands between two worlds; each offers him its goods as possessions. In unceasing conflict the two compete for mastery. The one has the advantage of being infinitely more worthy than the other--- giving infinite satisfaction, and lasting forever. The other is in no wise to be compared with it--- it cannot satisfy, and it does not last. But, in the conflict, it has two immense, two terrible advantages. The one is, it is nearer; it is visible; it has access to us by every sense; its influence on us is natural and is easy and seems unceasing. The other, that our heart is prepossessed; the spirit of the world is in it. And so it comes that the possessions of this world with the most actually win the day, even against the Better and abiding possession of our first true love. (Genesis 1:26-29; 4:14 "Behold, You have driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from Your face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth." Cain speaking for all mankind. emphasis added )
You took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that you have a Better and abiding possession. What is this Better and abiding possession? It is the Love and Grace of God. It is the Eternal Life within. It is Christ as our heart's treasure (our Canaan land of promise and all spiritual Blessings). It is a life and a character in the Likeness of Christ. The old heathen moralists teach us most striking lessons as to the nobility of a man who knows that all earthly possessions are as nothing compared with the being master of himself. How much more reason the Christian has to rejoice in the good things, in the Eternal Realities which Christ bestows, both in the Heaven above and the heart within. The world may rob you of personal liberty or earthly goods; it cannot compel you to commit sin or separate yourself from the Living God in Christ Jesus. Heaven and its Blessing in your heart can fill you with a joy that counts every Sacrifice a privilege, that makes every loss a gain, and that turns all suffering into an exceeding weight of Glory within.
Alas that the Hebrews, after Knowing this Better and abiding possession, and having, for its sake, joyfully taken the spoiling of their possessions, should yet, many of them, have waxed weary, and fainted and turned back! Alas for the terrible possibility of making sacrifices, and enduring reproach for Christ, and then falling away! No wonder that our author at once follows up his appeal to the former days with the exhortation: Cast not away your boldness--- you have need of patience.
Let us learn the solemn lesson: the lawful possessions and pleasures and occupations of this world, its literature and its culture, are unceasingly and most insidiously seeking to undermine the influence of the Better and abiding possession. This influence is greater than we know, because they are seen and near and ever active. Nothing can secure us against their power but a Life of faith, a Life in the Holiest, a Life in the power of Christ, the Priest forever, who works all in the Authority and power of the Endless Life from within. Alone through Him who abides continually can we abide continually too, can we endure unto the end.
1. If there be any reader who has to look back with shame and regret on his first love, and his leaving it, let him listen to the call: Remember the former days. Think of them. Face the fact of your having gone back. Confess it to God. And take courage in the assurance, there is restoration and deliverance. Trust Jesus.
2. A Better and abiding possession. A rich man counts his money. He spends time and thought on preserving it safe, and making it more. Our power to resist the world, so that its possessions shall not tempt us, nor Its threats terrify us, lies in the full consciousness and enjoyment of our Heavenly Treasures. Take time to Know your possessions, draw out an inventory of what you have and what you expect, and all the world offers will have no power.
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