In this message we come to a very sober and solemn portion of the book of Hebrews (Heb. 10:19-39). Chapters seven, eight, nine, and the first eighteen verses of chapter ten are quite exciting. However, beginning with 10:19 the writer presents another warning. Many Christians do not understand what is covered in this warning. In this message we must see this matter clearly.
This warning, the fourth one in Hebrews, is a warning to come forward to the Holy of Holies and not to shrink back to Judaism. In chapter nine we saw the two tabernacles which symbolize two covenants and two ages. There is the danger of not coming forward to the second tabernacle but of shrinking back to the first. We must leave the first tabernacle, the first covenant, and the first age, and go on to enter into the second tabernacle, into the second age or dispensation. We must go on to the Holy of Holies, enter into the new covenant dispensation, and live in the new age. After presenting a complete picture of these things, the writer was very concerned that the Hebrew believers would not go on. Thus, he gave them a warning, telling them of the danger of shrinking back to Judaism and not coming forward to the new testament. He seemed to be saying, “Hebrew believers, come forward from where you are staggering. If you won’t come forward, you will be in danger of shrinking back.” Coming forward is in sharp contrast with shrinking back. It is a terrible thing to shrink back! Because shrinking back is such a dreadful thing, we must view this fourth warning in a very sober way.
Firstly, I would like to say a word about the phrase “come forward.” This phrase is used four times in Hebrews regarding three things. In Heb. 4:16 we are told to come forward to the throne of grace; in Heb. 7:25 and Heb. 11:6 we are told to come forward to God; and in Heb. 10:22 we are told to come forward to the Holy of Holies. In Heb. 10:22, of course, the phrase “Holy of Holies” must be in italics, because it is not found in the original Greek text. However, if you consider the context beginning from verse nineteen, you will see that the meaning certainly is to come forward to the Holy of Holies. The King James Version of Heb. 10:22 says to “draw near,” but it does not tell us what we are to draw near to. After much study, I have come to the conclusion that the best translation of the Greek word is not “come,” “draw near,” or “approach to” as some versions render it; it is “come forward.” We must come forward to the Holy of Holies, to the throne of grace, and to God Himself.
God is on the throne of grace, and the throne of grace is in the Holy of Holies. This is the scene of the new covenant age. Wherever we may be, we must come forward to the Holy of Holies, the throne of grace, and to God. When we do this, we come forward to the new age, to the new economy, dispensation, and administration in and through which God fulfills His purpose. God’s eternal purpose can only be fulfilled with God sitting on the throne of grace in the Holy of Holies in this new covenant age. Coming forward is not merely a matter of our salvation or even of our glorification; it is for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. For us to be saved or glorified is a small thing, but for God’s eternal purpose to be accomplished is a tremendous matter. Thank God that He has included us in this. Our coming forward and enjoying the new testament is altogether for Him and His purpose. It is for Him to be expressed and for His eternal purpose to be accomplished. This requires four things: God on the throne, the throne of grace, the Holy of Holies, and the new covenant age. If any one of these four items is missing, it is impossible for God to accomplish His purpose. How serious this is!
Not only were the pagans and the heathen far away from these four things, but even the Judaizers who had the old covenant were far away from them. Moreover, many Christians today are also far off from these four items. Therefore, there is the call to come forward. We thank God that today the sky is crystal clear above us and we can understand that to come forward means to come forward to the Holy of Holies, to the throne of grace, and to God, and that this means we must come forward to the new covenant dispensation. Where are you? Are you still at the altar beholding the One crowned with thorns, or are you touching the throne of grace in the Holy of Holies gazing upon the One crowned with glory? How we need to come forward! Coming forward is the focal point of the book of Hebrews, and it is very crucial that we all see it. Once we see it, we should never depart from it.
The first tabernacle, that is, the Holy Place, is only a figure, not the reality. As we have seen, all the things in the Holy Place, such as the showbread table and the lampstand, are the types of Christ, not the reality.
The second tabernacle, which is the Holy of Holies, is realized by the new testament dispensation (Heb. 9:3, 8, 10). The Holy of Holies is a reality. It is realized by the new covenant dispensation in which we now are experiencing its reality. The presence of God, the shekinah glory of God, God’s meeting with man, and God’s speaking, which are in the Holy of Holies, are all real. They are not types but realities which are fully realized and experienced by us in the new testament dispensation.
The old covenant age has been terminated by the death of Christ, and the new covenant dispensation has been inaugurated by His resurrection and ascension. In His ascension, He is the “High Priest of the good things that have come” (9:11). He is now ministering in “the greater and more perfect tabernacle” in the heavens to execute the new covenant for God’s economy.
Verse 19 says, “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus.” The Holy of Holies today is in heaven, where the Lord Jesus is (Heb. 9:12, 24). Then, how can we enter it while we are still on earth? The secret is our spirit, referred to in Heb. 4:12. The very Christ who is in heaven is also now in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). He, as the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51), joins our spirit to heaven and brings heaven into our spirit. Whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter into the Holy of Holies. Here we meet with God who is on the throne of grace.
We enter the Holy of Holies by a “new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh” (v. 20). The way into the Holy of Holies has been cut. According to the Greek, the word “new” in this verse means “freshly slain.” Through Christ’s death on the cross, the way has been “freshly slain” for us. What was slain? Not only the flesh but the entire old creation. In this verse, the veil, which is His flesh, signifies the old creation, including us. On the veil were cherubim (Exo. 26:31) which signify the creatures (Ezek. 10:15). When the veil was rent, the cherubim were also rent, signifying that when the flesh of Christ, which is typified by the veil, was crucified, all the creatures also were crucified with His flesh. This flesh has been slain. According to Matthew 27:51, when the Lord Jesus died, the veil was rent from top to bottom, meaning that it was not rent by anyone on earth but by God in the heavens. The old creation has been slain and a new and living way to enter into the Holy of Holies has been cut. Now through the riven veil of the flesh and by the blood of Jesus we can enter into the Holy of Holies. His death and His blood are still available to us today.
The veil in verse 20 is the second veil (9:3) within the tabernacle which, as we have seen, typifies the flesh of Christ. When Christ’s flesh was crucified, this veil was rent, thus opening the way for us who were excluded from God, who is signified by the tree of life (Gen. 3:22-24), to enter into the Holy of Holies to contact Him and take Him as the tree of life for our enjoyment. This also implies that since our old man has been crucified with Christ, we have an open way to contact and enjoy God in our spirit as our life and life supply.
Through the better sacrifices of Christ, we have boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:23; 10:19). It is not a small thing to enter the Holy of Holies, for there the very God is sitting on the throne of grace. In order to enter into such a place we must have boldness, and we have it by Christ’s death and by His blood. By the Lord’s death and His blood we have the boldness to enter the Holy of Holies at any time we want to, unlike the high priest in the Old Testament, who could only enter into it once a year.
Verse 21 says that we have “a great Priest over the house of God.” This is deep. We have seen that we are the house of God (3:6). But if we are in the outer court, we do not have the right position to be the house of God. In order to be the house of God we must come forward to the Holy of Holies, because it is only there that Christ, our High Priest, takes care of the house of God. Since the Holy of Holies is joined to our spirit, we can only be the house of God when we are in our spirit. If we would turn from our spirit to our flesh, we would no longer be the house of God but a house of scorpions and snakes. When Christians fight and argue with one another, they are not the church, the house of God; they are scorpions and snakes. Although they may be saved, they do not live in the saved life but in the scorpion life. According to Ephesians 2:22, the house of God is in the spirit. If we live like scorpions, we could never enjoy Christ’s presence. Only in the Holy of Holies in the spirit does Christ, our High Priest, take care of the house of God.
Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies (v. 22), that is, to the new covenant dispensation. The Holy of Holies not only denotes a place, but also means a covenant, an age, and a dispensation. In chapter nine we saw clearly that the tabernacle was not merely a place but also the symbol of a covenant and an age. The call to come forward to the Holy of Holies includes coming forward to the new covenant and to the new covenant age. We must come to the Holy of Holies with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our body washed with pure water. For us to come forward to the Holy of Holies, our heart must be true, our faith must be with full assurance, our conscience must be sprinkled, and our whole being must be washed. We should not consider this as a light thing. We must be very serious in this matter.
“Our hope” (v. 23) refers to Christ and to all we shall partake of in Him. He is our hope of glory (Col. 1:27). The redemption of our body, which He will accomplish at the time of His second appearing, is also our hope. Even now, He, as our indestructible life, is our hope, regardless of our situation. As our High Priest with the more excellent ministry of His kingly and divine priesthood, He is our hope in our daily life. By His intercession on our behalf He takes care of us and is able to save us to the uttermost. This is what we believe. This is our confession. We must hold fast this confession without any wavering of our faith so that we might come forward to enter into the Holy of Holies to enjoy the heavenly Christ.
For the proper church life, we need to consider one another (v. 24). To be isolated from others is to commit suicide in the church life. To consider one another is to increase life in inciting to love and good works. Good works here and in 13:21 are the good things which, in the eyes of God, are mainly related to the fulfillment of His purpose. If we consider one another in this way, we shall be kept in the church life.
Now we come to a crucial point. The writer warns the Hebrew believers not to forsake the church to sin willfully, that is, to go back to Judaism to offer the sacrifice for sin which has been terminated (vv. 25-26, 18). Verses 25 and 26 say, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day drawing near. For when we sin willfully after receiving the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” For the Hebrew believers to shrink back to Judaism and offer again the sacrifice for sin would be to do something which God had terminated. For the Hebrew believers at their time and in their situation to forsake the assembling of themselves together would have been to forsake the new covenant way of contacting God, to forsake the church, and to return to their old religion — Judaism. That would have broken God’s administration of grace, thus constituting a serious sin before God. It would have been to “sin willfully after receiving the full knowledge of the truth.” Truth here refers to the things disclosed in the foregoing chapters and verses, which affords the Hebrew believers the full knowledge that God has annulled the old covenant and has established the new. To sin willfully means to forsake the assembling of ourselves together with the church. The Hebrew believers had been instructed to abandon Judaism and remain under the new covenant. If they had returned to Judaism, they would have forsaken assembling themselves with the church. This constitutes a willful sin in the eyes of God after receiving the knowledge of the truth, after knowing that God had forsaken Judaism, which was formed according to the old covenant, and had established the new and living way of contacting God according to the new covenant.
Verse 26 says that “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” for those who sin willfully. If the Hebrew believers had forsaken the church and returned to Judaism, there would have remained no sacrifice for sin in the economy of God, for all the sacrifices of the old covenant have been altogether replaced by the one sacrifice of Christ. Since Christ has once for all offered Himself as the real sacrifice for our sins (7:27; 10:10, 12), the sacrifice for sin has ceased (10:2), having been taken away by Christ (10:9). Many Christian teachers misinterpret verse 26, saying that if we sin willfully after being saved our sins cannot be forgiven because there is no more sacrifice for sin. This interpretation is terrible! As we have seen, the willful sin mentioned here is forsaking the church and shrinking back to the old covenant after knowing that God had annulled it and established a new one. Forsaking the church to return to Judaism to offer the sacrifice for sin when there was no longer any such thing, was, in the eyes of God, a willful sin.
Verse 29 says, “By how much do you think he shall be thought worthy of worse punishment who has trampled under foot the Son of God.” In the new covenant the Son of God replaces all the sacrifices of the old covenant. If the Hebrew believers would still return to Judaism to offer any of the old sacrifices, they would in effect be trampling under foot the Son of God. They would be despising Him, disregarding Him, and putting Him under their feet.
Verse 29 also speaks of regarding the blood of the covenant a common thing. If the Hebrew believers would have returned to Judaism to offer the old sacrifices and rely on the blood of the slain animals, they would in effect have regarded the precious blood of Christ a common thing. That would have been a serious disregard of the unique redemptive work of Christ. Since animal blood was common, it could be offered again and again. However, if, after receiving Christ, the Hebrew believers returned to Judaism to offer again the sacrifices for sin, they would have been making the blood of Christ the same as animal blood. This is an insult to Christ.
This verse also mentions insulting the Spirit of grace. Under the new covenant, through the redeeming blood of Christ, the Hebrew believers had become partakers of the Holy Spirit (6:4), the Spirit of grace. If they had returned to Judaism to offer the sacrifices for sin, this would have been against the work of the Spirit of grace who was indwelling them and working in them and who would have been insulted by their willful sin. The Spirit of grace would never have agreed with this and would have reacted within them. This is serious.
In verses 38 and 39, the writer told the Hebrew believers to live by faith and not shrink back to ruin. For the Hebrew believers to shrink back to Judaism was to shrink back to ruin, which is not eternal perdition but punishment by the living God (vv. 29-31). The ruin mentioned here is the punishment, as mentioned in verses 27 through 31, of those who forsake the new covenant and return to Judaism, thus trampling underfoot the Son of God, regarding Christ’s precious blood common as animal blood, and insulting the Spirit of grace.
By now, we all should be able to understand this fourth warning. The economy of God has been presented clearly. We have seen the old way and the new way, and we have been warned to come forward along the new way and not to shrink back to the old. To shrink back to the old way after having such a clear word is to commit a willful sin. At the time this epistle was written, to shrink back meant to forsake the new testament church and to give up the new testament dispensation and economy of God. This was not a small matter; it was a very serious willful sin. The writer warned them that if they did such a thing, they would suffer punishment.
According to God’s economy, all the old sacrifices have been terminated and the old way has been closed. If the Hebrew believers would have shrunk back to the old way to offer sacrifices according to the law, it would have been in vain, for, in the eyes of God, such a thing had been terminated. This is the correct meaning of this warning. However, many Christians misinterpret it, saying that if you sin after you are saved, you are sinning willfully and there is no possibility of having your sins forgiven. Under the Lord’s light, we have seen that to sin willfully is to give up God’s economy and to go back to the old way of traditional religion. Here, at the end time, the Lord has presented us with His up-to-date economy. We know what is the old way and what is the new way. The old way has been closed, and the new way has been freshly slain. For the sake of the Lord’s recovery and God’s economy, we must come forward to take the new way.
