Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14 NIV).
The very thought of grown men and women walking around nursing baby bottles full of milk is ludicrous, but this is exactly what these verses connote.
We live in a day when it is obvious that the great masses haven’t a clue as to the difference between good and evil. The world’s constant barrage against what is good has so numbed the minds and hearts of young and old alike that there is little resistance to evil. The media have also been complicit, not only promoting evil as the norm, but also marginalizing and chastising those who cling to the good. It is to some measure the fulfillment of the prophecy that the “good would become evil and the evil would become good”. However, the encouragement here is that we would be so full of God’s word, and so skillful in its use that we would be so finely tuned that our alarms would go off at the very hint of evil. If that is not the case in your life, the root is your lack of knowledge of and love for the living words of God in the Scriptures.
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so. (Hebrews 6:1-3 NIV)
We rarely hear the book of Hebrews taught or preached in our churches today. This verse gives a clue as to why: We are too busy continually teaching the basic doctrines of Christ such as repentance, simple faith in God, baptisms, etc. These are undoubtedly important, as a foundation is to a building. However, once the foundation is laid then the building rises until it is complete. We also must go on to maturity, seeking God’s deeper truth and presence. The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to learn the basics, to mature, and to go deeper with God. This is a strong clue that the next several chapters are of meat and not of milk. And these chapters are the very ones that most preachers will never tackle.
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. (Hebrews 6:10-12 NIV)
After a stern warning to avoid falling away from the faith, we are encouraged to make our hope sure by being diligent in the faith and not lazy. Not just diligent, but diligent to the very end. We won’t deal with the implications of this warning at this time, although it is sobering to hear the writer of Hebrews warn of falling away beyond possibility of return. Let us never be in the position to where we need to worry about the dire consequences of apostasy.
We are exhorted to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what was promised. This is not the first time in God’s word that we are told to imitate someone. But these two individuals are certainly most prominent and worthy of imitation: God and Abraham.
When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
(Hebrews 6:13-15 NIV)
We know that in Genesis 22, after Abraham had obediently and faithfully offered up Isaac as a sacrifice, God staid Abraham’s hand moments before he slew Isaac. At this point, God swore by himself that He would make Abraham father of many nations. In fact, this promise is one that God had spoken to Abraham several times, only this time He swore an oath that He was good for His word. Imagine that! God not only gave his solemn promise but He also swore an oath that His word was good!
Men 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 offered to us may be greatly encouraged. (Hebrews 6:16-18 NIV)
God knew that Abraham, an un-regenerated man, would need a strong “hope” in God’s promise to get him through his trials. We will look at the actual covenant that God made with Abram next time, but in Genesis 15 God swore a very solemn oath in the blood of animals as He pronounced His covenant with Abram. It evidently marked Abram’s thinking so dramatically that Abram had faith to believe God and to obey without question or argument. This promise and oath of becoming father of many nations and of the whole world being blessed through him became Abraham’s “hope”. What is our hope?
Let’s consider the word “hope” for a moment. The worldly or religious meaning is somewhat nebulous. It connotes something in the future, something good, but without form or substance. For our study, however, let’s go a bit deeper. In Hebrews 11:1 KJV it says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” If faith gives substance to something hoped for, then there must be hope before faith may work. Let me cite two analogies to help understand hope and faith. First, consider a kernel of corn. This single seed may be held in the hand, studied with a magnifying glass, rubbed and wished upon, but it is still a single seed of corn. This is like “hope”. Until you by faith take the seed and plant it in moist, fertile soil it just remains “hope”. But when you take your hope and apply an action of faith to it, then it will grow into a shoot, then a stalk, then a fruitful ear of corn, with a hundredfold increase in your “hope”.
Another example might be a man with a vision, a dream of a new house. In his mind he sees a two story, four bedroom house with a porch along the front of the house. He sees a nice large kitchen for his wife and family, with a playroom for the children, and a master bedroom and bathroom with a whirlpool bath. This at this point is “hope” for a nice new house. Then he consults an architect and together they put on paper the specific dimensions and elevations of his “hope” and when they finish with the blueprint they agree that it will one day be a beautiful house. But it still just hope. It is a very specific hope, but hope just the same. Until this man hires a contractor to pour the foundation, frame the house, and then finish it with sheetrock, doors, and windows, hope has no substance. But once the contractor begins to “flesh out” the plans, then it becomes a house and hope takes on substance. This is what faith is: an action that gives substance to something hoped for. In the book of James, Abraham is noted as being justified by his actions, not just his faith. Faith is an action of some kind, and it is always based on a hope, and in a Christian’s life that hope is a promise or command of God. Belief in God is more than mental assent to a truth, it calls for some kind of action, either physical, or mental, or spiritual.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:1-3 NIV).
The greatest being to ever live by faith is God Himself. God had within Himself the blueprint of the universe. Not only so, but he knew ahead of time exactly what it would look like and how it would function. Just as the man in the earlier example had a picture in his imagination what the house would look like, and then by faith built the very house, so it was with God. He knew what he was going to build, and he had a great hope for a beautiful universe and an earth and a home for mankind. Then, at God’s command, his hope took on substance, so that something invisible became visible. It was first visible within the mind of God. That’s how hope and faith work. Unfortunately, many men and women use this principle to their own destruction, imagining things of vanity and sin. Then they flesh out their imaginations, bringing destruction on themselves and their families and friends. Our imaginations must be used for godly purposes only, and the safest thing to “hope” in is God’s holy word and promises.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:19-20 NIV)
Now God made a promise to Abraham and confirmed it with an oath. This “hope” was good enough to carry Abraham through to the end: “And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”(Hebrews 6:13-15 NIV) In Hebrews, our application is that we have an even greater hope in our high priest Jesus Christ, who takes our hope with him behind the veil of the Holy of Holies in heaven, and this hope anchors our soul. Our faith may be a great faith, because we have a great “Hope”, Jesus our Lord. Remember that the very name of Jesus contains everything we will ever need for life and godliness, and that we must put complete hope in Him and His provision. We will understand much more about this as we study the meaning of covenants next time, specifically the Abrahamic Covenant.
God Bless!!!
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