Hi sisters,
I finished the book of Hebrews the other day and I saw a theme in what I kept writing down in my journal: conditions. Here are some verses from the book of Hebrews for us to consider:
“And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope . . . For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. . . And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” ~ 3:6, 14, 18, 19 (ESV)
“So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.” ~ 4:11 (NLT)
“We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit promises.” ~ 6:11-12 (NIV)
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there not longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. . . Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised . . . but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” ~ 10:26, 27, 35, 36, 38, 39 (ESV)
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” ~ 6:11 (ESV)
“Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. . . Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven.” ~ 12:14, 25 (NLT)
I have to admit, it is a bit overwhelming to see it all written beside each other. Obviously, Hebrews in its entirety gives a much deeper explanation for why the conditions are valid. For example, the author goes through great lengths to show that if there were certain expectations in the old covenant by the blood of goats, how much more so in the new covenant by the blood of Jesus.
Here are my notes concerning promises I saw with their corresponding conditions.
Promise: We are God’s house and share in Christ
Condition: If we hold fast to our confidence in Jesus to the end (not a one time decision!)
Promise: We will enter His rest
Condition: If we believe and obey
Promise: Our hope in Christ will be fulfilled; inherit promises
Condition: If we remain diligent to the end, imitate others’ faith and patience
Promise: We will receive rewards and receive promises in Jesus
Condition: If we hold our confidence in Jesus, live with endurance, and do the will of God.
Promise: He rewards
Condition: If we seek Him
Here are some uncomfortable things I observed.
Hebrews Claims:
– It is impossible to please God without faith
– If we shrink back from our faith, God has no pleasure in us and we are destroyed
– Deliberate, continual commitment to my sin breaks the covenant
– We will not escape judgement if we refuse to listen to Jesus
– We cannot draw near to God without faith that He exists
The whole idea of God having conditions is very uncomfortable to us. This might be because we operate from incomplete/false gospels. We wrongly assume our salvation is solely defined by agreement to a few ideas or diligence to specific traditions.
However, something the writer of Hebrews mentions numerous times is that Jesus is offering a new covenant (this is grace because we do not deserve His offer of covenant). He is not offering a tract, a decision card, and a free pass to celestial real estate. When we (if married) enter marriage, do we not say, “until death do us part”? Until the end, I will fulfill my vows! If we have this condition/ expectation of earthly marriages, how much more so for our heavenly marriage? Is this legalism for the bride and groom to expect fidelity of each other? By no means! Unconditional love demands a conditional relationship! (~Mark Gungor)
God will be perfect on His side. We will not. But that does not mean we have an excuse not to strive or work. The writer is basically saying, “In light of everything Jesus has done, all that He is, all that He has promised and in light of the new covenant, we are to believe, live by faith, obey, strive, endure trials, be holy, and become like Him all the days of our lives. Then, when we cross that finish line and join the crowd of witnesses, our hope will be fulfilled!” And of course God empowers us and is with us on the battlefield! (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8).
Therefore, sisters, let us get rid of sin and anything weighing us down from running this race with endurance. Let us find encouragement by stories of faith and continue to exhort one another regularly since it is easy to drift. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, who is the author of our faith, who endured suffering while seeing the joy on the other side. Let us offer to God our lives because this is acceptable worship. Let us do this with reverence and awe in our God who is a consuming fire.
(~ Paraphrasing from Hebrews)
By the River Together 