Lesson 7, February 5-11
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Hebrews 6:4–6, Matthew 16:24, Romans 6:6, Hebrews 10:26–29, 6:9–13, 6:17–20.
Memory Text: “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:19, 20
Hebrews 5:11-6:20 interrupts the theological exposition about Jesus’ priesthood in our behalf. Paul inserts there a severe warning about the danger of falling away from Christ.
Apparently, the people were in real danger of going down the slippery slope of self-pity and faithlessness. The apostle Paul is concerned that his readers and hearers may have had their spiritual senses dulled because of the difficult situations they were facing, and thus they had stopped growing in their understanding and experience of the gospel.
Is not this a potential danger for us all, getting discouraged because of trials, and thus falling away?
The severe warning culminates, however, in an affectionate encouragement. Paul expresses faith in his readers and exalts Jesus as the embodiment of God’s unbreakable promise of salvation to them (Hebrews 6:9-20). This cycle of warning and encouragement is repeated in Hebrews 10:26-39.
We will study this cycle and focus on the strong words of encouragement that Jesus provides for us.
Sunday, February 6
Read Hebrews 6:4, 5. What were believers given in Christ while they were faithful to Him?
To have been “enlightened” means to have experienced conversion (Hebrews 10:32). It refers to those who have turned from the “darkness” of the power of Satan to the “light” of God (Acts 26:17, 18). It implies deliverance from sin (Ephesians 5:11) and ignorance (1 Thessalonians 5:4, 5). The verbal form here suggests that this enlightening is an act of God achieved through Jesus, “the brightness of His glory” (Hebrews 1:3).
To “have tasted the heavenly gift” and “have become partakers of the Holy Spirit” are synonymous expressions. The “gift” of God may refer to His grace (Romans 5:15) or to the Holy Spirit, through which God imparts that grace (Acts 2:38). Those who have “tasted” the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39, 1 Corinthians 12:13) have experienced the “grace” of God, which includes the power to fulfill His will (Galatians 5:22, 23).
To taste “the goodness of the word of God” (Hebrews 6:5) is to experience personally the truth of the gospel (1 Peter 2:2, 3). “The powers of the age to come” refers to the miracles God will perform for believers in the future: resurrection (John 5:28, 29), transformation of our bodies, and eternal life. Believers, however, are beginning to “taste” them in the present. They have experienced a spiritual resurrection (Colossians 2:12, 13), a renewed mind (Romans 12:2), and eternal life in Christ (John 5:24).
Paul probably has in mind the wilderness generation, who experienced the grace of God and His salvation. The wilderness generation was “enlightened” by the pillar of fire (Nehemiah 9:12, 19; Psalms 105:39), enjoyed the heavenly gift of manna (Exodus 16:15), experienced the Holy Spirit (Nehemiah 9:20), tasted the “good word of God” (Joshua 21:45), and “the powers of the age to come” in the “wonders and signs” performed in their deliverance from Egypt (Acts 7:36). Paul suggests, however, that just as the wilderness generation apostatized from God, despite those evidences (Numbers 14:1-35), the audience of Hebrews was in danger of doing the same, despite all the evidences of God’s favor that they had enjoyed.
What has been your own experience of the things that these verses in Hebrews have talked about? For instance, how have you experienced the enlightening that the text refers to?
