Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10. 25
This simple phrase forms a significant part of a fuller exhortation which is set within a wide context that can scarcely be limited even within the two ends of this epistle.
Some were remaining away from the general meetings of the ecclesias, not necessarily because of religious indifference or disbelief in God, but more apparently because the traditions and ceremonies of the national temple services were making a stronger appeal to them than the rigid austerities of Christian living within the restricted scope of the assemblies of believers in Christ. And this was undermining their faith in the effectiveness of the sacrifice of Christ for their salvation. They were drawing back after obeying the truth and were trusting again in the “carnal ordinances” which they had professed to leave behind.
This attitude is not without its modern counterpart, for it happens from time to time that some, who have submitted to baptism into Christ with great enthusiasm, quickly grow weary and return to the formal religious associations which they had left, or, being completely disillusioned about religion generally, go back into the world in unbelief.
The purpose in meeting together is not altogether a simple one’ but is rather a combination of several human urges which call for satisfaction. There is a social requirement—people need agreeable companionship because they are not adapted to living lonely lives. And, again, they find comfort in belonging to a fraternity in which common ideals and beliefs are held. And beyond these simple human urges there is a higher spiritual urge to join together in the worship of God and to remember Jesus Christ their Lord with devout faith in him as their saviour. The writer of the Epistle enjoins them to meet to encourage one another, and to consider how they might stir up one another to love and good works in prospect of the coming day of the Lord (v. 24). Moreover, they needed to hold fast to the profession of their faith without wavering, and to draw near in full assurance of faith with a pure heart, because their hearts had been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience —this is a key point—and they had been given confidence to enter into the sanctuary by a new and living way, namely, by the blood of Jesus (vs. 22, 23).
What gives force to this exhortation is its wider context, for it is introduced by a “therefore” (v. 19), which summarises all that had been written before and marks the climax of the epistle. The writer had written at length of the Son, so much superior to the angels inasmuch as he had obtained a more excellent name than they and had been invested with glory and honour because of the suffering of death on behalf of every man. The Son was elevated to be the great High Priest who is touched with feelings of human infirmity and can deal with the ignorant and erring. He is High Priest in a new and permanent order of priesthood by the power of an indestructible life which makes him perfect for ever. And, as priest, he presents himself as the complete, unblemished offering to purge the conscience of the worshipper from dead works and to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, by which he confirms the new covenant, which is to write God’s laws in the hearts and minds of the worshippers that their sins and misdeeds might be remembered against them no more.
Where there is this complete forgiveness of sins there remains no further sacrifice for sins, so that one who draws back to the shadows and patterns of the Mosaic institutions abandons the glorious, precious substance, which they forecast, and has only a fearful prospect of judgment and fiery wrath because he has spurned the blood of the sanctifying covenant and outraged the Spirit of grace. That is a deliberate sin which, if persisted in, allows of no pardon.
The Hebrew brethren were at that time under the stress and tension of conflicting loyalties. On the one side were the national traditions sublimated in Moses, which were real and practical to them, and on the other side was an unseen Messiah, rejected and crucified, and represented to them as risen from the dead—however truthfully, it made no difference to his antagonism to their traditions, which strained their confidence in the nation and the beloved city wherein God had at one time placed his name. They were therefore in great need of competent instruction and exhortation, for, no matter how highly they might esteem national ties, they had to realise that in them they had “no continuing city”; whereas in Christ Jesus they had received a kingdom that -cannot be shaken”.
The exhortation comes to us with no less force in this far-off day. The Day of the Lord is approaching, and the calling of Christ Jesus naturally brings us into an atmosphere that is still at variance with national moods and ambitions and with the shadowy traditions and superstitions of State religions. In seeking protection against these things it is imperative that the Table of the Lord should not be forsaken for any frivolous excuse and, as the day approaches, “so much the more” should other opportunities be taken to assemble to encourage one another to “draw near” to the sanctuary that is opened for all who are sanctified by the blood of Christ.
The awareness of sin as an ever present frailty is not always normal to our younger years, and is not easily cultivated. It comes only to a conscience which has been made sensitive to defilement by having been purged by sincere belief in Jesus Christ, and by experience in life. The taking away of sin by Jesus Christ dawns upon the conscious mind when it is realised that the human attitude of rebellion against all authority in general and against God in particular has been reversed by Jesus (Phil. 2. 6). This reversed attitude becomes the transformed mind of those who meet to remember and encourage one another (Rom. 12. 2).
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay