Two cryptic phrases summarize much of the teaching of the Letter to the Hebrews. They are “Let us” and “Lest we”, as used in the King James, or Authorized, Version of the Bible. The first is one of commitment and determination, an encouragement to go forward, whereas the second is a warning against going away, declaring danger if one succumbs to that temptation. In the context of the letter, the two phrases are used particularly with reference to the Law of Moses and its requirements. The encouragement was to leave the ritual and to move forward to freedom and life “in Christ”, rather than to return to the old ways of ritual obedience.
This teaching is epitomized in the phrase: “Let us go on, lest we go back.” A detailed review of all these phrases will be helpful to us. (The wording quoted is from the King James Version, but the principle is true for other versions also.)
Let us fear… 4:1
Let us labor to enter… 4:11
Let us hold fast… 4:14
Let us come boldly… 4:16
Let us go on… 6:1
Let us draw near… 10:22
Let us hold fast… 10:23
Let us consider… 10:24
Let us lay aside… 12:1
Let us run the race… 12:1
Let us have grace to serve… 12:28
Let us go forth… 13:13
Let us offer the sacrifice… 13:15
Lest we let them slip 2:1
Lest there be an evil heart 3:12
Lest any of you be hardened 3:13
Let us therefore fear, lest there… 4:1
Lest any man fall… 4:11
Lest ye be wearied and faint… 12:3
Lest… ye be turned out of the way 12:13
Lest any man fail… 12:15
Lest any root of bitterness… 12:15
Lest there be any fornicator 12:16
What an exhortation! All of us, without exception and without distinction, must serve the Lord positively, looking forward to the future age in faith and confidence — rather than looking backward to the past with longing and wistfulness. The best is yet to be. Christ is yet to come and the Kingdom yet to be established. Let us go forward! If we do not, we shall go backwards to death and destruction.
The centerpiece of this exhortation is to be found in the following passage: “Having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus… Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith… let us hold fast the profession of our faith… and let us consider one another to good works” (Heb. 10:19-25).
Because of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus we are able to enter into the presence of God. Or, to be more precise, because of the ascension of Jesus, we have a new relationship with God; therefore we have access into His presence by prayer. We need to consider the significance of the ascension if we are to understand the centrality of its importance in the Letter to the Hebrews. The ascension of Jesus is often ignored in our teaching, yet it is a vital component of our faith; without it the high priesthood of Christ could not begin.
On the Day of Atonement, the high priest went into the presence of God by entering into the Most Holy Place on behalf of the whole nation of Israel. He left the nation awaiting his return with mingled hope and fear — hope that their sins would be forgiven, fear that the high priest would not return and the wrath of God would descend upon them.
This is the background of the verse:
“For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:36,37).
The passage is an exhortation to faith: while their high priest was absent in the Most Holy Place, they should maintain their faith. This can be transferred directly to ourselves: we who wait for the return of our high priest must maintain our faith in our Master’s return.
To return to the teaching about the Ascension, The Most Holy Place was a symbolic representation, although literal, of the Sanctuary in heaven where God dwells and into which Jesus entered upon his ascension. This event is probably described in Daniel:
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom that all nations should serve him: and his dominion is an everlasting kingdom, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13,14).
Other passages which could be considered in this way are Revelation 5:6,7; Psalm 16:10,11; and Psalm 110:1. All of these may refer to aspects of the ascension of Jesus into the presence of God, events foreshadowed by the entry of the high priest into the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement.
Now, we return to our thoughts on the Letter to the Hebrews. It is apparent that the exhortation we have identified and quoted above (Heb. 10:19-25) has as its background the entry of the high priest into the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement. For us, that event foreshadowed the entry of Jesus into the presence of God at his ascension, from whence he will return to the earth. The high priest returned to the people after making due representation before God on the Day of Atonement. We wait in faith, just as they did.
“For ye have need of patience… for a yet a little while and he that shall come, will come…” (Heb. 10:37).
The return of the high priest to the nation was a parable of the Second Coming of Jesus. Just as the people had to wait in faith and patience, so do we.
We need to look forward, anticipating the day of our salvation. It is extremely tempting to look backward constantly with wistfulness, as if the past were always better than the present. The Jews were guilty of that mistake: they looked back to the time of ritual and sacrificial laws. I am sure that they thought “people knew what to do in those days”, and that they saw Christianity as but another strand of Judaism. Thus, throughout the New Testament, the constant refrain is that “Christ has set us free from the law.” It was epitomized in the phrases, quoted frequently in the Letter to the Hebrews: “Let us go on… lest we go back.”
The Jewish converts to Christianity were preoccupied with making sure that they retained the essential Jewishness of their worship. Although the teaching of Christ was dynamic, the early disciples found it difficult to be “total” converts to Christianity, to “move on” to a new dimension of understanding. Many believers wanted to retain the Law of Moses — seen in terms of circumcision, keeping of the feasts, the wearing of certain clothes, and the slavish acceptance of ritual.
This teaching was challenged by the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews as “going back” to an out-of-date, outmoded manner of life. On the other hand, Christianity was new and progressive, looking forward to the Second Coming of Christ rather than looking back to the Law of Moses.
There is a clear message for believers today. We must be aware of the danger of always looking backward rather than forward. But we must always remember that the best is yet to be, so that we might “go on” to the Kingdom rather than “go back” to sin and perdition.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One