Hebrews 10:19–25

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus 20 he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh—21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. 23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Eugene Peterson on “Church”

St. Paul talked about the foolishness of preaching; I would like to talk about the foolishness of congregations, God’s choice of venue. Of all the ways in which to carry out the enterprise of church, this has to be the most absurd—a haphazard collection of people who somehow get assembled into pews on Sundays, half-heartedly sing a few songs most of them don’t like, and tune in and out of a sermon according to the state of their digestion and the preacher’s decibels, awkward in their commitments and jerky in their patterns.

But the people in those pews are also people who suffer deeply and find God in their suffering. They make love commitments, are faithful to them through trial and temptation, and bear fruits of righteousness, Spirit-fruits that bless the people around them. Babies, surrounded by hopeful and rejoicing parents and friends, are baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. The dead are offered up to God in funerals that, in the midst of tears and grief, give solemn and joyful witness to the Resurrection. Sinners repent and take the body and blood of Jesus and receive new life.

And these two realities are mixed, impossible to separate.*

A Zeal for God, but Lost

In Romans 10:1–2 where Paul says about his kinsmen, the Jewish people: My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For, I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge.

It is possible to have a zeal for God and be lost. A zeal for God and lost, perishing! “My heart’s desire is that they be saved,” he says. So they are not saved. Why? They have zeal for God. They are, in fact, part of the chosen Jewish people. But he prays that they would be saved. What’s wrong? What’s wrong with their zeal? And Paul answers: It is not according to knowledge. True knowledge is necessary for salvation. They have zeal. But it is not rooted in knowledge.

Now zeal, the passion of the heart for God, is important. Jesus said to love God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind (Matthew 22:37). He said that lukewarm people will be spewed out of his mouth (Revelation 3:16).

Draw Near!

Zeal without knowledge does not lead to salvation. Now here is the relevance of this thought when we come to this passage in Hebrews 10:19–22. In these verses there is one main, straightforward command, namely, “Draw near!” That is what this writer wants us to do.

Draw near. In these verses: there is only one exhortation, once you pull away all the defining and qualifying phrases and clauses. Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our body washed with pure water.

The great passion of the writer is that we draw near to God. That we come to his throne to find all the help we need. That we come to him confident that he will reward us with all that he is for us in Jesus. And this is clearly what he means here in Hebrews 10:22, because verse 19 says that we have confidence “to enter the holy place,” that is, the new heavenly “holy of holies” like that inner room in the old tabernacle of the Old Testament where the high priest met with God once a year, and where his glory descended on the ark of the covenant.

The great aim of this writer is that we get near God, that we have fellowship with him, that we not settle for a Christian life at a distance from God, that God not be a distant thought, but a near and present reality, that we experience communion with God.

That Christ came into the world to make a way for us to come to God without being consumed in our sin by his holiness, is what the gospel is about.

1 Peter 3:18—For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God.

This is the center of the gospel, that God has done astonishing and costly things to draw us near. He has sent his Son to suffer and to die so that through him we might draw near. It’s all so that we might draw near. And all of this is for our joy and for his glory. He does not need us.

The relevance of Romans 10: 2 for this passage: there is a zeal that is not according to knowledge, and there is a zeal that is according to knowledge.

Zeal With Knowledge

Now if that is true, look how the text illustrates Romans 10:2, that a zeal without knowledge is worthless and leads to destruction. Everything in these verses (Hebrews 10:19–22) is meant to
help us draw near to God by giving us knowledge. You could say that it is all written so that your drawing near to God will be “according to knowledge.”

That’s what knowledge is for: it is for life and warmth of zeal and firmness of conviction. It’s to keep the heart burning with true zeal.

verse 19. “Therefore … let us draw near to God.” This directs our minds back to truth that has gone before. Verse 14 has said, “[God] has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

Then he quotes the new covenant promise from Jeremiah 31:33–34. Verse 17: “I will remember their lawless deeds no more.” Therefore, draw near to God. Are you staying away because of sins in your past? He says, “I will not call them to mind against you ever.You are entering a holy place when you draw near to God. So don’t come carelessly or flippantly.

But here is another truth: the blood of Jesus, the Son of God has been shed for you, so that your sins are forgiven and the holiness of God will not consume you but thrill you. Since this is true, draw near to God.

Draw Near with a Sincere Heart

verse 22: “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith.” This is the zeal he wants us to have: as we come to God, come with full assurance of faith, or come with “confidence” or “boldness

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Let us hold on to the confession of our hope,

Hope is more comprehensive since it includes specific promises regarding the future. The writer is aware that some of his readers might be in danger of relaxing their hold on this hope since he urges them to hold on without wavering.

The maintaining of this assurance is not unjustified, since it does not depend on oneself, but on the faithfulness of the one who promised.

Meeting Together

The kind of meeting in view in verse 25 seems to be one that allows for some kind of mutual encouragement and stirring up of one another. It is not talking about merely sneaking into a big church service and sneaking out again. It’s talking about the kind of meeting where you say something to someone that will help them be more loving and where someone can say
something to you that will help you be more loving, and help you have strength to more good deeds.

Avoiding the Habit of Not Meeting

This seems to give it a special stress. It says, “Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” The warning here is that not meeting with other Christians in this way can become habitual. Are we in the habit of only coming to more or less anonymous, bigger meetings of the church where there doesn’t have to be much personal interaction or accountability?

Let Get Serious When We Meet

The frequency and seriousness of your meetings should increase as the Day of Judgment draws near.

As you see the Day drawing near. That’s the Day of Christ’s coming and the end of the age. The stresses and troubles and dangers are going to increase as history comes to a close. There will be greater satanic activity, greater evil, greater threats to your faith and love.

Matthew 24:11–12, “Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold.”

That’s why we better take this word of Hebrews 10:25 very seriously in our day. If your love is going to survive the onslaught of Satan and evil, you must meet with those who can stir you up to love and good works. Woe to the person who thinks they can be a lone wolf Christian as the last Day draws near.

Let’s make our meeting for prayer and exhortation be more frequent and more serious and urgent as we see the gathering storm of tribulation and evil.

We Must Come Together to Empower Each Other to Love

Make your meeting together with believers a meeting specifically for the empowering to love.
Don’t be unintentional when you get together. Christian fellowship is good, so we are going to get together and talk, talking is wonderful. But the stakes are too high these days to be that casual and lackadaisical about your gathering.

Verse 24 says, “Consider one another in order to stir each other up to love and good works”. There is a clear goal. We are meeting so that when we leave, we will have more power to love, more resources to love, more motivation to love, more wisdom to love and do good works, so that people will see our good works, as Jesus said, and give glory to our Father in heaven.

The word “Consider” suggests that we come on the look out for how we can specifically help other people get power to love. We come “considering,” on the look out, watching, listening. What would help Otis be stronger tonight?

Aim at empowering each other to love and good works.

Strengthening Faith in the Promises of God

How do you empower another person to love and good works?

What is the root of all righteousness and truly good deeds? The answer is belief in the promises of God. Make the main basic goal of every small group to strengthen faith in the promises of God.

verse 23: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love …” stirring each other up to love, and helping each other hold on to hope in the promises of God.

How do you empower someone to love and good deeds in spite of all the obstacles they will run into at home and work? build their hope in the promises of God. Love grows on the taproot of BELIEF in the promises of God.

Some had evidently been neglecting to meet with their Christian brethren and this is seen as a serious weakness. It may be that the readers had splintered off from the main group, which meant that their opportunities to provoke to love and good works were severely limited.

It is at first surprising that the writer should add at this point the words, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Nothing has prepared the readers for the mention of the ‘Day’. There are many references in other New Testament books to the day of the Lord. All that is in view is the effects of being reminded of the approach of the day.

2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2Peter 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

The imminence of the day was considered to be plain. It is not to be regarded as secret. Christians were to live as if the dawning of the day was so near that its arrival was only just beyond the horizon. Even if centuries have since passed, the possible imminence of the day still supplies a powerful motivation towards high moral standards for many believers.

How sad that many come to Christ and say they believe and yet are gone so soon. In the parable of the sower, Jesus illustrated four different kinds of response to the gospel. Some
people are so far from wanting salvation that the devil simply takes away the seed of God’s Word before it has time to germinate at all. Others respond joyfully at hearing the Word, but their “belief” lasts only until the first temptation. Still others believe until they run into a few problems. True believers, however, “are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance” (Luke 8:15).

We are to Encourage each other in LOVE

And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. (10:24–25)

The particular expression of love mentioned here is fellowship love. The Jewish readers were having a hard time breaking with the Old Covenant, with the Temple and the sacrifices. They were still holding on to the legalism and ritual and ceremony, the outward things of Judaism. So the writer is telling them that one of the best ways to hold fast to the things of God—the real things of God that are found only in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ—is to be in the fellowship of His people, where they could love and be loved, serve and be served. There is no better place to come all the way to faith in

Christ, or to hope continually in Him, than the church, His Body.

The day drawing near could refer to the imminent destruction of the Temple, which brought all the sacrifices and rituals to a close. The Old Covenant simply could not function without the Temple, which, when the book of Hebrews was written, was about to be destroyed by Titus. But I believe the primary reference is to the coming of the Lord, which makes the passage apply to all of us. The only place where we can remain steadfast until He returns is with His people. We need each other. We need to be in fellowship with each other, as we mutually strengthen each other and encourage each other.

The writer is saying very simply, “The door is open, the way is made available to enter into God’s presence. Come in and stay and fellowship with His people, and enjoy God’s company forever.”

John Phillips, in one of his books, gives an interesting story. He imagines a man from Moab who comes to the tabernacle, and sees the tabernacle out there in the wilderness. And this man says to a Jew who is standing there, “What is that tent with the fence around it?” “Oh,” he says, “that’s where we worship God.” “Well,” he said, “I would like to go in there.” He said, “Well, you can’t go in there. That’s just for the people of God.” “Well, what would I have to do to be able to go in there?” “Well, you’d have to be born again an Israelite.” “Well, if I were an Israelite, I would go in there, and what’s that second room in there? I would go in there.” He said, “Oh, no, you won’t go in there, even into that second space, unless you are a priest. You would have to be of the house of Levi to go into that second place, to the Holy Place.” “Well, all right. If I could go in that Holy Place, I believe I would also go into that third place. I would go into that third place behind that veil, that veil of white and purple and blue and red.” He’d say,

“Oh, no, you couldn’t go in there, even if you were a priest. You could only go in there if you were a high priest.” “Well, if I were a high priest, I’d go in there every day.” “Oh, no, you wouldn’t. You’d only go in there once a year.”

Notice what the writer of Hebrews is saying. He’s saying, let the whole house of God go in. Let us all go in. You, every day, have the privilege of doing what the high priest only could do only once a year. Why? Because, when Jesus died on the cross, that veil was split from top to bottom to make a way for the people of God to enter into the Holy Place.

Now, there are a lot of people who come to church for a while, they stay in church for a while, and they say, “You know, I don’t like this; I’m not made for this.”

True believers on the other hand say, “God is important to me,” but it also says, “My brothers and sisters are important to me.”.

How do we encourage one another? By our participation. Participate in the service: sing, smile, pray, study, praise, testify, welcome, greet, hug, encourage one another.

There is a legend of a village in Southern Europe that boasted of a church called “The House of Many Lamps.” When it was built in the sixteenth century, the architect provided for no light except for a receptacle at every seat for the placing of a lamp. Each Sunday night, as the people gathered, they would bring their lanterns and slip them into the bracket at their seat. When someone stayed away, his place would be dark; and if very many stayed away, the darkness became greater for the whole. It was the regular presence of each person that lit up the church.*

We need each other!