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Hebrews, as to the Corinthians (I Cor. 13:), and to the Thessalonians (I Thess. 1: 3),
"these three" are the true antidote to apostacy.
Drawing back unto perdition.
There is an evident parallel between Heb. 2:-4: and Heb. 10: 19 - 12: 3. In both
passages we see the evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God. In both the
true antidote is "Let us draw near". In both there is the holding fast of the "confession".
In chapter 3: we have stressed those who failed to enter in because of unbelief.
In chapter 11: we have those who "through faith" obtained promises and triumphed.
The twofold title of Christ, "The Apostle and High Priest of our profession" (Heb. 3: 1),
is parallel with the twofold title of Heb. 12: 2, "The Captain and Perfecter of faith".
The key to the character of the apostacy that is in view is found in Heb. 10: 30:--
"Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord; And again, The
Lord shall judge His people."
These words are a quotation from Deut. 32:, the great prophetic forecast of Israel's
history given by Moses just before his end. This song of forty-three verses traverses the
whole of prophetic time. It reveals the failure of Israel and their setting aside, the period
while they are Lo-ammi, "not My people", and provoked to jealousy, and the mercy
of the Lord that gathers them back again with rejoicing. Dr. Ginsburg reads
Deut. 32: 34, 35, as follows:--
"Is not this laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?
For the day of vengeance and recompense,
For the time when their foot shall slip,"
and this is evidently "the day approaching" of Heb. 10: 25. The apostacy foretold by
Moses is manifestly at hand in Heb. 10:, and explains Heb. 6: as well.
Ye have need of patience.
While Israel as a nation were fast slipping away, the apostle turns with renewed
earnestness to the tried and tested remnant with words of encouragement and exhortation.
He bids them to call to remembrance the former days, in which, after they were
illuminated, they endured a great fight of afflictions. Among the elements of endurance
that the apostle enumerate are:--
Being made a gazing stock.
Being a fellow-partaker of those so used.
There is something very gracious in this recognition. To be a "gazing stock", a
"spectacle", may not seem half so heroic as some other forms of martyrdom, yet the Lord
knows the intensity of mental suffering that some natures may endure. Then, further,
the Lord takes note of those who simply stand by and share the sufferings of others.
Whether we read as in the A.V., "For ye had compassion of me in my bonds", or with