Holding Firm to the End
“We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” (Hebrews 3:14)
It’s one thing to start well. It is quite another to finish well. We can all think of figures in the public realm – in politics or the arts or sport – who made an impressive-looking start, only to finish in shame and disaster. We think of a figure like Lance Armstrong, one of the greatest road racing cyclists in history, who was widely seen as a hero in the sporting world. He was universally acclaimed for his athleticism and respected for his perseverance through illness. But, in the end, he was shown to be something of a fraud – the ringleader of the largest doping scandal in the history of the sport. His story reflects a great start, and a sad finish.
The writer of the book of Hebrews is all too aware that it is possible to make an impressive-looking start in Christian things, only to finish in faithlessness, rebellion, and spiritual catastrophe. His urgent concern is that we should not finish that way. The Jewish-background believers addressed by the writer of Hebrews are under pressure to abandon their trust in Jesus and to return to the rites and rituals of the Old Testament law. And the writer sees a sobering parallel with the Exodus generation, who were rescued from slavery in Egypt and began a journey to God’s promised land, but who soon lost faith. They Exodus generation turned to doubt, grumbling and rebellion, and undermined the leader and savior God sent them – great Moses himself. God was provoked to anger with them (Hebrews 3:10-11); they never made it to the promised land and perished in the wilderness.
In Hebrews 3:2-6, the writer makes a comparison between Moses and Jesus. Just as Jesus is higher than the angels (Hebrews 1), Jesus is higher than Moses too. Within the household of God, Moses was a faithful servant, while Jesus is the Son of the actual builder (God the Father). The point is straightforward enough: if Moses was worthy of respect and honor, Jesus is worthy of more. The writer then drills down to the level of the heart and urges his readers to do some urgent heart examination. He writes, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…’” (Hebrews 3:7-8) The writer is quoting here from Psalm 95, which recalls the time when the people of Israel rebelled and grumbled against Moses because they had no water.
The writer focuses upon the heart “lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12) It is possible for everyone’s heart to grow hard over time. It happens in all kinds of human relationships. A friendship that was once warm cools over time. A marriage that was once built upon trust and tenderness slowly erodes. Similarly, we are in danger of hardened hearts when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. But what is it that hardens our heart in spiritual terms? The writer provides the answer: “the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). Sin deceives us. And so we need other believers to speak truth into our lives. As Hebrews 3:13 declares, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today…’” We need the encouragement and accountability of the church family.
Let us examine our hearts today. And may we be encouraged by the glorious truth that “Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” (Hebrews 3:6)