"Cling tightly to the hope that lives within us" Hebrews 10:23-25 (TPT)

The writer of Hebrews is pleading with the Jewish Church, “we must cling tightly to the hope that lives within us”, but is always giving us the message of hope we can stand firm “knowing that God always keeps His promises”. 

Another way to put this sentiment in perspective is “Faithful is the One who sent us this message of hope”.  Our God is always faithful to His Word to fulfill what He has promised, no matter what our circumstances He brings hope and love to bear when we need it most.

The writer goes on to say “Discover creative ways to encourage others”, we are given so many opportunities during our day to speak encouraging words to those around us to demonstrate the hope that resides within us that they take notice of our words. 

A kind word in a stressful moment can derail anger from taking hold, just as a joyful heart can help to overcome negative attitudes of others. It all depends upon our choice if we choose to project our attitude of hope in our hearts to others.

“Motivate them to acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love”, when we do things for others and serve them we are demonstrating the love of Christ who faithfully gave His life for us without holding back anything.  

Another way to look at this verse is “Let us look on one another with the excitement of love,” when we allow the of love Jesus to flow through us there is excitement that builds within us knowing that serving is an expression of Him through us.  

This flow of love doesn’t have to be reciprocal and can be fully creative in ways that express His love in ways that serving others is all about.  These are the beautiful works the writer was speaking about, whatever moves your heart in an expression of love for another person to do those things.

“This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing,” what is being implied here in the Greek language is “Now is not the time to pull away when people are extremely discouraged” we must recognize that we have the hope of the world, not just a good idea. People are dying without a Savior and we are given an opportunity to give them hope and a future for we have the cure for discouragement.

Some thoughts about the time of history this text was written, the writer of Hebrews is stating that the danger facing the Jewish Christians was that, perhaps during the crisis brought on by the Roman-Jewish war of A.D. 66-70, they were tempted to slip back into their former Jewish practice and belief system by abandoning their faith in Christ altogether.  The author is urging them forward into a fuller grasp of Christian truth which would leave them unashamed to abandon their old Jewish practices and ideas. 

The threat, or perhaps even the actuality, of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70 could then be thought of as providing a situation which gave rise to a crisis of loyalty for those who had been previously accustomed to look upon the Jewish temple as a focus for their own worship.  

It is also noteworthy that the period close to that of the Roman-Jewish war was one in which the Christian church suffered some of the fiercest persecutions, particularly in Rome in the time of Nero (A.D. 64). Obviously, this would have compelled deep and serious thought on the part of Jewish Christians, which could well account for the fear of a “relapse” from faith mentioned in this letter to the Hebrews.

There have been some scholars who have put forward the notion that the author of Hebrews may have actually been Priscilla (Acts 18:2).

Back to the text “In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.” The writer sees the need to come together more frequently to express “encouragement” and to “urge each other onward” because the time is short and the day of the Lord is dawning or is upon us.

There is expediency in the words and an awareness that things are happening around the people being written to.  There is persecution and death around them on every side but they are told to remain strong and urge each other forward.

Even though we do not have this kind of persecution at our doorsteps, these words for us are just as real as they were for the Jewish Christians of that day, we must not forsake meeting together to encourage each other to hold on to the faith we have learned and experienced with each other which is a good word for us today or any day.

The book of Hebrews is a prime example of encouragement in extreme situations which is what makes it so profound and yet so relevant. 

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett