For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV
While John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is full of fearful scenes, one of the rooms that Christian is shown in Interpreter’s House is certainly among the most terrifying. Interpreter takes Christian to a dark room that contained a man in an iron cage and urges Christian to speak with the man. Here is their dialogue:
Then said Christian to the man, What art thou?
The man answered, I am what I was not once.
Chr. What wast thou once?
Man. The man said, I was once a fair and flourishing Professor, both in mine own eyes, and also in the eyes of others: I once was, as I thought, fair for the Celestial City, and had then even Joy at the thoughts that I should get thither.
Chr. Well, but what art thou now?
Man. I am now a man of Despair, and am shut up in it, as in this Iron Cage. I cannot get out; O, Now I cannot.
Chr. But how camest thou in this condition?
Man. I left off to watch, and be sober; I laid the reins upon the neck of my lusts; I sinned against the Light of the Word, and the Goodness of God: I have grieved the Spirit and he is gone; I tempted the Devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked God to Anger, and he ahs left me; I have so hardened my heart that I cannot repent.
Then said Christian to the Interpreter, But is there no Hopes for such a man as this? Ask him, said the Interpreter.
Chr. Then said Christian, Is there no Hope, but you must be kept in the Iron Cage of Despair?
Man. No, none at all.
Chr. Why? The Son of the Blessed is very pitiful.
Man. I have crucified him to myself afresh; I have despised his Person, I have despised his Righteousness, I have counted his Blood an unholy thing, I have done despite to the Spirit of Grace: Therefore I have shut myself out of all the Promises, and there now remains to me nothing but Threatnings, dreadful Threatnings, fearful Threatnings of certain Judgment and fiery Indignation, which shall devour me as an Adversary.
Chr. For what did you bring yourself into this condition?
Man. For the Lusts, Pleasures, and Profits of this World; in the enjoyments of which, I did then promise myself much delight: But now every one of those things also bite me, and gnaw me, like a burning Worm.
Chr. But canst thou not now repent and turn?
Man. God hath denied me Repentance. His Word gives me no encouragement to believe; yea, himself hath shut me up in this Iron Cage: Nor can all the men in the world let me out. O Eternity! Eternity! How shall I grapple with the Misery that I must meet with in Eternity!
Inter. Then said the Interpreter to Christian, Let this man’s Misery be remembered by thee, and be an everlasting Caution to thee. (32-34)
For this scene, Bunyan purposely used some of the exact phrases from Hebrews’ warning passages. The text before us today is one such warning, and as Ecclesiastes 12:11 says, the Holy Spirit has inspired these words to be like the goads of a shepherd that we might kept from drifting away and neglecting such a great salvation.
THERE NO LONGER REMAINS A SACRIFICE FOR SINS // VERSES 26-27
In our previous text, the author of Hebrews shifted from his great exposition and explanation of Christ’s priesthood and onto the question: how shall we then live? His answer came as three commands, which will also sort of serve as a kind of table contents for the remainder of this sermon-letter. First, we are to draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Such faith will be vividly modeled for us in chapter 11. Second, we are to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Such steadfast hope will be discussed more fully in chapter 12. Finally, we are to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, encouraging and not neglecting to meet together. The author issues such encouragement to love one another in chapter 13.
However, before we get into those final chapters, the pastor who wrote this sermon issues another warning. When reading quickly through Hebrews, this may seem like a rather jolting transition. While the last several verses spoke of confidence, assurance, and hope, now we read of judgment, fury, and vengeance. Of course, the author likely intends the striking contrast of these two passages to be shocking; however, the flow of logic between this passage and the previous is smooth.
Verse 25 concluded with the author driving home the importance of encouraging one another by saying: “and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” That Day, as we said, refers to what the Old Testament called the Day of the LORD, the Day of Yahweh, when He would come to earth to execute judgment upon all men, bring everlasting life to the righteous and never-ending death to the wicked. In the New Testament, we now know that the Day of Yahweh is also the day of Christ’s second coming to judge the living and the dead. Again, that day is the blessed hope of God’s people, for Jesus “will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (9:28). However, that day is also a day of judgment upon all who array themselves as enemies of Christ. Here the author warns of that terrifying end in order to stir up his readers to love and good works. Thus, we read:
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
The first question that we might have is what exactly is meant by sinning deliberately? Indeed, this entire passage hangs upon that question, since it is a warning against such deliberate sinning. Dennis Johnson explains it well:
“Deliberately” and its cognates describe actions performed voluntarily, not under coercion (Lev. 7:16; Num. 15:3; Ezra 1:4-5; 3:5; Ps. 54:6; Philem. 14; 1 Pet. 5:2). The law of Moses distinguished between sins committed inadvertently out of ignorance and those committed “with a high hand,” reviling the Lord and despising his word (Num. 14:22-31; cf. Deut. 17:2). Atonement through sacrifice was possible for inadvertent violations of commandments (“unintentional sins”; Heb. 5:2; 9:7), but not for transgressions of committed deliberately and defiantly.
In a move that would have sounded shocking to Jewish ears, our author identifies the high-handed, unforgivable sin not as a willful breach of the Ten Commandments but as abandoning trust in the Son of God and the blood he shed to sanctify sinners (6:6; 10:2) ‘by returning to the OT sanctuary and its sacrifices. This repudiation of Christ is not a sin committed in ignorance, for it is committed by those who have “received the knowledge of the truth” (10:26), who were “enlightened” (6:4-5; 10:32) when they heard the good news of cleansing through Jesus’ blood (4:2; 10:19-22).[1]
Indeed, we know that a willful, deliberate rejection of Christ is what the author has in mind because of the phrase there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. In this context, those words are rightly fearful; however, they are the same idea that we saw in verse 18: “Where there is forgiveness of [sins and trespasses], there is no longer any offering for sin.”
In the context of that verse, that declaration was the marvelous conclusion to viewing Christ’s once for all sacrifice. Since Jesus has fully paid once for all the sins and all of God’s people, there no longer remains an offering for sin. Amen! Jesus spoke the truth when He said from the cross, “It is finished!” No other sacrifice must be made or even could be made. Christ has done it all.
However, the same idea now takes on a darker tone when viewed from another angle. For those who reject Christ and His once for all sacrifice, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. If Christ alone is able to save us from the wrath of God, then what remains for those who reject Christ and His salvation? Only fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
We ought to remember that this is a warning that only applies to those who have received the knowledge of the truth. Every person sins against moral law that God has written within their hearts; thus, every person, however much they plead ignorance, knows that they stand guilty before the Creator and Lawgiver. Yet while that is true of all people everywhere, even those who have never heard the gospel, there is a far greater judgment that awaits those who have heard God’s Word and refused to believe. Indeed, God’s judgment of those who have never heard the Bible is often used to reject Christianity altogether; however, God will judge justly all men based upon what they have received. Those to whom more is given will also have more required of them on the day of judgment. We ought to be far less concerned about justice of God in judging those who have never heard and far more concerned with making certain that we do not harden our hearts against what we ourselves have heard.
Recall also the likely original hearers of this sermon. For fear of coming persecution, they were considering a return to Judaism and its legal protection under Roman law. Yet such a flight from the wrath of Rome was a flight into the wrath of God. They feared greatly those who could easily kill the body, so their pastor aims to remind them of Him who can destroy both the body and the soul in hell.
HOW MUCH WORSE // VERSES 28-30
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
We rightly associate the word better with Hebrews, since that has been the principal argument. Jesus is better than the prophets, than the angels, than Moses, than the Levites, than the blood of bulls and goats, and the covenant that He mediates is better than the old covenant that Moses mediated. Yet notice that the author now brings in the antonym to the word better: worse. If the new covenant offers much better promises, it also yields far worse punishment for those who willfully break it.
To attest to the truth of verse 28, we can turn to many Old Testament passages, but we will use Number 35:30-34:
If anyone kills another person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. And you shall accept no ransom from him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.
There we read specifically that a person could not be put to death on the witness of only one person for murder; however, if two or more witnesses attested to the murder, no mercy was shown to him. Cities of refuge were established for Israel as places where a person could flee from an avenging family member of a person who was killed accidentally. However, for a deliberate murder, there was no place of refuge. Like Abel’s blood in Genesis 4, the very land beneath their feet demanded justice to be served by shedding the blood of one who himself shed blood.
Yet the apostate, the one who professes Christ and then turns away, is guilty of a crime with far greater consequences. To have hear and confessed the Word of God and then to reject it is a trampling of Christ underfoot. It is treating the Son of God, which is the loftiest title that Hebrews gives to Christ and carries with it the sevenfold description of 1:2-3, as being like the dirt upon which we walk. This is even more egregious when we consider the allusion to Psalm 110 that the author has repeatedly made. Christ is currently reigning at the Father’s right hand until what happens? Until His enemies are placed under His feet. Our rejection of Christ is a prideful declaration of our own lordship over Him.
It also profanes the blood of Christ that sanctifies us. We tend to think of profanity as only being four-letter words. However, technically profane is the opposite of holy. To use the name of God or even words like damn and hell, which are associated with God, in an ordinary or common way is profanity. It treats what is sacred and set apart as regular and normal. To reject the efficacy of Christ’s blood to forgive sins is, by definition, profaning it, treating it as ordinary.
Finally, the rejection of Christ also outrages the Spirit of grace. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ to us and draws us to Him. Trampling the Son of God underfoot and profaning the Christ’s blood is also an act of defiance against the Holy Spirit. R. Kent Hughes writes:
To “outrage the Spirit of grace” is an immense act of hubris and arrogance (the Greek verb for “outraged” comes from the noun hybris). What had happened is that the Holy Spirit had come to the apostate, witnessed to him about spiritual reality, and courted his soul, but the apostate rejected the Spirit’s witness with outrageous arrogance. Such persons deliberately close their eyes to the light, just as the Pharisees had done when they attributed the Spirit’s works of mercy and power to Beelzebub– and thus their condemnation is the same… To reject the gracious work of “the Spirit of grace” renders one irremediably lost.[2]
THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD // VERSES 30-31
For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
These last two verses drive home the warning that the author has been making. In verse 30, the author takes two quotations from Deuteronomy 32:35-36. The first is the well-known declaration that God will exact vengeance. Indeed, while many today scorn the very idea of God being vengeful, He could not be both good and just without also executing vengeance upon the wrongdoer. The second citation emphasizes the impartiality of God’s judgment. He will judge His own people as well as the people who reject Him. 1 Peter 4:17-18 affirms this as well, saying:
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous are scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner.”
Indeed, the reality is that judgment has already begun, and God does not pass over a single sin. Each and every trespass against His law will be punished, and because each sin is treason against the eternal King of kings and Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, each sin bears an eternal consequence. All sin warrants eternal wrath, which as verse 31 notes is a fearful thing.
Indeed, it is worth noting here that the commonly repeatedly idea that hell is simply the absence of God ought to be refuted. The simple fact that God is omnipresent means that He is never fully absent from anywhere at any time. Certainly, He hides His presence and makes particular displays of His presence, and 2 Thessalonians 1:9 notes of the wicked that “they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” But as we read in Revelation 14:9-11:
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
No, hell is not the utter absence of God; it is absence of God’s mercy and the fullness of His wrath. Indeed, the very same Christ who presently and freely offers the grace of salvation to all men is the same Christ who will eternally execute His wrath upon the wicked with just precision so that for all eternity as both saints and angels witness the smoke from the lake of fire rise, they will sing praise to Him who sits upon the throne. Isaiah 66:22-24 makes that clear:
For as the new heavens and the new earth
that I make
shall remain before me, says the LORD,
so shall your offspring and your name remain.
From new moon to new moon,
and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the LORD.And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.
Brothers and sisters, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. None knew that better than our Lord Himself who sweat blood in Gethsemane at the very thought of enduring the wrath of His Father. Yet that is the great hope of the gospel. Christ willingly stood before the wrath of God so that we sinners could be shielded with His blood. He gave Himself fully into the hands of the living God, so that we could be adopted as sons and daughters by that very same God.
Thus, those are the only two options before us. Either we place our faith in Christ to bear in Himself the judgment for our sins, or we will bear the judgment ourselves for all eternity. The first, looking fully to Christ for redemption, hears that there is no longer a sacrifice for sins with tearful joy, knowing that he can rest in the finished and eternally sufficient work of Jesus. The second, scorning Christ, hears that there is no longer a sacrifice for sins with outward contempt and inward despair.
Yet the point of this warning is not to trap us within the iron cage of despair. It is to goad us into drawing near to God, holding fast the confession of our hope, and considering how to stir one another up to love and good works that this warning may not be descriptive of any of us.
However, if there is any who does despair over your salvation, consider another scene from the Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian and his companion Hopeful become prisoners of Giant Despair within his Doubting Castle. For days, Christian looks rather like the man he saw at Interpreter’s House, yet after day of prayer, Christian remembers the key called Promise in his bosom, which was able to unlock Despair’s dungeon. As long as you have breath in your lungs, there is still hope for you to cling to the promise of God’s salvation in Christ. God has spoken to you today through His Word; do not harden your heart against Him. Flee for shelter from the wrath of God in Christ or else you will be among those who cry for the rocks to hide Christ’s face from you when He comes in judgment.
[1] ESV Expository Commentary, 152-153.
B. C. Newton 