Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away

Abraham and Melchizedek – a Picture of the Feast Meeting

Why do we, in the festive gathering, first celebrate the feasts, then partake of the Lord’s Table, and then offer the spiritual sacrifices? We see an illustration of this in Genesis 14, with Abraham and Melchizedek.

First, Abraham had to fight against the kings, and God, the Most High, delivered his enemies into his hands (Genesis 14:20). The seven feasts which the Lord has given us also show how the Lord desires us to triumph over our enemies. The Passover gives us victory over the bondage of this world; the Feast of Unleavened Bread over our old, corrupt nature; and at the Feast of Firstfruits we receive victory over death. Yet, as with Abraham, victory did not come automatically. He had to set out himself to fight. So for us as well, our active participation is needed to experience the Lord’s victory through the feasts. The Lord has already won the victory, but it only becomes effective for us when we play our part. Without our active participation, we will not experience the victory. For example: On the Day of Atonement, the Israelites had to humble their souls and draw near to God; at the Feast of Tabernacles, they had to depart from the world with joy in the Lord; at the Feast of Pentecost, we wait for the Lord and fight alongside Him on the throne in prayer.

After the battle had been won, Melchizedek brought bread and wine – just as the Lord Jesus offers us his body and blood at every Lord’s Table.

Abraham then gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the spoils. It was not a law that Abraham had to give a tenth; rather, he gave it of his own free will. In the same way, our spiritual offerings should not be made out of compulsion or a sense of duty, but from a willing heart.

Our Cooperation

The Lord can save us to the uttermost, but only those who are drawing nearer to God. That is the prerequisite.

When the Lord led them out of Egypt, He was their Captain of Salvation. Yet they longed for the old ways, for the melons of Egypt. Do not be dependent on the old ways. We need an inner urge to move forward. Even when something seems harmless. Then we need to pray, plead and cry out loudly. Otherwise, we’ll get stuck in many old ways.

Experiencing the Offerings

Genesis 22 illustrates very clearly what the burnt offering signifies. There was no law about the burnt offering at that time, and yet Abraham, in obedience, offered a burnt offering:

“Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’” (Genesis 22:2)

We must not only understand the sacrifices intellectually, but also experience their reality. The Epistle to the Hebrews seeks to draw us into the experience of the sacrifices. That is why Hebrews 13:10 says:

“We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.”

This means that the altar should be so central to us, and that we should eat of the sacrifices offered on the altar. He then goes on to speak of the experience of the sin offering:

“For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” (Heb. 13:11, 13)

The Word in the Beginning

“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God ...” (Heb. 6:1)

We want to move beyond the word of the beginning and to be brought to maturity.

That does not mean we should cast aside the word from the beginning. Repentance is still important. We need the reality of baptism every day. The fundamentals must be a regular practice for all of us. If we neglect the fundamentals, everything falls apart. But we must not stop there. We must build upon that foundation. We need to have the desire within us to move forward and grow.

The End is Near – so Pay Even Closer Attention to What You Hear

This age is drawing to a close. Everything will pass away. The end of democracy is clearly in sight. But the Word of God remains, as does the truth we have gained from it.

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.” (Heb. 2:1)

We need the substance of the Word. We hear many words, but that is precisely why we must pay all the more attention to it. Everything will pass away, but it remains:

“They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment;” (Heb. 1:11)

That is why we must gain Him, because He is the only one who will stay. We hold fast to what He has told us.

Nowadays, one can be preoccupied with fleeting things from morning till night. As a result, our hearts very quickly become fat and hard. Then God’s Word cannot bear fruit. Laodicea had everything and was already completely sated.

Don’t Let Yourself Get Distracted

The Devil tries to distract us with all sorts of things. It requires our full attention. Otherwise, we’ll completely miss the mark. The struggle is about our focus: that we keep pursuing after it.

It’s a whirlwind of things that are trying to sweep us away. The devil is trying to get some of his stuff into us.

“They therefore walk like a shadow and Such a fuss is being made over nothing at all; ‘they amass (wealth) and do not know who will bring it in.’ (Ps. 39:7)

We must not allow ourselves to be distracted by this noise. Rather, let us listen to God speaking through his Son. If we do not do this, we may well be part of church life, but we will remain the same year after year. We may find ourselves entangled once more in the very things we once fled from:

“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” (2 Peter 2:20)

The sequence is serious: tainted, entangled, overwhelmed. That is why we need the reality of the Feast of Tabernacles. We do not want to be drawn back into the old ways and overwhelmed by them, but rather to move forward, to grow, to win Him over and to pay attention to what we have heard.