In our exposition of Hebrews we have arrived at the great parenthesis in the book, 5:11-6:20. Let us remember that, as we have repeatedly seen, the Epistle to the Hebrews was written to the entire Jewish nation and constituted the final appeal to the generation of the first century to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. The writer urged his brethren to consider Him as their Apostle and the High Priest of their confession and to accept Him as such. In 3:2-4:13, he appealed to them to receive Jesus as their great Apostle, but in 4:14-7:28, he presented the Lord as the great High Priest of the Jewish nation, who is Israel's great Priest King after the order of Melchizedek, as was promised in Psalm 110.

That one may see that 5:11-6:20 constitutes a parenthesis, let him read 7:1 after having read 5:10. He will see that this verse takes up the thought dropped with 5:10.

This parenthetical portion deals with the spiritual growth of the believers (5:11-14); with the apostates who rejected the marvelous light given to them and who could never be brought to repentance (6:1-8); with the faithfulness of the believers among the Hebrews (6:9-12); and with the steadfast hope of the believer (6:13-20).

In Hebrews 5:11-14, the apostle upbraided the believers among the Hebrews for not having made greater progress in their Christian life and experience. He desired very greatly to speak to them concerning our Lord, but could not because they were unable to comprehend the deep things of God in regard to Christ. If they had grown and developed in spiritual life and knowledge, they could have understood what the apostle wished to tell them. Their difficulty was that they were dull of hearing. The Greek expression is very graphic. It has properly been rendered, "Ye have no push in your ears." They were mentally lazy and would not concentrate their minds to study the deep things concerning their adorable Lord. Thus by their mental and spiritual laziness they deprived themselves of the great riches of the deep things regarding Christ.

They had been Christians long enough to be teachers of others. Nevertheless, they had sat and taken in and had never given out anything. Whenever one is constantly learning and never giving out that which is taught him, he will never make any progress. People are saved for service. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). When Andrew learned that Jesus was the Messiah, he went immediately and got his brother. We should do the same today. When we are babes in Christ, let us feed on the sincere milk of the Word; but let us go on, advance, and become accustomed to the strong meat of the Word. It is the will of God that we thus advance and become teachers of the Word. Such is the message to the Christians, Hebrew believers, in this section.

In order to enforce the lesson of going on in the Christian life upon the minds of the Hebrew believers, the apostle urged them in 6:1-3 to lay aside their continual wrangling and discussion about the first principles of the oracles of God and exhorted them to go on unto perfection. They had, humanly speaking, understood accurately the first principles of the oracles of God, the fundamentals of the Christian faith. They were satisfied with that, but cared nothing about going on unto perfection. The writer, however, said that they would do that if God permitted them to do so, that is, if God allowed them the time and opportunity. Thus he encouraged them to follow his lead.

Following this exhortation he showed that there is danger in one's not taking advantage of his opportunities and going forward, walking in the light as God gives it. He emphasized this point by calling attention to a certain class of people "who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away." Of these the apostle said, "... it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Who are these apostates? My answer is this: There were certain ones in the Jewish nation who, doubtless because of their strategic positions and opportunities, had been granted unusual blessings in order that they might know the reality and the verities of the Christian hope. These people had been enlightened and had actually tasted of the heavenly gift; they also had been made partakers of the Holy Spirit. They had tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come. Nevertheless they sinned against the light that was given them. They fell away and refused to go forward.

Were these genuine converts? Positively not. God had granted them by a miracle the privilege of understanding and comprehending the blessings in Christ. He had performed a miracle in their behalf in order that they might know the certainty of the blessings in Jesus Christ the Messiah.

I might illustrate the point this way. Paul, in II Corinthians 12, spoke of an experience which had doubtless been granted to him, and in which he was caught up to the third heaven and saw things which it was not lawful for him to utter. This experience was given to him miraculously for a certain purpose, namely, that he might know the certainty of the things which he believed in order that he might be spurred on to greater labors and activities. These strategically located Jews in like manner, by a special miracle from God, were allowed to taste the heavenly gift, the powers and joys of the indwelling Spirit, the good Word of God, and the powers of the age to come in order that they might know the certainty of the blessings in Christ to the end that they might tell their brethren and lead the nation to an acceptance of its Messiah.

I might further illustrate this point by the case of Paul. He was on his way to Damascus in order to persecute the Christians there. God appeared to him and gave him an experience that no other person ever enjoyed. This was not for his conversion. The Lord Jesus told him why He appeared to him: "... for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee ..." (Acts 26:16). From this passage we learn why Jesus appeared to Paul, namely, to make him a minister and a witness, to fit him for service, and not for his salvation. The Lord knew that Paul would accept Christ. He did so, and, having seen Jesus in this marvelous experience, he was able to preach as he could not have done if the Lord had not appeared to him as He did.

These apostates concerning whom the apostle now writes were men strategically placed to whom the Lord gave special opportunities to fit and prepare them to become messengers of His. Thus miraculously they were granted a foretaste of the verities that are in Christ. Because of cowardice, ulterior motives, etc., these men would not take their stand with Christ and become witnesses for Him. By their refusal to walk in the light and accept the Lord Jesus Christ, they rendered their spiritual nature incapable of genuine repentance. They had sinned against all the light that God could give any man. They had sinned presumptuously. There is no sacrifice for such sin (Num. 15:30-31).

I might compare these men to the ten spies who went with Caleb and Joshua to spy out the land of Canaan. They were by special permission and by the providence of God allowed to go into the land of Canaan and see the wonderful home which the Lord had prepared for Israel. Upon their return they brought in an adverse report and discouraged the people. On the contrary, Caleb and Joshua, by faith and in loyalty to God and to the facts, reported accurately the conditions existing in the land before them. These two were allowed to enter. The ten who had had the same special privileges to equip them for testimony to the nation rejected the light, refused to take their stand for God, and discouraged the nation from going in. These ten spies were never allowed to re-enter Canaan. They had sinned against the light and against the people. When they returned to the camp at Kadesh-barnea, they could have said to the people, "Come on, let us enter the land. We can do so because God has said so." Then by faith they could have entered in and enjoyed permanently the blessings of the land which they had surveyed by special dispensation of God's mercy during the forty day experience of spying out the land. But they would not do this. They were therefore debarred from it. The ten spies stood in a position which was analogous to these apostates of Paul's day.

Though the apostle called the attention of the Hebrews to the tragic, fatal error of these apostates, he assured the believers that they were not in their condition even though they had made little progress in the Christian life. They had actually borne real fruit to the glory of God and Christ. This is set forth in Hebrews 6:9-12.

God made a promise to Abraham, which he accepted by faith. He inherited the promises--all of those that were promised for his day and time. He yet will become heir of the world through faith (Rom. 4:13). There is a sure and unshakable foundation upon which the Christian faith rests. That foundation consists of God's promise and oath. This is set forth in Hebrews 6:13-20.

This hope is anchored to that which is within the veil in heaven, where Jesus as the forerunner has gone and is officiating as our great High Priest, making intercession to God for us. He will sustain us in every time of need.