Rejection of Christ
Excerpt
What frightening terrors lie behind apostasy: rejection of Christ’s person, rejection of Christ’s work, and rejection of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Understanding this, the question of verse 29 explodes: “How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished…?” One thing is sure—there will be no mercy shown for the hardened apostate, just as there was no mercy shown to those who willfully transgressed the Law. But the greater severity is that breaking the Old Covenant brought physical death, while rejecting Christ brings spiritual death.
Some today reject this idea by employing a one-sided view of Christ. They say that Jesus’ emblem was a lamb, that Jesus took little children in his arms and blessed them, that he sighed over the deaf and dumb and wept over Jerusalem. But they forget that the Lamb of God will come with wrath—in judgment (Revelation 6:16), that he told all who cause any of his little ones to sin that it would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around their neck, and that the same Jesus who wept over Jerusalem judged it. More
Hughes, R. Kent. Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul. Vol. 2. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993. Print. Preaching the Word.
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