Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
I hesitate to meditate on a passage so dark as this. I’d say it’s prophetic, given the persecution of Christians over the 1,500 years following this, but it’s not prophetic—it’s realistic.
The history of God’s people in the Old Testament economy was marked by such blood.
Hebrews 11:36-37 (KJV)
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
It’s noteworthy that, though they did have outside enemies, many of the accounts referenced in this passage involved persecution from those inside their own family. No one has been more cruel to professing Christians desiring to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience than—other professing Christians.
Beyond the historical record of persecution, there had been more recent sufferings. We can’t help but recall that the most likely writer of the book of Hebrews is none other than Paul, who himself had been a persecutor and injurious—hailing men and women and committing them to prison—and had even witnessed and probably authorized the stoning of Stephen.
- Given the prince of this world’s war against God…
- Given the crucifixion of our Saviour, Jesus Christ…
- Given the hatred of the ungodly for godliness…
…it was no great stretch to see a day when Christians would shed their blood for their faith.
But this chapter gives all of this a balanced perspective we might struggle to accept. Rather than fighting the source of our “bloodletting,” the Word of God teaches us to view it as the chastening of a Father—meant not to destroy us but to transform us, that we might be partakers of His holiness.
We sometimes get angry at God when we go through particularly hard situations. That’s because we forget that the frontline in our fight against sin is not with the world or the devil, but with our own sin nature.
#StrivingAgainstSin #PartakersOfHisHoliness #FaithUnderFire #ResistUntoBlood #ChastenedByTheFather
The Frontline of Faith: Resisting Sin in Self
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