November 6, 2024

Passage Read: Hebrews 5-6
Meditation Verses: 6:4-6

Thought

The author is talking about a true conversion here. One who was enlightened: No one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him; no one believes in Jesus without the eye-opening work of the Spirit. More than that, he has tasted of the heavenly gift (spiritual gift or assurance of an eternal inheritance?) and been made a partaker of the Holy Spirit: This person was confirmed by God as a believer, having received the Spirit and His gifts! Having tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come: He understood and appreciated God's Word and did more than merely experience God's power by observation. For someone like this to then turn away from God, they had to do some serious mental gymnastics to reject all they had seen and felt and experienced. If it requires a special work of God for anyone to believe, how much more will it require a special work of God to return! So if God says it is impossible to renew such a one to repentance, it means God will not extend grace to such a one again. There is no hope at all.

Application

This is either comforting or frightening: Those who haven't had such a high level experience of salvation, is there still hope for their repentance if they turn away? Or since any true salvation depends of God's Spirit, then whether one experiences all these things or only a simple conversion, there is no hope for the one who abandons the faith. If the latter is true, then there are many without hope of re-redemption. And if someone who experienced so powerful a salvation could turn away, then so too can I. And if I trample the Son of God underfoot, I should have no hope of a return to repentance. God is jealous for His Son: He offered Him up once for salvation, that was hard enough; He will not allow it a second time. This is no light thing, but a solemn warning to any who would be tempted to turn away from the Lord, and to me: There is no coming back from salvation cast aside.