Articles
Hold Fast, Without Wavering
What do you think when you read Heb. 10:23-25? In these verses Paul writes about “holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering,” and verse 25 is the conclusion of his thought:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging [one another]; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
Either patterns or examples of activities in the early church have been used to see how saints conducted themselves in various church activities. Early Christians did a lot of assembling. We find them gathering together to pray, sing, worship, serve one another, share food, share houses, make cloaks and so on. It is hard to determine how many times they assembled each day, much less each week, during the period of record Luke provides us in Acts.
These verses in Hebrews seem to have been written around AD 62-64. This would indicate the church to be approximately 30 years old. We previously have determined Paul’s words are aimed at primarily strengthening the resolve and hope of the Christian Jews in Jerusalem and Palestine. They will be undergoing very stressful times, with ever-increasing persecution culminating in the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in six short years.
Virtually everyone will be displaced and families will be torn apart. Their faith and certainly their unwavering resolve will be sorely tested.
Paul encourages them to hold onto their hope without wavering -- and then tells them how to do it. They must be faithful because the One who made the promise of salvation is faithful. They are to be stimulated to doing good deeds and to love. Not forsaking the assembling of themselves together is added to this list of prevention.
The result is encouragement rather than discouragement to each other. What verse 25 seems to be saying is that not assembling together is discouraging to the one absent and to those present.
Now let’s think about today and ask ourselves the question again: “What do these words mean to me?" When pressed, some may bristle or deflect these words because they may not have the resolve Paul references when he says “hold fast ... without wavering.” Instead of quibbling about how many times the Bible teaches one must assemble, we should instead embrace the purpose of coming together and its ability to help us “hold fast ... without wavering.”
The church in Centreville has fairly good attendance. Sunday nights and Wednesdays often are well-attended. We have a meeting beginning this Friday night. Sometimes our meetings could be better attended by our own group. God knows that everyone wants to be an encouragement, and this series is a prime opportunity to do so by assembling together.
