Previously, we saw that the author of Hebrews exhorted those who were going through a time of crisis to draw near to God and to hold close to the faith they have confessed. In his final exhortation, he encourages his readers to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:24–25). How does this apply to our own time of crisis?
In my previous piece, I discussed the first of three exhortations given in Hebrews 10:19–25 to Christians in a time of spiritual crisis. The first exhortation is to draw near to God with a pure heart. Now I will discuss the second exhortation: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (ESV; v. 23).
This immediately raises an important question: what is the confession of our hope? This is a commonly addressed question throughout the New Testament, although different passages focus on different aspects of it. Romans 8:22–24 says:
The book of Hebrews has long been a source of debate among Christians. It is unknown who the book was written for, or even who wrote it. Even a cursory reading, however, hints at its purpose. The author is clearly worried about some kind of crisis of faith among his recipients and urges them through a variety of arguments to hold fast to the faith they had received.
What of the older considerations regarding the “good death” expounded in the earlier parts of this essay is relevant for a Christian today? In my opinion, it is, first of all, necessary to think about the problems related to dying a “good death” as a Christian in our current secularized society. On the one hand, the media depict death unscrupulously both in the news and also, and that to an even greater extent, in a never-ending stream of (crime) movies entertaining through murder and homicide. Numbness in the face of death is an unsurprising result.
