READING TIME: 2 MINUTES
Sept 18, 2019
Hebrews 6, Part 3
BLESSING VS. CURSING
In Hebrews 6:7-12, two different outcomes are described—one negative, namely, God’s judgment, and one positive, namely, His blessing. Verses 7-8 illustrate God either blessing or cursing the land, depending on how it responds to His provision of rain.
These verses are not describing two different plots of land as Calvinists claim—one representing the true believer (v. 7) and the other representing the false believer (v. 8).
Grammatically, this shows that there is only one plot of land being referred to, which is capable of yielding two different crops. There is no justification for interpreting verses 7-8 as two separate lands with different crops.
Understood individually, verse 8 may be describing Hebrew Christians who reject the “rain” of God’s Word that comes down upon them (Isa. 53:10-11), who fall away and return to Judaism, thereby “crucify[ing] again for themselves the Son of God, and put[ting] Him to an open shame” (Heb. 6:6). In such a case, all of their religious works would be vanity, or useless “thorns and thistles” (v. 8), since they would amount to nothing more than “dead works” in God’s sight (9:14). Works done in a religiously carnal Christian’s life, which may appear “good” before men, will be put to the fire test at the judgment seat of Christ.
The “land” reference in Hebrews 6:7-8 should be understood nationally as a reference to the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem to which apostatizing Hebrew Christians would return for worship in the Temple. If the Hebrew-Christian readers of the epistle fell away and returned to Judaism, then they must be forewarned that “the land” was facing God’s imminent temporal judgment in the form of cursing.
In regards to Hebrews 6:7-8, the writer of the epistle is likely alluding to the impending national cursing, burning, and rejection that will come upon those who reject the Word of God—a theme resumed with greater vividness and intensity in 10:26-29. The land illustration of blessing and cursing in 6:7-8 speaks of national divine discipline, not God’s eternal condemnation in hell. But it also serves as a warning to the spiritually lethargic and immature Hebrew Christians not to fall away and realign themselves with an unbelieving nation that was headed for utter destruction. Instead, if they wanted to reap God’s blessings, they needed to hold fast to their confession of faith in Christ and go “outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (13:13).
Source Used
Cocoris, G. Michael. Repentance: The Most Misunderstood Word in the Bible. Grace Gospel Press. Kindle Edition.
