Some notes on the exposition of Hebrews 10:32-33 from last Sunday morning's sermon at CRBC:
Hebrews 10:32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye
were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; 33 Partly, whilst ye
were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst
ye became companions of them that were so used.
Some people get obsessed with thinking about the
past. They relive their “glory days” in
high school or college. As someone has
said, “The key to a good past is often a bad memory.” If there are unhealthy ways of thinking about
the past, however, we must also that there can be healthy and positive ways to
consider the past.
Our inspired author here calls upon the wayward Hebrew
Christians to consider their previous experiences in the faith: “But call to remembrance the former days….” Sometimes it is good to look back and remember
what you’ve experienced and to understand how you’ve developed.
One might think the author of Hebrews would have
exhorted the Hebrews to think back on times of peace, joy, and tranquility in
the faith. But that is not what he
does. He calls upon them to think back
to a time when they experienced hardship and persecution, which had come soon after
the time when they learned about Christ (“were illuminated”).
We
might think it would be the worst thing for a new Christian to experience
hardship and persecution soon after his conversion, but God sometimes allows it
in his wisdom for their good.
He
describes their persecution in v. 32b by saying, “ye endured a great fight of
affliction.” The word for fight here is athlesis, the root for the English words
“athletic” or “athlete.” It refers to a
grueling contest, competition, or struggle.
In v. 33 he adds that these afflictions came in two
ways:
First, they came partly by being
made a public spectacle (see v. 33a). The
KJV uses the word “gazingstock.” The word
here is a participle coming from the verb
theatrizo. This is the only time this
verb occurs in the NT. It literally
means to bring onto the stage, but figuratively means to be made a spectacle or
an object of shame. The related noun theatron is used by Paul in 1
Corinthians to describe the suffering of the apostles:
1 Corinthians 4:9 For I think
that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death:
for we are made a spectacle [theatron]
unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
There are
numerous examples in history of Christians having been made “gazingstocks.”
One of
our Particular Baptist forebears was Benjamin Keach (1640-1704). He was converted and baptized as a
teenager. In 1664, when he was only 24
years old, he published an anonymous booklet titled “The Child’s Instructor” in
which, among other things, he denied infant baptism. The booklet fell into the hands of an
Anglican minister who discovered Keach was the author and brought charges of
sedition against him. When Keach refused
to renounce the teaching in the booklet he was imprisoned and ordered to be
pilloried. To be pilloried was to be
bound by the head and arms in something like stocks while a crowd was
encouraged to throw items at the victim.
One book says “the usual fare was vegetables, dead animals, and stones,”
and many of the pilloried suffered “permanent damage” (Beeke and Pederson, Meet the Puritans, p. 387). Thankfully, in Keach’s case, the crowd that
gathered was sympathetic and he was able to preach to them while bound. Still, the stand for Biblical truth meant the
risk of being made a gazingstock.
When I
was a missionary in Hungary, I heard many peers of my generation tell me of
being singled out in their schools by teachers and administrators, during the
communist times, because they or their parents were believers.
Second, they became companions [koinonoi] of other undergoing affliction
(v. 33b). They did not desert brethren
who were suffering for the faith (cf. Matthew 25:40; Acts 9:4).
May
the Lord continue to preserve his faithful in this generation.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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