Hebrews 12:25-29
Have you ever had an experience in your life where you ignored a warning but later wished you had listened? Michael Kruger recalls a tragic national incident of this nature:
“The 2019 film The Challenger Disaster details the events leading up to the explosion of the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger shortly after launch in January 1986. It tells the story of an engineer who warned NASA not to launch the shuttle that day because he knew that the O-rings, which sealed the joints in Challenger’s rocket boosters, were not certified for use in cold weather. It was a freezing cold day, and essentially the engineer said, ‘Don’t launch.’ But he was ignored. NASA ignored a warning they should have listened to, and the result was that seven astronauts died.”
In our passage this week, we are given a warning that we must listen to if we value our lives: “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking” (Heb. 12:25). Throughout Hebrews, the writer has been clear that God has “spoken to us by his Son” (1:2), and that this saving message should not be ignored.
Why? Because if it is ignored, judgment will follow. To underscore this, the writer reminds us that the Israelites at Mount Sinai, despite all the frightening sights and sounds, “refused him who warned them on earth.” As a result, they “did not escape” God’s judgment. Then he makes an argument from the lesser to the greater: “If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven” (Heb. 12:25).
This week we come to the fifth and final warning passage of the Letter to the Hebrews. Trust me, you do not want to miss this word from the Lord. Do not miss God’s warning.
In His mercies,
Pastor Wayne
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