Vengeance Is Mine

After commanding us to provoke one another to love and good works, the writer of Hebrews then makes the argument why it is so serious. If under the Mosaic law, when they broke the Old Covenant - the covenant of works, they were put to death by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If that was the punishment for treating the blood of bulls and goats as a cheap thing, what will God do when we act as if the blood of Jesus Christ is as ineffectual as the blood of animals. He then quotes from Deuteronomy 32, the Song of Moses, that declares that Israel will be destroyed. With that quote, He is switching from the individual punishment to the collective punishment. The promise was that their foot will slip in due time and God will whet His glittering sword and avenge His name. If that is what He did to Israel for treating the blood of bulls and goats as a common thing, what vengeance will He afflict on those who disparage Christ? As the writer reminds us, "The Lord will judge His people." The passage closes will the ominous warning "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." If we are not willing to exhort one another to love and good works, we should expect the wrath of God upon us greater than the wrath He ever showed Israel. We can see that wrath in the news right now. His wrath against those who trample the blood of Jesus Christ will be worse.