Lifetime Daily DevotionsSample

Dangerous Ground

How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve

 who has trampled under foot the Son of God

and has treated like dirt the blood of the agreement

by which he was made holy,

and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 10:29 (NAS & JBP)

 

            Strong words. Graphic words. Distinct words. Explicit words. Words that if directed to you personally would cause you to frown, to bristle, to listen intently--perhaps with anger, perhaps with fear, perhaps with cynicism: "severe, punishment, deserve, trampled, underfoot, treated like dirt, insulted."

 

Have you heard this statement--this frightening, terrorizing statement? He who enters the gate of hell must trample under his feet the body of Jesus Christ. Picture that. Think about it. With any person--but with this very special Person? Can you see yourself doing that?

Imagine standing on the ground where the blood of Jesus dripped from His wounds to the ground or ran down His legs to the wood of the cross--the blood that was poured out for us--stepping on that blood, grinding that blood into the dirt. That blood that was shed so that we might be justified, sanctified, made fit for Heaven. Picture that. Think about it. Can you see yourself doing that?

The writer of Hebrews was trying desperately to warn the people--those who refused to accept Jesus Christ as their "passport" into God's presence--that they were treading on very dangerous ground!

We come into the world and there is one vital decision we are to make between the day of our birth to the hour of our death. What will you do with Jesus? God doesn't want any one to enter the gate of hell: He is not willing that any should perish (II Peter 3:9). "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord God, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live"( Ezekiel 18:23)?

One of the verses that many of us know by heart, John 3:16, tells us that God so loved the world . . . . The world? Yes! He loves and has no prejudices--no favorites. But each person must make that ONE VITAL decision: . . . if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Yes, if you make that decision you may become a "marked" man, ridiculed perhaps, shunned by some people that you have known and admired, and more devastating things possibly. But the decision you have made frees you from the fear that you might one day be stepping on His body or treating His blood like the dirt under your feet.

"What must I do to be saved?" and they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16: 30-31).

 

Lord Jesus, I can picture the throngs who have rejected Your incredible gift stepping callously, viciously on You. I've read about crazed mobs shoving and knocking down the people around them and stomping them to death. That's a horrible picture. And this is what is pictured for us by the writer of Hebrews. Lord! Make that picture like a photograph in the minds of those who have turned away from You! Let them dream about it! Let that photograph be seared into their minds so clearly that they tremble at the thought! And in doing this,You will be giving them another chance to make that choice when asked: What will you do with Jesus? For this I pray.