Today’s reading is Hebrews 5.
Our author drops a bomb in Hebrews 5:11-14. He reaches all the way back to the very first sin. The one in which Eve, instead of taking from the tree of life decides to take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our author is saying if these Hebrew Christians go back to the Law and abandon Jesus, they are not simply walking in the footsteps of their fathers in the wilderness. They are walking in the footsteps of their mother in the garden.
They have become dull of hearing. No doubt, dull hearing and hard hearts go together. The evil hearts of unbelief in Hebrews 3:12 come from ears dulled by the deceitfulness and lies of sin. Eve knew God’s Word. She knew what He had said regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She was not allowed to eat from it. But then the serpent of old lied. “You won’t die. You’ll know good and evil like God does.” She had taught the serpent truth about the trees in the garden. However, with just a few simple questions, Satan dulled her hearing and hardened her heart. She no longer believed. She took from the forbidden tree and ate thinking by eating she would gain the wisdom to know, distinguish, discern good and evil. Instead, she lost access to the tree of life and was thrown from the garden.
I do not think it is simply coincidence our author uses eating as his metaphor while he calls to mind the sin of Eve and Adam from the garden. Today, we must ask which tree we will choose. Will we listen to the Son’s message or go our own way. Frankly, this hits at the heart of what trying to be saved by the Law is all about. Pursuing salvation through the Law is actually pursuing salvation through our own strength. The whole purpose behind the Law was not to show us a means of salvation but to show us that was no means of salvation. Eve wanted wisdom on her own terms. Adam caved to her pressure. They didn’t gain true wisdom. Instead, they gained death.
Our author’s original audience was being handed fruit from the wrong tree by those who told them the Law really was the means to salvation. Some of them were swallowing those lies. Shockingly, the cross really is the tree of life. We must eat the fruit from it and only from it. Salvation comes from no other source. Let us not be dulled in our hearing, but grow to the maturity of proclaiming this truth to others.
Today’s reading is Hebrews 6.
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Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family
- What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
- Through what means does our enemy attempt to dull our hearing of God’s Word and will?
- How can we fight against dull hearing?
- How can we train to discern between good and evil?
- What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?
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