Hebrews 10:25 exhorts the believers in Christ to not forsake the assembling of themselves together. And though we today, for the most part, get what those words are saying, the broader and infinitely more important implications are more often missed than misunderstood.

The true spirit of the passage is found in the immediate context, but tends to be lost in translation. This is evidenced by the fact that so many are either thrown off, confused, or totally put off by the government’s current orders to not do church in numbers of 10 or more.

As a side note, it should be understood that this post is not about the potential we are seeing for government overreach of the Church. However, that is something that we should watch and pray about. As good as life can be in many ways, we must admit that these times are also increasingly evil.

May we not quarantine ourselves from society and sit idly by and say or do nothing when we have the freedom to speak, to act, and to vote to protect our God-given rights. And may we pray, share the gospel of Christ, and be involved citizens who do all that we do with Christ, His kingdom, and His righteousness in mind. That is doing life to the glory of God.

So, while ministries are scrambling to make sure that their live-stream is ready to go, and others are planning drive-up church in parking lots, let us look at Hebrews 10:19-25 to see at least seven Christ-centered points to realize and remember about our assembling together for worship:

#1 Remember the Blood of JESUS

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19).

When it comes to God’s salvation, many seem to think that it is all about what God saves us from. Too many people fixate on the individual sins they used to freely commit, and thereby continue to struggle with them. If only they’d realize that salvation is so much more.

True believers have been granted permission by God to enter His presence because He has forgiven all our sins. Therefore, salvation is more about what and Who we are saved to.

Think about that for a moment. A holy God grants people who deserve hell, complete forgiveness of past, present, and future sins, so that they can have confident and continual access to Him. And it is all because access was secured for us by the supreme demonstration of His love in giving us His only begotten Son who willingly shed His blood for our sins.

Therefore, whereas we were once the enemies of God, by Christ’s blood, we were reconciled to God (Colossians 1:21-22). We were made accepted in Christ (Ephesians 1:6). And we were therefore granted the freedom to go boldly (which means confidently) into the presence of God.

And remember, this is the God who is still angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11). So, as Hebrews 4:16 says, let us prepare to go confidently before God’s throne of grace, trusting that we will obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And truly during this worldwide pandemic, as church attendance is all but forbidden, and the number of COVID-19 deaths is still rising, this is such a time.

So, whether by 2 or 3 (with social distancing), or as part of an online live-streamed watch-party of two or three-hundred, may we remember that Christ shed His blood to give us the right to confidently enter God’s presence.

#2 Remember the FLESH of JESUS

by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh (v. 20).

Matthew 27:51 presents a perfect illustration of the access we now have to God. At the very moment Christ took His last breath on the cross, the veil of the Jewish temple ripped open from top to bottom. This replaced the Old Testament priesthood and sacrificial system of dead works with a New Testament “new and living way” directly to God by faith. No high priest is needed. No animal sacrifice is necessary. Christ is our Great High Priest to end all high priests. Christ is the Lamb of God slain once for all-time, and for all the sins this world could ever know.

As we assemble ourselves together with Christ as the main focus, we resemble a unity that can best be illustrated with the human body. It has many operations and variations of members that all work together to support the whole (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Ephesians 5:30 even says that “we are members of [Christ’s] body, of His flesh, and of His bones.

To consecrate means to renew. Colossians 3:3 says that true Christians are “dead, and our life is hidden with [Christ] in God”. This is to say that our lives have been renewed because we have passed through the veil of Christ’s flesh into a right standing with a Holy God.

Realizing and remembering the inestimable price that was paid by the tearing of Christ’s flesh reminds us to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. A refusal to continue together with other believers in the context of the local church is a refusal to walk in the new and living way that Jesus consecrated, not for an individual, but for an “us”.

Therefore, let us remember the scars Christ received for us. They serve to remind us of the only way of access to the heavenly Father. As the saints, we assemble ourselves together to honor the Christ who gave His very flesh as a veil to the Holiest place and allowed it to be torn so that we might enter.

#3 Remember the PRIESTHOOD of JESUS

and [having] a High Priest over the house of God (v. 21).

Make no mistake, beloved, the house of God is not confined to four walls or even professional sports sized arenas. In fact earth’s current inhabitable land couldn’t contain it. Every true believer in God who has ever and will ever exist makes up the house of God. It is the Church universal.

Therefore, the significance of having Jesus as our great High Priest cannot be overestimated. In the OT Jewish religious system, the High Priest was the only person who could access the Holiest place in the tabernacle and temple of the Lord. He went in and came out yearly to repeatedly offer sacrifices for himself and for the people.

In Christ, we are the house of God. And we have Jesus as our High Priest. He cannot sin, and He will never sin, therefore, there are no repeated sacrifices. His high-priestly service on our behalf is accepted for all time and all eternity:

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also [was faithful] in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things [is] God. 5 And Moses indeed [was] faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken [afterward], 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end (Hebrews 3:1-6).

Moses was the OT faithful representative over God’s house (His people, Israel). Jesus is the NT faithful representative over His own house. You see, Jesus Christ is God, the Son, and all of the faithful of all time are the house that belongs to Him and His Father.

Saints, we don’t lose heart when we cannot worship God in a particular earthly location because we can worship God fully and freely even in places where we are forced to be. No matter where true believers go, we are the house of God.

But does this excuse us from faithful local church membership? Absolutely not. On the contrary, these things present all the more reason we should be faithful attenders. There is no more visible example of the house of God than a local church shepherded by biblically appointed leaders who follow Christ, continually teach sound biblical doctrine, and encourage faithful fellowship, prayer, service, and obedience to the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

In short, faithful local church attendance is all about our dedication to the Son over His own house, Whose dedication is to the heavenly Father. Jesus is our High Priest. Therefore our assembling together as His house honors the Son and therefore also the Father (e.g. John 5:23).

#4 Remember the FAITH of JESUS

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (v. 22).

Every person possesses some sort of faith. And the world is full of faiths, or what we also call religions. But there is only one faith that grants a person access to an eternal relationship with God. It is the faith that is all about Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God (see John 14:6).

From Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus in John chapter 3, to Paul’s exhaustive discourse through the book of Romans, the Bible is absolutely clear that true salvation is by faith alone, apart from any works that anyone might do. And, as Titus 3:5 says, everyone who is truly saved today has been made clean through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

The knowledge of our complete inability to have anything to do with our salvation, coupled with the fact that God has forever made us clean in His sight, should compel us to be unified as Christians. But more than that, it should compel us to draw near with full assurance of faith in the fact that God now accepts us into His house as sons and daughters.

The remembrance of our new spiritual heredity not only reminds us that we have been made pure in God’s sight. It also helps purify our hearts…

1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3).

Saints, whether we are in the church houses, or if we are forced to remain in our own houses, when we come together to express our faith in the Lord, we have church. After all, having Church is not as much a matter of location as it is of vocation. Our job as believers, seven days a week, is to collectively represent Christ’s body on earth, and to individually be the children of God here as well. And no matter the state of the world, we can do so, because we have a heavenly pedigree:

3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:3-5).

So, let us draw near to each other, even if it must be by less than 10. Remember, we are doing so for the purpose of drawing near to God. So we must not do so flippantly or carelessly. We must check our hearts and confess our sins to God, knowing, as 1 John 1:9 says, that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Let us draw near to God fully assured that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and Savior of our souls. Let us draw near to God because we know that our hearts and minds have been sprinkled and made clean with the blood of Jesus. And let us draw near to God knowing that we are cleansed and prepared inside and out with the pure water of the Holy Spirit and the word of God (e.g. John 7:38-39; Ephesians 5:26).

Remember, this is the faith that Jesus’ half-brother Jude urged us to earnestly contend for. It is constantly under attack. And even now under these pandemic restrictions, Satan is seeking ways to harm the faith. Let us do our part to insure that what the Devil means for evil, God will use for His glory and our good.

#5 Remember the HOPE of JESUS

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (v. 23).

By now you can see that most of what “the assembling of ourselves together” refers to is found throughout the broader context of the book of Hebrews. The essence of this amazing book is that Jesus Christ is infinitely better than anything concerning the OT Jewish system of worship.

Those things were types and shadows of the Christ who would come and perfectly and permanently fulfill all things God required of His people. That is why Hebrews 6:19-20 tells us that we have a special sort of hope that is nothing like the world’s definition. Our hope in Christ is absolutely sure:

19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the [Presence] behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek was the High Priest of Salem. You can read about him in Genesis 14:18-20. He came and brought bread and wine to Abraham, and Abraham paid tithes to him. Just as abrubtly as Melchizedek entered the pages of Scripture, he immediately exited. There is no documentation of his beginnings or his endings. That is why Jesus is referred to as a High Priest like him.

As discussed in point 3, Christ’s High Priesthood is eternal. Therefore, our souls are anchored in the presence of God where Christ has entered and even sat down at His right hand. And as Ephesians 2:6 says, we are already raised and seated together with Him in heaven.

This temporality will one day give way to our ultimate reality. Therefore, let us assemble ourselves together in the hope that is sure to come. There is no if or maybe. It is sure. Because it is the promise of a Jesus who said He went to prepare a place for us. He also said He will return for us…

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself [His] own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:13-14).

Saints, we gather together to remember and confess that Jesus is ever faithful. And we demonstrate His faithfulness when we gather and zealously do the works He has purified us for. Yet the good works are nothing without one supreme element…

#6 Remember the LOVE of JESUS

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works (v. 24).

In case you haven’t notice yet, this sixth point together with the 4th and 5th draw our attention back to one of the most familiar passages about love in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13. In that chapter, the apostle Paul explains to us what true sacrificial love is, and how no matter what else we do, if we don’t have love, then it is worthless. The chapter is summed up in the 13th and final verse, which says that when all is said and done, the three great things that remain are faith, hope, and love.

We remember the faith of Jesus by drawing near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We remember the hope of Jesus by holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering.  And we remember the love of Jesus by considering one another in order to stir up love and good works.

As Romans 5:5 says, all true Christians have a shameless hope because they have received the love of God poured abundantly into their hearts by the Holy Spirit. When we consider one another, we through care and understanding, look out for one another. We encourage one another. This activity stirs up the love of God in us, and moves us to do good to one another. And it even causes us to love, bless, do good to, and to pray for our enemies, just as Christ commanded (Matthew 5:44).

We assemble ourselves together to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works so that by this shall all the world know that we are Christ’s disciples (John 13:35). This is one reason Paul also ends 1 Corinthians 13:13 with “…and the greatest of these is love”.

We gather together to remember and demonstrate the amazing love of Jesus.

#7 Remember the RETURN of JESUS

not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as [is] the manner of some, but exhorting [one another], and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (v. 25).

It should be clear by now that if need be, we can do church anywhere that two or more are gathered in Christ’s name. But if we don’t first do church with understanding in our hearts and amongst ourselves as true believers, we will never truly do church anywhere else.

Perhaps during this time of the decentralization of local church attendance, God is helping us take account of how important it truly is to us. One thing is certain, and that is that if our assembling of ourselves together is without a reverence and remembrance of the shed blood of Jesus, the torn flesh of Jesus, the eternal priesthood of Jesus, the faith, hope, and love of Jesus, then we are not really living in anticipation of the return of Jesus.

We are exhorted to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The writer of Hebrews was addressing the fact that there were many who were deciding to stop regularly meeting with the saints because, due to the world’s persecution, many of them were tempted to return to the practices of Judaism.

That is not much different than today when many are deciding that local church attendance is not necessary. But why? It is because they are giving in to the world, and/or operating by the lusts of the flesh. And that is the very reason the OT system of works had to be taken away. No one could keep the system perfectly except Christ. Church attendance is necessary because it is infinitely better than a system that only shows us how incapable we are of serving and worshiping God on our own.

But you know what else forsaking our assembling together says? It says that we don’t really believe in the return of Christ. Listen to what the apostle Peter writes about this:

11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless (2 Peter 3:11-14).

Conclusion:

 

The assembling of ourselves together as mentioned in Hebrews 10:25 is like a multifaceted jewel of inestimable value, which we should cherish with our very Christian lives. And if we are truly saved, then we will want nothing less than to be truly faithful to the Lord. We will literally watch for His return, even if it takes the rest of our lives.

Remember, the assembling of ourselves together is only as good as the willingness of each of us to draw near to God in our hearts. So here are some final compelling words from Jesus Christ about His house (which we are) as found in Matthew 24:45-51:

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 “Blessed [is] that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 “Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49 “and begins to beat [his] fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 “the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for [him] and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 “and will cut him in two and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

May we remember the BLOOD, the FLESH, the PRIESTHOOD, the FAITH, the HOPE, the LOVE, and the sure RETURN of JESUS this Sunday and everyday, whether in the sanctuary by the hundreds or thousands, or elsewhere by 2 or 3. Church is all about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the salvation of souls from sin to an eternal relationship with a Holy God.

Let it be that with the understanding of these 7 remembrances (as a minimum), we forsake not the assembling of ourselves together.

Hebrews 10:25 exhorts the believers in Christ to not forsake the assembling of themselves together. And though we today, for the most part, get what those words are saying, the broader and infinitely more important implications are more often missed than misunderstood.

The true spirit of the passage is found in the immediate context, but tends to be lost in translation. This is evidenced by the fact that so many are either thrown off, confused, or totally put off by the government’s current orders to not do church in numbers of 10 or more.

As a side note, it should be understood that this post is not about the potential we are seeing for government overreach of the Church. However, that is something that we should watch and pray about. As good as life can be in many ways, we must admit that these times are also increasingly evil.

May we not quarantine ourselves from society and sit idly by and say or do nothing when we have the freedom to speak, to act, and to vote to protect our God-given rights. And may we pray, share the gospel of Christ, and be involved citizens who do all that we do with Christ, His kingdom, and His righteousness in mind. That is doing life to the glory of God.

So, while ministries are scrambling to make sure that their live-stream is ready to go, and others are planning drive-up church in parking lots, let us look at Hebrews 10:19-25 to see at least seven Christ-centered points to realize and remember about our assembling together for worship:

#1 Remember the Blood of JESUS

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19).

When it comes to God’s salvation, many seem to think that it is all about what God saves us from. Too many people fixate on the individual sins they used to freely commit, and thereby continue to struggle with them. If only they’d realize that salvation is so much more.

True believers have been granted permission by God to enter His presence because He has forgiven all our sins. Therefore, salvation is more about what and Who we are saved to.

Think about that for a moment. A holy God grants people who deserve hell, complete forgiveness of past, present, and future sins, so that they can have confident and continual access to Him. And it is all because access was secured for us by the supreme demonstration of His love in giving us His only begotten Son who willingly shed His blood for our sins.

Therefore, whereas we were once the enemies of God, by Christ’s blood, we were reconciled to God (Colossians 1:21-22). We were made accepted in Christ (Ephesians 1:6). And we were therefore granted the freedom to go boldly (which means confidently) into the presence of God.

And remember, this is the God who is still angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11). So, as Hebrews 4:16 says, let us prepare to go confidently before God’s throne of grace, trusting that we will obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And truly during this worldwide pandemic, as church attendance is all but forbidden, and the number of COVID-19 deaths is still rising, this is such a time.

So, whether by 2 or 3 (with social distancing), or as part of an online live-streamed watch-party of two or three-hundred, may we remember that Christ shed His blood to give us the right to confidently enter God’s presence.

#2 Remember the FLESH of JESUS

by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh (v. 20).

Matthew 27:51 presents a perfect illustration of the access we now have to God. At the very moment Christ took His last breath on the cross, the veil of the Jewish temple ripped open from top to bottom. This replaced the Old Testament priesthood and sacrificial system of dead works with a New Testament “new and living way” directly to God by faith. No high priest is needed. No animal sacrifice is necessary. Christ is our Great High Priest to end all high priests. Christ is the Lamb of God slain once for all-time, and for all the sins this world could ever know.

As we assemble ourselves together with Christ as the main focus, we resemble a unity that can best be illustrated with the human body. It has many operations and variations of members that all work together to support the whole (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Ephesians 5:30 even says that “we are members of [Christ’s] body, of His flesh, and of His bones.

To consecrate means to renew. Colossians 3:3 says that true Christians are “dead, and our life is hidden with [Christ] in God”. This is to say that our lives have been renewed because we have passed through the veil of Christ’s flesh into a right standing with a Holy God.

Realizing and remembering the inestimable price that was paid by the tearing of Christ’s flesh reminds us to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. A refusal to continue together with other believers in the context of the local church is a refusal to walk in the new and living way that Jesus consecrated, not for an individual, but for an “us”.

Therefore, let us remember the scars Christ received for us. They serve to remind us of the only way of access to the heavenly Father. As the saints, we assemble ourselves together to honor the Christ who gave His very flesh as a veil to the Holiest place and allowed it to be torn so that we might enter.

#3 Remember the PRIESTHOOD of JESUS

and [having] a High Priest over the house of God (v. 21).

Make no mistake, beloved, the house of God is not confined to four walls or even professional sports sized arenas. In fact earth’s current inhabitable land couldn’t contain it. Every true believer in God who has ever and will ever exist makes up the house of God. It is the Church universal.

Therefore, the significance of having Jesus as our great High Priest cannot be overestimated. In the OT Jewish religious system, the High Priest was the only person who could access the Holiest place in the tabernacle and temple of the Lord. He went in and came out yearly to repeatedly offer sacrifices for himself and for the people.

In Christ, we are the house of God. And we have Jesus as our High Priest. He cannot sin, and He will never sin, therefore, there are no repeated sacrifices. His high-priestly service on our behalf is accepted for all time and all eternity:

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also [was faithful] in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things [is] God. 5 And Moses indeed [was] faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken [afterward], 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end (Hebrews 3:1-6).

Moses was the OT faithful representative over God’s house (His people, Israel). Jesus is the NT faithful representative over His own house. You see, Jesus Christ is God, the Son, and all of the faithful of all time are the house that belongs to Him and His Father.

Saints, we don’t lose heart when we cannot worship God in a particular earthly location because we can worship God fully and freely even in places where we are forced to be. No matter where true believers go, we are the house of God.

But does this excuse us from faithful local church membership? Absolutely not. On the contrary, these things present all the more reason we should be faithful attenders. There is no more visible example of the house of God than a local church shepherded by biblically appointed leaders who follow Christ, continually teach sound biblical doctrine, and encourage faithful fellowship, prayer, service, and obedience to the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

In short, faithful local church attendance is all about our dedication to the Son over His own house, Whose dedication is to the heavenly Father. Jesus is our High Priest. Therefore our assembling together as His house honors the Son and therefore also the Father (e.g. John 5:23).

#4 Remember the FAITH of JESUS

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (v. 22).

Every person possesses some sort of faith. And the world is full of faiths, or what we also call religions. But there is only one faith that grants a person access to an eternal relationship with God. It is the faith that is all about Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God (see John 14:6).

From Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus in John chapter 3, to Paul’s exhaustive discourse through the book of Romans, the Bible is absolutely clear that true salvation is by faith alone, apart from any works that anyone might do. And, as Titus 3:5 says, everyone who is truly saved today has been made clean through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

The knowledge of our complete inability to have anything to do with our salvation, coupled with the fact that God has forever made us clean in His sight, should compel us to be unified as Christians. But more than that, it should compel us to draw near with full assurance of faith in the fact that God now accepts us into His house as sons and daughters.

The remembrance of our new spiritual heredity not only reminds us that we have been made pure in God’s sight. It also helps purify our hearts…

1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3).

Saints, whether we are in the church houses, or if we are forced to remain in our own houses, when we come together to express our faith in the Lord, we have church. After all, having Church is not as much a matter of location as it is of vocation. Our job as believers, seven days a week, is to collectively represent Christ’s body on earth, and to individually be the children of God here as well. And no matter the state of the world, we can do so, because we have a heavenly pedigree:

3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:3-5).

So, let us draw near to each other, even if it must be by less than 10. Remember, we are doing so for the purpose of drawing near to God. So we must not do so flippantly or carelessly. We must check our hearts and confess our sins to God, knowing, as 1 John 1:9 says, that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Let us draw near to God fully assured that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and Savior of our souls. Let us draw near to God because we know that our hearts and minds have been sprinkled and made clean with the blood of Jesus. And let us draw near to God knowing that we are cleansed and prepared inside and out with the pure water of the Holy Spirit and the word of God (e.g. John 7:38-39; Ephesians 5:26).

Remember, this is the faith that Jesus’ half-brother Jude urged us to earnestly contend for. It is constantly under attack. And even now under these pandemic restrictions, Satan is seeking ways to harm the faith. Let us do our part to insure that what the Devil means for evil, God will use for His glory and our good.

#5 Remember the HOPE of JESUS

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (v. 23).

By now you can see that most of what “the assembling of ourselves together” refers to is found throughout the broader context of the book of Hebrews. The essence of this amazing book is that Jesus Christ is infinitely better than anything concerning the OT Jewish system of worship.

Those things were types and shadows of the Christ who would come and perfectly and permanently fulfill all things God required of His people. That is why Hebrews 6:19-20 tells us that we have a special sort of hope that is nothing like the world’s definition. Our hope in Christ is absolutely sure:

19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the [Presence] behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek was the High Priest of Salem. You can read about him in Genesis 14:18-20. He came and brought bread and wine to Abraham, and Abraham paid tithes to him. Just as abrubtly as Melchizedek entered the pages of Scripture, he immediately exited. There is no documentation of his beginnings or his endings. That is why Jesus is referred to as a High Priest like him.

As discussed in point 3, Christ’s High Priesthood is eternal. Therefore, our souls are anchored in the presence of God where Christ has entered and even sat down at His right hand. And as Ephesians 2:6 says, we are already raised and seated together with Him in heaven.

This temporality will one day give way to our ultimate reality. Therefore, let us assemble ourselves together in the hope that is sure to come. There is no if or maybe. It is sure. Because it is the promise of a Jesus who said He went to prepare a place for us. He also said He will return for us…

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself [His] own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:13-14).

Saints, we gather together to remember and confess that Jesus is ever faithful. And we demonstrate His faithfulness when we gather and zealously do the works He has purified us for. Yet the good works are nothing without one supreme element…

#6 Remember the LOVE of JESUS

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works (v. 24).

In case you haven’t notice yet, this sixth point together with the 4th and 5th draw our attention back to one of the most familiar passages about love in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13. In that chapter, the apostle Paul explains to us what true sacrificial love is, and how no matter what else we do, if we don’t have love, then it is worthless. The chapter is summed up in the 13th and final verse, which says that when all is said and done, the three great things that remain are faith, hope, and love.

We remember the faith of Jesus by drawing near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We remember the hope of Jesus by holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering.  And we remember the love of Jesus by considering one another in order to stir up love and good works.

As Romans 5:5 says, all true Christians have a shameless hope because they have received the love of God poured abundantly into their hearts by the Holy Spirit. When we consider one another, we through care and understanding, look out for one another. We encourage one another. This activity stirs up the love of God in us, and moves us to do good to one another. And it even causes us to love, bless, do good to, and to pray for our enemies, just as Christ commanded (Matthew 5:44).

We assemble ourselves together to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works so that by this shall all the world know that we are Christ’s disciples (John 13:35). This is one reason Paul also ends 1 Corinthians 13:13 with “…and the greatest of these is love”.

We gather together to remember and demonstrate the amazing love of Jesus.

#7 Remember the RETURN of JESUS

not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as [is] the manner of some, but exhorting [one another], and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (v. 25).

It should be clear by now that if need be, we can do church anywhere that two or more are gathered in Christ’s name. But if we don’t first do church with understanding in our hearts and amongst ourselves as true believers, we will never truly do church anywhere else.

Perhaps during this time of the decentralization of local church attendance, God is helping us take account of how important it truly is to us. One thing is certain, and that is that if our assembling of ourselves together is without a reverence and remembrance of the shed blood of Jesus, the torn flesh of Jesus, the eternal priesthood of Jesus, the faith, hope, and love of Jesus, then we are not really living in anticipation of the return of Jesus.

We are exhorted to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The writer of Hebrews was addressing the fact that there were many who were deciding to stop regularly meeting with the saints because, due to the world’s persecution, many of them were tempted to return to the practices of Judaism.

That is not much different than today when many are deciding that local church attendance is not necessary. But why? It is because they are giving in to the world, and/or operating by the lusts of the flesh. And that is the very reason the OT system of works had to be taken away. No one could keep the system perfectly except Christ. Church attendance is necessary because it is infinitely better than a system that only shows us how incapable we are of serving and worshiping God on our own.

But you know what else forsaking our assembling together says? It says that we don’t really believe in the return of Christ. Listen to what the apostle Peter writes about this:

11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless (2 Peter 3:11-14).

Conclusion:

 

The assembling of ourselves together as mentioned in Hebrews 10:25 is like a multifaceted jewel of inestimable value, which we should cherish with our very Christian lives. And if we are truly saved, then we will want nothing less than to be truly faithful to the Lord. We will literally watch for His return, even if it takes the rest of our lives.

Remember, the assembling of ourselves together is only as good as the willingness of each of us to draw near to God in our hearts. So here are some final compelling words from Jesus Christ about His house (which we are) as found in Matthew 24:45-51:

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 “Blessed [is] that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 “Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49 “and begins to beat [his] fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 “the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for [him] and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 “and will cut him in two and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

May we remember the BLOOD, the FLESH, the PRIESTHOOD, the FAITH, the HOPE, the LOVE, and the sure RETURN of JESUS this Sunday and everyday, whether in the sanctuary by the hundreds or thousands, or elsewhere by 2 or 3. Church is all about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the salvation of souls from sin to an eternal relationship with a Holy God.

Let it be that with the understanding of these 7 remembrances (as a minimum), we forsake not the assembling of ourselves together.

Hebrews 10:25 exhorts the believers in Christ to not forsake the assembling of themselves together. And though we today, for the most part, get what those words are saying, the broader and infinitely more important implications are more often missed than misunderstood.

The true spirit of the passage is found in the immediate context, but tends to be lost in translation. This is evidenced by the fact that so many are either thrown off, confused, or totally put off by the government’s current orders to not do church in numbers of 10 or more.

As a side note, it should be understood that this post is not about the potential we are seeing for government overreach of the Church. However, that is something that we should watch and pray about. As good as life can be in many ways, we must admit that these times are also increasingly evil.

May we not quarantine ourselves from society and sit idly by and say or do nothing when we have the freedom to speak, to act, and to vote to protect our God-given rights. And may we pray, share the gospel of Christ, and be involved citizens who do all that we do with Christ, His kingdom, and His righteousness in mind. That is doing life to the glory of God.

So, while ministries are scrambling to make sure that their live-stream is ready to go, and others are planning drive-up church in parking lots, let us look at Hebrews 10:19-25 to see at least seven Christ-centered points to realize and remember about our assembling together for worship:

#1 Remember the Blood of JESUS

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19).

When it comes to God’s salvation, many seem to think that it is all about what God saves us from. Too many people fixate on the individual sins they used to freely commit, and thereby continue to struggle with them. If only they’d realize that salvation is so much more.

True believers have been granted permission by God to enter His presence because He has forgiven all our sins. Therefore, salvation is more about what and Who we are saved to.

Think about that for a moment. A holy God grants people who deserve hell, complete forgiveness of past, present, and future sins, so that they can have confident and continual access to Him. And it is all because access was secured for us by the supreme demonstration of His love in giving us His only begotten Son who willingly shed His blood for our sins.

Therefore, whereas we were once the enemies of God, by Christ’s blood, we were reconciled to God (Colossians 1:21-22). We were made accepted in Christ (Ephesians 1:6). And we were therefore granted the freedom to go boldly (which means confidently) into the presence of God.

And remember, this is the God who is still angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11). So, as Hebrews 4:16 says, let us prepare to go confidently before God’s throne of grace, trusting that we will obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And truly during this worldwide pandemic, as church attendance is all but forbidden, and the number of COVID-19 deaths is still rising, this is such a time.

So, whether by 2 or 3 (with social distancing), or as part of an online live-streamed watch-party of two or three-hundred, may we remember that Christ shed His blood to give us the right to confidently enter God’s presence.

#2 Remember the FLESH of JESUS

by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh (v. 20).

Matthew 27:51 presents a perfect illustration of the access we now have to God. At the very moment Christ took His last breath on the cross, the veil of the Jewish temple ripped open from top to bottom. This replaced the Old Testament priesthood and sacrificial system of dead works with a New Testament “new and living way” directly to God by faith. No high priest is needed. No animal sacrifice is necessary. Christ is our Great High Priest to end all high priests. Christ is the Lamb of God slain once for all-time, and for all the sins this world could ever know.

As we assemble ourselves together with Christ as the main focus, we resemble a unity that can best be illustrated with the human body. It has many operations and variations of members that all work together to support the whole (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Ephesians 5:30 even says that “we are members of [Christ’s] body, of His flesh, and of His bones.

To consecrate means to renew. Colossians 3:3 says that true Christians are “dead, and our life is hidden with [Christ] in God”. This is to say that our lives have been renewed because we have passed through the veil of Christ’s flesh into a right standing with a Holy God.

Realizing and remembering the inestimable price that was paid by the tearing of Christ’s flesh reminds us to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. A refusal to continue together with other believers in the context of the local church is a refusal to walk in the new and living way that Jesus consecrated, not for an individual, but for an “us”.

Therefore, let us remember the scars Christ received for us. They serve to remind us of the only way of access to the heavenly Father. As the saints, we assemble ourselves together to honor the Christ who gave His very flesh as a veil to the Holiest place and allowed it to be torn so that we might enter.

#3 Remember the PRIESTHOOD of JESUS

and [having] a High Priest over the house of God (v. 21).

Make no mistake, beloved, the house of God is not confined to four walls or even professional sports sized arenas. In fact earth’s current inhabitable land couldn’t contain it. Every true believer in God who has ever and will ever exist makes up the house of God. It is the Church universal.

Therefore, the significance of having Jesus as our great High Priest cannot be overestimated. In the OT Jewish religious system, the High Priest was the only person who could access the Holiest place in the tabernacle and temple of the Lord. He went in and came out yearly to repeatedly offer sacrifices for himself and for the people.

In Christ, we are the house of God. And we have Jesus as our High Priest. He cannot sin, and He will never sin, therefore, there are no repeated sacrifices. His high-priestly service on our behalf is accepted for all time and all eternity:

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also [was faithful] in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things [is] God. 5 And Moses indeed [was] faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken [afterward], 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end (Hebrews 3:1-6).

Moses was the OT faithful representative over God’s house (His people, Israel). Jesus is the NT faithful representative over His own house. You see, Jesus Christ is God, the Son, and all of the faithful of all time are the house that belongs to Him and His Father.

Saints, we don’t lose heart when we cannot worship God in a particular earthly location because we can worship God fully and freely even in places where we are forced to be. No matter where true believers go, we are the house of God.

But does this excuse us from faithful local church membership? Absolutely not. On the contrary, these things present all the more reason we should be faithful attenders. There is no more visible example of the house of God than a local church shepherded by biblically appointed leaders who follow Christ, continually teach sound biblical doctrine, and encourage faithful fellowship, prayer, service, and obedience to the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

In short, faithful local church attendance is all about our dedication to the Son over His own house, Whose dedication is to the heavenly Father. Jesus is our High Priest. Therefore our assembling together as His house honors the Son and therefore also the Father (e.g. John 5:23).

#4 Remember the FAITH of JESUS

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (v. 22).

Every person possesses some sort of faith. And the world is full of faiths, or what we also call religions. But there is only one faith that grants a person access to an eternal relationship with God. It is the faith that is all about Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God (see John 14:6).

From Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisee, Nicodemus in John chapter 3, to Paul’s exhaustive discourse through the book of Romans, the Bible is absolutely clear that true salvation is by faith alone, apart from any works that anyone might do. And, as Titus 3:5 says, everyone who is truly saved today has been made clean through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

The knowledge of our complete inability to have anything to do with our salvation, coupled with the fact that God has forever made us clean in His sight, should compel us to be unified as Christians. But more than that, it should compel us to draw near with full assurance of faith in the fact that God now accepts us into His house as sons and daughters.

The remembrance of our new spiritual heredity not only reminds us that we have been made pure in God’s sight. It also helps purify our hearts…

1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3).

Saints, whether we are in the church houses, or if we are forced to remain in our own houses, when we come together to express our faith in the Lord, we have church. After all, having Church is not as much a matter of location as it is of vocation. Our job as believers, seven days a week, is to collectively represent Christ’s body on earth, and to individually be the children of God here as well. And no matter the state of the world, we can do so, because we have a heavenly pedigree:

3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:3-5).

So, let us draw near to each other, even if it must be by less than 10. Remember, we are doing so for the purpose of drawing near to God. So we must not do so flippantly or carelessly. We must check our hearts and confess our sins to God, knowing, as 1 John 1:9 says, that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Let us draw near to God fully assured that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and Savior of our souls. Let us draw near to God because we know that our hearts and minds have been sprinkled and made clean with the blood of Jesus. And let us draw near to God knowing that we are cleansed and prepared inside and out with the pure water of the Holy Spirit and the word of God (e.g. John 7:38-39; Ephesians 5:26).

Remember, this is the faith that Jesus’ half-brother Jude urged us to earnestly contend for. It is constantly under attack. And even now under these pandemic restrictions, Satan is seeking ways to harm the faith. Let us do our part to insure that what the Devil means for evil, God will use for His glory and our good.

#5 Remember the HOPE of JESUS

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (v. 23).

By now you can see that most of what “the assembling of ourselves together” refers to is found throughout the broader context of the book of Hebrews. The essence of this amazing book is that Jesus Christ is infinitely better than anything concerning the OT Jewish system of worship.

Those things were types and shadows of the Christ who would come and perfectly and permanently fulfill all things God required of His people. That is why Hebrews 6:19-20 tells us that we have a special sort of hope that is nothing like the world’s definition. Our hope in Christ is absolutely sure:

19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the [Presence] behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek was the High Priest of Salem. You can read about him in Genesis 14:18-20. He came and brought bread and wine to Abraham, and Abraham paid tithes to him. Just as abrubtly as Melchizedek entered the pages of Scripture, he immediately exited. There is no documentation of his beginnings or his endings. That is why Jesus is referred to as a High Priest like him.

As discussed in point 3, Christ’s High Priesthood is eternal. Therefore, our souls are anchored in the presence of God where Christ has entered and even sat down at His right hand. And as Ephesians 2:6 says, we are already raised and seated together with Him in heaven.

This temporality will one day give way to our ultimate reality. Therefore, let us assemble ourselves together in the hope that is sure to come. There is no if or maybe. It is sure. Because it is the promise of a Jesus who said He went to prepare a place for us. He also said He will return for us…

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself [His] own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:13-14).

Saints, we gather together to remember and confess that Jesus is ever faithful. And we demonstrate His faithfulness when we gather and zealously do the works He has purified us for. Yet the good works are nothing without one supreme element…

#6 Remember the LOVE of JESUS

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works (v. 24).

In case you haven’t notice yet, this sixth point together with the 4th and 5th draw our attention back to one of the most familiar passages about love in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13. In that chapter, the apostle Paul explains to us what true sacrificial love is, and how no matter what else we do, if we don’t have love, then it is worthless. The chapter is summed up in the 13th and final verse, which says that when all is said and done, the three great things that remain are faith, hope, and love.

We remember the faith of Jesus by drawing near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We remember the hope of Jesus by holding fast the confession of our hope without wavering.  And we remember the love of Jesus by considering one another in order to stir up love and good works.

As Romans 5:5 says, all true Christians have a shameless hope because they have received the love of God poured abundantly into their hearts by the Holy Spirit. When we consider one another, we through care and understanding, look out for one another. We encourage one another. This activity stirs up the love of God in us, and moves us to do good to one another. And it even causes us to love, bless, do good to, and to pray for our enemies, just as Christ commanded (Matthew 5:44).

We assemble ourselves together to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works so that by this shall all the world know that we are Christ’s disciples (John 13:35). This is one reason Paul also ends 1 Corinthians 13:13 with “…and the greatest of these is love”.

We gather together to remember and demonstrate the amazing love of Jesus.

#7 Remember the RETURN of JESUS

not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as [is] the manner of some, but exhorting [one another], and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (v. 25).

It should be clear by now that if need be, we can do church anywhere that two or more are gathered in Christ’s name. But if we don’t first do church with understanding in our hearts and amongst ourselves as true believers, we will never truly do church anywhere else.

Perhaps during this time of the decentralization of local church attendance, God is helping us take account of how important it truly is to us. One thing is certain, and that is that if our assembling of ourselves together is without a reverence and remembrance of the shed blood of Jesus, the torn flesh of Jesus, the eternal priesthood of Jesus, the faith, hope, and love of Jesus, then we are not really living in anticipation of the return of Jesus.

We are exhorted to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. The writer of Hebrews was addressing the fact that there were many who were deciding to stop regularly meeting with the saints because, due to the world’s persecution, many of them were tempted to return to the practices of Judaism.

That is not much different than today when many are deciding that local church attendance is not necessary. But why? It is because they are giving in to the world, and/or operating by the lusts of the flesh. And that is the very reason the OT system of works had to be taken away. No one could keep the system perfectly except Christ. Church attendance is necessary because it is infinitely better than a system that only shows us how incapable we are of serving and worshiping God on our own.

But you know what else forsaking our assembling together says? It says that we don’t really believe in the return of Christ. Listen to what the apostle Peter writes about this:

11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless (2 Peter 3:11-14).

Conclusion:

 

The assembling of ourselves together as mentioned in Hebrews 10:25 is like a multifaceted jewel of inestimable value, which we should cherish with our very Christian lives. And if we are truly saved, then we will want nothing less than to be truly faithful to the Lord. We will literally watch for His return, even if it takes the rest of our lives.

Remember, the assembling of ourselves together is only as good as the willingness of each of us to draw near to God in our hearts. So here are some final compelling words from Jesus Christ about His house (which we are) as found in Matthew 24:45-51:

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 “Blessed [is] that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 “Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49 “and begins to beat [his] fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 “the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for [him] and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 “and will cut him in two and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

May we remember the BLOOD, the FLESH, the PRIESTHOOD, the FAITH, the HOPE, the LOVE, and the sure RETURN of JESUS this Sunday and everyday, whether in the sanctuary by the hundreds or thousands, or elsewhere by 2 or 3. Church is all about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the salvation of souls from sin to an eternal relationship with a Holy God.

Let it be that with the understanding of these 7 remembrances (as a minimum), we forsake not the assembling of ourselves together.