Chapter Eight

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Major Warning #5: the second most misunderstood warning in all the Bible

 In this chapter, we look at another misunderstood warning that comes directly from Old Testament Judaism. This is the warning of the Willful Sin. When an Old Testament Hebrew committed a willful sin, no sacrifice could get him off the hook. This sin immediately drew the death penalty.

Heb 10:26-31

26            For if we (any of us Hebrew people) sin wilfully after that we (any of us Hebrew people) have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, (KJV) (Parentheses and bold words mine)

Because this warning is very misunderstood, as all the warnings in Hebrews are misunderstood, Gentile Christians attempt to place themselves into these Scriptures. No Gentile Christian, however, is in view in this warning. It is Old Testament Judaism to the very core. (Pay close attention to the pronouns and our bold parentheses above to easily understand this Scripture.

In the Old Testament, willful meant presumptuous. It meant premeditated. It meant that one knew precisely the Law of God concerning certain things and certain actions. Nevertheless, he chose to go against God’s Law and violated it anyway. It was willful, presumptuous and premeditated because he knew in advance that he would violate God’s Law. In spite of this advance knowledge, he commited the violation (sin) anyway. These presumptuous, willful, premeditated sins are called, in the Old Testament, “sins of the high hand” or “highhanded sins.”

Scriptures abound which show this warning to be Old Testament Judaism. We will give you enough here to demonstrate beyond any doubt that this willful sin pertains only to the Hebrews who are trying to remain under Old Testament Judaism.

Num 15:30-36

30            But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, (italics mine) whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

31            Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.

32            And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.

33            And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

34            And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.

35            And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.

36            And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses. (KJV)

In the Scriptures above, the presumptuous sin was willful and premeditated because one had to know the commandments of the Lord before he could despise them and break them. Furthermore, their despising and braking them was a reproach to the Lord.

The penalty for this sin (in verse 30 above) declared, “. . . that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” Moses restated it even stronger in verse 31. He said,  “. . . that soul shall utterly be cut off:”

In the mind of God, “his iniquity shall be upon him,” that is, it could never be transferred to a sacrifice. In other words, there would never be a sacrifice to cover this category of sin. This included both natural born Hebrews and absolute strangers. There was no way out. Willful sins carried the immediate death penalty.

In verses 32-36 above, a man knowingly violated the Law of the Sabbath; he gathered sticks on that day. He performed “work” on the Sabbath, knowing full well that God prohibited it.

Make note of three things here: First, he was sentenced to death by stoning. Second, he was immediately taken without the camp. Third, the people carried out the death sentence upon him. They stoned him with stones until he was dead. There remained no more sacrifice for him.

Next, we see two reasons why the death penalty is always the remedy for this willful, deliberate, premeditated, and presumptuous category of sins. The first reason is because it is God’s way of getting evil away from his people 

Deut 17:12-13

12            And the man that will do presumptuously, (italics mine) and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. Italics mine)

13            And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously (Italics mine) (KJV)

The second reason is in verse 13 above. God used the severity of the death penalty to warn the people and make them fear to commit the same kind of sins. In other words, the death penalty accomplished three things:

1. It dealt with the person(s) who committed the violation.
2. Since God considered both the person and the act evil, the death penalty effectively and decisively removed evil from among his people.
3. Finally, it was a vivid, graphic, life-changing example to His people. It caused them to fear. Therefore, they would never engage in this category of sins themselves.
   

In the Scriptures below, two different sexual sins are shown that draw the immediate death penalty.

Deut 22:20-22

20            But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:

21            Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

22            If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. (KJV)

Verses 20-21, above, contain the first sin. If a man married a young woman and discovered that she was not a virgin, the men of the city stoned here to death at the door of her father’s house. Her sin wrought folly in the whole nation of Israel. What she had done contaminated the whole. By her death, the people put away evil from among themselves. No more sacrifice remained for her.

Verse 22, above, contained the second sin. The Law demanded the death penalty for a man lying with a married woman. It also demanded the death penalty for the woman. They both must be stoned to death. Again, by executing them both, the people put away evil from all Israel. No more sacrifice remained for either or both of them.

What a lesson for this generation! If God hated adultery this much in the Old Testament, could he hate it any less today? Of course not! Therefore, how can people today be so flippant about it? Can we make God like it now (when he hated it so much then) simply by changing its name from adultery to affair? Can it be less heinous to God if we call it by the socially acceptable name of affair rather than the old, outmoded name of adultery? Absolutely not! No matter what you call it, God still hates it. Can it be that our day of judgment will come? Yes it will!

Verse 13 below, declared that the willful sin was so feared in Israel, that even David asked God to keep him back from any hint of committing it. Then he asked Him to not let them (willful sins) ever get the upper hand in his life. He did not want any sin of the high hand to dominate him.  

Ps 19:13

13            Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous (italics mine) sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. (KJV)

Finally, David asserted that if he could just stay clear of the sins of the high hand, then he would be upright. He also declared that he would be innocent of any violation concerning this category of sin. Notice that he called this kind of sin, “the great transgression.” He considered it “the great transgression,” because once a person crossed this line, he could never come back. He could never come back because there remained no more sacrifice to cover it. Unger’s Bible Dictionary has an excellent article on this subject. He listed the various sins that absolutely demanded the death penalty. The following list gives them all. (MFU P902)

1. Striking or reviling a parent
2. Blasphemy
3. Breaking the Sabbath
4. Witch craft and falsely claiming the ability to prophecy
5. Adultery
6. Unchastity
7. Rape
8. Incest and unnatural connections
9. Man stealing
10. Idolatry in any form
11. Certain cases of false witness

All willful sins demanded the death penalty. Even breaking the Laws of purification (not cleansing themselves after touching a dead body) and rituals (not keeping the Sabbath) drew the death penalty. There remained no sacrifice to cover these sins. 

Willful, premeditated, deliberate, highhanded sin is Old Testament Judaism. No Scripture in the New Testament teaches such a thing for any Christian, Jew or Gentile. This is Judaism. This is the Mosaic law. This is the Levitical system. This belongs exclusively to the Hebrews. The willful sin does not, in any way, pertain to Gentile Christians.

In the next chapter, we shall answer the question, “What is the willful sin in Heb. 10:26 that the Hebrews commit for which there remains no more sacrifice?” More well meaning, but foolish interpretations, are exposed and corrected. We build your faith even more in the next chapter.

 

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