KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Forsake
IT WOULD BE next to impossible for one to read Hebrews 10:24-31 and reach any conclusion other than that there is a regular assembly of the saints commanded by God...
One indeed might reach a different conclusion but such a conclusion would be unscriptural. How could one "forsake" an assembly which was not necessary? He might "elect" or "choose" not to attend an unnecessary assembly, but he would never be charged with "forsaking" it.
A look at the dire consequences pronounced on those who would forsake the assembly under consideration further shows the binding nature of the command to be present at this assembly: a much sorer punishment than for those who died by stoning under Moses' law, vengeance, recompense, and judgment from our Lord, the terror of falling into the hands of God guilty of "forsaking the assembly."
The actions attributed to shoe who forsake the assembly also testify to the sinfulness of such forsaking: treading under foot the Son of God, counting the blood of the covenant by which we are sanctified an unholy thing, and doing despite unto the Spirit.
Is there no command for the saints to assemble? What, then, do these words mean? (Don McWhorter)
KneEmail: "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 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. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" ( Hebrews 10:24-31).