Seek, Keep, and Stand

The readings set before us a plain choice: keep the commandments and live, or despise the Lord’s voice and perish amid outward religion. Proverbs teaches that wisdom is not kept by admiration but by binding the commandment to the heart, so that when enticement comes, a man does not wander like an ox to slaughter. Amos warns that assemblies, feasts, and offerings become hateful when hands are unjust and hearts unclean. God is not deceived by solemn days kept alongside secret lusts, fraud, and hardness toward the poor. Therefore the prophet cries that life is found not in ceremony alone, but in turning: “Seek the Lord even late; for long ago, God, forewarning by His prophet, exhorts and says, Seek the Lord, and your soul shall live. Amos 5:6” (Cyprian, Treatises).

Hebrews brings this to its sharp end. The old sanctuary pointed beyond itself; Christ has entered the holy place by His own blood, cleansing the conscience for the service of the living God. This cleansing is no permission for carelessness, but the beginning of true worship. “Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the Judgment. He next says also why He died once [only]: because He became a ransom by one death. It had been appointed (he says) unto men once to die.” (John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews)

So in battle, in temptation, and in worship, let a man be single-hearted. David’s servants were shamed; Joab still stood fast. You also must stand fast under the eyes of God: reject the hidden bait of sin, put away empty observance, and serve with a cleansed conscience before the day when each man gives account.