Hebrews 13:3a
"Remember them that are in bonds,…"
Or those who are in prison and prison here is religion. So Paul says don’t forget those folks who are in religion as it is a prison for it works against their faith. For I know it will be even worse in the heavier Tribulation peroid. Now, you say, how do you know that? Well, I always have to do everything with Scripture, don’t I? Come back with me to Matthew 25. Here in Matthew 25, we have the survivors of the Tribulation and remember, they are brought to Jerusalem, supernaturally, of course. We know this is after the Tribulation because the King has just established the Kingdom and He’s ready to get the ball rolling to re-populate the planet. We know from Isaiah 24 that there will be some survivors after the horrors of the Tribulation, about 1/3rd of the worlds population. Alright, here they come, supernaturally brought through, and let’s begin with verse 31.
Matthew 25:31-32a
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory (the second coming at the end of enigma of the interim in which we now live), and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: (in other words, as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As King, on His throne there in the New Jerusalem) And before him shall be gathered all nations:…"
These survivors of the great Tribulation from all the nations. Now there won’t be all that many. Just a few, and so he brings them all to New Jerusalem - and since there will be saved and lost amongst the survivors, the first thing he does is separate them. This is borne out in Enoch and other books of scripture such as Psalm 1:5, 50:3-5; Ezekiel 20:38, 34:17-22 and Malachi 3:18 to mention a few. He puts the saved on one side and they’re likened to the sheep, the lost and unbelieving go to his left and they are likened to a shepherd dividing his goats. But all I want you to see is that they are going to be visiting people in prison during the Tribulation and nourishing them with their gifts of food when he says in verse 34:
Matthew 25:34-36
"Then shall the King (Christ) say unto them on his right hand, (the believers) Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom (they can go into this thousand-year reign with Him) prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (now, here it comes) For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me."
Now of course, we know that the ones He’s talking about are not only the 144,000 as this number is representatives of all those who are witness's of Christ through the great Tribulation for they are the witnesses that God will seal - that no doubt suffered the privations listed here. But when the lost and unbelieving people became believers as a result of hearing those 144,000 witness's message, they risked their own neck in order to visit them in prison or where ever.
Now an exert from Enoch chapter 38 parable the first this is taken from no less then two separate accounts of this book:The First Parable.
"When the community of the righteous appears and the sinners are judged for their sins and are driven from the face of the dry ground. And when the Righteous One appears, in front of the chosen righteous (those who have chosen the way of greatest resistance, the narrow path), whose works are weighed by the Lord of Spirits. And when light appears to the righteous and chosen who dwell on the dry ground. Where will be the dwelling of the sinners? And where will be the resting place of those who denied the Lord of Spirits? It would have been better for them, if they had not been born. And when the secrets of the righteous are revealed, the sinners will be judged, and the impious driven from the presence of the righteous and the chosen (those who have chosen His way). And from then on, those who possess the earth will not be mighty and exalted. Nor will they be able to look at the face of the Holy ones, for the light of the Lord of the Spirits will have appeared on the face of the Holy, the righteous, and the chosen. And the mighty kings will at that time be destroyed and given into the hand of the righteous and the Holy.
And from then on no one will be able to seek the Lord of Spirits for their life will be at an end. And it will come to pass in these days that the chosen and holy children will come down from the high Heavens and their offspring will become one with the sons of men. In those days Enoch received books of indignation and anger and books of tumult and confusion. And there will be no mercy for them, says the Lord of Spirits." Again Enoch is quoting that which he had heard which comes along side of what we've been sharing here. The quote is paraphrased by me. Now back to Hebrews.
Hebrews 13:3
"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."
"So remember those who are in bonds," Paul says: if they need food, take it to them. And "as bound with them; and those who suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body" That’s why I’m sure that Paul wrote this. Only Paul speaks of the Body of Christ in Scripture. So this is what he’s telling these believers, that if they step on in and experience Paul’s salvation offer of faith in our Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection, as their own then they are members of the Body of Christ. And as such we're to do as required in supporting those who become witnesses and will ultimately become martyrs for their witness of the resurrected LORD. This is just one of the few times in Hebrews that he says something that is intrinsically Pauline. Now, Paul shifts gears, as I’ve said so often.
Hebrews 13:4
"Marriage is honourable in all, the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."
Well that falls right in line with what he says in Galatians 5, that those who live by the flesh are adulterers and fornicators and so forth, and they will have no part in the kingdom of heaven. This again is a Pauline odium of picture language. Because everyone who would have read this Epistle would be able to relate to what he was meaning by its usage. Alright now, verse 5:
Hebrews 13:5
"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
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