Hebrews 6:4, commentary and pictures

To be once enlightened is to receive divine illumination as the privilege of Christ's followers through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit as God's representative and teacher, including the light of present truth and the evidences of truth. To taste the heavenly gift is to have the heart renewed by divine grace, tasting God's good word and salvation and the gift of everlasting life in Christ with joy in eternal realities and the powers of the world to come. To be made partakers of the Holy Ghost is to have the character transformed into the likeness of Christ, bringing Heaven near and increasingly weaning from the world. This is the experience of those who have put on Christ by baptism, separated from the world to walk in newness of life, rejoiced in sins forgiven and tasted a Saviour's love. Those so enlightened must go on unto perfection, growing to full manhood and womanhood in Christ by keeping Him in view, for to reject full light and turn away commits sins most aggravating in God's sight, with guilt and punishment in proportion to privilege received.

What the Phrases Mean

To be once enlightened is to receive divine illumination, which is the privilege of Christ's followers. That enlightening comes by the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit, who is God's representative and the divine teacher now provided to man since man no longer has personal instruction from his Maker as in holiness and innocence in the beginning. It includes the light of present truth and tasting the power of the coming world, with joy in the Lord and interest in eternal realities. It is also the privilege of seeing and hearing the evidences of truth.

Those who have received spiritual light, shared in the heavenly gift, and partaken of the Holy Spirit have tasted God's good word and the powers of the coming world. Such believers are not to treat knowledge of writings that deny God and dishonor and scorn Scripture as essential to a good education. Those made partakers of the heavenly gift enjoy God's grace and light, and God's love and mercy are for everyone and not confined to a few. His goodness is bestowed not to be hoarded but to be passed along to others with praise and thanksgiving, and it is a marvel to the heavenly universe when those who have received are selfish and exclusive and keep their light to themselves. As the sun shines upon the just and the unjust, so the Sun of Righteousness reflects light to the whole world, and everyone who enjoys His grace is expected to diffuse this grace as freely as Christ bestows His mercies, reflecting the rays shining upon them and letting light shine forth to the world.

To taste the heavenly gift is to have the heart renewed by divine grace. It is to taste heavenly manna, God's good word, salvation, the gift of everlasting life and the eternal reward in Christ, and to feast on heavenly joys, eternal joys, and the powers of the world to come with joy in the Lord and interest in eternal realities. Those who have so tasted have feasted and their longing souls will not be satisfied with things of earth. Their joys and consolation are in Heaven, their souls are drawn out after God, their hearts are where their treasure is, holding sweet communion with the God they love and worship, and their delight is contemplating their treasure, the holy city, the earth made new, their eternal home. These blessings are given to draw them toward God, strengthen hope, and lead them closer to Him under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Being made partakers of the Holy Ghost transforms the character into the likeness of Christ. While dwelling upon things lofty, pure, and holy, Heaven is brought near and the power of the Holy Spirit is felt, weaning more and more from the world and causing consolation and chief joy to be in the things of Heaven. The power of attraction to God and Heaven becomes so great that nothing can draw the mind from securing the soul's salvation and honoring and glorifying God.

The experience described is that of those who have put on Christ by baptism, separated from the world, covenanted to walk in newness of life, rejoiced in the evidence of sins forgiven, and tasted a Saviour's love. Those who have tasted the powers of the world to come can understand the mystery of godliness and appreciate Christ's sacrifice, who left the Father's glory and took human nature to make a way of escape from misery and bring people to His kingdom, bearing the bitter cup prepared by human sin while offering the cup of salvation. Those who have received the heavenly gift of salvation share it so that those converted through their witness become sharers in that gift, and their praise and offerings bring glory to heaven. Being a partaker of the heavenly gift is not established by words or profession alone while refusing to surrender self-will and pleasure to follow Christ, but by the heart's submission to God's grace seen in a life of self-denial, duty, meekness, and charity.

Danger of Rejecting Light

Rebellion after full light makes redemption impossible, and the fallen angels show this condition. They had abundantly enjoyed Heaven, witnessed its inexpressible glory and God's terrible majesty, and knew His character, goodness, mercy, wisdom and excellent glory, which made their guilt unpardonable. No new and wonderful exhibition of God's exalted power could impress them more deeply than they had already experienced, and they could not be placed in a more favorable condition to be proved. There is no reserve force of power and there are no greater heights and depths of infinite glory to overpower jealous doubts and rebellious murmuring, so guilt and punishment must be in proportion to exalted privilege in the heavenly courts, and they are left to perish in rebellion while rescue is stretched forth to perishing man.

Those once enlightened are those who have put on Christ by baptism, separated from the world, covenanted to walk in newness of life, rejoiced in the evidence of sins forgiven, and tasted a Saviour's love. If they set up idols in their hearts, persist in uniting with the foes of Christ, reject the perfect righteousness Jesus offers, choose the ways He has condemned, refuse to follow the light God gave them, choose the amusements, vanities and follies of the world, and refuse to conform conduct to the just and holy requirements of God's law, they commit sins most aggravating in God's sight. Their guilt and punishment correspond to the light and privileges received, and they will be more severely judged than heathen who never had the light and never knew God or His law. Those enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift can still turn away, for France witnessed the power and holiness of saving grace offered through the gospel but rejected it and put the gift from them. Their deliberate rejection left them guilty in persecuting God's people, and sincerity in believing they served God did not make them innocent after rejecting the truth that could have saved them from deception and blood-guiltiness.

Crucifying Christ afresh is not only what those who saw Him hang on the cross at Calvary did, but what people do today when by wrong words and actions they dishonor Him and refuse to do His will, causing Him daily the agonies of crucifixion. Christ was pierced in the same way before His incarnation when the nation He purposed to lead from Egypt to Canaan rejected Him during the forty years of wilderness wandering, resisting His truth, light, power and miracles despite being fed with manna and protected from harm. They failed to leave childhood ways and to overcome wrong traits of character, and therefore fell in the wilderness without entering the promised land. To stop crucifying Him afresh, natural dispositions must be softened and subdued by His grace until believers grow to full manhood and womanhood in Christ Jesus, follow His perfect life and example, do His will in all things, keep Him in view to glorify Him, and know Him aright, and then they will live with Him forever in peace and joy and life everlasting.

Life of Those Enlightened

Those who have partaken of the heavenly gift through the heart renewed by divine grace must go on unto perfection, kept by the power of God through faith, for no one can build a noble, virtuous character of purity independent of the grace of Christ without falling in the storms of temptation. To cease dishonoring Christ by wrong words and actions and refusing His will, natural dispositions must be softened and subdued by His grace until believers grow to full manhood and womanhood in Christ Jesus. They do this by following His perfect life and example, doing His will in all things in this life, keeping Him in view to glorify Him, and knowing Him aright, and then they will live with Him forever in peace and joy and life everlasting.

Those who have tasted the heavenly gift have feasted on heavenly joys and the powers of the world to come, and their longing souls will not be satisfied with things of earth. Their joys and consolation must and will be in Heaven, their souls are drawn out after God, their hearts are where their treasure is, holding sweet communion with the God they love and worship. Their amusement is contemplating their treasure, the holy city, the earth made new, their eternal home, and while they dwell upon things which are lofty, pure, and holy, Heaven is brought near and they feel the power of the Holy Spirit, which weans them more and more from the world and causes their consolation and chief joy to be in the things of Heaven. These blessings are given to draw them toward God, strengthen hope, and lead them closer to Him under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the power of attraction to God and Heaven becomes so great that nothing can draw their minds from securing the soul's salvation and honoring and glorifying God.

Because they have the light of present truth and have tasted the power of the coming world, with joy in the Lord and interest in eternal realities, they must not live like those in midnight spiritual darkness who do not love or fear God. Those in darkness are dreary within, engrossed by trifling things of earth, hasting unto vanity and striving by unfair means for advantage, and forsaking God the fountain of living waters to hew broken cisterns that hold no water. Those enlightened must instead carry on the work of God without outward display, without competing with worldly institutions in size or splendor, and without confederacy with unbelievers. Having received spiritual light, shared in the heavenly gift, partaken of the Holy Spirit, and tasted God's good word and the powers of the coming world, they must not treat knowledge of writings that deny God and dishonor and scorn Scripture as essential to a good education.

Those who share in that gift are to have the same spirit of sacrifice that brought salvation, giving freely to others and using God's grace, truth, time, means, talents, and influence to serve and help save people. God's love and mercy are for everyone, not confined to a few, and His goodness is bestowed not to be hoarded but to be passed along with praise and thanksgiving, for it is a marvel to the heavenly universe when those who enjoy His grace and light are selfish and exclusive and keep their light to themselves. As the sun shines upon the just and the unjust, so the Sun of Righteousness reflects light to the whole world, and God expects everyone who enjoys His grace to diffuse this grace as freely as Christ bestows His mercies, reflecting the rays shining upon them and letting their light shine forth. Those who have enjoyed the privilege of seeing and hearing the evidences of truth should be anxious that others who do not have those privileges receive the truth in papers and tracts, and should not merely desire it but act their part to accomplish it, while those converted through such witness become sharers in the gift of salvation and their praise and offerings bring glory to Heaven.

Those made partakers have received a great salvation wrought out by God's immeasurable love that passes knowledge, with the great gift of everlasting life and the eternal reward in Christ, and they must not be careless and indifferent and neglect that salvation nor allow themselves to be separated from Christ and lose it. They must not become earthly eating the serpent's meat of selfishness, hypocrisy, evil-surmising, envy, and covetousness, but must accept the enmity Christ placed between man and the serpent, must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God by living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and in the strength of Jesus Christ be a conqueror not overcome by Satan's devices. Being once enlightened means being enlightened by the Word of God, tasting the heavenly gift means tasting of heavenly manna, and being made partakers of the Holy Ghost transforms the character into the likeness of Christ, and that experience produces liberality and unselfishness that makes a church representative of what enlightenment does, and the same grace is able to do the same transforming work for human character today.