It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Our apostle, In these words, winds up his whole argument against the wilful despisers of the gospel, taken from the aggravation of that sin, with the severity of the punishment that would certainly befall them that are guilty of it. Note here, 1.
fearful . . . to fall into the hands--It is good like David to fall into the hands of God, rather than man, when one does so with filial faith in his father's love, though God chastises him. "It is fearful" to fall into His hands as a reprobate and presumptuous sinner doomed to His just vengeance as Judge (Heb 10:27). living God--therefore able to punish for ever (Mat 10:28).
Verse 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. There may be an allusion here to the request of David to "fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men," when it was submitted to him for the sin of numbering the people, whether he would choose seven years of famine, or flee...