This
photograph of Mr. G. H. Lang was
kindly supplied by the late Mr. Jack
Green, Skipsea, East Yorkshire, England.
THE EPISTLE TO HEBREWS
A PRACTICAL TREATISE
For
PLAIN AND SERIOUS READERS
BY
G. H. LANG
CONLEY & SCHOETTLE PUBLISHING CO.,
INC.
P.P.
1985
-------
[Page 5]
CONTENTS
FOREWORD Page 13
PART
CHAPTER I
GOD HAS SPOKEN (1: 1, 2) Page 17
CHAPTER II
THE GLORIES OF THE SON (1: 1-4) Page 21
1.
Whom God appointed Heir. i. The Father the Appointer. ii. The
property devised - the universe. iii. This appointment made before creation.
2.
Through Whom He made the worlds. i. Creation
subsequent to the appointment.
ii. Through
the accurate translation. iii. The
ages. iv. The universe a creation, not
eternal.
3.
The effulgence of His glory.
4.
The Very Image of His substance.
5.
Upholding All Things.
6.
Purification of Sins.
7.
He sat Down in
the Heights. i. Sacrifice completed. ii. The locality in
the heights.
iii. The Majesty, a visible Person.
Notes A. On the Subordination of the
Son, p. 31. B.
Sonship is eternal, p. 32. C.
Localization. Time and Space, p. 33. D. Unity of God and manifestation. Interpretation, metaphorical
or actual? p. 34.
E. On the word Person, p. 35. These subjects belong to
the Epistle.
It is little children who receive
knowledge of truth, p. 36.
CHAPTER III
CHRIST
1. Ps. 2: 7. This day have I begotten thee.
2. 2 Sam. 7: 14. I will be to Him Father.
3.
Dent. 32: 43. Let
all the angels worship Him. i. God only to be worshipped.
ii. Rev.
5 the
occasion for this worship. iii. The oikoumene is the universe.
4. Ps. 104: 4. Angels are winds and flames.
5. Ps. 45: 6, 7. Thy throne, O God.
(1) The Son is styled God by the
Father.
(2)
The Father is God to the Son.
(3)
The Son is enthroned.
(4) The ground of this is His
character.
(5)
The Son has companions.
6. Ps. 102: 25-27. Thou,
Lord, didst lay the foundation of the earth.
No angel did this. Gnosticism is false.
7. Ps.
110: 1. Sit
on My right hand. i. A
position of divine glory. ii. A service
in heaven.
iii. A future triumph.
[Page 6]
CHAPTER IV
THE FIRST EXHORTATION AND WARNING (2:
1-4) Page
43
1. Salvation
here is future, an inheritance.
2. Heirship implies childship.
3. This salvation is great.
4. This salvation first announced by
Christ: confirmed by apostles.
i. Christ revealed God as Father. ii.
The disciples prospect is in heaven.
5. The Exhortation to give earnest
heed.
6. The Danger of drifting.
7. The Warning against neglect.
8. The Penalty of neglect; a
just recompense.
CHAPTER V
THE SUFFERING SON OF MAN (2:
5-18)
1. The subject resumed from 1: 14. i.
The subject defined as future.
ii. Angels control the present oikoumene. iii.
Man its future ruler.
2. This destiny for man taught in the
Old Testament. i. Man and the Redeemer
made lower than the angels.
ii. Christ does for man what he cannot
do for himself. (1) Man defeated by
temptation. (2) Christ bore his
iniquities. (3) Delivered him from Satan.
The personal fitness of the Redeemer and Priest.
3. Many sons brought to glory. i. unto glory. ii. many sons unto glory.
4. The Son Perfected by Suffering. i. Its Necessity. ii. Its Nature.
5. His Exaltation as Man assures
salvation for man.
6. The Son and His Brethren. i. One Father. ii. The Redeemer human, not angelic.
iii. Praise is His and their chief
service.
CHAPTER VI
THE SECOND EXHORTATION AND WARNING (Ch.
3: 1-4: 13) Page 62
1. The Faithful Apostle
i.
Those addressed: (1) holy, (2), brethren, (3) heavenly. ii. The Apostle of our Confession: our
Moses. iii. The High Priest of our
Confession: here Moses the type, not Aaron.
iv. Fidelity, the supreme
quality. v. The House of God.
mean household. Moses a servant, Jesus the
Son.
2. The Warnings. i. We are Gods house IF. (1)
(10) The covenant with Abraham was
conditional and may be revoked.
3. Practical Applications. i. Harden not your
hearts. ii. Christians may turn
back. iii. Sin beguiles. iv. To-day
is our opportunity. v. The word of God
dissects and criticizes: carnal, soulish, spiritual life.
[Page 7]
PART II. THE PRIEST
CHAPTER VII
THE PREPARATION OF THE PRIEST (Ch. 4: 14 - 5: 10) Page 84
1.
Incarnation. Temptation.
2. The Fact and Use of the Priest.
i. He exists, ii. is
great, iii. is high priest,
iv. is before God, having passed through the heavens, v. is Jesus, the man, vi. is Son of
God, vii. is without sin.
3. Our Response. i. hold fast. ii. draw near.
4.
The High Priest. i. taken from among men, ii. appointed for
men, iii. the
things of God his sphere, iv. presented offerings,
v. personal infirmity, vi. can deal gently, vii.
can act for the ignorant and erring, not the
wilful, viii. offered
for Himself, ix. God-appointed. x. in the flesh;
prayer, xi. He learned obedience.
Note on ek thanatou, out of
death.
CHAPTER VIII
THE THIRD WARNING (Ch. 5: 11 - 6: 20) Page 93
1.
The Persons warned.
2. The Need for Warning.
3. Exhortation: let us Press on, from Old Testament to full
knowledge. (1,
2) Repentance, Faith; (3, 4) washings, laying
on of hands; (5, 6)
Resurrection, judgment. IF GOD PERMIT.
4.
The Warning. Kadesh Barnea. i. Enlightenment, ii. Heavenly gift; (1) tasted, meaning
of; (2)
5. Real Christians meant, (1) to (6).
i. Hardness of heart. ii. Its
penalties. iii. Not eternal destruction.
6. Consolation and Exhortation.
7.
An encouraging example, Abraham.
8.
The Hope: i. a refuge. ii. an anchor. iii.
Christ the Forerunner. Our part to press on.
CHAPTER IX
THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD (
1.
Priest of God Most High, El
Elyon, not Jehovah.
2. A Priest-king.
3. i. Head of an order. ii. The Son of God the archetype.
iii. Melchizedek not high priest, iv. but priest in perpetuity.
4.
Abraham and Melchizedek.
5. Levi and Melchizedek. i. Levitical priesthood temporary because
inadequate. ii. Its priests died.
iii. were infirm. iv. their offerings inadequate.
6. The Aaronic law transitory. i. The ceremonial law is meant. ii. The moral law good but weak.
iii. A priesthood and its law fall together. Present Christian
priesthoods tested.
7.
Christ is the only High Priest. i. He
is the original Royal Priest. ii.
Reappointed as Son of Man.
iii. Appointed by oath. iv. Acts in heaven. v. Beyond
death. vi. Perpetual not passing.
8. Our response -.conflict with the Devil.
[Page 8]
PART III. THE BETTER COVENANT
CHAPTER X
THE HEAVENLY TENT (
1. Recapitulation. The fitness of our High
Priest in i.
position - set down, ii. Dignity - on the throne.
iii. Service in the true tabernacle
(1) offers gifts and sacrifices, (2) the heavenly Tent is (a) a dwelling,
(b)
temporary, (c) movable, (d) built by God, (e) the real
dwelling of God.
2. The Copy of this Dwelling, the
Tabernacle of Moses; i.
of value as a picture of the true. ii.
The shadow shows the substance. iii. Every detail ordained by God. iv. Moses
saw only a pattern.
3.
The Old Covenant. i. A
covenant is a contract, implied or expressed.
That of Sinai here in view.
ii. That covenant annulled and
void. Anglo-Israelism,
an error.
4.
The New Covenant. i. Goes
back to Abraham. ii. That covenant
centred on the Seed, Christ.
iii. The Church arises out of that
covenant.
5.
Differences between Old and New
Covenants. i. Faith changes the man in heart.
ii. Inward knowledge of God causing
love and holiness.
6.
Iniquity cancelled by i.
propitiation. ii. This brings permanency
of pardon. iii. The order of blessing.
7.
vii. Entrance to the covenant is
individual.
8.
Jesus the Surety and Mediator.
CHAPTER XI
THE TWO SANCTUARIES AND SERVICES (
1.
Recapitulation. i. The
details of the former covenant were of Divine ordination. ii. The sanctuary was suited to the
earth. iii. The building was triple -
the most holy place was closed. iv. Other details - lamp, bread, incense, ark,
manna, Aarons rod, tables of the law, cherubim.
2. But
Christ. i. Recapitulation (1) to (5). ii.
His sacrifices, (1) What Christ offers, (2) His entry to the Most Holy place is
permanent. iii. His gift is
Himself. iv. The Benefits: (1) a
cleansed conscience;
(2) capacity
to serve God; (3) an eternal
inheritance.
3. The New Testament. Here testament (will), not covenant reasons (1) to (3).
4. The Blood of the Covenant. i. Proof of
death.
ii. Substitution - the law satisfied
by voluntary act of substitute.
5. Added Details. i. Water, ii. scarlet wool, iii. hyssop, iv. sprinkling with blood.
6. Necessity of Sacrifice. i. Holiness of God, ii. heavens unclean, iii.
why sacrifices (plural).
7. Summary. i. Aaronic offerings
of effect only on earth. ii. Christs
sacrifice sufficient and final. iii.
Earth the final battleground against Satan.
iv. The Coming again of Christ. (1) Death certain, (2) judgment follows,
(3) of many - the world, (4) Christs coming will be (a) visible, (b) apart from sin,
(c) will
complete salvation, (d) for those who
expect Him.
[Page 9]
CHAPTER XII
THE WILL OF GOD (Ch. 10: 1-25) Page 159
1.
Recapitulation. i. The law only a shadow. ii. It perfected nothing. iii. Was a constant reminder of sin.
2. The Will of God. i. The
Old Testament had repudiated the old sacrifices. ii. The quotation from Psalm 40. Lessons (1) to (4). iii. Messiah did the will of God. iv. Sanctification. v. The Seated Priest.
vi. The Witness of the Spirit.
3.
Exhortations. i. Let
us draw near: (1) present boldness, (2) the open way, (3) its dedication, (4) is new and living, (5) The Veil, His flesh,
(6) Priest over Gods house, (7) let us use these privileges and draw near, (8)
Conditions for drawing near: (a) a true heart, (b) fulness of faith, (c) a
sprinkled heart, (d) body washed,
the laver. ii. Let us hold fast our hope. iii. Let us consider one another, (1) love,
(2) fellowship,
(3)
co-operation, (4) the day dawns.
CHAPTER XIII
THE FOURTH WARNING (Ch. 10:
26-39) Page 170
1. The persons addressed. i. We - Christians, ii. they knew
the truth,
iii. had
accepted the blood, iv. had suffered, v. are
styled His people.
2. The Sin. i. Wilful,
ii. maintained, iii. against
knowledge, iv. like
to defiance of law. v. The sin defined;
(1) against
the Son of God, (2) His atoning death, (3)
His Holy Spirit. (4) Believers can so sin.
3. The Penalty Denounced.
i. Is inescapable - David; ii. is severe,
scourging, burning - as Nadab, Korah, and others; iii. New Testament instances: (1) Ananias and
Sapphira, (2) and (3) Corinthians,
(4) James (5) 1 John 5. iv. Sorer punishment
than: (1) Stoning, or burning - what is this?
(2) Christ and Gehenna, (3) punishment after death. I - Gehenna and the Reality: (1) the matter left
indefinite, (2) Dives and Lazarus (a) to
(d), (e) a certain expectation, means
something undefined. vi. Purgatory (1) to (4).
vii. A Living God - Davids
expression.
4. Encouragement. Gains in Christ. i. Light.
ii. Endurance. iii.
Sympathy. iv. Heavenly realities.
v.
(4) the
interval very brief - sense of this, (5) living by faith.
5. The Peril of the Man of Faith. i. To
shrink back. ii. To fail to please God.
6.
The Conclusion. i. We have faith. ii. Saying the soul. iii. Perdition.
Note A on Eternal
Security.
Note B on Limoria.
Note C on Roman Law.
CHAPTER XIV
FAITH (
1.
Faith defined. i. Faith
and Hope. ii. Faith the Basis of
hope. iii. Promise the basis of faith.
2. Faith illustrated. i. The elders. ii. Faith and understanding. iii. Abel.
iv. Enoch. v. Noah. vi. Abraham: (1) obedience, (2) separation,
(3) the future, (4) walking in the dark, (5) sojourning, (6) the tent, (7) faith and the
future. vii. Sarah. viii. Strangers and Pilgrims. Faiths (1) endurance, (2)
vision, (3) perseverance, (4) reward.
ix. Abrahams sacrifice of Isaac.
x. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. xi.
Moses: (1) his parents, (2) choice,
(3) renunciation,
(4) the passover, (5)
xv. Faiths testings. xvi. Faiths perfecting at resurrection,
not at death.
[Page 10]
PART IV. THE KINGDOM
CHAPTER XV
CHASTISEMENT (Ch. 12: 1-13) Page 232
1. The Race. i. The course. ii. Cloud of witnesses. iii. Jesus
our Example in faith. Three requisites:
(1) lay aside weights, (2) and the entangling
sin, (3) staying power. iv. Discipline:
(1) our antagonist.
(2) forgetfulness,
(3) sonship, (4) chastisement proves (a) childship, (b) or a bastard,
(c) the
Father of spirits, (d) holiness, (e) exercise - scourging, (f) Exhortation:
press on.
CHAPTER XVI
THE FIFTH WARNING (Ch. 12:
14-17) Page 242
1. The Christian
Course. i. Its principle - peace. ii. Its character - holiness. iii. Its goal - seeing the Lord.
(1) Lord
here is the Father. (2) Sense of to see - an
actual vision.
iv. The prize is conditional on sanctity,
purity of heart.
2. Three
Perils. i. Falling short. ii. Bitterness. iii. sinful bodily
indulgence: (1) irregular sexual intercourse. Reuben. (2) Profanity -
preferring the body to the spirit, present to future - the birthright.
3. The
Loss is Irrecoverable. Esau - no change of mind.
Kadesh Bamea - Reuben.
Note on Esau and Mal. 1: 2-5.
CHAPTER XVII
THE FIFTH WARNING (continued). THE PRIVILEGES INVOLVED (Ch. 12: 18-24) Page 255
1. The Saved concerned.
2. The Prospects of the Christian. i. The sprinkled blood. ii. Jesus the Mediator. iii. Perfected spirits.
iv judging angels and men. v. The Firstborn heirs. vi. The angelic concourse. vii. The Heavenly
Jerusalem.
3. The Bride, the City. i. The saints Gods capital city. ii. The apostles the foundation.
iii. The Nations blessed. iv.
4.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FINAL WARNING (Ch. 12:
25-29) Page 265
1. Emphatic Recapitulation. Judgment inescapable if
Christs word rejected.
2. The Past. Gods Word rejected at Sinai.
3. The Future. i. The same Person speaks as at Sinai. ii. Warnings are promises, sure of
fulfilment. iii. Future judgments will
affect the heavens. iv. The period
indicated: (1)
4. A Vital Principle. All things must be tested; all weak elements
removed;
only the divine and eternal may remain.
5. Summary of the Five Warnings.
6. Exhortation. Let us have grace.
God a consuming fire.
Note on the Warning Words employed.
[Page 11]
PART V. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER XIX
CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS (
1. Brotherly Love.
2. Hospitality.
3. Befriending Christs Prisoners.
4. Sexual Purity. The Lord an Avenger.
5. Covetousness or Contentment.
6. Honouring Leaders. i. Guides. ii. Jesus Christ unchangeable. iii. Divergent Teachings.
iv. An Established heart. v. The Altar.
vi. Outside the Camp.
vii. Spiritual sacrifices - Praise and
Benevolence.
viii. Rule and Submission. The true marks of a
shepherd.
7. Prayer. Its features: i. a good
conscience, ii.
power over circumstances, (iii.) intensity of spirit
needed.
8.
The Benediction. i. The
God of peace. ii. God controls
death. Faith brings resurrection union
with Christ. iii. This guaranteed in the new covenant. iv. This covenant is eternal. v. This covenant is ours.
vi. The Shepherd is LORD.
vii. Perfection - its meaning.
viii. Good works.
ix. God-wrought willingness in
us. x. All is wrought through Jesus Christ.
xi. God alone glorified.
9.
Exhortation, is the character of the Letter.
10.
Timothy.
11. Salutations.
12. Conclusion. Grace be with
you.
* *
*
[Page 13]
FOREWORD
THIS
book has been written with the hope that it may help the general reader to
grasp the arguments of the Epistle and to feel their force.
This last important end is not very well served by the type of
treatise that scholars write for scholars.
These are indeed valuable for aiding those who teach others. For such the
minute examination of verses, phrases, words, parts of speech
is helpful. I have myself
profited by it. But the plain reader is
embarrassed by technical disquisitions and the elaborate weighing of all
possible or impossible meanings, and is left barren by quotations from ancient
writers in dead languages.
For the readers here in view it has seemed more useful to give
usually conclusions reached as to the meaning of the Writer rather than the
processes and grounds of the conclusions.
But exception has been made where anything fresh or unusual is
advanced. Then something at least is
offered in support by way of fuller discussion of words or sentences. Readers able to profit by the full discussions
of the learned will naturally turn to such works as those by Alford, Delitzsch,
Govett, William Kelly, or Westcott.
For the same reason Greek words are printed in ordinary type;
a practice I now dislike, only I remember the hindrance and annoyance I found
in the Greek characters in the years when I could not read them.
On the same grounds certain much-discussed questions are here
left almost untouched, as for example:
1. Who was Melchizedek? In my early years a pamphlet came to me which
sought to establish, what I now know to have been a very ancient notion, that
Melchizedek was Shem. The writer
proceeded to argue the wholly useless idea that Shem was the architect of the
Great Pyramid!
Much wiser and far more spiritual are these words of the
learned Dr. Adolf Saphir in his Lectures on the
Hebrews, ch. 7.
But the Scripture purposely does not mention who he was. Genesis abounds
in genealogies, and in full and minute genealogies; but the genealogy of this
man is not given. If we knew who he was, should we not counter-act
thereby the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this instructive omission? If he was Shem, then we know who [Page 14] his father was, and when he lived,
and how old he was; and this is just the very point the Holy Ghost does not
wish us to know ... all we are told is, Melchizedek was one of those still left
on earth, who retained the primeval knowledge of God, who worshipped Him, and
who ruled in righteousness. With regard
to all other circumstances, our ignorance is knowledge. The negative
element is a positive element. Let no
man attempt to supp1y that which the Holy Ghost has purposely left out: for, in
the first place, he must be unsuccessful; in the second place, if he were
successful, it would only militate against the purpose and the word of God, and
only hinder us from learning those lessons which the Scripture intends us to
derive. ...
Instead of indulging in morbid and fanciful speculations about
the historical individual, let us look at the important spiritual realities
which in the inspired commentary are given us in this parable or type. Let us learn also from this instance and the
other New Testament comments on Old Testament types that the typical meaning is
always deduced from what the Scripture itself says concerning them.
2. A second question, much disputed and
laboured, is Who was the Writer of Hebrews? For me the question is
idle, for we have no data by which to determine it, but only inference and conjecture, which can lead only to mere
opinion. The
above remarks of Saphir apply here also.
Hence in this treatise the question is almost unnoticed.
3. But a third matter requires
attention, namely, the title of the Epistle.
Of course, the titles of the books of the Bible are human additions and
of no authority, unless a book contains its own proof as to the writer, or of
the person or church to whom it was addressed, as is the case with Philippians, Colossians, and some others.
The giving to this Epistle the title To
the Hebrews is merely a matter of tradition and is without
warrant. It has formed one support for
the misleading theory that certain parts of the New Testament are Jewish, for Jewish Christians, not Gentile
believers. No such class of Christians
is known to the New Testament. The
theory is contrary to Eph. 2: 11-18, and to the fundamental position of the Word of
God that, in this age, in Christ Jesus, there cannot
be Greek and Jew, circumcision and
uncircumcision ... but Christ is all, and in all (Col. 3: 11).
[Page 15]
The title as it stands is plainly misleading, for it does not
even suggest that the readers were Christian at all. It implies simply that they were Hebrews, not
Hebrew Christians, which is plainly wrong.
The fact that the Writer had a deep and extensive acquaintance
with the Old Testament and that he presumed on a similar knowledge in his
readers, is no proof that he and they were Jews. Perhaps the present treatise may show that
its writer has some real acquaintance with the Old Testament and that he presumes
on such in his readers, but it were a false inference that he and they are
Jews.
The believers at
Therefore in this treatise we dismiss the title and regard the
Epistle as addressed to Christians as such, both its comforts and its
warnings. They who
reject its warnings as not for believers ought to be consistent and refuse its
comforts, such as that of the new covenant and the priestly ministry of Christ.
4. As regards the warning passages,
special attention has been given to these.
They can be treated in three ways.
(1) As addressed to true [regenerate] believers, children of God by the new birth, and as
teaching that such may so apostatize as to lose salvation entirely and
eternally. We accept the former part of
the proposition, but reject the latter as being contrary to many other passages
which declare that eternal life is the free gift of God and is
unforfeitable. This is discussed in Note A
at the end of ch.13, p. 196.
(2) Others say that the passages are to warn those who profess
to be Christians, falsely or by being deceived, but who have never been born of
God. We reject this also as being
contrary to the plain terms and clear arguments used.
(3) The alternative is to take the warnings as applying to the
really regenerate and to show how their solemn terms can find fulfilment
without challenging the final and eternal bliss [Page 16] of the saved. This is the line here taken and which the
reader is earnestly invited to ponder with candour and prayer.
In Scripture quotations and references the Revised Version is used, except where a stricter rendering seemed needful
and helpful.
Words in square brackets [ ] are mine.*
[* That is, used by Mr. G. H. LANG.]
If the God of all grace shall use this book to enlighten
hearts, establish faith, and kindle devotion to Christ His Son, to Him shall be
all the glory for ever.
G. H.
LANG.
1951.
* * *
[Page 17]
PART I: THE SON
(Ch.
1-4: 13)
CHAPTER I
GOD HAS SPOKEN
(1: 1, 2)
GOD, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the
prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his
Son (Gk., a Son).
THIS
late portion of Holy Scripture begins where the first portion begins, with
God. Knowledge of God and of His actings
and plans is the basic need of man. Such
knowledge slays self-importance, for in the presence of God even the saint
says, I am but dust and ashes ... I was as a beast before Thee ... I abhor myself (Gen.
1: 27; Ps. 73: 22; Job 42: 6). It kills pride of knowledge, for who can utter the mighty acts of Jehovah (Ps. 106: 2), seeing that His ways
are past tracing out (Rom. 11: 33), that
we know but the outskirts of them (Job 26: 14), and, as a truly great student of nature said,
are but as a child that has found a shell on the shore and the vast ocean
remains unexplored? And this knowledge
destroys self-sufficiency, for one who had been granted a far deeper insight
into the mysteries of God than is usual exclaimed, who is sufficient for
these things? ... we are not sufficient of ourselves ... but our sufficiency is of God (2 Cor. 2: 16; 3: 5, 6). Blessed is he whose self-esteem has been
annihilated by the knowledge of God.
But though the Writer begins with God he does not go back so
far in the workings of God as did Moses.
He commences with the fact, necessarily far later than the act of
creating the universe, that God has spoken to man. God might have left man to
plunge and flounder in ever deeper darkness, the ignorance into which he
wandered by rebellion against the light he had.
But Love would not suffer this, so God spoke.
Speaking is the method by which God
puts forth His energy. Perhaps this
results from the fact that His substance is spirit, as Christ said: spirit God is*
for in the realm of spirit words are energy, and so here in ver. 3, the word of His Power.
* 1 John 4: 24; no article before spirit: and comp. 1 John
1: 5 God
light is and 4: 8 God love is.
Consequently, the worlds were framed by the word
of [Page 18] God (11: 3), For He spake, and it was
(Ps. 33: 9). Darkness
settled over that original earth: the Light withdrew because of sin. It was by speaking that God
disturbed that dreadful pall: God said, Let light be,
and light was (Gen.
1: 3). The vibration which light is was set in
motion by the voice of the Almighty. We
are familiar with the power of the human voice to set in motion that amount of
vibration which we know as sound. The
voice of God started that higher vibration which we know as light.
It is thus that all direct Divine activities are effected, in the subtler realm of spirit as in that of
matter. The angels are mighty in strength for they hearken
unto the voice of His word
(Ps. 103:
20), for the Kings
word hath power (Eccles. 8: 4). It is when an honest and good heart receives
something that God says that new life starts in the dead spirit of man, for we are begotten again through the word of God, which liveth and abideth (1
Pet. 1: 23),
being the vehicle of the eternal life of Him who speaks it, even as the Son of
God said, The words that I have spoken unto you are
spirit and are life (John 6: 63).
It is by speaking to us that God imparts knowledge, information, light, for the opening of Thy words giveth light; it giveth
understanding unto the simple (Ps. 119: 130); and His
word is also the energizing medium for victorious conflict against sin and
Satan, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have
overcome the evil one (1 John 2: 14).
Therefore for the Christians addressed in this Epistle, and
all to whom it comes, and so to myself, the primary
and the final practical question is, Am I of those who tremble at Gods word? (Isa. 66: 2). If [note the condition] I am, then to me, though less than
the least, and because I know myself this, God will look attentively and
compassionately, with even me He will dwell, and will thus grant reviving to
the humble and contrite heart (Isa. 57: 15). And so shall
be healed the backsliding in heart of these believers; so shall be averted the
threatening danger of apostasy; and so only shall healing and safety be
secured by any one of us. For this is
the means of actual daily holiness: ye are clean because of the word which
I have spoken unto you (John 15: 3).
God has spoken: let me make haste and delay not to keep His commandments (Ps. 1: 19: 60).*
* A word
is an audible or visible expression of something inaudible and invisible, that
is, a thought. In this sense the Son is
a personal revelation of a Person otherwise unseen by man, God the Father, and
is called the Word. But this does not alter the fact stated in ver. 1 and
other passages that God also spoke in words.
God spoke of old, but not to all the
world. As far as the [Page 19] record shows, in the long stretch of sixteen centuries before the Flood God spoke only to Adam and
Eve, Cain, Noah, and to the world at large through Enoch (Jude 14).
Early after the Flood our race abandoned God deliberately and
persistently, and in consequence God abandoned them (Rom.
1: 21-24, 26, 28) and only rarely addressed them. Abraham was a prophet, as God personally told
the heathen king Abimelech (Gen. 20: 7). God sent Moses and Aaron to the powerful king
of
But to the fathers God spake
often. The description fathers is found at John
7: 22;
But thus it was not to every Israelite direct that God
spake. In the coming [millennial] age of Messiah, with all
It was not the prophet who originated his message. It was God who spake in the prophet, i.e.
first in his mind and then in his speech (For in
see LXX. Zech. 1:
9; 7: 12 bis). Speech being the use of words to express
thought the words thus spoken must
have been from God; and so in the passage just cited the last but one of the
Old Testament messengers spoke of the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent
by His Spirit by the former prophets.
There is no other explanation of how a prophet could deliver a message
which he did not himself fully understand, for of necessity a man comprehends
ideas which he himself originates (1 Pet. 1: 10-12). This
renders untenable the theory that God gave to the prophets
great general ideas and they struggled to express these as best they could; so
that while the ideas were right the expression of them was imperfect. Referring to the whole Old Testament as the law the Lord Jesus affirmed that not the smallest
particle of any word should fail of fulfilment (Matt.
5: 17, 18). [Page 20] Similarly Paul asserted that he spake
divine things not in words which mans wisdom teacheth
but which the Spirit teacheth (1 Cor.
2: 13). These men knew inspiration by God as an
experience. It is more reasonable to
accept their view of the same than the opinions of moderns who theorize about
inspiration but have no experience of it.
Truth has never been communicated by God as one complete body
of divinity. There is no Divine scheme
of theology or our study. Truth was
imparted for immediate practical ends, and therefore as men needed it and as
they were able to bear it. Hence the
revelation of old was in many parts and by many
methods. Being thus fragmentary,
piecemeal, it was of necessity always incomplete, and required and led on to
further unfoldings. In consequence there
was advance in revelation. But there was no evolution of knowledge or
of the true religion. The advance in
knowledge of God and His purposes did not come by self-cogitations of the human
mind over an original all-inclusive germ of knowledge; it came by successive
acts of revelation as God saw fit.
Still less true is the notion that mankind started with a low
conception of religion and, by the mental effort of stronger thinkers and moralists,
gradually developed nobler conceptions of God.
This is abundantly false to secular history and to Holy Scripture. The evidence of the former is in line with
the statements of the latter that at the beginning men knew God and lapsed from
that knowledge. Rom.
1: 18-32, esp. 28, they did not approve to have (echein to hold,
keep, retain) God in knowledge.
Such assertions as that the first conceptions that
* *
*
[Page 21]
CHAPTER II
THE GLORIES OF THE SON
(1: 1-4)
Ch. 1: 1. God, having of old time spoken
unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners;
2 hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in (his) Son, whom he appointed heir
of all things, through whom also he made the
worlds; 3 who being the effulgence of
his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 having become by so much better than the angels, as he hath inherited a more excellent name
than they.
YET
being given in the manner stated all former revelation required completing,
which God did by sending as the afore-promised Prophet (Deut. 18: 15-19; Acts 7: 37) One
who was in the special relationship to Himself of Son. See Darby, New
Translation, note c in
loco: en huio, literally in
Son, is not exactly as Son, because
that would be the character of the speaking, yet is perhaps the nearest to an
adequate expression. ... On the whole, I have paraphrased it, in [the person of the] Son, See also
1. Whom God appointed heir of all things (ver.
2).
i. The father who appoints his heir is
the superior of the heir. Therefore the
Son said the Father is greater than I [Page 22] (John 14: 28). This superiority is one of position, not of capacity. A son may be fully the equal of his father in
ability and energy; but in the sphere of the family, the business, the estates,
the father is the senior, and the son acts under, for, by the authority of the father. So the Son of God taught plainly that it is
by the gift of the Father that He has inherent life, authority to judge, power
to raise the dead, and the right (granted to no other person) to surrender and
to resume His human life (John 5: 19-29; 10: 17, 18). From
this follows the place that prayer had in His life on earth and still has in
resurrection (John 14: 1: 6; Acts 2: 33; Ps. 2: 7, 8). See Note A at end of this chapter, p. 31.
ii. The property devised by this
appointment as heir is all things, the
universe. How can He be less than God
who can receive and control so vast an estate?
Here is shown the primary reason why the universe was brought into
being: it exists that the Father may show His love for the Son and Heir (John 3: 35):
all other reasons are subordinate to and included in this. The Son explained that the basic ground for
the working of the Father is that all may honour the
Son even as they honour the Father (John 5:
23); and the basic evil of sin is that it
disputes the purpose and donation of the Father; even as the Son added: The one not honouring [as a permanent practice] the Son honoureth not the Father that sent Him. By consequence, the one who has ceased this
rebellion, and entered into harmony with the Father as to the Son, hath eternal
life; whereas upon the one who obeys not the Son there abides the wrath of
God. How can it be otherwise? (John 3: 36).
The syllogism stands thus: All the universe belongs to the
Son: I am part of the universe: therefore I belong to the Son. Am I, then, giving to Him His proprietary
rights? or am I, with Satan, robbing Him of them? All Unitarianism, ancient or modem, oriental
or western, of whatever name, Islamic, or Jewish, or Christian
(falsely so-called), denies to the Son the nature and glory and title which the
Father gave to Him before the worlds were.
It is of strict consequence that whosoever
denieth the Son the same hath not the Father, for no person is a father
if he have no child. It is foolish to
speak of God as Father while denying the Son, and equally so to allow deity to
the Father while denying it to the Son, since father and son must be of the
same essential nature. It is of equally
strict consequence that he that confesseth the Son
hath the Father also (1 John 2: 23). To confess the Son means to give Him by mouth and in
practice the rights that the Father has given Him.
The Jews voiced the claim that unregenerate men are by [Page 23] nature sons of God: we have one Father,
even God (John 8:
41).
Jesus cut the notion to pieces by the one terrible sword-thrust: Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do (ver. 44).
iii. This appointment as heir was made
before the universe was made. The translation
here of the aorist by the perfect (hath appointed,
A.V.) obscures this, for it does not indicate how great or how brief a time
before the Writers date the appointment may have been made. The perfect intimates that the appointment
was in force when the Writer was writing, but it might have been made only just
before that time. The statement here by
the aorist tense, taken in its context, puts the appointment back before time
began, for it precedes the next clause as to the creating of the universe, even
as this precedes the radiating of the glory of God upon the universe after it
had been made.
God works not by afterthoughts. It was not that the universe was made and
then He considered what to do with it.
No; in advance of the creating it was decided that all that should ever
be brought into existence should belong to the Son, He should inherit
it. Therefore, as He was the Heir before time and creation, so was He
then the Son, for the universal rule is if children,
then heirs (Rom: 8. 17). One may by will
devise his property to what persons he pleases, but if they are not of his
family they are legatees, not heirs. The
pre-creation heirship requires the pre-creation Sonship. See Note
B at end of this chapter, p. 32.
2. Through whom also
He made the worlds (Gr. ages) (ver.
2).
i. The also shows that the act of
creating was additional to the appointment to heirship, and confirms that
the latter preceded.
ii. Through
(R.V.) is accurate; by (A.V.) is
inadequate. The latter does not so
closely link the activity of the Son with the volition of the Father. The Son did not act of Himself, but from and
on behalf of the Father. He has Himself said distinctly that the Son is not able to do anything from Himself [self-originated],
except He see the Father doing it (John 5: 19). It is
the habit of Scripture to trace all things through the Son up to the Father as
the fountain. In reference to creation
this is seen in John 1: 3: All things through [the Word] came to be;
and in 1 Cor. 8:
6: One God, the Father, out of whom are all things ... and
one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all
things. Here the Source and the
Agent are clearly distinguished.
There are other connexions where through
should be given, especially in relation to Divine messages, as [Page
24] Acts 28:
25; Rev. 1: 1. Thus is the tongue also regarded as the
instrument through which the man speaks (1 Cor.
14: 9.
In this place, as in Rev. 1: 1, by should be through.) Or again, in reference to redemption, see Col. 1: 20 (three times).
The whole paragraph is dependent upon ver.
12, giving thanks
to the Father Who has done the numerous things next specified,
including through Him
[the Son] to reconcile all things unto Himself
(ver. 20).
Thus are creation, inspiration, redemption all traced up to
the Father, and the Son is shown as the Agent of the Father for effecting all
His designs. Hence He said I am the way
no one cometh
unto the Father but through Me (John 14: 6). The matter is deeply important. The Son did not first become the Mediator
between God and the universe when He became man: it was His office from the
beginning of creation. Therefore, when
there entered the matter of reconciling to God realms estranged and defiled,
this stupendous task devolved upon the Son as part of His office, and not only
because There was none other good enough, To pay the
price of sin, nor another powerful enough to crush the rebel prince and
host. In resurrection the Son holds the
same office and pursues the same purposes, but now as man, glorified with the same glory which as Son He had with the Father
before the world was (John 17: 5).
The understanding of this truth was vital to the purpose of
the Epistle. It is the object of the Son
to bring us to God (1
Pet. 3: 18),
to recover the sinner from that legal and moral alienation from Him, and to
establish us in His favour (Rom. 5: 1, 2), yea, in
His fellowship (1 John 1:
3), and finally to set us before the presence
of His glory in exceeding joy
(Jude 24, 25;
Eph. 1: 4; Col. 1: 22; Heb. 2: 10, etc.).
It is the object of our Adversary to prevent this at one or more of its
stages. He will prevent faith in the message,
so that the heart may never rest in Christ as justified by His blood; or he
will hinder the justified from enjoying fellowship with the Father and the Son;
or he will deter us from continuing
steadfast in faith and hope, and so rob the [regenerate] believer of his crown.
It was principally to this last end that he was labouring with the
Christians here addressed. In part he
would by persecution frighten them from continuing to espouse the rejected and
absent Jesus: in part he sought to beguile them by an interposing of angels, of
priests, of ceremonies, as having mediatorial value. The same wiles were tried with the believers
at
The safety of the Christian lies
wholly in a just [Page 25] apprehension of the Son of God in His
office as the Mediator of the Father to the universe, and that since He has now
come forth to the earth as such, no other mediator is
permissible or possible. We must now
adhere to Him alone with full contentment and full determination, or have no mediator at all. Therefore there is this presentation of Him
as the original Mediator of the wisdom, will, and power of the Father for the
creating of all things, expressed here by the term through,
that is, that by the agency of His Son God created them.
iii. the ages. The
ancient discussion as to whether this means (1) time or (2) the material
universe may surely be resolved by including both.
The notion of time is that of period succeeding period,
whether a minute or a millennium. This
dividing of eternal duration into defined periods, each having a commencement
and a conclusion, is indispensable to the finite mind, for without it the
creature could not retain any sense of the order of events or accurate
remembrance of them, or form any clear anticipations of the future. The mind would be chaotic. The infinite mind of the Eternal does not
need this device, this subdividing of eternity into sections for purposes of
thought. Hence, the necessity for time,
for period after period, arose only with the creation of finite creatures, and
it must exist for ever. For us eternity
is ages of ages.
In reference to such finite beings, and by virtue of His
fore-knowledge of His own purposes and of what would develop in the creation to
be made, God planned out the ages as spheres of time in which various
developments would and should take place.
He is the King of the ages (1 Tim. 1: 17; Rev. 15: 3); His
purpose runs through and controls all the ages (Eph.
3: 11),
which purpose was all foreordained before time began; and it includes the glory
of saints (1 Cor. 2:
7).
It was for the fulfilment of this Divine programme, embracing
all the ages that were to be, that the material universe was required and made;
so that the making of the ages includes of necessity the making of all things
which are to contribute to the purpose of the ages. And it was by the agency of the Son that time
and all things connected with time came to be.
This implies that the Son is before time, is eternal, and so Col. 1: 17 says of Him unequivocally, He is before the all things (ta panta), and therefore
He cannot be one of the things, a
creature. This is stated absolutely in John 1: 3: All things through Him came to be, and apart from Him not one thing came to be that has come to
be. Unitarianism is merely a
philosophy, a speculation about God, and it never ought to have been claimed
that it is according to the Bible. It is
the direct contradiction thereof.
[Page 26]
iv. He made. The universe entire is a creation. Once
it did not exist; it is not eternal, as some have conceived. Neither is it co-substantial with its
Creator, as pantheism alleges. God is
not the universe and the universe is not God.
He himself in His essential deity, substance, trinity of persons, was
what He is before the universe existed.
Its creation added nothing to, changed nothing in His essential
Being. Had He annihilated it when sin
entered He would have remained what He was and is and must ever be: I Jehovah change not (Mal.,
3: 6). He who changes as to his essence is not
eternal; he who is not eternal is not God, for with Him to be eternal is an
essential attribute. The created
universe is a sphere in which is displayed His eternal power and Godhead (Rom. 1: 20), and which is interpenetrated by His universal
presence (Acts 17: 27,
28; Ps. 139: 5-10); but from it He personally is distinct and it
from Him: He made it. How He did this will be stated at 11:
3.
3.
Who being the effulgence of His glory. As it is by means of its rays that the sun
diffuses its light, heat, and benefits to the region of the universe it
affects, so through the Son God displays His glory and dispenses His grace to
the whole universe.
The participle being states
the permanency of the fact. It has
always been the case that the Son rayed forth the splendour of the Father; it
will always be the case; only now it is His human form that is the focal point
of that radiance (2 Cor. 4: 3-6; Col. 1: 15-19; Acts 22: 6, 14; 26: 13-15). Therefore the God of
glory who appeared to Abram (Acts 7:
2) was the Son of God, and He is Jesus who appeared to Saul of Tarsus. How can He be less than God whose person can
endure to be the vehicle of the concentrated glory of God?
4. The very
image of His substance. Substance
means that which underlies, the substratum, the real existence which gives
character to what is displayed. Image (here only as the rendering of Gr. charakter) means the indelible form taken from and
exhibiting the underlying reality, as the moulding exhibits in permanent,
changeless form the shape of the mould from which it was cast. Thus, as it has been translated, the Son is the exact representation of Gods very being, or by
Grimm (Lex.) precise reproduction in every respect (cf. facsimile). From the moulded article we learn the
shape of the die we have not seen; from the Son we learn the truth as to God: he that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father (John 14: 9). Philip
felt that such knowledge of the Father would suffice,
would cover all possible needs. This it
does. So, then, if these tempted
believers shall truly know the Son, [Page 27] they shall forthwith feel no need of
those earthly types of Him to which they were being enticed back, for in Him
they will know the all-sufficing Father.
I have seen
the face of Jesus,
Tell me not of aught
beside;
I have heard the voice of Jesus,
All my soul is satisfied.
And he who is satisfied is safe.
These two clauses, 3 and 4, are properly one double statement,
governed by the one participle being and
joined by the copulative and. It is convenient to consider them separately,
but in fact they are inseparable. The one teaches the relationship of the Son
to the Father in itself, the other describes this as seen by the creature. The rays correspond to the size, shape, and
splendour of the sun and would do so were there no eyes to see it; but to the seeing eye those rays represent the sun in exact visible
resemblance.
5. Upholding
all things by the word of His power. On words as the vehicle of
energy see the opening paragraphs above.
Man searches the universe in vain to discover the force by which it
coheres and is orderly. Colossians 1: 17 gives the thoroughly
rational account of this. It is in Him, the Son of God, who is Himself before the all things [ta Panta] the sum total, the whole, but regarded
as a vast total of co-ordinated units), that the all
things [ta Panta] hold together.
The self-existing almighty Creator who brought all
things into existence by commanding them to be, maintains them in existence by
commanding them to continue.
The application of this to the soul is seen at 12: 25: See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. Since it is His word that keeps all things in
order, he who refuses that word in any portion of his life lapses into
disorder, confusion, misery in that portion of life, and may do so entirely.
6. Having
made purification of sins. Thus far the Son has been contemplated in
His essential, eternal Person, glory, and creatorial activity. The thought now advances to His becoming man
and His work on this earth. This
stupendous change is described in only five words (in Greek by only four),
declaring its chief purpose and effect.
In the universe which He had made and maintained there arose a
foreign element and energy. This showed
its baneful presence by declining to give longer to Him the glory due and to
submit to His word. It affected heaven
first and later the earth. Its
inevitable consequence was disorder, darkness, ruin. In nature it was rebellion, in character
treason. It was an outrage not only
against the Son, but also against the [Page 28] Father who had appointed the Son to
be Heir, for this appointment was now disregarded by the rights of the Son
being violated.
There was no one qualified to vindicate the rights of the
Father and the title of the Son save
the Son. To effect this, as the sole
Mediator of God and the universe, He renounced His original form and glory,
stepped down into the realm of created things, took into indissoluble union
with His divine nature the nature of His creature man, and, thus incarnate, by
the sacrifice of Himself even unto death He dealt with this awful situation,
and dealt with it to the full glory of God.
This work of grace will be elaborated later by the Writer. Here it is the unutterably wondrous fact that
is alone mentioned.
The work was a purification, for sin is defiling, and the Holy One
cannot tolerate defilement. The gloss our sins (A.V.) is a most regrettable limitation of
the scope of the Mediators work. Thank
God it includes our sins, but the range of the work of the cross, is far wider
and grander. In Christ God was effecting
a world - (kosmos universe) reconciling work (2 Cor.
5: 19). The heavenly things as well as the earthly,
and before these latter, had been defiled by the rebellion and must be cleansed
(Heb. 9: 23). The
Mediator of the Father to the whole universe grappled with the entire situation
and settled it: He made purification of sins.
The terms upon which each individual sinner may obtain the
benefit of this work, the possibility of it being finally rejected by some, and
all other subordinate questions, are not here noticed. The sublime work itself is set forth in its
solitary sufficiency and glory. The
blessed and the solemn implications and applications will arise later in the
Epistle. Again, he whose heart feels the
power of this perfect and reconciling work is safe from all the perils which
beset the Christian.
For it is a perfected work, done once for
all and of permanent virtue, as the aorist
participle shows: having made purification He sat down. And that it is solely His work, in which none
other shares, is shown by the participle being in the middle voice. This truth occasioned the gloss by Himself (A.V.); but the insertion is unnecessary,
being expressed by the middle form.
These two features will be the basis used by the Writer to urge that the
heart should rest on Christ and His sacrifice alone, without the aid of other
mediators and victims (chs. 7 to 10).
[Page 29]
7. He sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty in the heights.
i. He sat down
for His work as sacrificing priest was completed (ch. 10).
ii. There is a locality described as in the heights.
The fact of locality is inescapable, for the glorified Son of Man
retains a body of limited form, and He cannot in that [bodily] form be everywhere in general but must be somewhere in
particular. Therefore there is a spot in
the universe where He sits. In the heights is the abode of Jehovah: The Lord is wonderful in the heights (Ps. 93: 4,
LXX). In 4:
14 it is said that our High Priest has passed through the heavens, where dia-erchomai may retain its full force of
passing right through and beyond a region,* as in Matt.
19: 24; Luke 4: 30; 19: 1; 1 Cor. 10: 1; 2 Cor. 1: 16. In the last passage the idea is emphasized by
repetition: through you to pass through (dielthein,
fr. Dia-erchomai) into
* So Isaacs: We have a mighty High
Priest who has passed through all the heavens and beyond them. Epistle
to the Hebrews, 4: 14.
On the right hand of the supreme throne the Son sits, i.e., has
His proper and permanent place: He is only before
the latter throne, and comes and is brought there (Dan.
7: 13),
and is seen as standing, (Rev. 5: 6) with a view to receiving publicly and
officially the chief administrative authority.
At the supreme throne He is acting as Priest, and all through this age:
at the latter [millennial] throne He is installed as Ruler, and
only at the end of this age, for only then comes the time when His enemies are
to be made the footstool of His feet (Psa. 110: 1; Heb. 1: 13).
For the security and steadfastness of His people, still
harassed in the conflicts of earth, it is of much importance that their Representative
is at the highest throne, from the decisions of which there lies no appeal and
the mandates of which cannot be frustrated.
We have an Advocate with the Father (1 John 2: 1, 2). It will
be seen shortly (chap III, 3, iii) that the distinction here shown throws light
upon ver. 6.
iii. The Father is here described by the
august title The [Page 30] Majesty; not simply Your Majesty or His Majesty, as
men speak of kings each in his own realm; but The
Majesty, One of solitary, incomparable dignity and glory.
As the Son is distinct from the Father (though inseparable as
to deity), so is the Father distinct from the Son; for the one sits at the
right hand of the other, which presents the latter as equally distinct and
local as the former. The theological
denial to the Father of any form and locality would make impossible that One, the Son, having form and locality should sit at His
right hand. One formless and
un-localized could have no right hand at which one with local form could sit. That both in their deity are universally
present seems no more a barrier to a local manifestation of the Father than of
the Son.* In
the heights is a place: The Majesty there is a Person,**
displaying inconceivable splendour, a light unapproachable by man as he
is. The situation here described is as
plain as when Solomon sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the kings mother; and she sat on his right hand (1 Kings 2:
19).
* See Note D at end of chapter.
**See Note E at end of chapter.
The Son himself attributed form to the Father, and voice (John 5: 37).
That the latter is actual is proved by its having been three times heard
on earth (Matt. 3:
17; 17: 5; John 12: 28). He
spake also of the Fathers face, which also must be actual, or finite beings (angels) could not
see it (Matt. 18:
10.
Comp. 2 Sam, 14:
28, 32; Esther 1: 14). That His glory has a local manifestation is
shown by the fact that glorified men are to be set in its presence (Jude 24: etc.).
The importance of this question lies in (1) The
emphasis it places upon the unique position and dignity accorded to the Son in
His glorified humanity. This is vital to
the argument and the appeal of the Epistle.
(2) The consequent emphasis upon the reality and value of His
intercession. He is transacting with the
Father literal business for the safeguarding of those who
draw near to God through Him (7: 25). The
sense of the reality of this advocacy is vital to the Christian finding courage
to approach that Majesty. (3) If the
Person of the Father be delocalized into one universal diffused Spirit He
becomes to our minds virtually undifferentiated from the Holy Spirit, with a
consequent loss of vividness and reality in speaking with Him in prayer. Scripture nowhere contemplates men addressing
their petitions to the Spirit. If the
believer who knows this holy experience of speaking with and listening to God
as Father will analyse the state of his mind at such moments he will find that,
whatever be his [Page 31] theory on the matter, or if he have
no theory, he does actually think of the Father as a local presence into which
he enters, and a localized Person to Whom he speaks, by the enabling of the
indwelling Spirit of God.*
* See Note C at end of this chapter.
In these few sentences the Writer thus presents to the
meditative reader a striking picture of the Man Christ Jesus, the Son of God,
as the central Figure of that wondrous realm above whence the government of the
universe proceeds, whence flow all heavenly supplies for the present life, and
where lie all the highest eternal prospects which redemption opens for faith to
attain. If the believer will only sit
long and quietly and contemplate this royal scene; if by serious discipline of
mind he will still and quieten his soul, like a weaned child with his mother (Ps. 131: 2), then will the Spirit of truth gladly fulfil
His gracious office to take of these things of Christ and declare them to that
heart (John 16: 13,
14).
He will make them actual, operative, effective;
and in such experimental knowledge of the Son of God thus reached shall be
found healing for every sickness of the soul, deliverance from every danger,
defeat of every foe.
Christ, I am Christs, and
let the name suffice you,
Ay, for me too He greatly
hath sufficed. (Myers,
Note A. It may be disputed that the subordination of the Son to the Father inheres
in their eternal relationship. It may be asserted that it belongs only to the
Son as incarnate. It is highly significant
that it is the Son Himself Who gave the fullest statements upon His relations
to the Father, and John 5: 26, 27 is here
specially important.
26. For
as the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave (aorist eddken) He
to the Son also to have life in Himself;
27. and He gave (aorist edbken) Him authority to execute judgment, because He is Son of
man.
Here is an instructive example of how the aorist tense denotes
an act done at one time but leaves open the question of when that time is.
This must be learned from the context or from the nature of
the subject. In ver.
27 the
gift of authority to judge is connected with the Son of God having become Son
of Man; though it was possible that the grant was before His incarnation but
made in view of the Divine and certain purpose that He would become Son of
man. The aorist would allow this, though
the emphatic is (estin) looks the other
way.
But as to ver. 26, the
whole preceding argument has dealt only with the status of the Son of God,
not of the Son of man; and, in the nature of the case, the gift of inherent
vitality, of life in Himself, must of
necessity have been from eternity, being inherent in the begetting of the Son
by the Father.
For were the begetting not eternal,
then the Son must have had a beginning, as all Arians assert; in which case He
would not be equal with God, being destitute of an essential quality of God,
even eternal [Page 32] existence. But His claim to equality with God, by virtue
of relationship, is the very point which the Jews challenged and which the Son
is here maintaining.
Further, had the gift of inherent life not been co-existent
with the eternal begetting, then there was a period down to the time of this
gift during which the Son lacked this other essential quality of God,
self-existence, and thus, again, He would not, during that period, have been
equal with God. Moreover, this would
have involved, at the time of the gift, an essential change within the Godhead; but God is unchangeable because eternal. Nor does it seem conceivable that a father can beget a son and not impart to him all his own essential qualities,
whether the father be man or God.
So that whereas the gift of authority was granted, or perhaps
confirmed, in connexion with the incarnation, the gift of inherent life was
from eternity, involved in the eternal generation of the Son by the Father.
By most of the early fathers, and by Stier, Olshausen, Alford,
Westeott, and Govett, this gave in ver. 26 is
taken to refer to the pre-incarnate relation.
But that the Son derives from the Father His eternal inherent life
plainly involves, as to relative status, dependence and subordination. It is part of the reality which He Himself declares
in the words, I can of Myself
do nothing ... the Father is greater than I
(John 5: 19,
30; 14: 28).
Note B. They who deny the eternal Sonship must
deny the eternal generation, since one who is generated by another is son to
that other. This denial confuses the
whole doctrine of the nature of the Godhead.
That the relationship of Father and Son did not commence with the Son
becoming man, but preceded creation itself and is therefore inherent in the
Deity and eternal, is further involved in the fact considered above that the
Son was the Fathers heir before anything was created.
That the relationship was certainly prior to Christs
incarnation He Himself made clear in the parable of the wicked husbandmen: And the Lord of the vineyard said, What shall I do?
(Luke 20: 13).
... He had yet one, a beloved son, He sent him last unto them (Mark
12: 6). In view of the past tense He had yet one, this cannot mean that the one sent became son
only when sent. He is set in manifest
contrast to the servants who had been sent
earlier. It were
equally unreasonable to say that they became servants by being sent as that He
became Son by being sent. They were
already servants and He already Son.
J. N. Darby (Coll.
Writ., vol. XXX, p. 340) wrote:
It is of immense import, because I
have not the Fathers love sending the Son out of heaven, if I have Him not as
Son before born into the world. ... I lose all that the Son is, if He is only
so as incarnate, and you have lost all the love of the Father in sending the
Son as well.
And on Col. 1 he wrote (Synopsis, vol. V. p. 15):
The Son is here presented to us as
Creator. ... Inasmuch as born in this world by the operation of God through the
Holy Ghost, He is the Son of God (Psa. 2: 7; Luke 1: 35). But this is in time. ... But the Son is also
the name of the proper relationship of His glorious Person to the Father before
the world was. It is in this character
that He created all things. ... In the epistle to the Colossians
that which is set before us is the proper glory of His Person as the Son before
the world was. He is the Creator as
Son. It is important to observe this.
On the same
chapter, ver. 15,
Ellicott, in his Commentary, wrote:
[Page 33]
Christian
antiquity has ever regarded the expression image of
God as denoting the eternal Sons perfect equality with the Father in
respect of His substance, nature, and eternity. [Observe: the eternal Son.]
It were no great theological journey from denying the relationships between the three Persons of the
Godhead to denying the distinctions of personality in the Deity, and so to arrive at the Unitarian*
error of Sabellianism (cent. 3), that the terms Father, Son, and Spirit do not
import the relationships of three distinct Divine Persons Who yet are one God,
but only three different ways in which one Being manifests Himself at different
times.
* Adolf Harnack (Enc. Brit., vol. XIX, 790): Sabellianism, in fact. became a
collective name for all those Unitarian doctrines in which the divine nature of
Christ was acknowledged.
Note C. A friendly critic
writes that God does not dwell in time or space. ...
To say that Christ must be somewhere not everywhere is correct provided you
make it clear that the definition of somewhere is not the physical one. That is what is wrong in your remarks on the Majesty on high. You are doubtless right in insisting on
localization, but you do not make it clear that it is a
localization outside time and space as we know them.
This makes a demand on thought and definition which surely no
finite mind can meet; at least, mine cannot meet it. I believe my friend the writer could offer no
clear notion of what he means by God dwelling outside
space. He admits localization,
which feature itself demands the idea of space.
Very certainly the glorified human body of Christ cannot be outside time and space, for it had a commencement in
time and it occupies space, and is in only one place at a time. It left the earth and is at the right hand of
God: it is later to leave the latter and to descend to the earth.
Saying above that the localized presence of God is beyond the created universe I have, I think, said as
much as seems clear and warranted by Scripture. I do not, and cannot, define
that beyond in relation to space for the latter word is itself indefinable by
man.
It was a notion of Kant that Space
and time, the two essential conditions of sense-perception, are not data given
by things, but universal forms of intellect into which all data of sense must
be received (Enc. Brit., vol. XIII, p. 270). This implies that primarily time and sense are the product of the human mind, which is contrary to the
fact of creation as revealed in Scripture. God is eternal and infinite,
therefore while He was the only Existence time and space did not exist. But at the moment when He created something
time and space began, for that something had
a beginning and so is not eternal, and it was of limited size and therefore not
infinite. Therefore time and space are
not a product of human thought but a fact inherent in creation: they so existed
before man existed to think about them.
By consequence it is evident that as long as finite objects
exist (which will be for ever) time and space must continue, for the finite can
never become eternal or infinite. Hence, for angels and men the future is not
absolute eternity, as for God, but ages of ages,
that is, endless succession of periods.
When perfected, man may well be able to comprehend vaster stretches of
space and time than now, yet finite minds cannot conceive eternity or infinity,
but demand time and space. But these are
not creations of finite minds, but are facts inseparable from creation, data given by things, antecedent to finite minds
though objects of thought to be considered by them.
[Page 34]
The Holy Spirit not having come into the Epistle thus far I
have not spoken of Him above; but for the stimulating of meditation, it may be
here remarked that to Him also the Scripture attributes localization, and not
only universality. The latter is clear
in, for example, Ps. 139: 7-12: Whither shall I go
from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? Here universality is attributed equally to
God and His Spirit; what is true of the one is true of the other, for, with the
Son, they are one God.
It is thus with localization.
In the Revelation the Father is
shown as seated upon a throne and the Spirit is stated to be before His
throne (Rev. 1:
4, 5; 4: 5; 5: 6). The term seven
spirits must be a figurative expression, meaning the one Divine Spirit,
for it were blasphemy to conjoin seven created spirits with the Father and the
Son as the source of grace and peace to men. Thus the Spirit is given as
localized a presence before the throne as is
given to the Son in the midst of the throne (Rev. 5: 6) and to the Father on
the throne; and to this localized presence of the Spirit visibility is
attributed, as it is to the Father and the Son, for He is represented by lamps of fire.
Into the mystery of this the mind of man cannot penetrate nor
can unfold its harmony, but whoever desires to comprehend God as far as He is
revealed in His written Word must include these features in his meditation.
Note D.
The unity of
God is as fundamental an article of the Christian faith as is the tri-unity of
Persons: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah (Deut. 6: 4; Mark 12: 29): I and the Father are
one (John 10: 30). Before
creation the Father, the Son, and the Spirit did not need to manifest
themselves each to the other; but this need arose with the creation of beings who, though intelligent, could not apprehend God in essence
but only through manifestation. Now the
manifestation of God in the Son in no way altered the essential unity of the
Godhead: why, then, should it be held that a manifestation of the Father or of
the Spirit should impair that unity? They are Three
if un-manifested; they remain One when manifested. Manifestation does not alter essence. Therefore there seems no valid objection to
taking in their literal sense the statements of Scripture as to a manifestation
of the Father. Nor is there any other
sense which yields any meaning at all to the statements.
Here in truth is the real crux as to interpretation. Treat the relevant statements as metaphorical and they are etherealized into nothing
that the mind can grasp. This is
virtually admitted by those who so take them, for they say that the realities
behind the statements are incomprehensible.
In support they will cite Matt. 11: 27: no one knoweth the Son, save
the Father; neither doth any know the Father
save the Son, but they overlook the accompanying words, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him.
Therefore
the statements of Scripture are intended to reveal the truth as to
God, and they do so reveal it to the little children. What intelligent child will take other than
literally such a statement as that one is sitting at
the right hand of another?
Take such statements as they stand, and at once we learn
something concerning the world above.
We learn of a local presence of the universal God, of the intercourse
with Him there of the heavenly beings, who see His face, and of the administration of His
kingdom. He is seen and heard, and the presence there of His Son, and His advocacy for His people, become
a reality to their heart.
Granted fully that the mode of that reality
is heavenly and spiritual, [Page 35] yet it is a reality, actually existing
at a given place in the heavens. The
angels are real beings; the Son of man glorified is there in His real
resurrection body [of flesh and
bones (Lk. 24:
39, R.V.)] in which He ascended to the Father;
and to that place glorified saints are to be just as certainly removed in their
resurrection bodies and to be presented (Eph. 5: 27; Col. 1: 22, 28; 2 Cor. 4: 14; 11: 2), which
terms means just what is meant by being presented at
court.
Treated metaphorically all
this prospect fades into an indistinct blur.
The sons are to be in the Fathers house, yet will never see their
Father!
Note E. John 14: 1:
believe also in Me. The also is
emphatic. George Rogers, the first
Principal of Spurgeons College, pointed out that it is (1) disjunctive; it
distinguishes the Son from God as an object of faith: (2) adjunctive, it adds
the Son to God as an object of faith: (3) subjunctive; the Son is the second
object of faith, the Father the first object: (4) conjunctive; it joins the Son
to God as an object of faith, being Himself essentially one with God.
As to the use of the word Person
of God see Westcott on John 1: 1: The absolute,
eternal, immanent relations of the Persons of the Godhead furnish the basis for
revelation. Because the Word was
personally distinct from God and yet essentially God He could make Him known. So Alford on the same
verses: Again this logos is undoubtedly in
our prologue, personal:- not an abstraction merely,
nor a personification ... but a PERSON.
So the Concise
While, therefore, we are compelled
to use terms like substance and Person, we are not to think of them as identical with what we
understand as human substance and personality.
The terms are not explanatory, but only approximately correct, as must
necessarily be the case with any attempt to define the nature of God. As already noted, it is a profound spiritual
satisfaction to remember that the truth and experience of the Trinity is not
dependent upon theological terminology, though it is obviously essential for us
to have the most correct terms available.
Discussion of these high and difficult themes is by no means
outside the scope of such a treatise as this.
The phrases which tell that the Son of God passed
through the heavens, is made higher than the
heavens, entered into the heaven itself,
and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in the
heights are in the Epistle and are intimately associated with His
priestly work. It is clearly the duty of
the expositor to show how he understands them, and to explain them in line with
the plain principle of the Epistle that the heavenly regions are the archetype
of which earthly things are Divinely appointed copies.
How can there be a literal copy of something purely metaphorical?
[Page 36]
If it be urged that the view offered of that heavenly world
creates difficulties for such as give themselves to scientific research, as to
atomic energy and the like themes, we remark that the understanding of the Word
of God is not dependent upon mans inquiries into the works of God. The first readers of this Epistle were surely
intended to grasp its meaning, though they knew nothing of modem investigations
into nature. Mans understanding of the
universe and its laws is still fragmentary, imperfect, and often contradictory,
and is no safe guide to the interpreting of Holy Scripture. The word is still very true that the natural man [man at his best, man intellectual and
honest] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him; and he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually judged (1 Cor. 2: 14). Man
may investigate the kingdom of nature: it is only little children who enter
into the
* *
*
[Page 37]
CHAPTER III
CHRIST
(1:
5-14)
Ch. 1:
5. For unto which of
the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee? and again,
I will be to him a Father, And he shall be to me a Son?
6. And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world
he saith, And
let all the angels of God worship him. 7. And of the angels he saith,
Who maketh his angels winds, And his ministers a flame of fire:
8 but of the Son he saith,
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; And the sceptre of
uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; Therefore God, thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows.
10. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of thy hands:
11 They shall perish; but thou
continuest: and they shall all wax old as doth a
garment; 12 And
as a mantle shalt thou roll them up, As a garment, and they shall be
changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
13 But of which of the angels hath he said at any time, Sit thou at
my right hand, till I make thine enemies the
footstool of thy feet?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth
to do service for the sake of them that shall
inherit salvation?
THE
dignity and glory of Christ is next displayed by proving Him to be superior to
the most exalted of created beings, the angels.
These are greater in power and might than man, but Christ is greater
than they. This superiority follows from
His heirship as the Son of God: He hath inherited a more excellent name than they. For He is the Son
by original uncreated derivation from the Father; they are only sons (Job 38: 7; 1: 6; 2: 1; Gen. 6: 4) by having been created by the Son and given a
nature which is spirit and so akin to God Who is spirit.
As the glory of the Son was set forth in a sevenfold
statement, so is His superiority to angels enforced by seven quotations from
the Old Testament.
[Page 38]
1. Ps.
2: 7. Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. To no angel did God ever say this. To Christ only was it said, and to Him in
resurrection. It is only of an act in
time that God could say, This day have I done this or that.
Therefore the eternal rights of the Son by heirship are here renewed to
Him in manhood and resurrection. Now no
angel has died and been begotten from that state into resurrection life. Christ only is the firstborn
from the dead (Col. 1: 18), and
therefore He is the only Head of that body of persons, the church, which shares
in His resurrection through having accepted fellowship with His sufferings and
death.
Those who, through grace and faith, have obtained association
with Him in that resurrection life share potentially in His superiority to
angels, and are to share it actually when actually sharers in body - of His
resurrection and ascension (1 Cor. 6: 3). Being thus seated with Christ above all
principalities and powers (Eph. 1: 18-23; 2: 4-7; 1 Pet. 3: 21, 22), it is
not for them to relinquish their supreme position and turn to angels with
worship (Rev. 19:
10; 22: 8, 9) or with
requests for their intercession
with God. In Christ the believer is a
son of God with a nearer relationship than they who know only their created
standing, not a relationship in regeneration and resurrection.
The argument from silence is to be much observed. God did not say to or of an angel that which
He did say to His Son. It is not
permissible to read into Gods word what He has not said. His silence is to be noted and
respected. His Word is perfect (Ps. 19: 7), and
a work or a statement which is already perfect is spoiled as much by addition
as by subtraction. Comp. the same
argument from silence at 7: 14, and
note Gal. 3:
16 to the effect that a singular noun must
not be treated as a plural. In the
Preface to The Epistles of
2. 2 Sam.
7: 14; 1 Chron. 17: 13. I will be to Him (a) Father, and He shall be to Me (a) Son. Darby
and Isaacs translate For father ... for son. Thus
was declared in advance that the taking of humanity by the Son should not alter
the eternal relationship, for in the new status Each
should be to the Other what Each had been before it. The emphasis is upon the
relationship which Each should bear to the Other. In this relationship no angel ever stood.
The application of this sentence from Old Testament history to
Christ is a signal example of how the full, the spiritual intent of many Old
Testament statements may go beyond their first application. The words applied firstly to the man Solomon,
[Page 39] as is clear from the clause: If he commit iniquity I will chasten him. But it is equally plain that some further
descendant of David is required for the fulfilment of that portion of the
promises which was not fulfilled in Solomon: I will
establish the throne of his kingdom for ever ... thy house and thy kingdom shall be
made sure for ever before thee;
thy throne shall be established for ever. And the words before
thee demand that the fulfilment shall be in resurrection, for only so
can David see it. It is Messiah raised
from the dead in and to Whom all shall be
accomplished. The next quotation points
to the time for this.
3. Deut. 32:
43, LXX;
Ps. 97:
7. And when He again bringeth in the Firstborn into the world He
saith, And
let all the angels of God worship Him. I take
the force of this to be that when the time shall
have come that the Father shall bring the Son again into the created regions He
will command all angels to worship Him, i.e. the Son.
i. Since God only is to be worshipped (Deut. 6: 13; Matt. 4: 10; Rev. 19: 10; 22: 8, 9), He whom
God commands to be worshipped must be God.
Thus there must be two (at least) Persons in the Godhead, since One
commands that the other is to be worshipped.
But He who brings forward the Other and
commands that He be worshipped must as to relationship be the senior of that
Other. See ch. II, i, above, p. 21. Again -
which is the special point here - He who is to be worshipped must be the divine
ii. The occasion of this is to be when
the Father shall compel universal subjection to the Son: see on 1. 13 below. The prophetic
vision of this is seen in Rev. 5, where all the heavenly orders, the living
creatures, the elders, and the angels are seen worshipping God and the Lamb.
iii. The last-mentioned event takes place
in heaven at the installation of the Lamb as supreme Ruler, prior to the
opening by Him of the Seals. As when He
opens these He is still in heaven, it is well before He comes to the earth;
which shows that the oikoumene of this passage in Hebrews, into which the Father will again bring
the Son, cannot be limited to this earth.
In any case it must include the realm of the angels. See ch. II, 7, ii
above, where it is suggested that the present location of the Son at the right
hand of the Father is beyond the created universe.
It is a loss that many have not seen that this word oikoumene can mean far more than conceited Greeks
and Romans meant, i.e. their own empires.
Derived from oikeo to dwell,
inhabit, it can mean any habitable region, heavenly or earthly, and it was
occasionally so used. In Prov. 8: 27-31, Wisdom [Page 40] speaks of having been present at the creation, distinguishes the heavens,
the skies, and the earth, and appears to embrace them all in the statement
after the LXX) that God was rejoicing in His oikoumene, and especially rejoicing among the sons
of men. It is obvious that the whole
universe in its original pure and lovely condition must have been a source of
joy to its Creator, not only this earth, though for special reasons, connected
with His purposes for men, it and they were a special subject of joy when
made. Moses (Ps.
90: 2)
seems to have distinguished the earth from the oikoumene by saying that God existed eternally before (the) earth and (the) world were formed, where again the LXX used oikoumene. The
repetition in the LXX of the article (the world) stresses the distinction. Similarly in the uninspired Wisdom of Solomon, in the Apocrypha (1: 7), a proof of the omniscience of God is His
omnipresence: Because the spirit of the Lord hath
filled the oikoumene, and that
which holdeth all things together hath knowledge of every voice: therefore let man be
cautious in speech, for, He who is everywhere hears everything. Here oikoumene is the equivalent of ta
panta, the all things, the universe, as in Col.
1; etc.
The necessity of this widest possible meaning will be seen at 2: 5.
4. Ps.
104: 4. Who maketh His angels winds, His ministers a flame of fire. Here
is information as to the nature of the angelic substance. It is subtle, pervasive, mobile, energetic as wind: it is intense, brilliant, powerful as
fire, and can be as destructive, when angels are employed as ministers of the
divine wrath. This
their nature and service are of Divine appointment. They are created thus, (ho poion the One making = the Creator), and they
continue thus. Because of this nature
they control the elemental forces, wind (Rev.
7: 1),
fire (Rev. 8:
5; 14: 18; Acts. 7: 30). In these activities they are messengers (angelous) and high
commissioners (Isaacs). On this
second description (leilourgous) Westcott
says: The word seems always to retain something of its original force as
expressing a public, social service.
See 7, p. 42
Yet granting the greatness of angels in form and service, they
are still infinitely below the Son in dignity, for to Him the Father has said:
5. Ps.
45: 6, 7: Thy throne,
O God, is unto the age of the age [= for ever],
And the rod [sceptre, as often in Old Testament] the straight [i.e. symbol of rule without
crookedness] is the rod of Thy Kingdom. [Fallen angels rule: Satan is the
Prince of this world - John 14: 30; and see Dan.
10: 13;
etc.; but their rod (rule) is crooked: see Ps.
82.]
[Page 41]
Thou lovedst [aorist: throughout His life on earth,
viewed as one complete action] righteousness and
hatedst lawlessness: Therefore God, thy God,
anointed Thee
[at His ascension; see Ps. 16: 9-11] with oil of ecstatic
delight [exultation] above Thy companions
(metochoi).
(1) The Son is addressed by the Father as God: yet impious men
deny that He is God. (2) The Father is
His God. The Son on earth, in
resurrection, owned this: I ascend unto my Father
... my God. (John
20: 17.) (3) The Son is enthroned, and eternally: but even
senior angelic rulers have thrones only temporally: see on 2. 5. (4)
The ground of this supreme exaltation and
exultation is the state of heart, the inner character of the Son when in this
scene and atmosphere of lawlessness: He abhorred it, but loved
righteousness. (5) The Son exalted has companions. See
on 3: 14,
p. 71.
6. Ps.
102: 25-27.
Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the works of Thy hands:
They shall perish, but Thou continuest:
And they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
And as a mantle shall Thou roll them up,
As a garment, and they shall be changed:
But Thou art the same,
And Thy years shall not fail.
The title Lord was inserted
by the LXX and continued by the Writer here.
The psalm was addressed to the Lord (Jehovah), as the inscription shows,
and the great Name is repeated eight times to ver.
22.
Now this Lord is the One who, as is
foreseen by the psalmist when speaking of millennial days, has built up
No pious Jew ever attributed such divine dignities to angels;
but by the time of the Writer there was already developing that deceitful blend
of pagan and cabbalistic thought known later [Page 42] as Gnosticism, which sought to
combine these false systems with Christianity, for the corrupting and
destroying of the last. This satanic
attempt persists in our day, exhibited in all those parliaments
of religion and other endeavours to combine Bible truth with human
error and Satanic lies.
Gnosticism taught that the things material were a creation of
lower angelic powers, themselves a descending emanation from God, not a distinct creation by Him and distinct from Him. This pantheistic, soul-blinding system was
definitely denied in advance by the psalm before us, and condemned by the psalm
being quoted here.
Against this wholly false philosophy Scripture presents the true
nature of Christ as being Himself, with the Father, essentially God, and as the
sole Creator of all things, and therefore of the angels. The same errors are combated by Paul in Colossians: see 2:
18, 19 in
the light of the noble presentation of the Son in 1:
13-20;
and they are silently refuted by John in all his writings, with their
exposition of the Son in relation to the Father, and as being personally the
eternal life. Really to know Him is
salvation from every error, for He is the Truth.
7. Ps.
110: 1.
Sit Thou on My right
hand,
Till I make Thine enemies
the footstool of Thy feet.
The quoting of this sentence completes and clinches the
demonstration of the superiority of the Son to angels. The words, and their
context in the psalm, grant to the One addressed a position, a service, and a future such as no created being could hold.
i. A
position of divine glory: sit at My right hand. Christ himself pointed out to the opponents
of His claim to be divine that, by the sentence preceding those here quoted,
God accorded a divine title to the Priest-King addressed: The Lord said unto my Lord: in Hebrew, Jehovah said unto my Adon
(Matt. 22:
41-46).
ii. A service in heaven both royal and priestly, such
as that of Melchizedek. This will later
be made the basis of an exposition and appeal of vast weight. See 4: 14 - 10: 39.
iii. A future of triumph over all enemies.
No angel could endure that glory, or fill that high office, or
secure that universal victory. Their
office, noble but subordinate, is to serve the counsels of that Sovereign; and
at present these counsels concern chiefly certain objects of the grace of God
who are yet to inherit salvation. What is meant by inheriting
salvation is a principal theme of the New Testament. It is a design and task parts of which
require angelic activity and are worthy of it.
* * *
[Page 43]
CHAPTER IV
THE FIRST EXHORTATION AND WARNING
(2: 1-4)
Ch. 2: 1. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them. 2 For if the word spoken
through angels proved stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward; 3 how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? which having at
the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; 4 God also bearing witness
with them, both by signs and
wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his
own will.
THE word
salvation may mean, I have been saved, or I am
being saved, or I am about to be
saved.
1. It is of first importance to discern
to which of these three aspects of salvation any given passage refers. It is the first, e.g. in Eph. 2: 5, 8, for by grace ye are having been saved, which union of
the present indicative of the verb substantive with the perfect participle
passive means that the believer has already and as a fact reached a state of
salvation which is abiding: you have already been
saved and are in that status. It
is the second in, e.g. 1 Cor. 1: 18: For the word of the
cross to those indeed perishing foolishness is;
but to those being saved, even us, power of God it is. It is the third
aspect in our present passage, the recognition of which has important bearing
upon the interpretation of the whole Epistle.
That this is the aspect of salvation is clear from the
statement that angels are rendering service to those being
about to inherit salvation (1: 14). The present participle shows that the prospect of this salvation is already
theirs; but the salvation itself is theirs in
expectation only, not in possession; that is, it is a boon awaited in the future.
This is emphasized by the fact that the salvation is to be inherited; for it is only of something future that
one can be an heir; as soon as the
property is received one ceases to be heir and becomes owner.
2. Moreover, as we have seen above in
the case of the Son of God, an heir must be child of the owner: if children, then heirs
(Rom. 8: 17). Thus
at the very outset of the Epistle [Page 44] it is shown clearly that the Writer
is addressing [regenerate] children
of God. This gives character to all his instruction,
encouragement, and warnings. He is not addressing the unregenerate, even though
professed believers: he writes to the children of God, to actual heirs, and this must be kept steadfastly in mind
however severe and solemn some things he says may be. The child of God deals deceitfully with the
word of his Father, and with his own soul, when
he refuses medicine because it is bitter.
He may but show thereby how desperately he needs the sharp and purging draught.
The aspect of the Epistle is therefore exactly that of Peters
first epistle (Pet. 1:
3-7). He too wrote to those who had been begotten again, and were therefore children of the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They had been made children with a view to the future, unto a living hope
based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ out of the dead. This living hope was an heirship, it was unto
an inheritance; one of unique quality, differing from all
lesser possessions in being, unlike them, incorruptible, undefiled, and
unfading. This inheritance is held in
reserve in heaven, where it is safe from all influences that could possibly
corrupt, defile, and waste. In the
meantime the children are under the guardianship of their all-powerful Father,
with a view to entering upon a salvation ready to be revealed in the final season of the dealings of God with His
affairs.
In this magnificent prospect the heirs of God exult, even in
the midst of manifold present griefs.
But, adds the apostle, this guardian care of God is experienced through faith; the child must trust the Father, stay
at home, and submit dutifully to all
parental discipline; for only so can the Father care for His child, train it for its high future, and confer at last
the purposed inheritance.
3. In view of the high realm where this
property is situate, in heaven, and in view of its noble qualities, and of the
glowing contrast with the dismal prospects of men before they become children
and heirs of God, this [future] salvation
may well be called great. Indeed it is the greatest thing that God
can ever design or grant; for its essence is the sharing the relationship of
son to the eternal Father (c. 2: 10; 2 Cor. 6: 17, 18; Rev. 21: 7); and it includes external conformity of body to
the glorified Son of God (Rom. 8: 29; 1 John 3: 1-3), co-heirship
with Him of the entire universe (Rom. 8: 14-17; 1 Cor. 3: 21-23), Co-authority with Him as its Sovereign and
Blesser (Luke 22:
28-30;
Rev. 2:
26-28; 3:
21), and co-residence with Him in the
heavenly habitation (John 14: 1-3; 1 Thes. 4: 16-18; Rev. 7: 15; 14: 1; 15: 2-4), rather
than dwelling with others of the saved on this earth, whether the present earth
in the Millennium [Page 45] or the new earth in eternity (Is.
65: 17-25; 66: 22-24; Rev. 21: 1).
4. It is much to be observed that this
great salvation was first announced by the Lord Jesus: which a beginning received to be spoken through the Lord. This excludes from the meaning here that
present aspect of salvation which consists in the forgiveness of sins,
justification, and the new birth unto eternal life; for though the Lord Jesus
did indeed speak of these initial, indispensable, and immeasurable benefits, He
was by no means the first to announce these.
Not to go back earlier, Moses in the law, fourteen centuries before
Christ, had conveyed to
The Lord forgave sins, as those of the man let down through
the roof (Luke 5), and of the woman who wept
at His feet (Luke 7). He declared that it was His own blood that
would procure this remission (Matt. 26: 28). He commanded that remission of sins should be
preached in His name (Luke 24: 47). He
strongly emphasized the duty that the forgiven must forgive (Matt. 6: 12-15; 18: 21-35); and He
warned solemnly against one fatal sin which for ever precludes forgiveness (Mark 3: 28-30).* But
if any one will go through in the concordance the words forgiveness and remission he
may be surprised to learn that these are almost all the occasions and
connexions when Christ is reported as having touched on the subject.
[* That is,
has no
forgiveness to the age, but liable to Aionian
Judgment verse 29b, Gk.]
It was thus as to the new birth and life. Every saint of earlier ages must have
received that life, or saint he never could have been; for the carnal Adam nature
of mans first birth is not able to please God (Rom.
8: 6-8), yet ch. 11 of our Epistle will recount how very many
before Christ walked well-pleasing to God by faith. This teaching also Christ confirmed, and
showed the place of His own person and death as the basis of the new life (John 3); but so far was the Lord from being the
first so to teach that He rather censured Nicodemus for not knowing these
things, seeing that Old Testament scriptures taught the doctrine, as e.g. in Ezek.
37: 1-14, and Jer. 31: 31-34.
Let the student extend his survey into the Acts and the
Epistles and he can find how those who confirmed the teaching of Christ, and
saw it confirmed by the supernatural workings of God and the Spirit, maintained
the same features as before [Page 46] noted. They taught forgiveness and regeneration
plainly and emphatically, as Christ had done, and on the same ground of His
atoning blood, but the records of this are similarly few. It was the foundation of their message, its
opening topic, but by no means its sole or even its most distinguishing
feature. In this particular much modem evangelizing has been rather a
contrast to than a continuation of the preaching of Christ and His apostles.
But let the earnest searcher turn now to the word kingdom and trace it through the Gospels, Acts,
Epistles, and the Revelation, and he
will be struck with the frequency and intensity with which the Lord and the
apostles enlarged upon this theme.
And not simply as to that earthly government by Messiah of which the
prophets had sung in such glowing strains, but with the introduction of fresh
elements which Christ was the first to announce and which constituted the
distinctive topics of His ministry.
The Old Testament
prophets had foretold that God would re-establish His sovereign rights on this
earth. John the
Immerser had enforced this and had directed men to Christ, and to His sacrifice
as the Lamb of God, saying that repentance for sin and faith in Christ would
give preparation for the judgment that the King would execute. But when the Lord Jesus took up Johns
ministry He introduced elements additional to what had been taught before.
i. He taught those who became His
disciples that they were to regard God as their Father (Matt.
5: 16, 43-48; 6: 1, 4, 6-18, 26, 32; John 14 to
17).
Thus He raised those who truly received and who followed Him to a share
in His own relationship of Son to Father.
This culminated in His first message to them after His resurrection, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God (John
20: 17).
In former times it had been God in His majesty and power Whom the godly knew; the mention of Him as Father was most
infrequent and exceptional. In the whole
Old Testament there seem to be only nine or ten places where this relationship
is mentioned, and the third, fifth and sixth of these are prophetic of Israels
experiences in days to come (2 Sam. 7: 14; 1 Chron. 22: 10; Ps. 89: 26; 103: 13; Isa. 63: 16 twice; 64: 8; Jer. 3: 4, 19; Mal. 1: 6; 2: 10).
But by Christ this was lifted into relief and given
emphasis. He insisted that His followers must walk worthily of this high calling;
it must be a regulating factor in their heart and ways. And this note is struck early in our Epistle:
God is bringing many [not all] sons unto glory (2:
10).
ii. From the eleventh
chapter (2-10,
13-16) we
learn that [Page 47] Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been
told of a heavenly city, that they embraced the prospect, became heirs of
the promise of it, and regulated their life on earth accordingly. In this activity of faith Abraham became the
ancestor of spiritual descendants of the time since the coming of Christ. This cannot be learned from the histories,
and there is no mention that their descendants after the flesh expected that
heavenly portion. Resurrection was but
occasionally mentioned, as in Isa. 26: 19; Ezek. 37; Dan. 12: 2, 3, 12, 13; and then rather with a view to a portion in
the
This also Christ confirmed, as in Luke
13: 28,
29; etc. But to His faithful
followers He opened up the earlier prospect and enlarged its details, and He was
the first to do this. He told them that,
if they were persecuted for His sake, their reward would be great in heaven (Matt.
5: 12):
that they should set their hearts there, not here, and accumulate treasure there (Matt. 6:
19-21; 19: 21; Comp. Col. 3: 1, 2). He promised them that if they thus lived for that world He would confess their names
there, as belonging to that world (Matt. 10: 24-33). This line of teaching and promise, up till that
time peculiar to His own ministry, culminated in the new and mighty assurance
that He was going back to that realm above to prepare an abode there for them,
and that He would duly return thence to take them thither to be in His company
there (John 14: 1-3).
As regards any express teaching of this aspect of salvation,
it had its beginning from the lips of the Lord.
The rest of the New Testament shows how fully and earnestly it was
confirmed and enlarged by them that heard Him.
See 1 Thess. 4;
1 Cor. 15;
1 Pet. 1
before quoted; 1 John 3: 1-3. The stress of the apostolic teaching fell
upon the dominant note of Christ, that not this earth, even when renewed in
Messiahs day, but the heavenly side of Gods great empire is the proper
sphere, prospect, and hope of the followers of Christ, their reward for
suffering for Him now.
It is this supernal prospect that gives point to the passage
before us. It is not here that salvation
is great: salvation in its lesser range than this
is indeed great (megas); but the
adjective used here is rare in the New Testament, and very emphatic. Telikoutos means so great. Its
only other places are: Jas. 3: 4; the ship
that is so great as compared with its small rudder: 2
Cor. 1: 10;
so great a death as threatened Paul in Asia,
something more terrible than men ordinarily face; and Rev.
16: 18;
where the full force of the word is seen by its describing so great an earthquake, so
violent (megas), such as was not seen since there were men upon the earth.
Thus the point in our passage is that the future salvation in view is
something as wholly unexampled as was that earthquake. It is not
that common salvation in which all the saved must share, or they would not be saved in
any sense, but it is that highest height and splendour of glory to which the
God of all grace is in this age calling us in Christ, even unto His eternal
[aionian]
glory (1 Pet.
5: 10)*; yea, into His own kingdom and glory (1 Thess. 2: 12); so that such shall obtain nothing less than the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 2: 14), and be part of that company which, under the
figure of a city, is seen by John as coming down out of heaven having the glory of
God (Rev. 21: 11).
[*NOTE. This verse has be translated: And that God of all favour, who
called you to his AIONIAN (i.e. age-lasting)
Glory, by the Anointed
One, when you have suffered a short time,
will Himself complete, confirm,
strengthen you.]
It did not demand unusual wonders and signs to assure repentant
men of the pardon of a gracious God.
David, the tax-gatherer, the woman that was a sinner,
and millions more, of old and of to-day, have obtained the bliss of
justification by believing the bare word of God. But the proposal that men should be elevated
bodily from earth, mans natural home, to the heavens above, should share the
glory of God Himself, and the
sovereignty of the universe with the Son of God, this was so startling, so
unimaginable, that God confirmed it as His message by exceptional signs,
wonders, various powerful workings, and especially by distributions of His own
Spirit, without Whose in-working aid it were scarcely possible to grasp the
proposal or think it credible.
5.
The Exhortation. The Messenger of God to us is immeasurably
nobler than those He sent to earlier generations: because
of this it behoves us more abundantly to direct our attention to the things
heard through Him. It was always
incumbent on men to heed a message from God, whoever might bring it; much more
it is incumbent on us to Whom His own Son has been sent (Matt. 21: 33-44), and
sent with an immeasurably higher message.
6. The Danger is that we may drift away
from these things heard. In Isa. 44: 4 (LXX) the word used pararheo describes
running water, water which is flowing by.
In Prov. 3:
21 (LXX) it is used of not letting good
counsel and understanding slip from ones attention. By Greek authors it was used in this same
sense: a thing escapes me, slips from my mind.
In our passage the danger in view may be compared to a ship being caught
by wind and tide, and through negligence being thus carried past the desired
haven. In this case the sailors will pay
the penalty of missing the profits, comforts, and pleasures expected in port,
and may also be exposed to further perils of the sea.
7.
The Warning is given by a
comparison. The message of God given
through angels at Sinai (Acts 7: 53) took effect.
Its solemn sanctions against
wilful transgression and careless [Page 49] disobedience were enforced.
The history of
The word neglect is important. It is found in three other places. At 8: 9 it is said that the Lord disregarded
1 Tim. 4: 14: Be not neglectful
of the gift that is in thee.
Here the imperfect tense stresses the continuousness of the
neglect. If we once turn from the hope of the gospel, the hope of this great
salvation, the attitude may easily become permanent.
Matt. 22: 5: But they made light of it, and went off about their
personal affairs. Made light of
what? Of a royal invitation to a royal wedding! Here the tense of the verb is the same as in
our passage, which illuminates the latter.
They deliberately disregarded the invitation, made light of the King and
His Son, and showed they preferred lesser interests. It was
precisely the sin of Esau: choosing a meal instead of a birthright. This is to he noted. The same elements and motives will be further
stressed by [the Holy Spirit] our
Writer.
8. The Penalty. How shall we escape - escape
what? Obviously that just recompense of reward mentioned immediately
before, such as followed under the law spoken through angels. The same analogy and warning will be enlarged
in ch. 10:
26-31. Misthos, the root of the word used, means wages for work done: the labourer is worthy of his hire (Luke 10: 7; 1 Tim. 5: 1: 8; Jas. 5: 4), and is
used frequently of the reward the godly shall receive in heaven (Matt. 5: 12; Luke 6: 23; 1 Cor. 3: 8; Rev. 22: 12). The
derived word in our passage misthapodosia is peculiar to our Writer, being found elsewhere only at 10: 35 and 11: 26, with
the cognate misthapodotes at 11: 6
only. The force of the compound word is,
to give back an equivalent, hence a just recompense.
Oh, let this be grasped.
God is a Rewarder of them that
[Page 50] seek after Him (11: 6). He gives back according to the earnestness
and faith of the seeker. It was by
paying regard to the day of Christ,
and the reward then to become available,
that Moses was strengthened to throw up the honours and prospects of the royal
house of Egypt (11: 26). Men of this world have their portion in this
life (Ps. 17:
14; Matt.
6: 2, 5, 16); the prospects of the disciple of Christ lie
where Christs prospects lie, in the future; they are known by faith and hope. It is for us to be courageous and bold as was
Moses, for this will receive great recompense of
reward (10: 35).
The word recompense is a good translation. It means to make the scales even: to give
back in goods the exact value received. The
day of Christ will be a period of the administration of justice, and rewards will be strictly equivalent to
service and, suffering now. So also
will be the penalty attached to neglect by the
Christian of the high privileges possible of attainment by faith.
Westcott says the word misthapodosia appears to emphasize the idea of an
exact requital of good or evil by a sovereign judge. Kelly translates it by just retribution. Exact
requital, just retribution: Let us face
this seriously, for it is a serious prospect for the un-heavenly believer. Something of what this retribution may mean
will be opened out in later warnings. In
this first and brief warning the basic elements of privilege and responsibility
are concentrated, to be afterward expanded.
* *
*
[Page 51]
CHAPTER V
THE SUFFERING SON OF MAN
(2:
5-18)
Ch. 2: 5. For not unto angels did he subject the world to come
whereof we speak. 6 But one hath somewhere
testified saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
7 Thou madest him a little
lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, And didst set him over the works of
thy hands:
8 Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we see not
yet all things subjected to him. 9 But we behold him who hath been made a little lower than the
angels, even Jesus, because of the
suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that by the grace of God he should taste death for every man. 10 For it became him, of whom are all things, and
through whom are all things, in bring many sons
unto glory, to make the author of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. 11 For both he that
sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of
one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying,
I will declare thy name unto
my brethren, in
the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise.
13 And again, I will put
my trust in him.
And again,
Behold, I and the children which God hath
given me. 14 Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also
himself in like manner partook of the same; that
through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily not of angels
doth he take hold, but he taketh hold of the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore it behoved him in
all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that he himself hath
suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Verse 5. For not to angels
did He subject the oikoumene the about to be, concerning which we speak (i.e. which is our present subject).
1. After the foregoing exhortation the for
resumes the [Page 52] chief subject from 1: 14, but
gives it a deeper meaning and ground.
i. Again the Writer defines clearly his
subject. He is speaking (a) of things future, about to be, not of the present
aspect of salvation; and (b) of the inhabited universe which is to be. See par.
iii above, p. 39. This widest meaning of oikoumene is evidently
intended here, for the argument to be developed is that man is the destined
ruler of the whole universe. Comp. 1 Cor. 3: 21-23: all things are yours ... [the] kosmos;
either condition of existence in the kosmos, life or death; either period of time, present or future, which
last idea is here expressed by the same term as in our passage about to be all things are
yours.
That the heavens are to pass under the rule of man is seen at 1 Cor. 6: 2, 3: Do you not know that the saints shall judge the kosmos? ... Do you not know that the saints shall judge angels?
the inhabitants of the heavenly portion of the kosmos. Alas,
that comparatively few Christians do know this; which is not surprising seeing
that only a few teachers of the faith
seem to know it with intelligence.
ii. The existing oikoumene is
under the control of angels. At the
summit of the things invisible to man there are thrones (Col.
1: 16),
and beneath these sovereign rulers are lower orders, lordships, princedoms, and
general authorities. These thrones had
been seen in vision by Daniel (7: 9, thrones were placed),
and later they were shown more distinctly to John (Rev.
4: 4). The subject has been greatly obscured by the
twenty-four elders being [mistakenly] regarded as men. In my Revelation on that place it is shown, I trust
conclusively, that they are heavenly beings.
The archangel has an army of subordinates (Rev.
12: 7, Michael and his angels). Satan, the fallen cherub, likewise has
subordinates: see the same ver. and ver. 9. This angelic rule extends to the earth, as Daniel
exhibits at large 4: 13, 23; the
judgment scene of ch. 7: 10, 13, 22; 12: 1). See also 2 Chron.
18: 12-22, and the Revelation.
iii. In the purpose of God the oikoumene
of the future has not been put under the control of angels, but of men.
This is a key thought, the resolving of many obscurities and perplexities which
hinder believers from grasping the exact significance of the plans of God and
the final and highest outcome of redemption.
It is the key to some present enigmas also. At present God is not saving the human race
entire and its affairs corporate, but is selecting from it the company that are
to rule the universe, superseding the existing government. He is preparing for a complete reorganizing
of His entire empire, and is giving to these future rulers the severe training
which is indispensable to fitting them for such responsible duties and [Page 53] high dignities. The gospel has not failed, but is fulfilling the purpose
God plainly announced, though not the end that many preachers have mistakenly
proposed, namely, the conversion of the whole race. That general and most desirable betterment of
this sin-cursed earth is in the plans of God, but falls for accomplishment in
the next period of the divine programme, not in
this [evil] age.
There is manifest wisdom in a great Leader first training a body of
efficient subordinates before seeking to reorganize society at large.
As with this whole salvation, so with this branch of it, it
was the Lord Jesus who first began to announce it. Of the servant who was faithful while his
lord was from home Christ (Matt. 24: 46, 47) said that, on his return, he will set him over all that he hath, even as it was said later, all things are yours.
And again: thou hast been faithful in a few
things, I will set thee over many things
(Matt. 25: 21, 23): and
again: thou wast found faithful ... have thou authority (Luke
19: 17): and again: ye have continued with Me in My trials, and I appoint unto you kingdom,
i.e. (as the absence of the article
intimates) royal status and authority, ye shall sit on thrones (Luke 22: 29-30). See
also the promises to overcomers in
the battles of [having to do with] the kingdom; especially Rev. 2: 26, to him will I give authority over the nations,
and 3: 21,
He that overcometh,
I will give to him
to sit down with Me in My throne.
2. It is next shown that this destiny
for man is foretold in the Old Testament in Psalm 8:
Thou didst put all things in subjection under his
(mans) feet.
As usual, the Writer quotes from the LXX, whose rendering emphasizes the
notion of subjection implied in the Hebrew put under. The psalm is based on Gen. 1: 26: And God said, Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness; and let them have
dominion. Man is made to
rule; the whole universe is his realm.
His lust for power is the degraded survival of this grant from God; but
alas, as a corrupted being he seeks his destiny by tyranny and cruelty, and in
the pursuit of this ambition he destroys his kingdom and himself. Moreover, his utmost endeavours fail of their
goal; he can destroy but not improve his domains; nor can he thoroughly subdue
his subjects, but beasts, birds, fishes, and creeping things defy and destroy
him in turn, as he does them, and the forces of nature now serve, now blast
him. Indeed, we
see not yet all things subjected
to man (ver. 8).
In Gen. 1, Ps. 8, and Heb. 2 it is thus far man simply as man, not Messiah,
that is in view; but our Writer widens the scope of the psalm to take the term
all things in its fullest possible sense, that
is, the universe entire. But though this
subjection [Page 54] is not yet a fact, it is Gods grant and purpose, For
in that He subjected all things unto him [man], He
left nothing that is not subject unto him (man). Is, then, this original purpose of God to be
frustrated? Is man for ever to be
deceived by Satan and oppressed by the fear of death? (14, 15). By no means: for there is one Man in Whom this purpose of God is in process of fulfilment: we behold Jesus crowned with glory and honour. His name as man is chosen with design. In this Man the lost situation is recovered,
and
In Him the sons of Adam boast
More blessings than their
father lost.
i. In the grading of the universe man
was made a little lower than the angels: comp. 2
Pet. 2: 11,
angels are greater in might and power than
man. Therefore to fulfil the purpose of
God for man the Redeemer must become man.
This He did. He took a truly
human nature, partook of blood and flesh - the
vital element, the seat of bodily life, the blood, being named first to
emphasize that the humanity of our Lord was vitally human, and not (as the
Docetic heresy afterward affirmed) only externally and apparently human. Thus in divine grace He took the form of a bondservant, becoming
in the likeness of men, and being found in
fashion as a man (Phil. 2: 6-8). Being originally in the form of God He became what
before He was not, a man, born of a woman.
To deny this is to wreck the purpose of God for man, for only in His
humanity can Christ fulfil that purpose.
Nor can any other man do this, for through rebellion every other man has
lost the dominion granted, nor is able to regain it, being unable either to
expiate the guilt of his rebellion or to bring his nature into subjection to
the will of God (Rom. 8: 7, 8).
ii. Christ became man to do as man and
for man what man cannot do for himself.
The sinners condition includes a triple misery. (1) He is easily overcome by temptation. (2) Through thus yielding and sinning he lies
under sentence of death. (3) He thus has
the terror of a slave in relation to the executioner-in-chief of that sentence,
the devil. The vast majority of mankind
have always worshipped demons for fear that these should injure or destroy
them, and in man in general there is an instinctive reluctance to die.
He who would deliver man must meet effectually this threefold
state. This Christ did.
(1) Being truly man He submitted to the temptations and trials
to which man is liable: He hath been in all points
tempted like as we are,
sin apart (4:
15).
This experience caused Him suffering (ver.
18); He felt the severity of the [Page 55] temptations; the suffering was real, acute. Thus He understands our feelings, and now, in
resurrection life, He is able to help us effectually, by sympathy, and by infusing
into our enfeebled spirits His own moral energy, communicated by His Spirit
sent forth into our hearts.
(2) But more was needed than moral improvement, even a work
that should make that improvement possible. Man must die as the legal penalty
of his sin (Gen. 7:
17; Rom. 6: 23): that
is, the soul, the ego, must part from
the body in which alone he can act on this earth, and the body must lose that
animating principle, spirit, without which it will dissolve into dust. Thereupon the soul must descend to a distinct and altogether lower realm and
state of existence [in Hades]. This bitter
and humiliating experience, including banishment from God and endurance of His
holy wrath, mans Redeemer must accept as if He had personally incurred our
penalty by personally committing our sins.
This also Christ did: Jehovah hath made to meet
on Him the iniquity of us all; Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures; Who His
own self bare our sins in His body on the tree, that
we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by Whose stripes ye were healed (Isa.
53: 6; 1 Cor. 15: 3; 1 Pet. 2: 24).
By thus cancelling our guilt, as he who pays a debt thereby
cancels it, Christ delivers from death those who by faith avail themselves of His
sacrifice. This deliverance is available
for all: that He might deliver all them that
feared death: but each must personally accept the Son of God and His atonement
or not benefit by it (Gal. 3: 22; all ... them that believe).
(3) Now he who cancels a debt by paying it thereby delivers
the debtor from the hand of the bailiff, for he deprives the latter of legal
right to touch the former debtor. That
Satan, under authority from God and restraint by God, acts as the executioner
of the penalties of the law, lesser and greater, Scripture shows. He acts personally, as in Jobs case (Job 1 and 2);
and see 1 Kings 22: 21
the spirit); or he
acts through subordinates (Ex. 12: 23; 2 Sam. 24: 16; 2 Kings 19: 35; Acts 12: 23; Rev. 9: 11).
Of this power, as against the people of Christ, he has been
deprived by Christ through His atoning death (Col.
2: 13-15). At
death the believer now commits his spirit to the Lord, as Stephen did (Acts 7: 59); he
falls asleep and this through Jesus (1 Thess. 4: 14), not through Satanic action, unless indeed he
foolishly place himself again under Satans authority by living in wilful sin as formerly, when he served the
Devil (1 Cor. 5:
5; 11: 30; 1 Tim. 1: 20). And while
believers do die, as to the body, and go [as a disembodied soul] to that paradise which is part of Hades,
the world of the dead (Luke 23: 43; Eph. 4: 9), yet their [Page 56] Redeemer, in resurrection power, now holds the keys of that realm (Rev. 1: 18), and its gates shall not prevail to detain
them there when the moment comes that He shall call them thence to share His
resurrection (Matt. 16: 18).
Only one free from debts can meet the liabilities of
another. The Saviour of sinners must be
without sin. The Redeemer must have a nature free from sin and also be free in
practice. These conditions demanded such
a birth as (1) should preserve Him from inherited taint of sin and tendency to
sin. Birth of a virgin mother by direct action
of the Holy Spirit was an imperative necessity in order that He should be holy and Son of God
(Luke 1: 35). The absence of the article here implies that
the humanity should share in His relation to God as Son. (2) His birth must cause Him to be truly
human, and so be able to pass through all stages of human development -
weakness, dependence, growth in body and mind (Luke
2: 40), temptation, suffering, death;
and (3) that He should be able to live without sinning; so that (4) He might be
acceptable as substitute in law for sinners, the Lamb of God without blemish,
and so fit for the altar of God (1 Pet. 1: 18-21).
And not only fit to be the victim but also qualified to act as
the officiating Priest to present the victim before God on behalf of men (9: 14). For having been made like unto His brethren He can be at once merciful toward them and
faithful toward God (2: 17). He is
that competent Daysman, or umpire, for whom the suffering saint of a former age
longed but saw only afar and by faith (Job 9:
33; 19: 25-27); but
Whom the saint of to-day, by like faith, sees more nearly, a present acting
Advocate at the throne of God, crowned with glory and honour. He is there as our Representative, yea, more,
as our Forerunner who has opened the way for His followers, that through faith
and long-patience they may run His race after Him and arrive where He is (6: 20; 12: 1, 2).
3. This divine-human Redeemer and His
whole life - His experiences, death, resurrection, and ascension, are Gods
true means of grace for the fulfilment of His
original and His standing purpose that man shall have universal dominion: He is bringing many sons unto glory (10). This
clause must be analysed, for it is another key statement as to the plans of
God.
i. Unto glory.
Upon this see above (pp.
52-54). Joseph, David,
Daniel, Esther became more than subjects under their respective
sovereigns. Each attained to rulership
and glory. It is for such supreme honour
that God is now training the co-heirs
of His Son (Rom. 8:
17; 2 Tim.
2: 10- 12).
[Page 57]
ii. Many sons unto glory. A royal father may have a large family, but
of these only a few may prove competent to rule in the kingdom and share its
glory. It is of such that the term son is here used.
This is an important Biblical use of the term son,
implying a child who has grown up, who resembles the father in intelligence and
character, and can co-operate in his affairs.
This sense of the word affords yet another instance of teaching which began to be spoken by the Lord Jesus. His early discourse, the Sermon on the Mount,
gives it. Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God ... Love your enemies,
and pray for them that persecute you; so that ye may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens, for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5: 9, 44, 45; and see Luke 6: 35, 36). Here Christ spoke of disciples as already children of
God, God was already their Father (your Father),
for these had believed on the Son and so were born of God (John 1: 12, 13). It was
for such so to act that they might become sons of
their Father. The same meaning of son is applied by Christ to those who shall be
accounted worthy of the first resurrection: neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the
resurrection (Luke 20: 34-36).
This force of son is the
basis of the discussion in Gal. 3 and 4 as to the
essential difference in spiritual relationship to God of believers before and
since Pentecost. So long as believers
were under the law they were children (Gal.
4: 3),
though heirs by promise, and were themselves ruled by guardians and their
property managed by stewards: but now that the life-principle of an obedient
faith has been introduced by the coming of the Redeemer, those who
intelligently receive Him do, by baptism, put on
Christ,* and as He is Gods Son they also, in Him thus become sons of God (Gal. 3: 26; 4: 4-7), and because ye are sons God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. The
number is large who believe on Christ as Saviour but have no
sense of sonship, nor experience of the Spirit of the Son crying,
Father.
* This
has no reference to regeneration, which is the renewing of the inward
nature. To put
on is an external act; here, the profession of anew, advanced status of
sons, not merely children. Under the
law, men of faith were regenerated, though baptism was not yet instituted; they
became children of God. Under the
gospel, baptism is the avowal of sonship.
Of this the Old Testament usage of son
is wholly confirmatory. The common word
for son comes perhaps 4,500 times. Its usage Godward is as rare as its usage of
the human [Page 58] relationship is frequent. Once it is applied to Messiah as in
resurrection (Ps. 2:
7).
In eight places it is used of angels (Gen.
6: 2, 4; Job 1: 6; 2: 1; 38: 7; Ps. 29: 1; 82: 6; 89: 6). Six times it describes what the saved of
Israel will become when, at the advent of their Messiah, they shall pass from
the state of children into that of sons, and the Galatian argument be realized
in them (Isa. 43: 6; 45: 11; Jer. 3: 14, 19, 22; 31: 20). In only five places have we noticed it as
used historically of Israelites of the past, and the histories show how utterly
the majority failed to respond to the dignity open to them all in the purpose
of God (Ex. 4:
22; 2 Sam. 7: 14; Isa. 1: 2; Ezek. 16: 21; Hos. 11: 1).
The argument of Hebrews is based on the truth set forth in Galatians, and even as in the latter epistle
believers were exhorted to value their exalted status, to stand fast in its
freedom, and not to sink back into the former and legal condition, so are those
here in view exhorted and warned to the same effect; for the same danger
imperilled their reaching the final privileges open for attainment as sons of God.
This will illuminate these arguments and warnings as we reach them.
The burden of Hebrews is
not the rescuing of sinners from hell, nor even
the blessings of children in the vast
family circle, but it is the bringing of sons unto glory. Of old
Had this emphasis by the Writer himself upon what is his theme
been generally recognized, most perhaps of what has been said upon his warnings
would never have been written, and thus had controversy and confusion been much
reduced.
4. The Son Perfected by Suffering.
i. Its Necessity. ii.
Its Nature. A goal so noble being in
view, and such measures being indispensable to reaching it, it became Him (the
Father), for whose glory all things exist, [Page 59] and through Whose will and power all
things came into existence, to make the Author of the salvation of the many
sons perfect through sufferings. Here
again the word salvation is used in its third sense, as equivalent to being brought unto glory.
The Son did not need to be made perfect in His relationship to
the Father or in His moral character: these were eternally and inherently
perfect. But had He remained as He
originally was, on equality with God, never could He have become the Author of
salvation or have brought many sons unto God and glory. The corn of wheat would have continued
perfect in its kind but would have remained alone. But love to His Father constrained Him to
become man, for that was the will of the Father (John
14: 31); and love to us strengthened
Him to suffer with and for us to save us.
And having thus entered into our conditions, for Him, as for us, the way
to glory lay through death and resurrection (John
12: 23-28),
for
The path of
sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the place where
sorrow is unknown:
and so because of the sufferings of
death we behold Jesus crowned with glory and honour. Comp. Isa. 53: 12: therefore; Phil. 2: 9: wherefore; Rev. 5: 9: Worthy art Thou
... for Thou wast slain.
5. His Exaltation as Man assures Salvation for
By the grace of God Christ tasted
death for every man. His exaltation gives effect to the
purpose for which He died. Risen from
the dead He is the Executor of His own will and testament (9: 16, 17). The fourteen Romish Stations of The Cross end
with His burial. It suits a system of
priestcraft to leave Him there in the minds of its devotees. For were He still in the tomb no present
salvation or present assurance of salvation were possible, and the priest can
batten on the dread uncertainties of the souls that so think. Were Christ not risen
it would be plain that His sacrifice had not been sufficient to discharge the
claims of the law against the sins for which He assumed responsibility and
died. As long as the criminal is in
prison it is clear that the law is not satisfied. But His having been raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father Himself, and rewarded with highest glory and honour in
the Presence on high where no sin can be tolerated, is Gods own witness to the
sufficiency of His atoning death.
He tasted death for every man;
and His ascension makes the mighty benefits of this
available to faith. As the salvation and
glory of man (not, in possibility, of other beings) is the subject in hand, it
seems better to confine the words here to [Page 60] man, and not to extend their scope to
others. Ch.
9: 23; Rom. 8: 18-25, and
other scriptures show a wider blessing to flow from the cross. Here the truth stated is that given in, e.g. 1 Tim. 2: 1-6, where the
triple all of vers.
1, 4, 6 covers the whole of
mankind. This is seen in 1 John 2: 2
also, a statement equally definite and universal. Redemption is provided for all men: alas,
that not all men avail themselves of it by repentance and faith.
6. vers. 11-13. The Son and His Brethren.
i. One Father. Having thus united Himself to mankind, and
the believing of mankind to Himself, both He and they derive their nature and
prospects from one Source, the Father; and the Son therefore acknowledges them
as brethren. They call Him (not Brother or Elder Brother; such terms lack elementary
reverence, but) Teacher and Lord and own
themselves His slaves: but He in grace calls them His brethren, and introduces them to, and
empowers them for, that life of trust in the living Father which was and is the
principle and power of His life of praise unto God.
ii. ver. 16. The Redeemer human, not angelic. Seeing that the end proposed concerned man,
the Redeemer did not take hold of (ally Himself with; Green, The Twofold
New Testament, in loco) angels,
but of man. (The translation doth not give help to angels asserts more than is
revealed, and is unwarranted). He must
descend lower than to the angelic rank and sphere, for the creature He would
raise was lower than angels, and to have shared their nature and experiences
would not have fitted Him to save man.
But now, in resurrection, He is the High Priest perfectly competent to
fulfil the whole counsel of God,
even to this its chief intent, the bringing many sons unto glory.
iii. ver. 12. And being brought there, their first and
chief office will be praise, and the incitement to this will be their full
appreciation of the Name of God, of what God Himself is as expressed in His
name. And of the praise of that heavenly
chorus the Son will be the Precentor. He
closed His life in the flesh by leading His faithful followers in a song of
praise, most probably in the words of Ps. 118, and then He went forth to die (Matt. 26: 30). So
blessedly full was His heart of filial trust in His Father that even when
forsaken on the cross He was in the spirit of that word of prophecy, But Thou art holy, thus praising the character of His
God. He will resume that praise in
fellowship with the glorified before God on high in heaven, the native home of
joy and worship.
[Page 61]
We often sing
Oh, that with yonder sacred throng
We at His feet may fall, join in the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Proper and blessed indeed it is to address and worship the Son
(Matt. 28: 17; Rev. 5: 8-14); yet for the glorified saint the standing and service are
higher. We are to stand around Him; and
He in the midst of that most august of all congregations will lead the praise
beyond Himself (all-worthy as He is!) to His and our God and Father, to Whom be
glory for ever and ever. Even now the
songs and prayers of this character are the highest, when His people meet with
Him in the midst, and He brings them to God in heart-fellowship and spiritual
worship. This is the sweetest foretaste
of the realm and service to which the pilgrims of hope urge their way, by the
grace of the High Priest whom we confess.
* *
*
[Page 62]
CHAPTER VI
THE SECOND EXHORTATION AND WARNING
(3: 1 to 4: 13)
Consider the Apostle
and High Priest of our confession, even
Jesus.
Ch. 3:
1.
Wherefore, holy
brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus;
2 who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house. 3 For he hath been counted
worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he that built the house hath more
honour than the house. 4 For every house is builded by some
one; but he that built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was
faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things
which were afterward to be spoken; 6 but Christ as a son, over his house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the
glorying of our hope firm unto the end. 7 Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, To-day if ye will hear his
voice; 8 harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation, like as in the day of the
temptation in the wilderness; 9 wherewith your fathers tempted me by proving me, and saw my works forty
years. 10 Wherefore I was displeased
with this generation, and said, They
do alway err in their heart: but they did not know my ways; 11 as I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
12 Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: 13 but exhort one another day
by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: 14 for we are become partakers
with Christ, if we hold fast the
beginning of our confidence firm unto the end: 15 while it is said, To-day if ye
shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation. 16 For who, when they heard,
did provoke? nay,
did not all they that came out of
[Page 63]
Ch. 4:
1.
Let us fear therefore, lest haply a
promise being left of entering into his rest, any
one of you should seem to have come short of it.
2 For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto
us, even as also did they: but
the word of hearing did not profit them, because
they were not united by faith with them that heard. 3 For we who have believed do
enter into [are entering into (R. Govett)] that rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the
world. 4 For he
hath said somewhere of the seventh day on this wise, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works; 5 and in this place again, They shall not enter
into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it
remaineth that some should enter thereinto, and they to whom the good tidings
were before preached failed to enter in
because of disobedience, 7 he again defineth a certain day, saying in David, after so long a time, To-day, as it hath been said before,
To-day if ye shall hear his voice, harden not
your hearts. 8 For if Joshua had given
them rest he would not have spoken afterward of another day. 9 There remaineth
therefore a sabbath
rest for the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into
his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore give diligence
to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is
living, and active, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the
dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and
marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and
intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature
that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
1.
THE FAITHFUL APOSTLE.
i. ver. 1. Those addressed. Notice again the triple statement as
to the kind of persons addressed.
(1) holy:
set apart unto God, and therefore, as in 1 Cor.
1: 2, called to be saints, to be holy persons in fact as in
standing.
(2) brethren:
members of the divine family, born of God, called to walk in love with all
others of the family.
(3) partakers of a heavenly calling. Israelites were sharers in high privileges
connected with this earth, privileges associated, as to their enjoyment, with
the
It is only by persons of whom these three things are actually
true that the ensuing exhortations
can be obeyed, only in such can the warnings bear fruit.
ii. The
Apostle of our Confession. What
Moses was of old [Page 64] to
He enlightened them by his words, redeemed them from the
capital punishment due to sin by means of the blood of the passover lamb, and
led them into freedom by the passage through the Red Sea, their baptism (1 Cor. 10: 2) into companionship with him in his separation
from Egypt. Thus under his leadership
they became partakers of the earthly calling and earthly privileges of their
ancestors.
All this, only in deeper and higher measure, Jesus is to us
to-day. He brings a fuller knowledge of
God, making known to us the name of God as Father (John
17: 6, 26). He has wrought a fuller, even an eternal
redemption (9: 12);
with introduction to the richer blessings of the new covenant, both for the
inner life now, and with nobler prospects, even the heavenly, for the future. And as it was necessary for each Israelite to
trust, follow, and obey Moses if he would enjoy in fact the advantages of the
new position into which the grace of God had called him, and which the power of
God could assure to him, so must we set our undivided attention on Jesus. For just as through failure to trust and obey
Moses many Israelites, though redeemed by blood, and set apart to God through
their baptism, failed to enjoy the advantages of that position, even so must we
give all heed lest we fall away and lose our [millennial and] heavenly privileges. If this is not
the argument of these chapters they seem to have no definite meaning or force.
Yet as failure to enjoy the blessings possible in the
wilderness, or to secure possession of the land of promise, did not undo the
redemption by blood from temporal death in Egypt, so neither does failure to
attain to the heavenly [and
earthly] prospects* forfeit the
redemption from eternal death secured by the precious blood of Christ.
[* That is, to be equal unto the angels (Lk. 20: 36), is to have the ability enter both
spheres of Messiahs coming Kingdom.
Eating and drinking at Messiahs table,
in His Kingdom (Rev. 3: 21), is an
earthly privilege and a divine promise, (Luke 22: 30, R.V.).]
iii. The
High Priest of our Confession.
It has been usual to view Moses as the type of Christ as Gods
Messenger (Apostle) and Aaron as the type of the High Priest, and in ch. 5 Aaron is
thus used. Yet it may be well to recall
that Moses was the priest, and the
chief priest, in
At Sinai it was Moses,
and Moses alone, who drew near unto God as representing the nation; who again
built an altar; who directed younger men in the priestly work of offering
sacrifices at the foot of Sinai, thus acting as being himself in some sort
chief priest; and he it was who sprinkled the blood of the covenant upon the book
and the people (Exod. 24: 1-8). There
were priests before the law was given, and Moses directed them (Exod. 19: 22), as their chief.
It was Moses who
rendered to the people the priestly service of bringing to them the laws of
their God and teaching them His statutes.
This was priestly work, even as it is written: the
priests lips should keep knowledge, and they
should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the
messenger of Jehovah of hosts (Mal. 2: 7).
It was Moses who
had access to that earlier tent of meeting which preceded the Tabernacle (Exod. 33: 7-11), and who
also became so striking a type of Christ
ascended by drawing near to God on the top of the mount. On different occasions
of awful peril he interceded for the sinning people and secured their pardon (Exod. 32: 30-35; Num. 14: 13-35). This pardon, however, did
but exempt them from the capital sentence, but left them subject to needed chastisement. Comp. Davids case, 2
Sam. 12: 13,
14.
In this also Moses and his intercession were an exact parallel to our
great Priest; for He interceded for Peter, but did not seek his exemption from severe sifting by Satan (Luke 22: 31, 32); nor did his work on high preserve Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5),
or the evil living believers in Corinth,
from death or lesser chastisement (1 Cor.
11: 30);
and our epistle (12: 1-13) will emphasize that those who are the sons of God, and so
subjects of the priestly ministry of the [Page 66] Son, must nevertheless
expect the Fathers scourging so that they may partake of His holiness.
And very striking it is, as showing Moses rank as the true
chief priest, that it was he who inducted Aaron and his sons into the office,
offering the sacrifices on their behalf, when the time came for one family to
exercise the priestly office because the people as a nation proved unfit for so
sacred a service (Lev. 8).
Thus was Moses at the first both Prophet, and Priest, as also
King in Jeshurun (Deut. 33: 5), and was
thus as full a type as possible of the Son of God. It may be, therefore, that in our passage it
is Moses alone who is in view as apostle and high priest, and that later, in ch. 5, Aaron is
brought in as type when the duties of the priest are to be considered in
detail.
iv. Fidelity
Indispensable. The supreme feature of Moses and of
Christ in these offices was fidelity. God laid on Moses extraordinary responsibilities and burdens. No other man ever undertook so severe a
task. But God had reared him in
Jesus, the Man, is also faithful. From eternity dwelling in the eternal glory
of God, the Doer of all the works of God, the Ruler of all creation, He learned
by experience on earth what it is to obey and suffer. He was tested at all points by all means, and
was proved faithful in all things.
It is this that we are called to ponder. We too are destined to rule,
we too must be trained to obey. We are, and are yet to be, stewards, of God,
and it is required in stewards that one be
found faithful (1 Cor. 4: 2). The fruit of the
Spirit is (not faith, as A.V., but) faithfulness,
dependability (see pistis in LXX, Lam. 3: 23; Jer. 5: 1). I
watched a managing director write a letter of commendation for a clerk who was
leaving. It concluded: Mr. X. can be relied upon to carry out anything he
undertakes to carry out. The
Christians here addressed were being hard-pressed by the Devil to show themselves undependable toward God. Let them therefore consider the faithfulness
of Jesus under all the mighty trials of His pathway in the same desert, as well
as in His present patience and service; and then the Lord would direct their
hearts into His love and into the patience of Christ (2
Thess. 3: 5). Thus by the very patience of Christ filling
them, they will wait steadfastly [Page 67] for His and their day, even as He is
patiently waiting for it, and will not be moved away
from the hope of the gospel (Col.
1: 23).
v. The House of God.
A house is a building where a person dwells and can be found. God being spirit dwells in a spirit dwelling,
and especially in and among living persons, manifesting Himself
to and in their spirits, causing them to display His own glory, His
holiness. A material dwelling is not essential to such a dwelling of God on
earth (Acts 7: 47-50). Such a
structure as tabernacle or temple is simply a condescension to mans limited
ability to recognize God as at hand in spirit.
In the finally perfected conditions of heaven there will be no temple (Rev. 21: 22).
It was intended at the first that it should be thus with
The church of God is now to be such a structure: that thou mayest know how it behoves to behave in the house
of God, [the] church
of [the] living God, pillar and support of the truth. (1 Tim. 3: 15); i.e. it
is the office of Gods people, singly and unitedly, to exhibit and maintain
before men the truth concerning God and His Son, and to demonstrate His
presence among His people. One instance
of this dwelling of God with His church is that, when Christians are together,
and their worship and teaching are ordered and energized by the Spirit of God,
the unbeliever will be constrained to exclaim God is
among you indeed (1 Cor. 14: 24, 25). A
severe test this of the actual spiritual state of a
church.
This figure of a house is the first and chief figure to teach
the privileges attaching to association with the Son of God; as He said: On this the rock [the truth of His own Messiahship and
Deity confessed] I will build My church (Matt. 16: 18). It was
employed frequently by Christ and the apostles (Luke
12: 35-48; Matt. 24: 45-51; Eph. 2: 19-21; etc.). It is a loss when this first and principal
figure of a building is neglected and the figure of the body is overstressed, as if it expresses all truth as
to relationship with Christ.
It is to be observed that house
often merges into and means household, the
inhabitants rather than the structure.
Thus Nathan said to David, Jehovah will make
thee a house (2 Sam. 7: 11); and so
in Eph. 2
cited: ye are of the household of God. Over this household the Son of God is the
sole Ruler (ver. 6). In this sphere He alone holds rights direct
from the [Page 68] Father of the family: all lesser authority (as, e.g. of elders) is derived from the Son,
and is to be exercised strictly according to His directions, without variation
caused by human opinion or preference (see 8:
5).
Here is one chief matter in which faithfulness is required from His
servants, and far too seldom has it been found.
Mans desires and ideas have largely ousted the rule of the Son as Head
over Gods house, wronging Him and ruining the house.
Of old Moses acted for God in the capacity of chief servant,
but Jesus acts as Son over the Fathers household. Moses dealt with things then
present as indications in advance of nobler things to follow (3: 5): Christ
has now introduced those higher and heavenly arrangements, and will duly bring
them to eternal completion. How blessed
to be dutiful and faithful and to walk in this divine sphere, rather than to
turn back to the earthly, imperfect, and transitory foreshadowings of it. Yet Christendom has largely done this, by its
resumption of the visible and fleshly in worship, and in the arrangements for
what it calls Gods house. Stately
edifices, elaborate ceremonies, splendid vestments, a caste of priests or
ministers, altars, sacrifices, incense, music - what is all this but a lapse
back from the heavenly and spiritual to the elements and weakness of the Mosaic
and external which Christ abrogated (John 4:
19-24)? It was against this that the Writer uttered
his warnings and appeals: would that they had been generally heeded, and that
the household had held fast to the Head of the house.
2. The
Warnings.
Let us give most earnest attention to these. They are four, based upon the conditions for
sharing in i. the house of God; ii. companionship
with the Messiah; iii. for reaching
i. Whose
house are we IF (3: 6)
(1)
(2) Redemption and Baptism necessary but
inadequate.
Thus redemption and baptism (of both of which
(3)
(4)
God continued to dwell with Israel until they in their blindness
and carnality trusted in the symbol of His local presence, the ark of the
covenant, and not in Himself; whereupon, suffering them to take their own
course, He delivered His strength into captivity
by the Philistines, and forsook the tabernacle of
Shiloh (1 Sam. 4; Ps. 78: 60-62; Jer. 7: 12). Thenceforth He was not in their midst, and
consequently they ceased to be to Him a house.
It was so for just over a hundred years until He graciously descended in
glory to Solomons temple. Here He dwelled until the wickedness of His people
caused Him to abandon that house also and give it up to destruction by
Nebuchadnezzar (Ezek. 10: 18, 19; 11: 23). Never
since has God dwelled among
(5) Applications to ourselves.
Thus the type shows that the
indwelling of God may be withdrawn.
It had not been possible for the Chaldeans to destroy the temple while
the God of glory was there. It had not
been possible for Satan to destroy the bodies of the wicked brethren at
Surely it cannot be fairly doubted that this corresponds to
patent facts and explains them. There are
men once owned much by God as His servants, once so filled with His Spirit that
men came into contact with God in them, but upon whom for long years Ichabod
has been plainly written, The glory
is departed! There are Sardian
churches of whom it is sadly true that they have a name to live and are really
dead (Rev. 3:
1).
But if they are [spiritually] dead then the [Holy] Spirit
of life cannot be in them. It is
spiritual folly to maintain a theory against facts. Wisdom
admits the facts and accepts the remedies (Rev. 3: 3, 18, 20).
Every [regenerate] believer might be indwelled by the
Spirit of God, but not every [regenerate] believer is; every [regenerate]
believer might know this indwelling to the end of life, but not every
[regenerate] believer does. And hence the powerful warning before us:
"Whose house are we [emphatic] IF the boldness and the
boasting of the hope [of
sharing the [manifested millennial] glory
of God; see Rom. 5:
2 [and Hab. 2: 14]] steadfast unto the end we should hold fast. The aorist subjunctive used kataschomen regards the holding fast as one
continuous act completed at the end of each life, and the verb takes emphasis
at the close of the sentence. If with the subjunctive declares a condition.
Being to God as a dwelling place depends upon
steadfastness of hope and of witness to that hope.* Similarly does
[* See the authors book The Personal Indwelling of the Holy Spirit.]
By the third century the hope of the gospel had been too
generally abandoned, though they still professed the faith; they avowed
salvation to come through Christ and His death, but had given up His return [and consequent millennial reign (Ps.
110:
2;
Luke 1: 32, R.V.)] as the true hope of the Christian. In consequence the
many who named the Name readily accepted the proposal of the world to become
the official State religion, and the presence and power of God in the churches
that did so soon ceased. Thenceforth it
has been the minority that have confessed the hope and walked in Abrahams path
as a stranger among the peoples, and always it has been among such that the
spiritual glory of God has been displayed.
As regards the church of this age and its testimony, it began
with Pentecost, it will end with
apostasy (Matt.
24: 12; 2
Thess. 2:
1-3; 1
Tim. 4: 1-3). The
grave peril is that we may fall from our own
steadfastness (2 Pet. 3: 17). Whether one will reach the [millennial]
glory and rule the
nations depends upon whether he overcomes and keeps the Lords works unto
the end (Matt. 24: 13; Rev. 2:
26). Salvation from perdition is
definitely without works (
ii. Messiahs
Companions. (3: 14). Moses
had his personal attendant, Joshua.
David had the kings friend, Hushai (1 Chron. 27: 33).
Rehoboam had the young men that were grown up
with him, that stood before him (2 Chron. 10: 8). The
Lord in His [messianic] kingdom will have those who walk about with Him in white, arrayed thus in white
garments then because they overcame now in the battle with sin and did not
defile their garments here (Rev. 3: 4, 5). They
are the called and chosen and faithful (Rev.
17: 14). It is faithfulness that matters.
To the little band who, in spite of failings and failures, had
gone through with their Teacher and Lord to the end, He said: I come again, and [at that time, i.e., at the time of their resurrection,
(1 Thess. 4:
16)] will receive you unto Myself, that where I am [at any time] ye
may be also (John 14: 3). He had
said before: If Me any one serve, Me let him follow; and where
I am there shall also My servant be: if
any one serve Me, him will the Father honour (John
12: 26). Complacency makes this to read, If any one
believes on Christ as Saviour, he shall be with Christ and be honoured by the
Father. But the Lord said that
companionship with Himself, and being honoured by the Father, results from
serving and following. And the context
is that following Christ involves being a corn of wheat that dies to itself
that it may live in others. Therefore
let the believer ask: Whose interests am I serving:
Christs or my own, Christs or those of this world? Whose maxims, whose example, whose ambitions and ends do I follow: those of Christ or of
others? In the nature of the case only
one who does literally follow the steps of another can arrive where that other
arrives. Another path will lead to
another place.
The summit of the Christians true ambition is the immediate
presence and continual company of the Son of God in glory. [Page 72] The
honour and the bliss of this is otherwise pictured as
the mutual joy of bridegroom and bride.
He and I in
that bright glory
One great joy shall share;
Mine to be for ever with
Him,
His that I am there.
Elsewhere this dignity
is set forth as sitting with [Christ] the King on the royal dais at a banquet (Luke 22: 30), and again, as sharing His throne (Rev. 3: 21). In all such relationships the dominant
thought is that of sharing habitually the personal company of the Lord. And this is the distinctive element in the
word companions, i.e. being habitually in the company
of one another; and it is equally the distinctive thought of the word thus
translated metochos.
To his translation of Heb. 3: 1, where
this word is found (partakers of a heavenly calling), Darby adds the note: Here metochoi, who have been made, called to be, partakers of it. They had been koinonoi of
Too many Christians are content to have a share in the common salvation, and show little desire or care to
enjoy the company of the Lord or of their fellow-partners. How shall such indifference here lead to
intimacy there? No; ch. 1: 9, using the same word, speaks of the Lord having companions; our present verse (3: 14) declares
that companions [emphatic] of the Christ [the Messiah] we
have become if at least [eanper] the beginning
of the assurance unto the end steadfast we may hold. We have become such companions as regards the calling and
purpose of God, and we may enjoy this privilege already in heart fellowship
with Christ: we shall become such in outward and visible and glorified
reality IF we are steadfast unto the end of our course. It is reaching well the end of the race that matters as to gaining the prize. He who fails in staying power, and does not
reach the goal, does not lose his [eternal] life, but he does lose the prize. It will be much to be in the kingdom of the
saved: it will be far, far more to be a companion of the King. Ponder this second IF!
Note on eanper,
if. It comes here and at 6:
3 only in the New Testament. It is not found in LXX, but Grimm-Thayer [Page 73] here is wrong in stating it is not in the Old Testament Apocrypha. It is in 2 Mace. 3: 38,
and the passage distinctly shows its emphatic sense. Heliodorous had been sent by the king of
iii.
Reaching
Nothing is clearer than that every redeemed Israelite that
left
That
[* Anti-millennialists and Post-millennialists
take note: we are not speaking here of entering Heaven! or of earth during
this evil age! Num. 14: 23; Psa. 95: 11; Heb. 4: 1, R.V. Their unbelief and disobedience occurred after
they sheltered under the lambs blood in
What is the antitype of
The two last particulars show that neither justification [by faith] nor eternal life is in view, for
these are described plainly as free gifts (Rom. 3: 24; 6: 23). Free (dorean, charisma) means free of conditions,
what is termed in law an absolute gift, as distinct from a conditional gift; a gift which therefore can neither be withdrawn by the donor
nor forfeited by the receiver. See Note A after
ch. XIII, p. 196.
What, then, does
Slavery in Egypt is Rom. 1 and 2:
redemption by blood is Rom. 3 to 5: freedom
from Egypt, by passing through the Red Sea, is Rom.
6, baptism into fellowship with Christ in
His death and risen life: the wilderness is Rom.
7: the crossing the Jordan is Rom. 8: 1-17,
experimental transference from being in flesh
(the wilderness) to being in spirit (the land
of promise), and thus becoming free from bondage and its fear, even as Israel
lost the reproach of having been a slave race by being circumcised at Gilgal,
at the entrance of the land. This leads
to Rom. 8:
15, 16,
the joy of adoption and communion, so as to
become heirs of the goodly land thus reached. This in turn involves suffering with Christ (Rom.
8: 17, 18), as
[* Compare the word saved in verse 24 with 1
Pet. 1: 5, 9; Jas. 1: 12, 21, R.V.]
For the Christian [awaiting the time of resurrection] this hope is to be realized at the redemption of the body (Rom.
8: 23). Thus the sequence of thought has reached the
second coming of our Lord. Now His own
final word as to that His advent is that He will come as the root and
offspring of David (Rev. 22: 16); that is to say, that David in his
rejection, hardships, and wars was a type of Christ, now rejected and hidden,
but whose public appearing will secure victory over Satan, with liberation for the earth, and glory for those who fought and
suffered with Him. Thus did David's return to public life free
But Rom. 8: 19-21 adds the material feature that at that
revelation of our now absent Lord, with the many sons who by then will have
been brought unto glory, there is to be
a releasing of creation itself from its pains and groans. Previous [divine] prophecies had foretold this, as Ps.
72: 16; Isa. 11: 6-9; 30: 23-26; 55: 12, 13;
etc. In other words the period we have
now reached in this line of thought is the
millennial reign of Christ, the Prince of peace, the foreshadowing of which
was the earlier [Page 75] part of Solomons reign of peace and
glory. But failure marked the close of
that period, and failure will mark the close of the Millennium (Rev. 20: 7-10);
whereupon will follow a final judgment and final reconstruction of [the new] heaven
and earth, a new [creation] and eternal order.
Thus
Seeing that failure and sorrow marked
This urgent theme will come again in ch. VI, where
iv. The
Rest of God. There remaineth therefore a sabbatism to the people
of God. (4: 9).
(1) Restfulness of nature is an essential quality of God. A restless, anxious being could not be
God. This eternal quietness of spirit
results from omnipotence. The
consciousness of possessing entirely adequate resources prevents fear of
contingencies, indeed, foreknowledge allows of no contingencies.
(2) But rest of spirit is compatible with activity. When sin had disturbed the original order of
creation (Gen. 1,
2), God acted, became active, the Spirit of God moved, and God said, and thus set His energy in motion, and
the reconditioning, of heaven and
earth was effected (Gen. 1).
(3) That was accomplished in the six days, and on the seventh
day God rested from all His work done in those six days (Gen. 2: 2).
(4) But again sin wrought ruin (Gen.
3), and again God resumed activity to
restore order through redemption and regeneration. This activity of God is still proceeding,
even as the Son said when here, My Father worketh even
until now, [Page 76] and
[therefore] I work (John
5: 17). This working of God will continue until that
day when the Son will take over the active government of heaven and earth. Until then the Father acts, even as He said
to the Son, Sit Thou at My
right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool (Ps. 110: 1; Matt. 22: 44; and in Heb. 1: 13). This
is another key word to the plans of God.
(5) When this end shall have been achieved, and the enemies of
God and His Son have been subdued, then will God return unto His rest, as it is
written: He will rest in His love
(Zeph. 3:
17).
Now the time contemplated in this scripture is when Jerusalem is to be
saved, Israels captivity to be ended, and that people to be a joy unto Jehovah
(vers. 14
to 20), and He Himself be dwelling in their midst. This
supremacy of Christ and restoration of
This is necessitated by the very word itself, for a sabbath rest is a rest that follows labour, and
therefore cannot be that original, eternal rest of God mentioned in (1) above,
for that rest preceded Gods activities, is never disturbed,
and is not a sabbatismos. Neither can the word intend the final epoch
of [His new creation of] new
heavens and [a new (Rev.
21: 1)] earth. That
will indeed be a[nother] rest after labour, but it will not be
the hour when the Son will cease to sit at the right hand of the Father or the day when
(6) It is evident that Joshua and
(7) But it is vital to recognize that this rest is future to our present age. It is not that rest of conscience toward God
which the soul gains by reposing on the sacrifice of Christ, nor is it that
peace of mind which is promised concerning the trials of the desert way and
which trust on God confers (Isa. 26: 3, 4; Phil. 4: 4-7). These are a blessed foretaste of the other,
but are not the Sabbath rest of God. For
these are our rest in God, [Page 77] the other God calls His own
rest, My rest.
This cannot intend rest of conscience or freedom from fear of foes or of
to-morrow, such distresses being wholly impossible to God.
The English Versions greatly obscure
the meaning here by inserting a very
small word, reading we who have believed do
enter into that rest (ver. 3). The
Greek says: For enter into the rest we
(or those) having believed. This last verb is an aorist participle, which shows, as the context here indicates, that
the whole course of faith is viewed as a completed
[or finished] act of faith. The course is finished, the goal is reached,
and faith has characterized the runner to
the end.
This is the more abundantly clear from ver. 10: For the one entering into His [Gods] rest, also himself rested from
his works as God did from His own works, Rested is
again an aorist, and signifies that
the [regenerate] believer has laboured and has reached
once for all his [millennial] rest.
But this is precisely what no saint does while life on earth lasts [or at any time before his or her
Resurrection, (1 Thess. 4: 16. cf.
John 14: 3;
Acts 2: 34;
2 Tim. 2:
18; Heb. 11: 40; Rev. 6: 9-11, etc.)].
Now is our period of toil and conflict, and to us who are afflicted rest
comes at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven
(2 Thess. 1:
7).
(8) it appears therefore that the full intent of Gods solemn
words to Israel in the wilderness meant more than that they should not enter
Canaan at that time, but also that they
should not share in that larger and more glorious era to which God has looking
forward as to be His own rest, that is, the time and rule of Messiah. This need cause no surprise, for it is
certain that both Abraham and Moses had been instructed as to that future era,
even as Christ said: Your father Abraham rejoiced to
see My day, and he saw
it and was glad (John 8: 56). Now
the period of the Lords humiliation was not His day
but part of mans day. The day of the
Lord is the chief Old Testament term for His second coming and rule in glory.
Likewise with Moses.
It was the prospect of reward in
Messiahs day that strengthened him to bear the loss and reproach of
espousing the cause of Messiahs people (11:
25, 26);
and the close of his final prophecies shows how much he had been taught as to
that era and that he passed on this knowledge to Israel (Lev. 26: 40-45; Deut. 32: 35-43; 33: 26-29).
It is clear that Israelites of like
faith with Abraham were governed by like faith as to Messiahs day. This our Writer will display in ch. 11. It is the great theme of all the prophets,
and of them all Christ has said that they shall share in the kingdom with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also many from all lands; while many of the sons of the kingdom, the natural heirs to it, shall forfeit that era through lack of
faith (Matt. 8:
10-12; Luke 13: 28, 29). Joshua
the high priest and Zerubbabel are promised a share in that day as their reward for [Page 78] fidelity here (Zech.
3: 6-10; Hag. 2: 23). Daniel also (Dan.
12: 13),
as well as all who, like Abraham, have foregone this present world to lay up
treasure in heaven (Matt. 19: 21; Luke 18: 22; and contexts), and have so acted as to secure their recompense
at the resurrection of the righteous, the first resurrection (Luke 14: 14).
(9) To the line of thought here being developed, concerning
sharing or not sharing in the millennial kingdom, it will be objected that it
will put the Christian under law as regards this prospect, and will negative
grace. This is a misconception. The fact that Abraham and Moses lived in the
light and power of Christs day before the law had been given at Sinai shows
the true grounds of their hope to have been independent of that law. The argument of Gal.
3: 15 - 4: 31 applies
here. The law came in later for certain
needful ends, but it did not affect the preceding covenant with Abraham. This latter included, not only justification
but the promise of being heir of the world (Rom. 4: 13) and so of sharing in the day of Messiah, for only then will all the families of the earth be blessed under the covenant of God with
Abraham (Gen. 12:
3).
Again, it was before Sinai that Moses
accepted the reproach of Christ, looking on to His day for the reward.
Again, Joshua and Caleb reached that typical promised land, not because they were punctilious observers
of the Levitical law, but on quite independent grounds. These were as follows (Num. 14: 7-9; 13: 30):
(a) They set a just value upon their inheritance: The land is an
exceeding good land. (b) They had a just confidence in God: If Jehovah delight in us, then He will bring us into this land. (c) They had a just fear of the sin of
rebelling against God: only rebel not against Jehovah. (d) They had a just disregard of enemies and obstacles:
neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their
defence is removed from over them [that is, their demon gods will prove
powerless], and Jehovah is with us: fear them not ... Let us go up
at once and possess it; for we are well able to
overcome it.
By contrast, the rest of the men of war (a) despised the pleasant land, (b) believed not Gods word of promise to give them that land (Ps. 106: 24), and believed not in
His wondrous works (Ps. 78: 32; Num. 14: 11). (c) They were rebellious from the
(10) An all-inclusive fact and principle are stated in the
inspired words: So then they that are of faith are
blessed with the faithful Abraham ... and if ye are Christs, then are
ye Abrahams seed, heirs according to promise (Gal.
3: 9, 29). All
blessings, earthly and heavenly, to all men, Jews and Gentiles, flow through
the covenant of grace God made with Abraham.
But each who would inherit must exercise the faith of the faithful
Abraham (Rom. 4:
12, 13),
even the kind of faith that made him a pilgrim and alien as to this scene where
men distrust his God.
This covenant is
revocable as against the distrustful and rebellious of the children of Abraham. God had ratified that covenant with an oath;
but upon the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea
God cancelled that oath by another oath to the contrary (Num. 14: 23, 28; Ezek. 20: 5, 6, 15). There is here no inconsistency on the
part of God. To the covenant with
Abraham that his seed should possess the land God had added a condition that
they should be circumcised (Gen. 17). Now Rom. 2: 28, 29 shows that circumcision to be valid and effective must
include circumcision of the heart, not merely of the flesh, and be shown by a
man keeping the law of God in spirit not merely in the letter. These men who came out of
The righteousness of Christ is necessary to entitle us to heaven, personal holiness to qualify
us for it. Without the former we could have no claim to glory; without the latter we could have no fitness for it (Wesley: Wesley
Studies, p. 205).*
* I use
this terse statement simply as it stands in the work cited. Its context I have not seen.
In consequence, God said to the 600,000 ye shall know My alienation,
i.e. as the margin, the revoking of My [Page 80] promise, for though that promise was
confirmed by an oath, it was limited by
a condition (Num. 14: 34). The
word alienation is noteworthy. It comes elsewhere only in Job 33: 10,
where the afflicted saint expressed his misconception of Gods ways by saying He findeth against me causes of alienation, He
counteth me for His enemy. In
Jobs case that was pure misapprehension, but as to Israel in the wilderness,
some seven centuries later Isaiah said with sorrow that, in spite of Gods most
abundant mercy and care, they rebelled, and grieved His holy Spirit: therefore
He was turned to be their enemy, and Himself
fought against them (Isa. 63: 9, 10). What Job
wrongly feared was his case, was actually their case.
Thus their failure to
reach both the typical rest and to secure the millennial rest is here solemnly
urged upon us as a warning and an incentive. It is not at all a question of them having
been under law and we being under grace, for as regards the promised
land, the rest of God. the heirship of the
world, they were not heirs through Sinai
but through Abraham, and through grace, as we also are and on the same terms
and conditions, even that we must walk in the faith of our father Abraham.
Who would share Abrahams blessing
Must Abrahams path pursue;
A pilgrim and a stranger,
Like him must journey through.
The foes must be
encountered,
The dangers must
be passed;
Only a faithful
soldier
Receives the crown at last.
- Paul
Gerhardt.
3. The
Practical Applications.
1 Harden not your
hearts 3: 8. The call of God ran counter to their
inclinations. It was a clear command; Go
up! but it threatened trouble and danger, which the
weakness of unbelief could not face, so they hardened their wills against
it. Of this God said: this people despise Me
tempt Me ... murmur against Me ... reject the land ...
[they are] an evil congregation (Num. 14: 11, 22, 27, 31, 35). This
is Gods view of unbelief and disobedience.
ii. Are there not Christians who have
distinctly heard the call of God to Go up! - up into a
higher, richer spiritual life with Himself, and to devotion to His will and His
cause among men, but for whom the cost seemed. too
high? It involved loss of friends, or
marriage, or business prospects, and portion and honour in this world and,
perhaps there [Page 81] threatened also overt opposition,
persecution, disgrace. Have not true
children of God failed at such tests?
Alas, I could narrate cases from personal knowledge.
Such turning back from the holy
commandment involves a deliberate decision, a deliberate hardening of the will
against God: this provokes Him to holy wrath, it greatly displeases Him (3: 8-10); it is described in ver.
12 as apostasy from
God, the living. Apostasy is to take up a different position
from that formerly occupied. Faith adopts the attitude of obedience to God;
rebellion is apostasy, the reverse attitude to faith the contrary attitude to
that of Abraham, Moses, and Christ, each of whom is described as faithful.
iii. This
hardening of the heart results from the deceitfulness of sin (13). At such crises of apostasy the [regenerate] believer may beguile himself by most deceitful reasonings in
his heart. He may say I am saved from hell,
other things are not of great consequence! or, I am a
subject of sovereign grace; these fearful warnings cannot apply to me, but
must refer to the unregenerate! Or, I
belong to the body of Christ, and I must share in the first resurrection or His
body would be incomplete! Or, God is not
a stern taskmaster, but a loving Father; He will not think too hardly of His
child for loving the pleasant things of time: indeed, are they not His own
gifts for my enjoyment? Or, The letter kills, it is the spirit that matters, so I need
not put too strict obedience to the letter of Scripture! Or, Quite good
people act as I propose to do: indeed, Joshua and Caleb are a negligible
minority! Or, If
I take the course I wish - if I marry an unconverted partner, or if I enter a
business partnership with such, I may win him or her for Christ! Or, If I make money
and grow rich, I can do much good with it!
Or, I can use a high position in this world to promote morality!
By a such specious deceits, the more specious that in part
they are perverted truths the heart is hardened, the rebellious spirit is
confirmed and may reach permanence, until the [regenerate] believer risks the solemn sentence They shall not enter into My rest, but shall die in
the wilderness; they shall never pass from Rom.
7 into Rom.
8. For it is only if so be that we suffer with Christ that we shall be glorified
with Him (Rom. 8: 17).
The spiritual desert is strewn with spiritual skeletons. The all-knowing God knows that they are those
of His faithless children, and at last the Spirit of life shall breathe into
them resurrection energy unto eternal life (John 5: 28, 29; 6: 39, 40, I will raise him up
at the
last day; Rev. 20: 5); but such will have missed the [millennial*] rest of God, to their permanent loss.
[* That is, when the creation will be freed from the bondage of the corruption into
the freedom of the glory of the children of the God (Rom. 8: 21, Gk.): but there will also be work done during this time.]
iv. Therefore the urgent word of Ps. 95, To-day, is repeated in our passage no less than five
times 3: 7,
13, 15; [Page 82] 4: 7,
twice). To-day! Give immediate attention; render instant
obedience to the call of God to go forward.
Do this to-day IF ye shall hear His voice
offering to you this noble prospect. Should
you harden your heart perhaps He will not again give the call, or perchance you
may have become dull of hearing (5: 11) and may not hear His voice; but if you do hear
it, oh, give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience
(4: 11). We, as they, have had good tidings preached
unto us; let each see to it that the message enters an honest and good heart,
there to be mixed with faith, the faith that at once obeys the call, otherwise
that word will be but as indigestible food which does not profit the receiver;
yea, let it be our care to unite at once
by faith with that minority who have preceded us in giving to God full
obedience and confidence.
Let us be encouraged by the fact that we shall join the minority. A great teacher said: Brethren, we have a saying, Great is the truth and will
prevail: but this is never so in this age; in this age truth is always with the
minority; and so convinced am I of this, that if I find myself agreeing with
the majority I make haste and get over to the other side, for I know I am wrong
(Dr. A. T. Pierson). The sabbath rest remains, the offer is open still: if it should
be repeated to you personally, then oh, give diligence! Comp. 2 Pet. 1: 5-11, esp. 5 and 10.
v. 4: 12, 13. Obedience to the Word of God is the crucial
matter. God is the living God, not a dead or quiescent Being. He cannot be ignored with impunity, not even
by His children. He has living energy;
power to succour, power to punish. His
word likewise is a living word; it is never obsolete, inoperative, ineffective,
a dead letter. It is active, two-edged,
pointed; it cuts, it pierces, it dissects.
Blessed are they who welcome its surgery, for it promotes health;
miserable is he who resists its point and edge.
For if the words of a sinful mortal can be sharp as a two-edged sword (Prov. 5: 4), how much more those of the sin-hating God.
This word of God enables us to distinguish between what in our
thoughts and intentions is merely natural, of the soul, and what is spiritual,
of the Spirit of life working in us. It
is all too easy to be actuated mainly, or even only, by the instincts and
notions of the natural man. It was very
natural that
The joints connect the limbs together, the marrow is the
vehicle of life; without the latter, joints and limbs were dead,
powerless. Similarly, the soul contains
and combines our [Page 83] various faculties; but these are dead
Godward unless vitalized by the life of God acting through the regenerated
spirit of man. This distinction is
peculiar to the Word of God, and it is vital to a right conception of the
perils and the possibilities of the believer.
Therefore did Paul dwell upon it at the very outset of his letter to the
carnal or the natural Christians at Corinth, so that they might learn to distinguish
between soul and spirit as the divergent sources and spheres of our inward
life, and might cease from the carnal, rise above the natural (the soulish),
and live by the instincts and impulses of the spiritual. Spirit means
here the new nature begotten in the believer by the new birth, by which
thenceforth he is to live: walk by spirit and desires
of flesh ye shall in no wise fulfil ... If we
live by spirit, by spirit also we should walk
as our new rule of life (1 Cor. 2: 10 - 3: 3; Gal. 5: 16-25; Rom. 8: 1-16).
It is of the highest importance to recognize these two types
of life, the soulish and the spiritual; for this distinction, and these two
realms and orders of life, are manifest in His sight before Whose
all-penetrating eyes all things are naked and laid open. It is with having to face such an One that we have to reckon. We may deceive ourselves, and fondly think
that the soul life, because it does not indulge the viler lusts of the flesh
(carnality), will pass His scrutiny. But
the heavenly world, to which we are called, is spiritual, not soulish, and only
that element of our present life and activity which is of the spirit is
preparing us for that upper and purer realm or contributes to our fitness for
it and its activities. As with the
resurrection body, the outer man, so much more must it be with the inner man,
that the spiritual must swallow up the soulish (1
Cor. 1: 5:
44-46). It is in the soul that our severest perils
rise and work; it is in the natural heart that sin deceives us, and never more
subtly and successfully than by the notion that the natural life is sufficient
though not infused by the light and energy of the spiritual life.
It is our wisdom to submit always to the searching,
challenging, directing, enabling action of Gods
words; for His life is in His words, they are
spirit and they are life (John 6: 63), the life that is life indeed. To-day, if ye shall hear His voice, harden
not your hearts, but rather, as is the design of these present pages, exhort one another day by day,
so long as it is called to-day, i.e. so long as the offer of the
heavenly calling is open and the glory of God is still set forth for faith to attain.
* *
*
[Page 84]
PART
II: THE PRIEST
CHAPTER VII
THE PREPARATION OF THE PRIEST
(4: 14 - 5: 10)
Ch. 4: 14. Having then a great high priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we have not a high
priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that
hath been in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of
grace, that we may receive mercy, and
may find grace to help us in time of need.
Ch. 5: 1. For every high priest, being taken from
among men, is appointed for men in things
pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sins; 2 who can bear gently with the ignorant and erring, for that he
himself also is compassed with infirmity; 3 and by reason thereof is bound, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer
for sins. 4 And no man taketh the
honour unto himself, but when he is called of God, even
as was Aaron. 5 So Christ also glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that
spake unto him,
Thou art my Son, This day
have I begotten thee:
6 as he saith also in another place,
Thou art (a) priest for
ever* after the order of Melchizedek.
7 Who in the days of his
flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear; 8 though he was (a) Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 and having been made perfect, he became
unto all them that obey him the
author of eternal** salvation; 10 named of God (a) high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
[* The Greek
here reads:
a high priest for the age, according
to the order of Melchizedek. **
he [Christ] became to all those obeying him a cause of salvation
age-lasting.
See NOTE1 on
Greek word aionian, which is here translated into English as eternal, at the end of G. H. Langs commentary.]
IN the opening description of the dignities and offices of the
Son of God it was mentioned that He made purification
of sins (1: 3). The means by which He did this were indicated
in 2: 14,
15: He became man, taking part in flesh and
blood, in order that He might die, an event impossible to Him in His original
condition in the form of God. But only by
death could He provide a righteous and lawful deliverance for [Page 85] creatures in bondage to death under the just law of the holy God.
A further result of becoming man was that He obtained
experimental acquaintance with the essential elements in the case of those He
came to rescue, and in particular with the power of their Enemy the devil, as
he tempts them to rebellion, and their own weakness against him. By these various and severe trials He became
able to sympathize with and to succour those who will accept His service unto [their eternal] salvation. Through sufferings He was perfected; not, that is, as to His moral nature and
character, for these were inherently perfect; He was always completely devoted
to the will of God; but perfected as the Author of [eternal] salvation for sinful man (2: 10).
The keen tests which the devil was permitted to apply to Him
served to show that He was without sin, and so without liability to the law of
God, and therefore able, as one [Who is impeccable and] rich in
righteousness, to accept and discharge the liabilities to the Divine law of
sinners wholly bankrupt morally, with no righteousness to present to God.
Criminals under sentence of death have no access to their
Sovereign. Any hope of reprieve must arise
by the activities on their behalf of some person acceptable to the Sovereign
and having access to him. In
It is upon this High Priest that we are exhorted to fix our
attention: consider the Apostle and High Priest of our
confession, even Jesus (3: 1); and,
having turned aside to enforce the need of this by the solemn considerations
that follow in chs. III and IV, the Writer now returns to the main theme and
enlarges upon the priestly labours of the Son of God.
2. The Fact and use of the Priest (4: 14-16). The following features are presented for our
attention.
i. The Priest exists. We
have Him. The present participle having indicates that He exists and acts as priest
continuously, without intermission. At
all times He is available.
ii. He is no insignificant person.
Jeroboam was ready to appoint as priest any nobody that came along (I Kings 13: 33);
but Gods Priest is great in person and
standing and power.
[Page 86]
iii. He is high priest, not a
subordinate. He has access to the throne,
He has authority over all Gods affairs, He dispenses all Gods bounties, He can introduce unto God all whom He will (Matt.
11: 27; John 6: 37-40).
iv. He has passed through the heavens, as the high priest in
v. He is Jesus, the man of human nature, experience, sympathy. The man Who never
drove away even one who sought Him, but right warmly welcomed all; He is
Bunyans Man at the Gate into the Kings highway, Who when the trembling
pilgrim asked if he could pass in, replied With all
my heart!
vi.
He is the Son of God, personally
acceptable to the Father, the Son He loves pre-eminently; able to understand
God and His rights and able to meet them fully; even as He understands man and
his needs and is able to meet them fully.
He is the perfect Mediator, able perfectly to understand both parties, God and man.
vii. He is without sin. In
Him there was nothing carnal to respond to temptation. He felt it, indeed, the more keenly that His
susceptibilities were not dulled by sinful indulgence; but in Him there was no
response to its overtures, but perfect revulsion and complete rejection. He suffered under temptation, suffered exquisitely, agonizingly (Luke 22: 44);
but He did not succumb.
3. Our Response. Because of this full provision to meet our need we are required.
i.
To hold fast our
confession. The heathen confesses Siva,
The power for this confession is that the heart be in the
present enjoyment of the mighty facts expressed in the name Jesus
the Son of God. If He is to me what this name means then
I shall talk about Him; one cannot help doing so. As Spurgeon said: We are
fools for Christs sake, and therefore we must be allowed to preach Christ
crucified, for every fool talks about what is uppermost in his mind.
ii. We must draw near unto God. Jonah fled from Him, with painful
results. The publican (Luke 18) sought His mercy, but could get no nearer
than the front gate of His holy house, where the victim on the altar procured
for him pardon. He was justified there
and then; but he went down to his own house, he dared not go forward into Gods
house, for the way into the holy place had not yet been made manifest (9: 8).
But since Calvary the veil is rent, the new, the living way
has been dedicated for our use (10: 20), God is personally accessible; the Mediator is
there to bring us to God in peace, and we are therefore to draw near, not merely to come (as A.V.) but to draw near,
as Moses to the burning bush (Acts 7: 31), and Philip to the chariot of the eunuch (Acts 8: 29)
(where the same word is used), and we are to do so with boldness. Then we shall learn that we have access to
the throne whence issue decisions against which lies no appeal, and shall
experience that at this holy throne we are sure of grace, of undeserved Divine
favour, the favour deserved only by the Son but shared by Him with the sons.
So near, so
very near to God, nearer I cannot be,
For in the person of the
Son, I am as near as He.
It is needful to hold this as a doctrine, to hold it
tenaciously, but this is not enough. One may hold the doctrine,
yet break down as a confessor. The soul
must be in the joy of it all: realization is
everything in the things of God (A. N. Groves). And he who, by confidence in the Priest, with
the energy of His Spirit of sonship, does thus enter into the presence of God
in heart consciousness, and does this habitually, will find that he gains there
what can be gained nowhere else, even mercy to forgive his failings, and grace,
that is, succour and strength, to meet every need of his pilgrim life as a
confessor of God and His Son.
4.
The High Priest (vers. 1-10). Such
boldness toward God is the very opposite of presumption, seeing that it is God
Himself who has made the approach possible by appointing the adequate
Mediator. We ought to draw near with
assurance for, on account of, the High
Priest. To seek God tremblingly is to
show that the soul has no proper appreciation of Christ or reliance upon Him.
[Page 88]
There were certain features applicable to every high priest of old.
i. He was taken
from
among men. He is no stranger to the parties he has to
represent in court. He is one of their
race and nature.
ii. He was
appointed for men; the office exists for their benefit.
iii. His special sphere was the things pertaining to God. It
was his office to adjust mans relations with God. He meets the claims of God against the
guilty; He instructs the godly how to please God and infuses into them His
strength to do this.
iv. With this in view He
presented to God two kinds of
offering, namely, gifts and sacrifices for sins.
Gifts have priority, for angels and men offered to God gifts of love and
gratitude before sin entered; and unfallen angels and redeemed men will
continue to do so for ever after the Son
shall have reconciled heaven and earth to God, having removed in reality
the sin that He put away judicially by the sacrifice of Himself on the
cross. This priority was recognized by
that discerning scribe who said that to love God with
all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and
love his neighbour as himself, is much more than
all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices (Mark
12: 33). To re-establish this normal condition is the
work and object of the High Priest, to which end holy angels and reconciled men
are privileged to co-operate with Him and each other.
v.
Personal infirmity. The Priest knows by experience the
weakness attaching to human nature. It
is as a chain hampering movement and restricting freedom (Acts 28: 20);
yea, as a millstone slung around the neck and threatening one with destruction
(Mk. 9: 42; Luke 17: 2); or (as in the only other place (12: 1) where
the word [peirkeimai] comes) it
is a crowd encompassing one, which may impede progress. All this the High Priest knows by experience,
and so
vi. He can deal
gently, or, more
accurately, can moderate his feelings (metriopatheo) toward those who fail. Human nature forms swift and severe opinions
about failing fellow-mortals, and is ready to pass harsh judgment. But the truly qualified priest remembers his
own weakness. As he watches the criminal
going to the gallows, he says: But for the grace of
God, there goes John Bradford.
vii. But it is with the
ignorant and the erring that
the High Priest deals gently. And the
assumption here is that they are not willingly ignorant, much less wilfully rejecting knowledge had or
available. From the word rendered ignorance comes agnostic, the self-chosen title of certain modem deniers of God, [Page 89] for whom the light of
revelation is available but they reject it.
It is not such that are here presented as the objects of pity and
sympathy, but such as are genuinely ignorant as to God and His law.
Moreover, in the word rendered erring
(planao) there is prominent the notion of one
being led astray by some malevolent deceiver or influence. The sinner is blinded by the god of this age
(2 Cor. 4:
4), who hoodwinks and beguiles Eves
children as he did Eve (2 Cor. 11: 3). And as on this account God dealt gently with
Eve and opened for her a door to freedom, so does Gods Priest treat other
deceived and ignorant souls.
But, on the other hand, for such as are wilfully ignorant in spite of opportunities of knowledge, and who willingly, from love of sin, follow
the Deceiver, there is no mercy, at least not until they repent and seek mercy. For in ch.
3: 10, the same words are associated as
regards perverse [and regenerate]
[* See Num.
16: 26-33, R.V. Repentance
from such is so urgently necessary, - (1 Cor.
5: 9 - 6: 1-8) for the unrighteous
shall
not inherit the
But where there is some sincere desire to know and to do what
pleases God, yet there is failure, even grievous failure, through ignorance and weakness, then the High Priest is compassionate and ever glad to [restore (after repentance) into
fellowship with Himself and] save, for
He knows what sore temptations mean,
For He has felt the same.
viii. All the foregoing particulars are
easily seen to apply to Christ as high priest, but how can this be said of the
connected Statement that the high priest is under obligation (opheilei),
as for the people, so
also for himself to offer for sins (ver.
3)?
There would appear to be only one sense, and this a modified sense, in
which it can be so applied, and here enters one of the deepest elements of His
sacrifice of Himself, even that, in a real sense, it was for Himself. Personally He was always without sin, as much
on the cross as before and after it. But
Jehovah made to light on Him the iniquity of us all. It was exacted and He was made answerable (Isa. 53: 7; Lowth, Newberry). Lev. 4: 24 says of
the goat offered as a sin offering that it is
sin, and the goat slain on the Day of Atonement was to be made sin
(Lev. 16: 9).
Equally of Christ it is [Page 90] said (2
Cor. 5: 21),
that Him who knew no sin God made sin on our behalf. Having thus, in divine grace, accepted the
legal responsibility of sins not His own, there was no way by which He could
release Himself from the liability save by discharging it, and in this sense
the sinless Priest and Lamb of God offered His sacrifice as for the people, so also for
Himself. By His atoning death He
delivered Himself as well as His people from death, the penalty of sin. On this account it will be said later (9: 12) that it
was through [the merit of] His own blood that He entered into the holy place. His blood was as a
key opening the holiest to Him (Alford, in loco). By assuming our guilt He debarred Himself
from entering the presence of God; by discharging our guilt He regained His
right of access, and acquired it for us also.
ix. No such priest can be self-appointed
or man-appointed but must receive his charge from God, as did Aaron (ver. 4; Exod. 28: 1; 1 Chron. 23: 13). The sin of self-appointment was met by God
with summary death, as in the case of Korah and his company (Num. 16). The sin of appointment by man caused the
destruction of Jeroboam, the appointer, and his house (1
Kings 13: 33, 34).
The writer proposes to show later that Christ has superseded
Aaron (ch. VII). He therefore
establishes his argument by showing that the Son of God did not arrogate to
Himself this honourable office. The fact
illustrates that even in His resurrection life the Son receives all from the
Father. Not only in the humble
conditions of His life on earth, but in His glorious status in heaven, He does
nothing of Himself, by His own separate
initiative or action. It is the Father
who appoints and who announces the appointment.
This last had been done in advance by the Spirit of prophecy, as in the second psalm, ver.
7. God had then said:
Thou art my Son,
This day have I begotten thee;
and later had declared (Ps. 110: 4):
Thou art priest for ever
After the order of
Melchizedek.
x. Paul described his career of
conflict and hardship as the life which I now live in
the flesh (Gal. 2: 20). It was through the body that the stem
struggle was carried on and its intensity felt.
Similarly, in ver. 7 the severe battle waged by the Son of God is
described as the days of His flesh. The
acute strain was a consequence, accompaniment, and proof of [Page 91] His humanity, its reality and sensitiveness. That humanity was no mere
but unreal semblance, as the Docetics and Gnostics taught, thereby earning the
description of deceivers and antichrist (2 John 7,
8).
So intensely real and acute were Christs human feelings and
conscious weakness that He was necessarily a man of prayer, and offered up prayers and supplications to Him that was able to
save Him. Prayers (deesis) point to the particular petitions;
supplications (hiketeria) seem
rather to hint at the lowlier rank of the petitioner, who does not prefer a
request as of title but as a suppliant. The Son
having become man felt and owned His dependence upon God. He felt also and intensely the urgency, the
desperateness of His position; it constrained Him to strong
crying and tears.
From what did He so earnestly cry to be saved? Not from the act of dying; that He had
recently faced, and had challenged Himself whether He should ask to be saved
from being as a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies. Nay, He had
replied: for this cause came
I unto this hour (John 12: 24, 27). We take the words able
to save Him out of death
to mean deliverance from the death state and realm into which He was descending
willingly, but which to the Prince of life was an awful experience. See Note at end of this chapter, p. 92.
Moreover, had He remained there, were He still there, He would
have suffered on the cross in vain; no sinner could have been justified and
redeemed, nor could He Himself have known the answer to His prayer, Now Father, glorify Thou Me
with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was
(John 17: 5). His resurrection
was indispensable and it was an answer to prayer.
How vital is piety to prayer: it was on account of His godly
fear that His prayer was heard.
xi. It was through these prolonged and
painful experiences that He, though Son to God His Father, learned what
obedience to the Fathers will costs in a world ruled by that Fathers enemy
and by sin. He did not learn to obey;
that He knew from the first by the instincts of His sinless heart: but he
learned the nature and the benefit of obedience, for thereby He became
perfectly, experimentally fitted to be the cause of
eternal salvation to those who in their turn learn to obey Him as He
obeyed the Father.
[Page 92]
Good is Chrysostoms personal application of this: If He, being Son, gained obedience from His sufferings, much
rather we (Westcott in loco).
Note to p. 91. At first sight the usage of ek
thanatou seems to vary.
(1) In 2 Cor. 1: 10, who delivered us out of (ek) so great a death,
the sense is that Paul was kept from dying. (2) It is the same in Jas. 5: 20. He who turneth back a
sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul [life] from (ek) death,
that is, from dying prematurely under the summary judgment of God. Comp. 1 John 5:
16; 1 Cor.
5: 3-6 with 2 Cor. 2: 5-10; 1 Cor. 11: 27-32; Acts 5: 1-11. (3) But in 1 John
3: 14, passed
out
of (ek) death into life, the man is viewed as having been in spiritual death and having been raised out
of it; which (4) is a
repeating of Christs words given in John 5:
24 that the believer has passed out of (ek) death into life.
But it is possible that in cases (1) and (2) above ek is
used because the deaths in question were regarded as so seemingly inevitable
that the persons were already as good as dead,
and the deliverance was reckoned to have brought them out of the death state where they were deemed to be, though not yet actually
in it.
The usage of the Septuagint
is similar. (1) In Job 5: 20 ek means kept from dying or being killed:
In famine he shall deliver thee from (ek) death, and in war he shall
free thee out of (ek)
the hand [power] of the
sword. (2) Ps. 29 (30): 3 has this sense; Lord, thou hast brought up (anegages) my soul out
of (ek)
Hades, thou hast
saved me (esosas) from (apo) those going
down into the pit. The preceding
verse shows that this was a matter of bodily healing, not of actual death and
resurrection: I cried to thee and thou didst heal me. Yet here also death may have seemed so
certain that the writer thinks of himself as having been in Hades as to his
hearts contemplation, and so of having been brought up out of it.
(3) But Ps. 33
(34): 19 has the meaning of being brought out of circumstances in
which one actually is: Many are the afflictions of the
righteous; but out of (ek) them all the Lord will save them. (4) Ps. 116: 8 reads: He has delivered my soul out of (ek) death, my
eyes from (apo) tears, and my feet from (apo) sliding. The two latter clauses require the sense of
the writer having experienced tears and sliding, which suggests a metaphorical
sense of the first clause; he was to himself as already dead, according to ver. 3: The pangs of death compassed me, the dangers of Hades found me. (5) Esther 4:
8.
Mordecai charged Esther to speak to the king
concerning us, to rescue us out of death (ek thanatou). They had not actually been killed, but
were legally dead, being under sentence of death, and so deliverance would be,
as it were, out of death. (6) The natural force of ek is seen in 1 Macc. 2: 59:
Ananias, Azaria, Misael
having trusted [in God] were saved out
of (ek) the flame. These had been literally in the fire. But (7)
in the next verse, Daniel for his innocency was
rescued from (ek) the mouth of lions.
Jude 5 speaks of Israel having been saved out
of (ek) the land of Egypt,
in which they had actually been, and in John 12:
27, the Lord regards Himself as having
already reached a certain hour for a definite purpose, and therefore He would
not ask the Father to save Him out of
(ek) this hour. This sets aside any thought that He would ask
to be saved from dying, and so requires that Heb.
5: 7* be taken, as above, as a prayer for [a select**] resurrection.
[*
Who {i.e., Messiah Jesus} in the days of the flesh of Himself, prayers both and supplications to Him {His
Father} being able to
deliver Him out of death, is how the Greek Interlinear reads.
**
Compare Matt. 17:
9:
To no one you may
tell the vision till the Son of Man out of (ek) dead be raised. With Mark 9:
9:
he
[Christ] ordered them that to no one {the} things which they saw they should relate, except when the son of man out of (ek)
dead ones should be raised. 10 And the word they
kept to themselves, arguing, what is that out of (ek) dead ones to be
raised.]
* *
*
[Page 93]
CHAPTER VIII
THE THIRD WARNING
(5: 11 - 6: 20)
Ch. 5: 11. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of
interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of
hearing. 12 For when by reason of the
time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that some one teach you the
rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. 13 For every one that partaketh of milk is
without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for full-grown men, even those
who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
Ch. 6: 1. Wherefore let us cease to speak of the first principles of
Christ, and press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God; 2 of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands,
and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do if God permit. For as touching those who
were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were
made partakers of the Holy Spirit; 5 and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to
come; 6 and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto
repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
shame. 7 For the land which hath drunk the rain that cometh oft upon
it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled,
receiveth blessing from God: 8 but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is
rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to
be burned.
9 But, beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you, and things that accompany
salvation, though we thus speak: 10 for God is not unrighteous to forget
your work and the love which ye shewed toward his name, in that ye
ministered unto the saints, and still do
minister. 11 And we desire that each one
of you may shew the same diligence unto the fulness of hope even to the end: 12 that ye be not sluggish, but
imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
13 For when God made promise to Abraham, since he
could sware by none greater, he sware by himself;
14 saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men sware by the greater: and in every dispute of
theirs the oath is final for confirmation. 17 Wherein God, being minded to shew more abundantly unto the
heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath: 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for
God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us; 19 which we have as an anchor
of the soul, a hope both sure and stedfast and entering into that which is within
the veil; 20 whither as a forerunner
Jesus entered for us, having become (a) high priest for ever
after the order of Melchizedek.
AGAIN
the flow of teaching is stayed, by a blockage in the understanding of the
readers. This leads to another serious
exhortation. Observe
1. The Persons
warned. They have spiritual life, for they
have spiritual hearing, and spiritual appetite for milk. They are distinctly
compared to infants; they have capacity for growth, and they can walk, for they
are exhorted to press on. Evidently they
are not dead persons, for to such none of these activities is possible.
Moreover, the Writer will shortly term them beloved, will commend their work, and the love which
they showed toward Gods Name, in that they ministered unto the saints and
still minister (6: 10),
and later he will speak of how they had endured joyfully a great conflict of suffering, with the spoiling of their possessions; assured, as they
were, of a better and abiding possession (10:
32-36). It was steadfastness that they now
needed. But no one exhorts the dead to
be steadfast. These addressed,
therefore, had spiritual life, were [regenerate] Christians.
2. The Need for Warning. Their
hearing was less acute than it had been: ye have
become (gegonate) dull of hearing
(5: 11). They had been believers long enough to have
become teachers of the faith to others; but from not growing and from not
teaching [others all that the Holy Spirit had made know] they were losing ground. We must
teach, or we shall forget what we know.
Ceasing to give, we cease to have;
Such is the law of love. (Trench.)
As their appetite failed the power of digestion weakened. They could not now master advanced lessons or
assimilate solid food. Milk was all they
could endure, and even this light diet they could not find for themselves but
had to be spoon-fed by others. In
consequence they were weak in understanding; they found it difficult to
distinguish between good and bad food, and were in danger of arrested
development, instead of being on the way to become full-grown men. Using less and less their spiritual senses (aistheteria, the aesthetic
sensibilities) their sensitiveness in things heavenly became impaired. Such [Page 95] torpid natures can take unwholesome food, or even poison, and
not know it; they can sustain injuries and be unaware of it. There are to-day believers enough of this
type. Their dangers are many and serious;
hence the warnings given, the exhortations pressed home.
3.
The Exhortation: let us press on. He has mentioned the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God
(5: 12). He further speaks of the word of the beginning of Christ (6:
1).
It is obvious that the oracles of God and the word or message
concerning Christ had their beginning in the
Old Testament.* Therefore he who would become versed in the oracles of God and
their message concerning their chief topic, the Messiah (tou Christou), must begin with and sufficiently understand the
Old Testament. Failure in this is an
initial reason for the infantile condition of so many Christians and indeed, so
many preachers and teachers.
* After the
above was written I was glad to find the following in Nairne (The Epistle of Priesthood, 334/5), the only one of a dozen commentators
read who confirms the application to the Old Testament:
In the last
paragraph [5: 12] the
rudiments of the beginnings of Gods oracles would most naturally mean
the simplest and most obvious instruction that could be drawn from the Old
Testament. Here [6: 1] the argument of the
beginning, or first doctrine of the Christ would be that doctrine of
Christ in the Old Testament which even to a Jew meant much, though a Christian
learnt at once to fill it with a new significance. The doctrine of washings, of imposition of
hands, of resurrection and of eternal judgment, could all be found in those
books of the Old Testament in Greek which the author habitually used.
On the other hand, to learn only the A.B.C., the
multiplication table, or but the rudiments of any subject, is to remain a child
in understanding. It is for us to press
on unto full growth, to attain to years and stature, to become men of God.
This was one of Pauls last exhortations (2
Tim. 3: 14-17). Observe the progress from a babe to a man of God. It is the message
of Gal. 3:
15 - 4: 11; children are to grow up and become sons, in the
full sense of sonship, grown-up sons, able to understand and to co-operate with
their Father; and the danger with these Galatian believers, as these here, lay
in turning back to the rudimentary things and being contented with them (Gal. 4: 9). Thus were
the Ephesians also urged to grow up in all things into
Him Who is the head, even
Christ (Eph. 4: 11-16), and so
to be no longer children.
The growth of a child does not just happen. It requires at first the diligent care of
mother or nurse, feeding, washing, clothing, training it. And when that first stage has been passed,
then must the growing child, youth, man himself diligently render to himself
these same services, or growth will cease, health fail, decline set in.
[Page 96]
The Old Testament oracles give the foundation of knowledge of
God and of God-fearing living. The
foundation is indispensable and permanent, but its use is that upon it a
superstructure can be built, and without the latter it is of small value, is
incomplete. The Old Testament foundation
is formed of six elements, which form three pairs:
(1) Repentance from dead works, and
(2) Faith toward God:
(3) The teaching concerning washings,
and
(4) Laying on of hands:
(5) Resurrection of the dead, and
(6) Eternal judgment.
(1, 2) The Old Testament entire may be summarized as a
continuous call to men to repent of sin and set their trust in God. Of this repentance and faith the offering of
a sacrificial victim was an expression, being an acknowledgment by the sinner
that he deserved to die, yet trusted in the mercy of God.
(3, 4) But God sought, yea demanded, that to this judicial
transaction there be added actual visible purity, together with a renewal of
the nature and its powers by the imparting of gifts from Himself. The former was symbolized by the frequent
washings ordained under the law, the latter
accompanied the laying on of the hands of the priest.
It is clear that the distinctively Christian baptism cannot be
here meant by the plural washings, nor the laying on of hands as in New Testament times; for
these are later than the Old Testament.
Yet do these teach the same lessons as those older ordinances, namely,
personal purity and enduement from on high.
They who lay too heavy a stress on these
God-appointed externals, should observe that not the washings and the laying on
of hands themselves were part of the foundation. The passage says that it was the
teaching connected with these
that was of the foundation. This did not
warrant non-observance of the external rites, nor to-day of
the Christian rites; but it does forbid attaching virtue to the mere
outward observance without the spiritual conditions they taught being
personally realized.
(5, 6) The Old Testament did not speak much of the
resurrection or eternal judgment. Yet
must it not be inferred that these solemn prospects were little known in early
times. It would be of interest and
profit if some competent scholar would gather together the ancient pagan myths
which embody these expectations, however confused and corrupted be their
form. It would show that the primary
revelation by God included this knowledge and placed the race under
responsibility to walk as those who knew that death does not end all, [Page 97] but is followed by resurrection and judgment. And the Old Testament sufficiently emphasizes
this.
A few centuries after the Flood Abraham is found expecting
confidently the raising of Isaac to life accounting
that God is able to raise up even from the dead
(Heb. 11:
17- 19; Gen. 22: 5, we [himself and Isaac] will
come again to you). And later
men of faith anticipated the like outcome of life, so that at the close of that
Old Testament period and the commencement of the new age Martha could express
the general belief as to the dead: I know that he shall rise again in the
resurrection in the last day (John 11: 24). A
little later a learned Jew could declare in public that the hope of attaining to resurrection was
an inspiration to all pious Israelites (Acts 26:
6-8); and
in Heb. 11:
35 our Writer will mention that some of old
were expecting a better resurrection
than a speedy resuscitation after the death of the body.
These truths were therefore the foundation of true religion, and Paul could assert that his
preaching had as its basis that men should repent and
turn to God doing works worthy of
repentance, which covers points (1-4) above; and then he adds that
thus his teaching was that of the law and the prophets, fulfilled in Christ as the
Victim offered in the suffering of death and as the personal proof of
resurrection and judgment, which is points (5) and (6) above (Acts 26: 20, 22, 23).
This, then, is the foundation, and on it all godly living in
all ages has been built, and must still be built; yet it is only the foundation. It
is the foundation of Christianity, but it is not Christianity, even as the foundation is not the
superstructure. What the Lord and the
apostles built hereupon will be opened out by the Writer later; for the present
he presses the necessity of a mind, a purpose, a resolute effort to move onward
from knowing the beginning of what God taught concerning Christ to ever fuller
understanding of the complete Divine message concerning Him. To hinder a sinner from getting on to the
foundation is a first endeavour of Satan; but failing in this, then he studies
to make the believer satisfied with the foundation, and here souls innumerable are
deceived and dwarfed and despoiled. The
perils of this are great; and to warn, to exhort, to encourage, to foster
growth and advance, is the immediate object of the Writer.
To be limited to the truths that form the foundation is like
one who should repeatedly lay a foundation of a house but not build
thereon. This is what too many [bible teachers] are
doing. It marks largely the great
organized Churches; it is the basic reason why they perpetuate the ritual of
the Old Testament, and it [Page 98] explains why even true but simple
believers in such communities are commonly infantile in knowledge of the
purposes of God and in spiritual experience.
Therefore let us press on. ...
And this will we do, if [eanper, if at least] God permit. IF GOD
PERMIT! Is there then some possibility
that God will not permit a Christian to press on? Or is this merely a pious compliment to the
Almighty, an ancient form corresponding to (D.V.)? The
context will show that the remark is made with solemn intention,
that it is sadly
possible for a Christian to reach a state of soul when God in equal love and
righteousness will no more allow him to press on.
4.
The Warning (vers. 4-7). The
line of teaching along which the Writer was led by the [Holy] Spirit was that of constant reference
to the Old Testament. In these five
chapters preceding he has quoted fourteen passages, and has drawn his lessons
and warnings from the ancient histories and institutions. It is therefore somewhat surprising that
expositors have not used this feature as the key to open this present
passage. For want of it the warning has
been found difficult to explain and apply.
Is it addressed to mere professors?
Or can it apply to the regenerate?
If the latter, how does it agree with the teaching of other passages
that the life of the regenerate is eternal life and that therefore
their security from eternal death is assured?
The great second warning was drawn from the failure of
i. Enlightenment. When God was commissioning Moses to return from the desert to
ii. The
Heavenly Gift. As soon as
In response to their trust and cry God gave them manna: I will rain bread from heaven for you (Exod. 16: 4). Thus they tasted of the
heavenly gift, that gift which was the type of the true Bread
from heaven, even Jesus the Son of God, the gift of His Father to hungry men (John 6: 32 ff).
Two considerations are vital:
(1) That the English verb tasted
is here used in its less usual sense
of to
experience fully, to appreciate the quality of a thing. The
Writer has already so used it at 2: 9 that he should taste of
death, meaning that deep and thorough experience of death which the
Redeemer endured. On our present verse (6: 4) Alford
says: have tasted (personally and consciously partaken of); Grimm (Lexicon) says: to
feel, make trial of, experience; and Westeott writes: Geusasthai expresses a real and conscious enjoyment of the blessing
apprehended in its true character; and so Cremer practically and in fact to experience anything. It is not, therefore, here a mere mental or
aesthetic appreciation of Christ that is in view, as when a sceptic or social
reformer acknowledges His moral worth; it is a true heart enjoyment such as
only the regenerate can know.
(2) And this is made certain by the apostles assertion (1 Cor. 10: 3, 4)
concerning even
iii. Living Water. Directly after the giving of the manna came the smiting of the
rock and the supply of living water.
From the statement just quoted from 1 Cor.
10: 4 it
is plain that in some real degree they were made partakers
of holy spirit, that
they experienced some measure of the [Holy] Spirits grace.
Referring to that period Isaiah, seven centuries later, said: Where is He that put his holy Spirit
in the midst of them? ... the Spirit of Jehovah caused them to rest (Isa. 63: 11, 14).
That the manna and the spiritual rock accompanied them all the journey teaches that Bread and Water are the only
provision that God makes for His children in the desert. To demand more than these is disastrous.
Here, as wherever water is a type, is meant the blessed Spirit
of God (John 7: 38,
39). First manna, then water; first Christ the Bread of heaven (John 6),
then the [Holy] Spirit,
the Water of life (John 7). First
iv. The
Word of God.
Thus
v. The Coming Age. But there was another privilege of that age and this. They experienced the
powers of a coming age, and
so it has been in this age of the gospel.
Under law and under grace mighty works have been seen which
are a foretaste of the coming age, the Millennial.
The cloud of glory, which did not scatter in the fierce winds
of the desert, was a picture of that canopy of glory, which is compared to the
cloud by day and the fire by night in the desert, and which shall abide over mount Zion in that coming day when
Jerusalem [the place where Davids throne was] shall have been purged (Isa. 4:
2-6).
Gods personal and visible [bodily] presence, His daily guidance and protection, constant
supplies of food and drink, victory over enemies; healing of disease,
preservation of health; these and similar displays of heavenly powers will be
known [and seen] yet more fully in the [millennial] age of glory yet to
come. In measure they have been known in this age,
both in spiritual blessings and external advantages. This last was especially the case at the
commencement of
But not only in acts of grace were those powers displayed, but
also in chastisement upon the unfaithful in
vi. Falling away. What then is the lesson for us? [Page 102] They fell away
(parapipto); let him who thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall (pipto) (1 Cor. 10: 12). The idea [in
parapiptein] is that of falling aside from the right
path, as the idea of amartanein (sin)
is that of missing the right mark (Westcott).
When did
Thus at Kadesh Barnea they fell away, and God saw and declared that it was impossible to renew them to a change of mind,
that is, to make them thereafter dutiful and trustful. What was their cry Would
God that we had died in the
Such cases we have known.
In an eastern land it was our joy to lead to Christ a cultured
Englishman of good family. From the first
he gave a fine public witness and maintained it for several years. Then he lapsed into the darkness of theosophy
and occultism where he had wandered before his conversion, and openly
repudiated the Son of God and His atonement.
Now had he died before his lapse no one could have questioned the
reality of his conversion. But as all
those earlier years the evidence was adequate, some other explanation of his
fall must be found than the suggestion that he was never born of God, for the
facts prove the contrary. And he is but one of many cases.
Those who so readily offer this too easy explanation should
reflect that some to whom it would apply have returned to faith after many
years, thus showing the reality of the early faith. It was so with the person mentioned and the
celebrated Professor F. W. Newman is another instance. In early manhood he was an earnest, devoted
disciple, a companion of
No one therefore is justified in saying that any particular
person is beyond the possibility of repenting; nevertheless there are such who
die in this apostate state, and it is
these who are in question in Heb. 6. Their unchangeable condition is known to God
in their lifetime, though not to us.
Of the men of war, Caleb and Joshua were [named amongst the few] like the land that gives due response to the
heaven-sent blessings and bringeth forth herbs meet
for them for whose sake also it is tilled; the many were as the plot that bore only the thorns and the thistles of
faithlessness and rebellion. These
latter were rejected by God: they shall not see [after death*] the land which I sware [and promised to give as an inheritance] unto their fathers (Num.
14: 23);
for they had rejected Gods special gift.
And how nigh unto a curse they were
these awful words of their God tell: I will smite them
with pestilence, and disinherit them (ver. 12). And
just as the present end of weed-producing land is that it be burned, so it was said to them your carcases [shall] be consumed in the wilderness (ver.
33), a word which is used once again of
Israel when later on God was rejecting them nationally: The bellows blow fiercely; the
lead is consumed of the fire;
in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away. Refuse silver shall men call them, because
the Lord hath rejected them (Jer. 6: 29, 30).
[* This truth, concerning the portion of
land
on this earth (Gen. 13:
15), which God promised to give to Abraham
as an inheritance, was spoken by Stephen (Acts
7: 4b, 5, the first Christian martyr) as Scriptural proof
that Abraham was (and still is, Acts
2: 34; 2
Tim. 2: 28) awaiting his resurrection. See also
Gen. 15: 7; Psa. 2: 8; and
compare Matt. 5:
5 with Psa.
37.]
5. It will be still asked, Can such
apostasy be possible in a real child of God?
Are we not in this place at least driven to suppose that here (Heb. 6) it is
only professors making a fair show in the flesh, but not knowing the reality of
divine grace, who are described? Let us
notice:
(1) These were born
heirs to the land, being children of the covenant, and they were those
who had been actually redeemed and emancipated.
(2) The partaking
in the benefits implies the truly regenerate person.
(3) Though they
were nigh to a curse they were not actually
cursed. Their noble leader interceded
for them, and God said, I have pardoned according to
thy word; but in very deed, as I live these
rebels shall not see the land. Our
great Priest delivers His own perpetually from the wrath to come (see 1 Thess. 1: 10: delivereth),
but He cannot, and would not, hinder the
severest chastisement and loss where such are due.
(4) God saw to it
that they never did get back to
(5) Even though
they had forfeited the fullest of the proffered blessings yet did God in most wondrous
grace still deal with them as His people, and not as foes. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: [Page 104] in His love and in His pity He redeemed them;
and He bare them and carried them all the days of old
(Isa. 63:
9). For about the time of forty years suffered He their manners
in the wilderness (Acts 13: 18), feeding, clothing, guiding, and protecting
them, and in fact doing for them all that He could do short of restoring to them
the prospect of entering the land that they had rejected. It was thus, as we have already noticed, that
Reuben and Esau were dealt with by their fathers.
(6) That in Hebrews the Writer regarded those he
addressed as genuine saints is abundantly clear in the next verses (9-12). He was persuaded
better things of them, though he thus warned them: it was not of [eternal*] salvation itself but of things that
accompany [that] salvation that he was writing, not of escaping judgment and slavery in
[*NOTE. There is more than one type of salvation
mentioned throughout the Holy Scriptures, hence the words which I have placed
in brackets above. A salvation ready to be revealed in the last time
and the salvation of souls occur at
the time of resurrection! Both are
clauses refer to future salvation: which the
prophets searching what time or what manner if time the Spirit of Christ which was in them
did point unto: and this salvation has
nothing whatsoever to do with the common salvation which all the regenerate believers receive
through faith in Christ Jesis as their personal Saviour!
Jude initially wanted to write about this common salvation, but was constrained by the Holy
Spirit to write about the apostasy of those within
the redeemed family of God!
See 1 Pet. 1: 5, 9, 11; Jude 3, 5. cf.
Heb. 10: 39ff: We are not of them
that shrink back unto perdition [destruction]; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul. And so, James writing to his brethren (1: 2) exhorts them (and us
verses 18, 19)
to receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls,
R.V. For an exposition of The Salvation of the Soul see Gods Pilgrims by Philip Mauro.]
It is to be conceded that here is a picture of the extremest kind of rebellion possible, and not of what
we may term ordinary failure. Lots
conduct in deliberately consorting with the sinners of
[* Psa.
2: 8; Psa. 110: 1-3, 6.]
As in Esaus case so with these men of war, it was a
deliberate turning from high advantages offered, and indeed desired in measure, and a choice of the lower state because it seemed
easier and more immediate. And have
there not been instances of disciples facing Gods call and leading towards
high and noble living and full concentration upon heavenly things, but who,
alas, have feared to cut loose from the things that bound [them] to the world [and
the false
teachings and interpretations of unfulfilled prophetic truths
within their Christian denominations*]?
Do none ever set the heart on the things that are on the earth though
pleaded with by the [Holy] Spirit to set the mind on the things that are above? The full record of this aspect of powerful
spiritual meetings, of holiness conventions, and of private labours of men who
walk with God, has yet to be made known.
A sad chapter it will prove to be as its tale is told of how alluring business or professional
prospects, or worldly or fashionable marriage offers, or social and political
ambitions, [Page 105] yea, and even sheer carnality, not to speak of a hesitant timidity that
grieves and insults our faithful God, have caused some of His own people to
turn back from the heights of conflict and of glory to the low level of being
saved from perdition, as is believed, and then making
the best of both worlds, as is the hideously deceptive phrase, whereas
it is in reality a making the worst of both.
[* The reference here is to the words: The Presbyterian Church do not
teach that! It was a reply given by a prominent Bible teacher,
after being told that Abraham has not yet been resurrected or come into his
inheritance in the land. But, questions begging to be asked are: (1) What Christian Denomination do teach these truths?: and (2) How
many Bible teachers do have knowledge of these accountability truths, but are unwilling
to teach them to other Christians?
Saul, the first king of
Workers of long experience in the gospel have known ungodly
persons who seemed utterly callous to external solemnities and impervious to
heavenly appeals, whilst yet admitting theoretically the truth of all that the
Bible teaches. And not so infrequently
as might be thought it is learned that once or oftener such had been brought by
the [Holy] Spirit to a crisis, when a decision
for or against Christ had to be made, and that it was by deliberate rejection that the state of apathy was reached
which seems, and often proves to be, unalterable. And let those who have long and adequate
experience in seeking to serve the people of God reflect upon cases of such as
gave a clear account of a good conversion and of walking with God for a time,
but who seem immovable as regards aspiring to elevated present experience and
future and heavenly prospects. These
admit the desirability of such a life and future, but present no sign of any
determination to attain thereto. Most
certainly it is not for us to pronounce upon any individual case, but rather to
exercise the love that hopeth all things; but
it is impossible at times not to inquire
in ones own mind whether certain have not passed the limit of forbearance and
been turned back to spend their days in the wilderness: we shall press on, if God
permit.
As the [Holy] Spirit
ceases to strive with the ungodly remarked upon, so is it written of
Thus is given, and given expressly for
our
admonition, the [Page 106] supreme example of how individuals may
lose their place in the body corporate and their share in the fullest blessings
open to attainment. Of course, God will
perform His covenants, however long be the delay occasioned by His peoples
waywardness. In the fourth generation
Abrahams posterity duly returned to
It surely ought not to be needful to add that the words, whose end is to be burned, do not import the endless
perdition of those so treated. If it
means that the thorns and thistles are to be burned, that would benefit and not
finally ruin the land, and this would be a picture of the finally sanctifying
effect upon the believer of even the severest chastisement. But taking the meaning that it is the land
that is to be burned, it still remains a picture of temporary affliction, for
in any case the land abides. And though
burning it is a last resource of the farmer, yet the ultimate design and issue
is beneficial. Our
God is a consuming fire; but the same fire which destroys the alloy
cleanses the gold, though the process is drastic and may need to be
prolonged. The destruction of the flesh
contributes, in the case of a child of God, to the salvation of the spirit, not
from eternal wrath - that is secured by the cross of Christ - but as regards
what must be faced in the day of the Lord Jesus
(1 Cor. 5:
5).
Interpreted thus by
That for them of old as for Christians now:
i. Rebellion, definite and persistent, can induce
a state of heart of which there will be no reversal in this life. The limit of
time arises from the example of
ii.
The penalty of such rebellion may include (a) the wasting of this
present life in a desert experience, as to which more will be said; (see pp. 192-196); (b) the death of the body under summary
judgment - see again I Cor. 10: 8-10; Acts 5: 1-11; 1 Cor. 11: 27-32; Jas. 5: 20; 1 John 5: 16, 17, etc.;
(c) the loss of Canaan, that is, the Millennial age, which carries also the [Page 107] forfeiture of sovereignty for ever, since it is only those who rise in the
first resurrection who form the bride,
the wife of the Lamb, and are said to reign for ever and ever (Rev. 20: 4-6; 21: 9; 22: 5).
iii. That these possible penalties, though indeed severe, do not
involve the eternal destruction
of regenerate persons. The type
forbids. Not one Israelite was able to
return to
6.
Consolation and Exhortation
(ver. 9-12).
As remarked above the Writer has a genuine affection in the
Lord for those addressed. He would not
have them think him stern and callous, nay, they are beloved. It is
wise to set before them the full possible outcome of declension; faithful are the wounds of a friend; nevertheless he
is assured that they have not reached that state, but are evidencing in some
real measure their salvation by displaying the thing that accompany
salvation. What could he say to make
plainer that he writes to them as really [eternally] saved
persons? No unreal professor can produce
things that belong to salvation, seeing that he is not saved.
For this assurance he finds reason in their love to the Name
they had professed, shown by serving His saints, a love, which God, its Object,
would not forget. Ponder the thought
that Gods righteousness determines
His conduct towards His people and their works.
It is at once encouraging and warning.
This is one of many passages the force of which lies in the very real
peril of liberty, and even life, incurred in periods of persecution by
espousing the cause of the persecuted.
Consider in the same light 1 Cor. 12: 3; 1 John 3: 13, 14.
But the spiritual life is like riding a bicycle: one cannot
stand still, but must go on or go off.
Therefore he expresses the most urgent concern and appeal that the
former diligence be maintained, so that their hope may be retained to the
reaching its full end. It is their hope, their expectation of things future that is in danger of dying. Thus Paul reminds the Colossians that, being
already reconciled to God by the death [Page 108] of His Son, their prospect was the highest of all
honours, the being presented before God in
glory, as one is presented at court: comp. Eph. 1: 4; 5: 27; Jude 24. But that, unlike the reconciliation which
results entirely from the death of Christ on the cross, this final honour is
contingent upon their continuance in the faith and their not being moved away from the hope
of the gospel (Col. 1: 22, 23).
Christians may easily become sluggish
as to this hope and goal, as these already were as to keenness of hearing. The word is the same as in 5: 11. The alternative is that they constantly
bestir themselves to be imitators of those who through
faith and long patience inherit what God has promised. For the promises of God are not absolute, in
disregard of the moral state of His people, but are expressly made dependent
upon the response of faith and the exercise of long patience. This strong exhortation to extended patience
(makrothumia) is inharmonious with the unfounded notion that the early Christians
were taught that the return of Christ was to be expected by them at any
time. On the contrary, they knew from
Christ Himself that it would be only after a long time
that He would return (Matt. 25: 19), and
that throughout that lengthy period they must be steadfast in hope.
7. An
Encouraging Example (13-20).
Of this extended patience Abraham, the father of all the
faithful, is a shining example. From the
beginning the utterances of God to mankind include two major elements, warning
and promise: warning in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die: promise the
seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head (Gen. 2: 17; 3: 15). Our Writer
has warned, now he would encourage to long patience. Such steadfast endurance was amply rewarded
in Abrahams case, whose children we are in faith and hope and need to be in
patient waiting.
God promised to Abraham that his posterity should be numerous,
saying, multiplying I will multiply thee (Gen. 22: 17). This
was an amplifying of the first promise, I will make of
thee a great nation (Gen. 12: 2), a promise given when he was childless. He then waited no less than twenty-five years
for the son to be born through whom the promise should be fulfilled (com. Gen. 12: 4 with 21: 5); and later, as this son of promise was a
ripening lad, the hope centred in him was seemingly dashed to the ground by the
command to slay him (Gen. 22). But
Abrahams faith prospered on the test because he kept on looking unto the promise of God; so that faith grew,
and he became fully assured that what God had promised
He was able also to perform (Rom. 4: 20, 21).
[Page 109]
Now a promise from GOD is
warrant enough for assurance of hope; but God in great grace was minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise
the unchangeableness of His counsel, to which end He confirmed it by an
oath, and an oath based upon His own existence and character; so that these
shall cease should His promise fail of fulfilment, which is impossible. Now men regard the oath of a fellow mortal as
confirming a matter beyond further dispute; how much more ought a Divine oath
to dismiss all doubt!
Thus by two unchangeable things, the promise and the oath of
God, He has given us adequate ground for strong encouragement and steadfast
endurance. For as Abraham was given a
great future as the object of his hope, so we have a great hope set before us,
only one of far greater dignity and glory.
Abrahams hope attached him firstly to a glorious future connected with
his national descendants on earth; our hope connects us with a future to be
realized in the heavens.
8. This hope is
i. A refuge. Hope saves from despair. By looking forward we are kept from looking
back, as did Lots wife; and also by hope we are saved
as regards present difficulties daunting the spirit: as a poor youth,
struggling with present poverty, is saved from giving up the battle, by reason
of a hope that one day he will secure an inheritance left to him, but situate
in a distant land, and for the enjoyment of which he must wait till he come of
age.
ii. Hope is an anchor, enabling the ship
to ride out the gale. The security of an
anchor depends firstly upon the firmness of the unseen ground which it
grips. Our hope attaches our hearts to
the realm within the veil, the region which is
eternally stable, the kingdom and presence of God. The storms which rock the surface of the sea
do not disturb its rock-bottom, so neither do the tempests of earth disturb the
tranquillity of heaven, where our hope is fixed.
iii. The figure is changed. Into that high and holy place Jesus has
entered, and is for ever beyond and above the storms of time. He braved their fiercest blusterings and
passed through into the haven of eternal peace.
But even as His passage through this tempestuous world was for our
benefit, so has He entered within the veil for our good. It is as a forerunner of all who will follow
His steps that He has gone into the immediate presence of God, having become
High Priest for ever.
What, then, must be our response? We are urged (1) to flee to the refuge, and
to abide there. (2) To lay fast hold of
the hope and never to relax our grip. (3) We must cast our [Page 110] anchor within the
veil, nor ever slip the cable of faith that links us to it. (4) We must follow after
our Forerunner, nor turn from His path, for only so can we arrive at the place
whither He has gone in advance of us.
Let us therefore run with patience the race that lies before
us, looking off unto Jesus, and thus finding Him to be both author and
perfecter of faith (12: 1). Wherefore girding up
the loins of your mind, be sober, and set your hope perfectly [=undividedly] upon the favour that is being brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
(1 Pet. 1:
13).
This strenuous and ceaseless advance each must make for himself. It is no use
waiting for others, for (ver. 4) as touching those who have been described
they cannot and will not go forward, so
it is useless to wait for them, even though they be dear to our hearts in the
Lord or by ties of nature. He that loveth father or mother more than Me,
he is not worthy of Me; and
he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is
not worthy of Me. And he that doth not take his cross and
follow after Me, is not
worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for My
sake shall find it (Matt. 10: 37-39).
* *
*
[Page 111]
CHAPTER IX
THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD
(
Ch. 7: 1. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who
met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 to whom also Abraham divided
a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, King of righteousness, and
then also King of Salem, which is King of Peace; 3 without father, without
mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God), abideth a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this
man was, unto whom Abraham, the
patriarch, gave a tenth out of the chief spoils. 5 And they indeed of the sons
of Levi that receive the priests office have commandment to take tithes of the
people according to the law, that is, of their
brethren, though these have come out of the
loins of Abraham; 6 but he whose genealogy is not counted from them hath taken
tithes of Abraham, and hath blessed him that hath the promises. 7 But without any dispute the
less is blessed of the better. 8 And here men that die
receive tithes; but there one, of whom it is
witnessed that he liveth. 9 And, so to say, through Abraham
even Levi, who receiveth tithes, hath paid tithes; 10 for he was yet in the loins of his father, when
Melchizedek met him.
11 Now if there was perfection
through the Levitical priesthood (for under it hath the people received
the law), what further need was there that another
priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron? 12 For the priesthood being
changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. 13 For he of whom these things
are said belongeth to another tribe, from which no man hath given
attendance at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of
Thou art (a) priest for ever [i.e., Gk. for or unto the age] after the order of Melchizedek. 18 For there is a disannulling
of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness; 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw nigh to God. 20 And inasmuch [Page 112] as it is not without the taking of an oath; 21 (for they indeed have been made priests without an oath; but he with an oath by him that saith of him,
The Lord sware
and will not repent himself, Thou art (a)
priest for ever);
22 by so much also hath Jesus
become surety of a better covenant. 23 And they indeed have been
made priests many in number, because that by death they are hindered from
continuing; 24 but he, because he
abideth for ever, hath his priesthood unchangeable. 25 Wherefore also he is able
to save to the uttermost them that draw near to God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
26 For such a high priest
became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from
sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 who needeth not daily, like those
high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and
then for the sins of the people: for this he did
once for all, when he offered up himself.
28 For the law appointeth men high priests, having
infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was after the law, appointeth
a Son, perfected for evermore.
THE
stimulus needed by the sluggish having been administered the main theme is
resumed. Such as have been revived by
the stimulus will find their spiritual understanding quickened to master the
teaching otherwise difficult to explain to them (5:
11).
Christ is the heavenly High Priest after the order of
Melchizedek. Ponder the situation implied
by the Writer. One who cannot grasp the significance of the fact stated is dull
of apprehension, is a spiritual babe.
Then, alas, is not the
Jesus has been proclaimed by God as high
priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Not a* high priest, as if there were other high
priests. God appointed in
[* Note. By adding the indefinite article a before the words high
priest our English translators have made a grave blunder.]
Of this Melchizedek the sole and very brief historical record
is as follows: (Gen. 14: 17-20):
And the king of
Our Writer draws lessons from two features of this short
account: (a) from what is said; (b)
from what is not said.
1. The first fact mentioned is that
Melchizedek was priest of God Most High.
This
was not the title of God which marked Aarons ministry. The inscription on the gold-fronted plate of
his turban was Holy to Jehovah (Exod.
28: 36). Full revelation of His character as Jehovah came four centuries later than the time
of Abraham. In the time of the latter He
made Himself known chiefly as El Shaddai (Exod.
6: 3),
that is, God Almighty, or All-sufficient; or as El Elyon, which emphasized His
solitary exaltation above all creation.
That the Person was one and the same is true, and is intimated by
Abraham in Gen. 14:
22, where he speaks of El Elyon as Jehovah,
but the emphasis was on the former title then, on the latter in the days of
Aaron.
Thus in that oldest period of history God asserted by His
Self-chosen titles the dependence of all men upon Him and His sufficiency for
them, as well as His supremacy over and control of His universe. Already by the time of Abraham men generally
had set aside this knowledge of the true God which they possessed and had
created of their own fancy, or by the seduction of demons, gods many and lords
many (Rom. 1:
18-12):
but there remained some who maintained among the nations a witness to the true
Creator, God Most High, and of these Melchizedek was standing for this only
true God, though amidst races devoted to and degraded by idolatries most
foul. One can imagine the strength it
was to the newly found faith of Abraham to find in Canaan a noble
representative of the God whose glory he had seen in distant
The revelation of El Elyon by the name Jehovah was made in due
season to draw back to Himself the estranged race of mankind, by the
declaration given in that name that the Most High was desirous to cancel the
moral distance that separated sinful rebels from Himself and to enter into
covenant relations with them, and that they could count implicitly upon His
faithfulness.
But the chief point, it would seem,
why the Writer quotes [Page 114] the earlier Divine title is to show
that Melchizedek lived long before Aaron and represents an older and primal
relationship between man and God; a relationship which the Aaronic system of
religion was designed to restore, not to supersede, being thus itself but
temporary.
2. The next feature stressed is that
Melchizedek was a royal priest, a priest-king. His name interpreted means king of
righteousness, and the name of his city,
This union of the kingly and the priestly offices in one
person is ancient. It was found in earliest
times after the Flood. In ancient
* There
were earlier kingdoms in Sumeria, in different districts, and sundry wars to
the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. In the struggle which followed between various small cities,
This feature marked the systems of idolatry that branched out
of the original Babylonian idolatry.
Thus Balak the king of
But the Bible shows that the union of ruler and priest
obtained earlier than Babylon, for Noah was both head of the family and also as
priest offered its sacrifices unto God (Gen.
8: 20),
and it was thus with Abraham (Gen. 12: 8; 13: 4; ch. 22), Isaac
(Gen. 26:
25), Jacob (Gen.
33: 20; 35: 3) and Job
(Job 1: 5). Though the head of a family or clan may not
have been styled king, he was so de facto, and its priest also.
Thus Melchizedek was one example of a general feature of those
earliest times, and Moses was another instance.
For, as was shown above (pp. 65, 66), he
acted as chief priest before [Page 115] Aaron was appointed and he is also
styled law-giver and king in Jeshurun, the
senior over all heads and tribes of
If we inquire as to the origin of this primal conjunction of
king and priest, it must be observed that it is an original fact of the whole
creation, for from its beginning the Son Who treated it was both its Sovereign
and the Mediator between it and God. In
this as other matters the heavenly is the original, the earthly the copy.
And Scripture suggests more.
The breastplate of the high priest in
* The
most ancient monuments constantly depict the king as having standing by him an
official who covered his head with a screen of feathers or palm leaves. It suggests that the original knowledge men
had of high things persisted, and influenced their earthly arrangements.
Again; in ch. 5 of my commentary on the Revelation it is shown that the twenty-four elders are angelic beings having royal rank, for
they are throned and crowned, and also render priestly service of worship and
intercession (Rev. 5:
8).
And when at last certain redeemed and glorified men, in
fellowship with the glorified Man their Redeemer, take the place of that
angelic government and priesthood they are a royal
priesthood (1 Pet. 2: 9; Rev. 1: 6); and the picture of them in Rev. 22 is a
holy city which also is adorned with all manner of precious stones (Rev. 22: 19), this figure again corresponding to the
earthly copy, the breastplate of Aaron.
3. All this makes
plain
i. That Melchizedek was one of an
order of royal priests, not a solitary individual holding that rank, which
feature the Writer stressed by noting five times that Ps.
110: 4
mentions the order of Melchizedek (5: 6, 10; 6: 20; 7: 11, 17). It shows also that this order is heavenly,
primal, and to be permanent, which at once involves the argument of the Writer
that the priesthood of Levi, in the persons of Aaron and his successors, must
of necessity be but temporary, to make room at some period for the full
establishment of that superior order.
ii. That the proper and permanent Head
of this order is the Son of God shows why it is said that Melchizedek was made [Page 116] like unto the Son of God. It is not that the Man Christ Jesus has been made like unto Melchizedek by
being appointed a priest of a royal order, but, on the contrary, that
Melchizedek as been honoured to share in the dignity belonging properly to the
Son of God. It is because of this that
his history is so narrated in Gods record of him that, as far as that record
goes, he is presented as without ancestry, birth, or death. Not that
he was actually without these, else would he be
eternal, uncreated, immortal, the Son of God Himself. This has been suggested, but the thought is
forbidden by the statement that Melchizedek was made, and made like unto the Son of God. No one can be made like unto himself, for he
is already himself.
Here the Writer builds upon the negative fact of the record,
upon what is not said. Nothing can more emphasize the divine nature
of the Old Testament histories, the perfect control by the [Holy] Spirit of the
historian, than that the omissions and silences give important lessons. The brief mention of Melchizedek was so given
as to make him in the record correspond to the uncreated and eternal Royal
Priest, the Son of God, in Whose order he was a
subordinate.
iii. It is further clear why Melchizedek
is, with accuracy, termed priest of God Most
High. Though he was in his day
the chief holder on earth of the royal priesthood yet was he not high priest;
for the Son of God was already the holder of that supreme office.
iv. Because the order to which
Melchizedek belongs exists in perpetuity, being an essential element in the ordering
of the universe, therefore a man who is granted membership in it partakes of
its permanency, and so it is said of Melchizedek that he
abideth a priest continually (ver. 3).
Westcott remarks that the force of eis to dienekes (continually)
is satisfied by his actual continuance for ever,
but adds that this supposition is excluded by the
circumstances. Presumably this
refers to the death of Melchizedek; but it is to be borne in mind that the
order and office of royal priesthood belongs primarily to that world to a realm
of which the death of the body dismisses the soul and to the glory of which the
first resurrection introduces those then raised. The statement that Melchizedek abides a priest continually, taken simply, shows that
death does not deprive a royal priest of his dignity, or it would do so for
those mentioned by Peter as being such to-day.
But as this priesthood is not cancelled by death, but persists
in that realm beyond, then obviously it is superior to that of Aaron, for priests
of his order by death are hindered from continuing
(ver. 23).
[Page 117]
Thus the facts as to Melchizedek introduce the heart to a
realm anterior to and superior to the economy of
[* Note Gods conditional promise and accountability
truth contained in this statement. Bible
teachers who ignore this fact and refuse to speak to
others of it, are blinding the eyes of multitudes of His redeemed people to a
divine truth which is vitally important for them to understand. See
Even at its best the Aaronic priesthood was but interim, a stop-gap;
and all the circumstances called for a better covenant, a nobler priesthood, a
better sacrifice, to which the Aaronic was designed to lead and to yield place.
They therefore who upon faith in Christ had reached these better and higher
privileges had attained to the heavenly realm and royal priesthood, and should
not for a moment yield to pressure or allurements to return to the earthly and
transitory. This the Writer enforces by
4.
The Relationship of Abraham to
Melchizedek. Now Abraham was the
father and founder of the Israelitish economy, the fount and head of the whole
nation, the holder of the original covenant and promises of God from which that
people, and indeed the whole race of mankind, derived all hope and favour. And yet Abraham accepted the blessing of
Melchizedek and owned his superior dignity by rendering a tithe of the spoils
of war.
Evidently therefore in Abrahams judgment Melchizedek was of a
nobler rank than himself, for without any dispute the
less is blessed by the better (ver. 7).
Again, Levi, the head of the priestly tribe in
5.
Levi and Melchizedek.
i.
The Levitical priesthood was bound to
prove temporary because it could not serve the indispensable end of
bringing in a perfect state (vers. 11, 19). God, by virtue of His own [Page 118] perfection, must desire and require
perfection in the relations between Himself and His creatures. Man must desire and strive after normal,
perfect relation with his Maker, or he cannot be satisfied. This end Aaron and his sons could not fully
serve. They could bring about a
temporary accommodation between God and the sinner, but a perfect reconciliation,
perfect in quality and duration, they could not effect.
ii. Neither Aaron nor any one of his
successors could guarantee the eternal security of a worshipper because in due
time he would pass off the scene by death and be no longer able to serve the worshipper
(ver. 23).
iii. Those priests were themselves infirm
and imperfect and could not raise others to a state higher than their own (ver. 28).
iv. The sacrifices they offered for sins
were not adequate to the establishing of an eternal standing before God and
therefore had to be often repeated (ver. 27; 10: 4).
Because of this essential and ineradicable imperfection in the
Levitical order, God, after it had acted for four hundred years, announced
prophetically the coming of a new priest who should belong to the order that
had preceded the Levitical (Ps. 110: 4), which
implied the superseding of the latter.
6. The Law of the Aaronic Priesthood transitory.
i. The law here in view is not the
moral law as embodied at Sinai in the Ten Commandments. That law had been in force
since man was created, and was prior to and independent of Gods covenants with
Abraham and
ii. The moral law is holy, righteous, good (Rom. 7: 12), but
this law of ritual is here described as weak and
unprofitable (ver. 18).
It is true that neither law could make man perfect, but the reason
in each case is different. The moral law
was in itself perfect, being the declaration of the will of God to man, but it
was weak through the flesh, though
not in itself; that is, its requirements being so high, human nature could not
render obedience and so the law could only condemn the disobedient, rather than
help him. But the law of ritual was weak
in
itself, it was a carnal commandment, fleshly,
that is, it had its expression in flesh (comp.
9: 10, dikaiomata sarkos). All the requirements, for example, to be
satisfied by a Levitical priest were literally of
flesh; outward descent, outward perfectness,
outward purity. No moral qualification
was imposed (Westcott on 7: 16). In consequence, the weakness inherent in
human nature was inherent in this carnal
system: being imperfect it could
make nothing perfect, and was bound sometime to pass away and make room for
that which being itself perfect could make perfect the obedient.
iii. The priesthood, and its authorizing and
controlling law stand and fall together; for the
priesthood being changed, there is made of
necessity a change also of the law
(ver. 12).
Here arise pertinent and serious reflections for to-day. There exist in Christendom orders of priests
claiming to be Christian, as the Roman,
Greek, many Anglicans, and others. In
different degrees they adopt and
practise various appointments, rites, and ceremonies, such as sacred buildings
for worship, with a triple division (porch, church, altar), to which attach
different degrees of sanctity, a priestly order, priestly vestments,
sacraments, incense, etc.
By what authority do these priestly orders exist and under
what law do they officiate? If they
plead that they so order religion because God so ordered it of old in
(1) That whole law of ordinances has been disannulled by God because
of its weakness and unprofitableness (ver.
18), and it is wholly blameworthy to perpetuate what God has annulled; it is obviously
an offence against Him as much as if magistrates should persist in
administrating a law which the king had abrogated.
This galvanizing of a ritualistic corpse, this dressing-up of a moribund system, must needs be even more weak and
unprofitable, morally and spiritually, than was the original system while it
still lived.
(2) In any case, only men belonging to the family of Aaron
were appointed by God to administer that ceremonial law, and it was under
penalty of death that any one not of Aarons family presumed to draw near to
act as priest (Num. 3:
10).
This penalty was exacted even from Levites, though they were of the same
tribe as Aaron but not of his family (Num. 16: 8-11).
But if these priests claim to act under Christ as High Priest,
their condemnation is equally swift and sure, for
(3) The Son of God Himself does not, and may not, act under
that Levitical law, not being of the family of Aaron, but of the tribe of
Here again the Writer argues from a negative. As
Moses did not connect priesthood with any tribe but that of Levi, no
other tribe can put forth priests under the law of
Moses. Well had it been if this rule of action had prevailed among Christians,
and nothing had been introduced into their service and worship which is not
found in the New Testament. And
happy is [Page 120] the individual Christian who excludes from his life
what is not justified by the Word of God.
Moreover, it is equally and emphatically fatal to their claim
to act as priests under Christ that
(4) His priestly service is rendered only in heaven, for if He were on earth He would not be a priest at all (ch. 8: 4), that is, a priest to administer that former
ceremonial system.
The effect is, that these priesthoods in question are plainly
contrary to the will of God. Those
who desire to offer worship fully acceptable to God should abandon such
priest-ruled systems.
Thus the whole Levitical system and priesthood is effete and
annulled, so that they who seek God are cast back upon that older and living
priesthood of which Melchizedek is Gods chosen example, and of this priesthood
7.
Christ is the Living and only High
Priest. In Him, and in Him alone, are realized all the requisite conditions
and qualifications.
i. As the Son of God He is the original
and proper holder of the Royal Priesthood.
ii. As the Son of Man risen,
and glorified in heaven, He has been reappointed to that dignity which was His
from the beginning of creation; but He is able now as man to understand and to
feel with those He represents before God.
iii. This appointment by God the Father
is superior to that of Aaron inasmuch as it was confirmed by an oath: Jehovah sware,
and will not change His mind, Thou art priest, etc. (vers.
20, 21, 22; Ps. 110: 4).
iv. This office is exercised in heaven,
even as that same Psalm (ver. 1) shows Jehovah said
unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand.
v. Christ does not suffer from the transitoriness
caused by death, for the sworn appointment is Thou art
priest for ever. He enjoys The
power of an indissoluble life (ver. 16). His
Divine nature is of necessity incapable of dying: His human nature was
dissolved in death; the spirit, that element which animates the human body, He
dismissed to His Father Who had given it (Luke 23:
46; Eccles.
12: 7); His body rested in the tomb; His soul, Himself, the Ego, went to the
world of the dead (Ps. 16: 8-11; Acts 2: 25-28). But by resurrection this dissolution was
reversed, and now the Son of God, Christ Jesus, is to His humanity as well as
His divinity, lives for evermore in the power of indissoluble life, death no more hath dominion over Him (Rom. 6: 9).
vi,
Because of this His priesthood does not have to be surrendered by Him and pass
to another, but because He [Page 121] abideth for ever, He hath His priesthood unchangeable,
it resides continuously and everlastingly in His own person.
An Israelite might well have found much comfort by going
repeatedly to the same priest, as one who from frequent intercourse had come to
know the circumstances, temptations, struggles of the penitent. But there was always the liability that one day
he would learn that his friend had died and could no more help him in his
approach to the Holy One. The earthly
priest could help only partially and for a time; but Christ is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God
through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them (ver. 25).
The expression to the uttermost
is found elsewhere only at Luke 13: 11. The Satan-afflicted woman was bowed together, and could in no
wise lift herself up.
This scarcely describes the condition with strict accuracy. She could not completely lift herself up, as the term is given
in the Revised margin of Heb.
7: 25.
She was not so crippled as to lie on her back all the time, yet could only get
about bowed down. What a picture of the
devout Israelite under the law, and of
too many believers to-day. The face ever downward, minding earthly things; no power to lift
oneself up unto God; definitely hampered; Satan-bound. From this incompleteness of spiritual state,
alive indeed, yet only half-alive, no human mediator can deliver; but even as
Christ instantly made straight that bent back, so now as the Royal Priest He can save completely them that draw near unto God through Him; and those who seek Him habitually will find that
through Him God, having begun in them His good work, will
perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ
(Phil. 1:
6).
And thus shall this Priest bring all those who obey Him to that perfect harmony with God which is the goal of
creation, but to which Aaron and the law of ceremonies could do no more than
point the way, but could not bring us there.
Truly indeed such a high priest
became us - He is exactly and completely suited to such helpless
sinners as us; for He is holy, guileless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and
made higher than the heavens (ver. 26). In
nature, character, conduct, and position He is all that the holy God requires
and all that sinful man needs; He is Gods Son,
perfected for evermore as our Saviour (ver. 28).
8. What, now, is required on our side that we should obtain the fullest
benefit from this Royal Priest? Are we
not shown this by a detail concerning Abraham not noticed above? When did Abraham obtain the blessing of Gods
priest Melchizedek? It was when he
returned from the slaughter of the [Page 122] kings.
Our Writer notices and quotes this detail (ver.
1).
Not that Christians in this age are to slaughter kings or any other men;
now our warfare is in the spirit realm; we wrestle not against flesh and blood
but against wicked spirits (Eph. 6: 12). As Abraham in his day waged war to the death
against the then enemies of God and righteousness, so must we contend vigorously against the Devil and his works, no
matter what the risk and cost. Then shall we learn the spiritual reality of
Melchizedek bringing forth from His heavenly
This condition of inheriting the blessing belongs to the
nature of the case. The Son of God was
manifested on earth that He might bring to nought the works of the devil (1 John 3: 8)
and deliver his captives (Heb. 2: 14, 15); therefore one who wishes to experience that
blessed deliverance must needs take sides with the Son of God against the Devil
and his works, and such the Royal Priest will bless and succour to the
full. These shall find that Jesus has
truly become for them the mediator of a better covenant than that of the law (ver. 22), which
theme the Writer now proceeds to unfold and apply.
* *
*
[Page 123]
PART III. THE BETTER COVENANT
(Ch.
8: 1-11: 40)
CHAPTER X
THE HEAVENLY TENT
(
Ch. 8: 1. Now in the things which we are saying the chief point is this: We have
such a high priest, who sat down on the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 a minister of the sanctuary, and of the
true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed
to offer both gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is necessary that this high Priest also have somewhat to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not
be a priest at all, seeing there are those who
offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve that which is
a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses is warned of God when
he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was
shewed thee in the mount. 6 But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which
hath been enacted upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant
had been faultless, then would no place have been
sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, he saith,
Behold the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will
make a new covenant with the house of
Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand
to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt; for
they continued not in my covenant, and I
regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel, after those days, saith the
Lord; I will put my laws into their mind,
and on their heart also will I write them: and I will be to them (a) God, and they shall be to
me a people: 11 and they shall not teach
everyman his fellow-citizen, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall
know me, from
the least to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their
sins will I remember no more.
13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth
aged is nigh unto vanishing away.
[Page 124]
1. ECAPITULATION. Clearly such a high priest as has been
described is eminently desirable, but is he available? He is: We have such
a high priest; this is the chief point urged. He embodies all the required qualifications
as to position, dignity, service, and offerings.
i. As to
position: He sat down. The force of this will be shown in ch. 9: 11-14.
ii. As to dignity: (1) He took His seat at
the right hand; the place of
highest honour; (2) of the throne: the centre of supreme authority; (3) of the Majesty: the centre of Divine glory; (4) in the
heavens: the primal, dominating
region of the creation - for the heavens were created before the earth (Gen. 1: 1; Job 38: 6, 7), and the heavens do rule (Dan.
4: 17, 25, 26, 32, 35).
Thus is our High Priest in the position which affords Him
decisive influence upon all matters in which He acts, an influence not to be
defeated by the utmost that the Accuser of the brethren can do or urge (Rev. 12: 10, 11; Job chs. 1 and 2; Zech. 3: 1, 2). Already
when on earth He had thus acted in support of His followers (Luke 22: 31, 32), and now at the throne He prevails on behalf
of the lowly of heart (1 John 2: 1, 2).
iii. This service to God and man, for the
reconciling and maintaining of relations between them, He discharges in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.
(1) It is here that He renders this public and priestly
service, and does so at His own expense; all of which ideas are expressed in
the word translated minister (leitourgos). Nor shall any heart but
His own ever know the cost it was to Him to provide the gifts and sacrifices
which are due to God from men, nought of which they could offer but all of
which He supplied on their behalf. And
now, as priest, while waiting the time to take up His kingly service, He
expends His time, abilities, love, and power for the good of them that entrust
to Him their affairs.
The subject of His gifts and sacrifice the Writer will open at
length in chs. 9 and 10.
(2) The heavenly regions are vast beyond human
conception. It is not in any and every
part of them that our High Priest officiates, but in a particular sphere
described here as the true tabernacle [or tent, skene] which the Lord
pitched, not man. Of this tabernacle several details are given
which, being seldom noticed, shall be here considered.
(a) A tabernacle (or
tent) is a dwelling, even as we
read of Abraham (11: 9) that he took up his abode in tents (en skenais katoikesas). There is, then, in the heavens a tent wherein God dwells. As to His infinity and universality God is
everywhere, but as the Centre of creation and Object of its [Page 125] worship He has a place where beings limited in nature and form can
approach Him: in heaven their angels do always behold
the face of my Father who is in heaven (Matt.
18: 10). The scenery of the Revelation exhibits this, as 15: 5, where
seven angels come out from the inner shrine, the
sanctuary (naos) of the
tabernacle [tent] of the testimony in heaven
- here literal beings come out of a literal place. Empty the latter of reality and the reality
of angels must be denied and the Revelation is emptied of meaning. Referring to Note C to ch. II (p.
33), it is clear that this dwelling place of God cannot be
outside of time and space for angels cannot
be so, and they enter and leave this tabernacle.
This heavenly tent corresponds to the Tent in
(b) But this dwelling is temporary, a second element belonging to a tent. In 2 Cor. 5: 1 the
contrast is emphatic between a tent which can be taken down and a building
which is eternal. The tent in heaven is
not eternal; it had a beginning, it was pitched. Before finite beings were created it was not
necessary; the Divine Persons enjoyed divine intercourse without need of such a
sphere. It exists for the benefit of
creatures of time and space, as part of the heavenly portion of the creation.
(c) This tent is movable. It was thus with its
earthly copy, as God said to David: I have not dwelt
in a house since the day that I brought up Israel, unto this day; but have gone
from tent to tent and from one tabernacle to another (1 Chron. 17: 4-6). Here is the same contrast between the
permanent house and the movable tent.
The tent in heaven (Rev. 15: 5) has been
noticed above as the source of wrath just before the period of the millennial
glory. In Rev.
7: 15 it
is perhaps intimated that the persecuted of that period will, after their
removal to the heavens, be sheltered by this tabernacle of God: He that sitteth upon the throne shall tabernacle over them. And at the close of the Millennium, which is
the beginning of the everlasting kingdom, it will be announced that the
tabernacle of God is with men, that is, on [a
new] earth (Rev.
21: [1], 3).
It is in this dwelling-place of the Most High that the Great
Priest now exercises His ministry of mercy, from the throne where causes are determined.
[Page 126]
(d) The tent is set
up by the Lord. The Israelite could reach only a tent
made, indeed, at the direction of God, but made by man, and so having no range
beyond mans sphere, this earth, leaving uncertain his standing before heaven
and for eternity.
Such religious persons to-day who persist in seeking God along
that line of things earthly, visible, material, share the uncertainty and
insecurity of that earthly system, for they do not benefit by the priestly
ministry of Christ seeing that this is carried on in heaven. Yea, their situation is less secure than that
of the devout Israelite of old, for those had at least the benefit of a
God-appointed priesthood to help them Godward, but these to-day have only a
self-appointed priesthood having neither Divine warrant nor any validity.
But such as approach God through the heavenly Priest are
introduced to that divine dwelling of God which is of His own direct
construction for the very purpose that His creatures may meet with Him
there. A tent made by man, man could
destroy, and
(e) This is the true tent-dwelling of God. True (alethinos)
means the real as contrasted with anything that seems to correspond to it; that
which fulfils every purpose. Comp. John 6: 55: My flesh is true (alethes) food and my
blood is true (alethes) drink.
In this tent God does really and personally dwell. In only a very limited degree was this known in
the Tabernacle of old.
Therefore access to this dwelling, through the true High Priest, affords
a real relation of reverent intimacy with God Most High not to be found
elsewhere. That perfection which the
earthly arrangements under the law could never produce is reached here.
2. The Copy of the Heavenly.
Of this heavenly original the tabernacle built by Moses was
but a copy and shadow (ver. 5).
i. Even so it was of real value; but
who will linger over the copy who can study the original? Who need regret to pass from the twilight of
the shadow to possess the bright substance?
He who will be so foolish can never enjoy the original, the ideal, the
substantial.
ii. But as yet none has come to the
original in personal experience. It is
our hope to do so; but hope that is seen is not hope. Meanwhile, from the copy much can be learned
of the original; the shadow shows the shape and size of the substance; much as
to the heavenly tent can be learned from its earthly copy.
iii. This by itself were reason enough
why God solemnly [Page 127] warned Moses that he was to complete
(opitelein) the copy precisely according to the pattern that had been shown to
him in the mount. The pattern was to be
followed not merely as to general design but completely, that is, as to the
smallest detail. For by these details
the Holy Spirit was signifying important truth and teaching lessons in
parabolic form (9: 8-10).
A modernist I know said that we could quite well dispense with
the book of Leviticus. And I heard a celebrated Non-conformist
preacher, who passed as evangelical, say sarcastically that certain brethren hung a great weight of doctrine on a tabernacle pin. Such slighters of the copy remain blind as to
the original; their knowledge of the heavenly places is infantile. Yet we are exhorted by the [Holy] Spirit to seek the things that are
above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, yea, to set our mind on the things
that are above, not on the things that are upon the
earth (Col. 3:
1, 2). And he who loves Christ will wish to know as
much as possible about the place where Christ is and what He is doing there, in
gaining which knowledge the study of the copy helps.
A further reflection.
God is now building a spiritual dwelling for Himself, His church (Matt. 16: 18; 1 Pet. 2: 4, 5; Eph. 2: 19-20). Very
many who busy themselves helping, as they suppose, in this work say that God
has given us no pattern for this house, but that each may, yea must, build as he thinks best. For that earthly sanctuary precise details
were given, with a solemn injunction that they were to be followed; for this
present house no pattern is given, say these builders. Is it any wonder that, with such an opinion
prevailing, Christendom, claiming to be the house of God, presents the
appearance of a building of many and incongruous styles and a mass of confused
and discordant details?
iv. Moses did not see that actual tent that the Lord pitched. Probably man, not yet possessed of the powers
of the body of resurrection, could not see it or comprehend it if seen. It was a pattern
(typos) of it that was shown to Moses
and of that pattern he made an earthly copy.
Yet as the copy corresponded to the pattern and the pattern to the
original, we, studying the first, can learn about the last. It has been rightly said that the types are
as rigid as mathematics.
To this study our Epistle is a call and encouragement, and
without it the Epistle cannot be understood.
In these four chapters (7-10) there are mentioned perhaps forty details of
the earthly tent and its services. Some
major matters will be noticed in their places.
But even as the pattern was not shown to Moses on the low level of the
desert but on the summit of the mount, so must the heart be detached from the [Page 128] earth and ascend to God if it would
comprehend the heavenly. They who mind earthly things will
not be shown the heavenly things. For the ultimate design of the copy is
to attract to the original.
All Israelites dwelt around the Tabernacle. They knew its form, took part in its
services, perhaps admired its pure linen, coloured coverings, artistic veils,
and golden pillars; but only those whose spirits longed after the God of the
mount, the God of heaven, and who by faith and love sought in heart His holy
place on high, knew the spiritual value of that earthly copy of the
heavenly. It is thus to-day. The essential principle and vital secret of
the true Christian life is to know Christ where He now is, at the right hand of God.
3. The Old Covenant.
It has been already stated that Jesus
has become the surety of a better covenant (7:
22).
This is now expanded.
i. A covenant is
a contract in which each party binds himself to the other on certain conditions.
The properly first covenant was an implied covenant, that between the Creator and
the creature, Adam; God undertaking certain responsibilities toward the being
He had seen fit to make, and the creature being under natural responsibility to
trust and obey his Creator. The first expressed
covenant was that made by God with Noah (Gen.
9: 8-17), of which the rainbow is the sign. So long as there shall be rainbows
this covenant will stand. The
next covenant was that with Abraham reviewed in ch.
6: 13-20. That
covenant too stands: it was not annulled by the law promulgated at Sinai 430
years later. This is argued in Gal. 3: 15-22.
It is the covenant made between God and
The Jewish mind based all on Moses, Sinai, the law. Few were spiritually minded to discern that
the covenant there made was faulty and temporary, and that the true hope of the
godly was based on Gods promises to Abraham.
Far too many do not understand this to-day, and persist in the vain
endeavour to be at peace with God by works and ceremonies of the law of
Sinai. Being ignorant of Gods
righteousness they seek to establish their own, not seeing that, their works
being morally imperfect, they can never by them become righteous before God (Rom. 10: 3; 3: 20).
ii. But the
position is yet more radical. It is a
just principle of law that should one
party to a covenant wilfully and [Page 129] persistently disregard his obligations the other party is at liberty to
regard it as void and to denounce it. This is how matters
stand as regards the covenant of Sinai.
After it had lasted some seven hundred years God denounced it, saying
through Jeremiah,
One item of the covenant was that habitual obedience to the
statutes imposed under the covenant would assure permanent possession of
Canaan, with material prosperity; whereas
persistent disobedience would involve, first, severe chastisement in the land,
and at length, removal from it and dispersion in other lands. Already by the time of Jeremiah the northern
kingdom had suffered this last penalty, and in the days of that prophet
It is true that after seventy years a portion of the godly, of
all tribes, humbled themselves and embraced the opportunity of returning to
Judea, but they were a mere minority; the majority continued in banishment and
have remained scattered until now. And
the descendants of that minority proved as unspiritual as their ancestors (Matt. 23: 29-39; Acts 7: 51-53); they filled up the cup of iniquity by the
murder of the Son of God; so that after a comparatively brief occupation of the
land (some six centuries; Cyrus to Hadrian), these also were scattered and to
this day the Sinaitic covenant remains in abeyance.
It follows that it must needs be
futile for any son of Adam, Jew or Gentile, to endeavour to secure under it the
favour of God, and especially the Gentile seeing that such have never been
parties to it. Some other and better
covenant must needs be the basis of fellowship between
God and man. Even in the days when our
Epistle was written the former covenant had long since been, by implication,
declared old, and was actually becoming old,
indeed aged, like a decrepit old man (gerasko),
and was nigh unto vanishing away. (ver.
13.)
Incidentally, this (apart from other weighty reasons) forbids
absolutely the pretentious theory of Anglo-Israelism. Even if it could be established historically
that the Anglo-Saxons and the Americans are the descendants of Judah and the
ten tribes (which, however, is unfounded), yet even so they could not, in
banishment from Palestine, and therefore being under the curse of Jehovah, be
enjoying the vast temporal blessings guaranteed to Israel in that land [Page 130] only, and there only upon
condition of obedience to the covenant of Sinai; for that covenant is not in
force.
4. The New Covenant.
i. Even while that former covenant
lasted no one ever stood in the favour of God on the ground of it, for from its
start that law had denounced its curse upon every person that continued not to keep all its demands (Deut. 27: 26; Gal. 3: 10). Obedience had to be continuous and complete,
on which terms no one had qualified for favour or could do so.
From this fact alone the spiritual Jew could have seen that
his expectation of the grace of God must rest upon the earlier covenant with
Abraham. Now this covenant had not been
made with
But the covenant with Abraham was with himself personally and
with his descendants individually.
Therefore each of his seed who walked in the steps of that faith of his
father Abraham was blessed with the faithful Abraham (Rom.
4: 12; Gal. 3: 9).
By consequence, each Gentile also who thus trusted God,
likewise was reckoned by God to be a child of Abraham and within the sphere of
the covenant with him. And because
Abraham had thus trusted God, and the covenant promises had been granted, before he had been circumcised, circumcision
could be a sign of the covenant, but was not a condition precedent thereto (Rom. 4: 9-17; Gal. 3: 6-9).
From these considerations it follows that every individual who
exercises a personal faith in God becomes a son of
Abraham (Gal. 3: 7) and a sharer in that righteousness which was
reckoned unto Abraham upon his having believed God. And because a true faith of the heart was the
only condition required of Abraham, it results that this is the only condition
required to make one a spiritual son of Abraham. Thus the covenant afterward made at Sinai is
set aside as to the basic blessing of acceptance with God.
ii. But further, the essential feature
of Gods promise and of Abrahams faith concerned a particular person,
indicated thus: In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen. 22: 18). He [God] saith not, And to seeds,
as of many, but as of
one, And to thy seed,
which is Christ (Gal.
3: 16). [Page 131] Abraham looked forward to Christ, with his expectation fastened on Him for
the fulfilment of the promised and covenant blessings: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day,
said the Lord Jesus, and he saw it and was glad
(John 8: 56). At the appointed and aforetold time the Seed
was born, the Christ appeared; and then and thenceforth the faith required unto
righteousness must of necessity be placed in Him as having come, even as in advance it was placed in Him as
to come. And forasmuch as the
covenanted blessing was to extend
through Him to all nations of the earth, the Gentile as much as the Jew can
claim the blessing and secure it by
faith in Christ.
For thus sharing in the blessing promised to Abraham it is not
needful to become a Jew in the national sense. Centuries before the nation
came into existence at Sinai, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel had entered the
family
circle of Abraham; and, if they had also his personal faith in God,
they secured a share in his portion from God.
That Israels national life, and membership in it, secured
certain rich privileges, is, indeed, true, and remains true, and will prove
true in ages to come (Rom. 3: 1, 2; 9: 4, 5). But this does not enter into the question of
obtaining a righteous standing with God; for this Christ is the end,
the annulment of the law (
iii. It is out of this situation there
develops that new spiritual society, the church of God, formed from both Jews
and Gentiles, but in which there can be neither Jew nor Gentile, nor other
merely earthly distinction, and the members of which society, because they
belong to Christ, the Seed of Abraham, are themselves Abrahams
seed, heirs according to promise (Gal. 3: 28, 29).
To such belong all the fabulous riches, heavenly and earthly,
included in the new covenant of which Jesus is the surety; for all things are
theirs, since they are Christs and Christ is Gods (1
Cor. 3: 21-23). Eternity
itself will be too short to exhibit that this covenant is indeed better than
the old, enacted upon better promises (ver. 6).
5. The Differences between the Old Covenant and
the New.
i. At Sinai there was set up a standard
and rule of life. It was a perfect
standard, sufficient to regulate perfectly the heart and conduct of man in
every relationship. But it was external
to man and could not enable him to be or to do what it demanded. Being thus weak
through the flesh it failed of its end.
This is so with all legislation.
Parliament may [Page 132] pass excellent laws but it cannot
grant to the subject the power or
even the disposition to obey.
Before a man trusts another his inner man is locked against
that other, but faith, trust, is an act which opens the heart, the inner life,
to the person trusted, in this case to God.
At once God is free to work within the one who trusts Him.
This the law could not do, except so far as to frighten and to harden
the sinner, which did but oppress and provoke him, and left him both weak and
rebellious.
ii. But it is the vital feature of the
new covenant that God, by His Spirit, puts this law in the inward parts and
writes it upon the heart. The heart open
to God receives an inward perception of what God requires,
an instinctive sense of what pleases God, and a spiritual acquaintance with God
Himself. Such a believer not merely
knows about God, as did men who heard this law, but becomes acquainted with God
Himself revealed in Christ. And this is the life eternal, that
they should get to know Thee, the alone true God,
and Him Whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ (John 17: 3).
To know God thus is to love Him; the renewed and instructed
heart cannot but love Him Who is Love; and love becomes the energy which both
impels and enables a joyful obedience to His law.
My gracious Lord I own Thy right
To every service I can pay,
And count it my supreme
delight
To hear Thy dictates and
obey.
Thus faith worketh by love and love fulfils the law. Not by a fraction is the Divine standard
lowered, no demand of the moral law is relaxed.
On the contrary, the heart perceives now its deeper meaning, its more
spiritual sense and claim. It perceives
that hatred is murder, lust is adultery, coveting is stealing. But love is glad and able to discharge this
higher claim; it longs only to be perfect as God is perfect.
It is to be observed that, by faith and love, spiritual
believers in the older days reached by faith this normal and blessed state long
before Sinai. Eliphaz described to Job
the path by which he might make acquaintance with God and find the Almighty his
true treasure and hearts delight (Job 22: 21-30). And a later much afflicted saint could
exclaim, Oh, how I love
Thy law! It
is my meditation all the day (Ps. 119: 97). And another had reached such ripeness of
character that he was greatly beloved in
heaven (Dan. 10:
11).
To this large extent did the [Holy] Spirit
work practical righteousness of heart and life in believers in days of old: how
much [Page 113] richer therefore may be and should be the conformity to God of
those who share in the new covenant now, subsequent to the fulfilment at
Pentecost of the promise that the new heart should be reinforced by a new
spirit, for God would put His own Spirit within the believer and so cause him
to walk in His statutes, keep His judgments, and do them. (Ezek. 36: 26, 27)
6. The Cancelling of Iniquity.
But what becomes of the penalties incurred by the
transgression of the old covenant? It is
a fixed law of Gods universe that every transgression
and disobedience receives a just recompense of reward (2: 2). The penalty being death, how shall the
transgressor benefit by a new covenant?
How can he be a party thereto?
At ch. 9: 15 it will
be stated that a death has taken place for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant. By His own death the Mediator of the new
covenant wiped out, cancelled the liability to death of the transgressor of the
old covenant. On this ground God can
rightly say to such as agree to the terms of the new covenant He proposes that
He will be merciful to their iniquities and will remember their sins no more (ver. 12).
i. The word merciful
(hileos) is notable. It means much more than being merciful, even
being propitiated. The
distinction is important. The tax
collector stood before the gate of Gods house (Luke
18: 9-14)
and therefore before the brazen altar of sacrifice. On that altar burned the
innocent creature that had died as his substitute. Understanding sufficiently the principle
involved in that victim having died in his stead, he prayed, God, be propitiated (hilastheti) to
me the sinner. By this he meant:
I, not the lamb, am the sinner; for the sake of my
substitute that has paid my penalty be propitious to me.
Therefore, to be propitious is to show mercy on the
ground of penalty met by
substitution. One may be merciful and
not shoot a dog that bites him, or not exact a debt from the poor. David was merciful to Amnon and Absalom; he
did not exact the legal penalty for the incest of the one or the murder by the
other. This was mercy at the expense of
justice and the results were most disastrous.
But God is propitious on the ground, fully adequate in law, that the
penalty of the sinner has been met, his liability discharged.
In the tabernacle the golden cover of the ark, sprinkled with
blood, was the propitiatory, the spot where the high priest annually made
propitiation for the people (2: 17). In the
heavenly sanctuary Christ personally is this propitiatory: He is the propitiation (autos hilasmos estin) concerning our sins (1
John 2: 2; 4:
10).
As the blood stains on the golden [Page 134] altar showed that atonement for sin
had been made at the altar without, so the wound-marks on the glorified person
of our Redeemer are proof in heaven of His atoning death on earth.
ii. The perpetual repetition of the
sacrifices in
The millenniums through God has been
bound to keep before Him the iniquity of
iii. The order of the promised
blessing is significant.
In the evangelical preaching of the gospel in our times the
common method has been to offer first the forgiveness of sins upon faith in the
atoning work of Christ. The address may
or may not go on to add somewhat as to the new life and its possibilities, but
quite often the preacher is content to present only the offer of pardon.
This is not the method of teaching by either Jeremiah or our
Writer who here quotes him, as taught by the [Holy] Spirit of truth. The prophet dwelt much upon the wickedness of
man in violating his due relations with God and the severity and righteousness
of Gods inevitable judgments. He stressed
the disability of man under the old covenant of law and works, and the glorious
proposal of a new covenant on the basis of grace and faith. It was on the supposition that a man repented
of his sins, and embraced the proposed new arrangement, with its new nature and
practice, that he was then assured of the forgiveness of his sins.
The Lord followed the same order in presenting His
message. On a cultured Rabbi He pressed
first the necessity of a new birth
leading to a new life in a new kingdom, and only later spoke of His own
death as the basis of that new life (John 3). To a woman of poor character He first offered
the new life of inward satisfaction, and then made her face her sins (John 4).
The same method is seen in Peters address at Pentecost and Stephens
before the Sanhedrin (Acts 2 and 7). It was
thus the first preachers taught Gentiles also.
In the house of Cornelius Peter enlarged upon the facts of Christs
life, death, and [Page 135] resurrection, and only then mentioned
the forgiveness of sins (Acts 10: 34-43). Paul followed the same plan in the synagogue
at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13), and when
speaking to the cultured heathen at
The Divine order in presenting the Divine message will be more sure of the Divine blessing and endorsement.
7.
i. Jeremiah 30 and 31, quoted in Heb. 8, form
one prophecy. It begins (30: 3) with an
assurance from Jehovah that days will come that I will turn again the captivity of my
people
It is surely clear that to Jeremiah and his contemporaries
this promise could mean only what it plainly says: that the two sections of his
people, the one already removed from the land and the other just about to be,
would return to the land and possess it.
To those first readers
ii. If it be suggested that perhaps this
restoration took place when that small company (comparatively) returned in the days
of Cyrus, one has only to note the details of the promised restoration, and of
the times to precede it, to see that this suggestion cannot hold.
(1) That remnant did not then possess the
land. The Persians were its owners,
and
(2) The time of Jacobs trouble before the restoration is to be unexampled, that day is great, so that
none is like it (30: 7; see Dan. 12: 1; Matt. 24: 21). No
such days immediately preceded the return under Zerubbabel.
(3) When this return takes place Jacob
shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make
him afraid (30: 10). The history of that former return, as given
in Ezra and Nehemiah, shows a very different picture, one of fear, distress,
opposition, uncertainty. And this developed
into the horrors of the Maccabean days.
(4) The period in view was to see, under the judgments of God,
a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee (30: 11). This has never yet taken place.
[Page 136]
(5) The multiplied details here given of that happy era can have only a literal meaning or no
meaning at all. The names Israel, Judah, Jacob, Ephraim, Zion, Samaria,
Rachel, Ramah, Egypt, Hananel, Gareb, Goah, Kidron, the valley of dead bodies
and ashes, the horse gate toward the east - all these must mean the persons and
places that bore these names or they become without sense and must be virtually
expunged from the prophecy. As treatment
of the words of God this would border on profanity.
(6) The restoration
here promised when effected is to be permanent. The fulfilment is connected with the latter days (30:
24) and the latter
end (31: 17),
terms regularly meaning the days to precede the coming again of Jehovah to this
earth to establish His kingdom here. It
is guaranteed that, as certainly as the ordinances of sun, moon, and stars
shall not depart, so certainly shall
Israel not cease from being a nation before me for
ever (31: 36, 37), and
that Zion, having been then built, shall not be
plucked up, nor thrown down, any more for ever (31: 38-40).
Therefore the prophecy still awaits fulfilment and foretells
that
iii. This is the undeviating testimony of
the Old Testament. At the beginning of
Israels national existence the song of Moses (Deut.
32) and the blessing of Moses (Deut. 34)
taught that God will make expiation for his land,
for his people (Deut.
32: 43) -
the land and the people in conjunction. This is the consensus of all prophecies, and
it shines out vividly in ch. 37 of Jeremiahs contemporary, Ezekiel. Two sticks represent
The great prophet of the exile was shown this as to the coming
The whole Old Testament speaks with one undivided voice, and
insistently, to this effect, even that
iv. That the prophecy should be taken
thus is strongly confirmed by its terms being cited unchanged in the New
Testament. If
v. That
In that portion of his book which deals specially with Gentile
nations Jeremiah announces the restoration in the latter days of
Isaiah 19 declares that Egypt shall be smitten but healed (ver. 22); that
there shall be through traffic between Egypt and Assyria (ver. 23); and
that in that
day shall Israel be a third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the
midst of the earth; for that Jehovah of
Hosts hath blessed them, saying Blessed be Egypt
my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance (Isa. 19: 24, 25). If
Later, Isaiah declared unequivocally that the nations shall [Page 138] come to the light of Israel and kings to the brightness of Israel's
rising, and that the nation and kingdom that will not in that day serve Israel shall perish, yea, be utterly wasted (Isa. 60. And see Zech.
14: 16-19).
vi. So certainly
is this the future as foretold by God that in the eternal state these national
entities, including
they shall be His
peoples, in the plural. And on the gates of that city are the
names of the twelve tribes of the children of
The apostles must be reduced to
nonentities if
Much more might be urged, but this must suffice to justify the
view that our passage means that the actual
vii. That nations share in the covenanted
blessings is not at variance with the feature (mentioned under 4. i. above)
that it is individuals who enter
into this covenant relation with God. It
is as individuals that the covenant is entered to-day; but this does not hinder
the formation of these individual believers into the spiritual body, the
church. Similarly every individual
Israelite, or man of another race, will for himself repent, believe, and
receive the new nature and spirit; but this will not hinder the existence of
national bodies formed of such regenerate individuals.
It was necessarily upon each skeleton separately in Ezekiels
valley of dry bones that the breath moved and the spirit of life acted; but
when they stood up they were an army, an organized body (Ezek. 37).
At Pentecost the tongue like as of fire sat upon each one of them separately. And they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit, and so in one Spirit
were all baptized into one body (Acts 2:
3, 4; 1 Cor. 12: 13).
Thus also at the end of this age: the [Holy] Spirit will be poured out upon all
flesh (Joel 2: 28),
Jew and Gentile alike, incorporating each into his sphere in the
Thus the present distinction (1
Cor. 10: 32)
between Jew, Gentile and the
8. Jesus the Surety and Mediator. Now since this whole Divine programme could
never be served, nor its privileges be gained under the law, how powerful is
the argument and appeal of the Writer that believers should advance from that
old covenant and embrace and hold fast the new covenant.
For the covenant is new in
contrast to that of Sinai, which had grown old
(8: 13),
not as respects its relationship to the Abrahamic covenant, for of this it is a
re-affirmation.* It is even now in force, as Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My Blood (Luke 22: 20),
and as it is said here (8: 6), which hath
been enacted. Believers, both Jew and Gentile, as sons of
Abraham receive its benefits now:
* This
subject is examined more fully in my
Of this covenant, Jesus, not Aaron or any other person, is the
Surety, the Guarantor from Gods side that all
these vast benefits are available to faith (comp. 2
Cor. 1: 20). He is also their Mediator, the only One through Whom they can be obtained.
To Him therefore the sinner must resort continually, reposing
confidence in Him alone, and in Him for ever, in all relations with God.
Stand in
Him, in Him alone,
GLORIOUSLY COMPLETE.
* *
*
[Page
140]
CHAPTER XI
THE SANCTUARIES AND SERVICES
OF THE TWO COVENANTS
(
Ch. 9: 1. Now even
the first covenant had ordinances of divine service, and its
sanctuary, a sanctuary of this world. 2 For there was a tabernacle
prepared, the first, wherein were the lampstand, and the table, and the
shewbread; which is called the Holy place. 3 And after the second veil, the
tabernacle which is called the Holy of holies; 4 having a golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid
round about with gold, wherein was a golden pot
holding the manna, and Aarons rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 and above it
cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat;
of which things we cannot now speak severally. 6 Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services; 7 but into the second the high priest alone, once in the
year, not without blood, which he offereth for himself, and for the errors of the people: 8 the Holy Spirit this
signifying, that the way into the holy place [Gr. places] hath not yet been
made manifest, while as the first tabernacle is
yet standing; 9 which is a parable for the
time now present; according to which are offered both gifts and sacrifices
that cannot, as touching the conscience, make the worshipper perfect; 10 being only (with meats and drinks and divers washings) carnal ordinances, imposed
until a time of reformation.
11 But Christ having come (a) high
priest of the good things to come, through the
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made
with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through
his own blood, entered in once for all into the
holy place [Gr. places], having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats
and bulls, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling them that have been
defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the
flesh: 14 how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit [Gr. through spirit eternal] offered
himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this cause he is
the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the
eternal inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death
of him that made it. 17 For [Page 141] a testament is of force where there hath been
death: for doth it ever avail while
he that made it liveth? 18 Wherefore even the first covenant hath not been dedicated without blood. 19 For when every commandmant had been spoken by Moses unto all
the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself, and all the people; 20 saying, This is the blood of the covenant
which God commanded to youward. 21 Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry
he sprinkled in like manner with the blood. 22 And according to the law, I may almost
say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
23 It was necessary therefore
that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ entered not into
a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into [Gr., the] heaven itself, now to appear
before the face of God for us: 25 nor yet that he should offer himself often; as the high
priest entereth into the holy place year by year with blood not his own; 26 else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the
world; but now once at the end [consummation] of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed unto [Gr. laid up
for] men once to die, and after this cometh judgment; 28 so Christ also, having been
once offered to bear the sins of many, shall
appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him,
unto [Greek
expecting] salvation.
RECAPITULATION. Before enlarging upon the
excellence and sufficiency of the new covenant, the Writer reviews briefly the
external features of the former covenant.
This forms a background to throw into bright relief the superior
benefits of the new covenant. And
although he does not dwell upon several details he mentions, it will not be
without profit at least to notice them.
i. They were items ordained for the service of God (dikaiomata latreias). As before noted, nothing
was left to human skill or preference, not even that of Moses: all was by
Divine direction and appointment.
ii. The sanctuary to be constructed was suitable
to this world, the system of things existing in this material earth (kosmikon). It was a copy, but only a
copy, of what is suitable to the spiritual world, where the spirit transcends the external.
iii. The tent then prepared was divided
into two parts, the outer the holy place, the inner the most holy place, the
holy of holies. It is not here
mentioned, but we know that around the whole building was a courtyard,
surrounded by a white linen screen, with a single entrance, to which entrance
the [Page 142] worshippers could approach, and in which courtyard the
Levites and priests served.
It is worthy to be noted and investigated by the student that
this triple division obtained generally in the ancient world and persists even
till now. The visitor to the ruined
temples of
I once wandered alone through the vast temple of the goddess
Menachi at Madura,
Even in remote regions and uncivilized tribes this triple
sanctuary is found. On the Nilgiri
hills, south
The most ancient temples go back prior to Moses and therefore
cannot have been derived from Jewish practice or tradition, nor have Todas been
influenced by Jewish thought. Must not
the persistence of this feature, going back into the earliest days of human
life, point to knowledge of Divine realities originally given to man?
Nor does the symbolism seem obscure. In the outer court of the
tabernacle stood the altar of sacrifice and the laver of cleansing. These pointed respectively to
[Page 143]
To the tabernacle in Israel belonged three veils; the veil at
the entrance gate, beyond which only Levites and priests might pass; the veil
to the holy place, beyond which only priests might pass, and the second veil before
the holy of holies, beyond which only
the high priest might pass, and he only once in the year, and then not without
blood of atonement.
By all this the Holy Spirit was signifying a solemn fact, even
that the way into the holy places was not thrown open at that time; access to
the immediate presence of God was debarred.
Let any who treat lightly or neglect this ancient symbolism
reflect upon the fact that in all these details the Holy Spirit was declaring
aforehand weighty facts and truths, which it is therefore profane and perilous
to ignore.
The great and happy fact which our Writer next explains and
enforces is, that by the work of [Jesus the Christ] our Priest the way into the true holy
places is now thrown open, so that the [regenerate] believer who has been to the altar, and who goes
regularly to the laver (Exod. 30: 17-21), may now enter with boldness into the very
presence of God in the true tabernacle.
If he sees this blood-bought liberty he may, in real
heart-consciousness, in real experience in his spirit, go where his Priestly
Forerunner has gone in body; and if he
does in this life thus follow the Forerunner as to spiritual experience,
then he may confidently expect to follow Him later [at the time of either Resurrection or
Rapture] in a glorified body like unto that of the Forerunner, and
enter actually into the presence of God in the heavenly holy place.
On the other hand, such as cling to the legal, the carnal, the
external, the old, seeking in that realm to have dealings with God, must rest
assured that their conscience can never enjoy boldness before the Holy One; for
those arrangements were only imposed until a time of
reformation (ver. 10), that is, a certain season, foreseen by God,
when all that which was formerly faulty and incomplete should be put right and
supplied (diorthosis), which season
has been already brought in by the incarnation, death, and ascension of the
true High Priest, the Son of God. He who
would enjoy the sunshine must leave the shadow.
iv. Some other details are
mentioned. In the holy place there were
(1) a lampstand and (2) a table with bread. In the life of
the spirit to which these point there is (1) heavenly light on all matters, in
place of the murky darkness of the human understanding at a distance from God. Christ is the light (John
8: 12). (2) There is also heavenly sustenance to
strengthen the heart in service to God.
Christ is the bread of life (John 6). Even of old there had been a suggestion that
these heavenly realities were to be available to all, not only, as [Page 144] then, to priests, for David and his men had eaten of the
shewbread without penalty (1 Sam. 21; Matt. 12: 3, 4). Then it
was exceptional, but the exception pointed to the coming rule.
Further; in the holy of holies there were (1) a golden censer;
(2) the golden ark of the covenant; (3) a golden pot with manna (Exod. 16: 32-34); (4)
Aarons rod that budded (Num. 17); (5) the tables of the covenant (Deut. 10: 5; 1 Kings 8: 9); (6) the cherubim of glory above (7) the
propitiatory, both the one and the other of gold.
That five of these seven articles were of gold, the most
suitable, precious, and durable metal then known to man, points to the heavenly
glory of the realities they represented, which may be inferred from the fact
that the vision of the heavenly city represents that city and its street as of
pure gold, as was also the heavenly measuring rod of the heavenly being who
showed the city to John (Rev. 21: 15, 18, 21).
We pass from the general to the particular.
(1) The incense which made the most holy place fragrant speaks
of the sweetness and acceptability of Christ to God (Eph.
5: 2),
which merit of Christ must be added to the prayers of even saints if these are
to be acceptable to God (Rev. 8: 3, 4).
(2) The ark spoke of the person of Christ as, among other
things, the centre of the glory of God (Heb.
1: 3,
the effulgence of His glory; see ch. 1, p. 26, 3;
Col. 1: 19).
(3) The pot of manna in that Holiest: of places foretold that
Christ would be the heavenly food of an overcoming and heavenly people (Rev. 2: 17), as He had been the food of His earthly people
(1 Cor. 10:
3).
This bread that feeds us
through eternal years
We ate on earth, oft
moistened with our tears.
(4) Aarons rod that in one night budded and bore fruit in the
holy place spoke of the resurrection, vitality, and fruitfulness of Christ in
the true tabernacle on high, by which it is settled that He is the true High
Priest, even as that budded rod was Gods testimony in Israel that Aaron and no
other man was His chosen priest at that time.
It is the lesson of
(5) The tables of the covenant (which man had broken) were put
into the ark, a symbol of Christ Who could say without reserve I delight to do Thy will, O my
God; yea, thy law
is within
my heart (Ps. 40: 8).
[Page 145]
(6) The cherubim of glory, of one piece with the mercy seat,
declare that, finally, a company wholly one with Christ in heavenly glory and
nearness, connected indivisibly with His propitiatory work, will with Him be
the central point where the glory of God will dwell and shine forth (John 17: 22; 2 Thess. 1: 12). Hence
the heavenly city, by another picture, is the dwelling place of God and
radiates the glory of God (Rev. 21: 3, 11, 23, 24).
In far back ages the anointed cherub
that covereth held a similar station and honour (Ezek. 28: 14); but he fell thence by rebellion. The cherubim that overshadowed the glory in
the tabernacle were a prophecy of the eternal ages, when that older office that
the cherub lost shall be more than revived in the supernal and eternal glory of
Christ and His heavenly people from earth.
(7) The mercy seat, the propitiatory, has been explained above
(ch. X, 6, p. 133).
The scientific exegete may think it irregular to comment thus
upon details which the Writer merely mentioned and expressly left unexplained;
but the practical end of enabling plain readers of to-day to feel the force of
these things makes it desirable to explain what the first readers of the
Epistle would most probably understand sufficiently. They had had instruction by teachers who
laboured to illuminate their converts, an
art and practice too little known to-day.
2. But Christ (9: 11). The subject now reaches full expansion with
the great contrast BUT CHRIST.
i. Yet there is some further
recapitulation, this time as to the Priest Himself. (1) He is Chief Priest. (2) He has now come and has superseded Aaron. (3) The good things promised have also now
come. The old are obsolete. (4) The tent where He acts is greater and
more complete than that of old. (5) It
is not made by hands, but by God, which means it is not part of this transitory
lower realm.
ii.
His Sacrifices. It is before emphasized (5: 1; 8: 3) that the
priest must have gifts and sacrifices to offer to God; gifts, because such are
due from the creature to the Creator, the subject to the Sovereign; sacrifices,
because the offerer is under condemnation for sin, has forfeited the right even
to live, and must be redeemed and made acceptable, must acquire anew the right
to approach the Most High.
(1) What Christ offers.
What then, has this High Priest to offer? He made Himself responsible for the sins of
men; He thereby surrendered His own right to draw near to the Majesty on high;
how shall He [Page 146] re-acquire it? The blood of bulls and goats, though they
were offered in thousands, could not put away sins (10:
4).
What availed it that perhaps fourteen hundreds of times the goat had
been banished to the desert with the sins of the people imputed to it (Lev. 16)? The goat had never returned in peace to the
camp to show that it had left those sins in the distance, that they were really
put away.
BUT CHRIST!
Christ has come, the Lamb of God that does actually, legally,
effectively, bear away the sin of the world (John 1: 29, 36). Now,
once, at the point where the ages came to a head (sunteleia), hath He been
manifested (on earth) really to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (ver. 26). Jehovah made to
light upon Him the iniquity of us all (Isa.
53: 6). He Himself bare our
sins in His body on the tree (1 Pet.
2: 24),
and bare them away. He went into the distance and darkness,
crying out in the bitterness of His soul, My God,
My God, why hast thou
forsaken me? (Ps. 22: 1; Matt. 27: 46); He went into the desert of death, left behind
Him there our sins, and returned in [after His] resurrection without them, free to enter the true
sanctuary and seat Himself at the right hand of God.
Should one of old have challenged the right of a lately
cleansed leper to present himself before God at the gate of the tabernacle,
instead of remaining in the place of banishment, he would have pointed to the
stains of the atoning blood that had been sprinkled upon his garments and put
upon his ear and hand and foot, the proof that he had been healed and cleansed
(Lev. 14). Should anyone doubt the right of Jesus to be
in the [heavenly] glory of God He could point to the
marks on His body of the wounds whence flowed on the cross the blood by which
He atoned for sin. It was not with
His blood (the Greek here would not mean this), but through, by virtue of, in the title and power
of His own blood that He entered there (ver.
12), where nought that defileth can be
tolerated (Rev. 21:
27).
Such as deny the atoning
virtue of the precious blood of Christ challenge His right to be in the
presence of God. They thus cut
themselves off from all benefit of His priestly service as Substitute and High
Priest, and deny themselves all right of access to God.
(2) Christs entry is permanent.
The high priest of old entered the holiest but had to leave it
again, because the sins of the people required his constant service outside and
because the blood of bulls and goats could not lastingly guarantee his personal
safety or title to be within the veil.
But Christ entered on high once for all
because His perfect sacrifice obtained eternal redemption.
iii. The gift Christ brought to
God.
[Page 147]
For the gift which Christ offered unto God was nothing less
than Himself. Nor was this offered in
the energy of His human nature only, though that nature and its devotion to the
will of God were perfect. With sincere
and unreserved submission He said, not my will but thine be done (Luke
22: 42). But He gave Himself up to God through spirit
eternal (dia pneumatos aoniou), that is, His divine nature co-operated
wholly with His human nature and energized it for this supreme, infinite,
infinitely perfect, eternally effective sacrifice of Himself.
It was not simply a man dying as a martyr or an example; it
was the God-man, the Son of God, God manifest in flesh, offering Himself without blemish unto God.
How just, then, is the conclusion drawn, that if in Israel the
blood of animals procured a certain external, ceremonial cleansing, how
much more shall the blood of
Christ cleanse the inner man, the conscience, and set the believer free from
the dead drag of the load of sin to serve the living God!
iv. The benefits obtained.
Let us seek to measure the vastness of the benefits obtained
by Christ and received by the repentant and believing sinner, though in truth
they are immeasurable.
(1) A cleansed conscience. A
seared conscience will let a sinner sin without distress, a most appalling and
fatal condition. But how disenabling is
a defiled yet still active conscience.
The memory of wrongs done is an ever increasing burden. The thought of those wronged becomes a
distress, one dreads to meet them, may even come to detest them. The fear of detection and punishment may
become paralysing. David owned that
while he kept silence, while he would not confess his sin to God, his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day long. But what sensible relief is indicated in his
words, I acknowledged my sin ... and Thou forgavest
(Ps. 32: 3-5). This lifting of the burden from the spirit is
the joy of him who sees the virtue of the atoning death of Christ and relies
upon it as regards his own sins.
And what a dread burden the sinner carries until he sees that
Christ bore that burden on the cross.
Observe the contrast here (ver. 14) between dead works and the living God. God does only living work, for all His works
partake of the health, purity, beauty, eternity of His divine life. And only God does living work. All that a creature without the life of God
does is devoid of life, he is dead, and his every work partakes of the disease,
un-healthiness, deformity, and transitoriness of his sin-blighted nature. His works may seem unto men to be fair, yet
is it but as the deceitful glow often seen on the face of the death-marked
consumptive.
[Page 148]
It can be a wretched hour to the complacent sinner when he
sees that the whole output of his efforts forms but a load of dead works.
But how correspondingly blissful is the relief when he repents,
denounces and renounces his own works, and humbly accepts the benefit of Christ
and His work, relying entirely upon Him as his righteousness before God. The relief obtained when a thorn is removed
from the flesh or grit from the eye is slight as compared with the ease of a
conscience cleansed from dead works.
(2) The second benefit gained is the capacity to serve the living
God. Hitherto nothing the man did was service
to God or served any permanent end at all.
All human schemes and efforts are vain and vanishing; the world passeth
away - the whole system within the bounds of which unregenerate men strive and
toil is passing away and will disappear entirely: only he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever [Greek:
remains unto the age] (1 John 2: 17). How
happy indeed is he who has entered the sphere and system where the life of God
works out in him the will of God; he knows
that his labour is not in vain, being
wrought in the energy of the Lord (1 Cor.
15: 58).
(3) The eternal inheritance (ver.
15).
The old covenant offered real but temporal blessings. Violation of its terms involved death. Christ suffered that penalty in order that
the defaulter might be forgiven, might receive the gift of eternal life, and the promise of an eternal inheritance. Such
as have heard Gods call to enter into this new covenant with Him (see Isa. 55: 1-3), and have
responded, have the prospect of an eternal inheritance,
incorruptible, and
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven until the last time (1 Pet. 1: 3-5*).
[* Better to have quoted from Rom.
6: 23;
since the free gift of God and our eternal
inheritance are not our hope
(verse 3): they are a living certainty! Furthermore, when Christ returns (verse 13); not all will be resurrected at that
time!]
How joyful is that prospect in a world which offers one
nothing for the future. Men say that a bird
in the hand is worth two in the bush; they seek their portion in this
life. Such find no true satisfaction
even here, and when this life fails they are without hope or prospect.
My days are
in the yellow leaf,
The flowers and fruits of
life are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine
alone.
But the child of God rejoices in the hope of the [millennial] glory of God. (
In Christ [by
Gods grace] we are introduced into the realm of things eternal. The Spirit of that kingdom is eternal, the
redemption that the King of that realm obtained for His subjects is eternal, their portion therein is eternal. Let no one say that the
adjective [Page 149] aionios* [in many other places, (e.g. see John 3: 16; 5: 24; Rom. 6: 23; for example)] does not properly denote the everlasting. In all these three connexions it certainly
has this meaning.
[* NOTE. The context in which the
Greek word aionios is used, will always determine the correct
interpretation. If a believers
works are in the context, - as shown in Heb.
5: 9
he (Christ Jesus) became the
author of eternal (aionios) salvation unto all them that OBEY Him - then the word should be understood as meaning age-lasting salvation. A regenerate believers eternal salvation has been purchased in full by his / her Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ: and this
salvation is not a hope, or something to be
attained (i.e., gained by effort after conversion), but a certainty for all who
have been redeemed by His precious blood.]
3. The Testament (ver. 16, 17). The word diatheke
hitherto rendered by covenant has also the
meaning of testament or will. It seems necessary to understand this as its
meaning in these verses. For
(1) The thought of an inheritance has just been brought in,
and ver. 16
is connected with this by the word For. Now under Roman law (which we may justly
assume would be known to our Writer, seeing that it prevailed throughout the
* In the N.T. there are various references to Roman law. They affect such widely separated regions as
(2) It was not necessary that death should take place in order
to establish a covenant. In the case in question death was
necessary because it was necessary to cancel former transgressions before a new
covenant could be arranged; the necessity did not lie in the nature of the new
covenant itself. As the Writer truly
says, no testament availed
while the testator lived; but on the other hand, covenants did avail while the
parties were alive.
(3) The instrument in view in these two verses was one which
could be made by one party: doth it ever avail while he that made it liveth? This was true of a will (testament), but not
of a covenant.
For these reasons we take the Writer as turning for a moment
from the idea of a covenant to that of a testament, because this serves better
the point he wishes to press; which point is that it was necessary that Christ
should die in order to effect His hearts desire to bring rebels into such a
relation with God that they can become His children, His heirs. The Son of God is, as it were, pictured as
having put this bequest in His will; as having died to render His will
operative; and now, it may be added, risen [out] from the dead He is executor of His own will. What greater security can heirs have than
that the testator should himself carry out his own directions? The law at Sinai
could produce no such situation, so eminently satisfactory both to the heirs
and the Testator.
4.
The Blood o the Covenant (ver. 18-22).
i. Men usually ratify covenants by
signature and seal, but [Page 150] both the old and the new covenants
between God and man have been attested by blood, the former by the blood of
calves and goats, the latter by the blood of Christ.
The penalty which the transgressor of the law of God has to
discharge is death, he must forfeit his life for his sin; and the covenant between God and man, on the ground of
which God shall undertake to bless man, must show that the liability of man to
die has been discharged and that this has been done in accordance with the
law. This means that the law of God
shall have been satisfied in respect of its claim on the life of the
sinner. In other words, there must be
proof that death, the penalty of sin, has taken place, so that the former and
unsatisfactory transactions have been disposed of and cancelled according to
law, the law of God.
What now is proof of death?
A person may seem to have died, though actually having only
swooned. But if a sufficient quantity of
his blood be produced death will be taken for granted. For the life of the
flesh is in the blood ... as to the life of all flesh, the
blood thereof is all one with the life
thereof ... the life of all flesh is the blood
thereof (Lev. 17: 10-16).
The Passover night in
God will not payment twice demand,
First
at my bleeding Suretys hand
And then again at mine.
Thus the blood which Moses sprinkled upon the book of the
covenant, the tabernacle and its utensils, and the people, attested that the
penalty due in respect of the sins of the people had been met by death and
discharged.
Similarly, the blood that poured from the pierced side of
Christ was the visible proof that He was veritably dead and had discharged the
full penalty of the sins He bore on the cross.
It was the outward evidence that a full satisfaction had been rendered
to the law of God in respect of its just claims against sin, and that so no
obstacle remained to the establishing of a new covenant between God and
man. The blood of Christ ratifies this
covenant as being a legal, righteous transaction.
ii.
Substitution. On this
account there was no remission of sins apart from the shedding of blood (ver. 22),
because without death the law had received no satisfaction which would warrant
the remission of the penalty. Of course, the law does [Page 151] not inquire whose money, property, or life, as the case may be, satisfies
its demands and cancels the debt. If the
actual debtor can do this well and good, but to the law it is all one whether
it is done by the debtor or his surety. See Note, p. 202.
It is thus when life is the forfeit in question. In the very rare event of a miscarriage of
justice and of the execution of the wrong party, it would be held in law that
the real culprit must escape the death to which he had been sentenced, for the
demand of the law had been already met.
But what justice does most strictly require is that the
substitutionary act, whether by the surrender of property or life, must be a
non-compulsory act by the surety. The
miscarriage of justice above supposed is wholly exceptional, though effective
for the benefit of the culprit, and in the execution
of justice by God is impossible. The rule
is that no property or life shall be seized or taken by fraud or force to meet
the liability of a defaulter. That were but to multiply crime. The surety or substitute must act of his own
free will, that is, without constraint.
This essential requirement Christ fulfilled. In His death on the tree it was most
prominent, and is powerfully stressed in Scripture. He offered Himself
unto God (ver. 14). He offered; there was no outward constraint: He
offered Himself; it was His own person and life that He willingly
surrendered. So Paul wrote that the Son of God loved me and gave Himself up for me, that is, surrendered
Himself to justice on my account (Gal. 2: 20). Yet more emphatically our Divine Substitute
said of Himself: Therefore doth the Father love me,
because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away
from me, but I lay it down of myself (John 10:
17, 18).
5. Added Details (9:
19).
In connexion with the sprinkling of blood at the attesting of the
covenant at Sinai there were added, as the Writer tells us, three articles, (1)
water, (2) scarlet wool, and (3) hyssop.
i.
The water points to the activity
of the Holy Spirit in association with the atonement of Christ. John testifies as to the crucifixion that,
when the side of Christ was pierced, straightway there
came out blood and water (John 19: 34). This
he stresses heavily in his epistle (1 John 5:
6-8).
The conjunction of blood and water is frequent in types and
histories. In the cleansing of the leper
(Lev. 14),
the purifying of one ceremonially defiled (Num.
19), and the consecrating of a priest (Lev. 8), both blood and water were equally
indispensable. It emphasizes the
indissoluble connexion between justification in Christ and sanctification in
the [Holy] Spirit, imputed [Page 152] righteousness
and practical righteousness, the altar and the laver. Both are indispensable to
communion with God,
to life among His sanctified people, and
to service in the holy place now and hereafter [i.e., after the First
Resurrection]. Study 1 Pet.
1: 2; Eph. 1: 7 with 13, 14; 5: [5,] 25-27; Titus 2: 11-14; 3: 3-8; and indeed the whole Bible. The matter will be considered again at ch. 10: 22, p. 166.
ii. The scarlet wool is
not so easy to interpret. It is
associated with the blood, the water, the hyssop in the cleansing of the leper
(Lev. 13:
4-7), and
again in the case of one to be cleansed from lesser defilement than leprosy (Num. 14: 6). In the
one case it was dipped into the blood-stained water, in the other it was burned
in the purging fire. In both cases it is
thus associated with the purifying judgment on sin and the consequent
restoration to fellowship with God and His people.
Perhaps the most illuminating passage is Isaiah 1: 18,
where God calls to His backslidden people and says: Come
now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. In this passage scarlet represents the
intensity, the glaring offensiveness of sin, and its indelible stain on the
character, while wool is parallel to snow as a symbol of the purity that can be
produced by the blood and water of cleansing.
It would seem to be the whiteness of Palestinian wool that caused it to
be chosen as a symbol of a cleansed sinner. Comp. Ps.
147: 16; Ezek. 27: 18; Dan. 7: 9; Rev. 1: 14, for this feature.
iii. Hyssop was a plant of which a bunch
was used as the instrument for sprinkling the defiled who was being cleansed (Num. 19: 18).
Perhaps this lowly plant represents the humility of heart requisite in
one who is to benefit by the blood.
Hence Davids prayer, Purge me with hyssop and
I shall be clean, which means give me the benefit of the blood and
water of cleansing.
He added: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (Ps. 51: 7). The
hyssop is connected with the sprinkling of blood, or water stained with blood;
the washing connects with the use of water to bathe the person and cleanse the clothing, that is the outer, visible life. The one is the altar, the other the laver.
The Bible knows
nothing of the offensive
idea of a fountain of blood and of sinners plunging therein.* The
grosser of heathen religious customs included such a ceremony, the taurobolium.
But the Divinely appointed ceremonies excluded this. Blood was sprinkled, washing was always with water.** [Page 153] Pardon could be gained through the blood alone, as in the case of the tax-gatherer
(Luke 18): he went
down to his house justified,
but he could not go up into Gods house and have the privilege
of priestly communion and service; for that the water of the laver was equally
as indispensable as the blood of the altar (Exod.
30: 17-21); and only priests and Levites could reach the
laver. The cross assures pardon to
faith: the daily sanctified walk in the power of the Spirit is necessary to
fellowship and service.
* The
one text which countenanced the idea was Rev.
1: 5: Unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sins by His blood. But the true Greek text is luo not louo and reads loosed us from our sins
in His blood (see R.V.). It is
the liberating power of redemption, not the cleansing virtue.
** See also Mr. Langs Atoning Blood: What
It Does and What it Does Not Do.
iv. The Tabernacle and vessels
sprinkled with blood (9: 21). This is not mentioned in the account of the
erection of the Tabernacle (Exod. 40). Only
the anointing with oil is specified. But
it could be justly inferred from the feature that in the associated ceremony of
the consecrating of Aaron and his sons as priests the blood was applied to them
before the oil was applied (Lev. 8: 23, 24, 30). This was the case in the cleansing of the
defiled. The blood was applied to the leper, and it is particularly ordered
that the oil shall be put upon the blood of the guilt offering (Lev. 14: 14-17).
It means that the [Holy] Spirit is given only to such as have first accepted the blood
of Christ. Pentecost cannot precede
6.
The Necessity of Sacrifice (9: 23). Necessary [strong
and emphatic] therefore it was that the copies of the
things in the heavens with these should be made pure, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these.
i. The necessity arises from the
holiness of God. He is of purer eyes
than to behold evil and cannot look on perverseness (Hab.
1: 13). It is impossible that Divine holiness shall
sanction its own opposite. God would
cease to be God did He tolerate uncleanness and compromise with evil. Whatever persons or regions He is to honour with
His presence must be holy, as He is holy.
Therefore where evil has defiled purification
must be effected by atoning sacrifice.
ii. The temporary copies of the heavenly
things could be so purged by temporary sacrifices. But whence arises
the necessity that the heavenly things themselves must be made pure? It arises from the defiling of those upper
realms by the sin of [Page 154] Satan and his angels. In very ancient days pious men understood
this. His
angels He chargeth with folly [or error]. ... He
putteth no trust in His holy ones; yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight (Job 4: 18; 15: 15). This defilement commenced in that high realm
where the anointed cherub at first walked in honour and it descended with him
to the lower realms to which he was cast out (Ezek.
28: 16). It affects also the lower heaven of the
stars: Behold, even the
moon hath no brightness, And the stars are not pure in His sight (Job 25: 5).
How shall these upper regions be purged? By the better sacrifices of
the new covenant. The work of the
cross has universal virtue. The
sacrifice made by Christ extends its cleansing energy throughout the
heavens. Truly His sacrifice was better,
far, far better than the best which Aaron could offer!
iii. But why is this work spoken of in
the plural, better sacrifices? No work or sacrifice by any other person can
be added to His. Can it be because His
one entire work as Mediator involved several distinct acts of sacrifice? He surrendered His original form as God and
took the form of a bondservant (Phil. 2: 5-8). He gave
up His position and glory as equal with God.
He sacrificed His enjoyment of the immediate presence of His Father and
came out into this remote earth. He left, the worship of holy angels and became one of a race
lower than they in power and glory. In
manhood He sacrificed comforts, pleasures, rights, even the right to live. And at last He made the supreme sacrifice of
Himself on the cross, without which there would have been no atonement and His
vast earlier sacrifices would have left heaven and earth still defiled. For these were but preparation for His
atoning work; they proved His entire suitability to make atonement; but
atonement itself He effected by the death of the cross alone. Yet the virtue of this, as it were, threw its
radiance backward over all the preparation, as well as forward into all His
intercession on high, and combines His entire priestly activities into one
whole service.
But with this explanation of the plural sacrifices I do not feel perfectly satisfied. Westcott thought that it is used because the single sacrifice of Christ fulfilled perfectly the ideas
presented by the different forms of the Levitical sacrifices. Perhaps the plural may be one of dignity or
emphasis like the plural deaths in Isa. 53: 9 (R.V. mgn., and
reference to Ezek. 28:
8, 10),
as is suggested by Mr. F. F. Bruce.
7. Summary (9: 24-28).
i. The reason why
those Aaronic sacrifices did not suffice is that they did not affect the true tabernacle where Christ was [Page 155] to minister. Better sacrifices were
needed to cleanse that heavenly sphere whither the High Priest was to
enter. Aaron appeared annually before
God on behalf of
ii. Moreover those sacrifices were of
only animal blood, failing of adequate moral or legal value, and they had to be
presented frequently, by a fallible priest.
Such sacrifices offered by such priests could never secure eternal
redemption. If Christ were no more than
Aaron, and His body and His blood of no richer worth than those of beasts, then
would it be incumbent upon Him to have suffered unto death in perpetual
recurrence ever since the world began.
iii. But what are the glorious
facts? These, (1) that once, not at, or
many times since, the foundation of the world, but once, that is, only once;
and (2) at the point of time to which all the ages since the world began led up
and out of which all succeeding ages develop; (3) the Son of God has been
manifested on this earth.
Let us pause and ask, Why has this small earth become the pivotal
point of eternity? In the depths of the
wisdom and counsel of God it was determined that man should become the ruler of
the universe (Gen. 1:
26; Ps. 8; see ch. V above, P. 52,
ff). The fallen cherub, who aspired to
this sovereignty (Isa. 14: 13, 14), promptly attacked this new Heir to the throne on which he himself fain would sit, and thus he attacked also the final purpose
of God concerning heaven and [this] earth.
By this means the ancient
conflict between the Sovereign and the Rebel became concentrated on [and over] this earth. Hither therefore the Son of God came to
destroy the works of the Devil by putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,
and hither He will return to finish the fight, as is shown in Rev. 19.
By the sacrifice
of Himself. Again the Writer returns to this
most stupendous fact. Oh, what a
majestic Person made the sacrifice: oh, what a sacrifice He made! Nothing less were
sufficient, nothing more was possible, nothing else is required. He put away sin: judicially as before
God the judge of all; progressively in the lives of men of faith; completely
when the full outcome has been reached in heaven and earth.
iv. The
Coming Again of Christ. To this full development the Writer now advances. He will open the theme more fully in ch. 12, p. 255, ff).
(1) It is laid up for men once to die
(ver. 27). Justice demands it, or anarchy will triumph
in endless destruction; mercy requires it, or earths misery will accumulate
beyond [Page 156] endurance; experience confirms it, we must needs all* die. And then what?
[* NOTE. Here the word all is used in a limited sense. It is not found in the text. All will not die for there will be some who
will be rapt alive into heaven. Luke 21: 36. cf. Rev.
3: 10. See also Mr. Langs Firstfruits
and Harvest, and The
Pre-Tribulation Rapture therein.]
(2) After this judgment (ver. 27), that is, krisis, arraignment, examination before a competent tribunal. What the verdict and outcome will be is not
here indicated. Nor is it here stated
how long or how soon after death this examination will be. But the judgment seat of God is always in
session. The great white throne (Rev. 20) is
only its final session, when the eternal state of angels and men will
be announced.
But in the ordering of His kingdom of righteousness God leaves nothing unarranged, nor are prisoners left to
languish long in prison without trial. Luke 16 pictures
events shortly after death, for the brothers of Dives are still living on
earth. Some competent authority must
have determined that Lazarus should go into bliss and Dives into torment. See my Firstfruits and
Harvest, 67 ff.
(3) Of many
(ver. 28). Man
dies once; Christ died once; but there is a great distinction: each man dies
for his own sin, but Christ died for the sins of others, yea, many others. This many is reminiscent of the words of
the Lord as at Matt. 20: 28, and during the last Passover; this is My blood of the covenant which is shed for many unto the
remission of sins (Matt. 26: 28, Mark 14: 24). For how many? Some
contend that it was for the elect only and refuse the extension of the
atonement to the human race entire. Yet
certain passages seem unequivocally to assert this last, as Heb. 2: 15,
R.V.; 1 Tim. 2:
3-6; 1 John 2: 2.
The parallel with the old covenant will settle the
question. That covenant applied to
This avoids putting on the rack (2
Pet. 3: 16
strebloo) such passages as those mentioned above. They mean just what they say; all means all.
(4) (a) Even as for
man a certain other event follows upon death, so a certain other event follows
the death of Christ - He will appear the second
time (ver. 28). Christ
Who had been hidden in heaven was manifested (phaneroo) to men on earth (ver. 26). He
next presented Himself (emphanizo) in the presence of God (ver. 24), somewhat as one who returns to the
sovereign after discharging some
duty abroad. Service [Page 157] at the throne for our benefit now occupies Him; but at the time appointed
by the Father He will be sent forth again and will be seen with the eyes by men
on earth (ver. 28,
ophthesetai). So it is stated in Rev. 1: 7: Behold, He
cometh with the clouds, and every eye [ophthalmos] shall
see [opsetai] Him.
A visible coming of the Lord that can be seen by human sight
on earth is the inescapable teaching of Scripture. That will be His second appearing on earth, which excludes the
possibility of any such coming between His ascension and that
future visible coming.
(b) His former coming was that He might deal with sin. He dealt with that matter, said to His Father
I have accomplished the work which thou hast given me
to do (John 17: 4), and announced before men that It is finished (John 19:
30).
His future coming will be apart from sin (ver.
28).
He will not take up that question again, for He has already solved and
settled it.
(c) When He appears again it will be unto
salvation (ver. 28),
salvation in its largest sense, the sense of Peters words salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time (1 Pet.
1: 5). At His former coming He provided salvation, and
by the Spirit the believer has already the earnest and foretaste of this (Eph. 1: 13, 14): when He comes again He will make this fully
effective in the spirit, soul, and body of His own, even as Paul writes: And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body without blame in the
parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ be preserved entire. Faithful is the One
calling you, who will also do it (1 Thess. 5: 24). This comprehensive desire will be fulfilled in those who share in the
first resurrection or the rapture that are to take place at the coming of
Christ (1 Cor. 15; s1 Thess. 4; Rev. 20).
(d) Them that expect Him.
No secrecy will mark His parousia (coming); it will be
an apocalypse, an unveiling of a person now hidden,
an epiphany, the out-shining of a glory now
concealed. The parallel with the day of atonement shows this.
Thus will Christ also be seen of all: every eye shall see Him,
including those who pierced Him, His enemies (Rev.
1: 7). But for these last
His coming will be unto destruction (2
Thess. 1: 5-12), all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him. As to this prospect has the
readers heart learned to say with John Even so,
Amen? (Rev.
1: 7).
But to those who wait for Him,
that is, eagerly expect Him, He will appear unto salvation. The
worshippers were expecting (prosdokon) Zacharias the priest to appear, and [Page 158] they wondered that he tarried in the sanctuary (Luke
1: 21). Simeon was expecting (prosdechomenos) the
consolation of
Thus it is in this age.
In Preliminary Dissertation 2 of my book on the Revelation it has been shown that the apostles did
not expect the return of Christ in their days; but that did not hinder their
hearts from being set upon His coming as their hope and desire (1 Pet. 1: 13). So it
has been with godly men ever since, and thus John Labadie, dying in 1573-4,
said: I believe the end is near and the beginning of
the reign of God and His Son Jesus Christ, for Whom I have waited, Whom I have
known, for Whom I now wait, Whom I now know (The
Quiet in the Land, p. 174). His notion that the event was near was
mistaken, but the expectant attitude of his heart was right; and to all those
who have so waited expectantly, whether they shall have died or have been left
alive until His coming, He shall appear, apart from sin, unto salvation.
* *
*
[Page 159]
CHAPTER
XII
THE WILL OF GOD
(10: 1-25)
Ch. 10: 1. For the law having a shadow of the good things to
come, not the very image of the things, they can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually,
make perfect them that draw nigh. 2 Else would they not have ceased to be offered, because the
worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more conscience of sins?
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made
of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should
take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body didst thou prepare for me; 6 in whole burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no
pleasure: 7 then said I, Lo, I am come (in the roll of the
book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God.
8 Saying above, Sacrifice and
offerings and whole burnt offerings, and sacrifices
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered
according to the law); 9 then hath he said, Lo, I
am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By which will we have been sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: 12 but he, when he had
offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat
down on the right hand of God; 13 from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the
footstool of his feet. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us: for after he
hath said,
16 This is the
covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws on their heart, and upon their mind also
will I write them; then he saith,
17 And their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more.
18 Now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering
for sin.
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place [Gr. places] by the blood of Jesus; 20 by the way which he
dedicated for us, a new and living way, through
the [Page 160] veil, that is to
say, his flesh; 21 and having a great
priest over the house of God; 22 let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our body washed with pure water: 23 let us hold fast the
confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised: 24 and let us consider one
another to provoke unto love and good works; 25 not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and
so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.
1. RECAPITULATION (vers. 1-4).
Our Writer seems to have understood what
a powerful writer meant when he said that repetition is the only figure of
speech worth anything, and why a successful advocate said that the secret of
winning a case was to go over your main points as many times as there are
jurymen to be convinced.
Again he enforces the vital matter of the inefficiency and
therefore inferiority of the law and its ceremonial.
It seems that the Holy Spirit, with
His insight into human nature and His foresight into human ways, dealt in
advance with mans persistent tendency to maintain a religion with fixed rules,
external accompaniments, routine prayers, with priests and sacrifices, a
religion of a legal type. Is it not
plain that since such a religion, having God Himself as its author and having
been tested for fourteen centuries, failed to achieve the end needed, every
human imitation of it must needs fail yet more
dismally?
It is no wonder
at all that Churches by law established are a perpetual hindrance to the
progress of the truth and an injury to souls.
Whatever true spiritual life is found within them has to be developed
and maintained in spite of the system and against its downward, oppressing
influence. This is true in measure of
every sacerdotal, liturgical, ritualistic religion even outside of State churches.
Arguments are now repeated.
i The law
was a shadow, not a full and exact representation of things heavenly and
future. The shadow of a man may give a
fair idea of his form, but it cannot be the very image
of his features and complexion, or reproduce the light of his eye. In the
[Page 161]
Such an image of things heavenly the law was not and could not
be; it was only a shadow.
ii. Its services and sacrifices, though
repeated annually and without intermission, made no one perfect, not even the
most diligent and sincere worshipper. If
they had done so, if those who sought God through them had attained the bliss
of freedom from the consciousness of sin and so of reverent boldness with God,
then there would have been no need for them to be superseded by a new covenant
and new scheme of communion with God.
iii. What those annual sacrifices did was
to produce an annual remembrance that sin still stood between God and man, that
sin had not been put away effectually; the reason for this being that the
life-blood of a beast has not the moral worth of the life-blood of a man, man
being of so much higher dignity as made in the likeness of God. In consequence man, as soon as he thinks
seriously, feels and knows that neither a beast, nor money, nor any other of
his possessions, can satisfy the demand of the law for his life forfeited by
sin. All that a
man hath will he give for his life (Job 2:
4), for he values his life above all that he
hath.
2. The
Will of God (vers. 5-10).
i. The argument now reaches its height
and conclusion with a quotation from Ps. 40: 6-8, which the Writer makes to
read as follows:
Sacrifice and offering thou
wouldest not,
But a body didst thou
prepare for me;
In whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin thou hadst no
pleasure:
Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the
book it is written of me)
To do thy will, O God.
In the Psalm the first sentence reads, Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in, which
is here, following the Greek translation of the Old Testament, intensified into
the positive thou wouldest not.
The second sentence reads in Hebrew Ears
hast thou digged (or pierced) for me
(R.V. marg.), which is rendered in English, Mine ears
hast thou opened. This the
Writer widens to a body hast thou prepared for me,
following again the Greek Old Testament.
The third sentence reads in the Psalm, Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required,
which again is changed to the positive and stronger assertion that in these thou hast no pleasure.
[Page 162]
These changes serve to strengthen the Writers argument that
the sacrifices of the old covenant were obsolete; or rather, that
a thousand years before Christ, when David wrote. and
after only 400 years since they were instituted, they had been already
positively reprobated by God, being things He did not want and in which He had
no delight. This being the case it is
implied that it could be only a question of time and they would be
abolished. Enlightened minds should therefore entertain no thought of returning to
those antiquated elementary arrangements.
If they did so they could but find the light that was in them becoming
darkness.
ii.
The Quotation (10: 5-7).
Before developing the argument it will be profitable to note some
deeply interesting if secondary questions involved.
(1) When He [the Son of God] cometh into the world He saith. This shows that the control of the prophets
by the [Holy] Spirit was so complete that one could
be so directed in speech that his words should be taken up by Messiah a
thousand years later as His own. Thus
there was fulness of meaning far exceeding what the prophet could
appreciate. There could be an immediate
sense applicable to the prophet in his day and circumstances, but also, and far
more important, a remoter sense foreknown by the Spirit of truth, and into the
force of which the prophet might have to search (1
Pet. 1: 10-12). But of
statements which a man cannot fully comprehend he cannot have been the
originator. The inspiring [Holy] Spirit was this.
(2) This operation upon the mind of a prophet, which makes the
Spirit of God to be the primary Author of the utterance, justifies a change
which a later inspired prophet may make.
For every Author is entitled to vary his own words should he wish to
quote them and give a fresh thought or emphasis.
Thus our Writer departs from both the Hebrew and the Greek and
makes the last sentence read simply [I come] to do thy will, O God,
instead of I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart; because he wished to put emphasis upon the will of
God itself not upon Messiahs delight in doing it or the fact that it was cherished in His heart.
(3) Here is a precious insight into the intercourse of the Son
with the Father, at the time of and about the fact of His becoming flesh; and
it is most noteworthy that, as man, the Son employs the words of His Fathers
Book in which to speak to the Father. It
is an example for all the children of the Father.
(4) For Christ it was vitally important and amply sufficient
that something was prescribed for Him in the Scripture; In the roll of the book it is written of me. The Book had
Him as its theme; His work was to carry out all and everything written therein
about Him. To the last hour of His
life this [Page 163] governed His actions: The Scriptures
must be fulfilled; and therefore in the very hour of death Jesus knowing that all things are now finished, that the scripture might be accomplished, saith, I thirst (John 19: 28).
iii. 10:
9. But to return. The
priest in
Yet the one true end of our existence, which is also the one
essential secret of true happiness, is the doing of the will of God, perfectly
and always. This the sinner cannot do
and the law cannot help him to do it.
What then is to be done? The Son
of God gives the answer.
Lo, I
come to do Thy will, O God. I will do what no one else can do. And thus He takes away the first, even that
whole system of things which was indeed the best that could be devised apart
from Him, that He may establish the second and eternal arrangements of the new
covenant. By means of this, Gods will shall be done on earth even as it is done
by the holy angels in heaven, and so shall earth and heaven become at last
one perfect kingdom of God, because ruled everywhere and wholly by the one will
of God.
iv. (10: 10). Sanctification. And the first and most immediate item in that
will and purpose of God, for which the Son became man, is that He shall
sanctify them that believe on Him
through the offering of His own holy body once for all, and thus shall be
attained this necessary end which the law and its services could never effect.
This sanctification embodies two distinct yet indissoluble
elements. First, that a person or thing
is withdrawn from common use and dedicated wholly to the possession and use of
God; and then, that with a view to this use to the glory of God, the person or
thing must be made actually suitable, by being clean and beautiful and
efficient.
In the former sense they who turn to God through Christ are
regarded by God as set apart unto Him by virtue of the complete dedication to
God of their Representative, their Substitute, their
Surety. When He gave Himself up wholly
to the will of God they were regarded as involved in this act, seeing that He
acted on their behalf. And this being so, it remains for them to carry into
daily practical effect this dedication [Page 164] to God in their Surety by each learning and doing the will of God in
daily life. Both aspects are in 1 Cor. 1: 2, Sanctified in Christ
Jesus, called to be saints, and so in 1 Cor. 5: 7, Purge out the old
leaven, even as ye are unleavened. Christ on their behalf presented His body
unto God a sacrifice in death; therefore let them, each for himself, present
his body unto God a living sacrifice (Rom. 12: 1, 2).
v.
The Seated Priest (10: 11, 14). The incompleteness of the Aaronic ministry
was indicated by the fact that those priests never sat down during the period
of their daily service. No provision was
made for them to sit. There were altar and laver without, table, lamp, and
incense altar within, but no seat. Their
work was never done. But the heavenly
Priest, by one sacrifice, obtained a redemption that is eternal; therefore, that sacrifice requires no repetition,
indeed admits of none, for its virtue abides for ever; therefore, those being sanctified unto God by it
are perfected for ever; therefore, this Priests service, as regards the offering of sacrifice, is
finished; therefore, He has sat
down, the sign of the perfectness of that portion of His priestly ministry.
Of course, this does not mean that in fact the Son never moves
from His seat on high. A few months
after His ascension He was seen by Stephen standing (Acts
7: 56); but sitting is His normal
position, in contrast to the standing service of
This position the Priest will retain until He shall arise as
King [of kings and return to this earth
to rule in righteousness and] to subdue His enemies.
vi. The
Witness of the Spirit (ver. 15,
17).
There is a witness of the [Holy] Spirit within the child of God assuring him that this is what
he is, a child of God (Rom. 8: 16). But the witness here in view is one given
from without through Scripture. The
Writer quotes again the prophecy of Jeremiah
and stresses the point noted above (ch. 10: 6, iii, p. 134),
that it is after the
announcement that the law of God will be written in the heart and on the mind
that the [Holy] Spirit gives to believers the
guarantee from God that their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more.
From this guarantee he draws the just conclusion that there
can be no further need for an offering in respect of sins already [Page 165] and actually remitted.
There can be no further question of providing for the payment of debts
already paid. This concludes and
clinches the proof of the abrogation of the old covenant, for the machinery by
which the law provides for the payment of debts, and enforces payment, has no
further reason for existing when there are no debts left to be paid.
3. Exhortations
(10: 19-25).
i. Let us draw near. The lengthy argument concerning priesthood and sacrifice being
completed, the exhortation in ch. 4: 14-16 is resumed: we are to draw near to the throne
of grace, we are to exercise our right and use our
privileges.
(1) Present Boldness (ver. 19). Both
there and here is emphasized the present possession of this right. Both exhortations begin with the present
participle having. Seeing that we do now
actually hold the right to draw near let us do so. And let us do so with boldness. To approach God timidly, as if fearing the
consequences, implies a feeble appreciation of the worth of our Priest and of
the value of His atoning blood; it is a slight upon Him and His atoning,
justifying, sanctifying work.
(2) The
(3) Dedication (ver. 20). As a
landowner at his own expense may cut a road over his private property and
dedicate it to the use of the public for ever, and thus deny to all, even
himself, the right ever to
close it, so did Jesus dedicate this way of approach to God. It can never again be shut, not even by God,
for He cannot and will not make void the act and deed of His Son.
(4) New and Living (ver. 20). This
way the Writer describes as new, for it had been opened only
lately when he was writing. And it is a
way which only the spiritually living can tread, and which leads to life in fulness, not to death, as unwarranted entrance into the ancient
tent would have done.
(5) The Veil, His Flesh (ver.
20).
Having, in grace love, undertaken to bear in His body our sins, the
Redeemer had no other way open by which He might return to God than that His
holy body should be rent in death. The
death-torn [Page 166] body of our Saviour was the rending
asunder of all that hindered our access to God, even as it became His own right
of access. Through Him we who are
justified by faith have had our access into this state
of favour wherein we stand before God in His holy place (
(6) The Priest over Gods house (ver.
21).
The thought returns to ch. 3: 1-6. God has
a house and a household
- a sphere where He dwells and a family and servants. Over this immense establishment Christ is the
ruler, as Aaron was the ruler of that earthly and typical establishment in
(7) Let US draw near (ver. 22). All these arrangements for access to God
being completed let us avail ourselves of them.
Let us pray. Let us give
ourselves to prayer. Let us cultivate
the holy art of intercourse with God.
Lord, what a change within
us one short hour
Spent in Thy presence doth
avail to make....
We kneel how weak, we rise
how full of power....
Why therefore should we do
ourselves this wrong,
Or others, that we are not
always strong,
That we are ever overborne
with care,
That we should ever weak
and heartless be,
Anxious or troubled, when
with us is prayer,
And joy and strength and
courage are with Thee?
(Trench.)
(8) Conditions of Drawing Near (ver.
22).
(a) A true heart. As the
hearts of a husband and wife must be true to each other, inwardly, utterly
true, if sweet, intimate fellowship is to be enjoyed, so must our heart be true
to God. His heart is true to us, as it
is next said: He is faithful that promised: we
must be true to Him. Paul compared his
converts to a virgin espoused to Christ, and feared lest Satan should corrupt
their thoughts, as a virgins thoughts may be corrupted by doting upon some
other than her lover (2 Cor. 11: 2, 3). In such
case she will not be happy to meet him. Thus may we destroy our joy in God.
(b) Fulness of Faith (ver. 22). This
will be explained and enforced in ch. 11.
(c)
A Sprinkled heart (ver. 22). This
has been considered at ch. 9: 13, 14, P. 147. The Holy Spirit brings home to
the believer the virtue of the blood of Christ as meeting the claims of God,
and this relieves the conscience of the burden of evil committed.
[Page 167]
(d) The Body washed (ver. 22). Many
would give this a literal, material sense by applying it to the rite of baptism
in water. The construction does not
allow this: having our hearts sprinkled ... and having our body washed
(rerantismenoi ... kai lelousmenoi). If
the washing of the body is material (the material body washed with material
water) then the sprinkling of the heart must be material (the material heart
with the material blood), which cannot be.
As the sprinkling is figurative so must be the washing. The one refers to the inner life of the conscience being cleansed, the other to the outer life of practice being cleansed.
As everywhere in this Epistle reference to the types is
assumed, by which the meaning is established.
The leper returning to fellowship with God had to be sprinkled with
blood and had to wash his body in water (Lev.
13).
At consecration the priest had to be bathed in water and sprinkled with blood
(Lev. 8). In his daily service as priest there was the
sprinkling of blood for himself and the frequent washing of hands and feet at
the laver (Exod. 30).
But if he was to have heart fellowship with God, and not only external relations, then must the
leper and the priest know by faith a
heart experience corresponding to the sprinkling and attain [i.e., to gain by effort] a practical freedom from sinful ways answering to the washing of the outer
man, the body. The sprinkling is faith appropriating
Christ on the cross; the washing is faith gaining
holiness of daily life by obedience to the word and by consequent present grace
of the Holy Spirit. At the Supper
the Lord spoke to the apostles of the blood of the covenant and He also washed
their feet. The same explanation rules Eph. 5: 25, 26 and Titus 3: 5. [Christian] Baptism teaches the same truth [i.e., being buried under water - (both went down into the water
and they came up out of the water Acts 8: 38, 39, R.V.) - and raised
again unto a new life of holiness in Christ Jesus.*], but is not the water or laver of
these passages.
[*
Note what is written: One faith, one hope and one baptism! There cannot be two different methods used
for Christian baptism in water!]
It is deeply important to ponder that a holy walk is
indispensable to fellowship with the Holy God in His holy place. It lies at the
basis of the solemn warnings of this Epistle and all Scripture.
ii. Let us hold fast. It is blessed to know that
God has said: I Jehovah thy God will hold thy right
hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee
(Isa. 41:
13).
This is Gods side. Ours is, let us hold fast.
J. J. Sims, the evangelist, as a small boy was unduly pressed
at a Canadian camp meeting to confess that he had got
religion. An old saint said: Hold on to it, John; hold on to it. After three weeks of wearisome endeavour the
boy said to his mother: I don't think I can hold on
to it any longer. The wise woman
answered: I dont think youve anything to hold on
to, John.
What Christians have to hold on to is the
confession of our [Page 168] hope. The Israelite confessed that his hope was
in Aaron as the priest to adjust his affairs with God. The Roman Catholic, the Greek Catholic, the
Anglo-Catholic, each confesses that he has placed his hope on the priest of his
church. The Christian confesses Christ to be his hope, and his only hope Godward. It is this confession of Christ the Christian
has to make, to make continually, and to hold on steadfastly in making it.
By this confession it is that the Spirit of God leads others
to faith in Christ. Therefore it is this
confession that the spirit of darkness studies to stifle. It is ours to watch against our confession wavering. This is the first stage towards ceasing to
confess. The sure way to prevent our
confession wavering is to confess. It is
not enough to believe silently in the heart; it is with
the mouth that confession is made unto* salvation (
[*
See 1 Pet. 1:
6, 11,
R.V.]
Hope is [a regenerate believers] faith applied to the future.
For faith the future is covered by the promises of God. Faith, with Abraham, is confident that what
God has promised, be it never so impossible, He is able also to perform. It holds that He is
faithful that promised (ver. 23) and expects the promised benefit. This applies especially to the expectation
that the Great Priest, who has gone into the heavenly sanctuary, will appear a second time unto
salvation.
For two centuries or more this return of the Lord was the hope
that animated His people; they looked for Him. Presently, as persecution ceased and a comfortable life on earth increased, the
Christians began to waver as to this hope of the Lords return; they
settled down in the world, accepted the subtle deceit that it was their
business to associate with the world and leaven
[i.e., the false prophetic doctrines in] it, and for the more part of them abandoned the hope. They
ceased to be pilgrims on earth and so their testimony was ruined. It was against this surrender of the hope of the gospel that Paul warned the
Colossian believers, telling them that their highest future privilege, the
being presented before God, was contingent
upon not being moved away from the
hope of the gospel (Col. 1: 22, 23).
Let us at the end of the age learn from that failure at its
commencement, and hold fast the confession of our hope
that it waver not.*
iii. Let us consider one another (ver.
24).
(1) He who would fall let him be self-occupied; he who would
stand let him consider others. He who would provoke
another to love, let him love him;
he who would incite to good works must
do them.
This is no easy-going friendliness. To consider
means to consider diligently and earnestly (katanodmen). To provoke is
the English word paroxysm, an intense word.
This demands an intensity of love which can set others on fire with
love.
Thus the exhortation urges to increase of the three cardinal
virtues of faith, hope, love. The combination of these in active exercise
assures, yea, is, the true, full life in Christ.
(2) The fulfilment of this exhortation will of necessity
require and secure constant contact with those one wishes to provoke. Such
as cease to assemble together will be unable to help one another and will lose
desire to do so. The isolated
soldier is in imminent peril from the foe.
He is already defeated who ceases
to stand in the battle with his comrades.
(3) On the reverse side, soldiers in battle cheer one another
by cries of encouragement and clarion
calls to advance. Let us be ever exhorting and encouraging one
another to stand firm, to hold fast, to confess, to suffer, to hope on Christ against all opposition,
delay, danger.
(4) One secret of this steadfastness is that we see the day drawing
nigh. We are pilgrims toiling on
through the night, helping the weary, exhorting the stragglers, cheering one
another by word and song, and so much the more urgently that dawn glimmers on
the dark horizon. The day is at hand, the pleasant land of our hope is not
far ahead; let us press on (6: 1).
Behind my back I fling,
Like an unwanted thing,
My former self and ways;
And reaching forward far
I seek the things that are
Beyond time's lagging days.
Oh! may
I follow still,
Faith's pilgrimage fulfil,
With steps both sure and
fleet:
The longed-for good I see,
Jesus waits there for me;
Haste! haste!
my weary feet
J. N. Darby (?)
* *
*
[Page 170]
CHAPTER XIII
THE FOURTH WARNING
(10: 26-39)
Ch. 10: 26. For if we sin wilfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins; 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness
of fire which shall devour the adversaries. 28 A man that hath set at nought Moseslaw dieth without
compassion on the word of two or three witnesses: 29 of how much sorer
punishment, think ye, shall he be judged
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of
God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an
unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that said, Vengeance
belongeth unto me, Iwill recompense. And again, The Lord shall
judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.
32 But call to
remembrance the former days, in which after ye
were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of
sufferings; 33 partly being made a gazingstock
both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used. 34 For ye
both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the
spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye
yourselves have a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Cast not away therefore
your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward. 36 For ye have need of
patience, that, having done the will of
God, ye may receive the promise.
37 For yet a
little while, he that cometh 'shall come, and shall not tarry. 38 But my righteous one shall
live by faith: and if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of them that
shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of
the soul.
THE unregenerate
wishes that God would let him alone and not frighten him with threats of judgment.
Similarly can the weak heart of the believer wish that he might be left
to enjoy a carnal condition and not be disturbed by solemn warnings. But God loves both the one and the other too
well to indulge them thus.
Privilege must be balanced by responsibility, and
responsibility undischarged must involve penalty. Grace can be abused to the dishonour of God and the injury of man; and
therefore [Page 171] grace itself imposes penalties upon the abuse of itself. Thus everything is of grace, including wrath. Because
God is love He warns and chastises, and very severely when necessary, if only
so can the ends of love be served. The passage before us
is an instance, but because its statements are severe they must be examined
with strictness.
The statement assumes that the persons in view can sin in a
particular manner, and tells them that if they do so serious consequences will
follow.
i. The Persons addressed.
i. We. Who are intended? The Writer uses the [collective] pronoun with emphasis several
times. Let the following places be
considered and it will be seen that the we includes
the Writer, and must therefore mean the Christian circle of which he was a
member: 2: 1;
2: 3; 3: 6; 4: 13; 7: 26; 10: 39; 12: 1; 12: 25; 13: 6. It is impossible to say that each and all of that circle, including the Writer, were mere
professors, unregenerate, deceived or deceiving. Therefore the warnings apply
to real [i.e., regenerate] Christians.
ii. They had received a
knowledge of
the truth. Epignosis
means a personal experimental knowledge.
Such a knowledge these had received, not merely had had an offer of it, a possibility of acquiring it;
they had embraced the offer and had gained this experimental knowledge. By the very choice
of the word the Writer gives us to understand that he means, not merely a
superficial, historical knowledge about the truth, but a living perception of
the same by faith, which had seized upon it [the [accountability divine] truth] and fused it into oneness with itself (Delitzsch).
This is parallel with 6: 4 above; those there in view had been thoroughly
enlightened and had received a real appreciation of the heavenly gift and of
the word of God.
iii. ver. 29. They had been sanctified by the blood of the
covenant. See ch. XII, 2, iv, p. 165. They had regarded that blood as sacred and themselves as dedicated to God by reason of it. This dedication had wrought out in them its
due practical results, and had thus shown its reality, for (ver. 32-35).
iv. They had endured severe persecution,
a great conflict of sufferings. This had involved reproaches, afflictions,
fellowship with fellow-saints in the like furnace, and espousing the cause of
the imprisoned, so exposing themselves to arrest. Moreover they had enjoyed such a living,
invigorating assurance of their heavenly [and earthly-millennial*] inheritance as to be positively
joyful when robbed of their earthly possessions. Both the law and the mobs attacked them but
they had faced both with boldness.
[* See
Luke 22: 28-30. cf. Rev.
3: 21,
R.V.]
Will anything less than an experimental
enjoyment of Christ enable such suffering for His sake? Obviously they were such as Peter describes
in his first epistle (1: 3-9), who [Page 172] had been born again, who had a living hope of the heavenly inheritance,
who had faith [in a future
salvation (ver. 5)] and were therefore being guarded by the power of God, who rejoiced greatly
in their as yet unseen Saviour, and were already receiving a real measure of
their salvation.
v. ver. 30.
But, as if to put the matter beyond dispute, the Writer applies to them
the words of Moses to Israel, The Lord shall judge His
people, in which
place it is no question of His enemies, avowed or secret, but of His own
people, and particularly that remnant of His people who had failed badly, were
to be chastised severely, and yet should be saved ultimately (Deut. 32: 35-43).
Indeed, so certainly were those addressed by the Writer really
the people of God walking the way of life, that all
they needed was endurance, steadfastness, perseverance on that way until the
Coming One should come and they should receive the promised inheritance (ver. 36-38).
If this measure of proof was adduced only to show that these
addressed were regenerate persons within the scope of the new covenant it would
be considered ample to establish the point.
This is questioned by some only when put in relation to the accompanying
warnings. But it is a pernicious way of
treating adequate proof to argue around it merely because it may involve
problems, difficulties, and a challenge to ones prepossessions or even
convictions.
However severe the warnings here given, however difficult it
may seem to harmonize them with the
eternal* security of the believer, however
many cherished dispensational opinions may be challenged, there is really only
one honest way of dealing with the passage, which is to apply it to real
children of God and accept the consequences of doing this.
[* How difficult it is for those who
cannot (or will not, for whatever reason,) distinguish the free gift of God (Rom.
6: 23),
from the prize, which the Apostle says believers
must attain (1 Cor. 9: 24); or be rejected
(verse 27, R.V.)!
Ignorance of Gods accountability teachings, by those within
the Church, who doggedly refuse to believe what the Word of God says when it
speaks to them in various places of more than one kind of salvation: that is, more than the eternal
salvation, (without any of our works Eph.
2: 8, 9), which guarantees every regenerate believer
his/her eternal security. (See the following texts: -
John 15: 4, 6;
Heb. 10: 39. And compare with 1
Pet. 1: 9;
Jas. 1: 12, 21, 22, R.V., etc. - all addressed
to regenerate
believers!).]
2. The Sin.
i.
It is wilful. The word (hekousios) takes strong
emphasis wilfully
sinning we. It is found
elsewhere only at 1 Pet. 5: 2, where
shepherds are exhorted to tend the flock not of
constraint, but willingly, with their whole and free will. Its root hekousios
comes only at Philemon 14, where
Philemon was encouraged to act not as of necessity,
but of free will.
The sin therefore is deliberate, determined, committed with
full intention. Thus it is by no means a
case of a sudden temptation causing an unintended fall, or even of succumbing
often to a tyrannous habit which one loathes and fights, even if unavailingly.
ii. It is continuous, maintained,
as is shown by the present participle, hamartanonton. It is wilfully maintaining a decision made against light, for
[Page 173]
iii. This decision is made after having received and enjoyed that
experimental knowledge of the truth above considered.
iv. It is thus comparable to the sin against the
law of
Moses described by the word athetesas (ver. 28). This word means to reject (1 Tim. 5: 12; Luke 7: 30), to treat as void (Gal.
2: 21; 3: 15), to set
aside as useless (1 Cor. 1: 19), to
spurn a person (Luke 10: 16; John 12: 48); or, as the cognate noun athetesis means in this Epistle (7:
18), to displace one thing and replace it by
another, or to dismiss a matter entirely, treat it as not existing (9: 26). Thus a man might set
at nought the law of Moses. Here also the participle used denotes an act
done deliberately and by which the doer stood firm.
There is an instance of such conduct. In plain defiance of the oft-announced law of
the sabbath a man gathered firing on that day (Num. 15: 32-36). A special inquiry was made of God as to His
mind and will, and by special instruction from God the offender was stoned to
death.
This solemn example is appended to and illustrates the
immediately preceding regulations which directed that if a person, or even the
whole congregation, sinned by error unwittingly, the priest should make
atonement and the error would be forgiven; but if the sin was deliberate death
must follow, provided adequate evidence established guilt (Num. 15: 22-31).
Later, the sin of Achan included these elements and involved
this penalty; and presumably because his family could not but have been privy
to his act, seeing that he hid the articles in the ground in their common tent,
they all shared his judgment; and their possessions also became involved, on
the same principle that Adams sin brought desolation over the realm he ruled (Josh. 7).
The severity of such penalties is because of the enormity of
the sin Godward. After providing for the
pardon of unrecognized sin the direction said: But the
soul that doeth ought with a high hand, whether
he be home-born or a foreigner, the same blasphemeth Jehovah; and that soul shall be cut
off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of Jehovah, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall be utterly cut off, his iniquity shall be upon him, that is, it shall not
be transferred to a substitute, a victim on the altar (Num.
15: 30, 31.
This refusal by God of the benefit of atoning sacrifice, when
sin was deliberate, persistent, continued against light and remonstrance, was
declared by Jehovah Himself in His words to Samuel: And therefore I have sworn
unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Elis house shall not be expiated
with sacrifice nor offering for ever (1 Sam.
3: 14).
[Page 174]
The word despised has two important Old Testament illustrations: He is despised and rejected of men (Isa. 53: 3), and Esau despised his
birthright (Gen. 25: 34). Deliberate disobedience to a known command of
God is equal to such wickedness as the rejection of His Son and of His
gifts. To a high priest himself (Eli),
because he had tolerated evil conduct that he ought to have punished, the
sentence was given that his family should lose their priestly position, for they that despise me [the same word] shall be lightly esteemed (1
Sam. 2: 30).
v. The Sin defined. The sin in question is now specified
and includes three particulars.
(1) It is a treading underfoot the Son of God.
This word tread down (katapateo) is used of men treading into the dust or
mire salt that has been thrown away (Matt. 5: 13); of
swine trampling on pearls, articles precious to men but useless to swine (Matt. 7: 6); of seed trodden down on the roadside (Luke 8: 5); and
of unfortunate persons trampled upon by a surging crowd (Luke 12: 1). In the Greek Old Testament it is used of men
crushing serpents with their feet (Ps. 91: 13), and of
a wild beast treading down a thistle or an egg in its way (2 Chron. 25: 18; Job 39: 15).
These instances combine the notions of an action being
intentional (as when a man grinds down a viper), contemptuous, violent, and
destructive. The sin now in question
treats thus the Son of God. Such conduct
is evidently like that blaspheming and despising of God condemned under the
law, and is therefore liable to the same penalty.
(2) But it is clearly impossible to take up such an
antagonistic attitude to the Son of God and not thereby to reject His atoning
death; for one who values His blood will honour His person, while he who
despises Him will despise His sacrifice.
Thus the sin in question involves a repudiation of redemption and
sanctification by the blood of Christ.
This offender had
acknowledged that the blood had redeemed him and had set him apart unto God. It was therefore sacred blood. Now he
denies this and says that the blood of Christ was only common (koinon) blood, like that of any other man.
This implies that Jesus was not the Son of God but only a man. It is the Unitarian position, whether taken
by such as perversely claim to be Christian, or by deists, Jews, or Moslems.
Such a person of necessity puts himself outside of the new covenant, for this
is attested, sealed, by the blood of Christ,
and would have no validity apart therefrom.
(3) Such conduct involves an equal outrage upon the Holy
Spirit, because He witnesses to Christ as the Son of God (John 14: 26; 15: 26, 27; 16: 14), and it is He Who makes operative [Page 175] and peacegiving the blood of Christ, Whose power indeed it was that energized the Redeemer to
shed that atoning blood (ch. 9: 14; 10: 22; 1 John 5: 6-8).
That the sin in question is deeper, intenser than the grieving of the [Holy] Spirit against which every Christian needs to watch is shown by the further
strong term employed (enubrizo), to
do despite to the Spirit. Its root hubris
means to damage severely, as a tempest a ship (Acts
27: 10, 21). It is therefore employed by Paul to indicate
the injuries he received by the violence of persecutors (2 Cor. 12: 10). In Rom. 1: 30 its noun hubristis
follows hateful to God as meaning insolent
men, of whom Paul himself was a prominent example (1
Tim. 1: 13). Here he joins the word with blaspheming and
persecuting, showing the kind of conduct meant. This is further shown by the
use of the verb hubrizo to describe
the insulting and murderous treatment by the wicked husbandmen of the servants
of the owner of the vineyard. Christ
used it of the outrageous conduct with which the Romans would treat Himself (Luke 18: 32),
and it is used of the similar treatment planned against Paul and Barnabas at
Iconium (Acts 14: 5),
and which Paul did actually receive at
Thus this sin is more and worse than even a prolonged lapse
into worldly and evil ways, sad and dangerous as this is. It is directed knowingly, deliberately,
wantonly, fiercely against the Son of God, the blood of God incarnate, the
Spirit of God, and the word of God.
(4) If it be now asked whether it is conceivable that one who
has been born again, has been really and knowingly sanctified by the blood of
Christ, and has enjoyed some true benefit under the new covenant can lapse so
utterly as thus to act, the answer is that it
is not only conceivable but it has taken place in known and modern instances.
A case known to me personally has been mentioned above when
dealing with the warning of ch. 6. Whether
Edmund Gosse was really regenerate as a youth is hard to say, but he took that
stand, and Father and Son, is proof how utterly and bitterly he
later rejected evangelical truth. But a
quite indisputable instance in the last century was F. W. Newman, the brilliant
scholar, brother of the Cardinal. In
early manhood he was accepted as a sincere believer by men well qualified to
judge, the first leaders of the Brethren.
Such men [Page 176] as J. N. Darby, J. G. Bellett, Lord
Congleton, and A. N. Groves were not likely to be unitedly misled. Yet Newman utterly apostatized from the
faith. Readers of his Phases of Faith will have seen a painful fulfilment of the description we have
studied. In particular the attack on
Christ Himself was calculated, determined, and blasphemous. But at the close of his long life, of which
perhaps half was spent in opposing the truth and deluding men, he crept back at
last to the shelter of the blood he had slighted; for, as before mentioned (p. 102), by his own request it was stated over his
grave that he died trusting for salvation to the precious blood of Christ.
It is as certain that a [regenerate] Christian can so apostatize as that the sun can suffer
eclipse, and the question is as to the situation that arises in such a case as
that of Newman.
As touching the opinion of his fellow-men he had nothing to
gain or to lose by what might be said over his grave, so it must be assumed
that his change of mind was sincere.
This they must have believed who stated it publicly, and this charity
requires us to accept, especially as there is other evidence in support. His repentance, then, being sincere and his
recovered faith real, though so belated, can it be otherwise than that it was
accepted by God? Has He not promised, Return unto me, saith Jehovah
of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts (Zech.
1: 3),
and is it not written in both Testaments that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved? (Joel 2: 32;
3. The Penalty Denounced. But
what now becomes of the penalty of such sin? and what
is the penalty? If it is not eternal what
is it, and when and where is it exacted?
i.
The Penalty is inescapable, because
as regards such conduct there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins (ver. 26). The histories illuminate this;
David, a man after Gods heart, lapsed into adultery and
murder. For either of these crimes the
penalty was death; under the law of Moses there
remained no sacrifice that could be accepted (Deut.
22: 22; Exod. 21: 12-14). This explains why David, speaking of that
occasion, said, Thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: thou
hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise
(Ps. 51: 16, 17). But upon his repentance and public confession
[Page 177] the word came: The Lord also hath put
away thy sin; thou shalt not die - the capital sentence is remitted
(2 Sam. 12:
13).
Of course, his sin had been put away on the ground of what Christ was to
do for David. It is an instance of the passing over of sins done aforetime (Rom. 3: 25).
But, continues the prophet: thou
shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given
great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme punishment was to follow David to the end
of his life. The next eight
chapters detail the exacting of these penalties, which were truly severe.
This extended history of the sin of a man of God and its
consequences establishes the principle
that the remitting of the full and extreme penalty of sin does not cancel the
inflicting of severe temporal penalties.
To discern this is of vast importance for understanding the effect of
the redemption wrought by Christ at the cross.
That redemption cancels the penalty of eternal death for every true believer, but it does not deliver
him from present and temporal consequences of sin. Richard Weaver, the renowned evangelist,
never lost the headaches caused by the batterings received when he was a prize
fighter. The cross of Christ does not
guarantee that a Christian shall not go to prison should he steal.
On the contrary, God the more resolutely chastises His
children because they are His
children: You only have I known of all the families of
the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities
(Amos 3: 2);
if we discerned ourselves we should not be judged. But when we are
judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we may
not be condemned with [at the same time as] the
world (1 Cor. 11: 31, 32). For
the explanation given by Peter of the fiery trials of saints is that the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God (1 Pet.
4: 17),
which term is taken from Ezek. 9: 5, 6. Such
parental chastisement is not eternal but temporal, but it is not to be escaped:
the Father scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, only not for
his destruction but for his sanctification (Heb.
12: 6, 10).
ii. The
Penalty is severe. The
punishment must fit the crime or there will be a failure of justice. It is a just recompense that must be
inflicted on each and every case (2: 2). He scourgeth every son. Scourging is very painful. It is punishment against which the Writer warns us.
The word limoria comes here
only, but Paul twice used its verb to describe the hard penalties he inflicted
upon Christians for what he considered their crime in being Christians (Acts 22: 5; 26: 11). See Note B at end of this chapter, p. 201.
Atoning
sacrifice having been rejected and so not being [Page 178] available, what remains? What is to be expected? - only
a strict trial as to the offence (krisis) and the consequent punishment. This is described as fearful, something to be feared greatly, for it is a fierceness of fire, which
shall devour the adversaries (ver. 27).
This word adversary is to be
noted. Hupenantios comes again only at Col.
2: 14,
where it describes the law as setting itself against the transgressors. So have those here in question set themselves
against the Son of God, they are antagonistic to Him. The Greek Old Testament uses similar phrases
and words at Isa. 26:
11: fire shall
devour thine adversaries, and see Isa.
64: 2.
Again the histories illuminate the matter.
(1) Lev. 10. Two
sons of Aaron, consecrated to be priests, on the very day of their consecration
violated a most solemn requirement of God, even that the fire upon which
incense was to be burned unto Jehovah should be taken from the altar of burnt
offering; which meant that that fire was connected with atonement for sin and
therefore was holy fire. These two priests used other fire, and thus
presumed to offer worship and intercession apart from sacrifice and atoning
blood, and there came forth fire from before Jehovah
and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah
(Lev. 10:
2). Those to-day who justify innovations in the church, the
house of God, on the ground that these are not forbidden in Scripture should ponder the fact that Nadab and Abihu
died because they did something which the Lord had not commanded them.
(2) Num. 16: 35. Again, Korah and his associates, being only
Levites, presumed to act as priests, in defiance of Gods appointment that it
was the latter only who should present incense before Him (Num. 16: 40; 1 Sam. 2: 28; 2 Chron. 13: 10, 11); and fire came forth
from before Jehovah and devoured them.
(3) Num. 11: 1. Once more: the
people were as murmurers, which
was evil in the ears of Jehovah: and when Jehovah heard it, his anger was kindled; and
the fire of Jehovah burnt among them, and devoured.
In the Greek Old Testament the word translated in these places
devour katesthio
comes from the word esthio used
by our Writer in devour the adversaries.
The severity of the judgment is further indicated by the
figure a fierceness of fire, which corresponds to the instances given from Leviticus and Numbers. And this is to be expected, for the persons
in question by rejecting grace have necessarily exposed themselves to the
rigours of the law, and that extreme rigour which excludes mercy.
[Page 179]
iii. New Testament instances.
(1) Acts 5. At the beginning of the old covenant period
two priests fell dead in the house of God because of sin committed in that
house (Lev. 10). At the beginning of the new covenant period two
Christians fell dead in the house of God, because of sin committed in that
house. The punishment was as severe in
the latter case as the former.
(2) 1 Cor. 5: 1-6. Because of
fornication a Christian in the Corinthian church was handed over to Satan for
the destruction of his bodily life. That
he was a child of God is certain from the fact that this devouring judgment
would be only temporal, and was part of the process by which his spirit would
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Notice the that in ver. 5 (hina with the subjunctive) in order
that, etc. Here is definite proof that
bodily death under the judgment of God, inflicted by Satan, does not
necessarily involve eternal death.
Therefore fierceness of fire does not of necessity mean eternal fire.
That Christians can so sin is clear from the warning that all in
that church might become corrupted even as a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
(3) 1 Cor. 11: 29-32. And in
fact others of that church were already leavened - they were so polluting the
table of the Lord that heavy judgment
was being inflicted, by bodily
weakness, actual illness, and even premature death.
(4) James 5: 19, 20. My brethren [such are the persons in view], if any among you [not one of the world outside] do err from the truth [therefore he had hitherto
walked the way of truth, or he could not turn from it], and one turn him back [into the true way]; let
him know that the one turning back a sinner [hamartolos, strictly, one who has missed the way] from the error of his way shall save the life of him [psuchen autou] out of death [from dying], and
shall cover a multitude of sins; for when a backslider repents and
returns his sins are covered by the blood of Christ. Plainly such a one, unless he turn back, is in danger of reaching the extreme of backsliding and his life being cut off.
(5) 1 John 5: 16, 17. And this is contemplated by the solemn
statement that there is sin unto death; not concerning this do I say that he should make request. The Great Priest can have compassion on the
ignorant and the erring (Heb. 5: 2), but not
upon those who sin with a high hand. Of
such it is written: Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors (Ps. 59: 5), which persons answer to the sinning wilfully
of our passage.
This consensus of Scripture shows that the passage before us
is in harmony with the regular administration of the laws [Page 180] of the
iv. Sorer
Punishment (ver. 29).
(1) To a normally sensitive soul a death by stoning must have
been a painful scene. The first stone
might kill, or it might take many; and at the end there lay a poor battered
corpse. Death by fire was startling and
terrifying. It left a charred, disfigured
body as a warning against sin. Of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be
judged worthy who has sinned against both the Son and the Spirit of
God?
The question is asked but not answered. The reader is challenged to think it
over. Few, it is to be feared, do this
or are willing to do it.
The question brings to mind solemn words of the Lord: Whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me
to stumble it is profitable for
him [Mark 9: 42,
it were better for him] that a great millstone
[i.e., a millstone so great as not to
be turned by hand but requiring an ass] should be
hanged about his neck, and that he should be
sunk in the depth of the sea (Matt. 18: 6).
In the thoughtful mind such questions start a deeper question. What punishment conceivable as to this
present life can be thought of as more severe than premature death by stoning,
drowning, or fire? Yet evidently
something more severe is possible or a violent death were
not to be preferred, were not better than it.
But if it is something more dreadful than such a death must it not be after death?
An answer is not difficult for those who say that a child of
God may lose salvation and be cast into the lake of fire for ever. That were certainly a more severe punishment
than the worst this earth-life can bring.
But what answer can we give who assert that no child of God can be lost eternally? The many give no answer at all, but ignore
such passages and problems; while such as at all face the question treat such
scriptures but superficially, avoid their plain terms and force, and say the
persons in question were never regenerated by faith in Christ.
If the attitude of such must be stated plainly and firmly it
amounts to this: that backsliders may be calmly consigned to everlasting
damnation, but theories as to the nature of the [Page 181] Divine grace, opinions as to the
membership and future of the church of God, dispensational schemes, and popular
notions as to the state after death, these must on no account be challenged or
revised. If any reader is of this mind
he naturally will not further pursue our present inquiries, even if he has read
so far.
(2) What effect did our Lord design to produce by these
following words from Luke 12: 1-12? He is talking firstly to His own disciples (ver. 1). Crowds
of others are listening, but first of all,
that is, very especially, it is to disciples to whom the teaching is directed. He warns them against hypocrisy, the leaven
of the Pharisees. Followers of Him must
be utterly sincere, as He was. He
stresses that nothing that is ever said or done is really secret. All is known by that invisible world that is
all around us, and they will duly make it known, to our praise or
confusion. To live with such sincerity,
simplicity, transparency (Phil. 1: 10, eilikrines translucent) will provoke
the hatred of the Prince of darkness and his sons, and will involve the sons of light in conflicts and dangers. Therefore the Lord continues:
I say to you, my friends [my personal friends, philoi], Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will make clear
to you (hypodeiknumi) whom ye shall
fear: Fear him, who
after he hath killed hath authority to cast into Gehenna; yea, I say unto you, fear him. Matt. 10: 28 is parallel to this
place in Luke, but has the enlargement that
men may kill the body, but the soul they are not able to kill, but that God is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
As said above, we must interpret strictly.
The Lord did not say that God would cast into Gehenna any friends
of His Son, but He does warn them to hold in due respect One Who is able to do
this. Obviously such an
One, not puny man, is the proper Person to fear, and in Whose fear to order
ones life. But what Christs words do
make clear is that there is such a thing
as punishment beyond this life on earth: after he
hath killed, God can do more.
As to Gehenna, it is to be observed that the term is twice
used figuratively. In Jas. 3: 6 an evil tongue is said to be set on fire by Gehenna. Here all the expressions are figurative. By the tongue
is meant the thoughts which the tongue is used to express. By fire is
meant the scorching hurtful influence of bitter thoughts. By Gehenna is intended the, as we say, hellish spirit that inspires and inflames such
speech. In Matt.
23: 15
are words of the Lord as to the Pharisees and their converts from the heathen:
Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye
make him [Page 182] two-fold more a son of
Gehenna than yourselves;
that is, in all that is hateful to God, in spirit and influence, he, with the
intensity of a pervert, becomes twice as hellish
as his instructor.
Matt. 5: 21, 22 are
possibly in the background of the words of James above, for the Lord was then
speaking of the evil use of the tongue in uttering reviling words, such as Raca, an expression of strong contempt,
or More, a term of stern condemnation
and scorn. One who went to this length
rendered himself liable to Gehenna. In ver. 29, 30 of this chapter the Lord said that if eye or
hand was an occasion of stumbling it were better to destroy those members and not thy whole body go into Gehenna.
In Mark 9: 41-50, this teaching
is reported as given by the Lord on another occasion, which repetition suggests
that He thought it important to impress it upon His followers. Yet most have neglected it. On this second occasion the Lord enlarged His
remarks by a contrast: it is better for thee to go
into life maimed, rather than having thy two
hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable
fire ... [or] halt, rather than having thy two feet to be cast into Gehenna,
... [or] it is good for thee to enter into the kingdom
of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes
to be cast into Gehenna, where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched.
On a still later occasion Christ pressed on the scribes and
Pharisees the fearful challenge, Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how
shall ye escape the judgment of Gehenna? (Matt.
23: 33).
The above twelve passages are all where the word is found in
the New Testament. What lies behind the
teaching is well known. Among the Jews ordinary
offences were dealt with in local courts; more serious cases were taken before
a Council, or High Court, where sentence of death could be passed; and where
for the most flagrant crimes the punishment could be aggravated by the refusal
of burial and the corpse of the offender being flung, with the offal of the
city, into the ever-burning fires maintained for the purpose in Gehenna, the
valley of Hinnom outside the city.
(3) We shall not inquire into the varying notions floating at
the time in the minds of men as to the realm of the dead, but shall seek here
to learn only from Scripture. This at
least is clear, that Christ intended more than the casting of the corpse into
the fires of Hinnom, for (a) He speaks of what God can do to a man after his death,
not what the Council could do; (b) that in the Gehenna intended the soul can be destroyed, which of course
could not take place at Hinnom; and (c) if the latter were meant then the
warning has never applied generally, nor at all since those fires died out.
[Page 183]
There is therefore something possible after death,
something to be feared because fearful, of which they who cause young believers
to stumble ought to be afraid, and which they who apostatize from Christ ought
to expect (Heb. 10: 27). They are to expect it. How contrary is this to the easy-going
complacency which our vain hearts love and which some views popular among
Christians encourage.
And is not this outlook just what a sound judgment would expect from the inflexible justice of our
God? For if ye
call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to
each mans work, pass the time of your
sojourning in fear (1 Pet. 1: 13-22). For your Father is also judge, and the former relationship does not suspend or weaken the latter office. Your standard of heart and life is to be
nothing lower than His holiness, and the redemption by which you benefit is in
order that you may purify your souls and walk in that love which stumbles no
one but builds up all. This judge knows no respect of persons and does not indulge His own [redeemed] family in sin.
The case of F. W. Newman has been cited. Him personally we cannot judge, but he is
typical of others. He spent perhaps
forty years using a splendid intellect, vast learning, wide opportunities in
Universities and otherwise, in poisoning many minds against Christ. His sadly belated, almost death-bed
acknowledgment of Christ was known to but very few and could not and did not
undo the desperate harm done to very many in this life and, it is to be feared,
for eternity.
Granted, as we are thoroughly
persuaded, that the death of Christ secures exemption from the eternal
doom deserved, does it, ought it, to exempt such an
one from temporal punishment [in this life, and after death in Hades]? It did not so exempt David from
penalties for his evil example; but he endured them in this life. If such penalties were deserved by David when
are they to be endured by Newman? He
lived in comfort, respected by the world, and died in quietness. We repeat that we use him purely as typical
of a class of [regenerate, apostate] men, and to give point to our reflections.
What his actual experiences have been or may be is not here the
point. Of this of course we know
nothing. Our inquiry is whether such an
apostate ought not to have expected a fierceness of fire that
should deal with him as an adversary of the Son of God, and whether such an
expectation might have effectually prevented him from apostatizing? For this is a design of such [divine] warnings.
v. Gehenna and the Reality.
(1) What can we learn as to the reality which our Lord had in
mind as answering to the
For example.
Gehenna is not the
(2) Dives and Lazarus. Nor
can it be stated positively that Luke 16
describes Gehenna. It might well do so,
but the Lord did not say that in Gehenna Dives
lifted up his eyes, but in Hades. This
is a wider word than Gehenna, and the greater could include the lesser; but
here again it is not for us to be definite where strict proof is lacking.
Yet some salient features of Luke
16 may be noted.
(a) The scene is directly after death, for the five brothers
of Dives are still alive in the family residence. Hades therefore is not
the place of final punishment after resurrection. Two words of Abraham are important: now ... here. They stand in contrast to Dives former time
and place on earth; but they also deny
right to us to extend the
dread scene into eternity and another place than Hades.
(b) There is no strict proof that Dives will be lost for ever. It is a common assumption, and it may prove
true, but here also we refuse inference.
This may be noted: that nothing
is laid to his charge than a callous heart and a self-indulgent life. Christians
can sink to this. Some in the
Corinthian church sat in their love-feasts, in connexion with which the Supper
was solemnized, and ate and drank to excess while others of the Christian
family sat there hungry. It was such Dives-like selfishness that the God Who
is love was punishing even unto the death of some of them (1 Cor. 11:
20-30).
(c) Dives was not utterly hardened. He had been so far stirred as to long that
his brothers might not have to share his lot.
We are therefore no more able to pronounce judgment upon him
than on any other individual.
(d) Abraham and Lazarus also were in Hades, in that region
termed by the Jews the bosom of Abraham, and
later by Christ named
Were the godly already glorified they could not need [or wait* for] resurrection. Our Epistle will tell
us shortly (11: 40)
that saints of old apart from us cannot be made perfect; now the dead are not made perfect
save by resurrection; therefore neither saints of pre-Christian times nor of
this age are perfected and in [heavenly] glory. They await this glad consummation where Christ and the thief went
at death,
[* See Rev. 6: 9-11, R.V. The First Resurrection
of the holy dead cannot occur until after the Great
Tribulation, (Rev. 20:
4.)]
* See my Firstfruits and Harvest, pp. 45-82.
It may be said that the result of this inquiry is to leave this
subject of retribution after death rather vague, which is true. The fact seems established, the details are
not clear. This is in harmony with a
small word in the Hebrews passage not
yet noted. Ver.
27 speaks of a certain [tis]
fearful expectation of judgment.
This word tis does not mean that the event is sure to come to
pass. It is the Greek indefinite
particle, as in the expressions a certain man went
down from
This element characterizes the subject of future judgments as
set forth in Scripture. Thus such terms
as great white throne, lake of fire ... books were
opened, refer to solemn realities, the purport being clear, but the
realities themselves being obscure.
Perhaps this indefiniteness adds to the deterrent power of the warnings. The unknown is more terrible than the
known. Prison is less deterrent to the
hardened criminal than to the first offender.
The Book of God shows His divine wisdom in its appeals and warnings to
our human nature. In the same way the
indefiniteness of the terms bride, city, tree of life
and others, prompt curiosity and inquiry as to the glories awaiting the godly.
vi. It will be objected that this
prospect of punishment after death for some who are ultimately to be saved
savours of the Roman doctrine of purgatory.
Stalwart Protestants will rush to the battle with the heaviest armaments
they can command. But let the searcher
for truth alone be calm.
(1) Every instructed Christian believes in purgatory in [Page 186] principle. The fire purges the gold that it may be fit
for the kings table. Heb. 12: 10; 1 Pet. 1: 6, 7, indeed the whole Bible teaches this, nor is it
questioned as to the ways of God our Father with His children in
this life.
It is therefore simply a question of whether God by His Word
does or does not extend the application of this process to the life after death. No new
principle as to His ways is introduced.
And who shall complain, or even wonder, should He thus vindicate His
justice before men and angels? It is not
fully exhibited in this life, even in the case of His children. The godly do not get a full reward of virtue,
nor the carnal believer the due reward of his deeds. The former rightly look beyond death for their
recompense; it is but consistent that the latter should then receive theirs.
Col. 3: 25 reads For he that doeth wrong shall receive again the wrong that he
hath done [margin]; and there is no respect of
persons. On the strength of this
two eminently conservative Bible students expressed positively their united
conviction that the fulfilment of this
warning lies beyond death. The attempt to alleviate the text of some of its weight by
suggesting that the law operates only in this life, fails, for there is nothing
in the text or context to lead the reader to think other than that while the
sowing is here the reaping is hereafter (Hogg and Vine, Touching the Coming of the Lord, pp. 84, 85, ed. I. For further comments on this see my Firstfruits and Harvest, pp. 76, 77).
(2) If it be that in the period between death and resurrection
the redeemed are more perfectly prepared for the latter and for the attendant
prospects in the [coming messianic and
millennial] kingdom of God, ought not this to be matter for rejoicing on
their behalf and of thanksgiving to the God of all grace?
(3) This differs radically from the Romish doctrine of purgatory, for that dogma makes
suffering after death for such as go to purgatory necessary to their
purification and final [eternal] salvation. It is taught [by Roman Catholics] that beatified saints go at death
direct to heaven; but these are the few; the majority must pass through
purgatory on the way thither. Thus according to the Romanists the departed have to make an atonement
themselves, in the purgatorial state, for the sins
they have committed when in this life (Walter Hook, in Dr. W. F. Hooks
Church Dictionary, 629). See also Newmans
Development of Christian Doctrine, ch. ix, para. 1 to 7, and Griffith
Thomas, The Principles of Theology, 301-303. The view argued [as shown by Mr. Lang] above makes this to depend first and last, only,
entirely, and eternally upon the justifying work of Christ on the cross,
imputed to the believer once and for ever when he truly repents* and trusts on Christ as Saviour.
[* NOTE. Even repentance, which is described as a work
- (a turning from sin unto God) - is described as a gift given to every
believer who accepts Christ Jesus as their personal Saviour: If then God GAVE
unto them [the
Gentiles] the
like gift
as he did unto us [Jews
by birth], when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ
Then
[at the time of
faith in Christ as Saviour] to the Gentiles also hath
God granted
repentance unto life (Acts 11: 17,
18, R.V.).
And the life in this context of faith
alone is eternal life; and is therefore distinct from the future
life, after resurrection, in the coming age
(Luke 20: 35).]
[Page 187]
As to standing before God
I stand upon
His merit,
I know no other stand,
Not een where glory
dwelleth
In Immanuels land.
(4) It is worth deep and full inquiry whether it be not the case that the whole system of Roman theology, and
each dogma separately, has some element
of truth at its heart, truth perverted and corrupted, but there. It is to
be doubted whether any one of those dogmas is undiluted error. That Church has been pre-eminently the woman that hid the leaven of
error in the meal of truth; but the meal is there (Matt.
13: 33).
If this is so, it is to be expected that in even their doctrine of purgatory there is
an element of truth. In the
fierceness of Reformation controversy it too largely happened that almost
everything Roman was rejected in toto,
instead of discrimination being employed to rescue the wheat from the chaff. The chief exception was the retention of the
fatal doctrine of regeneration by baptism.
Here more discrimination ought to have been used to reject the error
while yet retaining the New Testament teaching and practice. But it would have been a mistake to have
rejected baptism as completely and summarily as purgatory was rejected, for
both have a basis of truth overlaid by deadly error.
vii. A
Living God (ver. 31).
The Thessalonians turned from idols, the unreal and dead gods
they had formerly feared, to serve a God living and true (1 Thess. 1: 9). The
Christian has had his conscience cleansed from dead works, to serve a living
God (Heb. 9:
14).
He has already been warned (3: 12) to take heed that an evil heart of unbelief
does not induce him to turn away from the living God, because if he does so he
will depart from the fountain of life and find himself in a waterless
waste. And now he is still more solemnly
reminded and warned that it is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God.
The readers are reminded that this is so, because knowing the Old Testament (see p. 15) they would remember the terrible occasion on
which this phrase was used (2 Sam. 24: 14).
David, as king, had stirred his God to anger. He acknowledged his sin, but God knew that it
must be punished publicly, being a public offence. The king was allowed to choose one of three
punishments. Seven years of famine;
three months of defeat in war by his national foes; or three days [Page 188] of pestilence, a penalty to be inflicted by heavenly powers. David knew God and chose wisely and
reverently, saying: I am in a great strait: let us now fall into the hand of Jehovah; for his mercies are great: and
let me not fall into the hand of man.
Even so it proved a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God, even though His mercies are great for seventy thousands of the
kings subjects died in those brief days, and Davids heart was torn and bowed,
for he was a true shepherd of Gods flock.
4.
Encouragement (10: 32-39).
When tempted to turn away from Christ to your former
association with Moses let your memory work - call to
remembrance. Think upon what you
gained in Christ and reflect what you must lose apart from Him. You gained
i.
Light. Ye were enlightened. You were before ignorant upon all that is
most important; you walked in darkness not knowing whither you were going. But Christ justified His word that He is the
light of the world, and your heart was enlightened, so that you saw, learned, knew the things of God (Eph.
5: 7-14).
ii.
Endurance. Your spirit became
strong. Instead of being beaten down in
the battles of life, you became victors.
The Lord directed your hearts into the love of God and into the endurance
of Christ (2 Thess. 3:
5), so that conflict, sufferings,
reproaches, afflictions left you undaunted.
You carried easily burdens before insupportable.
iii.
Sympathy. With the inflowing of the
love of God in Christ your hearts were cured of selfishness and you became
sympathetic, tender, thoughtful, and found grace to share gladly the burdens
and trials of others, though this cost you a high price.
iv. Heavenly Realities became your souls real
possessions. You knew positively that
you were now owners of things permanent, treasures far, far better than the
best you had held before. The higher
world where Christ is at the right hand of God, became
your satisfying portion, of which none can rob you, without your consent.
v. Freedom from
Bondage to the Earth. In consequence it mattered little to you that you were robbed of things
earthly. They were rightly your own, but
they were not necessary to your happiness.
You could now do without them.
vi. Joy. Nor were you inwardly grieved
at the loss, nor were you embittered against the thieves; rather you rejoiced
greatly with a joy simply inexpressible.
You were already [Page 189] sharing in the coming glory,* and
thus in large measure receiving already your salvation.
* 1 Pet. 1: 8. Notice the perfect participle dedoxasmeno, having been glorified.
These entirely new and heavenly experiences were glorious, and
effected a real experimental deliverance of your life
from being wasted. You now lived to
purpose, unto God. But all this came to
you upon faith in Christ as the Son of God, appointed by God to be your
all. Therefore on no account incur the
heavy, irreparable loss of all this spiritual wealth by turning back to the
weak and beggarly things of former days.
It is in Christ alone that heavenly treasure is found; surrender Him and
you lose all.
You need continual boldness in confession. Do not throw this away by ceasing to confess
His name. It is sure of great recompense of reward (ver.
35), for such as shall at last have
completed the doing* of the will of God shall receive what He has promised.
* Poiesantes, aorist
participle.
vii.
The Promise. And what has God promised?
(1) ver. 37. He has
promised us His Son as the Coming One! The world at large has no
pleasing prospects; it is without God and without hope (Eph.
2: 12). But the believer has a good hope through
grace. Of this hope faith has taken hold
(6: 18):
let not this grip be relaxed.
From the time when the first promise of a Deliverer was given
in the Garden (Gen. 3:
15) men of faith fastened their hope on that
Coming One. At last Jesus came, full of
grace and truth, and a much tried heart put to Him the urgent question, Art thou the Coming One? (ho erchomenos, as in our
passage).
After a brief sojourn among men He was driven away and He
departed. But when going hence He left
the promise I will come again (John 14: 3),
and ever since then men of faith, like those of old, have fastened on that
promise, and His return has been their true, their only hope for themselves,
the church, for Israel, for the world at large.
Truly and sweetly did Ter Steegen sing,
A homeless stranger among us came
To this land of death and
mourning;
He walked in a path of
sorrow and shame,
Through insult and hate and
scorning;
A man of sorrows, of toil
and tears,
An outcast Man and a
lonely:
But He looked on me, and through endless years
Him must I love, Him only.
[Page 190]
And to the heart that has thus been captured by His love, and
abides in it by obedience, He is henceforth the Coming One, and life becomes a
pilgrimage through a desert to meet Him Whom the soul loveth and without Whom the heart cannot be content.
The title expresses the attitude of the Lords own heart. He
sits at the right hand of God in constant expectation of the day when the
Father will send Him to earth again to subdue all foes and establish here the
rule of God. He knows Himself to be the
Coming One.
(2) ver. 37. This promise is sure of fulfilment: the Coming One will come. Therefore let us follow onto know the Lord; His going forth is as sure as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth (Hos. 6: 3).
(3) ver. 37. And He will not tarry. Yet how often do we hear the expression, We will do this or that if the Lord tarry! The
familiarizing of the mind with an unscriptural expression is hurtful, for it
obscures truth. What Scripture teaches is that the Coming One will not tarry,
not that He may come at any moment. This
idea is wholly contrary to Scripture, being beyond possibility. It never has been,
it never can be possible for the Coming One to come until the precise moment
when the Father shall send Him and which moment He has reserved within His own
authority (Acts 1: 7). And that hour is definitely and repeatedly
connected with the crisis when at last Gods foes can be subdued under His
feet.
Until that crisis has developed the Coming One cannot come,
for it would not be the will of the Father; but the blessed assurance is this,
that directly the hour has arrived the Lord will come
and will on no account be late. There is no tarrying
for the hour has not come; there will be no delay when the hour shall have
struck: for
God never is
before His time,
And never is behind.
In the vast war of the ages the timing of concerted movements
is vital.
(4) This intervening period is declared to be very brief: For yet a little, how very
little is the interval before the Coming One shall come. But the movements of each section of an army
must be regulated by the calculations at Headquarters, not by those of the man
in the trench. God
speaks from His own standpoint and outlook, and measures distance by His own
standards, not by mans. It is for us reverently to habituate our
thinking to His, not to reduce His conceptions to our measures.* And to
Him a thousand years is but a day, and so Moses (Deut.
32: 29-35) had sung of
* See my Revelation
of Jesus Christ, 36, 37, for a
fuller discussion.
Love shortens time. To
Jacobs infatuated heart the seven years he served for Rachel seemed but a few days, for the
love he had to her (Gen. 29: 20). Prophets and apostles, loving their Lords
appearing, thought the interval very short whatever length it might prove to
be.
(5) Yet human nature is impatient and is ready to cry with
Siseras mother, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots? (Judges 5: 28). The betrothed sighs, How
can I endure till his return? The
pilgrim says, Will my strength suffice to toil on
through the long night? And the God of
hope answers:
My righteous
one shall live by faith (ver. 38).
Not - the one who by faith is righteous shall live; but the one who is righteous
shall live by faith. One who is living
unrighteously cannot live by faith; for faith brings God into matters, and He,
the Righteous One, cannot be brought into unrighteousness. Now to turn the back upon Gods Son is the
chief of all unrighteousness, and he who does this cannot walk by faith. But to set ones hope on Christ, as the One
who came to put away sin and as the Coming One, is to act rightly, for it is to
accept the promise of God, which is to walk by faith; and therefore when the
Coming One shall come His coming shall be fulness of life, shall be salvation,
to the one thus waiting for Him, whereas it shall be a day of darkness and
death to the unbeliever, His adversary.
How faith carries the pilgrim through the night will be
illustrated by the Writer in ch. XI.
5. The Peril of the man of faith (ver.
38).
i. But if he
shrink back. Who is this? Plainly my righteous
one, for no one else has been mentioned. It is the man who did walk by faith turning
back to walk by sight. It is the
faithful slave degenerating into the evil slave, because he thinks his lord
tarries (Matt. 24:
45-51). It is the forgiven slave refusing to forgive
his follow-slave (Matt. 18: 32-35). It is
the man of faith returning to works, so abandoning grace for law as the ground
of dealing with God, giving up Christ to follow Moses, forsaking the heavenly
and substantial for the earthly, the shadowy.
[Page 192]
But what can possibly induce such folly and guilt? It is fear: if he shrink back. There
are giants in Canaan: let us make us a captain and
return into
ii. But God says - if he shrink back, My soul hath no
pleasure in him. And of those of old, redeemed and
baptized, and who fed for a while on spiritual food, we Christians are told
that with most of them God was
not well-pleased, the
token of this being that they were overthrown in the
wilderness, they lost their life, instead of keeping it to enjoy
6.
The Conclusion (ver. 39). This brings the argument to a close with a
combined encouragement and warning, we are not of them
that shrink back unto perdition, but of them
that have faith unto the saving of the
soul.
i.
We are of them that have faith. This
is what characterizes us; this is the mark of the company of which we are
members. Thus does the Writer again make
plain to what type of person he addresses his encouragements and warnings: they
are men of faith; only such can profit by the promises; it is such who need the
warnings.
Again the terms employed need careful consideration free from
the beclouding influence of prepossessions; for it must be admitted that the
renderings perdition and the saving of the soul suit well the doctrine that the
truly saved can be finally lost; nor can those of the opposite belief counter
this save by the plainly unfounded assertion that saved persons are not in
view. The terms employed, however, admit
of more exact renderings requiring neither of these views.
ii.
Saving the soul. The noun peripoiesis (saving) and its verb peripoieo mean to cause something to remain over and above, and so
to preserve it, reserve it for oneself, acquire it for ones own. Thus deacons can serve the church so well as to
acquire for themselves a good
degree (1 Tim. 3:
13). and thus
Christ acquired the church at the price of His own blood (Acts 20: 28),
thus preserving its members from the coming [Page 193] destruction and reserving them as a private
possession (1 Pet. 2: 9). To this end He has sealed them, with a view
to the day when He will take open possession (Eph.
1: 14). Therefore God has not appointed these unto
wrath but to be preserved unto
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess.
5: 9),
for He has called us unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2
Thess. 2: 14).
Except for our present passage (Heb.
10: 39)
the only other place in the New Testament is Luke
17: 33, which is of special
importance in our inquiry because it has both of the words peripoieo and psuche even
as Heb. 10:
39 has peripoiesis
and psuchi. Also the one has apileia and Luke 17: 33 has apollumi.
This Greek word Psuche has the meaning of both soul
and life according to the context in each
place. The meaning in Luke is plainly life,
for it follows directly a reference to
Obviously this agrees exactly with the warnings already
considered that [regenerate] believers may be cut short by premature death and thus lose their
life. It will therefore harmonize with
the Lords words should our passage be rendered, we
are of them who have faith unto the keeping safe of life.
Such teaching by our Lord is too generally neglected by
Christians though He laid heavy emphasis upon it. He had before declared that the one finding his life shall lose (apolesei) it, and the one losing (apolesas) his life on my account shall find it (Matt. 10: 39). And later
He emphasized and enlarged this instruction by assuring the apostles that whoever may wish (thelo) to save his life
shall lose it; but whoever may lose his life on My account shall find it. For what shall it
profit a man if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his life? or
what shall a man give in exchange for his life? (Matt. 16: 25, 26). Then follows the instruction that this profit and loss account will be closed [at the time of the First
Resurrection (Rev. 20:
6. cf. Matt.
16: 18; Acts 2: 27, 34, R.V.] when the Son of Man shall return in glory and render to everyman
according to his doing. This makes clear that it is children of God
to whom this teaching is given, for it is only such who will be rewarded
at the time when Christ comes in glory.
The unregenerate who will have died will not be
judged until after the Millennial age, at the great white throne.
[Page 194]
It is evident that psuche
in this passage must mean life, if for no other
reason than that no man can exchange his soul for something else; because the
soul is the person, the ego, and no one can give up his personality, himself,
in exchange for another object. It is
impossible. But a man can spend the powers, means, opportunities,
time which make up life, upon unworthy
and unprofitable objects. He can exchange his life for pleasure,
vice, wealth, power, and can thus gain the world, to find at the end of life
that he gained nought but lost all.
A renowned Lord Chancellor did not turn to God until about
eighty years of age. When someone
felicitated him upon the salvation of his soul [at the time when Christ
returns to resurrect the holy dead (1 Thess.
4: 16)] he made the acute and searching reply, Yes, my
soul is saved, but my life is lost. Not one
hour of the long past could he recover to spend it for Christ and
eternity. Likewise may one converted
young decline the cross, live for the world, and so waste his life and lose it.
This use of peripoieo by Christ gives its dominant sense, as is shown by its
usage in the Greek Old Testament, as in these places:
(1) Gen. 12: 12. Abraham
said to Sarah: they will kill me, and save thee alive.
(2) Num. 22: 33. The angel said to Balaam about the ass, unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I had even slain thee, and saved her alive.
(3) 1 Sam. 15: 9. Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, etc., but everything else
they utterly destroyed; that is, Agag was left alive.
(4) 1 Kings 18: 5. Ahab
said to Obadiah: peradventure we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
(5) Ps. 79: 11. Thus also the prayer: preserve thou those that are appointed to death - that is,
keep them alive.
(6) Isa. 31: 5. So of
By taking our passage according to this major use of the word peripoiesis no question arises of final
salvation or damnation, but the former warning against wasting ones life is
enforced, with the consequent possible punishment of ones life being cut short
in judgment and what further temporary penalty may follow upon this.
iii.
Perdition. The noun apo1eia is found eighteen times in the New Testament and certainly in several
of these refers to eternal destruction.
Judas is a son of perdition (John 17: 12),
as also the Antichrist (2 Thess. 2: 3), who at
his end goeth into perdition (Rev. 17: 8, 11). Rev. 20: 10 says [Page 195] that his torment is to be for ever and ever,
which shows that perdition for him is to be endless.
In 2 Peter the word is used
five times (2: 1
twice; 2: 3;
3: 7, 16), and points to the final destruction of the
ungodly when the heavens and the earth are destroyed by fire. In Rom. 9: 22; Phil 1: 28; 3: 19; 1 Tim. 6: 9 the same meaning may be accepted.
But Peters words to Simon (Acts 8:
20) translated Thy
money perish with thee seem not so
definitely to declare Simons eternal
ruin as the English suggests to most readers.*
The Greek perhaps goes no further than a warning to Simon of what the
final outcome may be unless he repents and gains forgiveness.
[* NOTE. When we examine the context closely, we discover the fact that Simon was a
baptised believer! He
was amongst those who believed Philips
message concerning the
This disproves the common but false teaching that (1)
the Holy Spirit indwells every believer at the time of first
faith in Christ, and (2) that He indwells every believer (irrespective of that believers
behaviour) at all times afterwards!
When Simon offered the apostles (Peter and John) money for power, that on whomsoever
he would lay his hands, (so as others would receive
the Holy Ghost verse 19), he was
commanded to repent of his wickedness, and
pray that the thought of his heart shall be forgiven,
(verse 22).]
The student will ponder the use of the optative eig with the accusative eis, which suggests rather a movement
which may end in destruction than a certainty of this. If the latter had been the meaning there
could have been no question of repentance and pardon. The common force of the optative to express a
wish creates difficulty here, for would an apostle wish a man to perish seeing
that God wishes that all should be saved? (1 Tim.
2: 4; 2 Pet. 3: 9).
A friend writes: Peter does not say,
May you go to destruction with your money, which certainly would imply a
desire for Simons destruction. He says,
May your money go to destruction with you - meaning, I suggest, May your
money go to destruction (lit. be unto destruction) as you yourself are now
going. Indeed, the suggestion may be, that if Simons money did go to destruction, he himself
on the other hand, might be rescued from this course along the broad road that
leads to destruction. On Peters
words the Speakers Commentary says:
understood by the fathers generally as conveying
prediction, not an imprecation - Simon was urged to repentance and prayer.
(See Zalin in loco for a sober
discussion.)
It is evident that such words as life, death, loss,
destruction, and the like do not in themselves indicate the duration of the
states they describe. This must be shown
by some added word or by the context or another passage. Thus the Lord spoke of a broad way that leads to destruction, in contrast to a narrow way that leads to life (Matt. 7: 13, 14). The ultimate end of that broad way, for those
who pursue it to the end must be final perdition. Yet the Lord did not here say this, though in
this same Gospel He is reported as having twice spoken of eternal fire (Matt. 18: 8; 25: 41) and once of eternal punishment and once of
eternal life (25: 46).
Here He omits eternal: Why?
Was not David on the broad way, which the many follow, [Page 196] during the months when he walked in deliberate sin and refused to
repent? One does not so act on the
narrow way. But since it is the case that a regenerate man cannot finally be lost there
must be some lesser sense in which such an one can
experience destruction. Nor is this sense far to seek, for the word apoleia has also the definite meaning of
a thing being lost and wasted: to what purpose was
this waste of the ointment? asked Judas (Matt. 26: 8; Mark 14: 4).
Perhaps this would be enough force to give to Peters words to
Simon seeing that he left open the possibility of repentance and so did not
denounce against him irretrievable ruin, though the awful possibility lay in
the background. And if this restricted
sense be given to the words of the Lord quoted they would cover such a case as
that of David, where there is obvious risk of life being wasted in the sense
and to the degree above shown.
This is indeed the primary sense of the word apoleia and it is quite frequent in the
case of the verb apollumi from which
the noun is derived. It is used of lost
sheep (Luke 15: 4,
etc.), lost money (Luke 15: 8), lost reward (Matt.
10: 42),
etc. We read of the perishing of wisdom,
garments, flowers, wineskins, and members of the body. Out of
nearly ninety places it is used only eleven times where final perdition seems
clearly meant.* But it is used some thirty-three times (about one-third of
all places) of the death of the body, and ten times of the loss of the life in the sense above considered.
* Mat. 18: 14; John 3: 16; 17: 12; 18: 9; Rom. 2: 12; 1 Cor. 1: 18; 2 Cor. 2: 15; 2 Thes. 2: 10; Jas. 4: 12; 2 Pet. 3: 9; and most
emphatically 1 Cor. 15:
18, that, if there be no resurrection, the
dead are perished.
It is this last sense that best suits our present passage (Heb. 10: 39) if the keeping safe of the life is the true meaning. For the way to do this is to use life well
and worthily, and therefore the opposite
will be to waste and lose it, as they do who shrink back from the path of faith, the narrow way which few find, and not all who
find follow to the end of their earthly course.
Let every Christian so walk as to show that he is indeed of
that company who can truly say, we are not of them who
shrink back ... but of them who have faith,
who walk not by self-efforts to be justified by the law, but by faith, faith
which is placed in the Son of God, Who loved us and gave Himself up for us (Gal. 2: 19, 20).
Note A (pp. 15, 73,
176). ETERNAL
SECURITY.
The strength of the case for the doctrine of the eternal
security of the believer is not always realized, and some of its grounds are
not understood by all.
[Page 197]
1. Justification.
This security is involved in the nature of the justifying act of God. To justify is the act of a judge when he
declares that, having examined the charge brought against the accused, he finds
him not guilty before the law. The
ground upon which God declares righteous the sinner who puts faith in Christ is
that Christ as his Surety satisfied the demands of the law against the
sinner. The atoning death of Christ
which satisfied the demands of the law is imputed to, or put to the credit of,
the sinner who puts his reliance upon the Surety as having suffered on his
behalf the highest penalty imposed by the law.
The actual offender is reckoned in Divine law to have expiated his
offences by having died for them, because his Substitute died for them. I through the law
died unto [out of reach of] the law. ... I have
been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2: 19). See Note at
end.
The question, therefore, as it concerns the sinner, is, for
how many of his sins did Christ by His death accept responsibility and render
satisfaction therefor? If it was for those
sins only which he had committed up to the time when he first placed his faith
on Christ and was justified by that faith, then, as to his future from that
hour, one of two features must characterize it, namely, either he must never
sin again, or, if he sin even once, then he must suffer eternal death, since,
in the case supposed, Christ did not bear these post-conversion sins and no
atonement can ever avail in respect thereof, for Christ will not die again (Rom. 6: 9, 10; Heb. 7: 16).
In other words: in the case now postulated, sin after
conversion must inevitably cancel salvation for most believers.* For all these Christ might as well not have
died for their pre-conversion sins because they will be eternally lost for
their post-conversion sins.
* An exception may be supposed possible in a case where death
occurs immediately after conversion.
As regards men who died before Christ died, and who had looked
forward by faith to the coming Redeemer, all their sins of their whole life
were past when he died for them. As
regards men who were alive when Christ died, some of their sins were past and
some were future. As regards those born
since He died, and who have believed on Him, all their sins of their whole life
were future when He died. By what process
or to what purpose could a division have been made by Divine counsel and the
Surety have been made responsible for a part only of
their sins? In all of these cases if He
did not accept and discharge the full legal penalty for all their sins then He
did not provide salvation for any one: the whole stupendous transaction would
be void and valueless. But inasmuch as
He did in fact satisfy the law of God in respect of the sins of the whole life
of the one who relies on Him, therefore the acquittal by the judge of all the
earth, that is to say, His declaration that the accused is not guilty before
the law, sets him free from the eternal penalty due to the sins of his whole
life.
Further, it is deeply important that (according, e.g. to the
law of
In like manner Christ declared that the one who believes Gods
message of salvation cometh not into judgment, but hath passed [Page 198] out of death into life (John 5:
24).
For him the door of the condemned cell has been opened and he has
stepped out into life and liberty. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus (
2. Temporal penalties for the justified. Here enters the vast importance of the truth before
urged, that the work of the cross delivers the believer from the eternal
penalty of sin but not from any temporal punishments which may attach under the disciplinary government of
the universe by God. And these may prove severe and prolonged, though not eternal in the case of
the justified. Various
scriptures present this serious and balancing aspect. For example:
(1) There is the private realm of the father and his family, wherein the children are chastised by
the father. This will be considered when
we reach ch. 12
of our Epistle. It is a manifestly
different case from that of a criminal before a Court on trial for his life.
(2) There is the case of a king and his own household. It is set forth in our Lords parables in
Luke 19: 11-27 and Matt. 25: 14-30. The
unfaithful servant was deprived of further service and prospects and was cast
out of the house into the darkness of the night during the temporary festivities connected with the kings return. He
might even be severely scourged (Luke 12: 41-48). But these penalties were not the capital
punishment inflicted upon the kings enemies. That is stated in
immediate contrast: Howbeit these mine enemies,
who would not
that I should reign over them, bring hither,
and slay them before me (Luke 19: 27).
(3) There is the parallel instance in Matt.
18: 21-35 of the servant who refused mercy to his
fellow-servant though himself had received mercy from
their lord. In this case the master
revoked his mercy and the remission of the debt, and commanded that the latter
be exacted. If this be applied to the
unregenerate and eternity it will mean that the sinner can ultimately pay all that is due by his own sufferings; a way of
salvation repugnant to Scripture and which would render needless the sufferings
of the Redeemer. But it is evident that
this measure taken by the lord operated within the same restricted sphere of
his personal household. The teaching was
an answer to the inquiry as to how often a brother ought to forgive a brother (ver.
21), and the application which Christ made
of the instruction carries the same limit of the father and the family: So shall also My heavenly Father do
unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts (ver. 35).
None of such cases raises the matter of the legal status of
the children or the family servants before the criminal courts. This
status remained unaffected by the disciplinary dealings of the father or the retributive
measures of the master. Christ gave no
challenge to His own statement that the believer passes out of death into life
and will not come into judgment as to that question (John 5: 24). None
of these servants lost his life by his carnality.
3. Types and Histories. These truths were made clear in the Old Testament by
types and histories.
(1) The bringing of the appointed sin offering secured
forgiveness: and they [or he] shall be forgiven
(Lev. 4: 20, 26, 31, 35). He who came repentant to the altar, where was
offered the atoning lamb, went down to his house
justified (Luke 18: 14). From chs. 9 and [Page 199] 10 of our Epistle
we have seen that that older justification was a foretaste of the perfect and eternal
justification secured by Christs eternal redemption.
(2) But more. The
bringing of a burnt offering in due form secured more than bare forgiveness,
even the acceptance of the offerer
himself: that he may be accepted before
Jehovah (Lev. 1: 3). His status was assured in the presence of God, before
Jehovah. Granted that this was
imperfect under the old covenant, yet it was real as far as it went, and it was typical of the perfect and eternal
status acquired in Christ, through Whom also we have
had our access into this grace [this state of favour] wherein we stand (Rom.
5: 2).
(3) From 1 Cor. 5: 7, For our passover also hath been
sacrificed, even Christ, it is plain
that the passover in
Yet the more part of them did not live
in conformity with this new standing and relationship and were overthrown in
the desert. Their faith broke down, and
so the Lord, having
saved a people out of the
(4) On the other hand, the types and histories show how severe
may be the penalties of unbelief and disobedience, short of a resumption of the
original alienation and unrelieved condemnation of men before God. This has
been sufficiently illustrated in the present treatise.
4. Eternal Life.
The same conclusion
is involved in the fact that the life infused into the believer by the new
birth is eternal life; that
is, it is not a created life, having beginning and capable of having end, but
it is a sharing in the uncreated life of God Himself, the Eternal: for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not
perish but have eternal life (John
3: 16). Thus the giving of this life secures that the
recipient shall not perish, even as Christ said later of His sheep, they shall never perish (John
10: 28).
For even if the sheep wander from the fold, and must suffer
much distress in the desert, yet the Good Shepherd will go after that which is lost until He find it (Luke 15:
4).
The ultimate restoration of the backslidden believer is certain, even
though his penalties be not suffered or his recovery be not accomplished in
this life; for can it be doubted that many backslidden believers die without
having been healed of their backsliding? Such must, therefore either be
eternally lost (in [Page 200] which case the doctrine we are
controverting must after all prove true), or their recovery must be effected
after death, which implies that the Fathers disciplinary
dealings for their recovery are applied after death.
The chief statement on the subject needs, and will bear,
strict examination. Christ said (John 10: 27-30):
(1) My sheep hear My voice, and (2) I know them, and (3) they follow Me:
and (4) I give unto them eternal life; and (5) they shall never
perish, and (6) no
one shall snatch them out of My hand.
My Father (7) Who hath given them
unto Me, (8) is greater than all, and (9) no one is able to
snatch them out of the Fathers hand. (10) I and
My Father are one.
It is difficult to conceive of any words more capable of
creating the impression that the sheep of Christ are eternally secure from
perishing. They create the impression
that the Speaker deliberately designed to create that impression, that it was
indeed His precise intention. But it may
be urged that this is true only of the true sheep of Christ,
and that one mark of these is that they know and hearken to the voice of the
Shepherd and follow Him. What if one of
them ceases to hearken and to follow?
Does he not thereby cease to be one of Christs sheep? and must not then his security from perishing lapse?
Let this be tested in a case that can be seen too often. A sinner turns in faith unto Christ, and
manifests the true tokens of being one of His sheep, by continuing for, say, twenty
years to hearken and to follow. Then,
alas, he wanders from the fold and the Shepherd, and so ceases to exhibit the
characteristics of Christs sheep. So now (if the argument in question is
right) he does not possess the
eternal life and shall perish. It thus becomes
evident that the life which he had during those twenty years was not in fact
eternal, for it has ended so far as he is concerned, nor was he ever secure
from perishing, for at last he is to perish.
In his case the magnificent assurances given by Christ were without value, nor had this person at any time any real
right to comfort himself by them, seeing that ultimately they will be
unfulfilled in his case. So that during
those twenty years he had eternal life,
for Christ stated this of His sheep: yet his perishing at last will show that
the life he then had was not eternal. He was a sheep of
Christ, because for long years he exhibited the true characteristics of a
sheep: yet he was not a sheep of Christ, because finally he shall perish. This reductio ad absurdum shows that the reasoning examined is
false.
But let the Good Shepherd Himself solve this problem by the
parable before quoted from Luke 15: 3-7. It states the exact case above supposed. A man has a hundred sheep. One of them wanders. Does it thereby cease to be a sheep? or cease to be the property of the Owner? Nay, rather; when the Owner has recovered it
does He not cry with joy I have found My sheep which was lost?
Even while it was lost it was still a sheep and it was still His, and He secured its restoration and safety.
It is to be noted that the teaching in Luke 15 applies properly to backsliders, not to the unregenerate,
however suitably its lessons may be extended to such. The sheep had been in the fold; the coin had
been in the possession of the woman; the prodigal was the son of the father;
and each was restored to its proper status, not set there for the first time.
5. Freely.
One further
consideration will suffice to establish our conclusion. Of justification it is
stated that the believer is justified freely (dorean) by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ [Page 201] Jesus (Rom.
3: 24);
and of eternal life it is said that, while the wages
of sin is death ... the free gift (charisma) of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6: 23). The
righteousness and justification granted to the believer in Christ are likewise
described by the same word: the free gift (charisma) came of many offences unto
justification (Rom. 5: 16, 17).
Now every gift carries at least one condition precedent to its
taking effect, namely, that it must be accepted; but having been accepted a free
gift is necessarily free of conditions subsequent (such as, for example, the
conduct of the receiver after reception of the gift), or it would be a
conditional gift, not a free gift. This is not said of any other gift of God save justification and eternal
life. The righteousness of
this arises from the entire and eternal sufficiency of the redemption price
which provides these gifts. Therefore
the minimum indispensable to salvation, even justification and eternal life, is
granted to the receiver absolutely, whereas gifts to the saved
are conditional upon conduct.
Because the unregenerate cannot work his urgent need is met
by a free gift at the expense of the Giver: because, by the grace of the
Spirit, the regenerate can do good works he is required to do them as the
condition of further benefits.
This is demanded by both the Divine love and the Divine morality. The free gift is unforfeitable, and cannot be
withdrawn by the Giver; later gifts are forfeitable and
must be made sure by diligence (2 Pet. 1: 10).
It was Rom. 3: 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, which helped much to lift Bunyan out of the
Slough of Despond, to set his feet upon the rock Assurance, and to put a new
song into his mouth, even praise unto our God.
Of that text he says sweetly the words quoted before (p. 164):
Now was I as one awaked out of some
troublesome sleep and dream, and listening to this heavenly sentence, I was as if
I heard it thus expounded to me: Sinner, thou thinkest that because of thy Sins
and Infirmities I cannot save thy soul, but behold my Son is by me, and upon
him I look, and not on thee, and deal with thee according as I am pleased with
him. (Grace Abounding, para. 258.)
Noble and arresting is his account of an earlier experience:
But one day, as I was passing in the
field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was
not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy righteousness is in heaven; and methought withal, I saw, with the
Eyes of my Soul, Jesus Christ at Gods right hand. There, I say, was my righteousness; so that
wherever I was, or whatever I was a-doing, God could not say of me, He wants [i.e. lacks] Righteousness, for that was
just before him. I also saw, moreover,
that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor
yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my
Righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, to‑day,
and for ever. (Ibid, para. 229.)
Happy indeed is he who, as touching his status as righteous
before God, sees Christ to be his all, for thus will he be assured that his judicial acceptance by God
is necessarily as eternal as the righteousness of his Surety.
Note B (p.177).
The word timoria has principally
the sense of penal infliction, as
by sentence of a judge, as distinct from paideia,
parental discipline, as in ch. 12: 5-11. The former looks more to the vindication [Page 202] of righteousness by law, whether the offender be
reclaimed or not; the latter has the moral profit of the child as its more
prominent thought. In this point paideia is nearer to kolasis than
to timoria. But even as in later Greek the
distinction between these latter words was fading (see, e.g. Chrysostom in Alfords second quotation on 2 Thess. 2: 2), so in Biblical Greek timoria included the thought of the reclamation of the
offender. It is so used in the
Septuagint at Jer. 38:
21 (31: 21 in Eng. Ver.), where Sion is bidden to execute vengeance in connexion with her repentance and
return to God. Still more distinctly at Ezek. 5: 17 and 14: 15 timoria
is used of the fierceness of the wrath of God upon
Therefore the thought of ultimate moral benefit is not to be
excluded from timoria in Heb. 10: 29. It can
include this as well as the vindicating of the law of God in the punishing of
His people who apostatize.
Note C. ON ANCIENT ROMAN LAW.
In his Introduction to
Roman Law (p. 143 of the 1921 edition by A. F.
Murison) W. A. Hunter wrote on Extinction of Contracts as follows:-
i. Solutio. Every obligation may be
discharged by the giving of what is due, or, if the creditor consents, of
something else in its place. It matters
not who discharges it, whether the debtor or someone else for him; for he is
freed even if someone else discharges it, and that whether the debtor knew it
or not, and even if it was done against his will.
This statement of Roman Law, which
ruled in the world in New Testament times, is worthy of detailed comparison or
contrast with the Divine Law declared in the Word of God.
* *
*
[Page 203]
CHAPTER XIV
FAITH
Ch. 11: 1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen. 2 For therein the elders had
witness borne to them. 3 By faith we understand that
the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not
been made out of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was
righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his
gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not
see death; and he was not found, because
God translated him: for before his translation
he hath had witness borne to him that he had been well-pleasing unto God:
6 and without faith it is impossible to be
well-pleasing unto him: for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek
him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned
of God concerning things not seen as
yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to
faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was
called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he
was to receive for an inheritance; and he went
out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he became a
sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the
heirs with him of the same promise: 10 for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed
when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised: 12 wherefore also there sprang
of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand, which is by
the sea shore, innumerable.
13 These all died in faith, not having
received the promises, but having seen them and
greeted them from afar, and having confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; 14 For they that say such things make it manifest that they are
seeking after a country of their own. 15 And if indeed they had been
mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had
opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, a
heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God: for
he hath prepared for them a city.
[Page 204]
17 By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his
only begotten son; 18 even he to whom it was said, In Isaac
shall thy seed be called: 19 accounting that God is able to raise up, even from
the dead; from whence he did also in a parable
receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac blessed
Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was
a blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and
worshipped, leaning upon the top of
his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when his end
was nigh, made mention of the departure of the
children of
[Page 205]
1. FAITH
DEFINED (ver. 1). Faith therefore is that activity of the heart
which secures salvation, whether it be the deliverance
of the man himself from eternal ruin or the preserving of his life from being
wasted. What then is this power which
can work such wonders?
Faith is here defined as being assurance
of things hoped for, the proving of things not
seen (R.V.); or, taking the R.V. margin, the
giving substance to things hoped for, the
putting to the proof of things not seen; or A.V. the substance of things hoped for, or, as the margin,
the ground or confidence of things hoped for;
or, as a scholarly German version, the Elberfeld (by J. N. Darby), renders, Faith is a realization of that which one hopes, a conviction concerning things which one does not see. On the basis of later papyri the Editors of The
Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament say: in all cases there is the same
central idea of something that underlies visible conditions and
guaranteeing a future possession. As
this is the essential idea in Heb. 11: 1, we venture to suggest the translation Faith is the title
deed of things hoped for. This seems inaccurate, for our title
to every blessing is Christ, not our faith. Faith may fail and so hope die, and
possession come into jeopardy; but the title is not impaired.
Such variety of renderings prompts inquiry as to whether a
stricter sense can be reached.
i. Faith and Hope. Faith is viewed here as related to hope. A Christian is a person who is saved by hope
(Rom. 8: 24, 25); but his hope is not like that of the
non-Christian, for there is not in it that element of uncertainty which inheres
in every merely human hope. This
uncertainty is rightly stated by the Persian poet, Omar Khayyam:
The worldly hope men set
their hearts upon
Turns ashes, or it
prospers; and anon,
Like snow upon the deserts
dusty face
Lighting a little hour or two, is gone.
In contrast, the Christian hope is both
sure and stedfast, and it enters into that
which is within the veil, as an anchor takes hold of the firm ground
out of sight (ch. 6:
18-20).
As is said in the passage cited (Rom.
8: 24, 25), hope
has necessarily to do with things unseen and future, for hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopeth for that which he seeth? Hope thus reinforces the present by the
prospect of the future. A woman is
supported in solitude and adversity by the hope that her absent husband will
return: a youth struggles bravely against early poverty in the hope that the fortune
of a relative [Page 206] will one day be his. Similarly the Christian is saved from despair
and apostasy by hope.
For what that is unseen and future does he hope? For the Coming One and all that is to take place at His coming! One moonlit evening, under the palms at
Chagallu, South India, I explained this hope to a company of educated Hindus -
that Christ is to return from heaven;
that [at that time] a multitude of His dead
followers will instantly leave [the underworld of Hades as disembodied
souls to be united with their bodies from] their graves to meet Him in the air, accompanied by a smaller number who
will be alive at that moment; that they will be [translated and changed to become immortal and] transformed into the glory that He bears, will be presented thus before
the throne of God, will return with Christ to this earth, and be seen by men
with Him in His [Millennial] glory* - this and other details were set forth.
Suddenly I asked the hearers what they were thinking about this
programme, and an elderly Brahmin blurted out the emphatic word, Impossible!
[* See 1
Thess. 4:
16; Acts 2:
27, 31, 34; Matt. 16: 18. cf. John 3: 14: 3; 20: 17ff. Phil. 3: 11; Heb. 11: 35, 40; Rev. 6: 9-11, R.V. etc.]
And impossible it is, to all human energy and effort. What, then, justifies the Christian in
indulging his hope of things so unprecedented?
It is faith.
ii. Faith
the Basis of Hope. It has been stated at 1: 3 that the
Son of God is the charakter of the hupostasis of
God. The lines cut in a seal form the
visible representation (the charakter) of a coat of arms not seen at the moment. Some facts as to God are discernible in the
creation, such as His everlasting power and divinity (Rom.
1: 20). Other facts as to God are not thus
discoverable; they are deeper, basic elements in the Godhead: such as that God
is both Father and Son, that He has in His nature a principle of grace, by
which He can pardon His enemies; and other features. This underlying element is in this verse 3 of ch. 1 described as the hupostasis of God, from
words meaning that which stands under, and so supports that which is
above. Of this deeper, underlying,
substratum, or essence of the Godhead the Son is the visible, indelible,
permanent expression the charakter.
Similarly, in the verse before us (11:
1) faith is said to be the hupostasis
of hope, that which forms the basis and support of hope. He who has no faith set on Christ as the
Coming One has no justifiable hope for the future of heaven, earth, or himself;
for all human schemes and efforts prove elusive and illusory; we know not what
a day may bring forth, and so men, being without God, are without hope (Eph. 2: 12). We
hope because we believe. Hope vanishes
if faith ceases.
iii. Promise
the Basis of Faith. But this raises a further
question. Faith is the basis of hope,
but what is the basis of faith? What
warrant have we for believing what we believe?
Fifty years ago, in a large meeting of young men in the city of
What is the basis of faith?
It is the promise of some person considered dependable. A poor youth has no prospect of developing a
business; but some rich person promises adequate financial backing and the
young man starts trading hopefully. A
manufacturer needs a machine, costing £1,000.
Being without present reserves he sees no hope of purchasing it. But a friend hands him a Bank of England note
for £1,000, and faith in the Bank creates immediately an assured expectation
that he can buy the machine. In like
manner faith in the Bank enables the vendor to part with the machine in
exchange for the piece of paper on which the promise of the Bank is printed,
for he has a conviction, a sure hope, that the money
will be paid on demand.
Thus hope depends on faith and faith on the promise; and if
ones faith in the Promiser is absolute then faith creates a conviction as to the things not yet seen but
guaranteed by the promise. But should
one question the ability or the fidelity of the Bank, or if there be a doubt as
to the genuineness of a bank note held, then faith will not arise nor hope be
born. The assertion of the modem critic
that his tampering with the text of the Bible does not touch anything material
is false; it is precisely as material as questioning whether the promise of the
Bank is genuine and reliable - it forbids faith and destroys hope of the promise being fulfilled.*
[*NOTE. A
good example of this tampering with the text
in order to destroy the Christians hope, can
be found in 2 Tim. 2:
17, 18. For the First
or Better Resurrection is clearly shown to be
a hope rather than a certainty guaranteed to all
Christians! See Rev. 20: 5, 15a. cf. Luke 20: 35.]
As to the promises of God, one said to Dr. A. T. Pierson that
he thought there may be as many as three thousand in the Word of God. That great Bible student replied that he knew
by counting that there are more than that number in
the Psalms alone, and that he thought there may be thirty thousand in the whole
Book. Faith looks at these promises and at the God Who promises, and is fully
assured that what He has promised He is able and ready to perform (Rom. 4: 20, 21). The Guarantor of this is Christ, the Son of
God: faith looks at Christ and says Amen to the promise of God, that is, It shall be so! (2 Cor. 1: 20). Thus
David said: it hath pleased Thee to bless the house of
Thy servant. ... Thou, O Jehovah, hast blessed and it is
blessed for ever (1 Chron. 17: 26, 27). Thus did Davids faith impart conviction and
create an assured hope as to the far distant future.
2. Faith Illustrated. It was such a hope as to the distant
future, a hope set on Christ as the Coming One, that
the first readers of this Letter needed to have rekindled in their hearts, so
as thus to be saved from turning to the
past and its imperfect arrangements and losing thereby their noblest future
prospects. [Page 208] To this end
their faith needed to be re-established, and for this purpose the Writer now
recounts selected examples of what faith had already enabled men of like
passions to do or to bear.
i. ver.
2, The
Elders. And first he makes a wide
statement concerning men of ancient times, the elders
(comp. Matt. 15:
2).
These had had witness borne to them. By whom? Clearly by God. In ver. 4 this is stated distinctly concerning Abel, and
in ver. 5
it is implied as to Enoch. Before whom
did God give this testimony? In the case of Abel certainly before Cain, as the
history shows (Gen. 4:
6ff).
As to Enoch we are not informed who heard Gods testimony, borne to him
while he was yet on earth; but it is to be remembered that at all times the
angels are witnesses of what is done and said by man and God. It was to Satan and other heavenly beings
that God bore witness to the character of Job, one of these elders (Job 1: 8; 2: 3).
In ver. 16 of our chapter it is stated concerning these
elders that God has made clear His approval of them by preparing for them a
city, that is, the heavenly city (ver. 10). This
work of preparation must needs be known to the hosts
of heaven. As to yet another of these
elders, Daniel, an angel knew Gods estimate of him, for he told him that he
was greatly beloved in heaven (Dan. 10: 11, 19). This
was no small comfort to one who had known what it was to be greatly hated by
men, and to have learned that even human esteem, honestly won, may prove
useless in a day of trial (Dan. 6: 14-17).
Clearly it is every way
better to be among those that the Lord will confess as His faithful [repentant and obedient] followers, owning
them publicly before God, angels, and men, rather than by forsaking Him, to
be renounced by Him in that great day of His [coming] glory (Matt. 10: 32, 33; Mark 8: 38; Luke 9: 26).
ii. ver. 3. Faith and Understanding. From
the earliest period of which there is secular record men have speculated as to
the origin of the universe. This could
scarcely have been so before the Flood, because for 930 years of that period
Adam lived and could recount his original intercourse with God and what he had
thus learned (Gen. 5:
5).
Then, too, Methuselah was contemporary with Adam and could perpetuate
until the year of the Flood, when he died, that authentic account of Adam. Noah and Shem were contemporary with
Methuselah, and brought that information down to 502 years after the Flood, when
Shem died (Gen. 11:
10, 11).
About then set in that deliberate renunciation of God laid in Rom. 1 to the
charge of that succeeding generation.
Light refused involves darkness; the race lost that early account of
creation, retaining only such crude, debased ideas of it as can be traced in
the early Sumerian myths.
[Page 209]
But the earliest Biblical history of that post-diluvian period
shows a striking exception, a survival of much of that true knowledge of early
creation affairs. The book of Job records conversation between five men and
reveals what extensive knowledge some still had. And some time later, Moses wrote the sublime
yet brief and distinct account of creation given in the first two chapters of Genesis.
Outside the spheres where such men had influence there reigned total darkness as to the origin of the universe.
Philosophers, of notable mental ability, speculated, contradicted one another,
proposed mutually exclusive theories, and remained in confused uncertainty and
actual ignorance. Three and a half
thousand years have passed since Moses gave his account of creation, and still
those who choose to ignore his account speculate as did the ancients, review,
revise, restate their ancient theories, add nothing thereto, and remain as
ignorant as they.
How then did such as Job, Eliphaz, Elihu, or Moses arrive at a
consistent, intelligible account of how creation came to be? What differentiated them from their blind
contemporaries? It was not superior
intellect, great as that of Moses evidently was; for such later inquirers as
Aristotle, Plato, or Zoroaster were endowed with first-class minds.
No, the differentiating factor was FAITH. It still is so. By faith we
understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God; so that what is seen hath not been made out of things
visible to the senses. The
singular number (to blepomenon what is seen) regards the whole visible creation as
one entity. Thus the statement has
universal application, is true of the whole creation. It was all called into existence by the word
of God; no part of it is eternal, or was
self-caused.
Those older sages, though men of brains, could believe: the philosophers could not, and
cannot. No one can get to know of what is
beyond his personal knowledge save by believing the testimony of someone who
has that personal knowledge. No one can
learn the facts and features of a land he has never seen except by believing
the account of someone who has been there.
No one but the Creator can tell how creation was effected for no one
else was present. He must give an
account of it or it cannot be known; we must believe that account or we cannot
know.
As the book of Job shows,
those men believed what had been told by still earlier men concerning the very
ancient times (Job 8: 8-10; 15: 17, 18). But
also, pious men were still receiving instruction from God and believing it (Job 4: 12-17; 33: 12-24; chs. 38-42), and, as
38: 4-7 in particular [Page 210] shows, this Divine instruction
included the subject of the creation.
Someone has expressed the opinion that during the seven
centuries or so after Plato no such intellect as his was known until
Augustine. This intellectual giant said
something like this: Understand my word that you may believe it, but believe
Gods word that you may understand it!
And because God speaks of matters necessarily indiscoverable by man, for
He alone knows them, there is, of equal necessity, no other way of
understanding those matters but by believing what God says upon them.
But faith is not credulity.
Rightly did Augustine warn men against believing his word before they
understood it, for man is fallible and may err in opinion; but God is not only
inscrutable but infallible, and therefore it is essentially safe and right to
accept His words and act upon them without knowing their whole content or
effect. Indeed, if God is, no other
attitude to Him and His words is tolerable.
Not to trust GOD is utter
impiety, utter ruin: to believe Him is to gain understanding. That the fear of
Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom was the conviction of the wisest man
that ever pondered human life; and he added that it is the foolish who despise
wisdom and instruction (Prov. 1: 7).
iii. ver. 4. Abel. These
fundamental features are now illuminated by striking instances. The Writer begins at the beginning of human
history with the first two men born to our first parents, Cain and Abel.
These were brothers, reared in the same home, benefiting by
the same instruction, possessing equal privileges and opportunities. What distinguished them before God? FAITH! Abel believed and obeyed God, Cain did not.
They both reverenced God outwardly, for both brought to Him an
offering. Abel brought a firstling from
his flock, that is, something he had reared.
Cain brought the fruit of the ground, something he had reared. My then was Abels sacrifice better than that of Cain? Wherein lay its superiority?
It could lie only in the FAITH
of Abels heart as he offered. He must
have believed something that God must have made known of His mind, and he acted
upon it. It is clear that such a
sacrifice implied, yea, was an acknowledgment of his own desert of death, and a
confession that he believed that the death of an innocent substitute would be
accepted by God for his own deliverance from the judgment of his sin.
Throughout human history this has been the great divide and
still is so. Abel and Cain proved to be
two heads of two spiritually divergent and opposed sections of mankind. 1 John 3: 12; [Page 211] Jude 11; Matt.
23: 34, 35. The
followers of Cain have been
innumerable, those of Abel the minority.
But God had respect unto Abel and to his
offering: but unto Cain and his offering he had
not respect (Gen. 4: 4, 5). Just
how this was indicated is not stated, though it is shown as to some later
occasions, as Gen. 15: 17; Judges 6: 21; 13: 19, 20; 1 Kings 18: 38; 2 Chron. 7: 1.
We are told however that God expressed His mind plainly to
Cain (Gen. 4: 6, 7). But one who has rejected atoning sacrifice
can readily reject remonstrance and harden himself to commit any crime. So Cain went on to murder his brother,
because the latters works were righteous, whereas his own were evil. And the Scripture traces further back the
ground of this radical difference by the remark that Cain
was of the evil one (1 John 3: 12). He had
faith in Gods Enemy and followed him, whereas Abel had faith in God Himself
and obeyed Him. The statement that Cain was out of
(ek) the Evil One
is intensely solemn. As to his merely
natural make-up, by being begotten of his father and born of his mother; he
inherited from them that bias to sin which is native to us all. But in addition he had drawn in an aggravated
impetus to evil derived out of Satan.
This he must have done in spite of the warning found in the experience
of his parents in
In what Power, in what Person is the reader
trusting?
iv. vers. 5 and 6. Enoch. There pass five or six hundred years of
which God has recorded nothing but a frightful development of wickedness (Gen. 6: 5). Then in
the thick darkness a bright line shines out, there arises a man of FAITH: Enoch trusted God, and walked
with Him, while others walked with the Evil One.
From Jude
(vers. 14,
15) we learn that Enochs faith was engaged pre-eminently with the Coming
One. Transported in spirit into the day of the Lord, seeing its mighty
drama pass before his inward vision as if then present, he described what he
saw as if it were a past event and cried Behold,
the Lord came with His holy myriads to execute judgment. With that awesome expectation he passed his
time cultivating fellowship with God. The future [day of
reward] controlled the present, which is to live by FAITH.
[* See Heb.
11: 6ff; 26. cf. Rev.
22: 12,
R.V.).]
While yet he lived among the godless God bore witness [Page 212] that he had been well-pleasing to Him; and later, while he was yet in what
for that age was but early manhood, God signally confirmed this His testimony to
His faithful servant by suddenly removing him alive to the world above.
It has practical bearing for us to observe that rapture was
Gods response to godly living. It was
of grace, for removal to the heavens can never be claimed of right; yet it was grace
rewarding faith, and the godly life that faith produces; it was not of grace irrespective of piety and
fidelity; for before his translation he hath had witness borne to him that he had been well-pleasing to God.
Using a poets licence,
Thus among other wonders which faith can effect is this
notable wonder: it can produce such
living as pleases God well and qualifies for [pre-tribulation] rapture* to the world above.
And without such faith it is simply impossible to be well-pleasing to
God. Given a man who denies the
existence of God, and therefore has no expectation that he will be rewarded should
he seek unto God, obviously such a man must be as displeasing to God as a
subject who should choose to ignore his sovereign and disregard the laws of the
land. He that draweth near to God must
believe that He exists, as well as that He becomes a rewarder to those who seek after Him. Thus these activities Godward are an exercise
of FAITH.
[* Luke 21: 34-36; Rev. 3: 10, R.V.]
Such faith in us, O God,
implant,
And to our prayers Thy
favour grant
In Jesus Christ, Thy saving
Son,
Who is our fount of health alone. (P. Herbert.)
v. ver. 7. Noah. In like manner the faith of Noah led
him to anticipate confidently a future for which there was no precedent and to
act accordingly. He was warned by God
that there was coming a catastrophic judgment such as had not been known by
mankind. He believed God and took the
steps necessary to the saving of himself and his family. Thus his FAITH
had a twofold aspect.
(1) It condemned the men around, who disbelieved God and
therefore disregarded the warning.
(2) It assured to Noah the righteousness which is of
faith. For when a man did really believe
God, with such a faith as [Page 213] governed his conduct God then and there
imputed to that man the justifying work that the Son of God, would later do on
behalf of that man by dying for his sins.
Historically, from the point of view of time, that justification did not become his before the justifying work had
been wrought on the cross; but in the reckoning of God, Who is above time,
it was reckoned to be his when he exercised
faith, and thereupon he became heir
to it, that is, one whose title was secure though possession was deferred.
The case of Noah, treated so succinctly by our Writer, has
other deeply important instruction.
His exemption from the temporary judgment of the Flood was
on the ground of his personal righteousness in contrast to the godlessness around. Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for
thee have I seen righteous before me in this
generation (Gen. 7: 1). This
was not the imputed righteousness, but his own
personal right practice. God would
not destroy the righteous with the wicked (Gen.
18: 25).
But so to act, so to walk with God, against universal
opposition, was proof of FAITH,
faith further displayed by building the ark; to this faith God imputed that righteous work of Another which
secures from eternal wrath.
The typical teaching of Noah and the ark
is not always rightly understood.
Usually the ark is taken as the type of Christ. Surely the strict position is this: (a) That righteous Noah is a type of the
Righteous One, the Saviour; (b) The ark made by Noah represents the work
wrought by Christ for salvation; (c) Noahs family were granted salvation from
death solely for Noahs sake, not because of any righteousness of their own: Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee [not you all] have I seen righteous before
me. So it is now: your sins are forgiven you for His names sake (1 John 2: 12). (d) Yet
each of them had to accept deliverance personally, by association with Noah,
and by entering the ark. This act
proclaimed the individual faith of each, so that they also were saved by faith.
Further. The Lord declared
unequivocally that the state of the world at the time for His return to it will
be as were the days of Noah (Matt. 24: 37-39; Luke 17: 26, 27). There
will be utter absorption in things earthly and present, utter disregard of the
foretold wrath, so that as the Flood came and took
them all away so shall men be cozening themselves with talk of peace and safety when sudden
destruction cometh upon them at the coming of Christ, and they shall in no wise escape (1 Thess. 5: 3). This is the solemn and uniform testimony of
the Word of God.
Yet teachers beyond number have befooled themselves and [Page 214] their hearers by asserting the exact contrary of this, even that the gospel
shall go on prospering until all men will have accepted its message, the
kingdom of God have thus been established on earth, and then will the Lord come. For the
last days of this age to be like this would require that in the days of Noah
men gradually and universally were persuaded to give up their wicked ways; and
so the Flood never came at all.
Such misunderstanding results from a want of FAITH in what God says plainly upon this subject. How vital is simple faith, the faith of the
little child (Matt. 18:
3).
No one who thus simply believes what Christ said on this
subject can mistake His meaning.
vi. vers. 8-10. Abraham. Some centuries passed
between the Flood and the call of Abraham.
In that period nothing requiring to be recorded in Gods history
occurred, except the portentous rebellion at
But that rebellion indicated how deep-seated was the
opposition of mans heart to God and His will, how quickly and thoroughly that
opposition could blaze forth, how steadily and rapidly degeneracy could develop, how speedily the warning of the Food was
ignored. The grounds and the course of
this alienation from God are given in
That was a very dark period, the gloom being relieved, as far
as is shown, by the testimony of Melchizedek alone, and he living far from the
first world centre. In
But He leaves not Himself without witness. Brethren and fathers,
hearken. The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham (Acts 7: 2). He was a heathen, an idolator (Josh. 24: 2, 15). He dwelt in a grand and royal city. But the sight of that superior glory
dispelled his darkness as to God, blotted out the brightness of Ur of the
Chaldees, turned its glory to ashes, shattered for him its prospects and
ambitions [Page 215] and made him a liberated devotee of the true and only
God. Henceforth he walked by FAITH, as had Enoch and Noah before
him, and became the spiritual father of all since his day who have so walked (Rom. 4: 16).
For the encouragement of his readers, and us, our Writer points
out that Abrahams call by God was answered by a faith in God which displayed
its strength and genuineness, as all genuine faith does, by (1) Obedience: By faith Abraham,
when he was called, obeyed. He who trusts another will do what he
suggests.
(2) Separation: He obeyed to go out. He
abandoned country, business, prospects, politics, society, war, even his
family, and walked after God. The
separation was a sine qua non to such
a walk with such a God; it was utterly indispensable. For that world entire, of which he had been a
native, was lying in the Evil One, was his
sphere of influence, where his spirit worked and ruled in the sons of
disobedience, where God was denied (1 John 5: 19; Eph. 2: 2).
It has always been thus, it still is so: Ye adulteresses, know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore
is minded to be a friend of the world constitutes himself an enemy of God
(Jas. 4: 4). The
alternative is inexorable. The world and
the
But this demands a living, active FAITH. Only faith can
carry obedience so far.
(3) Promises as to the Future. His
faith was shown by accepting Gods promise as to the unseen and the future: he was to receive a place for an inheritance, and
believing this he set forth to go to
that place.
(4) Walking in the Dark. He
did not know whither he went, but he
went! The philosopher lifted his
eyebrows and said, Quixotic! The man of
affairs shrugged his shoulders and said, A wild goose
chase! The prudent said, Hell come back sadder and wiser! But he went! and
to-day his children sing:
One step I see before me;
Tis all I need to see:
The light of heaven more
brightly shines
When earths illusions
flee;
And sweetly through the
silence comes
His loving Follow Me.
[Page 216]
So on I go - not knowing,
I would not if I might;
Id rather walk in the dark
with God
Than go alone in the light;
Id rather walk by faith with Him
Than go alone by sight. (M. G. Brainerd).
(5) Sojourning. A sojourner
is properly one who stays in a place just from day to day (jour, a day). The Greek word it
translates paroikeo pictures an alien
dwelling for a while alongside the citizens of a land but himself a foreigner
in it, as the Israelites in Egypt (Acts 7: 6; 13: 17; Ps. 105: 23,
LXX). Thus did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
feel themselves to be aliens amidst the inhabitants of
Thus still do Abrahams true children feel at heart in
relation to the whole earth. It is theirs by Divinely granted title, for the meek shall inherit the earth (Ps. 37: 11; Matt. 5: 5; 1 Cor. 3: 21-23); but as
yet the godless hold it by permission of God, and men of faith heed the
exhortation, which they feel and know to be appropriate to their situation, Beloved, I beseech you,
as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain, to be marked by abstinence, holiness, and
seemly behaviour among men (1 Pet. 2: 11; where
the word parepidemos, rendered pilgrim, pictures one staying for a time in a foreign
land and so without citizen status or rights).
Such an aloof life among abominable, cruel, and violent
idolaters, as were the races of
(6) Of the sojourner the tent is the outward sign. The resident builds a house. The pilgrim expects to move on, as God may
guide. He disencumbers himself as far as
possible. [Page 217] He is content in heart with the least that is necessary; indeed, if he grows
to the stature of a Paul, he learns to take pleasure
in necessities (2 Cor. 12: 10).
In early Bible history we hear Jacob respond to the promises
of God and say: If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and a garment to put on,
so that I come again to my fathers house in peace,
then shall Jehovah be my God (Gen. 28: 20, 21). The company and guidance of God, till the
fathers house be reached; and by the way bare necessities to suffice! Surely here is the true pilgrim, the spirit
of the true Christian.
And at the end of Bible history we hear Paul saying to a
younger fellow-pilgrim: Godliness with contentment is
great gain ... having food and coverings we
shall be therewith content, adding that they that are determined to
have more than these necessities pierce themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim. 6: 6-10).
Oh bliss to leave behind us
The fetters of the slave;
To leave ourselves behind
us,
The grave-clothes and the
grave!
To speed, unburdened
pilgrims,
Glad, empty-handed, free;
To cross the trackless deserts
And walk upon the sea. (Ter Steegen.)
(7) ver. 16. Such
abandoning of the past and abstaining in the present is possible only to the
one to whom the future is bright and secure.
Those ancient believers looked for the city
which hath the foundations, whose architect and
builder is [none less than] God. Now it is FAITH alone that can make that prospect real and powerful to the
heart. This verse intimates how rich and
clear was the information as to the future and the heavenly granted in those
early times. Abraham was given a
foreview of the [millennial] day of
Christ and it greatly gladdened him (John 8:
56). That
glorious future drew him on, and reduced the present to its due proportion of
being but a preparatory stage of life, a journey to a grand goal. That prospect has continually enabled men of
faith to reckon that the sufferings of this present
period are insignificant in comparison with the glory which shall be revealed
with regard to us. (Rom. 8: 18,
Alford.)
vii. vers. 11, 12. Sarah. But not only can FAITH make a man to become a prince, it can make a woman a princess
(Gen. 17:
15: Sarah = princess).
[Page 218]
The sceptic says that miracles are contrary to the universal
unvarying course of things, to the law of Nature; therefore they are impossible; therefore they never have happened; therefore the Book that recounts them is
unbelievable! Q.E.D.
The afore-determined goal has been reached: the Bible has been
discredited. And this all the evidence
to the contrary notwithstanding! We do
wisely to ignore the sceptic even as the sceptic ignores the evidence.
Sarah at first argued as does the sceptic. When it was stated by God that she should
bear a son although this had become by age a sheer physical impossibility, she
just laughed at the idea. It was
contrary to the laws of Nature and to uniform universal experience; it never
had been, it never could be! Yet it came to pass. How?
On the part of God by the exercise of
His creative power. Could not an almighty Creator, had He
seen fit, have caused that every child should be born of a mother only? Why, then, should He not do once (in the case
of Jesus) what He could have done always?
Could not such a Creator have ordained that every woman should be
capable of bearing children throughout her life, however prolonged? Why, then, should He not effect this in
special instances, such as those of Sarah and Elizabeth? (Luke 1: 7, 18).
Prejudice makes the sceptic foolish.
But on Sarahs part the event required FAITH. By faith Sarah herself received strength. So by faith we acquire understanding and by
faith we receive strength. The honest
doubter can test this. Let him but really believe something that God says,
believing in the sense of taking what God says into his own inner soul with the
determination to trust it and therefore to obey it - let him thus have FAITH and he will find his mind
enlightened and his inward nature strengthened.
Such faith is fruitful.
Without Sarahs faith Abrahams faith would have been inoperative. It was because (dio) she too, the wife,
had faith that he, the husband, by her believing co-operation received the
fulfilment of the Divine promise and became the ancestor of a vast posterity, a
posterity to be yet vaster, by man uncountable.
No one but God can foresee the possible outcome of a single act of faith
by a single believer. One seed can yield an
hundredfold the first year, and these ten thousandfold the next year. It is a mighty thing to have faith in God,
for then nothing is impossible that God has promised.
viii. vers. 13-16. Strangers and
Pilgrims. Where there is the heart of the alien and
pilgrim faith produces striking effects.
[Page 219]
(1) Faiths Endurance. These
of old held their course undeviatingly, throughout long lives, even unto death:
these all died according to (kata) faith,
consistently with the principle of faith and by its sustaining energy. They did
not receive what was promised. The
promise they did receive, the benefits promised they did not receive; but
nevertheless they expected these and waited in confident expectation. They knew that possession of
(2) Faiths Vision. Thus faith is longsighted: they greeted the distant future and,
indeed, a far more remote future and country than the
That there was not revealed in their time the whole
purpose of God concerning that heavenly prospect, that the full
development of the counsels of grace was not opened up, nor the steps by which
the Fathers house would be filled, did not lessen the fact that the heavenly
world was set forth as their prospect, that they confessed this as their goal
and hope, and lived as not of the present in the midst of the men of the world
whose portion was entirely in this life and who sought no other.
It is still thus. The
natural man minds earthly things. He is Bunyans Man with the muck-rake,
indifferent to the shining crown above his head. But still the man of faith forgoes the
present to secure the future. He takes
nothing for granted, but presses on toward the goal,
the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus
(Phil. 3:
14).
His title is secure and he means to secure possession.
Abraham might have written some lines of one of his German
children which may be translated as follows:
To gain that prize I towards that goal
will struggle
Which God has set before;
To gain that prize gainst sin and
death Ill battle
And with the world make war;
And if it brings me here but shame and
troubles
And scorn, if pain life fills,
Yet seek I nothing of earths empty
baubles;
My God alone my longing fills.
To gain that prize, to reach that
crown Im pressing
Which Christ doth ready hold;
I mean His great reward to be
possessing,
His booty for the bold.
I will not rest,
no weariness shall stay me,
To hasten home is best,
Where I some day in peace and joy
shall lay me
Upon my Saviours heart and rest.
(3) Faiths Perseverance. Those
saints of old could have returned to
(4) Faiths Reward. The
supreme reward of faith is to be approved and acknowledged by God. The Lord Jesus assured His disciples that if anyone
should be ashamed of Him in this age He will be ashamed of that man and will
deny him before God and angels in His coming day (Matt. 10: 32, 33; Luke 12: 8, 9). Paul applies this to us of this age (2 Tim. 2: 10-13). It is here applied retrospectively to those
ancient pilgrims. They had confessed the true God among peoples who rejected
Him: He had not been ashamed to confess them as His servants.
He did so at the time, as the Psalmist remembered: He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved kings for
their sake; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, And do my prophets no
harm (Ps. 105:
14, 15. See Gen. 20: 3-7; 31: 29).
But there must be a nobler Divine acknowledgment intended
here, a confession before the angels, as Christ said; for it says that God hath prepared for them a city. Therefore that heavenly city was prepared
already in their time, and the hosts on high know whose heavenly abode
Jerusalem above is, the mother city of all pilgrims of all ages (Gal. 4: 26).*
* This being so, how strange is the dispensational
notion that saints of early times who had been offered by God a heavenly
portion and had embraced it, suffered for it, walked in the light of it,
pressed toward it, shall nevertheless not reach or share it.
With what supreme interest must they therefore watch [Page 221] the earthly course of Gods pilgrims since they know the
glorious goal to which their faith aspires and God will conduct them. It is easy to understand their readiness to serve
the high interests of the heirs of this great salvation (ch. 1: 14). It is
easy to feel why Paul was equally ready, with a more than angelic concern, to
toil, suffer, even to die that Gods chosen might obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with
eternal glory (2 Tim. 2: 10). Each of the pilgrim heart likewise labours
gladly, unweariedly, to further the steps of his fellow-pilgrims, so that none
shall stumble, fall, or wander. It is a
mark of the genuine pilgrim.
ix. vers. 17-19. Abrahams Sacrifice. Faith
can sacrifice its all, at the demand of God.
Faith can seal its own doom, as Jesus did by acknowledging before the
Council that He was the Son of God (Matt. 26: 63-66). Thus Abraham
gave back to God the most precious of all the gifts God had first given to him,
even Isaac. It was not only that he was
called to a terrible and heart-desolating deed, even to kill his own son; nor
that he must descend to one of the most ghastly practices of the devil-driven
heathen around him (Deut. 12: 31); but
with that surrender he seemed also to deprive himself of all prospect of the
great future which God had covenanted to confer; for it was all to be granted
through Isaac. But more and worse was
involved. If Gods promise and oath
failed who could any more trust Him?
Then were all hope dead throughout the universe; Satans triumph were
complete and the reign of sin and death eternal.
But faith is strong where reason fails. This dire prospect was impossible. Gods covenant being absolutely certain of
accomplishment it followed that, though Isaac must then and there die, yet must
he then and there come again to life; and the man of faith says to his
servants, I and the lad will go yonder;
and we will bow down [in worship], and come again to you (Gen. 22: 5).
Here is faiths glory and triumph; it can bow down before God and His good will. He hath showed thee,
O man, what is good;
and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to bow down to walk with thy God (Mic. 6: 8).
Faith expects resurrection.
It lives in the realm beyond death.
Had the prospect of resurrection been already shown to Abraham? Was it part of the original deposit of truth given
to men in those earliest ages? Or was it
a pure induction by which faith sanctified reason, that
as Isaac must be the one to
beget descendants, so that Gods promise shall be fulfilled, therefore he must return to life at that time and in natural human condition?
[Page 222]
In the fact Abraham, was not required to make the sacrifice,
but he did make it in the intention and act of his heart; and having thus, as
it were, received him back from the dead he and his son trod together their
path of life as on resurrection ground, beyond the power of death.
To such depth of devotion, to such height of communion can
faith attain.
No believer can conceivably be required to go further in sacrifice. The father of the whole family says to each
of his children, If ye have FAITH ... nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matt. 17: 20).
x. vers. 20,
21, 22. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. It
is happy when faith passes to the fourth generation, as here.
From the lives of these three the Writer emphasizes again the great
lesson that faith in God gives assurance as to the future.
As faith depends on the goodness it finds in God it is not
daunted by the evil it finds in man. Isaacs faith pierced beyond the carnality of Esau
and the crookedness of Jacob and he blessed them both. He knew the thoughts of God for each and was
bold to bless them in spite of themselves.
We shall learn later an important lesson from the fact that Esau was blessed. Paul,
as a shepherd of souls, was not daunted by the evils he met in the Christians
at
Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph though, like Abraham, he
knew his descendants must remain long in
Joseph counted upon that same event and directed that his bones
should share in the restoration. Was
this mere sentiment? or did he look on to the resurrection in the land of his peoples glory?
Thus faith triumphs over darkness, distance, and even death
itself.
xi. vers. 23-29. Moses. The affliction of
(1) ver. 23. Moses parents defied the royal order that boy [Page 223] children were to be killed. They were not afraid
of the kings commandment. They
well might have been, and it was only faith in the superior power of God that kept
their hearts free from that fear. For
the kings of
As their faith nerved Moses parents to brave such fury, why
should those here addressed fail in the storms and dangers? Or why should we?
(2) vers.
24-26. Moses
Choice. The world lay at his feet. Its wealth, glory, power, prospects were in
his grasp. He was a prince of the royal
house. But he deliberately renounced it
all. He chose by preference the evil lot
of the people of God. For
the pleasures of the world were sinful, and withal transitory. He had
been granted a vision of the Messiah (tou Christou), and of the reward of
righteousness to be gained in Christ's kingdom and day. This he gladly embraced as far, far richer
than all the treasures of
Let the visitor to the Museum at
But FAITH calculates
otherwise than does sight. To it the reproach of Christ is of higher
value than the riches of the world. But
if His reproach is of such inestimable worth, what shall
His reward be?
Observe the word recompense. It translates a word (misthapodosia) allied to a word (antapodosis) found at Col.
3: 24,
where the oppressed slaves of the Roman world were encouraged to godly
behaviour by the assurance that, if in their hard lot they would serve the Lord
Christ, of that Lord they should receive the recompense of the inheritance.
The word is a good rendering of the Greek words, for it means
to give back an equivalent, as a fair
days wage for a fair days work, to make the scales even. FAITH
is sure that Christ will do this and it acts accordingly, whether it be Moses the prince or a hapless slave.
It is an obvious reproach to a king that any of his subjects
should be captured by his enemy and enslaved.
In the ancient days that reproach attached also to the god of that king
and people, for it was evident that he could not protect his worshippers. Thus the enslavement of
How sweet is the thought that then and now
Christ has shared the sorrows of His people.
He might have said to Pharaoh what He long after said to Saul of Tarsus,
Why persecutest thou ME? For, as Isaiah
said of that earlier time in
It is thus made plain that Jehovah and Christ are the same God. Let
then the people of Christ take comfort and strength in Him; let them follow Him
into the desert as
(3) ver. 27. Moses Renunciation. By
faith he forsook
The verse has been thought to refer to that earlier incident
because it is mentioned before the Passover which follows next.
The explanation may be found in the change of tense which introduces the
mention of the Passover. Both before and
after it the events are described by the past tense (the aorist); he refused,
he chose, he accounted, he looked for, he forsook, he endured, and (ver. 29) they
passed through; and so forth. But in ver. 28, the
tense is the perfect: By faith he hath instituted the passover, that
is, hath already done it (yet recently-perfect, not preterite) before the last
preceding action.
This means that the forsaking
Moses knew his man, and could well imagine the diabolical fury
that would be incited in him by the death of all the first-born children,
including his own, and the massacre of
It is Moses faith that is mentioned, but he was exercising it
on behalf of all his people; as a mother left with a family will trust in God
for help for them all.
It is thus still for FAITH. Our Passover also
hath been sacrificed, even Christ; wherefore let us keep festival (1 Cor. 5: 7, 8); and an
essential feature of this feast is that thus shall ye eat it; with your
loins girded, and your staff in your hand:
and ye shall eat it in haste, eager for the
march out of
For to the Christian Egypt is
the world, the lamb is Christ, the fire that
roasts the Lamb, and renders it food for faith, is the cross; and he who by
faith appropriates that cross as his own death, his own true life, feels
henceforth, and says, Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Gal.
6: 14). He is a pilgrim.
And when Moses or Paul says I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
and can add, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things, he does not plume himself on having done something noteworthy
for God, but he further adds, I count them but refuse,
like to that which we refuse to keep at hand because it is unseemly and
offensive (Phil. 3:
7, 8). When
Poor is our sacrifice whose eyes
Are lighted from above;
We offer what we cannot
keep,
What we have ceased to
love.
(4) ver. 28. Moses and the Passover. The
instituting of the Passover was the act of Moses; therefore it is said He kept the Passover. What a mighty step of faith it was. He believed in the reality and power of The Destroyer (ho
olothreuon). Who was this? He was that terrible executioner of the wrath
of God who was well known to the ancient world.
Concerning the subordinate demons he controls for the execution of
widespread judgments we read: They have over them as
king the Angel of the abyss [the underworld of the dead and of
imprisoned spirits], his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,
and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon (Rev. 9: 11). Both names mean the Destroyer.
Upon this dread fallen angel-prince, and his dreadful work,
the reader may consult my Revelation of Jesus
Christ (159, 160). [Page 226] At p. 351
it is said: In various places where this Destroyer is shown acting it is as
the executor of signal Divine wrath on special sinners. For example, Exod.
12: 23; 2 Sam. 24: 15, 16; 2 Kings 19: 35;
Ezek. 9: 1-7; Rev. 6: 8; 9: 1-11.
The sceptic may scoff, the Christian may forget; but Moses
believed, and therefore took the step necessary and adequate for protection, the sprinkling of the blood. This has been explained above (ch. XI,
4). That great Destroyer is still active,
and there is still only the one protection, the
precious blood of Christ.
(5) ver. 29. The
Faith can safely take a path of peril when God commands, but
not otherwise. Nor can unbelief follow safely. It has been wisely said: never run before your faith, and never lag behind your
conscience. A minister saw from
the New Testament that it is not the
mind of the Lord that preachers of His message should have a stated salary. In
faith he abandoned the plan to depend on God his Father for support. Asked by other ministers whether he would
have them all do the same he answered, Which the
Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
But many men of faith have taken this step with great enrichment to themselves
and their hearers.
xii. ver. 30.
The desert discipline having wrought its good work
It is ever thus. Each
that will enjoy his heavenly portion in Christ (Eph.
2) must wrestle against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly
places (Eph. 6: 12). These are not to be dispossessed by ordinary
measures. The victory that overcomes the
world-system and its spirit rulers is our FAITH;
for who is the one [Page 227] conquering the world but
the one believing [that
hath faith] that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5: 4, 5).
Gods ways are not our ways.
Our ways are directed to serving our own glory; Gods ways are such as
give the glory to Him (Jud. 7: 2). To march in silence round an embattled city
is folly to the military scientist. To
shout is all very well, but senseless if you do not shout and strike. Nor will anything
but FAITH take such clearly useless
steps. But faith takes them, and the
walls collapse.
xiii. ver. 31. Rahab, the
Harlot. Since all the inhabitants of
This is the test to be applied to men alive on earth when the
King returns - Did they or did they not succour His servants when
persecuted? Had they faith to do this,
or had they not? (Matt. 25: 31-46). Divine
principles are alike in all days. According to your faith is one of these.
xiv. vers. 32-34. Faiths
Variety. And what shall I more
say. What indeed! Nothing more
is needful to illustrate and justify FAITH. Not but that there are many other illustrious
illustrations: Gideon,
Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
What dangers they defied; what difficulties they defeated; what
obstacles they overcame; what victories they won; what possessions they
secured.
And what different types of men they were, in social position,
morals, physique, culture. Yet had each and all the one unifying,
dominating, conquering quality - FAITH in
God, and so they did and saw wonders.
xv. vers. 35-38. Faiths
Testings. Nor was it only strong men that triumphed
by faith. Women also were renowned in heavens
annals. At Zarephath, a heathen town, in
a prolonged famine a destitute widow had faith to trust the word of the God of
Israel that He would support her if she supported His servant. The perpetual recompense was a perpetual
supply of food; the special reward was that Elijah restored to life her [Page 228] dead boy. And the pious
Shunamite received the like gracious reward through Elisha (1 Kings 17: 2 Kings 4).
But there were greater triumphs of faith. The tortured were offered release and honour
if they would renounce the true God, but they did not accept their deliverance
but died under frightful torments. The
fourth book of Maccabees narrates such instances of fidelity and fortitude. Our Writer tells what infused such vigour of
soul. They suffered the extremes of torture that they
might obtain a better resurrection (ver.
35): that is, a nobler resurrection than
those the mothers secured for their dead boys.
These were brought back to face the trials and sorrows of this earthly
life; but there is to be a resurrection unto [both a millennial and] heavenly life,* life free from the troubles and miseries of
this present age. These heroes knew that
to suffer now according to the will of God, even unto death, was the way to assure
a part in that better resurrection. It
was their FAITH as to that future of glory that sustained them.
[* That is, we are to be like the angels
after the First Resurrection. This
change and God-given ability will enable those accounted worthy to rule in both
spheres of Messiahs coming Kingdom - upon earth as well as in the
heavens! See Luke
20: 35, 36.
cf.
22: 28-30; Rev. 3: 21, etc.]
As the Writer details the almost incredible woes that the
faithful had endured he passes the striking comment, of
whom the world was not worthy (ver. 38). The
world [and apostate church] had
thought them not worthy a place in its circle.
A sound judgment knows that a wicked world is not worthy to be honoured
and blessed by the presence of the holy.
Faith reckons that it is far
better to be ostracized by the world than to be excluded from the communion of
saints and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
xvi. vers. 39, 40. Faiths Perfecting. Even
in this life such faith secures endorsement and testimony from God and
man. Yet all those men and women who
trusted God died without having received that heavenly and eternal bliss
promised. They had lived by faith, they died in hope, and still by faith they
wait in hope.
To what purpose is this extended delay before they are granted
their full reward? It lies in the
purpose of God to sum up all things in Christ (Eph.
1: 10),
that is, to bring all things together under one Head at one and the same
time. And that time is not yet, for
beyond the purpose that concerned those saints of pre-Christian ages there lay
the further purpose to gather out from all races a new company, the
These were indeed enough instances to show that the plan of
God included the blessing of all the families of earth, according to the
covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12: 3). When our Epistle was written that plan was
being expanded and the body of Christ was being gathered from all nations, and
included the Writer and his readers. It was not possible that they apart from us should be made perfect. And still this out-gathering goes on, and
will do so until the day of Christ; and therefore still the godly dead must wait
for their perfecting until all is ready for Christ to be all in all.
What, in the sense of this passage, is it to be
perfected? The Son of God shall tell
us. Walking as a man in humiliation on
earth He bade some to tell a wicked king, Behold I cast
out demons and perform cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day
I am perfected. Here is the same
word, and it referred to His death, for He added: Howbeit,
I must go on my way to-day and to-morrow and the day
following; for it cannot be that a prophet
perish out of
But the two earlier days were
each of some period, not of twenty-four hours, so that
the third also will be the same. Nor was
His shameful death a perfecting. The
death state is an imperfect condition, because the soul, the ego, is destitute
of both spirit and body. Perfection consists in the rejoining of soul and spirit in a heavenly
house, a body of resurrection glory.
It was the restoration to Him of His original divine glory that was
Christs perfecting, and this took place by resurrection and ascension to the
Father.
It is thus, and only thus, that the people of Christ can be
perfected. In the death state they too are
imperfect, unclothed, a soul without a body, a state Paul did not desire (2 Cor. 5: 4). For
himself and his fellow-believers he longed for that house, that body of glory,
which is from God, from heaven; and that is granted only by
resurrection, or by rapture, and these await the descent of the Lord from
heaven in His day (1 Cor. 15: 23; 1 Thess. 4: 13-18). Therefore Paul prayed thus: And the God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and
soul and body be preserved entire, without
blame in the parousia
of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess.
5: 23).
The dead are not entire, but incomplete, and must remain so until the coming of
the Lord.
Our passage was written long after the ascension of
Christ. It tells us that the saints of former days were still not perfect. They were disembodied, without that
resurrection form and nature which alone empowers a human being to leave the
world of the dead and present itself in the presence
of the glory of God. Without that body of glory man could not endure that Divine light, nor
could a naked soul be permitted in that perfect realm and glory. Either resurrection or rapture is imperative.
If the notion were fact that Christ at His resurrection and
ascension removed from Hades the godly dead and took them [Page 230] to heaven,* then one of two
things must have happened: either they were perfected, by the gift of the body
of glory, in which case for them resurrection is past
already, which Paul regarded as serious error, overthrowing faith (2 Tim. 2: 1: 8); or else
these were taken to heaven imperfect, which is impossible.
* Of this idea Pearson (The Creed, on Art. 5) says: this opinion, as general as it hath been, hath neither the consent of Antiquity,
nor such certainty as it pretendeth. Indeed, very few (if any)
for above five hundred years after Christ, did so believe that Christ delivered
the saints out of Hell [Hades], as to leave all the damned there.
Now our passage denies explicitly that they had been perfected
at the ascension of Christ, for it asserts that apart
from us they cannot be made perfect, and we shall not be so until the
day of Christ. This is confirmed by the fact that one of
the men of faith named by the Writer, David, had not ascended to heaven by the
day of Pentecost, though Christ had already done so (Acts
2: 34). And that believers now are not perfected at
death is clear from Pauls statement that He who began a good work in you will
perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil.
1: 6); a plain
hint that, so far is the believer from being perfected at death, that the work
of perfecting is carried on until the day of the Lord.
It was but natural that when the idea was made prevalent that
Christians go to heaven at death, then the resurrection and the coming of the
Lord ceased to be felt as urgent and indispensable; for in that case the
departed had attained at death all that is possible.
But for the godly of old and the godly of to-day resurrection
is indispensable, and is the first element in the
favour that is being brought unto us at
the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet.
1: 13). It is upon that that they of earlier
times set their hope; it is upon it that we are exhorted to set our hope
undividedly. The sphere and the measure
of that glory will differ between one and another. In that house of the one heavenly Father
there are many abiding places, many regions (John
14: 2), and one
star differeth from another star in glory (1
Cor. 15: 41). But for them and for us the mighty prospect
and promise holds good, that to them that expect Him Christ shall appear a
second time unto salvation (ch. 9: 28),
salvation perfect and perfecting, complete, heavenly, eternal.
It is not to be doubted that, by the mercy of God and on the
ground of the redemption wrought by Christ, multitudes of all ages, past,
present, and to come, who repented of sin and confessed and forsook it, did
obtain, do obtain, or shall obtain
forgiveness and salvation,* according to such promises as Lev. 4: 20, 26, 31, 35, and
the quite general assurance of Prov. 28: 13 just
cited. But those who, in addition to
seeking pardon [Page 231] through sacrifice, had set their
heart upon the heavenly city, and by faith walked on earth as strangers and
pilgrims, these shall reach the goal they sought, toward which they struggled,
in hope of which they suffered. From all lands, all times, all races such shall
be gathered unto the Lord, perfected together.
O happy band of pilgrims
Look upward to the skies,
Where such a light affliction
Shall win you such a prize.
(Neale.)
* * *
[Page 232]
PART
IV
THE
KINGDOM
-------
CHAPTER XV
CHASTISEMENT
(12: 1-13)
Ch. 12: 1. Therefore let us also,
seeing that we are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God. 3 For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners
against himself, that ye wax not weary,
fainting in your souls. 4 Ye have not yet resisted
unto blood, striving against sin: 5 and ye have forgotten the exhortation, which reasoneth
with you as with sons,
My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the
Lord, nor faint when thou art reproved of him; 6 for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 It is for
chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you
as with sons; for what son is there whom his
father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye are without chastening, whereof all
have been made partakers, then are ye bastards,
and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us,
and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few
days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. 11 All chastening seemeth for
the present to be not joyous, but grievous: yet
afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised
thereby, even
the fruit of righteousness. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the
palsied knees; 13 and make straight paths for your feet, that that
which is lame be not turned out of the way, but
rather be healed.
1. THE RACE (vers. 1, 2).
i. The Course. The life of the Christian is a race. The length of the race is not settled by the
entrant. God has determined its length
for the individual believer and for the whole company of the contestants. For
the duration of the [Page 233] whole series of contests is settled
by the authorities (Acts 1: 7; Matt. 24: 36; Mark 13: 32).
The chief matter is to finish the course (Acts
20: 24), to get to its end, and not to drop out by exhaustion or be disqualified for misconduct, by not observing the rules (2 Tim. 2: 5). Paul
succeeded in this: I have finished the course.
Therefore he had secured the crown, the reward, the
incorruptible glory of the victor (1 Cor.
9: 25). The success of one is the encouragement of
others. Much more should we be stimulated
by the success of the many racers mentioned in ch.
11.
ii. The Cloud of Witnesses. Peter mentions that he and others had been eye-witnesses of the majesty of Christ (2 Pet. 1: 16). The
word he uses epoptes is the normal word or an onlooker, but it
is not used in our passage. Here is used
the usual term for one who bears witness to a matter (martus), not one who is at the moment an eye-witness of it. Fifty years ago Sandow astonished audiences
by lifting enormous weights. To those
who hear of him he still witnesses to the high degree to which the muscles of
man can be developed, but this is no evidence that he, being dead, watches the
athletic contests of to-day. There seems
no Scripture in proof that departed saints are spectators of our conflicts, but
the records of their lives do testify to us that faith can enable heroic
living.
iii. Jesus our Example. But above all others who stir us to steadfast endeavour Jesus
is pre-eminent. He is both author and
perfecter of faith, its most illustrious example. He originated the principle of faith in God,
for there can never have been a moment, even before creation, when the Son did
not trust the Father; and He perfected the development and display of faith by
surrendering His original glory, by stepping down to the state of manhood, by
walking on earth as a dependent being, and above all by surrendering Himself
unto the death of the cross. Death by
crucifixion was shameful, both by the exposure of the person and because it was
reserved for the most despised persons and desperate crimes. But such was the vigour of His faith that
Christ simply despised that of which, ordinarily, man would and should be
ashamed.
This perfect life commenced in faith: Thou didst make me to trust when I was upon my mothers breasts (Ps. 22: 9). It was
carried through in faith, as has been already stated at ch. 2: 13, where the Writer follows the Septuagint in
making an Old Testament phrase mean (as the Greek may be expanded) I shall be [one] having
trusted [habitually] on Thee, that is,
My life entire will be marked by trust.
Faith worked in the Son of God according to its own proper
nature: it made real the invisible and the future; first, a seat [Page 234] on the throne of God, as promised to Him (Ps.
110: 1);
and, then, the joy to be there experienced, according to Ps. 21: 1-7, as a
reward of faith: For the king trusteth in Jehovah,
Ps. 16: 6, telling Him that the lines would fall to Him in
pleasant places, since He would be shown the path to resurrection life (ver. 11) and
would reach in the presence of God fulness of joy,
and at His right hand pleasures for evermore.
Of the authentic sacred spots of
To Abraham He spoke of judgment and mercy; to the two
disciples of suffering and glory. Behoved it not the Messiah to suffer these things and to
enter into His glory? (Luke 24: 26), and this He enforced from Moses and all the
prophets. As ver.
34 shows Peter was not one of those two, but
he learned well what they learnt that night, that the Spirit of Christ in the
prophets testified beforehand the sufferings
[that should come] unto Christ, and the glories that should follow them (1 Pet. 1: 10, 11). This double and inseparable prospect the Son
of God embraced, and steadfast faith that His Father would give the promised [millennial]*
glory strengthened Him to tread to the end the one path that could lead there.
[* See Psalm
2: 8; 110: 3; 72: 17, 19, R.V.,
etc.]
He has gone to that supreme place and bliss as our Forerunner
(6: 19, 20) and we are to follow. One who followed Him to lifes end in a
violent death exhorts us thus: Forasmuch then as
Christ suffered in the flesh arm ye
yourselves also with the same mind (1 Pet.
4: 1);
or, as our Writer puts it: let us run with patience ...
looking unto Jesus (ver.
2), ponder the One
having endured such gainsaying of sinners against Himself (ver. 3).
For he who does thus set his heart on Christ will find that
Christs faith develops within him by the Spirit of Christ, even as Paul says
of his life of conflict and suffering: the life that I
now live in the flesh I live in faith [the
faith] of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Gal. 2: 20).
For the development and exercise of this faith, and for the
running of the race, there are three
requisites.
[Page 235]
(1) The laying aside of every weight. We do so carelessly and foolishly encumber
ourselves with things unnecessary, unhelpful to the life of faith, indeed, as
positive a hindrance as a burden to a racer.
Wesley wisely and well said that we ought continually to cut off the unnecessary
things that surround us, and that God commonly retrenches the superfluities of
our souls in the same measure that we do those of our bodies.
Superfluities of the soul - What are
these? Pride, anger, bitterness, jealousy,
selfishness, lethargy, anxiety - are not these, and such-like, superfluous to
the Christian, states of spirit he could very well do without? Let him then deliberately cut off the
superfluous material things, and he will find that, ridding himself of these
weights, the Spirit of holiness will free him from the moral weights. And of all weights wealth is the heaviest: with what
difficulty shall they that have riches
enter into the
This is what the founder and head of an immense and prosperous
factory wrote to me:
Your words may save a soul
from death.
Early days - I was out and
out.
The Spirit of God was
mighty.
I. Obedience
to Him was a delight.
His Word was illuminated.
It was the chief delight.
His service was supreme.
Everything was done by
prayer.
Great distress and crisis
in business.
Remarkable deliverances.
II. Tide turned.
Prosperity dawned.
Responsibilities increased.
III. Prayer time
shortened.
Practically
nil to-day.
Experience of His presence
gone.
Life no longer on the
heights.
Foundations of things on
the low level.
Impossible through sheer
impotency.
Habits have the grip.
Will
power gone.
IV. The truth and force of your words realized, but case
hopeless.
With the outline of your address I can fill in
practically all you said: it shall be my close study and may be the recovery of
my soul.
Let us lay aside every weight, everything that cumbers and impedes the movement
of the heart Godward. Let us [Page 236] remember what again Wesley said, that laying up treasure on earth is as
plainly forbidden by our Lord as are adultery and murder.
(2) Let us lay aside the easily
clinging around us sin. What
racer can hope to outstrip the swift if he have not
first stripped himself of close-clinging oriental robes? Now clothes are not wrong in themselves, but
they may be a hindrance to a racer, so he doffs them. A soldier on
reserve must perchance engage in business, but he must not become entangled
in it and be unable to respond promptly to a call to the colours. Still less must a soldier on service allow
this (2 Tim. 2:
4); and the Christian is always on service,
because the battle is unceasing.
(3) The racer requires staying power: let us run with patience, steadfastness, dogged endurance. This is a long race, lifelong; sprinting will
not win it. The heart steadfastly
engaged with Christ will find that His faith infused by His Spirit will
generate in the soul His patience also: the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ
(2 Thess. 3:
5).
Love is patient.
Thus with Christ as his life, His in-working vital force, by
the [Holy] Spirit (Eph. 3: 16-19), the racer will be fortified against the
double peril of first growing weary and presently fainting (ver. 3), thus
dropping out of the race and so losing the prize.
There is no need for the Christian to grow weary in soul. He ought not to have to say that if the trial
continues he will not be able to bear it.
The prophet said that God the Creator fainteth
not, neither is weary, that He giveth power to the faint; and
to him that hath no might He increaseth strength. Thus those who have reached the end of their
resources may count on His. For
even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, for trials may
become so severe and lasting as to exhaust all natural vigour; yet even then they that wait upon Jehovah, that is, those who look unto Jesus, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint (Isa.
40: 28-31).
Whatever else this may mean it can mean this: that walking
represents the ordinary activities and tasks of life, such as all must undertake
habitually; that running pictures more strenuous efforts, which some must make
sometimes; that flying suggests times of special strain when that which is
impossible to man naturally must be borne or undertaken. And that waiting upon the Lord, looking unto
Jesus, secures His strength, so that the man of faith proves that he can do all
things in the power of Christ Who strengthens him (Phil.
4: 13).
iv. Discipline (vers.
4-13). The Writer continues his remonstrance and
encouragement.
[Page 237]
(1) Our Antagonist in the battle is sin, sin in ourselves and
others, including the Devil. Hence the
severity of the strife, for sin is bitterly, implacably hostile to
holiness. The
flesh lusteth against the
Spirit (Gal. 5: 17), and presses the fight with such relentless fierceness that the
blood of the witnesses of Jesus has flowed freely; they
loved not their life even unto death (Rev.
12: 11).
You, says our Writer, have not yet been driven to this
extremity (ver. 4). Things might be, may yet be, worse than they
are. One cut his finger and exclaimed, Praise the Lord, for, he added, I might have cut it off. Do not
be discouraged. The blood of the
martyrs testifies that grace to die [for Christ and the truth of His teachings] can be
gained.
(2) Forgetfulness (ver. 5), is a deadly disease. In our opening pages it has been shown that
God works by speaking. It is by words
that He imparts wisdom and courage.
Therefore to forget His words is to induce foolishness and
feebleness. We are especially ready to
forget exhortations. Information can be interesting, even
exciting; but exhortation is like the crack of the whip, disagreeable; it calls
to duty and effort.
(3) Sonship (vers. 5,
6).
The Writer quotes words of Solomon.
The quotation illustrates how words spoken by a God-taught man to his son might convey deeper and larger
instruction by God to His sons.
Solomon might rightly contemplate his son as being heir to his
kingdom and he counselled him accordingly. God is bringing many sons unto the
glory of His kingdom (ch. 2: 10), and He
trains us accordingly. This honourable
relationship and its prospects are a key to His ways and a proof of His
love. Hence
My son, regard not
lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art
reproved of Him: For whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth.
(4) Chastisement (vers. 6-11). The
word so translated paideia has the
root pais a child, and signifies all
those steps which a parent takes to educate, correct, train
the boy he loves and to fit him for his post and privileges in life. This is proof that
(a) ver. 7, the child is the genuine [and regenerate] son of the house, for a father does not
chasten another mans child:
(b) ver. 8, that he is no bastard, one not really a [redeemed] member of the family, or his training
would be neglected.
Let [every
todays] Job take this to heart and he will not misread the lesson of
affliction.
[Page 238]
(c) ver. 9. The Father of spirits.
Right-minded children give respect to their earthly fathers and accept the
discipline exercised, though this may be sometimes misguided and work injury to
the child in character and work. Much
more should a son of God revere and obey the Father of spirits. The title is significant. That new spiritual nature begotten in the
believer in the Son of God is actually the life of God in him, by which he is
as literally related to God as child to father as he is related to his human
father by his bodily nature. The child
who does thus honour God finds that the Divine discipline continually advances
his true heavenly life in preparation for his future.
(d) ver. 10. Holiness. Human training is very brief, a few days
- (Note this instance of day meaning a
period. Compare hour in John 4: 23, 24 and moment in 2 Cor. 4: 17). But God is training His children for [a select position of service and
delegated authority in His Messianic
Kingdom (Luke 22:
28-30; Rev. 3: 21, R.V.)
and for] eternity, and He takes care that the education shall suit the
destiny. For the central, vital necessity is holiness. The believer is reckoned to be righteous in Christ; but he has thereupon to be
made actually holy in himself. The imputed righteousness grants him a real
valid eternal standing before the law; upon that as basis there is now to be
developed in him a godly character and walk.
For the former purpose the parental discipline of God has no
place. It is as an enemy that man is
reconciled to God, his sovereign, by the death of Gods Son (Rom. 5: 10). It is
the ungodly to whom righteousness (dikaiosune) is reckoned (Rom. 4: 5). It is the dead to whom [eternal] life is
granted as a free gift (Eph. 2: 1; Rom. 6: 23), and they become thereby children of God,
being thus born of His Spirit (John 3).
This having been effected by grace, now the parental training begins.
The man being now Gods child has a new nature, but the old and sinful
nature is still present, will assert itself, and, if
allowed, will choke the good seed.
Against the tendency to yield to this, and so to continue ungodly in
practice, the Divine discipline has its necessary place. The Father chastens us that we may be partakers of His holiness (hagiotes, not dikaiosune).
(e) ver. 11. Exercise. A wise father does not use
the stick first. He begins by talking to
his boy about his errors of conduct and defects of character. If the boy heeds and obeys his development
advances. Thus is Gods word profitable
(1) unto teaching His child that which he needs to know, (2) or reproof wherein
he is wrong, (3) for putting him right through obeying, and then (4) for
further instructing him in righteous conduct (2 Tim.
3: 16).
Thus he grows to be a man of God, complete in character and furnished completely unto every good work.
[Page 239]
But when the child does not heed the word* he must feel the rod. He scourgeth every
son whom He receiveth. And
scourging is a pretty severe ordeal. For
the lack of it too many sons have become a scourge to the indulgent
father. But the Father of spirits is too
wise and too loving not to be firm. Job
was upright in walk but not holy in heart.
Scourging corrected this. His pains proved more profitable than his
pleasures. They fitted him for
double blessing and to rule over doubled possessions (Job 1: 3; 42: 12). It was thus with Nebuchadnezzar after his
scourging: I was established in my kingdom and
excellent greatness was added unto me (Dan.
4: 36).
[* The word
here is reference to Gods Responsibility Truths and Conditional
Promises. These can easily be
found throughout His inspired word the Holy Scriptures. For example, Rom.
8: 17b:
and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that
we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
with him. If we
endure, we shall also reign with him (2
Tim. 12, R.V.).
to the end that ye should walk
worthily of God, who calleth you into his own kingdom and glory (1
Thess. 2: 12,
R.V.). See more of these Responsibility Truths in The Rod:
Will God Spare It?]
But scourging is painful.
If it were not so it would not be profitable. No chastisement seemeth for the present to be
joyous but grievous. It makes us
smart. But afterward! Paul
did not glory in tribulation for its own sake, but because it developed that
patience which is the quiet atmosphere in which other graces grow (
Similarly the Writer says that chastisement yieldeth in the
end the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Peace is a fruit of righteousness (Isa. 32: 17; Jas. 3: 18). Where unrighteousness flourishes peace dies,
in a land or a life. On the contrary,
the [millennial]
Now to walk righteously in the midst of the wicked, as Abraham
did, demands great care, constant watchfulness in all transactions, strict
self-discipline. It is an exercise, as
Paul said: I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and man
always (Acts 24: 16). Such a
blissful inward harmony does not come haphazard; it is sweet fruit that must be
cultivated sedulously. It demands
exercise of soul.
The root idea of righteousness is completeness of character
when scrutinized by the eye of the law.
This is reckoned to be the condition of a believer because Gods law
sees him as in Christ Whose character is complete and
perfect. The added parental discipline
of God is directed to the producing in the justified the same personal
completeness as has been already reckoned to be his in Christ.
The word exercise (gymnasticize) carries the
picture of the Greek gymnasium where youths were trained for athletic contests. The prizes were coveted, the struggle
arduous, the training correspondingly severe.
The gymnasium was so called because the candidates were stripped naked (gymnos) in order that the trainer might
study every muscle of the youth and also that each muscle might work with
complete freedom. [Page 240] Nature dislikes and dreads being stripped, so that all things are naked and laid open before
God.
The trainer studied the youth to observe which muscles were
underdeveloped in relation to the whole body.
He set such exercises as should develop the undeveloped and produce
symmetry of the whole form. For it would be the weak muscle that would give way under the
strain of the contest. The chain
is no stronger than its weakest link. It was by this process that the Greek
athletes became such perfect models of the human form; they attained to
completeness, with no part excessive, with no deficiencies, judged by the
severest standards the form was right,
perfect.
It is this symmetry of character which God has always required
in His sons and still requires: Ye shall be holy,
for I am holy (Lev. 11: 44, 45; 1 Pet. 1: 15, 16). This wholly indispensable end is served by
chastisement; it is the end to which every kind of training is directed. But if exercise is thus to develop the
muscles the pupil must put his heart into every movement. Listless action profits little. If the thought be concentrated on the
movement the brain automatically directs nervous force to that muscle, this
stimulates the flow of blood to it, and thus it receives nutriment and its
growth is aided. Sandow has been
mentioned. He asserted that if thought
were thus concentrated undividedly upon the movements the muscles would grow
and harden as well without dumb-bells or clubs as with them.
All this is abundantly true in the spiritual realm. Spiritual growth and stamina require that the
son of God co-operate heartily with the discipline of the Father of spirits,
however long, however severe, however varied the exercises set. The heart must be concerned, not to escape the trials of life, but to
profit by them. Then will the fruit grow. Then will holiness of heart and
righteousness of practice be attained, to the glory of God in the
perfecting of His sons.
(f) vers.
12, 13. Exhortation. A weary traveller, tired
of the road and the buffetings of the tempest, stands dispirited and limp. With shoulders bowed, hands hanging slack,
knees bent and shaking, he is ready to give up and sink to the ground. Such can Gods pilgrim become, as pictured by
our Writer.
But one comes to him confident of mien, with kindly smile and
firm voice, and says: Cheer up, pilgrim; pull yourself together; stand erect, brace
your limbs, take heart of grace. You
have already come far; throw not away your former toils. A noble
home is at the end of the journey. See,
yonder is the direct road to it; keep straight on: seek from the great
Physician healing for your lameness, for the limping turn readily into [Page 241] By-path meadow, where Giant Despair may fling you into the
dark dungeons of
Happy is he who knows how to sustain
with words him that is weary (Isa. 50: 4). Happy is he who accepts exhortation (ch. 13: 22). And
thrice happy is he whose faith is simple and strong, so that he finds no
occasion of stumbling in the Lord when His discipline is severe.
Here bend thy knee and bow
thy neck,
And love the pain by Jesus
given;
He trains thee here by
chain and cheek,
And leads on bleeding feet
to heaven.
He schools with lessons kindly stern
His sinner in a world of
sin;
And brings thee line by line to learn
The bitter-sweet of
discipline.
But there, in spotless
heaven serene,
He gives His rule of
suffering up;
There joy shall keep for ever clean
The pain-wrought largeness
of His cup.
(H. C. G. Moule.)
* *
*
[Page 242]
CHAPTER XVI
THE FIFTH WARNING
(ch. 12: 14-17)
Ch. 12: 14. Follow after peace with all men, and the
sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest there
be any man that falleth short of the
grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble
you, and
thereby the many be defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator, or profane person,
as Esau, who for one mess of
meat sold his own birthright. 17 For ye know that even
when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected (for he found no place of repentance), though he sought it
diligently with tears.
1. THE CHRISTIAN COURSE (ver. 14).
i. Its Principle - Peace (ver.
14).
By the word dijkete, follow
on, pursue eagerly, the picture of the race is resumed from ver. 1. It is the word used twice by Paul in Phil. 3:
12-14: I press on ... I press on toward the goal unto the prize. Paul had in view the final end, the prize; our Writer has regard to an
immediate object necessary to reaching that final object, even the leading a life of peace with all men. The believer is to be as
zealous in walking in peace as the racer is to secure the crown. In a
world marked by greed and contention this is indeed a strenuous affair. It will not be obtained haphazard, but only
by such as pursue it as an all-worthy, all-desirable object, and who make every
sacrifice to secure it.
In the eighteenth century an American,
John Woolman the Quaker, saw clearly and truly that the principle of acquiring
and retaining is a basic and inevitable source of strife. The pursuit of wealth (vast or small) will
always bring contention; the pursuit of peace alone will change this.
When a certain village refused to grant hospitality to the Son
of God two disciples proposed righteous and summary vengeance: But He turned and rebuked them. And they went to
another village (Luke 9: 51-56). They
had not learned His earlier lesson: Blessed are the
peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of
God (Matt. 5: 8). The
very God of peace sent into this warring world the Prince of peace, Who made
peace by the blood of His cross, peace between God and man, and man and man;
therefore to us who know this the [Page 243] exhortation is: If it be possible, as much as
in you lieth, be at peace with all men (Rom. 12: 18). If
there is to be contention, see to it that it arises wholly from the other
party.
The effect on personal character of this one habit and
practice is immeasurable. The immediate result
is an ever-increasing moral likeness to the Prince of peace; the son of God
becomes more and more like the Son of God; which
has intimate bearing upon that final goal when the son is to share the [coming*] glory of the Son.
[*
See Hab. 2: 14. cf. Isa. 62: 2, R.V.]
For by the very grammar of this passage this pursuit of peace
is linked indivisibly with the development of that holiness without which no
one shall see the Lord - it is all one pursuit, one present object. It is obvious that one who is selfish and
contentious cannot be holy, for the Holy One is the God of love and peace. To promote peace God made the supreme
sacrifice of His well-beloved Son and the Son of God of His life. To be holy like God
involves of necessity that the child of God must seek
peace and pursue it (1 Pet. 3: 11; Psa. 34: 14) at whatever personal sacrifice.
ii. The
Character of the Christian Course, Holiness (ver. 14). The
A.V. holiness is too indefinite. The Writer used the definite article the holiness. This is not a usual English expression, and
the R.V. gives the sanctification. The force of the word hagiasmos can be learned from its New Testament use.
(1) Rom. 6: 19: For as ye presented your members slaves to uncleanness and to
lawlessness unto lawlessness, thus now present
your members slaves to the righteousness unto sanctification. The
righteousness, that is that practical righteousness just before
mentioned (ver. 13),
which is wrought out in our bodies by them being. dedicated
to God as His weapons in the battle against sin. Having by grace been made free from sin we
have become slaves to this righteousness.
In ver. 22
this sanctification is
described as a fruit of that dedication to
God, which shows that it is not the root, justification, but a living growth
from the root; and the end of this process is life
eternal, in full development.
(2) 1 Cor. 1: 30; Christ Jesus became unto us wisdom from God, even (te kai) righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
Righteousness as to standing in law before God,
sanctification as the power of a holy 1ife now, and redemption as to the
perfecting of the work of salvation at His coming. Here sanctification is the connecting process
between justification and perfection, and is thus distinguished from both. Comp. Eph.
5: 25-27.
(3) This practical application of the word is shown with
emphasis in 1 Thess.
4: 3, 4, 7 where it refers to sexual purity.
[Page 244]
(4) In 2 Thess. 2: 13 a yet
deeper practical work is in view in the expression sanctification
of spirit, that
deeper inner realm which prompts and controls the dedicated body by the energy
of the Holy Spirit.
(5) In 1 Tim. 2: 15 habitual sanctification is connected with faith, love, and
sobriety in a woman as conducive to safety in childbirth.
(6) 1 Pet. 1: 1, 2 shows that the choice God made according to His
foreknowledge operates in sanctification of spirit
(en hagiasmo pneumatos, as 2 Thess. 2: 13); that is, Gods choice takes effect in the
realm of mans spirit as sanctified by the energy of the Holy Spirit, which
leads to obedience and consecration to God through the blood of Jesus Christ.
These are all the occurrences of this word and they emphasize that it
points to practical holiness, which the believer is to consider altogether
desirable and therefore, to cultivate with diligence, to pusue it as more to be
desired than fine gold.
That the holiness here in view is not that righteousness which
is imputed to the ungodly when he first places faith in Christ is clear from
the very fact that the already justified are here exhorted to pursue it. That they had received as a free
gift (Rom. 3:
24); this they are to pursue.
iii. The
Goal of the Race - Seeing the Lord (ver. 14). Two
questions arise: (1) Who is the
Lord? and (2) What is meant by seeing Him?
(1) Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ it is written that before
Him every knee shall bow (Rom. 14: 11; Phil. 2: 10, 11) and that every eye
shall see Him, including those who pierced Him (Rev. 1: 7).
Therefore holiness is no prerequisite for seeing Christ.
But the title the Lord is
definitely applied to God the Father.
This usage follows the Old Testament.
In Ps. 2:
2 the Lord [Jehovah] is distinguished from His Anointed, which passage is quoted in Acts 4: 26,
followed in vers. 29,
30 by And now Lord
... grant ... that signs
and wonders may be done through the name of Thy holy Servant Jesus. The same distinction is made in Pauls words:
the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus (1 Tim.
1: 14). Christ Himself had addressed His Father as Lord of heaven and earth (Matt.
11: 25);
and James echoes this by speaking of the Lord and Father (Jas.
3: 9).
It would therefore seem that in our passage it must be the
Father for the sight of Whom practical holiness is essential.
(2) As to the sense of the word see,
here again the Old Testament will show what is meant.
[Page 245]
(a) Gen. 32: 30. The man Who
wrestled with Jacob was so actual and visible that Jacob said of Him, I have seen God face to face, and therefore he named
the place Peniel, which means The face of God.
(b) Exod. 24: 9-11. Moses,
Aaron, and seventy-two others, were called by God to go up into
(c) Exod. 33: 22, 23. To
Moses God said: I will put thee in a cleft of the rock
... and thou shalt see My
back; but My face shall not be seen.
(d) Judges 13: 22. After
open intercourse with an angel Manoah said unto his
wife, We shall surely
die, because we have seen God.
(e) 1 Kings 22: 19. Micaiah
said to Ahab: I saw Jehovah sitting upon His throne, and all the angels standing
by Him.
(f) Job 19: 26, 27. From my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall
see for myself, And mine eyes shall behold.
(g) Isa. 6: 1. In the year that
king Uzziah died I saw Jehovah sitting upon a throne."
In all these places the Septuagint uses the same verb to see (horao)
as in our passage. It means to see with eyes.
The very noun eye (in Greek) is derived
from it. So that all these places show
that whether it was by bodily sight or ecstatic vision, an actual sight of an
actual person is meant by the term see. In those times the Person it is true was the
Son of God; but this does not affect the sense of to
see, and
(h) Dan. 7: 9 carries the matter further.
Daniel said: I beheld till thrones were placed and
One that was ancient of days did sit, Whose appearance the prophet then
described. This Ancient of days was the
Father, for the Son of man is shortly brought before Him (ver. 13).
Thus to this expression see God,
as to so very much else in this Epistle, there is an Old Testament background,
and it creates the notion of a literal sight of a literal Person. The New Testament follows to the same effect.
(i) Matt. 18: 10: in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father
Who is in heaven.
(j) 1 John 3: 2. We know that, if He
shall be manifested, we shall be like Him, for
we shall see Him even as He is.
(k) Rev. 22: 3. And of the final beatific vision in glory it
is written: His servants shall do Him service; and they shall see His face.
Plainly as all these
statements point to a face-to-face sight of God, either of the Son or the
Father, there is yet another statement even more completely parallel to our
present passage. It is
[Page 246]
(l) Matt.
5: 8: Blessed are the pure in heart;
for they shall see God; and, as in Hebrews, this is immediately associated with
peaceableness by the directly following words: Blessed
are the peacemakers; for they shall be called
sons of God. The mention of sons
of God shows that God here is the Father, and
thus the Son pointed forward to a sight of the Father.
(m) This is the evident sense of the
sublime doxology in Jude 24, 25: Now unto Him that is
able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you
before the presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy, to the only God our Saviour, through
Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory,
etc. God our
Saviour must here mean the Father, for the glory is rendered to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord; and the prospect opened
is of a permanent position (set you) before
the very personal glory of God.
It is essential to this that there be conferred a body of
glory, spiritual and of heaven, which can endure the blaze of that uncreated
light. The natural, earthly body cannot
do this: Man shall not see Me
and live (Exod. 33: 20); for the blessed and only Potentate, the Father, is dwelling in light unapproachable; Whom no man hath seen, nor is
able to see (1 Tim. 6: 15, 16). The
heirs of glory must be clothed upon with our
habitation which is from heaven (2 Cor.
5: 2), at
the coming of the Lord (1 Cor. 15: 35-38).
iv. The Prize of the Course is
Conditional (ver. 14).
The prospect thus opened to faith is of inconceivable
sublimity. No higher dignity will ever be
possible. God has exhausted His
resources for displaying grace, for He proposes to bring His sons to His own
presence, to share the love, standing, and glory which He has granted to His
own beloved Son. More than this He can
never design or do, for He cannot place anyone above His Son. Therefore could Paul say of this secret
counsel of God that it completed the word
[message] of God, brought it to full
development (Col. 1:
24-26: Variorum
Bible).
But the attaining of this high
dignity is conditional upon development of godliness. Pursue the
sanctification apart from which [hou
choris] no one shall see the Lord. The first privilege which God in His grace
confers is a standing in law as justified before Him as Judge; the final
privilege which that grace will grant is a standing in person before His
presence as the Father of glory. Both of
these privileges are conditional. The former is conditional upon the guilty sorrowing over his sins and
humbling himself to accept the pardon of His offered Sovereign on the sole
ground of the meritorious sacrifice of the Redeemer. The latter is conditional upon the justified
giving diligence to advance in personal
holiness.
The pathway from starting point to goal may be long and
dangerous, but God is able to guard from stumbling till the goal be reached (Jude 24).
And God will guard all who on their part add
all diligence in developing by
the Spirit of Christ, the character of Christ. Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election
sure: for, if ye
do these things ye shall never stumble; for thus shall be richly supplied unto you
the entrance into the eternal
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2
Pet. 1: 1-11). God
does not say to the ungodly If ye do these things you shall be justified; but He does
say to the justified If ye do these things
ye shall never stumble, and thus your entrance into the kingdom
shall be noble, in place of being humble.
[*NOTE. The words richly supplied, (by the translators of verse 11 of the R.V.), before entrance into the eternal kingdom would suggest the
Greek word aionian, translated ETERNAL before Kingdom
is CORRECT. These words imply that those that do these things will be accounted
worthy - (to raise out from the dead at the
time of the First Resurrection Rev. 20: 5, 6) - to attain to that Age (Luke 20: 35);
and so attain (i.e. gain by our efforts) an inheritance with Him in
His Millennial Kingdom beforehand. (Psa. 2: 8; 110: 1-3; Isa. 11: 1-16. cf.
But, on the other hand, if the words richly
supplied or richly furnished were not
included in verse 11, then the Greek word aionian would have to be translated as age-lasting! Mr Lang has not lost focus here, as some who
suspect his teachings are contrary to those of our Lord Jesus, His Prophets and
His divinely inspired Apostles.]
Mr, Carnality and Mr. Faint-heart would fain take comfort from
Judes assurance that God is able to guard from stumbling and set us before the
presence of His glory; but they wish to forget the state necessary for the
august Presence, even the being without blemish. Or they fondly suppose that God will produce
in them that unblemished and unblameable state without diligence on their part.
They will be bitterly disappointed at last. It were wise for
such to learn from present experience.
If a child of God ceases to give diligence to walk in holiness he loses
that present enjoyment of the invisible presence of God which is the joy and
strength of the godly. How shall one
unfit for that Presence now be found fit for its visible glory where nothing
that is unclean shall in anywise enter? (Rev.
21: 27). Let such therefore wash
their robes betimes (Rev. 22: 14).
Indeed, it is the wisdom of each aspirant for that glory to
ponder the Lords words quoted above from Matt.
5: 8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. A pure heart is one
to which all that is not of God is strange and jarring (Tauler). How terribly easy it is to indulge in the
heart feelings, cravings, purposes unknown to the heart of God, strange and
jarring to Him. Yet He can cleanse the
heart from these if there be faith on our part, as He did the hearts of the
heathen gathered in the house of Cornelius (Acts 15:
9)* Let us therefore, with a defiled believer of
old, cry Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right
spirit within me (Ps. 51: 10). For we maybe well assured that outward
correctness will not by itself suffice for Him Who searcheth the heart, Who is,
as Peter described Him, the heart-knowing God
(Acts 15: 8). A clean life must grow from a pure heart, or
it will be but a plant without root, doomed to wither quickly.
* See my
paper
The Clean Heart.
One clear day an unbeliever was seen searching the sky with [Page 248] a telescope. Asked what he was
doing he answered: I am
trying to find your God, but I cannot see Him anywhere! The fitting reply was given, And you never
will, for it is written, Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Most true, now and for ever! A king has millions of subjects, most of whom
never see him in his palace. It is the
few who are counted worthy of this honour.
Many are called, few chosen; many shall be last that are
first [in opportunity and outward standing]; and
first that are last (Matt. 19: 27 - 20: 16).
2. Three
Perils (vers. 15-17). There
are three ever-present perils against which the heir of glory must have an
ever-open eye.
Even as the episkopos, the elder of a church, must maintain
the keen watch of the shepherd (episkopountes)
over
the welfare of the sheep (1 Pet. 5: 1, 2), so must each Christian be ever looking carefully (episkopountes) against
these dangers, lest as wolves they devastate the life.
i. Falling short
of the grace of God (ver. 15). In ch. 4: 1 this term hustereo
means to fail to attain a
given privilege, the rest of God. In
It is the personal servant (his own Servants, Matt.
25: 14),
who lacks the zeal and devotion to use the pound entrusted to him while his
Lord is away, of whom it is said that, at the Lords return, he must hear the
solemn sentence: Take away from him the pound
... from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. This unfaithful servant is not killed as are
the enemies of his Lord, but he pays a severe, price for having fallen short of
the grace of God. He did not appreciate
grace in his Lord and therefore lacked it in himself (Luke
19: 24,
26, 27, 21).
ii.
Bitterness (ver. 15). A feeling in the heart is like a root in the
ground; it must either wither and die, or be dug out, or else it will spring
up. There is no such thing in this
present life as the removing from the believer of the evil soil, the carnal
nature, in which evil roots grow; but the roots themselves can [Page 249] be eradicated by watchful and strenuous care, in the power of the Spirit
of holiness.
If the heart be flooded with the love of God (Rom. 5: 5), if by obedience the disciple abides in the
continual enjoyment of the love of Christ (John 15:
9, 10),
then love will kill bitterness, and the Christian will fulfil the exhortation Let all bitterness, with its evil fruit of wrath,
anger, clamour, railing, and malice, be put away from
you (Eph. 4:
31).
Thus the root will not spring up, nor its evil fruit mentioned cause the
many [equals, the majority] to be defiled.
But if the child of God, by selfishness and carelessness,
allows bitter feelings against another to poison his heart, so that others
become involved and defiled, then he is not developing that sanctification
without which no one shall see the Lord.
iii. Sinful indulgence of the body is the third
peril (ver. 16). Of this two instances are mentioned: (1)
sexual sin, fornication; and (2) evil indulgence in eating. Perhaps mans deadliest snares are not acts
wrong in themselves as blasphemy or murder, but right acts done wrongly, as
these here in view.
(1) For sexual intercourse is an ordinance of God for mankind,
but its illicit indulgence is a crime of
first magnitude, of which it is written plainly, and to Christians, that the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we
forewarned you and testified (1 Thess.
4: 1-8); that is, God Himself sees to the execution of
the penalty.
This vice is universal still, as it
was when Paul was writing. The craving
of the individual is aggravated by the ease of indulgence, and the general
consent dulls the conscience. In Christ
the child of God is elevated to a purer moral region and is given moral power
by which to escape from the corruption that is in the
world by lust (2 Pet. 1: 3, 4); but let him watch and pray, lest he enter into
temptation, for the higher the standing the deeper the fall; and a brother in
the family of God in Corinth had fallen lower than even the debased heathen
would tolerate (1 Cor. 5: 1).
This vileness was an aggravation of
the sin of Reuben. He indulged once with
his fathers concubine (Gen. 35: 22); this
Corinthian Christian was living habitually with his fathers wife. And the atmosphere was infectious; there was
the deadly danger of the whole church becoming leavened (1 Cor. 5: 2, 6). Reuben paid the severe penalty that he lost
his priority, his dignities as the firstborn
in the family (Gen. 49: 3, 4); this [regenerate] Corinthian was in imminent danger of losing his life by
judicial action of Satan though secure of his salvation in the day of the Lord
Jesus (1 Cor. 5:
3-5).* It appears that he repented promptly and the
sentence was cancelled (2 Cor. 2: 5-11).
[* Better in my opinion to have written:
that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus (1 Cor. 5: 5): for this
future
salvation of the spirit has nothing whatsoever to do with the Christians
eternal
salvation which every regenerate believer presently has
by grace through faith alone in Christ Jesus as Saviour.
This future salvation of the spirit is mentioned in Num.
14: 24
where God said: Surely they [the rebels who
refused to obey the word of God at Kadesh Barnea (vv. 9, 10)] shall not see the LAND which I sware unto
their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit
with him, him will I bring into the LAND.
That is, they will not be amongst those who will be
resurrected at the time of the First Resurrection - a thousand
years BEFORE the dead were judged out of the things which were written in
the books, according to their works (Rev. 20, 5, 6, 12b, R.V.).
Pauls words shall not inherit
the
The most cogent argument on this urgent topic is in 1 Cor. [Page 250] 6:
12-20. Its conclusion is that we should Flee fornication and glorify God in our body (vers. 18, 20).
(2) Profanity (vers. 16, 17). The
profanity of Esaus mind was shown in that he esteemed a passing gratification
of the palate above noble permanent privileges ordained of God. He despised his
birthright (Gen. 25: 34). It is a vigorous word here used, the one
which describes the contempt with which carnal men treated the Son of man: He was despised and rejected (Isa. 53: 3), a reproach of men and
despised of the people (Ps. 22: 6). The Septuagint gives a word (phaulizo) which means that Esau rejected the birthright as a paltry, a mere
trifle, and so he sold it, he bartered it away for a trifle.
The word apodidimi sold, in the middle voice
here used, implies that the article sold is ones own, a material
point to observe. It shows that Esau was
not a mere pretender to the birthright, nor self-deceived on the matter. He was Isaacs legitimate elder son and
therefore the birthright was his by law of primogeniture. Therefore he cannot be taken here as a type
of a mere [unregenerate] professor of Christianity, or one
self-deceived as to relationship to Christ.
Such a one cannot be warned not to lose or sell a birthright to which he
has no title whatever. Esau can be here
only a type of a real [regenerate] child of God, one who is the true holder of the birthright. He did not have to acquire this dignity, for
the title to it was his by birth; but he did need to value it and retain it, and
because he did neither he forfeited it.
Birthright is a plural term
in both Gen. 25:
31, 34 (in
the LXX) and in our passage, ta
prototokia. It should be rendered the rights of the firstborn, for these were three.
(a) The first born son
was ruler of the household under and for the father. Thus Davids elder brother commanded his younger brother to attend the family
sacrifice at Bethlehem, which fact David and Jonathan considered should be
adequate reason for absence from the table of even the king (1 Sam. 20: 29).
(b) This shows also that the eldest son acted as the family priest, for he is shown acting as chief on occasion of a
family sacrifice.
(c) By the law of God the firstborn received a double share the fathers estate (Deut. 21: 17); that is, if there were six heirs, the
patrimony was divided into seven portions of which the firstborn took two.*
[* NOTE. Always keep in mind: Our Lord Jesus
Christ is Gods Messiah - (The primary sense of the title is KING.). Messiah Jesus is Gods anointed FIRSTBORN Son,
Who has inherited TWO KINGDOMS. That is, not meaning in this instance, a rule
in the hearts of His redeemed people, but a realm over which a region is exercised:
KINGDOMS in which His reign and
manifested glory will be clearly VISIBLE. Isa. 9: 6, 7; 65: 17-25; Ezek. 34: 23-31; Dan. 2: 44; Hab. 2: 1, etc. See Bakers Dictionary
of Theology, pp. 349, 310.
The first of these KINGDOMS
will
be upon this earth (Luke 1: 32, 33; Rev. 3: 21); it will last for a
thousand years (Rev. 20: 2); and Messiahs concluding
Kingdom, will be His eternal Kingdom: to be established
when the thousand years should be finished (verse 3).
This latter Kingdom-reign of Messiah Jesus will be exercised in a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21: 1). That
is, during an entirely new creation, after
the present heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved
with fervent heat, and the earth, and the works that are therein shall be burned up (2 Pet. 3: 10, R.V.).]
No alien, no bastard, no pretender had any rights here; and so
the legitimate sons of Gilead drove out of the house Jephthah, because he was
the son of a harlot, saying, Thou shalt not inherit
- in our fathers house; for thou art the son of another woman (Judges
11: 1, 2).
[Page 251]
God keeps a full register of all His universal family (Luke 10: 20; Rev. 13: 8; etc.), and therein some are entered as being firstborn. The
reference is probably to the registers kept at the temple in
The three
above-mentioned rights typify most accurately the triple dignities of the
firstborn sons of God who are being brought unto His glory. For they are to rule the universe as kings;
to serve as priests, mediating the merits of Christs redemption and so aiding
the intercourse of man with God; and theirs is the rich heavenly portion,
instead of only earthly blessedness. The
title to these privileges they do not have to acquire; they hold it, for it is
a gift which the grace of God has attached to their calling; even as the sons
of Abraham did not have to acquire a title to
Of this royal dignity, the crown is the symbol: therefore the warning: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown (Rev. 3: 11), as Jacob took the birthright that Esau despised.
Other Old Testament passages make
clear that the birthright was forfeitable.
1 Chron. 26:
10 mentions that of a certain family of
Levites Shimri was the chief (for though he was not
the firstborn, yet his father made him chief). This shows that the essential idea of being firstborn is priority of rank, not accident of birth;
which is the force of Col. 1: 15, that
Christ is the firstborn of all creation, not
meaning that He was the first to be born and so had a beginning, but that He
owns and rules the whole universe by the appointment of His Father (see Heb. 1: 2).
1 Chron. 5:
1, 2 (and
see Gen. 49:
3, 4)
applies this forfeitableness of the birthright to Reuben, forasmuch as he defiled his fathers couch. The rulers staff went
to his brother Judah, of him came the prince (Gen. 49: 10); the priesthood went to Levi; and the double
inheritance was given to Joseph, whose sons Ephraim and Manasseh each became a
tribe in
Thus from the case of Esau the Writer
again warns his brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, (ch. 3: 1), that the noblest gifts offered in Christ may
be missed, yea, will be missed [Page 252] if things earthly and present be
valued more than things heavenly and future, if the body be gratified at the
expense of the spirit.
This last
was the sin of our first mother Eve; she forfeited fellowship with God by a
false gratifying of the body, by eating wrongly. The spirit succumbed, the body dominated and
thus it as been with all her children. From this slavery to the body God sets
us free by redemption and regeneration.
It is for each believer to imitate Paul: I buffet my body,
and enslave it (doulagogo): lest by any means, after that I as a
herald have called others into the race, I myself should he disapproved and
refused the crown (1 Cor. 9: 27).
(3)
The Loss is Irrecoverable (ver. 17). The case of Esau shows, indeed, that the sin
which involves so serious loss is not casual or unintentional, but
deliberate. When Jacob proposed the
cunning bargain Esau turned it over in his mind, briefly but sufficiently: Behold, I am about to die:
and what profit shall the birthright do to me? The compact was made the more conscious and
deliberate by Jacob demanding that it be confirmed by oath (Gen. 25: 31, 33). Thus Esau did not lose his rights by accident
or mistake but by compact; with his eyes wide open to what he was doing he sold
the birthright.
This greatly aggravated his guilt and rendered the position
irreversible in two major elements.
First, Esau never after really changed
his mind or was sorrowful for his wilful sin in this matter. Gen. 27: 34, 36 shows him blaming Jacob, not reproaching
himself. He mourned his loss but not his
sin. In this also he proved himself a
true son of his first parents, for Eve and Adam each blamed another for their
guilty conduct. In each of the three cases there was a measure of truth, for
those others blamed were in part responsible; but godly sorrow for sin seeks no
such shelter, but accepts its own responsibility and is humble. This change of
mind Esau neither showed nor sought.
Secondly. Esaus act had been ratified by God, and Isaac as a
prophet was moved to give to Jacob the blessing that attached to the rights of the
firstborn, and his God-inspired prophetic utterance could not be recalled.
Esaus cupidity sought the blessing that, by his own act and deed, was no
longer rightly his, but his bitter tears could not avail to change Isaacs
mind: he found no place for a change of mind in his
father (American Standard Version).
It was Kadesh Barnea enacted in advance in a single
individual. When
The forfeitability of the birthright is further indicated and emphasized in
the cse of Reuben. Being Jacobs eldest
son this honour was his; but because of his yielding to an unnatural sensual
craving, it was taken from him (1 Chron. 5: 1), and was
given, as to the territory, to the sons of Joseph, the latter thus, in his
children, receiving the double portion; and as to sovereignty, to the tribe of
Judah, in the person of David and his sons, including Messiah; and as to the
priesthood, to Levi. Was this in the
Writers mind when he specified in our passage the sin of fornication?
Yet Reuben remained of the family, and was blessed in measure;
but as showing that the rights in question if once lost cannot be regained, it
is to be remembered that in the days of the future kingdom the status created
by Reubens misconduct will still abide: the King will be of the house of
Judah, the priesthood in Israel will be in the family of Zadok the Levite (Ezek. 48: 11), and Ephraim and Manasseh will hold their
double portion. These things Reuben lost for ever, though for ever remaining of
the house of
Note. Mal. 1:
2-5 does
not deny that in Heb. 12 Esau is a type of a child of God to-day, but rather establishes it. For Esau is there called Jacobs brother, as in full fact he was. Now in Heb.
11: 9, 21 Jacob is cited as a man of faith, a sample of
all such, and therefore as a child of God.
His brother therefore cannot in Malachi typify
an unregenerate man or Jacob also must be so, for they are of the same family.
It is also to be stressed that Heb. 11: 20 shows, as does the history in Gen. 27: 39, 40, that Esau received definite blessings, though
inferior to those of the firstborn son.
He is therefore not a type of the unregenerate, who are not related to the
regenerate, and who are under the curse and wrath of God (Gal. 3: 10; John 3: 36); but he
typifies one who has forfeited priority and privilege, though retaining some
measure of blessing.
Thus did the men of war forfeit
Love in God is not impaired by that
weak partiality which often infects human love, nor is hatred in Him vitiated
by that evil bitterness [Page 254] which makes it wicked in man. In God both are harmonious with His holy
preference for piety and holy abhorrence of impiety. It is in this sense only that He loved Jacob and hated
Esau. It should also be observed that in
Malachi it is Esau in his posterity,
Of Esau himself the history gives as the
final pictures, a man who has risen above his earlier hatred of his brother,
welcomes him back with love, is ready to protect him and his substance (Gen. 32 and 33), and who at last joins him at the graveside of
their father (Gen. 35:
29).
Thus he is a type of one of the
family of God who lapses into carnality and bitterness but years after is
restored in soul, yet who
nevertheless cannot regain the full position and priority originally owned. He is the first that shall be
last, though still in the [redeemed and regenerate] family.
A wealthy commercial magnate of two
generations ago had two sons. The elder
did not live worthily and the father left him only enough to maintain him
decently; but the title, castle, fortune, and business went to the younger
son. Yet the elder remained one of the family and received as much as he deserved.
This is the force of Rom. 8: 16, 17: we are children of God; and if
children, then heirs; heirs indeed (men) of God, but (de) joint-heirs with Christ [Messiah], if so be that we
suffer with Him that we may be also glorified with Him. For every child, however wayward, inherits
something from the Father - His life, nature, love, with food, clothing,
training; but sharing with the Firstborn in [Messiahs
millennial kingdom and] glory is conditional.
* *
*
[Page 255]
CHAPTER XVII
THE FIFTH WARNING continued
(ch. 12: 18-24)
THE PRIVILEGES OFFERED AND AT STAKE
Ch. 12: 18. For ye are not come unto a
mount which might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and
darkness, and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more
should be spoken unto them: 20 for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a
beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned;
21 and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses
said, I exceedingly fear and quake: 22 but ye are come unto mount
Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and
to innumerable hosts, the general assembly of
angels, 23 and to the church of the
firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 and to Jesus the mediator
of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than
that of Abel.
1. SAVED PERSONS IN VIEW.
IT is
very plain that this portion of Gods word has no reference to the
unsaved. Months before they reached
Thus redeemed, and thus separated to a walk of faith in God,
Israel presently drew near to Mount Sinai, there to gain a fuller knowledge of
the great Jehovah, the God with Whom they had to do. But how terrible was the aspect in which [Page 256] they were to meet Him! With what
dreadful accompaniments did He present Himself! The exhibition was indeed
suited to their condition, for their first need was to know that their God was
infinitely greater and grander than all the gods of
They stand, then, beneath the mountain, which towers above
them some 7,000 feet, and gaze with terror at its cloud-capped, lightning-lit,
earthquake-rent summit; and even Moses, the friend of God, says: I exceedingly fear and quake.
2. The Prospects of the Christian. But
how different is the prospect at which we are called to look. From our present place as pilgrims in a world
that affords our hearts naught by which we can profit, we are brought to gaze
up to a height of privilege and glory which is as entrancing and encouraging as
Sinai seemed to
Ye have come, says the Scripture: it is a perfect tense that is
used. As
i. Ye have
come unto the blood of sprinkling,
that speaketh better than that of Abel.
Abels blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries.
No matter what is the privilege now known, or hereafter to be
gained, all our standing and hope is based upon the atonement of
I stand upon
His merit:
I know no other stand,
Not een where glory
dwelleth
In Immanuels land.
[Page 257]
ii. Ye have
come unto Jesus the mediator of a new covenant. This theme is a chief part of the burden of
the Epistle. Hebrew believers, cast out
of the synagogue, unwelcome at the temple, deprived therefore of the sacrifices
and priesthood, seemed to have lost all that made life great and safe for the
Israelite. Gentile believers similarly
lost completely their former religious associations, which carried serious
consequences in an age when religion interpenetrated all departments of
life. To comfort such they are
instructed that there are heavenly realities of which
Thus [all] those who have come unto Jesus as the
mediator of the new covenant gain heavenly and eternal privileges; and these
they receive for the sake of what He is to God, and not out of regard to any
merit of their own; even as God wrought for Israel in Egypt not because of
ought that He saw in them, but because of His own unmerited love and because of
His covenant with their fathers, the heads of their family (Deut. 7: 7, 8). Christ
is the Head of all the redeemed family of God, the Surety of this better
covenant, in which all now share who accept Him as their sacrifice and
mediator.
iii. Ye have come unto the spirits of just men made perfect. As explained above at ch. 11: 40 (p. 228 f.) we understand this to mean that we have come unto a point of privilege entitling
us to anticipate a share in the first resurrection of the just, for the just
are not yet made perfect, nor can be till resurrection. It is a prospect to which we aspire; just as
iv. Therefore the next honour named is
that we have come unto God the judge of all. From the preceding clauses it will be seen
that the force of the words ye have come is
that we have come to participate in the privileges stated, and not merely to
view them. Even thus it was open to
* Upon this subject see my Firstfruits and
Harvest.
In the administration of His mighty [millennial, and Messianic] kingdom, and in the adjusting and rewarding of the affairs of the ages of
human and angelic history, the glorified
saints will be associated with the King in glory. Doubtless a large part of our training on
earth is directed by our Father to capacitating us for such responsible and
honourable office. If then a self-willed
child refuses and nullifies the training, how shall he be found fit for the
high but delicate position that he might have gained?
v. Being thus included in the company
of the kings and priests of the future, we
have come unto the church of the firstborn [ones] who are
enrolled in heaven. The law of
primogeniture is Divinely recognized in both the
sphere of the family and in that of the nations, and also in the heavenly
regions as well as the earthly. This
honour is evidently the initial reason for the kingship descending as a rule to
the eldest son of a monarch. The
honouring of the eldest son is, indeed, founded in nature, and is further
enforced by Divine sanction. It is still
largely acknowledged in the east, as in the case of a young lawyer in
In this we may see the explanation of Pharaohs prompt and
dogged resistance to Gods call that he should free
[* It is apparent to all who have eyes
to read and a mind to understand, what Gods plan for this world in the age to come!
The nation of
Anti and Post-millennialist Christians would do well to ponder Pauls
statement in Romans 11: 15: For if the casting
away of them [the nation of
This select resurrection out of dead ones, is a future event (1 Pet. 1: 5, 9) - not past already (2 Tim.
2: 18,
R.V.). Our Lord Jesus, Paul and John say
it will occur when He returns to resurrect the holy dead, before the general
resurrection of all the remaining dead a thousand
years later. See Matt. 5: 5; 7: 21, 22; 16: 27; Luke 13: 28-30; 14: 14; 22: 28-30; Acts 2: 34; 7: 4-7; Luke 16: 29-31; John 14: 3; 1 Thess. 4: 14, 16; Rev. 20: 11-13. cf.
John 3: 13;
2 Tim. 2: 18, R.V.]
This word of God remains in force.
Thus the thought enlarges from the family to the State, and
must now expand to the entire universe as the whole realm of Gods
kingdom. Amongst all the various orders
of beings that God will have to His praise in eternal ages, one company is to
be to the rest what the firstborn has been shown to be. This company is the
* The noun is plural, and cannot refer to Christ personally, as
is further shown by the plural verb following, who are
enrolled.
vi. The next point in the panorama of
privilege is the relationship of the church to the angelic hosts on a day of festivity
to which these will come. The English
versions do not rightly divide the clauses here. Commenting on this Alford remarks that it is difficult to see why the coupling of clause to clause
by kai (and) which prevails through
the sentence, should be broken through; and Darby (New Translation; note) says, The
words and (kai) give the division very clearly
here, and he translates thus: and to myriads
of angels, the universal [Page 260] gathering; whilst Alford
seeks to give the full force of the words by rendering, and to myriads, the festal
hosts of angels. We may
therefore read the clause thus, Ye have come unto ...
myriads of angels, the
universal festal gathering.
And what a vista of splendour thus opens to view as the mind
conceives as much as possible of the glory of the Son of God, in Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,
coming in His own glory, and in the glory of the Father, and that of the holy
angels (Luke 9: 26). Such a monarch in such state and with such a
retinue will eclipse all that the world ever thought grand and splendid. And in that [coming millennial] glory the firstborn are to share,
being the bride,
the wife of the Lamb, who with Christ will be
seen coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God (Rev.
21: 9-11). To her
as to her Lord the angels will be attendants, for already they are ministering spirits sent forth to do service for the sake of
them that shall inherit salvation
(Heb. 1: 14).
But this clause fixes the exact occasion when the church shall
enter upon these supreme honours. For
this gathering of angels is both universal,
that is, all the holy hosts will be present at once, and it is also festal, that is, the gathering is on an occasion of
joy and triumph. The Word of God
elsewhere speaks only of one such day, and that the day of Messiahs
appearing in
Let that day
come, O Lord,
And other days pass by;
Night is far spent, and
dawning tells
That Thou art drawing nigh.
Hasten
Thy coming, Lord!
Dawn, O Thou glorious day!
Then shall the fairest days
of earth
Pass into shade away.
[Page 261]
vii. But great as are the things thus
enlarged upon, there are greater and
higher glories unto which we have drawn near.
Ye have come unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly
3. The
Bride is the City. During the
panorama of the Revelation, John had heard a
great multitude in heaven rejoicing that the hour had come for the long
expected marriage of the Lamb, but
he had not yet seen the bride. And it may be that as the mighty visions
progressed, and the millennial age passed into the eternal state, he inwardly
wondered at this omission. But after all
else had been shown to him the Bride was unveiled to his enraptured gaze, for
he says (Rev. 21:
9, 10): And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven
bowls, who were laden with the seven last
plagues; and he spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the
bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain
great and high, and shewed me, shewed me
- what? a bride? no, a city,
the holy city, new Jerusalem. So,
then, the city is the bride, and the latter being a figure of a company of
persons so must the former be. The
assertion that the city is an interpretation of the figure of
speech bride is not founded on the passage.
The angel did not say to John, I will interpret, or explain, to thee the
metaphor bride but he said, I will shew thee the bride, that is, give thee a vision of her. Thus the
city
is a second vision in symbol of the same
company of which the bride was the former
symbol. Such oriental duplicating of
metaphors is common in Scripture. The
figure of the bride was no longer adequate to reveal the glory of the church,
nor her most exalted office as the dwelling-place of God in a reconciled
universe, from which all the wicked had been banished. Therefore the city comes into view; and
nature and art and language are exhausted to portray her splendour.
In interpreting this vision one error is particularly common,
namely, to speak of the city as a region into which the members of the
It may be hard to assign an exact meaning to each of the
details given, but the main features described readily yield their teaching.
i. In the persons of His heavenly
saints God will dwell so personally and
be so actually present, that they will be to Him what a capital city is to
a monarch - a place of residence, a scene for the display of His majesty, a spot to which His subjects may come to
have dealings with Him, and a centre
of government around which the corporate life of the empire may revolve.
ii. And the
wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on
them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Rev. 21: 14). To
members of the church this was not a new thought, for it had been before taught
that they, as a body corporate, were built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph.
2: 20).
Historically it is the preaching, teaching, labours, and sufferings of the
apostles upon which the church is founded; and of their teaching Christ Jesus
Himself was the all-prominent theme (the chief corner-stone),
binding together the foundation, and affording unity and stability to the
building.
iii. The nations
shall walk in the light thereof; and the kings
of the earth do bring their glory into it (Rev.
21: 24). It will be under the beneficent guidance of
the heavenly saints that the nations, so long alienated
from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them (Eph. 4: 18), will learn to walk in His fear; and they in
return will honour those who are thus the occasion of their eternal blessing.
iv. But as it will be by recognizing
Israel as the chief nation on earth by Gods will that the Gentiles will own
Gods sovereignty, therefore through Israel mediately it is that they will
enjoy the blessings dispensed through the church; and hence on the portals of
the city are written the names of the tribes of Israel. For the Gentiles the means of access into
heavenly blessings will be by honouring
v. The Holy Spirit of God will thus
flow out through the church for the quickening of all, as pictured by the river
of the water of life; and it will be in response to obedience that the peoples
will have the benefit of the River, for this proceeds
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Further into such fascinating details we may not give time [Page 263] to go; but it is unto no less privileged service and glories that we have come.* Such is
the ravishing prospect unto which the saints of this age are called, for God
hath called us unto His own kingdom and glory
(1 Thess. 2:
12).
* The theme is treated at length in chs. xiii and xix of
my The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
4. But we have anticipated the highest
feature of all: ye have come unto
Only one man, Moses, was permitted to climb to the top of
Sinai; the rest of Gods people could but look from afar to that height of glory,
and in truth they had little enough desire to draw near to those devouring
fires. But many are the sons now being
brought unto glory in Christ Jesus, and such as walk in the power of His
fellowship may approach unto that same God with boldness. Let us therefore abide
in Christ; that if He shall be manifested, we may have boldness, and not
be ashamed from Him at His presence (1 John
2: 28). Let us look to ourselves that we lose not the
things that we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward (2 John 8).
Of that supremely and eternally glorious state a seven-fold
perfection is declared (Rev. 22: 3-5). There shall be no
curse any more - perfect sinlessness and blessedness: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein
- perfect government: and His servants shall do Him
service - perfect service: and they shall see
His face - perfect communion: and His name
shall be in their foreheads - perfect [Page 264] resemblance and identification: and there shall be night no more - perfect knowledge
and strength: and they shall reign unto the ages of
the ages - perfect glory.
Oh, what a bright and blessed world
This groaning
earth of ours will be,
When from its throne the tempter hurled
Shall leave it all, O Lord, to
thee.
But brighter far
that world above
Where we as we are known
shall know;
And, in the sweet embrace
of Love,
Reign oer the ransomed
earth below.
Truly it is said of the unspiritual that eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, whatsoever things
God prepared for them that love Him. But
unto those who, by faith in Christ, have received the Spirit of the Lord, God
hath revealed these things so vast and deep and high, for we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us by
God (1 Cor. 2:
9-12). And therefore, both the knowledge of and the
attaining to these things is possible through the [power and indwelling of the Holy] Spirit.
* *
*
[Page265]
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FINAL WARNING
(12: 25-29)
Ch. 12: 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.
For if they escaped not, when they
refused him that warned them on earth, much more shall not we
escape, who turn
away from him that warneth from
heaven; 26 whose voice then shook the
earth: but now he hath promised, saying,
Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only,
but also the heaven. 27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the
removing of those things that are shaken, as of
things that have been made, that those things
which are not shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us have grace,
whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
WITH
this noble display of the heavenly prospects the mighty argument has reached its
climax and it now moves to its conclusion.
i. Emphatic Recapitulation (25).
See to it that
you do not reject the One speaking: for if those rejecting the one who passed
on divine instruction on earth did not escape [penalty], much more [shall
not] we,
[that is] those turning away from the One from the
heavens.
This summarizes the appeal of 10:
26-31. To defy Moses was to incur severe penalties;
yet he was only an earthly messenger of God, who offered blessings connected with
the earth and denounced penalties to be inflicted on earth. But the Messenger now speaking is the Son of
God, the Lord from heaven (1: 1, 2), as much
nobler than Moses as the son is greater than the servant (3: 1-4), Whose message opens to faith the sublime
privileges laid up in the heavens and warns of penalties more severe than those
under the law of Moses.
Now these privileges are based upon that atoning blood which
speaks to God in the heavenly sanctuary (ver.
24 above).
To turn from that blood and this Speaker (see 10:
29), by reverting to the law, with its mediator, Moses, and its but typical blood, is to reject the
bright reality and return to the shadow.
He who thus rejects the heavenly shall pay a severer penalty than he who
rejected the earthly.
From this there is no possible
escape. In every place in [Page 266] the New
Testament this word escape has its natural
force - ek-pheigo, to flee out
of a place or trouble and be quite clear thereof. It comes only at Luke
21: 36; Acts
16: 27;
19: 16; Rom. 2: 3; 2 Cor. 11: 33; 1 Thess. 5: 3; Heb. 2: 3, and here.
In comparison with
But the Writers words (ver.
35) require strict understanding. It is again shown that not sin by ignorance or inadventence is in view. He emphasizes his words found at 10: 26 wilfully, deliberately, knowing what we are doing and
adhearing to that decision, that the warning operates. They who rejected Moses did so on definate
occasions and maintained the disobedience (paraitesamenoi,
aorist participle); and the Christians here are warned not to do the like (paraitesethe, aorist conjunctive
passave); and this turning away is not a
thoughtless act soon mourned, but a continuous (apostrephomenoi, present participle middle).
While this limits the sin in view, yet the form of his
sentence emphasizes again that it is [regenerate] Christians who are being warned. He does not use a general or indefinate
expression, as, such as turn away (hemeis hoi apostrephomenoi), for this
was precisely what some of the Christian circle were doing or about to do; and
which some have done all the centuries since.
2. The
Past (ver. 26). The heinousness of such apostasy, such
turning away, arises from the majesty of Him from whom one turns. At court it were an unpardonable insult to
turn ones back upon a king, especially should he be speaking. And the One from whom the apostate turns is
of incomparable majesty. When of old
Sinais mighty mass heard the voice of Jehovah the
whole mount quaked greatly (Exod. 19: 18), as it
is said in our passage (ver. 26), Whose voice then
shook the earth.
3. The Future (vers.
26, 27). Yet that awsome display of His power is but
a trifle as compared with what He will do hereafter; for now hath He promised, saying,
Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only,
but also the heaven. And this yet once more. signifieth the
removing of those things which are shaken, as of
things that have been made, that those things
which are not shaken may remain.
[Page
267]
i. The Shaker from heaven is the same Person as He
Whose voice shook Sinai. Christ is the
Jehovah of the Old Testament. The
Legislator is the Redeemer, the Redeemer remains the Legislator.
ii. warnings are promises: He
hath promised to shake earth and heaven, and He will keep His promise,
whether of mercy or of wrath. Comp. 2 Tim. 2: 11-13.
iii. The future disturbances of nature will test the
heavenly regions as well as the earth.
iv. The period for this is significant, and is easily
learned from Hag. 2:
6-9
whence the promise is quoted. The whole
prophecy reads:
For this saith the Lord of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I
will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all
nations, and the desirable things of all nations
shall come, and I will fill this house with glory,
saith the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house
shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord
of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
(1) The subject is the house of God at
Now it is clear that these promises have not yet been
fulfilled. Herod the Great did indeed
enlarge and adorn that second temple, but it never approached to the
magnificence of Solonons temple. There
must therefore be built in
[Page
267]
The three-fold this house of Haggai definitely identifies the second
temple with the first, and the third and future temple with the first and
second: in Gods view they are all one house.
This compels the view that the third must be as literal as its
predecessors with which it is identified and MUST STAND UPON THE SAME SITE IN
(2) This future temple is to be built by Messiah, the man Whose
name is the Branch, Who shall bear the glory,
and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne (Zech. 6: 12, 13). The
era is therefore that of the millennial reign of Christ.
(3) This is confirmed by the feature that all nations shall be disturbed: I will shake all nations.
Comp. Jer. 25: 26, 29-33, where judgment is denounced five times against
all the inhabitants of the earth. See also Ezek. 39: 21; Zech. 14: 2; Matt. 25: 32; Ps. 75: 3, 8; all
pointing to the time of Christs coming in judgment.
(4) Other scriptures speak of this shaking of all
nature as to take place at that epoch.
Isa. 2: 19, 21 speaks twice of Jehovah arising to shake mightily the earth. Isa. 13: 13 says: Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger. See also Isa. 24: 1, 19, 20; Joel 2: 10, 11; Nah. 1: 3-6. Also the
Lord fortold in detail the same disturbances as to occur in connexion with His
return in glory, saying that the powers of the heavens
shall be shaken (Matt. 24: 29) as well
as there being roaring of the sea and the billows
(Luke 21: 25,
26; see also Ps.
46: 1-3), which dread panorama the Revelation
expand in lurid fulness (ch. 6: 12-16; chs. 8, 9,
and 16) as ushering in the [millennial] reign
of Christ on earth.
(5) This shaking is not, however, the final cataclysm
of the purifying wrath of God which will come at the close of the Millennium,
for that will not be only a shaking of heaven and earth but a dissolving
of their very elements, and the agency will be fervent fire, not merely
agitation. This shaking is to be at the
opening of the kingdom era, not at its close.
(6) The shaking
here foretold is to be the final occasion when God will use this form of
testing and judgment. Earth and heaven
were agitated when God came to Sanai (Exod. 19: 18; Judges 5: 4, 5; Ps. 77: 16-20; 114). These frequent mentions over many centuries
indicate how terrific was that disturbance of nature and how deeply its lesson
was impressed on pious men.
But the coming shaking shall far exceed that in extent
and degree, for the heavens shall be involved, and the effect shall be the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things [Page 269] that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain (ver. 27).
Then shall be fulfilled Ps. 93: 1: Jehovah reigneth.
The world also is established,
that it cannot be moved.
4. Here is announced a vital principle, a
fundamental necessity. If the building
is to be permanent weak materials and constructions must be removed. Some years ago it was found that
This is the proper force of the word metathesis translated by removed. It
signifies the substituting of one thing by another, as a name, an opinion, an
institution. This is exhibited in ch. 7: 12, which speaks of the substitution of the new
priesthood and law in place of the Mosiac, using this word and its root.
And this shows the sense of the phrase as of things that have been made. For poieo
does not here refer to the original creation of the substance of things, or the
passage would require a new thought evidently foreign to it, even that all things
would be removed, whether good or bad, strong
as well as weak. But the statement as
given is that some things are to be shaken and removed
in order that other things, being unshaken, may remain. Yet these last have been made in the sense of being created.
The word poieo
has therefore here its sense of existing things being arranged and instituted
in certain relations to each other. It is
not the annihilation of substance that is in view, but the annulling of
relationships and the substituting of different relationships and institutions,
suitable to the [coming]
Of these new institutions the principal will be that
overthrowing of the existing angelic government, and the installing of the Son
of man and His [resurrected
and rapt] heavenly people in place of
them, which has been before considered.
And this is the force of the statement before us that
believers [Page 270] are in
process of receiving a kingdom (ver. 28). What this means may be learned from Dan. 5: 31: Darius the Mede
received the kingdom, where the Septuagint uses the same terms as in
our passage (parelabe ten basileian). Or one may consider Mordecais question to
the queen:
Who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for
such a time as this? (Esther 4: 14).
5. Summary of the Five Warnings. Thus the period of this shaking, as well as
its accompaniment and results, show that the millennial epoch and kingdom are
in view. This final warning is therefore
in harmony with the earlier warnings. In ch.
2 the great
salvation is the heavenly prospects of the disciples of Christ who attain to the first resurrection. In chs. 3 and 4
6. Exhorting (vers. 28,
29).
Let us have grace. Upon what therefore, shall the Christian
concentrate so as to avoid the perils and secure his privilages? The Writer answeres upon GRACE.
Tha danger underlying all dangers, against which pre-eminently he warns,
is that of turning back from grace to law, ceremonies, self-effort as the basis
principle of life. The urgent call is to
trust in God as the God of all grace. For it
is in this character that He has called us inti His eternal glory in Christ,
and it is on this principle of grace that He undertakes to see us through the
sufferings of the journey and perfect, stablish, and strengthen us (1 Pet. 5: 10). This
wholly unmerited and entirely adequate favour of God is made available in
Christ His Son and only in Him. It is by
reliance upon Him in His various offices and service that the believer cquires
in daily experience all things that pertain unto life
and godliness (2 Pet. 1: 3)
Therefore let faith adhere to this as the principle of
all dealings with God, for so, and only so, shall we be able to offer service well-pleasing to God (ver. 28). To be well-pleasing to Him is the
indispensable matter as regards attaining to what grace makes possible in
Christ (ch. 11:
5, 6);
and for this faith [Page 271] and its fruits are the secret, and dead works
are to be wholly renounced (9: 14).
But living by the grace of our holy God is a serious
matter. A just appreciation of His
marvellous grace to us godless and guilty sinners produces reverance and awe (ver.
28).
Let the Christian look steadily and long at these words reverence and awe. They are a New Testament form of this Old
Testament promise: to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word (Isa. 66: 2). It is
with such that God dwells and whose spirit he revives, so that they do not
collapse under the strain of life (Isa. 57: 15).
John Woolman says of a gathering of Quakers that there was an awsome sense of the presence of God. Is this what they seek to arrange bright hours and other devices for pleasing the
carnal mind? Too truly has it been said
that the present age, in religion as in things secular, is marked by specific
levity instead of specific gravity.
Therefore does our Writer remind us that grace produces reverance and
awe, not frivolity and flippancy; and therefore does he close this exhortation
with the reminder that our God is a consuming fire,
which must and will burn up all that is not suitable to His holiness and glory.
The intense word consume
katanalisko the Writer borrowed from
the Greek Old Testament he so much used.
It means to devour completely, to dissolve. He quotes from Deut.
4: 24,
where, warning
Note to ch. XVIII.
On the Warning Words employed.
In ch. 2: 1. pararheo. Here only in the N.T. Its force is seen in the LXX at Isa. 44: 4: as willows by flowing
water. In the only other
place in that Version it is used as a warning as in Hebrews:
My son, let them not
pass [flow away] from thee, but keep my counsel and [Page 272] understanding (Prov. 3: 21). This
is the exact warning and exhortation in Heb.
2: 1; and
the result promised is the same: that thy soul may
live, instead of life being cut short prematurely: and that there may be grace round thy neck, a
character adorned with grace.
The idea is not that of
simple forgetfulness, but of keeping swept along past the sure anchorage which
is within reach. The image is singularly
expressive. We are all continuously
exposed to the action of currents of opinion, habit, action, which tend to
carry us away insensibly from the position which we ought to maintain
(Westcott in loco).
2. Ch. 3: 12. aphistemi. To withdraw, turn away from a person (1 Tim. 6: 5, A.V.), place (Luke
2: 37), or thing (1 Tim. 4: 1, some shall fall away
from the faith). Trial or
temptation may occasion this: in time of temptation
they fall away (Luke 8: 13).
3. Ch. 4: 1; 12: 15. hustereo. To be behind, in the rear of; to be inferior
to others (2 Cor. 11:
5; 12: 11): therefore not to keep up with them on the
journey, and so to lack the support and supplies available while in the
caravan, and at last to fail to reach the goal of the journey. This is a possible consequence of turning from
the path and company of the faithful.
This may lead easily to the next and more serious danger. The tense
husterekenai marks not only a present (Rom. 3: 23 husterountai) or
past defeat (2 Cor. 12: 11 husteresa) but an
abiding failure (Westcott on 4: 1).
4. Ch. 4: 11. pipto. To fall.
The one lagging behind may fall by the wayside and prove that word: Woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up (Eccles. 4: 10). The
word is used at 3: 17
of those Israelites who fell in the wilderness, that is, died by the way.
5. Ch. 6: 6. parapipto. The verb is found here only in the N.T., but
the corresponding noun paraptoma is
used 22 times. In R.V. it is rendered trespass except in Rom.
11: 11, 12, where fall
is retained and trespass given in the
margin. In these verses it ought to be rendered trespass, for
That is to say, an Israelite who turned from God to a god
of the nations therebu cut himself off from the spiritual and true people of
God and put himself into the position of one of a foreign and heathen
race. This trespass
This shows the force of the word in Heb. 6: 6. The
believer [who] turns definitely from Christ and takes to Him an antagonistic
attitude, if he, like Israel, turns to legality and self-effort in place of
Christ and His sacrifice.
This is the meaning of apostasy,
a taking up of a different [Page 273] position to that occupied, a reversal of ones
attitude to God, His Son, His truth.
This leads on to
6. Ch. 10: 27. hupenantios an adversary. The word is found at Col. 2: 14, where
the law is the adversary of the law-breaker.
The law takes active measures against the criminal. In like manner the apostate implements his
attitude by active opposition to Christ and His sacrifice for sins (10: 26), and so
involves himself in the judgment of God against His adversaries.
7. Ch. 10: 35. apoballo. To throw away, as the blind man cast off his outer
garment so as to hasten to Jesus (Mark 10: 50, the only other place of this word in the New
Testament). Thus does the apostate
deliberately cast off the profession of hope in Christ, he renounces it.
8. Ch. 10: 38, 39. hupostello, hupostole. To withdraw,
shrink back. Thus has the apostate, out
of fear, withdrawn entirely from the profession of hope in Christ. The act is illustrated at Gal. 2: 12, where the verb describes Peters false step in
withdrawing from the society of Gentile believers out of fear of Jewish
believers. Those our Writer has in view withdraw entirely from the Christian profession and
circle.
9. Ch. 12: 25. paraiteomai. To refuse an appeal, as the guests invited
refused to come to the feast (Luke 14: 18, 19, where
the verb is translated to make excuse). To refuse to be entangled in idle
desputes (2
Tim. 2:
23). To reject a person (Titus 3: 10). Such actions are definite, intentional; and
thus does the apostate refuse to heed Gods testimony and turns from Gods Son
to Whom the Father testifies (1 John 5: 9).
10. Ch. 13: 9. paraphero,
to be carried away. The final warning is
against the subtle and dangerous influence of false teachings. These can sweep the heart along, out of
safety into danger, as winds can carry along clouds (Jude 12, the same word). In this action of false ideas upon the mind
lies the initial peril of man. The
figure here employed completes the circle of warning, being closely allied to the
first figure used, of water drifting the object out of safety into danger.
The careful student will observe how accurate is the
choice of words, each fitting exactly the warning given; and also that there is
a progress of thought throughout the Epistle, the warnings intensifying as the
privilages are expanded, each ascending to its appropriate climax.
* * *
[Page 274]
PART V: CONCLUSION
CHAPTER
XIX
CONSEQUENT
AND CONCLUDING
EXHORTATIONS
(
Ch.
13: 1. Let love of the brethren continue. 2 Forget not to show love to strangers: for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are evil entreated, as
yourselves also in the body. 4 Let
marriage be had in honour among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers Gid will judge. 5 Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as
ye have; for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither
will I in any wise forsake thee. 6 So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear: what
shall man do unto me?
7 Remember them that had the rule over you, which spake unto you the
word of God; and considering the issue of their
life [Gk. manner of life]
imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday and to-day, yea and
for ever. 9
Be not carried away with
divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace;
not by meats, wherein
they that occupied themselves were not profited.
10 We
have an altar, whereof
they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle. 11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the holy place by
the high priest as an offering for
sin, are burned without the camp. 12
Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us therefore go forth unto him without the camp, bearing the reproach. 14 For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come. 15 Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to
God continually, that
is, the fruit of our lips which make confession
to his name. 16 But to do good and to communicate forget
not: for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased. 17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for
they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that
shall give account; that they may do this with
joy, and not with grief: for this were
unprifitable for you.
18 Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience,
desiring to live honestly in all things. 19 And I exhort you the more exceedingly to do this, that I may be restored to
you the sooner.
[Page
275]
20 Now the
God of peace, who
brought again from the dead [Gk. out of dead ones] the great shepherd of the sheep with the
blood of the eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, 21 make you perfect in every good thing to do
his will, working
in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight,
through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for
ever and ever, Amen.
22 But I
exhort you,
brethren, bear with the word of exhortation; for I have written unto you in a few words. 23 know ye that our brother Timothy hath been set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will
see you.
24 Salute
all them that have the rule ofer you, and all the saints. They of
25 Grace be
with you all. Amen.
THIS
chapter has been regarded as a kind of appendix to
the Epistle. But the connexion
is much more intimate. It illustrates
the feature of the Word of God that there is an underlying and unexpressed
spiritual connexion between parts and phrases
This feature is very pronounced in the first epistle of John, but exists
everywhere in Scripture, the full epistle of John, but exists everywhere in
Scripture, the full sense of what is not known until this undeclared connexion
is preceived.
Here follows a series of exhortations
which show the child of God how to live so that he may not learn by experience
that God is a consuming fire (12: 29).
1. ver. 1. Let love of the brethren continue
(abide). For God
is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in
God, and God abideth in him (1 John 4: 16). Now love does not consume itself; its fire
feeds upon its opposite, all that is not of love. Therefore in the measure that the child of
God walks in love he will not experience that consuming fire of Gods jealousy
just before emphasized.
Another underlying principle is that
our real relationship with God is shown in our actual intercourse with our
brethren; for he that loveth not his brother whom he
hath seen cannot love God whom he hath not seen
and whosoever loveth Him that begat [the Father] loveth him also that is begotten of Him [his brother]
(1 John 4: 20;
5: 1). To walk in love to by brother is
indispensable to a walk in fellowship with his and my Father Who loves
both.
2. ver. 2. Hospitality. Under the uncertain conditions of travel of
those times and lands free hospitality was a need, a born, and a Christian
privilege. The neglect if it is recorded
as a reproach on the men of Gibeah (Judges 19:
15), and on a certain village in
The need of hospitality would be
specially urgent when persecution drove Christians far and wide (Acts 8: 1), and,
because the exercise of it would then involve risk, the temptation to refuse it
would arise. Those addressed had
hitherto resisted this temptation (6: 10; 10: 33); they are exhorted to continue their
fellowship and to extend it to even strangers who may seek it.
Now to open ones home to a stranger
requires no small measure of trust and grace.
Hence here again the cultivating of such kindness must needs develop in
the heart that love which promotes fellowship with God, and will thus preserve
the soul from decline and from the perils incurred in falling
away from the living God (3: 12).
The reason advanced for receiving
strangers is noteworthy. The father of
all men of faith was sitting in his tent door when three strangers came in
sight (Gen. 18:
2).
Abraham hastened to show them hospitality and presently learned that two
of these men were angels and the third the Lord of angels. The Writers exhortation must surely imply
that this experience may be repeated still.
One of Abrahams German children of faith, whose name I do not know,
wrote lines which may be rendered as follows:
ANGELS UNAWARES
(Heb. 13:
2).
Wheneer a guest draws
near thy house
Then take him warmly by
the hand,
And welcome him, at morn
or late,
And see if Christ before thy
gate
Doth make an angel stand.
So many all unknown have
had
An angel sent as guest by
God;
But minds were blind from
other things,
And as they saw no pair of
wings
They deemed him but a
load.
Nay, should a guest draw
near thy door,
And though but meanly he
be dressed,
Survey him closely, he may
be
An angel sent of God to
thee,
And all thy house be
blessed.
So comes a guest, then lay
to heart
That welcome warm he has
from thee:
May grace suffuse thy
countenance,
Nor rob thou him of confidence;
He may an angel be!*
* See
my short collection The King and other Verses, p.
45, for full text.
[Page 277]
3. ver. 3. Expousing
the cause of prisoners for Christs sake follows the same lines and
yields the same spiritual results. It
will be the test by which the Lord at His coming will determine the heart
attitude of men to Himself (Matt. 25: 31-36). In the
two great modern wars many servants of Christ, for conscience toward God, went
to prison, or endured lesser terms of bonds,
rather than destroy their fellows. It
was painful that but comparatively few of their brethren were ready to visit
them or otherwise support them, while some openly repudiated them. The believers here addressed had acted more
courageously and kindly (10: 33, 34). There was, however, danger that they might
lose that first love. It is our danger
also.
4. ver. 4. Sexual
Purity. The exhortation passes
from the heavenly family to the natural family.
The marriage relationship is the origin of all human relationships. It purity is therefore indispensable to all
social well-being and decay here breed corruption in all spheres of life. A man who will be unfaithful to his wife, or
a woman to her husband, will easily be untrustworthy in all other relationships
and transactions. The fornicator
dishonours his own body and will be ready to dishonour every other person or
obligation.
This wickedness has been universally
prevalent in all times: it has lately increased most alarmingly in western
lands, which is a sure sign of inescapable deterioration and ruin. The Christian is always liable to be infected
by the poisoned atmosphere of the world and to sink to its moral level. Hence the solemn charge to the Thessalonian
believers to abstain from fornication and in no
wise to give way to lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God; that no man transgress, and
wrong his brother in the matter, that is, by defiling the wife of a
fellow-Christian. This is enforced by
the stern warning, because the Lord is an avenger of
all these things, as we forewarned you and
solemnly testified (1 Thess. 4: 1-8).
This strong passage shows that it is
impossible to please God and indulge an illicit passion, and that he who
rejects the call to purity rejects not man, but God, and acts in defiance of
the Holy Spirit. Marriage is honourable,
fornication is abominable, whether it be in the married (adultery) or the
unmarried.
Pauls assurance to Christians that the Lord is an avenger ought to press on the conscious
more heavenly than is often the case. He
taught so fully the truth of salvation by grace that it is the more striking
that he balanced this by the fact that the Lord personally acts as an Avenger,
an ekdikos, one who carries out a legal sentence. See this word
Now this same Apostle of grace knew
well that there operates ceaselessly an angelic syatem of government, to which
all men are amenable, and through which in part God avenges evils not otherwise
to be reached and punished. Thus Israel
was warned that, if the people of the land did not execute the law upon an evil-doer,
God would Himself act and would set His face against that man and cut him off (Lev. 20: 4, 5). In accord with this Paul committed to Satan
(the executioner-in-chief of that angelic government), for the cutting short of
his bodily life, a Christian who was living in fornication and whom the church
was failing to judge (1 Cor. 5: 1-5). Thus
also the Writer says that fornicators and adulterers
God will judge. It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God
for our God is a consuming fire (10: 31; 12: 29).
Nobly and faithfully did Bishop
Latimer act when to the licentious and adulterous Henry VIII he presented a
Bible, wrapped in a napkin bearing the solemn sentence fornicators and adulterers God will judge (Hugh Latimer, by
Demaus, p. 213).
God as the Creator has shown His
abhorrence of these vices, and that He is an avenger, by attaching to them the
loathsome diseases that attend promiscuous intercourse. Was it, then, anything less than a sheer
mocking of God that, in the late war, chaplains to the forces, of all men,
supposedly His servants among the troops, should have been required by the
authorities of a certain State to instruct men how to avoid these consequences
through indulging in sin habitually?
Shall not God avenge such defiance of His laws? Let all His children, at least, serve Him in
this matter with reverence and awe lest we too feel His holy consuming
vengeance.
5. vers, 5, 6. Covetousness or Contentment.
The central secret of the fellowship of
the Son of God with His Father has been given at 10:
7: Lo, I am come
to doThy will,
O God.
This is from the Septuagint. The
English rendering of the Hebrew reads, I delight to do
Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my
heart (Ps.
40: 7, 8).
For Him that will of God included
renouncing the infinite riches of the Creator and becoming poor (2 Cor. 8: 9). Having
learned from Him His secret His servant Paul could say, Having food and covering we shall be herewith content,
and he solemnly warned that those who meant to be rich (that is, to have
more than these necessaries for living) fall into
temptations and a snare and many foolish and hurtful [Page
279] lusts,
such as drown men in destruction and perdition
(1 Tim. 6: 8, 9). God may sometimes permit one of His people to
hold more, even much more, but the intention to get more is the deadly
evil, for it implies discontent with the present ordering of God and becomes a
root of all evils.
This discontent is the almost
universal state of mind of men of the world and one of the chief causes of
their miseries. The Christian is to
watch carefully that his turn of mind is free from the
love of money. Covetousness is simply the desire to have more, how much
more is not the material point. By the
very fact of being covetous the heart is cursed with discontent; by being
discontented it is cursed with covetousness.
The times when our Writer wrote were
hard. The vast majority were perpetually
poor, and Christians often had the aggravating circumstance of being
deliberately robbed. These addressed had
learned to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods
(10: 34). This was because, being poor, they knew they
were rich (2 Cor. 6: 10). Did a
highwayman take the travellers purse and coin but leave his pocket-book and
bank-notes, the robbed would not feel poor or fear for the nights lodging at
the inn. Thus may the Christian when
poor feel assured as to future need, for he holds the promises of God, Who
Himself
hath said, I will in no wise fail thee,
Neither will I
in any wise forsake thee:
So that with
good courage we say,
The Lord is
helper; I will
not fear:
What shall man
do unto me?
What indeed! He shall do no more than God sees to be for
my good. The vast promise quoted,
guaranteeing the perpetual presence and unfailing provision of God, was given
to a soldier for fighting the battles of the Lord (Deut. 31: 7, 8; Josh. 1: 5) and to a
king for building the house of the Lord (1 Chron.
28: 20). He whose whole heart and life is devoted to
these two purposes can count upon the promise that, to the one who seeks first the kingdom of God and to act righteously
before Him, all needful earthly things shall be added (Matt. 6: 33).
Teach us, O
God, that, if we had Thy perfect wisdom and Thy perfect love, we should order
for ourselves exactly what Thou orderest for us (A. T. Pierson).
6. Honouring Leaders. Vers. 5 to 17. This paragraph opens and closes by references
to the leaders of the church. All that
lies between is thus enclosed as being one theme. This it is, for the Writer, as we shall see,
passes from the matters of [Page 280] individual conduct just treated to deal with the corporate life of
Christians as a community.
i. ver. 1 Guides. The Head of the church has appointed
authority therein. Guides, leaders,
rulers are His gift and institution for the good order, instruction, and
encouragement of His people. They are
what shepherds are to the flock, going before, showing the way, gathering
stragglers, protecting from foes, guiding to safe pastures and quiet waters.
The commentators take this verse as a
call to remember those leaders who had died.
They base this view upon the past tense who spake
unto you the word of God, and upon the word ekbasis taken in its sense of end,
close of life, implying perhaps death by martyrdom. This may be right, but the present participle
remember those guiding you more naturally
implies the guides as being alive, and is exactly parallel to ver. 3, remember those in bonds, and in ver 17, Be obedient to those
ruling you, which all take to mean living leaders. Ekbasis
and its verb ekbaino have also
the sense of produce of the soil, fruit growing from the ground. The exhortation may be to contemplate the
present character, course, and fruitful service of their leaders and to follow
in their steps as the flock the shepherd.
But it is the faith of these guides
that is to be imitated. Their callings
in life or their position in the church may not be those of others, but the
faith that led them to glorify God, to suffer for Christ, to serve His saints,
that faith each believer needs for what may be his particular calling or
service. George Muller was called to
care for orphants, trusting God for their support. Not all are called to that form of service,
but all are called to bring God into every step in life, to live by faith.
But whether the leaders had died or
were alive such are to be remembered and honoured (1
Tim. 5:
17; 1 Thess. 5:
12, 13; 1 Cor. 16: 15, 16). The house of God is not a democracy but a theocracy,
a place where the Son of God rules (3: 6); it is not a sphere where every man has
equal status and authority, but in which the Head of the house appoints each to
his place and duty (Matt. 25: 14, 15; Mark 13: 34).
Therefore to refuse honour of those whom
the Lord has qualified to lead His people is to reject the authority of the
Head of Gods house.
But the two-fold test of who are true
guides, raised up by the Lord, is to be noted.
First, they can speak the Word of God; they are apt to teach (1 Tim.
3: 3), able to exhort in heart-giving teaching and and convict gainsayers (Titus
1: 9). Then also their manner of life is
commendable, its issue is fruitful to
the glory of God and is a safe example to others. Thus Paul could unhesitatingly call attention
to his [Page 281] life
among Christians and before the world, and call upon others to imitate him even as he imitated the
Great Shepherd, the Head of the
household, Christ (1 Thess. 1: 5, 6; Phil. 3: 17). It is
deeply to be regretted that so many gain leadership in the churches who do not
manifest these indispensable features.
Their influence is hurtful, being not of the Spirit of Christ, but only
natural, or even carnal, even when they are capable, energetic, and get things done.
ii ver. 8. Jesus
Christ. In spite of much
weakness within and fierce attacks from without that Society known as the
The reason for this is the
unchangeableness of Jesus Christ. He is
the Rock of ages (Isa. 26: 4) upon which
the house of God stands securely and defies the tempests of time. The Church of Rome says that Peter is the
rock, but, great servant of Jesus Christ as Peter was, he was impulsive, needed
to be rebuked by the Lord (Matt. 16: 23) and by
man, for in practice he could be variable and unreliable (Gal. 2: 11-16).
But Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and to-day and unto the ages. The Son of God has passed through distinct
and varied conditions and experiences.
He existed originally in the form of God (Phil.
2: 6); He
took the form of man (Phil. 2: 7),
assuming human nature into indissoluble union with His prior divine nature; He
passed into the state and realm of death; He rose and ascended to the throne of
God; but throughout He himself in essential individuality was, is, and remains
eternally the same person, the same ego, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
iii. ver. 9. Divergent
Doctrines. His
unchangeability. This is the infallible
touchstone of truth by which to test and expose error. Even in that early time of our Writer there
were spreading teachings as to Jesus Christ which in various ways were diverse
from this truth and foreign to it. These
false ideas concerning Him have continued till to-day, indeed, have found
startling modern revival.
In early centuries many Gnostics
and Docetists
asserted that the body of Christ was only a Phantasm, an appearance, not a
reality. Therefore its text book, Science and Health, denies the reality of
Christs life, sufferings, death, atonement, and bodily resurrection (see esp.
chs I and II). Thus Jesus Christ has no
real existence, neither yesterday, to-day, nor for ever.
[Page 282]
The Gnostics and Arius
agreed in attributing to Jesus pre-existence, but as a created
being. Pastor Russell, Judge Rutherford,
with their followers Jehovahs Witnesses, accept this,
adding that in resurrection He was elevated to divinity as a reward for His
fidelity to God on earth. Thus He is
something today and forever other than what He was yesterday.
Judaism, Christadelphianism, Mohammedanism,
and common Unitarianism deny that the One now known as Jesus [the Christ] existed
before His birth as man. Therefore He
had no yesterday.
In the fourth century Apollinaris
taught that the humanity of Jesus had no personal human soul or ego,
but only an animal life and body suffused by the Divine Logos. Thus the man Christ Jesus had no yesterday, not being a proper and distinct person
In the last century Swedenborg
taught a similar conception, denying the eternal existence of the Son in the
Godhead, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Approximating on this point to Mohammed, God, he said, is One,
adding that this One and only Divine Person assumed human nature. Thus again the man known as Christ Jesus had
no individual existence, no yesterday (The True Christian Religion, chs. I and II).
In Esoteric Christianity
Mrs. Besant, President of the Theosophical Society, adopted the early heresy
that Jesus was only a man born as other men, that at His baptism the Christ descended upon Him, energized Him until
the hour of crucifixion, and then withdrew from Him. So that onlt a man died, and His career
ended. Thus as Jesus Christ He had no yesterday, and has no for
ever, but a merely earthly course and end.
Every modernist who asserts that Jesus
had only a natural birth, and denies His personal resurrection, thereby denies
that one and same Person is unchangeable yesterday and
to-day, yea and forever.
These examples illustrate how the
person of Christ is the standard Christian truth from every false teaching
derives and becomes anti-Christian. We
are here warned, as in Eph. 4: 14 also, not
to allow such winds of doctrine to toss our
minds to and fro and whirl us about as children in a hurricane.
Since Jesus Christ is unchangeable any
teaching concerning Him which is new and strange, later than and differing from
the New Testament, cannot be true.
iv. ver. 9. An
Established Heart. This state is
the opposite to the feeble child tossed about by the wind. Such a heart says: My
heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing,
yea, I will sing praises
(Ps. 57: 7; 108: 1). It has
settled [Page 283] convictions,
is stout to defend them, and strong to spread them. It is the house built upon the rock.
How shall this firmness be
gained. The answer is both positive and
negative. It is reached (a) by grace;
(b) not
by meats. Here the Writer concentrates once more upon
his main theme. Meats stand for those external, bodily, legal observances,
perscribed by Moses, of which eating is not eating certain foods, or eating or
not eating at certain seasons, or on certain occasions, were typical examples. Such ceremonial distinctions and restrictions
of food the Lord had annulled by teachings which made all foods
clean (Mark 7; 19). The
Epistles follow to the same effect, as Rom. 14; 1 Cor. 6: 12, 13; ch. 8; 1 Tim. 4: 3.
These Mosaic regulations had value in
restraining the gluttonous eating in which the heathen indulged, and so they
promoted bodily and mental health. Yet
in the higher realm of the moral and spiritual life these observances could be
to no profit, as our Writer points out.
C. H. Spurgeon sat next to a rabbi at a dinner. When a suckling pig was served, with its
savoury accompaniments, the rabbi whispered, Moses
very hard, Moses very hard.
Outwardly he wakled according to the law, but he broke it in his heart,
and misjudged Gods laws. There is no
spiritual gain, but rather loss. The
great preacher gave the opposite answer: Yes, there
is a yoke upon your necks that neither ye nor
your fathers were able to bear (Acts 15: 10).
From this spiritually prifitless yoke
Christ sets free, replacing it by His light and restful yoke (Matt. 11: 27-30; Gal. 5: 1).
The means of this emancipation from
slavery (John 8:
35, 36) is the revelation of the
Father which the Son grants (as is shown in the passages cited in Matthew and John)
and especially of the grace of the Father to sinners. For it is experience of His grace revealed in
Christ that overwhelms rebellion in the heart, creates assuired confidence,
kindles gratitude and affection, and establishes the child in dutiful obedience
to the Father.
To-day, as ever, the lack of such
enjoyment of the grace of God is very wide among religious persons. There are great systems, miscalled Christian,
the very basis of which is law, not grace, Moses not Christ, works not faith; in
which ceremonies, penances, self-mortifications, obligatory observances of days
and seasons, monetary payments, in short all that is meant by meats, hide from the penitent the freeness, richness,
vastness, entire sufficiency of what God bestowes in Christ upon the principle
of grace.
And now, as ever, those who adhere to
such systems are [Page 284] not profited in soul, but remain withour assurance Godward or as to
eternity; they struggle vainly for peace and power, they live and die in
spiritual poverty. Indeed, the clerics
who maintain these systems often deceive their adherents with the false
assertion that it is pure and serious presumption to think that a sinner can
have assurance of salvation prior to the day of judgment, and they order them
to be more zealous concerning meats, if so be
that at last they may thereby secure the mercy of God.
v. ver. 10. The
Altar. If one enters the church
buildings of the religious systems mentioned the first object met os a
bowl of water. Passing up through the
edifice to the far end the last object found is an altar, and
to this the clergy only may approach.
In the Tabernacle and
* This
faith on the sacrifice is implied in his appeal, God, be propitiated to me the
sinner. As he was making a general
confession of sinfulness, the common public sacrifice availed. Had he been confessing some particular
trespass he must have brought a personal offering.
This symbolism, and the truth it
taught, Satan skilfully corrupted in early Christian times. The water was brought to the fore and the new
birth was falsely said to be effected by baptism. Then the altar was made inaccessible, save to
the priest, so that the sinner should not attain to certainty of pardon, but be
left dependant upon his own unavailing efforts which later of course he must
pay, to the enrichment and power of the priests.
This displacing of the altar,
with the consequent annulling of its primary purpose and benefit, marks those
systems as anti-Christian. They have not
even so much virtue as the ancient Mosaic system. The typology of that was at least [Page
285] true and helpful, whereas the
symbolism of these systems is false and destructive.
An altar is indispensable. There must be propitiation for sin. If, then, as our Writer has shown, the Mosaic
ritual has been set aside by its fulfilment in Christ, where is our altar? For he says distinctly that we have an altar, a place of sacrifice, atonement,
pardon, reconciliation. Where stands
this altar? To what spot must the
repentant now betake himself to meet with God?
Where shall he find the sacrifice and the priest?
vi. ver. 11. Outside
the Camp. Attention is next drawn
to the greatest day of the year under the Mosaic law, the day of general
atonement for the whole people (Lev. 16). There
were daily and frequent sacrifices for sins, but these were chiefly (a)
individual sacrifices for personal offences; (b) they left unknown sins
unatoned; (c) the blood that made atonement was taken no nearer to God than the
brazen altar at the entrance gate; (d) they left the justified offender
standing afar from God, though forgiven.
But on the great day of atonement (Lev. 16) the
sacrifices were (a) for the whole people (vers.
5, 15, 24, 33); (b)
for all
their sins, unknown as well as known, during the whole year preceding (vers. 16, 21, 22, 34); (c) the atoning blood was taken into the
holiest of all the sprinkled upon the golden mercy-seat in the immediate
presence of God; (d) on the ground of which blood, there presented, the high
priest, as representative of the whole people, was granted access to that
Presence.*
* There
were other victims burned outside the camp (Lev.
4: 11, 12, 21) and
their blood was sprinkled in the holy place (vv. 5, 6, 16, 17). Our Writer shows that not these but the
ceremonies of the great day of atonement are in his mind for he gives a
particular true of that day only, even that the high priest brought the blood
into the holy places (plural, ta hagia or hagion).
It was true that he could not stay
there, nor venture in om any other than that one day in the year, for the blood
of bulls and goats could not provide perfection in communion with God; but
access granted on that day was a foreshadowing of the perfect and perpetual
communion which Christ would establish for Himself and His people by the
presenting of His own sacrifice to God in the heavenly tabernacle.
Now, with an acute, divinely granted
insight, our Writer points out that the bodies of any beasts the blood of which
was brought into the holy place were not burned on the altar at the entrance
gate but were taken to a place outside the camp and consumed there. Outside the camp was a place of reproach [Page
286] where communion with God was
denied. It was the sphere of the leper (Lev. 13: 46), the blasphemer (Lev. 24: 14), the
sabbath breaker (Num. 15: 35, 36). The carcasses in question bore the reproach because
of having been by imputation made sin.
This detail of the divinely appointed
types, as every other detail, Christ must fulfil. Wherefore Jesus also,
that He might sanctify the people through His own blood,
suffered without the gate. God secretly overruled every detail of the
death of His Lamb. They led Him away to crucify Him (Matt. 27: 31); away from the temple and the court of the
judge they lead Him out to crucufy Him
(Mark 15: 20);
and He went out unto the place called Golgotha,
out of the city itself, for the place where Jesus was
crucified was nigh unto the city and therefore outside of it (John 19: 17, 20).
Thus did men unite to cast reproach
upon the Holy One of God. They drove Him
away from the temple, they cast Him out of the city, they gave Him the place of
dishonour in the execution ground of criminals.
There the Lamb of God offered Himself without blemish; there
He died; there, not in the temple court, is the altar; there,
not in the city, must the sinner seek Him, there must the believer espouse Him,
there
receiving the atoning virtue of the precious blood which entitled Him to return
from banishment to the Fathers house and throne, and entitles Him as the
Priest to bring unto God all who draw nigh through Him.
From that central hour of all the ages
the temple became the centre of obsolete ceremonies. He who remains there as his place of worship,
or who returns there after having for a time gone forth to Christ. He nust starve his soul on the now enpty
forms of the temple. The worshipper at
the altar saw part of his offering dedicated to God in the altar fire, part the
priest took and enjoyed, part he himself ate (Lev.
7). Behold,
The temple is the centre of earthly,
ritualistic, legalistic religion. This religion
is in the city, or its temple. When
in Christ He came to it He was cast out into the place of the curse; all
classes of the city combined to despise and reject Him: the religious leaders,
priests and rabbis; the politicians and the men of law, judges, police
officers, learned scribes, and common people, all joined in thrusting [Page
287] Him away. Neither the city nor the temple saw Him
again; He was not there, and it is vain to seek Him there. It is at Calvary He must be first met; and
In plain language it means that he who
wishes to have fellowship with God in His holy heaven must abandon every system
of religion that is of law, of ceremonies, of self-effort, of human devising,
of secular authority, and must accept the reproach of dependance upon, of
fellowship with, of obedience to the Redeemer Who suffered without the gate.
It can be the honest but unenlightened
hearts within those systems may gain some such acquaintance with God as can
truly God-fearing Jews, but it cannot be that in such twilight they see and
enjoy the full sunlight of Gods grace.
And should one who has reached the sunlight return to the shadow he must
learn by bitter experience the force of this warning by Christ: If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, the darkness how great! (Matt. 6: 23).
It is not a matter of leaving one
religious denomination to join another company, but of abandoning a system of religion which is of the world, not of Christ,
even though it assumes His name. Indeed,
it involves that the heart be weaned and separated from the whole world-system
of which such religion is a part.
In the time of Christ (and to-day) the
city was what the camp was in
vii. vers. 15, 16. Spiritual Sacrifices. The place outside
the camp is in itself uninviting, indeed forbidding. No one would resort there by natural
choice. It requires a powerful
inducement, a supreme attraction. This
is provided. The call is not merely to
go outside the camp, but Let us therefore go [Page
288] forth UNTO HIM. The altogether lovely One is there, the Joy
of the Father, the Lover of souls.
Who that one moment hath
the least descried Him,
Dimly and faintly, hidden
and afar,
Doth not despise all
excellence beside Him,
Pleasures and powers that
are not and that are?
(
And when the soul thus reaches Christ
in true, deep experience, and joins the company of those who thus know Him
where He now is; when there has been a fulfilment of the mighty promise: He that hath My commandments,
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest
Myself unto him (John 14: 21); then the outside place becomes a Paradise,
for the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose.
And what are the occupations of those
found there with Him? Do they grieve
over the loss of the pleasures and prospects of the city? Nay, verily, for they share in His
activities, which are two, Praise and Benevolence.
In ch. 2: 12 He has
been shown as leading the praise of God in the midst of His people. He is the Christ Singer, the Precentor of the
choirs, heavenly and earthly. With Him
the heart overflows, bubbles up (Ps. 45: 1), and the
desert resounds with songs of gladness.
Though still amidst the trials of life, they have reached already in His
company the fulness of the psalmists desire,
Then will I go
unto the altar of God,
Unto God, the
gladness of my joy:
And upon the
harp I will praise Thee,
O God, my God. (Ps. 43: 4).
These know what His greatly distressed
servant meant when he wrote as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich (2
Cor. 6:
10).
For, in the second place, those
outside WITH HIM receive of His
spirit of love and faith. This cures
them of fear of to-morrow, of consequent love of getting and keeping, and
enables them to find their joy in giving.
How contrary to the city! They do
good and distribute cheerfully, out of their little they enrich many.
The care of the poor by the early
Christians astonished the heathen; for there was no alterior motive, but
evident sincerity, when the persecuted were kind to their persecutors. It is a modern rationalist who wrote
concerning Christ: that the [Page
289] simple
record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and
soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and than all the
exhortations of moralists. (Lecky, History of European
Morals, ii, p. 8).
And now that in some lands the State
has taken in hand to be general Almoner, let the Christian watch carefully that
he become not slack in generosity, but let him look keenly for the needy who
hide their need and who may be overlooked by State officials; and let him, as
opportunity offers, send his sacrifices of love farther afield, as the
Philippians did to a prisoner of Christ in a distant land or when he was
serving in the gospel far away (Phil. 4: 10-20), or as the Christians of Greece sent to needy
saints in Judea (2 Cor. 8 and 9).
In any case let not the followers of
the One Who is outside the world-system, having been rejected by it, hand their
benevolences to that world to distribute, otherwise than by paying taxes as
compelled by law. Let them distribute
Christs money under Christs direction and in His sweet spirit; for social
theorists may argue and scheme as they will, but until the kingdom of heaven
has been established on earth under Christ there will always be the poor and so
always opportunity for companions of Christ to distribute His bounties and
share His joy of sacrifice.
For it is sacrifice that is
well-pleasing to God, not giving out of our superfluity (Luke 21: 1-4). And
praise becomes a sacrifice when it costs us something to confess our faith in
God, and giving is a sacrifice when one improverishes himself by the gift.
These, then, are the happy occupations
of such as go forth unto Him, bearing His reproach.
These shall not fear the consuming fire but shall rejoice in the
Fathers love.
viii. ver. 17. Rule
and Submission. This circle of
exhortations is completed by a further enforcement of the duty of submitting to
the Chief Shepherd by obeying under-shepherds of His appointment. No circle of society can enjoy order and
peace save by due respect for proper authority.
In the city there flourish
insubordination and consequent disorder.
Christ calls for submission of heart to authority, and He enables this
by giving grace to be lowly.
But again it is set forth what manner
of men such must be who are to command respect and exercise rule in the house
of God. They are such as
(a)
watch in behalf of
souls, as shepherds watch over the health and well-being of the sheep; and
(b)
they serve the
flock as those who must render account to the Owner.
[Page 290]
Shepherds that love power, that feed
themselves, or are hirelings serving only for pay, are sternly denounced by God
(Ezek. 34; Zech. 11; John 10: 12). But woe to the flock, or the individual
sheep, that obeys not the true shepherd.
The honour of the shepherd and the health of the flock are linked
inseparably. The Owner and Chief
Shepherd shall require an account from the under-shepherds. If these must report that the sheep were
refactory, wandering, and so became ill-fed and unhealthy, then in that day of
reckining this shall not be to the joy of the shepherd, but shall cause him to
groan in sorrow, and it shall not be to the profit of the sheep.
Here the Writer closes his arguments
and appeals, and does so my emphasizing the same themes that he has passed
throughout. Provilege and responsibility
are inseparable: he who would enjoy the one must discharge the other. God in grace has both offered the privileges
and will grant the strength to secure enjoyment of them. All is of grace; it is our part to see that
we do not fall short of that grace.
7. vers, 18, 19. Prayer. Yet the Writers mind continues to move
within the sphere of Christian unity; not, however, a unity of external
organization but of spiritual co-operation.
He knows the place and power of prayer in the working of the
i. That he who seeks the help of God must exercise himself always to have a conscience void of offence
toward God and man (Acts 24: 16). The
word honest is not here used in its present
narrowed sense as opposed to deceitful of fraudulent. The adjective kalos seems to retain its characteristic
sense of that which commands the respect and admiration of others(Westcott). But the full force includes the thought that
the heart and life will bear the scrutiny of the all-knowing God. The widow must be able to cry Do me justice of my adversary (Luke 18: 3, 5, 7, 8, marg.).
For If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me (Ps.
66: 18),
but the prayer of the upright is His delight (Prov. 15: 8).
ii. That prayer has influence over circumstances,
including such as one may not be able otherwise to overcome. Elijah controlling the weather is a chief
instance (Jas. 5:
16-18). The Writer was under some restraint which
hindered him from being with those to whom he was writing. What those circumstances were they may have
known, though we do not. It is to our
advantage not to know, for so we may extend the lesson, and our prayers, to
other than his particular conditions.
Paul as a prisoner was in such circumstances
when he wrote to Philemon and asked for his prayers (Philem.
22), but this is [Page 291] not ground enough to infer that Paul was our Writer,
for many others were prisoners for Christ: or our Writers hinderance may have
been from quite other conditions, such as sickness. Whatever were the circumstances the
encouragement remains that united prayer can prevail over them.
iii. Intensity of
spirit is a factor in effectual prayer.
I beseech you
I beseech you the more exceedingly. The supplication of
a righteous man has much prevailing strength in its working. Elijah prayed with
prayer, that is, fervently, without abating till the answer was granted
(Jas. 5: 16, 17. See my papers Praying
is Working and Prayer Focused and
Fighting).
8. vers. 20, 21. The Benediction. He who seeks the prayers of others will pray
for others.
i. The Writer turns to God as the
God of peace - the God in Whom there are no conflicting passions (as the
heathen attributed to their gods); Who feels no distraction or fear, for His
almightiness is sure of being equal to every occasion; and Who is therefore a
God of order and peace (1 Cor. 14: 33). He is the God Who, through the blood of His
Son, made possible a righteous peace between Himself and rebels, and thereby
causes men estranged from one another to live in peace. And He is the God Who diffuses the peace of
His own heart in the hearts of those who trust His almighty power and love, so
that they are kept in peace under all adversities and uncertainties (Isa. 26: 3; Phil. 4: 4-7).
Thus does this God of peace become the
resource of the believer in every need, the refuge where his heart dwells in
quietness even when storms devastate is outward affairs. How hopeful, how useful, how practical to
have access to Him and to seek His grace for others. There is no other way so surely to help them.
ii. ver. 20. The
power of this mighty God extends over the dread realm of death. The chief proof of this is, that the One Who
went into death laden with a far heavier load of guilt than any other who has
ever gone thither (for He bore the sin of the world, whereas each other bears
only his own sin), and over Whom death therefore have claimed a firmer and lasting
grip, this One, the Redeemer, God nevertheless brought up out of that
realm. Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father
(Rom. 6: 4), because it was not
possible that He should be held by it (Acts
2: 24), seeing that He had cancelled
its full claim against sin by discharging its full penalty.
In Eph. 1: 19, 20 this cancelling of the claim and power of death
is described as that working of the strength of His
[Page 292] [Gods] might which He wrought in Christ [Messiah] when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places
in supremacy over the universe. This
highest, all-dominating example of the power of God exhibits the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe.
This is the thought that the Writer
here connects with the resurrection of Christ.
It is as the great Shepherd of the sheep
that He has been taken out of death into the glory of heaven, and in this He is the Forerunner of
His believing people (ch. 6: 20), even as
the Eastern shepherd goes before his sheep.
Thus it comes to pass that we are associated with Him as
raised
from the dead. It is in the
world of resurrection that the believer is joined to the Lord. It was with Moses as the one who had led them
through the Red Sea that
When the Lord lived on this earth it
was as a shepherd who would have to die to secure the eternal welfare of His
sheep (John 10: 1-18).
Association with Him then and thus was indeed a privilege: but they are
but little in the good of present truth and privilege who sing I wish I had been with Him then.
Nor is any real service done to
children by teaching them so to sing. We
cannot
now be connected with the Spirit with Jesus as a man on earth,
because He is not such, but is the Man in heaven, the great Shepherd raised out
of death. Even
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet
now
we know Him so no longer (2 Cor.
5: 16). But they who go forth unto Him outside the
camp, those in whom His death and resurrection are made opperative through
faith, by the Spirit, find that the great Shepherd leads them into fountains of
water of life which rise at the throne of God and make heaven itself the
fruitful realm of peace and joy.
Sumptuous the banquet
spread by Love divine;
Melchizedek brings
heavenly bread and wine;
The Prince of peace with
stately grace attends
To serve His faithful
servants as His friends.
Since the Shepherd is raised and
seated in heavenly places, that is the place of His people (Eph. 2: 5, 6), as they
get to know who follow Him whithersoever He goeth (Rev. 14: 4).
[Page 293]
iii. ver. 20. This
position and portion are guaranteed to faith, for they are secured by covenant,
that eternal covenant before reviewed (ch. 9), the ratification of which was by the precious
blood of Christ.
iv. ver. 21. This
covenant is eternal, because Christ and His blood are of eternal,
undiminishable virtue.
v. ver. 20. The
covenant is ours, for we have associated
ourselves with Him to be His sheep, we have set our seal to this, that God is
true (John 3: 33). It is for us to persevere to the end in His
steps; for there are three chief and indispensable marks of His sheep: they
listen to His voice, they are recognized by Him as being His sheep, and they
follow His steps as their Shepherd (John 10:
27).
vi. ver. 20. And
therefore this Shepherd is to them their Lord, whose call, guidance, wishes,
words are of unquestioned authority. But
this their divine Lord is also JESUS,
the Man of human nature, experience, sympathy, as shown at ch. 4: 14, 15; 5: 2, 7-10.
vii. ver. 21. His
people are as yet sadly imperfect, sometimes as unhealthy sheep. But the God of peace has taken them in hand
with a view of making them perfect. Many
are afraid of this word, as if it denoted somewhat of which they are in danger,
and they remain very imperfect. Some
misuse it to teach that the very root of sin in our human nature can be
eradicated in this life and have no trace in heart or conduct. This idea has nothing to do with this
particular word nor is it anywhere taught in Scripture.
The meaning of katartizo is that an article is accurately and completely adapted
to its intended use. Fishermen were mending their nets,
so that these might catch and hold the fish (Matt.
4: 21; Mark 1: 19). Compare Gal. 6: 1: restore such an one, so that he shall be again adapted to
serving God. Or take the usage in our Epistle.
10: 5:
the holy body of Jesus was specially prepared, fitted for His life and
service on earth. 11: 3: The ages
and worlds were framed, perfectly adjusted together, as are the parts of a
complex machine to produce the finished article. Comp. 1 Pet. 5: 10. The word katartizein, to make perfect,
includes the thoughts of the harmonious combination of different powers (comp. Eph. 4: 12 katartismos, 2 Cor. 13: 9 katartisis), of the
supply of that which is defective (1 Thess. 3: 10), and of the amendment of that which is faulty (Gal. 6: 1; comp. Mark 1: 19 (Westcott).
Thus is God dealing with broken earthenware, human beings ruined by sin. He is remedying broken parts, and supplying
new parts and faculties, so that we may be able and glad to do good works (as contrasted with our former dead works, 9: 14), works, that is good according to His [Page
294] own standard. It is Paul, the apostle of grace, who urges that they that have believed God must be careful to
maintain good works, be zealous of good works
(Titus 3: 8; 2: 14).
viii ver. 21. The
standard of these good works is the will of God. This His will we learn from His Word, by His
Spirit. The only true perfect Servant
God has yet had on earth said, Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done
(Luke 22: 42). The Son learned the Fathers will from the
Fathers Book and by the leadings of His Fathers Spirit. It was a principle of His life that the
Scripture must be fulfilled, no matter the cost.
ix. ver. 21. This
willingness of spirit, and this conduct which is well
pleasing in His sight, God works in the heart that is utterly devoted
to Him. Here enters the gracious
activity of the Spirit of God.
And
every virtue we possess,
And every victory
won,
And every
thought of holiness,
Are His alone.
It is He Who teaches us what is well-pleasing to God, removing our
perverted ideas; He it is Who enables the soul to delight in Gods will and to
do or to suffer it cheerfully. Of
ourselves we could neither know nor do that will of God; but when the soul has
ceased from its own notions and endeavours, God works in us and adjusts and
empowers effectually.
And each
deed is at once the deed of man and the deed of God (poiesai, poion). The work of God makes mens work possible: He
Himself does (autos poion), as the one source of all good, that which is in
another sense man does as freely accepting His grace. And all is wrought in man through Jesus Christ (Comp. Acts 3: 16) (Westcott).
x. ver. 21. And all
well-pleasing to God through Jesus Christ,
forasmuch as, in this yet incomplete stage of our development as children of
God, there is nothing absolutely fit for God save as it becomes acceptable by
the mediation of our great Priest and the association with it of His merits, as
incense and frankincense suffusing all with sweetness (Lev. 16: 12; 2: 2). And when we shall at least have been brought
into perfection we shall still be acceptable through Jesus Christ, for then
there shall be in us nothing that is not of Him, and He shall be all in all.
xi. ver. 21. Thus is
served already in measure the end that once governed the universe, and shall
yet govern it, that unto God shall be the glory unto
the ages of the ages, even for ever and ever. The essence of sin is that it deprives God of
due glory and sets up a creature to receive glory. This is [Page 295] that vainglory of life
(1 John 2: 16)
which in reality makes the creature wholly inglorious. This dishonourable condition God is
rectifying through Jesus Christ. None
but God can effect this. Therefore to
Him belongs all glory both as Creator, Redeemer, and Restorer. It is
for each to watch narrowly his own acts, to scrutinize closely his inner
motives, so as to exclude self-glory and to render all glory to God Whose
exclusive right it is.
9. ver. 22. Exhortation. The Writer here indicates the character of
the whole Letter: it is
exhortation. It is designed to stir up to ceaseless watchfulness against backsliding
and the rather to press on after Christ unto the goal of Christian hope.*
[*
That is, to be accounted
worthy to rule with Christ Jesus during the Age
yet to come, (Luke 20; 35. cf. Matt. 5: 20; 2 Tim. 2: 12; Rom. 8: 17b; Rev. 3: 21; 20: 4-6, etc.. We do not hope
for eternal
life; we presently have it (by Gods grace through faith alone,
in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2: 8, 9. cf. John
3: 16) as a free
gift of God (Rom. 6: 23,
R.V.). To hope
for that,
which God says we presently have, is to disbelieve His Word! His gifts and calling are without repentance!]
His words were few having regard to
the vastness of the theme. It may be
doubted whether the infinite topics which the New Testament Writers handle could
be treated so concisely, yet so comprehensively and lucidly, by mere human
skill. Even as literature they bear the
hall-mark of Divine ability. This is
abundant reason for accepting, pondering, obeying their instructions and
exhortations.
10. ver. 23. Timothy. 1. The Writer knew Timothy. 2. He knew that Timothy had been a prisoner.
3. He knew that he was now free. 4. In that case they would together visit the
believers addressed.
These particulars are used by some to
maintain that Paul was our Writer. This
is plausible and possible but insufficiemt.
For Timothy worked sometimes without Paul (1
Tim. 1: 3).,
sometimes with others besides Paul (Acts 20:
4), for a time with Silas alone (Acts 17: 14). The supposition that no one else than Paul
could fulfil the above particulars is untenable and so the argument is
inconclusive.
As far as the records show Timothy was
never in
The brief reference indicates (1) the
troubles that preachers met in that period; (2) the brotherly regard the Writer
had for Timothy; (3) the concern which he knew the believers addressed would
have for Timothy; (4) his own welcome of Timothy as a companion in
service. Evidently Timothy had won his spurs.
11. ver. 24. Salutations. There is a courtesy which becomes a
Christian. It saves from abruptness of
manner. [Page 296] The
Writer first honours pointedly those set over the church by the Head of the
church. Salute
all them that have the rule over you, those guiding you. This is the third mention of the leaders (vers. 7, 17). It is
important to note that in this community of Christians there were several
overseers - all them. It is ever so; see Acts
14: 23; 1
Cor. 16:
15, 16;
Phil. 1: 1;
1 Thess. 5: 12-14; Titus 1: 5. The rule of a church by a single leader has
no New Testament warrant. The angel in the churches in Rev.
chs. 2
and 3 was an angel, a heavenly being, as in the sixty-seven other places where
the word comes in that book.
The church was to salute its leaders
for the Writer. So the Letter was not
addressed to the leaders, let alone to any one of them as pre-eminent, but to
the community. Thus were the leaders not
elevated to an undue superiority above the church as being the addressees of
the Letter and officially distinct from the rest of the saints, and yet the
latter were to show due respect for the leaders as marked out for particular
salutation.
He then greets all the saints.
Brotherly love is comprehensive and is warm toward all the children of
God.
They of
12. ver. 25. Conclusion. Grace be with you
all. Amen. A noble conclusion, concentrating in its
brevity the whole Letter. That divine,
infinite grace of God which has given His Son, and in Him all possible
benefits, be with you; accepted by faith, producing
responsive gratitude and obedience, teaching you to be gracious to one another, supplying
to faith all that will ever be required to being you to that [age-lasting] glory to
which God is conducting His sons (2: 10) -
that grace be with you, and with you all, for the grace of God is free to
all who will receive it. AMEN. So be it.
It shall be so!