Before entering on this next rather peculiar passage, take notice that as we had “eternal Spirit,” so here “eternal inheritance” follows. The Jews were peculiarly sensitive on the subject, for alas they knew to their cost that their “inheritance” was most transitory. They had been turned out of their land for many years, and afterward never got properly into the land again: only a poor remnant and in poor circumstances indeed. And now they had been guilty of such unpardonable sin against God and His Christ and the Holy Spirit, that they were going to be outcast from the land once more, and for an incomparably longer period. They could therefore understand how little they could boast of an “eternal” inheritance. But this is precisely what expresses adequately the promise received by Christians. As it is, “eternal” salvation and “eternal” redemption, so is it “eternal” inheritance. The privileges peculiar to Christianity are characterized as everlasting. Therefore there is no force whatever in persons reasoning to us from the conditional state of Israel: no doubt such was Judaism, but Christianity is in contrast. The reason is plain: one depended on man, and what is he to be accounted of? The other depends on Christ, and what is He not to be accounted of? There is the sure and blessed difference. Christ, both by the perfection of His person and by the everlasting efficacy of His work, brings us into the blessing which only He deserves, and which is of faith that it might be according to grace, wholly independent of our deserts or failures. Not that we lack provision for failure, as typified even of old and noticeable in verse 13. There is first of all the blood; then the ashes of a heifer. The ashes of the red heifer were for meeting the passing defilements of the one who had been cleansed by blood. The blood remained in all its value; but the ashes of the heifer counteracted defilements by the way. Alas! that distinction has slipped entirely out of the minds of God's children generally, and to their great loss, because to mix them up is to lose the truth. Thereby is weakened the everlasting efficacy of the blood, in order to gain a means of clearing the difficulties of the way.
Let us now pass on to the promised illustration, so as to bring out in a few words the special force of verses 16 and 17; the only instances, we may once for all remark, in the whole of scripture where “testament” has a right to stand in our Bible. This is easily remembered, if not so easily proved. For this reason I shall endeavor to make the truth clear, because scarce anything is worse for God's people than vague uncertainty fostered by such as seem to have no other knowledge than of some people saying this and of others who say that, whereby souls are reduced to utter unbelief of the truth and live in a mere see-saw between conflicting opinions. What can more effectually deprive men of the power and happy certainty of the word of God? Uncertain one may be, but is it not my fault? Do not cast the blame on the word or Spirit of God. Never admit that we are doomed to doubt. Assure your soul, scripture is so written as to make it our unbelief if we do not receive and enjoy the true meaning of God's word. Perhaps for want of having that conviction, our translators seem to have thought that the word might be “covenant” or “testament,” just as they pleased. They were too fond of change elsewhere. Here it was worse than usual. In every part of the New Testament where the word often occurs, I hope to show that it is “covenant,” save in vers. 16 and 17 of this chapter, where it is rightly “testament,” and not “covenant.” In every other passage it ought to be “covenant,” and not “testament.”
Begin with the first in Matthew 26:2828For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28). Can there be the shade of a doubt here, or in Mark 14:2424And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. (Mark 14:24) (substantially equivalent), about the matter? Our Lord is speaking of the cup that He gave the disciples, saying, “Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new covenant.” First, Where would be the propriety of “new” applied to a “testament” or will? Nobody ever talks about a “new” will. But, secondly, there is another and stronger objection. What has “blood” to do with a testament or will? The moment we turn to the new “covenant” all is in place. The blood of Christ is exactly its foundation. The first covenant may have had the blood of victims connected with it, as its sanction, threatening death on those that proved unfaithful. This is the meaning of the blood in the first covenant (Exodus 24), which said as it were: If you fail to obey the law, you must die, as these victims died. The blood of the new covenant has an altogether opposed character. Christ's blood, as a starting-point, secures a perfect clearance for every soul who believes in Him. So the Lord, in giving the cup to the disciples, says, “This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” What has a “testament” to do with “remission of sins"? What has a will to do with blood? These constitute the strongest proofs that “covenant” is the thought, and that “testament” has nothing whatever to do with this place.
In Luke 22 you will find similarly, where our Lord is speaking on the same occasion. Therefore we need not dwell on it. “This cup is the new covenant,” etc. The expression is different, but the same truth appears. It is the “new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.” The idea of a will is wholly foreign to the place. If we said, “the new will,” what would be the meaning of this? How could there be a “new will” in His blood? “Covenant in His blood” is perfectly intelligible, and is in fact the chief distinction of the new covenant in contrast with the old which sought but found not man obedient. The old had for its sanction the threat of death; the new on the contrary is based on the “blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, which cleanseth from all sin.” Compare also 1 Corinthians 11, where the apostle gives language similar to the words in Luke, and therefore calling for no other notice than that “testament” is wholly inappropriate there for the reasons given.
There are places where the Authorized Version gives “covenant,” and which we of course pass by, because they are quite right. But we may turn now to 2 Corinthians 3, which is the first that occurs in order after these, where “testament” is wrongly given. Ver. 6 says, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament.” As we have already seen, “new” is out of place with a will. It ought therefore to be “covenant.” It may be observed that there are two words for “new,” one of which means “freshly made,” which might in some cases have been applied to a testament. The other means “of a different character entirely “; new in principle, whether recent or not. Now this last is the word employed here. What has it to do with a will? “Freshly made one” might sometimes apply; but “one of a totally different character” does not apply to a will, but admirably to contrasted covenants. What the apostle implies is that, although the new covenant is not yet formally brought in to the houses of Israel and Judah, the Christian anticipates the blessing, as the Christian servant is characterized by the new covenant, not in letter it is true, but in spirit. We come under the power of the new covenant before it is actually brought to bear on the two houses of Israel. Oh! what a comfort this is. Thus the notion here, too, is “covenant,” and not “testament.” In this same chapter he says (ver. 14), “For until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament.” A great many, no doubt, fancy this means the Old Testament scriptures, and so men have adopted that very term as their title. But what really is the “old covenant” here? The covenant of law that condemned Israel. Here again there would be no good sense in reading the “old will.” It can only mislead, whereas if we say “old covenant” we can all understand this, which is exactly what the Jews had to do with.
There is only another passage outside Hebrews—in Revelation 11:1919And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. (Revelation 11:19). “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of His testament.” And here the Old Testament affirms what one might argue out. “Ark of the covenant” is scriptural; but what is the “ark of a testament"? Has the ark of a will any just sense. As far as my memory serves, I do not recollect any other instance of “testament” employed, excepting in Hebrews, where it has been once or twice before us, and therefore to these I turn to finish the subject, even if it seem a rather minute examination, which I hope may prove a good confirmation of your faith in the word of God as well as in learning how necessary is the Spirit of God to give certainty of understanding the word. Had it not been for these considerations I should not have occupied your time with the matter. In the Authorized Version of Hebrews 7:2222By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. (Hebrews 7:22) we read, “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” There again, Is not “surety of a testament” strange language? Surety “of a covenant” is as important as intelligible, as even the Authorized Version uniformly renders in chap. 8 following. Therefore the inference is unavoidable, that the context in every case indicates the right counterpart, whether “covenant” or “testament.” But if I am right in interpreting the context in detail, you may rest assured that in the Bible wherever the word “testament” occurs, it ought to be “covenant,” except in the two verses immediately before us, Hebrews 9:16, 1716For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. (Hebrews 9:16‑17).
To these, then, let us turn. Can anything he plainer than their reference to a will in order to illustrate the death of our Lord? “For where a testament is, there must of necessity he the death of the testator.” This is sufficiently evident. Were “covenant” said it would not even be true. Where men make a covenant, is it in the least necessary that either of the contracting parties should die? Jacob and Laban made a covenant between them; but did it at all demand, in order to its validity, that Jacob or Laban should die? If either had died, there would rather have been an end of it so far. But when he who makes a testament dies, then only can the children, or others to whom he has devised his property, receive the benefit by virtue of the will. “Where a testament (or will) is, there must of necessity be the death of the testator, for a testament is of force after men are dead.” In wills only, and not in covenants, is such a necessity universally found. A man makes a will, but it does not come into force so long as he lives—only when he dies. On this hinges the apostolic illustration, which is as apt as it is undeniably evident. The effect of a will is only after the death of the testator. Perhaps something may be contingent upon the death of another; as a man leaves to his children upon the death of his wife. But in any case death must intervene, if any are immediately concerned in the property. It is only after one or more are dead that the living heirs inherit. “Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” Nothing can be more telling or simple. In the case of a covenant, is there anything of the kind? A covenant comes into force while people are alive. Take Jacob and Laban, where neither was called to die. Take an earlier covenant, where God makes one between Himself and the earth, as revealed to Noah.
I am aware that some try to slip in the death of sacrifices here; but the word means not a covenanting victim, but a “testator"; and all efforts are vain to upset or change the idea. It is the death of the person who made the testament. It is not necessary to insist on more than the principle generally, but if the application be pressed personally, how does this apply to the Lord? Very exactly indeed; for the Lord became a man in order that He might die, to give us (a vast deal more, but also) an everlasting inheritance. He that had spoken at Sinai is the selfsame One that came to die. The figure, therefore, of a testator applies in all its force. He was pleased thus to die, although One who in His divine nature could not die. He therefore deigned, in the infiniteness of His grace, to partake of blood and flesh that He might die. Therefore, nothing can be simpler, nothing more certain, than His death, in virtue of which we inherit the richest blessing evermore.
Beloved brethren, what wonders in the word of God! and how He delights in conveying the truth in the most striking way to help feeble souls. All turns on the death of Christ. There was no Christianity without it. As long as our Lord was here in the body, it was as the corn of wheat that abode alone by itself till it fell into the ground and died; but after death, “it beareth much fruit.” There Christ's own words set forth the effect of His death. As long as the Lord lived, the middle wall of partition stood Firm. Neither the Jews could draw near to God, nor the Gentiles be joined with the Jews, who were expressly kept apart. But when our Lord died, the vail was rent, the partition fell; and it was not merely the Gentiles coming into the place the Jews had occupied, but believing Jews and Gentiles entered alike into immediate nearness to God. Along with this, the conscience was purged perfectly, in order to serve the living God in thanksgiving and praise, as well as every other service, and furthermore, every blessing eternally secured. Oh! how wondrous is that which God has given us through the death of His Son!
W. K.
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