THE PERFECTION OF THE WORSHIPPERS
(Suggested Reading: Heb. 10)
In Chapter 9 we had the perfection of the work the blood shedding of Christ, without which there is no remission of sins. In Chapter 10 His sacrifice originates with God the Father, Christ is the means, and the Holy Spirit the witness. Flowing from this comes the perfection of the worshippers. The chapter then divides in two. To those truly born of God there are exhortations to go on. To those who were falling back mere professors of Christianity without the new birth stern warnings. They had originally given up Judaism for Christianity now they were in danger of giving up Christianity. If this happened nothing was left for them but judgment. This chapter is a stern warning to the modern West the nations which once publicly professed Christianity but have now largely fallen back into apostasy.
The Application of the Truth to the Conscience
The first four verses are negative. Like an admiral directing a naval battle Paul is training his long range guns, so to speak, on the fleeing, badly battered fleet of Jewish ceremonies. Having shown the perfection of Christ's work, his opening salvo is the imperfection of Jewish ritual. His purpose in attacking this imperfection is to free the conscience by relying on Christ's finished work only. If the conscience is freed we can be worshippers and his teaching is leading to that. There are two things then the forgiveness of sins and a spotless conscience. The blood of Christ is the foundation of both. The freed conscience is simply the sense in one's soul that God is no longer against it because sins have been put away forever from God's sight and therefore instead of fearing Him we can approach Him as worshippers. So it is the practical application of the one sacrifice in Chapter 9, freeing the conscience before God.
The law could not do this. It was a shadow of good things to come Christ the substance of good things to come 9:11. Jewish sacrifices never perfected those who would approach God by offering them. Because the offerings never ceased they made it clear that men were sinning continually and so needed continual sacrifices. If the sacrifices had any value their consciences should have been purified. So too on the Day of Atonement v.3 "there is a reminder of sins year by year." Then in v.4 comes a statement which destroys the foundation of Jewish ritual sacrifices "for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." So it was contrary to the will of God that such sacrifices and offerings should continue v.5, 10 and every priest who offered them could never take away sins by doing so v.11. Instead it was the will of God to prepare Christ a body v.5. This body the body of Christ the spotless heavenly Lamb was to be offered up once for all. Such was the will of God a will which has sanctified us because of this offering v.10 and perfected us forever v.14. Having accomplished the will of God Christ sits down on God's throne as Man. His enemies will be brought before Him at that throne for judgment one day His people brought into the blessings of the New Covenant. Such is, in summary, the teaching of verses 4 to 18. Verse 18 also terminates the doctrine of the High Priesthood of Christ in Hebrews.
The Divine Origin, Means, and Witness of Our Salvation
To establish the New Covenant and bring man into blessing, God must do two things. First, He must set aside the many sacrifices demanded by the religion He Himself had established, since it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Secondly He needed one perfect offering the death of Christ to satisfy Him fully and forever. These two great thoughts are unfolded in verses 5 and 6. Their setting is time, just as the setting of v.7 is eternity. The time is when Christ entered the world, disclosing the will of God no more sacrifices or offerings. They were not pleasurable to God because they did not settle the question of our sins they were unable to do so. Therefore to secure one offering of eternal value God prepared a body for His Son. It was the will of God that His Son should bear our sins in His own body on the tree 1 Peter 2:24.
God the Father, the Source of Our Salvation
It was in time, as we have just seen, that Christ spoke the mind of God to give us an eternal salvation. It is fitting then that an eternal salvation should originate in eternity. So in a past distant eternity God the Son addresses God the Father "Lo I come, in the roll of the book it is written of Me, to do Thy will O God." "In the roll of the book" i.e. somewhere inside the book is a figure of what is hidden until the book is opened and its message disclosed i.e. the counsels of God. These are now opened to us and we learn that God the Father was the Author of our salvation for it is twice stated that Christ came to do His will. This is a quotation from Psa. 40 which Jewish readers could not deny. When Psa. 40 was written its meaning was veiled. Now it is disclosed.
God the Son, the means of our salvation In verse 8 we are referred back to what Christ said when He entered the world v.5 God's displeasure at the Jewish sacrifices. Then in v.9 He comes to do God's will in contrast to the sacrifices which spoke of man's will for a man could offer a burnt offering "of his own voluntary will" Lev. 1:3. He takes away man's will as typified in the ceremonial sacrifices that He may establish the second thing the will of God. The moment God prepared Him a body His will was to do God's will. He became thus the means of our salvation. He established the will of God by once offering up the body God prepared for Him. The result of having established the will of God is that the same will of God which made Him the sin-bearer is now directed at us to sanctify us. To sanctify is to set apart in holiness to God and so bring into a place of favor. This was true of the Hebrews who professed Christianity true or false, for sanctification does not only apply to born again believers. For example Paul tells us that the children of a mixed marriage Christian and non-Christian are holy. This is not the same as saved. One in the household acknowledges Jesus as Lord and the children receive the blessing of the knowledge of God in the home. So here, with a mixed congregation of Hebrews some with eternal life, others professors in name only. Nonetheless as a company they are sanctified in contrast to the Jews outside who openly rejected the Messiah.
Next comes the contrast between the priests in the tabernacle and "this Man." In the tabernacle no seats were provided for the priests a figure that their work was never done. So "every priest stands daily ministering and offering often the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this Man after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever on the right hand of God" vs. 11-12. This is the third time in Hebrews Christ is said to have sat down. In 1:3 He sat down personally in 8:1 He sits down as Priest, and here He sits down "forever" not here in the sense of to eternity but rather for as long as required. He does not have to stand up again like the priests in the tabernacle. They could only stand; He sits down. His one sacrifice is finished never to be taken up again unlike the priests in the tabernacle that is the thought underlying the figure. Then in v.13 Paul borrows another figure that of the oriental monarch who, sitting on his throne, used the bodies of his enemies as a footstool. So Christ sits down awaiting that day. He is Melchizedec—Priest "King of Righteousness" and "King of Peace." Paul ends with the note on which he began sanctification but confines it here to those who are truly God's people. Such are sanctified "forever" just as their High Priest has sat down "forever." "The sanctified and the sanctifier are all of one" 2:11.
.. God the Holy Spirit the witness of our salvation In our last chapter we noted three eternal things. Christianity is concerned with eternal things in contrast to the law which can only boast of temporal things. It is now time to connect all the eternal things in Hebrews, recognizing that the Holy Spirit is the bond who brings them all together. First we are told that "every High Priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices...hence it is necessary that this Man also have something to offer" 8:3. What was it He offered then? It was Himself. He offered Himself without spot to God THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT in the 9th chapter. Therefore that same Holy Spirit becomes the witness of our salvation in the 10th chapter. His witness is to the blood as the seal and foundation of that New Covenant of which the prophet Jeremiah wrote about as quoted in verses 16 and 17. So "there are three who bear witness the Spirit, and the water, and the blood and the three agree in one" 1 John 5:8. That same Spirit inspires the writer of this epistle to close off the doctrine of the priesthood with the statement "now where remission of these is, there is no more sacrifice for sin.”
For those who accept the witness of the Eternal Spirit Christ has become the Author of eternal salvation 5:9 to those who reject His witness there is only eternal judgment to look forward to 6:2. Believers have obtained eternal redemption 9:12 and can look forward to an eternal inheritance 9:15.
Three Exhortations to Believers Based on the Doctrine of Priesthood Just Concluded
The first exhortation, in verse 22, tells us to draw near to God i.e. to approach Him in worship. The Book of Leviticus is the book telling us how man tried to approach God under the Old Covenant the Book of Hebrews tells us how we do approach God under the New Covenant. We approach God "with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." The "pure water" referred to is the "water of regeneration" in Titus. Our hearts are purified by the blood of Christ and our heart (singular) is true, for God is true. By faith then we can approach God because our standing is perfect and our state the subject of our High Priest's concern the former because of the work of Christ on earth the cross the latter because of the work of Christ in heaven His High Priesthood. Verses 19-21 Constitute a preamble to this exhortation to approach God. We can do so boldly entering into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. This is something Aaron could not do for his sons but Jesus does for His 2:10. The way of approach to God is a new way in contrast to the old way and it is living in contrast to the Jewish ritual which was dead. The way is through the torn flesh of Christ, for here we are let into the secret that the body God prepared for Jesus 10:5 has been torn on the cross and the bloodshed. The veil in the tabernacle spoke of Jesus' flesh. When He died God tore the veil in two from the top, where He was, to the bottom where man was. By tearing it in two He divided the history of His earthly people from the call of Abraham to the crucifixion of Christ from their future restoration to the end of their history after one thousand years of kingdom glory with Him. Then there are two other ways of looking at the rending of the veil. In the gospels the veil is torn so God can come out to bless the sinner; in the epistles the veil is torn so man can come in to worship God. Furthermore we are assisted in our approach by "a Great Priest over the House of God" v.21. This is a different thing from our High Priest. The doctrine of the High Priesthood of Christ was concluded in 10:18. It is the same priest of course but looked at as "over the House of God" now. The function of the High Priest is to relieve us of our infirmities sufferings, persecution, bereavement, etc. or to give us help to sustain them. This is so we may rise above the difficulties of our bodies of clay and thus approach God in worship. It is at this point that the Great Priest comes in. The High Priest was for my needs the Great Priest to receive my worship. The High Priest is a priest for us the Great Priest a Priest for God. He is the Leader of our songs of praise Psa. 22:22 This Great Priest over the House of God. Nothing is said here as to the form worship takes for in Hebrews the subject is not the Church but the congregation of God looked at as gathered around the tabernacle a nation still addressed as God's people but mixed in character. Thus approach to God is entitlement without going into details.*1 It is as though someone bought me a house and gave me the keys to it. I have not yet entered the house but I have been given the keys and encouraged to do so.
The next exhortation is to hold tenaciously to the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful. This hope is the Man in the glory, the anchor of the soul 6:18-19. So then the first two exhortations are, first of all to approach God in worship and secondly not to give up the truth that Christ is in the Holy of Holies to which our worship ascends since this is the anchor of the soul.
Then flowing from the fact that we are in God's presence comes the practical application-the third exhortation to stimulate one another to love and good works. The proof that you are in God's presence is love to others. Since God is love you cannot be in the Holy of Holies where Christ is without that love being contagious. It is not a love based upon entertaining our fellow Christians in our homes, or at a prayer breakfast or similar meal desirable as these things may be. "For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them" Luke 6:32. Rather what is in question is a holy love flowing from being in God's presence in the Holy of Holies an active rather than passive love a love which would stimulate one another to good works. Good works really flow from love, in contrast to the law which was unfruitful a principle beautifully illustrated in the story of the Good Samaritan.
Warnings to the Hebrews Who Professed Christianity Without Being Saved and Were in Danger of Open Apostasy to Christ
Verses 25-31 presuppose lifeless professors of Christianity. When Christians apply them to themselves they are confounded, question their salvation, etc. The difficulty is not with the writer of the epistle but with his readers who fail to "rightly divide the word of truth." Have you never preached to a mixed congregation? If so have you not told them that they would go to hell if they didn't believe the gospel (here you are addressing those in the audience outside Christ) and in the same sermon spoken of us soon being in heaven (here you are addressing genuine believers). Would a genuine believer interpret your message on the fate of the lost as questioning his salvation? Certainly not. He realized that you are addressing others. So here. As the apostle opens up his warning to those in the Hebrew nation who professed Christianity without saving faith in Christ he strikes the keynote in v.25. The born again believers no doubt continued to assemble together and encourage one another. But some professors were absenting themselves from the Christian company. This was happening with such frequency that it had become their custom. To these Paul's warnings are addressed. "For where we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery heat about to devour the adversaries." It is willful sin to turn one's back on the one sacrifice, and the result is just the opposite of a purified conscience it is the certain knowledge of future judgment and of having become God's adversaries. They could expect a worse punishment than Moses' law which, severe as it was, could not go beyond death without mercy. "Fear not those who kill the body and after that have no more than they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear, fear Him who after He has killed has power to cast into hell. Yes I say unto you, fear Him" Luke 12:4. "For we know Him who has said 'Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord.' And again the Lord shall judge His people" v.30. The basis of this judgment is found in the preceding verse. They had publicly rejected the Son of God after having publicly professed to believe on Him. The Jews would not receive them back into the fold of Judaism until they recanted. There was a dual character to their rejection because Christianity proper contains two elements both of which they had rejected the one sacrifice of Christ and the witness of the Holy Spirit to it. It is noteworthy that at the beginning and ending of the doctrine of the High Priesthood of Christ Paul raises these two points concerning the willful sin of the professors without Christ. So in Chapter 6 he tells us that "it is impossible for those who were once enlightened" (those who heard the gospel without necessarily obeying it) "and have tasted of the heavenly gift" (a Christ not on earth now but in heaven) "and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit" (having witnessed the power of miracles and divine teaching pointing to Christ) "and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame" 6:4-6. In Chapter 6 then there is no forgiveness for these apostate and lost men. In Chapter 10 their fate is given judgment for their public recantation of Christianity is equivalent to walking over the Son of God, despising the blood of the New Covenant and insulting the Holy Spirit who is the witness to our salvation 10:15. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" 10:31.
Before closing off this line of argument we would draw the reader's attention to a beautiful structural element in the text which emphasizes the phasing out of law to which the Hebrew Christians were still clinging and its replacement by grace.
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2:9 He by the grace of God should taste
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4:16 come boldly unto the throne of grace
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16 and find grace to help in time of need
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10:28 He who disregarded the law of Moses died.
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10:29 Of how much worse punishment... has
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insulted the Spirit of Grace
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12:15 lest any man fail of the grace of God
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12:28 let us have grace whereby we may
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13:9 let the heart be established by grace
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13:25 grace be with you all. Amen
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Note that the subject of grace in Hebrews is really presented seven times broken down into the customary division of 3 and 4 (or 4 and 3). At first glance we might think there were 8 presentations for does not 10:29 speak of "the Spirit of Grace." This however is a title of the Holy Spirit. Its inclusion here serves a double purpose first to draw our attention to the division with 3 and 4 secondly to make it clear that the law has been superseded by grace. The law was a prominent feature in Hebrews, commencing with 7:5 and ending with 10:28. In 10:29 the Spirit of Grace is introduced and the law never again appears in the text it is banished, so to speak, when the Spirit of Grace takes over. There is beautiful instruction too, in the last grouping of 4 mentions of grace exhortations to us when compared with the first three the grace of God to us. Should we fail of the grace of God 12:15 when by the grace of God Christ tasted death for everything? Indeed not! The epistle ends on the ringing note "grace be with you all. Amen" 13:25.
Illustration of how Paul varies his message in Hebrews depending on whether he is concerned with real Christians or former professors of the faith.|{}|
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APOSTATES
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“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come. If they shall fall away, to renew, them again into repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it...receive blessing from God but that which bears thorns and briars is rejected, and is near cursing whose end is to be burned." 6:4-8
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BORN AGAIN BELIEVERS
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“But beloved we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of LOVE which ye have showed toward His Name...and we desire that every one of you do dhow the same diligence to the full assurance of HOPE into the end. That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through FAITH and patience inherit the promises." 6:9-12
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APOSTATES
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“For when we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery heat about to devour the adversaries. He who disregarded Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith He was sanctified a common thing and hath insulted the Spirit of grace. For we know Him that hath said Vengeance belongeth to Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again the Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 10:26-31
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BORN AGAIN BELIEVERS
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“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of FAITH...Let us hold fast the confession of our HOPE without wavering...Let us consider how to stimulate one another into LOVE." 10:22-24
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Following the Warning Paul Returns to Addressing the Mixed Company of Professing Hebrew Christians
The remainder of Chapter 10 is a review of the past history of the Hebrew Christians with emphasis on its commendable features. They should remember those former days, after they were enlightened. This word "enlightened" is not a casual word. It is the effect of the gospel on the soul of the individual and the collective conscience of a nation to which it is preached. It is not eternal life but light from God dispelling the natural darkness of man's mind. The effect of diffusing divine light among men is to improve the social standards of the individual and to favor enlightened legislation for the masses. Here however the effect of the light was that the professing Hebrew Christians were reproached by the Jews at large, were persecuted and became a public spectacle. Others of their company, while not suffering this way, identified themselves with those who suffered. They were sympathetic to those who were jailed. They accepted the plundering of their goods joyfully because they had done God's will and so could look forward to the fulfillment of His promise the eternal inheritance of 9:15 "a better possession and an abiding one" vs 32-34. This was practical Christianity. Why should they have identified with one another when persecuted and now forget to assemble together? What they needed now was endurance what they must not give up is their confidence. In the third chapter they were told to hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end" 3:6 and again "if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end 3:14. Here they are exhorted not to cast away their confidence because the coming of the Lord is near and with that there will be great compensation for faithfulness. "For yet a very little while He who comes will come, and will not delay. But the just shall live by faith and if he draw back, my soul does not take pleasure in him. But we are not drawers back to perdition but of faith to saving the soul" vs. 37-39. Verse 39 gives us the watershed character of Chapter 10 following the concluding doctrine of the high priesthood in 10:18. Those who drew back had rejected both the Spirit's witness and the one offering of Christ. They were adversaries, apostates, lost men. Those who did not draw back were motivated by faith and had secured the salvation of their souls. This is the inlet to Chapter 11 The grand chapter on faith.
The Relationship of the New Covenant to the Will of God in Hebrews
From Chapters 8 to 10 the Holy Spirit has been occupying us with thoughts very close to the heart and mind of God. Apart from the doctrine, which we have considered, this fact is signaled by the arrangement of some of the leading considerations in clusters of seven. We find 14 references to "sins" grouped in 2x7 clusters (from 1:3 9:28 then from 10:2 10:26). What is the answer to sins is it not the shedding of blood? But whose blood the blood of bulls and goats or the precious blood of Christ? Blood is first mentioned generally (as the life principle) in 2:14 followed by 21 references (3x7). Here we will be satisfied with one remark. The last reference to sins was 10:26 which reminded us that there remains no more sacrifice for sins for those who sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth (i.e. apostates from Christianity). This refrain is picked up under "blood" in 10:29 the terrible punishment which is going to be inflicted on those who despise the blood of Christ. The believer is encouraged to compare his position in 10:18 with that of apostates in 10:27.
Once the question of sin and sins has been settled to God's satisfaction by the blood of Christ, God had before Him a righteous basis for establishing a New Covenant with His people. This New Covenant was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah. God has not yet consummated this covenant with Israel it is future still for them but it is present now for us. God has introduced us to the blessings of the New Covenant now, before Israel gets it. The principle of the Old Covenant, the law, was works. The principle of the New Covenant is grace.
How We Are to Run the Race From Earth to Heaven
We have considered two out of the three main divisions of the book of Hebrews. The first division told us how Christ, the Leader of our salvation, ran the race from earth to heaven. However He was not content to be the only Man to run this race, for He would bring many sons to glory. So, like the petals of a flower opening in the morning sunshine the second main division of Hebrews tells us how Christ in heaven helps His people on earth to run the same race He ran so we will attain the same goal. This is achieved through what we term "the golden triangle" the Word of God (in which God talks to us) the throne of grace (in which we talk to God) and the High Priesthood of Christ by which He either strengthens us to bear the difficulties and trials of life, or makes them pass away. Relieved of these hindrances we then approach God in worship which ascends to heaven for the blood of Christ admits the Christian to God's presence in the Holy of Holies. In that way while we are still on earth we anticipate the time when we shall have reached our goal and in spirit, soul and body shall worship Him who lives forever and ever Rev. 5:14. The third great division of the book tells us how we ourselves are to run the race from earth to heaven. This race of course is only metaphorical language for the Christian life. Like Christian in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" we travel through a world opposed to God until we enter heaven itself. In a practical sense the race 'ends for us either with our death or the second coming of Christ. In addition to what has already been taught us, Paul unfolds other things to help us run the race from earth to heaven in the last section of Hebrews. These are faith, then discipline to enable us to complete the race. Discipline however is more the trial of faith needful only because we still have fallen flesh within us which resists the Holy Spirit. Then comes hope as the goal comes in view and love, the divine nature, as the goal is attained, for God is love and it is His presence which makes heaven home to us. "Now abides faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.”
The predominantly Pauline theme of faith, hope and charity enables us to distinguish which class in the text is being addressed born again believers or apostates. This distinction is essential since the message addressed to apostates would, if interpreted as applying to believers, destroy the foundations of our salvation.