THE HEAVENLY CITY WITH ITS UNDYING HIGH PRIEST IS THE LAST CITY OF REFUGE FOR A GUILTY NATION
(Suggested Reading: Heb. 5:11-14; 6:1-2011Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:11‑14)
1Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3And this will we do, if God permit. 4For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6If 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. 7For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 8But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. 9But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 10For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: 12That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 13For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 6:1‑20))
Paul's opening thrust is that he had much to say about Christ being a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedec. The trouble was that it was hard to explain those things to the Hebrews because they had become hard of hearing. They were not ready for the revelation of this truth. Their eyes were fastened on the golden temple of Jerusalem and its resplendent human priesthood. So Paul interrupts his main train of thought to admonish them and direct their gaze to a heavenly priesthood, not an earthly one.
Now some things which Paul wrote on this subject are hard to understand. Even the Apostle Peter had trouble understanding this epistle. He wrote to his Jewish flock "even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given him has written to you as also in all his epistles... in which are some things hard to understand" etc. 2 Peter 3:15,1615And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15‑16). Peter admits difficulty with some things, but certainly not with elementary truths. By this time the Hebrew Christians should have been teachers... exponents of the truth to others, for didn't Christianity start at Jerusalem. However the fact was they needed a teacher to instruct them over again in "the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God" meaning the presentation of the life of Christ in the Gospels as their Messiah. He compares them to babies who are dependent on their mothers for milk Paul wants them to crave the strong meat of a heavenly and unseen Christ. They should be like strong men by now independent of early tutors capable of working for and eating solid food. Paul also answers the question of how we graduate from a new born Christian to a mature one. We acquire skill in the word of righteousness by habitual use of it constant practice the same way musicians must constantly practice playing their musical instruments to retain and sharpen their proficiency in them. Growth results. We become full grown men with senses altered to detect what is good and what is evil.
The three verses which open Chapter 6 illustrate the teaching. "Wherefore, leaving the word of the beginning of the Christ, let us go on (to what belongs) to full growth... and this will we do if God permit." What Paul is saying is that, Lord willing, he now wants to write about those things which are the solid spiritual food of adult Christians. He wants to wean them away from milk as a spiritual food for that is the nourishment of babies figuratively of those incapable of providing for themselves. This spiritual milk, or elementary truth, is defined in terms of another figure a foundation. A foundation is a beginning. So they were not to lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. God had once laid the foundation on the earth 1:10. Did He lay it again? No. He went on to finish His work in the old creation. So should they who were in the new creation. Then there is the doctrine of washings and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead. Now "washings" refers to Jewish ceremonial purification by water and "the resurrection of the dead" to the limited Jewish understanding of resurrection before the Pauline epistles were written see John 11:21-2421Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. 23Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. (John 11:21‑24). All this was milk suitable for infants before the revelation of God in the Person of His Son. Then, to follow the natural analogy, they should have graduated to adult food meat. Verses 4 and 5 give us an intimation of what this strong meat is but it is introduced with a warning.
Whom does Paul address in the ominous verses from 4 to 8 which sound like the foreboding, dreadful sounds heard by their forefathers at Mount Sinai when the law was given? He is not addressing the Church at Jerusalem or in other locations in the holy land, but the general company of professing Christians, some of whom had accepted Christ as Savior while others had not. The emphasis in these verses is on those who had not. These professors of Christianity were convinced mentally of the truth of Christianity from the proofs of it which they had seen. They were in the especially favored position of having witnessed the miracles of Christ, the Apostles and others, and the great evangelical stirring of the nation recorded in the first twelve chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. They assented to the truth of Christianity in their minds and met together with companies of believers in the Christian synagogues of that day. But they had not believed with the heart they had not experienced the new birth.
They had been enlightened v. 4 but this meant no more than the effect of receiving the, truth in their minds. Christianity illuminates the minds of men who bow to its moral teachings, because it dispels the natural darkness of the human mind. Such people lack a saving belief in Christ. Still they are more responsible to God than those who had never been enlightened and tasted God's good things. Christ had tasted death for everything 2:9. In contrast they had tasted good things from God yet were turning back from Christianity. This is the background of the stern warning "for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit" (professors of Christianity who had sampled the goodness of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit) "and have tasted the good word of God" (eg. Simon Magus) "and the power of the world to come" (those miracles which nullified Satan's power in the world) "IF THEY SHOULD FALL AWAY to renew them again to repentance." These people were in a special class because they experienced a foretaste of the kingdom of God in power a privilege not granted to men before or since. If they should, after all this, fall away from Christianity and return to Judaism, that act of apostasy would be like them personally crucifying the Son of God all over again, and publicly disgracing Him. That is how God would look at their act if they returned to a religious system He had judged for crucifying His Son. It would be equivalent to sanctioning the nation's crucifixion of the Son of God. And yet they were assembling together with born again Christians. To point out the anomaly Paul gives them a simple lesson from nature. Surely everyone knows the effect of rainfall on the earth in the growing season. The rain comes from heaven to earth as Christ had done. The professing Hebrew Christians men of the earth had drunk in that heavenly rain. Good crops for the farmer i.e. fruit for God was the result for those with saving faith in Christ. Such received blessing from God v. 7. The others the thorns and thorn bearing plants of empty profession without life were almost at the point of being cursed. As for their end, it would be divine judgment the sense of being burned up v. 8.
Then in verse 9 Paul addresses true professors of Christianity. He is persuaded better things of them things connected with salvation. His tone is almost apologetic "even if we speak thus" for he felt it necessary to warn the others sternly first, due to the mixed nature of the congregation at Jerusalem. The others had been enlightened, but did not have life. Those who had life had tilled the ground to bring useful crops out of it v. 7 and a righteous God could not forget this v. 10. They had not only served God's true people in the past but were still doing so. He stresses this continuance in good works and diligence in them v.11 buoyed up by the full assurance of hope to the end. He stresses the same point in v.12 using a negative exhortation don't be lazy in whatever you do for God. Rather they should imitate those who in the past have been inheritors of the promises. In other words let their patient character in the face of promises not yet received be their example, for their own circumstances were very similar.
The introduction of the promises is blended with the heavenly hope characteristically Paul's line. Now this heavenly hope which all Christians have materially differs, in the case of these Hebrews, from our own. If we do not see this distinction the closing verses of Chapter 6 will be blurred to our vision. The Hebrew nation was guilty of the death of God's Son. The question arises then how does God classify their crime as an act of murder or an act of ignorance. If murder there is no hope "the murderer shall be put to death" Num. 35:3030Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. (Numbers 35:30). If ignorance there is hope. Under the law a man who had killed another unintentionally could flee to a city of refuge and remain there in safety until the death of the high priest. If he ventured outside he lost his shelter and the blood avenger of the killed man could slay him. Well the question is answered by the Lord Himself "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" Luke 23:3434Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34). Since the Lord's words attributed their sin to a sin of ignorance they must flee to a city of refuge. The law established six such cities three on each side of the river Jordan read Num. 35, Josh. 20. But under Christianity a seventh is opened up heaven itself. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost convicted them and, by believing in Christ, they had, in effect, fled to this heavenly city of refuge. Peter confirmed their right to do this as the Lord Himself did on the cross "and now, brethren, I know that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers" Acts 3:1717And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. (Acts 3:17). But they must not leave this city of refuge or they will die. Such was not only the ruling of the law but the tenor of this epistle. Only when the High Priest dies can they leave this heavenly city. But you say Jesus, as our High Priest, can never die. Exactly. And so you Hebrew Christians are not permitted to leave the heavenly calling and return to Judaism. Why would they ever want to leave it? Jesus is there. He is our forerunner. The Savior man put to death is there to welcome to safety those who put Him to death. The Man in the glory is the anchor of the soul. Not only the anchor of these Christians but all of us. Storms may hit a ship but if it is securely anchored, it is reasonably safe. But our safety the safety of the soul is secured by an anchor which can never be moved. "Refuge failed me no man cared for my soul. O Lord... Thou art my refuge" Psa. 142:4, 54I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. 5I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. (Psalm 142:4‑5). Our High Priest can never die, so we can never lose our heavenly hope.
This ends the parenthesis refuge from blood guilt by fleeing to a city whose high priest can never die. The closing of the parenthesis opens the way for the uninterrupted consideration of "Jesus, made an High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedec.”