The Lord is ever an object as surely as He is a refuge. He awakens hope when He establishes the soul by faith. It could not be otherwise. If Adam had the presence of God, he had also the garden of Eden. And so the saved sinner has a portion or inheritance. Indeed, salvation, in the large sense of it, contains both. It bespeaks a purged conscience, and also the hope of a kingdom.
These are necessarily linked together, and of their union or combination, we find in the course of Scripture some beautiful witness.
Melchisedec was such a witness in patriarchal days. He was a priest, dispensing righteousness and peace, providing, like a priest, for the need of the soul. But he had also bread and wine, the refreshments of the kingdom for the heirs of promise after the toil of battle.
Aaron, under the law, in the day of his consecration, was another like witness, as we see in Leviticus 8:99And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the Lord commanded Moses. (Leviticus 8:9). For he and Moses came down, as from above, to bless the people, as he had before, and all alone, blest them on the ground of the sacrifice. The glory appears as well as the fire, on that great occasion—the pledge of the kingdom as well as the acceptance of the sacrifice.
And, in the same Mosaic age, I may say, the constant link of Joshua with Moses is an expression of the same combination.
With this thought let me ask you to read the Epistle to the Hebrews. You will there find this combination strikingly maintained throughout. All the presentations of Christ, or of our calling, which you find there, and all the exhortations which you listen to there, embrace the two, our object as well as our refuge—all feel hope as well as faith.
At the very outset Christ is thus declared “Heir of all things,” as well as the One who has “purged our sins”; and all the Old Testament Scriptures quoted in chap. 1 will be found to have respect to the coming kingdom. So in chap. 2 it is the Lord of Psalms 8 that is presented to us, and the Lord of that Psalm is as much the One who is to be Head of the world to come, as He has already been humbled for our sins.
Again, in chap. 5-7, He is presented to us as Priest, but He is Melchisedec; and, as we know, the priesthood of Melchisedec reaches out to the day of the glory, when the warfare and toil are over. And not only so, He is declared to have gone within the veil as a Forerunner, as well as a High Priest, and such a title intimates that the glory is within the veil as well as a sanctuary.
So, when He is presented as a victim, the sufficiency of His sacrifice is declared; but, together with that, His appearing the second time, bringing salvation or the kingdom with Him. The accomplishment of the purpose of His first appearing is the sure pledge of His second appearing (See 9:28).
And then again, presented in the heavens as having sat down in the perfection of His work for sinners, He is declared to be sitting there in expectation of His coming day of power (See chap. 9:13).
Our calling is displayed to us, as Christ is thus presented. We see this in chap. 12:22-24. But that gives us a view of glory as well as of blood. We see the top of the mystic hill as well as the foot of it. The blood of sprinkling at the bottom sustains the whole, but there is no stopping short of the city, and the church of the first-born, and the angelic multitudes, or the whole system of coming glories.
So, in chap. 13:9-15, the city is there shown to us, as what we are called to, as well as the altar.
And, as I said, if we are exhorted as well as taught in this epistle, we still find encouragement for hope, as well as for faith.
Thus, in chap. 3, we are told to hold fast the “confidence and rejoicing of hope,” as well as “the beginning of our confidence,” or “the throne of grace.” So, in chap. 10, we are exhorted to have “full assurance of faith,” but also to “hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering.”
And thus, the voice that is heard in this Epistle is a witness to hope as well as to faith—it tells of glory as well as of blood. It is the voice of the Son from heaven; of Him who is heir of all things and expectant of a kingdom, as He is the purger of our sins.
And when the apostle defines faith, he links it with hope (11:6), in every way sustaining the combination.