DID you ever notice, dear reader, the way in which the epistle to the Hebrews begins? “God” is the very first word. Not a god, but “God” in the absolute―the everlasting God, the God of glory, the almighty God, the self-existent One, the I Am, the Creator and Judge of the Universe.
God―how commanding and solemnizing for the soul! God―omnipresent and all-wise! God―the searcher and reader of all hearts! God―before whom every knee shall bow, and to whom each tongue shall confess God―with whom you must have to do!
Have you yet entertained this solemn and important question? Has it yet commanded your attention? Has it produced a movement in your heart and an exercise in your conscience? Utterly careless and indifferent before, are you now awake to the solemn fact that you stand in relation to God as a being responsible to Him for all your words and actions, and that there is a day coming when all must have to say to Him, all must render an account to Him?
We cannot say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,” and there is an end of us; for it is written, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue confess to God” (Rom. 14:1111For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. (Romans 14:11)). There is a day coming, dear reader, when you have actually to stand before God, your knee to bow to Him, and your tongue to confess to Him. Is not that a fact of infinite importance? But how will you stand there? and how will you meet Him? and what will you have to say for yourself? “I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isa. 45:22, 2322Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 23I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. (Isaiah 45:22‑23)).
God has spoken. At sundry times and in divers manners God has spoken by the prophets. All down the ages the voice of God was heard through the prophets. Prophets were raised up when things were going, or had gone, to the bad, and addressed the people, to awaken conscience, and to press the claims of God. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, portrayed the coming of the Lord in righteous and awful judgment (Jude 14,1514And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14‑15)). So did Malachi; so did the long line of prophets from Enoch to Malachi. The authority of God― the supreme God―they maintained, and pressed on the consciences of the people the solemn question of their responsibility to Him.
But this is not all. God has taken other ways and means of addressing man. Hence we read, “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son” (Heb. 1:22Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2)). God was not satisfied with speaking by the prophets, men of like passions with ourselves, but He has come near to us and addressed us in the Person of His Son. The eternal Son, the everlasting “Word, became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten with the Father), full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 2, 141In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1‑2)
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)). “God manifest in the flesh,” has spoken to us. What importance and blessedness attaches to this great fact? In Him thus we do not witness again the terrible sight at Sinai, when God came down, and the people trembled, but we see the grace that could display itself in the lowly form of “the Man Christ Jesus,” to whom the most erring might come, and learn that it was ever His delight to speak words of grace and truth. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)).
In His voluntary humiliation, we are not allowed to forget His glories as a divine Being. We read, “Whom he hath appointed heir of all things.” Who but a divine Being could be the appointed heir of all things the universe of God?
But more. “By whom also he made the worlds.” Creation is ascribed to Him. That lordly One was the Creator of all.
But deeper glories yet. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” It would be blasphemy to say this of any creature, angel or archangel; for who could fully present the glory of God, or be the image of the essential Being of God, but One of whom it could be said, “And the Nord was God,” “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1,141In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)).
Not only is He the Creator of all, He also “upholds all things by the word of his power.”
If what has been said of Him fills the heart with adoring worship, what follows will draw from the hearts of His ransomed myriads the new song of everlasting praise, ― “WHEN HE HAD BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS, SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT RANI OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH.”
What blessed words are these! The soul that has felt the burden of sin, and knows the agony of a convicted conscience, and bowed to the authority of God and owned the claims of His Word only knows the peace-giving and soul-saving power of those precious words.
This blessed One, then, has been to the cross, has taken His people’s sins, bene, them, made purification for them, put them away in a way that fully glorified God; and having done it, “he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” See Him enthroned on high, above every created being, He Himself the Creator, at the right hand of God.
What but peace and joy could fill our hearts as we in faith behold Him, believing that He on the cross took our sins, put them away, and now is in heaven without them, and the glory of God shining in His face.
Reader, God has spoken unto you by His Son. He has shown you who He is, what He became, and what He has done, and where He now sits, and now He presents Him to you as the Object for the faith of your soul. Will you trust Him? If so, you can appropriate the blessed truth to yourself that He purged your sins, God having laid them on Him when on the cross, and that He is now in the highest heaven without them. They are gone―forgiven and forgotten forever (Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17)).
What blessed peace flows from the knowledge of this! Sins borne and put away; sins forgiven and forgotten by God; Christ glorified the proof of it all―the Word of God filling our hearts with the assurance of it. Well may we ascribe to Him the praise and glory forever and ever.
E. A.