The important nature of the Epistle to the Hebrews demands that we should examine it with peculiar care. It has its own very distinct place. It is not the presentation of Christian position in itself, viewed as the fruit of sovereign grace, and of the work and the resurrection of Christ, or as the result of the union of Christians with_ Christ, the members of the body with the Head; a union which gives them the enjoyment of every privilege in Him. It is an epistle in which one who has apprehended the whole scope of Christianity, considered as placing. the Christian in Christ before God, whether individually or as a member of the body, looks, nevertheless, at the Lord from here below; and presents His person, and His offices as between us and God, in Heaven, for the purpose of detaching us (as walking on earth), from all that would attach us, in a, religious way, to the earth; even when-as was the case among the Jews-the bond had been ordained by God Himself.
This epistle shows us Christ in Heaven; and, consequently, that our religious bonds with God are heavenly, although we are not yet personally in Heaven ourselves. Every bond with the earth is broken, even while we are walking on the earth.
These instructions, naturally, are given in an epistle addressed to the Jews, because their religious relation-ships had been earthly, and at the same time solemnly appointed by God Himself. The heathen, as to their religions, had no formal relationships except with demons.
In the case of the Jews this rupture with the earth was in its nature, so much' the more solemn, the more absolute and conclusive, from the relationship having been divine. This relationship was to be fully acknowledged, and entirely abandoned-not here because the believer is dead and risen again in Christ, but because Christ in Heaven takes the place of all earthly figures and ordinances. God Himself, who had instituted the ordinances of the law, now established other bonds, different indeed in character; but it was still the same God.
This fact gives occasion for His relationships with Israel to be resumed by Him hereafter, when the nation shall be re-established, and in the enjoyment of the promises. Not that this epistle views them as actually on that ground, but it lays down principles which can apply to that position, and in one or two passages it leaves (and ought to leave) a place for this ultimate blessing of the nation. The epistle to the Romans, in the direct instruction which it furnishes, cannot leave this place for the blessings proper to the Jewish people. In its point of view, all are alike sinners, and all in Christ are justified together before God in Heaven. Still less in the epistle to the Ephesians, with the object which it has in view, could there be room for speaking of the future blessing of God's people on the earth. It only contemplates Christians as united to their heavenly Head, as his body; or as the habitation of God on earth by the Holy Ghost. The epistle to the Romans, in the passage that shows the compatibility of this salvation (which because it was of God, was for all, without distinction), with the faithfulness of God to His promises made to the nation, touches the chord, of which we speak, even more distinctly than the epistle to the Hebrews; and shows us that Israel will-although in a different way from before-resume their place in the line peculiar to the heirs of promise: a place which, through their sin, was left vacant for a time, to allow the bringing in of the Gentiles, on the principle of faith, into this blessed succession. We find this in Rom. 11 But the object in both epistles is to separate the faithful entirely from earth, and to bring them into relationship religiously, with Heaven: the one (that to the Romans), as regards their personal presentation to God by means, of divine righteousness; the other, with respect to the means which God has established, in order that the believer, in his walk here below, may find his present relationships with Heaven maintained, and his daily connection with God preserved in its integrity, or restored, if interrupted through his negligence.
I have said, preserved; because this is indeed the principal subject of the, epistle; but it must be added that these relationships are established on this ground by divine revelations, which communicate the will of God, and the conditions under which He is pleased to connect Himself with His people.
We should also remark, that in the epistle to the He-brews, although the relationship of the people -with God is established on a new ground, being founded on the heavenly position of the Mediator, they are considered as already existing. God treats with a people already known to Him. He addresses persons in relationship with Himself, and who for a long period have held the position of a people whom God had taken out from the world unto Himself. It is not, as in Romans, sinners without law, or transgressors of the law, between whom there is no difference, because all have alike come entirely short of the glory of God, all alike are the children of wrath. They were in need of some better thing-but those here addressed were in that need because they were in relation-ship with God, and the conditions of their relationship with Him brought nothing to perfection. That which they possessed was in fact nothing but signs and figures, -still, the people were, I again say, a people in relation-ship with God. Many of them might refuse the new method of blessing and grace, and consequently would be lost; but the link between the people and God is ac-counted to subsist.
It is very important for the understanding of this epistle, to apprehend this point, namely, that it is ad-dressed to Hebrews on the ground of a relationship which still existed; although it only retained its force in so far as they acknowledged the Messiah, who was its corner-stone.
Some remarks on the form of the epistle will help us to understand it better.
It does not contain the name of its author. The reason of this is touching and remarkable. It is that the Lord Himself, according to this epistle, was the apostle of Israel. The apostles whom He sent were only employed to confirm His words by transmitting them to others. God Himself confirming their testimony by miraculous gifts. This also makes us understand that although, as Priest, the Lord is in Heaven for the exercise of His Priesthood there, and in order to establish on new ground the relationship Of the people with God, yet that the communications of God with his people by means of the Messiah had begun when Jesus was on earth living in their midst. Consequently, the character of their relationship was not union with him in Heaven, it was relationship with God, on the ground of divine communications, and of the service of a Mediator with God.
Moreover, this epistle is rather a discourse, a treatise, than a letter addressed, in the exercise of apostolic functions, to saints with whom the writer was personally in connection. The author takes rather the place of a teacher than of an apostle. He speaks, doubtless, from the height of the heavenly calling, but in connection with the actual position of the Jewish people; nevertheless it was for the purpose of making believers at length understand that they must abandon that position.
The time for judgment on the nation was drawing near; and, with regard to this, the destruction of Jerusalem had great significance, because it definitively broke off all outward relationship between God and the Jewish people. There was no longer an altar or sacrifice, priest or sanctuary. Every link was then broken by judgment, and remains broken, until it shall be formed again under the new covenant according to grace.
The author of this epistle (Paul, I doubt not, but this is of little importance) employed other motives than that of the approaching judgment, to induce the believing Jews to abandon their Judaic relationships; it is this last step, however, which He engages them to take; and the judgment was at hand. Until now, they had linked Christianity with Judaism; there had been thousands of Christians who were very zealous for the law. But God was about to destroy that system altogether-already in fact judged by the Jews' rejection of Christ, and by their resistance to the testimony of the Holy Ghost. Our epistle engages believers to come forth entirely from that system and to bear the Lord's reproach: setting before them a new foundation for their relationship with God, in a High Priest who is in the Heavens. At the same time, it links all that it says with the testimony of God by the prophets, through the inter-medium of Christ, the Son of God; speaking during His life on earth, though now speaking from Heaven.
Thus the new position is plainly set forth, but continuity with the former is also established; and we have a glimpse, by means of the new covenant, of continuity also with that which is to come-a thread by which another state of things, the millennial state, is connected with the whole of God's dealings with the nation, although that which is taught and developed in the epistle is the position of believers, (of the people) formed by the revelation of a heavenly Christ, on whom depended all their connection with God. They were to come forth from the camp; but it was because Jesus, in order to sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. For here there is no continuing city, we seek one that is to come. The writer places himself among the remnant of the people, as one of them. He teaches with the full light of the Holy Ghost, but not those to whom he had been sent as an apostle, with the apostolic authority which such a mission would have given him over them. It will be understood that in saying this we speak of the relationship of the writer, not of the inspiration of the writing.
While developing the sympathies of Christ and His sufferings, in order to show that He is able to compassionate the suffering and the tried, the epistle does not bring forward His humiliation, nor the reproach of the Cross, till quite at the end, when-His glory having been set forth-the author engages the Jews to follow Him and to share His reproach. The glory of the Messiah's person, His sympathies, His heavenly glory, are made prominent, in order to strengthen the faltering faith of
the Jewish Christians, and to fortify them an their Christian position that they might view the latter in its true character; and that they themselves, being connected with Heaven and established in their heavenly calling, might learn to bear the Cross and to separate themselves from the religion of the flesh.
We must look, then, in this epistle, for the character of relationships with God, formed upon the revelation of the Messiah in the position which He had taken,-and not for the doctrine of a new nature.
He is speaking to persons who were familiar with the privileges of the fathers.
God had spoken to the fathers by the prophets, at different times and in different ways; and now, at the end of those days, that is to say, at the end of the days of the Israelite dispensation, in which the law ought to have been in vigor at the end of the times during which God maintained relationship with Israel (sustaining them with a disobedient people by means of the prophets), at the end, then, of those days, God had spoken m the person of the Son.
It was not only by inspiring holy men (as he had done before), that they might recall Israel to the law, and announce the coming of the Messiah. Himself had spoken, as the son; in [His] Son. We see, at once, that the writer connects the revelation made by Jesus of the thoughts of God, with the former words addressed to Israel by the prophets. God has spoken, he says (identifying Himself with His people), to us, as He spake to our fathers by the prophets.
The Messiah had spoken, the Son of whom the Scriptures had already testified. This gives occasion to lay open, according to the Scriptures, the glory of this Messiah, of Jesus, with regard to His person, and to the position He has taken.
And here we must always remember, that it is the Messiah of whom he is speaking; He who once spoke on the earth. He declares, indeed, His divine glory; but it is the glory of Him who has spoken which he declares; the glory of that Son who had appeared according to the promises made to Israel.
This glory is two-fold, and in connection with the two-fold office of Christ. It is the divine glory of the person of the Messiah, the Son of God. The solemn authority of His Word is connected with this glory. And then there is the glory with which His humanity is invested, according to the counsels of God-the glory of the Son of Man; a glory connected with His sufferings during His sojourn here below, which fitted Him for the exercise of a priesthood, both merciful and intelligent with regard to the necessities and the trials of His people.
EB 1-2{These two chapters are the foundation of all the doc-trine of the epistle. In chap. 1 we find the glory of the Messiah's person; in chap. 2:1-4 (which continues the subject), the authority of His word. In chap. 2:6-18, His glorious humanity. As man, all things are put in subjection under Him; nevertheless, before being glorified, He took part in all the sufferings and in all the temptations to which the race, whose nature he had. assumed, is subjected. With this glory His priesthood is connected: He is able to succor them that are tempted, in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted. Thus He is the Apostle and the High Priest of the "called" people.
To this two-fold glory is joined an accessory glory: He is Head, as Son, over His own house, possessing this authority as the One who created all things, even as Moses had authority, as a servant, over the house of God on earth. Now, the believers whom the inspired writer was addressing were this house, if, at least, they held fast their confession of His name unto the end. For the danger of the Hebrew converts was that of losing their confidence, because there was nothing before their eyes as the fulfillment of the promises. Consequently, exhortations follow (chaps. 3:7; 4:13), which refer to the voice of the Lord, as carrying the Word of God into the midst of the people, in order that they might not harden their hearts.
From chap. 4:14, the subject of the priesthood is treated, introducing, also, the two covenants, the change of the law-necessarily consequent upon the change of priesthood-the value of the sacrifice in the new covenant, in contrast with the figures that accompanied the old; and, on which, and on the blood which was shed in them, the covenant itself was founded. This instruction on the priesthood continues to the end of ver. 18 in chap. 10. The exhortations founded thereon, introduce the principle of the endurance of faith, which leads to chap. 11, in which the cloud of witnesses is reviewed, crowning them with the example of Christ Himself, who completed the whole career of faith in spite of every obstacle, and who shows us where this painful but glorious path terminates (chap. 12:2).
From ver. 3, he enters more closely into the trials found in the path of faith, and gives the most solemn warnings with regard to the danger of those who draw back, and the most precious encouragements to those who persevere in it; setting forth the relationship into which we are brought by grace; and, finally, in chap. 13, he exhorts the faithful Hebrews on several points of detail, and in particular on that of unreservedly taking the Christian position under the cross, laying stress on the fact that Christians alone had the true worship of God, and that they who chose to persevere in Judaism had no right to take part in it. In a word, he would have them to separate themselves definitively from a Judaism which was already judged, and to lay hold of the heavenly calling, bearing the cross here below.
Such is the summary of our epistle; we return now to the study of its chapters in detail.
EB 1{1. We have said that, in chap. 1, we find the glory of the person of the Messiah, the Son of God, by whom God has spoken to the people. When I say "to the people," it is evident that we understand the epistle to be addressed to the believing remnant, partakers, it is said, of the heavenly calling, but considered as alone holding the true place of the people.
It is a distinction given to the remnant, with regard to the real position which the Messiah took in connection with His people, to whom, in the first instance, he came. The tried and despised remnant are encouraged, and their faith is sustained, by the true glory of their Messiah, hidden from their natural eyes, and the object of faith only.
" God," says the inspired writer, placing himself among the believers of the beloved nation, " has spoken to us, in the person of His Son." Psa. 2 should have led the Jews to expect the Son, and they ought to have formed a high idea of His glory from Isa. 9, and other Scriptures, which, in fact, were applied to the Messiah by their teachers, as the Rabbinical writings still prove. But that He should be in heaven, and not have raised His people to the possession of earthly glory-this did not suit the carnal state of their hearts. And this was the reason of their being so greatly embarrassed when the Lord, in His last discourses at Jerusalem, applied Ps. 110 to the Son of David.
Now, it is this heavenly glory, this true position of the Messiah and His people, in connection with His divine right to their attention, and to the worship of the angels themselves, which is so admirably presented here, where the Spirit of God brings out, in so infinitely precious a manner, the divine glory of Christ, for the purpose of exalting His people to belief in a heavenly position; at the same time, setting forth His perfect sympathy with us, as man, in order to maintain their communion with heaven, in spite of the difficulties of their path on earth.
Thus, although the Church is not found in the epistle to the Hebrews, the Savior of the Church is there presented, in His person, His work and His priesthood, most richly to our hearts and to our spiritual intelligence; and the heavenly calling is in itself very particularly developed.
It is also most interesting to see the way in which the work of our Savior, accomplished for us, forms a part of the manifestation Of His divine glory.
"God has spoken in the Son," says the inspired author of our epistle. He is then this Son. First, He is declared Heir of all things. It is He who is to possess gloriously, as Son, everything that exists. Such are the decrees of God. Moreover, it is by Him that God created the worlds. All the vast systems of this universe, those unknown worlds that trace their paths in the vast regions of space in divine order, to manifest the glory of a Creator-God, are the work of His hand who has spoken to us, of the divine Christ.
In Him has shone forth the glory of God, He is the perfect impress of His being. We see God in Him, in all that He said, in all that He did, in His person. Moreover, by the power of His Word He upholds all that exists. He is, then, the Creator. God is revealed in His person. He sustains all things by His Word, which has thus a divine power. But this is not all (for we are still speaking of the Christ); there is another part of His glory, -divine, indeed, yet manifested in human nature. He who was all this which we have just seen, when He had by Himself (accomplishing His own glory, and for His glory) wrought the purification of our sins, seated Himself at the right hand of the Majesty on Mei. Here is, in full, the personal glory of Christ. He is, in fact, the Creator, the revelation of God, the upholder of all things by His Word, He is the Redeemer -He has, by Himself, purged our sins, has seated Himself at the right hand of the Majesty on high. It is the Messiah who is all this. He is the Creator-God, but He is a Messiah who has taken His place in the heavens at the right hand of Majesty, having accomplished the purification of our sins. We perceive how this exhibition of the glory of Christ, the Messiah, whether personal or that of position, would bring whoever believed in it out of Judaism; while linking itself with the Jewish promises and hopes. He is God, He has come down from heaven, He has gone up thither again.
Now those who attached themselves to Him, found themselves, in another respect also, above the Jewish system. That system was ordained in connection with angels: but Christ has taken a position much higher than that of angels, because He has for His own proper inheritance a name (i.e., a revelation of what He is) which is much more excellent that that of angels. Upon this, the author of this epistle quotes several passages from the Old Testament which speak of the Messiah, in order to show that which He is, in contrast with the nature and the relative position of angels. The significance of these passages to a converted Jew is evident, and we readily perceive the adaptation of the argument to such; for the Jewish economy was under the administration of angels, according to their own belief-a belief fully grounded on the Word. And, at the same time, it was their own Scriptures which proved that the Messiah was to have a position much more excellent and exalted than that of angels, according to the rights that belonged to Him by virtue of His nature, and according to the counsels and the revelation of God: so that they who united themselves to Him were brought into connection with that which entirely eclipsed the law and all that related to it, and to the Jewish economy which could not be separated from it, and whose glory was angelic in character. The glory of Christianity-and he speaks to those who acknowledged Jesus to be the Christ-was so much above the glory of the law, that the two could not be really united.
The quotations begin by that from Psa. 2. God, it is written, has never said to any of the angels, " Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee." It is this, character of Sonship, proper to the Messiah, which, as a real relationship, distinguishes Him. He was from eternity the Son of the Father; but it is not precisely in this point of view that He is here considered. The name expresses the same relationship, but it is to the Messiah born on earth, that this title is here applied. For Psa. 2, establishing Him as King in Zion, announces the decree which proclaims His title. " Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee," is His relationship in time with God. It depends, I doubt not, on His glorious nature, but this position for man was acquired by the miraculous birth of Jesus here below, and demonstrated as true, and determined in its true import, by His resurrection. In Psa. 2, the testimony borne to this relationship is in connection with His Kingship in Zion, but it declares the personal glory of the King, acknowledged of God. By virtue of the rights connected with this title, all kings are summoned to submit themselves to Him. This Psalm, then, is speaking of the government of the world when God establishes the Messiah as King in Zion, and not of the gospel. But in the passage quoted Heb. 1:5,5For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? (Hebrews 1:5) it is the relationship of glory in which He subsists with God, the foundation of His rights, which is set forth, and not the royal rights themselves.
This is likewise the case in the next quotation, " I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son." Here we plainly see that it is the relationship in which He is with God, in which God accepts and owns Him, and not His eternal relationship with the Father: " I will be to Him a Father, &c.' Thus it is still the Messiah, the King in Zion, the Son of David; for these words are addressed in the first place to Solomon as the son of David (2 Sam. 7:24,24For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, Lord, art become their God. (2 Samuel 7:24) and 1 Chron. 17:1313I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee: (1 Chronicles 17:13)). In this second passage, the application of the expression to the true Son of David, is more distinct. A relationship so intimate, expressed, one may say, with so much affection, was not the portion of angels. The son of God, acknowledged to be so by God Himself-this is the portion of the Messiah in connection with God. The Messiah, then, is Son of God in an altogether peculiar way, which could not be applied to angels.
But still more. When God introduces the First-born into the world, all the angels are called to worship Him. God presents Him to the world-but the highest of created beings must then cast themselves at His feet. The angels of God Himself, the creatures that are nearest to Him, must do homage to the First-born. This last expression also is remarkable. The First-born is the Heir; the beginning of the manifestation of the glory and power of God. It is in this sense that the word is used. It is said of the Son of David, " I will make Him my first-born, I will exalt Him above the kings of the earth." Thus the Messiah is introduced into the world as holding this place with regard to God Himself. He is the Firstborn-the immediate expression of the rights and the glory of God. He has universal pre-eminence.
Such is-so to speak-the positional glory of the Messiah. Not only Head of the people on earth, as Son of David, nor even only the acknowledged Son of God on the earth, according to Psa. 2, but the universal Firstborn; so that the chief and most exalted of creatures, those nearest to God, the angels of God, the instruments of His power and government, must do homage to the Son in this His position.
Yet, this is far from being all; and this homage itself would be out of place, if His glory were not proper to Himself and personal, if it were not connected with His nature. Nevertheless, that which we have before us in this chapter is still the Messiah, as owned of God. God tells us what He is. Of the angels He says, "He maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers flames of fire." He does not make His Son anything-He recognizes that which He is, saying, " Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever." The Messiah may have an earthly throne, (which, also, is not taken from Him, but which ceases by His taking possession of an eternal throne), but He has a throne which is forever and ever.
The scepter of His throne as Messiah is a scepter of righteousness. Also He has personally loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God has anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows. These companions are the believing remnant of Israel, whom He has made, by grace, His fellows, although, (perfectly well-pleasing to God by His love of righteousness-and that, at all costs) He is exalted above them all. This is a remarkable passage, because while, on the one hand, the divinity of the Lord is fully established, as well as His eternal throne, on the other hand the passage comes down to his character as the faithful man on earth, where He made pious men, the little remnant of Israel who waited for redemption, His companions; at the same time it gives Him (and it could not be otherwise), a place above them.
The text then returns to the glory given Him as man, having the pre-eminence here as in all things.
I have already remarked elsewhere that while-as we read in Zechariah-Jehovah recognizes the humbled man, against whom His sword awakes to smite, as His fellow; here where the divinity of Jesus is set forth, the same Jehovah owns the poor remnant of believers as the fellows of the divine Savior. Marvelous links between God and His people!
Already, then, in these remarkable testimonies, He has the eternal throne and the scepter of righteousness, He is recognized as God, although a man, and glorified above all others, as the reward of righteousness.
But the declaration of His divinity, the divinity of the Messiah, must be more precise. And here the testimony is of the greatest beauty. The Psalm that contains it is the most complete expression of the sense which Jesus had of His humiliation on earth, of His dependence on Jehovah, and that having been raised up as Messiah from among men, He was cast down and His days shortened. If Zion were rebuilt (and the Psalm speaks prophetically of the time when it should have taken place) where would He be-Messiah as He was,-if, weakened and humbled, He was cut off in the midst of His days; as was the case. In a word, it is the prophetic expression of the Savior's heart, in the prospect of that which happened to Him as man on the earth: the utterance of His heart to Jehovah in those days of humiliation, in presence of the renewed affection of the remnant for the dust of Zion,-an affection which the Lord had produced in their hearts, and which was therefore a token of His good-will, and His purpose to re-establish it. But how could a Savior who was cut off have part in it? (a searching question for a believing Jew, tempted on that side). The words here quoted are the answer to this question. Humbled as He might be, it was the Creator Himself. He was ever the same; His years could never fail. It was He who had founded the heavens. He would fold them up as a garment, but He Himself would never change.
Such, then, is the testimony rendered to the Messiah by the Scriptures of the Jews themselves-the glory of His position above the angels who administered the dispensation of the law; His eternal throne of righteousness; His unchangeable divinity as Creator of all filings.
One thing remained to complete this chain of glory-i.e., the place occupied at present by Christ, in contrast still with the angels: a place that depends on the one hand upon the divine glory of His person; on the other, upon the accomplishment of His work. And this place is at the right hand of God, who called Him to sit there until He had made His enemies His footstool. Not only is His person glorious and divine, not only does He hold the first place with regard to all creatures in the universe, (we have spoken of this, which will take place when He is introduced into the world), but He has His own place at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. To which of the angels has God ever said this? They are servants, on God's part, to the heirs of salvation.
EB 2{2. This is the reason why it was so much the more needful to hearken to the Word spoken, in order that they should not let it pass away from life and memory.
God had maintained the authority of the Word that was communicated by means of angels, punishing disobedience to it, for it was a law. How then shall we escape if we neglect a salvation which the Lord Himself has announced? Thus, the service of the Lord among the Jews was a word of salvation, which the apostles confirmed, and which the mighty testimony of the Holy Ghost established.
Such is the exhortation addressed to the believing Jews, founded on the glory of the Messiah, whether with regard to His position or His person,
We have already remarked, that the testimony, of which this epistle treats, is attributed to the Lord Him-self; therefore we must not expect to find in it the Church (as such), of which the Lord had only spoken prophetically; but His testimony in relation to Israel, among whom He sojourned on the earth, to whatever extent that testimony reached. That which was spoken by the apostles, is only treated here as a confirmation of the Lord's own word; God having added His testimony to it by the miraculous manifestations of the. Spirit, who distributed His gifts to each according to His will.
The glory of which we have been speaking is the personal glory of the Messiah, the Son of David; and His glory in the time present, during which God has called Him to sit at His right hand. He is the Son of God, He is even the Creator; but there is also His glory in connection with the world to come, as Son of man. Of this the second chapter speaks, comparing Him still with the angels; but here to exclude them altogether. In the previous chapter they had their place: the law was given by angels; they are servants, on God's part, of the heirs of salvation. In chap. 2 They have no place; they do not reign; the world to come is not made subject to them-i.e. this habitable earth, directed and governed as it will be when God shall have accomplished that which He has spoken of by the prophets.
The order of the world, placed in relationship with Jehovah under the law (or "lying in darkness"), has been interrupted by the rejection of the Messiah, who has taken His place at the right hand of God on high, His enemies being not yet given into His hand for judgment; because God is carrying on His work of grace, and gathering out the Church. But He will yet establish a new order of things on the earth: this will be " the world to come." Now, that world is not made subject to angels. The testimony given in the Old Testament with regard to this, is as follows: " What is man, that thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor; thou hast set him over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." Thus all things, without exception (save He who has made them subject to Him), are, according to the purpose of God, put under the feet of man, and in particular of the Son of man.
When studying the Book of Psalms, we saw that which I recall here, namely, that this testimony in Psalm 8 is, with regard to the position and dominion of Christ as man, an advance upon Psa. 2. Psa. 1 sets before us the righteous man, accepted of God; Psa. 2, the counsels of God respecting His Messiah, in spite of the efforts made by the kings arid governors of the earth. God established Him as King in Zion, and summoned all the kings to do homage to Him, whom He proclaimed to be His Son on the earth. Afterward we see that He was rejected, that the remnant suffer, and that even from Psa. 2 The kings are. rebellious. But Psa. 8 shows that all this only served to enlarge the sphere of His glory. Christ takes the position of man and the title of Son of man, and enjoys His rights according to the counsels of God; and, made lower than the angels, He is crowned with glory and honor. And not only are the kings, of the earth made subject to Him, but all things, without exception, are put under His feet. It is this which the apostle quotes here. The Christ had already been rejected, and His being established as King in Zion put off, to be accomplished at a later period. He had been exalted to the right hand of God, as we have seen; and the wider title had accrued to Him, although the result was not yet accomplished.
To this the epistle here calls our attention. We see not yet the accomplishment of all that this Psalm announces; namely, that all things should be put under His feet; but a part is already fulfilled-a guarantee to the heart of the fulfillment of the whole. Made a little lower than the angels, He is crowned with glory and honor. He has suffered death, and He is crowned in reward for His work, by which He perfectly glorified God in the place where He had been dishonored, and saved man (those who believe in Him) where man was lost. For He was made lower than the angels, in order that, by the grace of God, He should taste death for all things. It appears to me that the words, "for the suffering of death," "crowned with glory and honor," go together; and that "a little lower than the angels.... so that by the grace of God," are connected together.
This passage, then, which is thus applied to the Lord, presents Him as exalted to heaven when He had undergone the death which gave Him a right to all, while waiting till all is put under His feet. But there is another truth connected with this. He had undertaken' the cause of the sons Whom God was bringing to glory, and therefore He must enter into the circumstances in which they were found, suffer the consequences thereof, and be treated according to the work He had undertaken. It was a reality; and it was fitting that God should vindicate the rights of His glory, and should maintain it with reference to those who had dishonored Him, and that He should treat the One who had taken their cause in hand, and who stood before Him in their name, as representing them in that respect. God would bring the Captain of their salvation to perfection through sufferings. He was to undergo the consequences of the situation into which He had come. His work was to be a reality, according to the measure of the responsibility which He had taken upon Himself. He must therefore suffer; He must taste death. It is by the grace of God that He did so-we, because of sin; He, because of grace, for sin.
This shows us the Christ standing in the midst of those who are saved, whom God brings to glory, although at their head. It is this which our epistle sets before us -He who sanctifies (the Christ), and they who are sanctified (the remnant set apart for God by the Spirit), are all of one: an expression, the force of which is easily apprehended, but difficult to express, when one abandons the abstract nature of the phrase itself. Observe, that it is only of sanctified persons that this is said. Christ and the sanctified ones are all one company, in the same position, before God. But the idea goes a little farther.
It is not of one and the same Father; had it been so, it could not have been said, " He is not ashamed to call them brethren." He could not then do otherwise than call them brethren.
If we say, "of the same mass " the expression may be pushed too far, as though He and the others were of the same nature as children of Adam, sinners together. In this case, He would have to call every man His brother; whereas it is only the children whom God has -given Him, " sanctified' ones, that He so calls. But He and the sanctified ones are all, as men, in the same human nature together before God. When I say, "the same," it is not in the same state of sin but in the same truth of humanity, as it is before God; the same as far forth as man when He, as the sanctified one, is before God. On this account, He is not ashamed to call the sanctified His brethren.
This position is entirely gained by resurrection; for although, in principle, the children were given to Him before, yet He only called them His brethren when He had finished the work which enabled Him to present them with Himself before God. He said, indeed, "mother, sister, brother"; but He did not use the term "my brethren," until He said to Mary of Magdala, " Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. Also in Psa. 22, it is when He had been heard from the horns of the unicorn, that He declared the name of a deliverer-God to His brethren, and that He praised God in the midst of the assembly.
He spoke to them of the Father's name, but the link itself could not be formed; He could not introduce them to the Father, until the grain of wheat, falling into the ground, had died; until then He remained alone, whatever might be the revelations that He made to them: and, in fact, He declared the name of His Father to those whom He had given Him. Still, He had actually taken the human position, and He Himself was in this relationship with God. He kept them in the Father's name, they were not yet united to Him in this position; but He was in the position in which they also should be before God, when they were united to Him in this same relationship with God. That which He does in the latter part of the Gospel by John, is to place His disciples-in the explanations He gave of the condition in which He left them-in the position which He, in fact, had held on earth; and He did not cease to associate Himself with; them-with us-when He ascended to heaven, although no longer corporeally subjected to the trials of that position.
He was not ashamed, then, to call them brethren, saying-exalted as He was-I will declare thy name unto my brethren, I will praise thee in the midst of the assembly. And, speaking of the remnant separated from Israel, He says, "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me, are for signs unto the two houses of Israel." And again, " I will put my trust in Him," a quotation from Isa. 8; so in the Psalms, especially in Psa. 16, He declares that He does not take His place as God -" my goodness extends not to thee''- but that He identifies Himself with the excellent of the earth, that all His delight is in them. This is again the remnant of Israel, called by grace.
Christ takes the place of a sanctified man, a godly man on earth. In this passage, it is still His place on earth, adding to it His sufferings, His future glory, His divinity, as we have seen.
Having taken this place at the head of the chosen band, their servant in all things, He must conform Himself to their position. And this He did. The children being partakers of flesh and blood, He took part in the same; and that, in order that by death He might put an end to the dominion of him who had the power of death, and deliver those who, through fear of death, had been subjected all their life to the yoke of bondage.
Here, also (the apostle seeking always to display the glorious and efficacious side, even of that which was most humbling, in order to accustom the weak heart of -the Jews to that portion of the gospel), we find that the Lord's work goes far beyond the limits of a presentation of the Messiah to His people. Not only is He glorious in heaven, but He has conquered Satan in the very place where he exercised his sad dominion over man, and where the judgment of God lay heavily upon man.
Moved by a profound love for man, the Son-become the Son of Man-enters in heart and in fact into all the need, and submits to all the circumstances, of man, in order to deliver him. He takes (for He was not in it before) flesh and blood, in order to die, because man was subjected to death, and in order to destroy him who exercised his dominion over man through death, and made him tremble all His lifetime in the expectation of that terrible moment, which testified of the judgment of God, and the inability of man to escape the consequences of sin; the condition into which disobedience to God had plunged him. For, verily, the Lord did not undertake the cause of angels, but that of the seed of Abraham; and, in order to perform the work that was necessary for them, and to represent them efficaciously and really before God, He must needs put Himself into the position and the circumstances in which that seed were found.
It will be remarked here, that it is still a family owned of God, which is before our eyes, as the object of the Savior's affection and care; the children whom God had given Him. Children of Abraham after the flesh, if in that condition they answered to the designation of " seed of Abraham," (this is the question of John 8:37 -3937I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 38I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. 39They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. (John 8:37‑39)), or his children according to the Spirit, if grace gives it them.
These truths introduce priesthood. As Son of Man, He had been made a little less than the angels, and, crowned already with glory and honor, was hereafter to have all things put under His feet. This we do not yet see; it is " the world to come, of which we speak." But He took this place of humiliation in order to taste death for the whole system that was afar from God, and to gain the full rights of the Second Man, by glorifying God there, where the creature had failed through weakness, and where, also, the enemy, having deceived man by his subtlety, had dominion over him (according to the righteous judgment of God) in power and malice. At the same time, He tasted death for the special purpose of delivering the children whom God would bring to glory, taking their nature and gathering them together as sanctified ones around Himself, de not being ashamed to call them brethren. But it was thus that He was to represent them before God, according to the efficacy of the work which He had accomplished for them; that is to say, He would become a priest, being able, through His life of humiliation and trial here below, to sympathize with His own, in all their conflicts and difficulties.
He suffered (never yielded—we do not suffer when we yield to temptation, the flesh takes pleasure in the things by which it is tempted); Jesus suffered, being tempted, and He is able to succor them that are tempted. It is important to observe that the flesh, when acted upon by its desires, does not suffer. Being tempted, it (alas!) enjoys. But when, according to the light of the Holy Ghost and the fidelity of obedience, the spirit resists the attacks of the enemy, whether subtle or persecuting, then one suffers. This the Lord did, and this we have to do. That which needs succor is the new man, the faithful heart, and not the flesh. I need succor against the flesh, and in order to mortify all the members of the old man.
Here, the needed help refers to the difficulties of the faithful saint in fulfilling all the will of God. This is where he suffers, this is where the Lord-who has suffered -can succor him. He trod this path, He learned in it that which can be suffered there from the enemy, and from men. A human heart feels it, and Jesus had a human heart. Besides, the more faithful the heart is, the more full of love to God, and the less it has of that hardness which is the result of intercourse with the world, the more will it suffer. Now, there was no hardness in Jesus. His faithfulness and His love were equally perfect. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief and weariness. He suffered, being tempted.
EB 3{3. Thus, the Lord is set before us as the Apostle and High Priest of believers from among the Jews, the true people. I say, " from among the Jews," not that He is not our Priest, but that here the sacred writer places himself among the believing Jews, saying, "our;" and, instead of speaking himself as an apostle, he points out Jesus as the Apostle; which He was in person among the Jews. In principle, it is true of all believers. That which He has said is the Lord's Word, and He is able to succor us when we are tempted. We are His house.
For we have here a third character of. Christ. He is a " Son over His own house." Moses was faithful in all the house of God, as a servant, in testimony to the things that were afterward to be proclaimed. But Christ is over His own house; thus, it is not as a servant. He has built the house. He is God.
Moses identified Himself with the house, faithful therein in all things. But Christ is more excellent; even as he who builds a house is more excellent than the house. But He who built all things is God. And this is what Christ did. For, in fact, the house, i.e., the tabernacle in the wilderness, was a figure of the universe: and Christ passed through the heavens, as the High Priest passed into the sanctuary. All was cleansed with blood, even as God will reconcile all things by Christ in the heavens and on the earth. In a certain sense, this universe is the house of God. He deigns to inhabit it. Christ created it all. But there is a house which is more properly His own. We are His house; taking it for granted that we persevere to the end.
The Hebrew Christians were in danger-being attracted by their former habits, and by a law and ceremonies which God Himself had established-of forsaking a Christianity, in which Christ was not visible, for things that were visible and palpable. The Christ of Christians, far from being a crown of glory to the people, was only an object of faith, so that if faith failed, He was deprived of all importance to them. A religion that made itself seen (the "old wine"), naturally attracted those that had been accustomed to it.
But, in fact, Christ was much more excellent than Moses; as he who has built the house has more honor than the house. Now, this house was the figure of all things, and He who had built them was God. The passage gives us this view of Christ, and of the house; and, also says, that we are this house. And Christ is not the servant here. He is the Son over His own house.
We must always remember that which has been already remarked, namely, that in this epistle we have not the Church as the body of Christ in union with Himself.; nor even the Father either, except as a comparison in chap. 12. It is God, a heavenly Christ (who is the Son and God), and a people; the Messiah being a heavenly mediator between the people and God. Therefore, the proper privileges of the Church are not found in this epistle, they flow from our union with Christ; and, here, Christ is a person apart, who is between us and God.
There are still a few remarks which we may add here, in order to throw light on this point, and to assist the reader in understanding the two first chapters, as well as the principle of the instructions throughout the epistle.
In chap. 1, Christ accomplishes, by Himself, as a part of His divine glory, the cleansing of our sins, and seats Himself at the right hand of God. This work, observe, is done by Himself. We have nothing to do with it, save to believe in, and enjoy, it. It is a divine work which this divine person has accomplished by Himself; so that it has all the absolute perfection, all the force of a work done by Him, without any mixture of our weakness, of our efforts, or of our experiences. He performed it by Himself, and it is accomplished. Thereupon He takes His seat. He is not placed there-He seats Himself upon the throne on high.
In chap. 2, we see another point which characterizes the epistle. The present state of the glorified man. He is crowned with glory and honor; but it is with a view to an order of things which is not yet accomplished. It is the person of the man Christ which is presented, not the Church in union with Him, even when He is beheld as glorified in the heavens. This glory is viewed as a partial accomplishment of that which belongs to Him, according to the counsels of God, as the Son of Man, Hereafter, this glory will be complete in all its parts, by the subdual of all things.
The present glory, therefore, of Christ makes us look forward to an order of things yet future, which will be full rest, full blessing. In a word, besides the perfection of His work, the epistle sets before us the sequel of that which belongs to the Christ in person, the Son of man, not the perfection of the Church in Him. And this embraces the present time, the character of which depends-to the believer-on Christ's being now glorified in heaven while waiting for a future state, in which all things will be subjected to Him.
In this chap. 2, we see also that He is crowned. He is not sitting there as in His own original right, but having been made a little less than the angels God crowns Him. We also plainly see, that although the 'believing Hebrews are especially in view, and even that all Christians are classed under the title of Abraham's seed on the earth, yet that Christ is viewed, nevertheless, as the Son of man, and not as the Son of David; and the question is put, "What is man?" The answer (the precious answer for us) is, Christ glorified, once dead on account of man's condition. In Him we see the mind of God with regard to man.
The fact that Christians themselves are viewed as the seed of Abraham, plainly shows the way in which they are considered as forming part of the chain of the heirs of promise on earth (as in Rom. 11), and not as the Church united to Christ as His body in heaven.
The work is perfect-it is the work of God. He has by Himself purged our sins. The full result of the counsels of God with regard to the Son of Man is not yet come. Thus the earthly part can be brought in, as a thing foreseen as well as the heavenly part, although the persons to whom the epistle is addressed had part in the heavenly glory, participated in the heavenly calling, in connection with the present position of the Son of man.
The remnant of the Jews, as we have said, are considered as continuing the chain of the people blessed on earth, whatever heavenly privileges they may also possess, or whatever their especial state may be in connection with the Messiah's exaltation to heaven. We have been grafted into the good olive-tree, so that we share all the advantages here spoken of. Our highest position, and the privileges belonging to it, are not here in view. Accordingly, as writing to Hebrews, and as one among them, he addresses them, that is to say, Christians and believing Israelites. This is the force of the word "us" in the epistle; we must bear it in mind, and that the Hebrew believers always form the word "us," of which the writer is also a part.
As I have said, we rightly appropriate it, in principle; but to have a clear view of His meaning, we must put ourselves at the point of view which the Spirit of God has taken.
No one ought to harden their hearts; but this word is especially addressed to Israel, and that until the day when Christ shall appear. In speaking of it, the author returns to the word that had formerly been addressed to Israel; not now, in order to warn them of the danger they would incur by neglecting it, but of the consequences of departing from that which they had acknowledged to be true. -Israel, when delivered out of Egypt, had provoked God in the wilderness (it was, indeed, the case also of Christians in this world), because they were not at once, and without difficulty, in Canaan. Those to whom he wrote were in danger of forsaking the living God in the same way; that is, the danger was there before their eyes. They should rather exhort each other, while it was still called to-day, in order that they might not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This word "to-day" is the expression of the patient activity of God's grace towards Israel, even unto the end. The people were unbelieving; they have hardened their hearts; they have done so, and will, alas! do so to the end, until judgment comes in the person of the Messiah-Jehovah, whom they have despised. But until then God loves to reiterate "To-day, if ye will hear my voice." It may be that only a few will hearken—it may be that the nation is judicially hardened, in order to admit the Gentiles; but the word "to-day" still resounds for every one among them who has ears to hear, until the Lord shall appear in judgment. It is addressed to the people, according to the long-suffering of God. For the remnant who had believed, it was an especial warning not to walk in the ways of the hardened people, who had refused to hearken-not to turn back to them, forsaking their own confidence in the Word which had called them, as Israel did in the wilderness.
As long as the "to-day" of the call of grace should continue, they were to exhort one another, lest unbelief should glide into their hearts through the subtlety of sin. It is thus that the living God is forsaken. We speak thus practically, not with reference to the faithfulness of God, who certainly will not allow any of His own to perish, but with regard to practical danger, and to that which would draw us away—as to our responsibility—from God, and forever, if God did not intervene, acting in the life which He has given us, and which never perishes.
Sin separates us from God in our thoughts; we have no longer the same sense either of His love, His power, or His interest in us. Confidence is lost. Hope, and the value of unseen things, diminish; while the value of things that are seen proportionately increases. The conscience is bad; one is not at ease with God; the path is hard and difficult; the will strengthens itself against Him; we no longer live by faith; visible things come in between us and God, and take possession of the heart. Where there is life, God warns by His Spirit (as in this epistle), He chastises and restores. Where it was only an outward influence, a faith devoid of life, and the conscience not reached, it is abandoned.
It is the warning against so doing that arrests the living. The dead—they whose consciences are not engaged, who do not say, "To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life"-despise the warning and perish. This was the case with Israel in the wilderness, and God swore unto them that they should not enter into His rest (Num. 14:21-2321But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: (Numbers 14:21‑23)). And why? They had given up their confidence in Him. Their unbelief—when the beauty and excellence of the land had been reported to them-deprived them of the promised rest.
The position of the believers to whom this epistle is addressed was the same as this, although in connection with better promises. The beauty and excellence of the heavenly Canaan had been proclaimed to them. They had, by the Spirit, seen and tasted its fruit; they were in the wilderness; they had to persevere, to maintain their confidence unto the end.
Observe here—for Satan and our own conscience, when it has not been set free, often make use of this epistle—that doubting Christians are not here contemplated, or persons who have not yet gained entire confidence in God; to those who are in this condition it has no application. The exhortations are to preserve a confidence which one has, and to persevere, not to tranquillize fears and doubts. This use of the epistle to sanction such doubts is but a device of the enemy. Only I would add here, that although the full knowledge of grace (which, in such a case, the soul has assuredly not yet attained) is the only thing that can deliver and set it free from its fears, yet it is very important practically to maintain a good conscience, in order not to furnish the enemy with a special means of attack.
EB 4{4. The apostle goes on to apply this part of Israel's history to those whom he was addressing, laying stress on two points: 1St. That Israel had failed of entering into rest through unbelief; 2nd. That the rest was yet to come, and that believers (those who were not seeking rest here, but who accepted the wilderness for the time being) should enter into it.
He begins by saying: " Let us fear, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, lest any should seem to come short of it, not to attain it. For we have been the objects of the proclamation of His promises, as they were in times past. But the word addressed to them remained fruitless, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it: for we which have believed do enter into rest. The rest itself is yet to come, and it is by faith that we enter into it. For a rest of God there is, and there are some who enter into it; inasmuch as it is written, They, i.e. those [pointing out a certain class who are to be excluded] shall not enter into my rest.' " God had wrought in creation, and then rested from His works when He had finished them. Thus, from the foundation of the world, He has shown that He had a rest, as in the passage already quoted, " If they shall enter into my rest.' Two things, then, are evident: some were to enter in, and the first to whom it was proposed did not enter in, because of their unbelief. Therefore He again fixes a day, saying, in David, long after the entrance into Canaan, " To-day—as it is written—to-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."
Here a natural objection occurs, to which the apostle gives a complete answer, without speaking of the objection itself. The Israelites had, indeed, fallen in the wilderness, but Joshua had brought the people into Canaan, which the unbelievers never reached; the Jews were there. The answer is evident. It was long after this that God said, by David, " I swore in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest." If Joshua had given rest to Israel, David would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God. It is yet to come; but it is assured by the word of God. A truth, the bearing of which is immediately seen with regard to the connection of the believing Jews with the nation, in the midst of which they were tempted to seek a rest that, for the moment, faith (being enfeebled) did not afford them. To have God's rest, one must persevere in faith. Present, apparent rest, was not the true rest. God's rest was still to be waited for. Faith alone acknowledged this, and sought for none in the wilderness, trusting to the promise. God still said " To-day."
The state of the people was worse than the rest that Joshua gave them; which, as their own Psalms prove, was no rest at all.,
As to the order of the verses, the exhortation in ver. 11, depends on the whole course of what precedes, the argument having been completed by the testimony of David, coming after Joshua. After the creation, God indeed rested: but He said, after that, " If they shall enter into my rest." So that men had not entered into that rest. Joshua entered into the land; but the word by David, coming long after, proves that the rest of God was not yet attained. Nevertheless, this same testimony which forbade the entrance into rest because of unbelief,' showed that some are to enter in-otherwise there was no need of declaring the exclusion of others for an especial cause.
Now, as long as any one had not ceased from his own works, he had not entered into rest; he who has entered into it, has ceased from work; even as God ceased from His /works when He entered into His rest. "Let us, therefore, use all diligence," is the exhortation of the faithful witness of God, " that we may enter into that rest-the rest of God-in order that we may not fall, after the same example of unbelief."
We should especially observe here, that it is the rest of God which is spoken of. This enables us to understand the happiness and perfection of the rest. God must rest in that which satisfies His heart. This was the case even in creation-all was very good. And now, it must be in a perfect blessing that perfect love can be satisfied with regard to us, who shall possess a heavenly portion in the blessing which we shall have in His own presence, in perfect holiness and perfect light. Accordingly, all the toilsome work of faith, the exercise of faith in the wilderness, the warfare, (although there are many joys) the good works practiced there, labor of every kind will cease. It is not only that we shall be delivered from the power of indwelling sin; all the efforts and all the troubles of the new man will cease. We are already set free from the law of sin: then, our spiritual exercises for God will cease. We shall rest from our works-not evil ones. We have already rested from our works with regard to justification; and, therefore, in that sense, we have now rest in our souls; but that is not the subject here -it is the Christian's rest from all his works. God rested from His works—assuredly good ones—and so shall we also, then, with Him.
We are now in the wilderness, we also wrestle with wicked spirits in heavenly places. A blessed rest remains for us, in which our hearts will repose in the presence of God, where nothing will trouble the perfection of our rest, where God will rest in the perfection of the blessing He has bestowed on His people.
The great thought of the apostle is, that there remains a rest (that is to say, that the believer is not to expect it here) without saying where it is. And he does not speak in detail of the character of the rest, because he leaves the door open to an earthly rest for the earthly people, on the ground of the promises: although to Christian partakers of the heavenly calling, God's rest is evidently a heavenly one.
The apostle then sets before us the instrument which God employs to judge the unbelief and all the workings f the heart which tend, as we have seen, to lead the believer into departure from the position of faith, and to hide God from him by inducing him to satisfy his flesh and seek for rest in the wilderness.
To the believer who is upright in heart, this judgment is of great value as that which enables him to discern all that has a tendency to hinder his progress or make him slacken his steps. It is the Word of God, which-being the revelation of God, the expression of what He is, and of what His will is in all the circumstances that surround us-judges everything in the heart which is not of Himself: It is more penetrating than a two-edged sword. Living and energetic, it separates all that is most intimately linked together in our hearts and minds. Wherever nature (the "soul") and its feelings mingle with that which is spiritual, it brings the edge of the sword of the living truth of God between the two, and judges the hidden movements of the heart respecting them. It discerns all the thoughts and intentions of the heart. But it has another character: coming from God (being, as it were, His eye upon the conscience), it brings us into His presence; and all that it forces us to discover, it sets, in our conscience, before the eye of God Himself. Nothing is hidden, all is naked and manifested to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Such is the true help, the mighty instrument of God to judge everything in us that would hinder us from pursuing our course through the wilderness with joy, and with a buoyant heart strengthened by faith and confidence in Him. Precious instrument of a faithful God—solemn and serious in its operation; but of priceless and infinite blessing in its effects, in its consequences.
It is an instrument which, in its operations, does not allow " the desires of the flesh and of the mind" liberty to act; which does not permit the heart to deceive itself; but which procures us strength, and places us without any consciousness of evil in the presence of God to pursue our course with joy and spiritual energy. Here the exhortation, founded on the power of the Word, concludes.
But there is another succor-one of a different character, to aid us in our passage through the wilderness: and that is Priesthood-a subject which the epistle here begins, and carries on through several chapters.
We have a High Priest who has passed through the heavens,-as Aaron, through the successive parts of the Tabernacle,-Jesus, the Son of God.
He has, in all things, been tempted like ourselves, apart from sin; so that He can sympathize with our infirmities. The Word brings to light the intents of the heart, judges the will, and all that has not God for its object and its source. As far as weakness is concerned, we have His sympathy. Christ, of course, had no evil desires. He was tempted in every way, apart from sin. Sin had no part in it at all. But I do not wish for sympathy with the sin that is in me; I detest it, I wish it to be mortified, judged unsparingly. This the Word does. For my weakness and my difficulties I seek sympathy; and I find it in the Priesthood of Jesus. It is not necessary, in order to sympathize with me, that a person should feel at the same moment that which I am feeling-rather the contrary. If I am suffering pain, I am not in a condition to think as much of another s pain. But, in order to sympathize with him, I must have a nature capable of appreciating his pain.
Thus it is with Jesus, when exercising His priesthood. He is in every sense beyond the reach of pain and trial, but He is man-and not only has He the human nature which, in time, suffered grief, but Be experienced the trials a saint has to go through more fully than any of ourselves; and His heart, free and full of love, can entirely sympathize with us, according to His experience of ill, and according to the glorious liberty which He now has, to provide and care for it. This encourages us to hold fast our profession in spite of the difficulties that beset our path; for Jesus concerns Himself about them, according to His own know-ledge and experience of what they are, and according to the power of His grace.
Therefore-our High Priest being there-we can go with all boldness to the throne of grace, to find mercy and the grace suited to us in all times of need. Mercy, because we are weak and wavering. Needful grace, because we are engaged in a warfare which God owns.
Observe, it is not that we go to the High Priest. It is often done, and God may have compassion; but it is a proof that we do not fully understand grace. The Priest, the Lord Jesus, occupies Himself about us, sympathizes with us, on the one hand; and on the other, we go directly to the throne of grace.
The Spirit does not here speak positively of falls: we find that in 1 John 2. There also it is in connection with communion with His Father, here with access to God. His purpose here is to strengthen us, to encourage us to persevere in the way, conscious of the sympathies which we possess in heaven, and that the throne is always open to us.
EB 5{5. The epistle then develops the Priesthood of the Lord Jesus, comparing it with that of Aaron; but, as we shall see, with a view to bring out the difference rather than the resemblance between them: although there is a general analogy, and the one was an image of the other.
This comparison is made in chap. 5, from ver. 1 to ver. 10. The line of argument is then interrupted till the end of chap. 7, where the comparison with Melchizedek is pursued; and the change of law consequent on the change of priesthood, is stated; which introduces the Covenants, and all that relates to the circumstances of the Jews.
A priest, then, as taken from among men, (he is not here speaking of Christ) is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin; he is able to feel the miseries of others because he is himself compassed with infirmity, and offers, therefore, for himself as well as for the people. Moreover, no one takes this honor to himself, but receives it, as Aaron did, being called of God. The epistle will speak farther on of the sacrifices-here, of the person of the Priest, and of the order of the Priesthood.
Christ glorified not Himself to become a High Priest. The glory of His person, manifested as man on the earth, and that of His function, are both of them plainly declared of God. The first, when He said, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee," (Psa. 2) The second, (Psa. 110) in these words, " Thou art a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." Such then, in both personal and official glory, is the High Priest, the expected Messiah, Christ.
But His glory, although it gives Him His place in honor before God, so that He can undertake the people's cause before God according to His will, does not bring Him near to the miseries of men. It is His history on earth which makes us feel how truly able He is to take part in them. " In the days of His flesh," i.e., here below, He went into all the anguish of death in dependence on God, making His request to Him who was able to save Him from it. For, being here, in order to obey and to suffer, He did not save Himself. He submitted to everything, obeyed in everything, and depended on God for everything.
He was heard because of His fear. It was proper that He who took death on Himself as answering for others, should feel its whole weight upon His soul. He would neither escape the consequences of that which He had undertaken (compare chap. 2) nor fail in the just sense of what it was to be thus under the hand of God in judgment. His fear was His piety, the right estimation of the position in which sinful man was found, and what must come from God because of it. For Him, however, to suffer the consequences of this position, was obedience. And this obedience was to be perfect, and to be tried to the utmost.
He was the Son, the glorious Son of God. But although, this was true, He was to learn obedience (and to Him it was a new thing) by all that He suffered. And then, having deserved all glory, He was to take His place as the glorified man-to be perfected. And in that position, to become the cause of eternal salvation (not mere temporal deliverances) to them that obey Him. A salvation which should be connected with the position that He had taken in consequence of His work of obedience: saluted by God as " High Priest after the order of Melchizedek."
That which follows, to the end of chap. 6, is a parenthesis which refers to the condition of those to whom the epistle is addressed. They are blamed for the dullness of their spiritual intelligence, and encouraged at the same time by the promises of God: the whole with reference to their position as Jewish believers. Afterward, the line of instruction with regard to Melchizedek, is resumed.
For the time, they ought to have been able to teach: nevertheless, they needed that some one should teach them the elements of the oracles of God-requiring milk instead of meat.
We may observe that there is no greater hindrance to progress in spiritual life and intelligence than attachment to an ancient form of religion, which, being traditional and not simply personal faith in the truth, consists always in ordinances, and is, consequently, carnal and earthly. Without this, people may be unbelievers; but under the influence of such a system, piety itself-expended in forms -makes a barrier between the soul and the light of God: and these forms which surround, pre-occupy and hold the affections captive, prevent them from enlarging and becoming enlightened by means of divine revelation. Morally (as the apostle here expresses it) the senses are not exercised to discern both good and evil.
But the Holy Ghost will not limit Himself to the narrow circle and the weak and futile sentiments of human tradition, nor even to those truths which, in a state like this, one is able to receive. In such a case, Christ has not His true place. And this our epistle here develops.
Milk belongs to babes, solid food to those who are of full age. This infancy was the soul's condition under the ordinances and requirements of the law. (Compare Gal. 4:1,1Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; (Galatians 4:1) seq.) But there was a revelation of the Messiah in connection with these two states-of infancy and of manhood. And the development of the word of righteousness, of the true practical relationships of the soul to God according to His character and ways, was in proportion to the revelation of Christ, who is the manifestation of that character, and the center of all those ways. Therefore it is that in 5:12, 13, the epistle speaks of the elements, the beginning of the oracles of God, and of the word of righteousness. In 6:1, of the word of the beginning-or the first principles-of Christ.
EB 6{6. Now, the Spirit will not stop at this point with Christians, but will go on to that full revelation of His glory which belongs to them that are of full age, and in-deed forms us for that state.
We easily perceive that the inspired writer tries to make the Hebrews feel, that he was placing them on higher and more excellent ground by connecting them with a heavenly and invisible Christ; and that Judaism kept them back in the position of children. This, moreover, characterizes the whole epistle.
Nevertheless, we shall find two things here: on the one hand, the elements and the character of doctrine that be-longed. to infancy, to " the beginning of the word of Christ," in contrast with the strength and heavenly savor that accompanied the Christian revelation. And on the other hand, what the revelation of Christ Himself was, in connection with this last spiritual and Christian system.
But the epistle distinguishes between this system and the doctrine of the person of Christ, although the present position of Christ gives its character to the Christian system. The distinction is made-not that the condition of souls does not depend on the measure of the revelation of Christ and of the position He has taken, but because the doctrine of His person and glory goes much farther than the present state of our relations with God.
The things spoken of in chap. 6:1, 2 had their place, because the Messiah was yet to come: was in a state of infancy. The things spoken of in verses 4, 5, are the privileges that Christians enjoyed in virtue of the work and the glorification of the Messiah. But they are not in themselves the "perfection" mentioned in ver. 1: and which relates rather to the knowledge of the person of Christ Himself. The privileges in question, were the effect of the glorious position of His person in Heaven.
It is important to attend to this, in order to understand these passages. In the infancy spoken of in the verses 1 and 2, the obscurity of the revelations of the Messiah, announced at most by promises and prophecies, left worshippers under the yoke of ceremonies and figures, although in possession of some fundamental truths. His exaltation made way for the power of the Holy Ghost here below; and on this the responsibility of souls which had tasted it, depended.
The doctrine of the person and the glory of Jesus forms the subject of revelations in the epistle, and was the means of deliverance for the Jews from the whole system which had been such a heavy burden on their hearts; it should prevent their forsaking the state described in verses 4 and 5, in order to return into the weakness and (Christ having come) the carnal state of verses I and 2.
The epistle then does not desire to establish again the true but elementary doctrines which belonged to the times when Christ was not revealed; but to go forward to the full revelation of His glory and position, according to the counsels of God revealed in the Word.
The Holy Ghost would not go back again to these former things, because new things had been brought in, in connection with the heavenly glory of the Messiah namely, Christianity, characterized by the power of the Holy Ghost.
But if any one who had been brought under that power, who had known it, should afterward abandon it, he could not be renewed again to repentance by the former things of Judaism; and as for the new things, he had given them up. All God's means had been employed for him, and had produced nothing.
Such a one-of his own will-crucified for himself the Son of God. Associated with the people who had done so, he had acknowledged the sin which his people had committed, and owned Jesus to be the Messiah. But now he repeated the crime, knowingly and of his own will.
The judgment, the resurrection of the dead, repentance from dead works, had been taught. Under that order of things the nation had crucified their Messiah. Now, power had come; which testified of the glorification of the crucified Messiah, the Son of God, in heaven; and which by miracles destroyed (at least in detail) the power of the enemy who was still reigning over the world. These miracles were a partial anticipation of the full and glorious deliverance which should take place in the world to come, when the triumphant Messiah, the Son of God, should entirely destroy all the power of the enemy.
The power of the Holy Ghost, the miracles wrought in the bosom of Christianity, were testimonies that the power which was to accomplish that deliverance-although still hidden in heaven-existed nevertheless in the glorious person of the Son of God. The power did not yet accomplish the deliverance of this world oppressed by Satan, because another thing was being done meanwhile. The light of God was shining, the good word of grace was being preached, the heavenly gift (a better thing than the deliverance of the world) was being tasted; and the sensible power of the Holy Ghost made itself known, while waiting for the return in glory of the Messiah to bind Satan, and thus accomplish the deliverance of the world under his dominion.
Speaking generally, the power of the Holy Ghost, the consequence of the Messiah's being glorified above, was exercised on earth as a present manifestation and anticipation of the great deliverance to come. The revelation of grace, the good word of God was preached; and the Christian lived in the sphere where these things displayed themselves, and was subjected to the influence exercised in it. This made itself to be felt by those who were brought in among Christians: even where there was no spiritual life, these influences were felt.
But, after having been the subject of this influence of the presence of the Holy Ghost, after having tasted the revelation thus made of the goodness of God, and experienced the proofs of His power, if any one then forsook Christ, there remained no other means for restoring the soul, for leading it to repentance. The heavenly treasures were already expended-he had given them up as worthless,-he had rejected the full revelation of grace and power, after having known it. What means could now be used? To return to Judaism when the truth had been revealed was impossible: and the new light had been known and rejected. In a case like this, there was only the flesh; there was no new life. Thorns and briars were being produced as before.
When once we have understood that this passage is a comparison of the power of the spiritual system with Judaism; and that it speaks of giving up the former, after having known it, its difficulty disappears. The possession of life, is not supposed: nor is that question touched. The passage speaks, not of life, but of the Holy Ghost as a power present in Christianity. To "taste the good Word," is to have understood how precious that Word is; and not the having been quickened by its means.
The apostle does not, however, apply what he says to the Hebrew Christians; for, however low their state might be, there had been fruits, proofs of life, which in itself no mere power is; and he continues his discourse by giving them encouragement, and motives for perseverance.
It will be observed, then, that this passage is a comparison between that which was possessed before and after Christ was glorified; the state and privileges of professors, at these two periods; without any question as to personal conversion. When the power of the Holy Ghost was present, and there was the full revelation of grace, if any forsook the Church and turned back again, there were no means of renewing them to repentance. The inspired writer, therefore, would not again lay the foundation of former things with regard to Christ-things already grown old-but would go on, for the profit of those who remained steadfast in the faith.
We may also remark how the epistle, in speaking of Christian privileges, does not lose sight of the future earthly state, the glory and the privileges of the millennial world. The miracles are the miracles of the world to come, they belong to that period. The deliverance and the destruction of Satan's power should then be complete; those miracles were deliverances-samples of that power. We saw this point brought into notice (2:5) at the beginning of the doctrine of the epistle; and in chap. 4, the rest of God left vague in its character, in order to embrace both the heavenly part and the earthly part of our Lord's millennial reign. Here, the present power of the Holy Ghost characterizes the ways of God, Christianity; but the miracles are a foretaste of a coming age, in which the whole world will be blessed.
In the encouragements that it gives them, the epistle already calls to mind the principles by which the father of the faithful and of the Jewish nation had walked, and the way in which God had strengthened him in his faith. Abraham had to rest on promises, without possessing that -which was promised; and this, with regard to rest and glory, was the state in which the Hebrew Christians then were. But, at the same time, in order to give full assurance to the heart, God had confirmed His Word by an oath, in order that they who built upon this hope of promised glory, might have strong and satisfying consolation. And this assurance had received a still greater confirmation. It entered into that within the veil, it found its sanction in the sanctuary itself, whither a fore-runner had entered, giving-not only a word and an oath—but a personal guarantee for the fulfillment of these promises, and the Sanctuary of God as a refuge for the heart. Thus giving, for those who had spiritual under-standing, a heavenly character to the hope which they cherished; while showing, by the character of Him who had entered into Heaven, the certain fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises, in connection with a heavenly Mediator, who, by His position, assured that fulfillment; establishing the earthly blessing upon the firm foundation of Heaven itself, and giving, at the same time, a higher and more excellent character to that blessing, by uniting it to Heaven, and making it flow from thence.
We have thus the double character of blessing which this book again presents to our mind, in connection with the person of the Messiah-and the whole linked by faith with Jesus.
Jesus has entered into Heaven as a forerunner. He is there. We belong to that Heaven. He is there as High Priest. During the present time, therefore, His priest—hood has a heavenly character; nevertheless, it is after the order of Melchizedek. It sets aside then the whole Aaronic order, but, by its nature, points out in the future a royalty which is not yet manifested. Now, the very fact that this future royalty was connected with the person of Him who was seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, according to Ps. ex., fixed the attention of the Hebrew Christian, when tempted to turn back, on Him who was in the heavens, and made him understand the priesthood which the Lord is now exercising; it delivered him from Judaism, and strengthened him in the heavenly character of the Christianity which he had embraced.
EB 7{7. The epistle, returning to the subject of Melchizedek, reviews therefore the dignity of His person and the importance of His priesthood. For on priesthood, as a means of drawing nigh to God, the whole system connected with it depended.
Melchizedek then, (a typical and characteristic person, as the use of his name in Psa. 110 proves) was King of Salem, i.e., King of Peace; and, by name, King of Righteousness. Righteousness and peace characterize his reign. But, above all, he was priest of the Most High God. This is the name of God as supreme governor of all things: possessor, as it is elsewhere added, of heaven arid earth. It was thus that Nebuchadnezzar, the humbled earthly potentate, acknowledged Him. It was thus He revealed Himself to Abraham, when Melchizedek blessed the patriarch after he had conquered his enemies. In connection with his walk of faith, the name of God for Abraham was "The Almighty." Here, Abraham, victorious over the kings of the earth, is blessed by Melchizedek, by the King of Righteousness, in connection with God as Possessor of heaven and earth, the Most High. This looks onward to the royalty of Christ, a Priest upon His throne, when, by the will and the power of God, He shall have triumphed over all His enemies. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek; his royalty was not all, for Ps. 110 is very clear in describing Melchizedek as priest, and as possessing a lasting and uninterrupted priesthood.
He had no sacerdotal parentage from whom he derived his priesthood. As a priest, he had neither father nor mother; unlike the sons of Aaron, he had no genealogy (compare Ezra 2:6262These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood. (Ezra 2:62)); he had no limits assigned to the term of his priestly service, as was the case with the sons of Aaron (Num. 4:33From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. (Numbers 4:3)). He was made a priest, like-in the form of his priesthood-to the Son of God: but the latter is in heaven.
The fact that he received tithes from Abraham, and that he blessed Abraham, showed the high and pre-eminent dignity of this otherwise unknown and mysterious personage. The only thing that is testified of him, -without naming father or mother, commencement of life, or death that may have taken place-is, that he lived.
The dignity of his person was beyond that of Abraham, the depositary of the promises; that of his priesthood was above Aaron's, who, in Abraham, paid the tithes which Levi himself received from his brethren. The priesthood then is changed, and with it the whole system that depended on it.
Psa. 110, interpreted by faith in Christ-for the epistle, we need not say, speaks always to Christians-is still the point on which its argument is founded. The first proof, then, that the whole was changed, is that the Lord Jesus the Messiah (a Priest after the order of Melchizedek) did not spring, evidently, from the sacerdotal tribe, but from another, namely, that of Judah. For that Jesus was the Messiah, they believed. But, according to the Jewish Scriptures, the Messiah was such as He is here presented -and in that case the priesthood was changed, and with it the whole system. And this was not only a consequence that must be drawn from the fact that the Messiah was of the tribe of Judah, although a priest; but it was requisite that another priest than the priest of Aaron's family, should arise, and one after the similitude of Melchizedek, who should not be after the law of a commandment which had no more power than the flesh to which it was applied, but who should be according to the power of a never-ending life. The testimony of the Psalm was positive: "Thou art a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."
For there is, in fact, a disannulling of the commandment that existed previously, because it was unprofitable (for the law brought nothing to perfection); and there is the bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw nigh to God.
Precious difference! A commandment to man, sinful and afar from God, replaced by a hope, a confidence, founded on grace and on divine promise, through which we can come even into God's own presence.
The law, doubtless, was good; but separation still subsisted between man and God. The law made nothing perfect-God was ever perfect, and human perfection was required; all must be according to divine perfection. But sin was there-and the law, consequently, without power (save to condemn); its ceremonies and ordinances were but figures, and a heavy yoke. Even that which temporarily relieved the conscience brought sin to mind, and never made the conscience perfect towards God. They were still at a distance from Him. Grace brings the soul to God, who is known in love and in a righteousness which is for us.
The character of the new priesthood bore the stamp, in all its features, of its superiority to that which existed under the order of the law; and, with which, the whole system of the law either stood or fell.
The covenant connected with the new priesthood, answered likewise to the superiority of the latter over the former priesthood.
The priesthood of Jesus was established by oath; that of Aaron was not. The priesthood of Aaron passed from one person to another, because death put an end to its exercise by the individuals who were invested with it. But Jesus abides the same forever; He has a priesthood that is not transmitted to others. Thus He saves completely, and to the end, those that come unto God by Him; seeing that He ever lives to intercede for them.
Accordingly, "such a High Priest became us." Glorious thought! Called to be in the presence of God, to be in relationship with Him in the heavenly glory, to draw near to Him on high, where nothing that defiles can enter, we needed a High Priest in the place to which access was given us, (as the Jews in the earthly temple), and such a One as the glory and purity of heaven required. What a demonstration that we belong to heaven, and of the exalted nature of our relationship with God. Such a Priest became us. " Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; exalted above the heavens"-for so are we, as to our position, having to do with God there; -a Priest who needs not to renew the sacrifices, as though the sin remained, for then it would be impossible for Him to stay in the heavenly sanctuary as having made an end of sin. Our Priest offered His sacrifice once for all, when He offered up Himself.
For the law made high priests who had the infirmities of men-for they were men themselves-the oath of God, which came after the law, establishes the Son, when He is perfected forever, consecrated in heaven unto God.
We see here that, although there was an analogy, and the figures of heavenly things, there is more of contrast than of comparison in this epistle. The legal priests had the same infirmities as other men; Jesus has a glorified priesthood, according to the power of an endless life.
The introduction of this new priesthood, exercised in heaven, implies a change in the sacrifices, and in the covenant. This the author develops here, setting forth the value of the sacrifice of Christ, and the long-promised new covenant.
EB 8{8th chap. in this aspect, is simple and clear; the last verses only give room for a few remarks.
The sum of the doctrine we have been considering is, that we have an High Priest, who is seated on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the heavenly sanctuary which is not made with hands. As such, He must make an offering there. Jesus, were He on earth, would not be a Priest; there were priests on earth ac-cording to the law, in which all things were but figures of the heavenly things; as Moses was told to make all according to the pattern that was shown him in the mount. But the ministry of Jesus is more excellent, be-cause He is the Mediator of a better covenant, spoken of in Jer. 31, which is here quoted; a clear and simple proof that the first covenant was not to continue.
We again find here that particular development of the truth, which was called for by the character of the persons to whom this letter was addressed.
The first covenant was made with Israel; the second must be so likewise-according to the prophecy of Jeremiah. The epistle, however, in this passage only makes use of the fact, that there was to be a second covenant, in order to demonstrate that the first was to last no longer. It had grown old, and was to vanish away. He recites the terms of the New Covenant. We shall find that he makes use of it afterward. In that which follows he contrasts the services that belonged to the first, with' the perfect work on which Christianity is founded. Thus, the extent and the value of the work of Christ are introduced.
Although there is no difficulty here, it is important to have light with regard to these two covenants, because some have very vague ideas on this point, and many souls -putting themselves under covenants, i.e., in relationship with God under conditions in which He has not placed them-lose their simplicity, and do not hold fast grace and the fullness of the work of Christ, the position He has acquired for them in heaven.
A covenant is a principle of relationship with God on the earth; conditions, established by God, under which man is to live with Him. The word may, perhaps, be used figuratively, or by accommodation. It- is applied to details of the relationship of God with Israel; but strictly speaking, there are. but two covenants, the old and the new. The old was established at Sinai. The new covenant is made also with the two houses of Israel.
The gospel is not a covenant, but the revelation of the salvation of God. It proclaims the great salvation. We enjoy indeed all the essential privileges of the new covenant, its foundation being of God, but we do so in spirit, not according to the letter.
The new covenant will be established formally with Israel in the Millennium. Meanwhile, the old covenant is judged, by the fact that there is a new one.
EB 9{9. The epistle, recounting some particular circumstances which characterized the first covenant, shows that neither was the conscience purged by its means, nor the entrance into the Holiest granted to the worshippers. The veil concealed God. The high priest went in once a year to make reconciliation: no one else. The way to God in holiness was barred. Perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, they could not be, through the blood of bulls and of goats. These were but provisionary and figurative ordinances, until God took up the real work itself, in order to accomplish it fully and forever.
But this brings us to the focus of the light which God gives us by the Holy Ghost in this epistle. Before proving by the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the doctrine that he announced, and the discontinuance of the legal sacrifices-of all sacrifice for sin-the writer, with a heart full of the truth, and of the importance of that truth, teaches the value and the extent of the sacrifice of Christ; still in contrast with the former offerings, but a contrast that rests on the intrinsic value of the offering of Christ. These three results are presented. 1St, the opened way into the sanctuary was manifested; i.e., access to God Himself, where He is. 2nd, the purification of the conscience. 3rd, an eternal redemption.
One feels the immense importance, the inestimable value of the first result. Every obstacle is removed, the believer is admitted into God's own presence, has constant access to Himself, immediate access to the place where He is, in the light. What complete salvation, what blessedness, what security! For how could we have access to God in the light, if everything that would separate us from Him, were not entirely taken away? But here it is the precious and perfect result which is revealed to us, and formally proved in chap. 10, as a right that we possess, that access to God Himself is entirely and freely open to us. We are not indeed told in this passage that we are seated there-for it is not our union with Christ that is the subject of this epistle, but our access to God in the Sanctuary. We go in perfect liberty to God, there where His holiness dwells, and where nothing that is contrary to Him can be admitted. What happiness! What perfect grace! What a. glorious result, supreme and complete! Could anything better be desired? remembering, too, that it is our dwelling-place. This is our position in the presence of God, through the entrance of Christ into the Sanctuary.
The second result shows us the personal state we are brought into, in order to the enjoyment of our position; that we may, on our part, enter in freely. It is that our Savior has rendered our conscience perfect, so that we can go into the Sanctuary without an idea of fear, without one question as to sin arising in our minds. A perfect conscience is not an innocent conscience which, happy in its unconsciousness, does not know evil, but does not know God revealed in holiness. A perfect conscience knows God; it is cleansed, and having the knowledge of good and evil according to the light of God Himself, it knows that it is purified from all evil, according to His purity. Now the blood of bulls and of goats could never make the conscience perfect, nor could the washings repeated under the law. They could sanctify carnally, so as to enable the worshipper to approach God outwardly. But a real purification from sin, so that-the soul can be in the presence of God Himself in the light, without spot, and with the consciousness of being so-this, the offerings under the law could never produce. They were but figures. But, thanks be to God, Christ has accomplished the work; and being present, for us, in the heavenly and eternal Sanctuary, He is the witness there that sin is put away; so that all conscience of sin is destroyed, because we know that He who bore our sins is in the presence of God, after having accomplished the work of expiation. Thus we have the consciousness of being in the light without spot. We have not only the purification of sin, but of the conscience, so that we can use this access to God in full liberty and joy: presenting ourselves before Him who has so loved us.
The third result, which seals and characterizes the two others is, that Christ, having once entered in, abides in Heaven. He has gone into the heavenly sanctuary to remain there by virtue of an eternal redemption, of blood that has everlasting validity. The work is completely done, and can never change in value. If sin is effectually put away, God glorified, and righteousness accomplished, that which once availed to effect this, can never not avail. The blood shed once for all is ever efficacious.
Our High Priest is in the Sanctuary, not with the blood of sacrifices which are but figures of the true. Sin has been put away. This redemption is neither temporal nor transitory. It is the redemption of the soul, and for eternity, according to the moral efficacy of that which has been done.
Here, then, are the three aspects of the result of the work of Christ. Immediate access to God, a purged conscience, an eternal redemption.
Three points remain to be noticed, before entering on the subject of the covenants, which is here resumed.
Christ is a High Priest of good things to come. In saying "things to come," the starting point is Israel under the law, before the advent of our Lord. Nevertheless, if these good things were now acquired, if it could be said, "we have them," because Christianity was their fulfillment, it could hardly be still said-when Christianity was established-"good things to come." They are yet to come. These "good things" consist of all that the Messiah will enjoy, when He reigns. This, also, is the reason that the earthly things have their place. But our present relationship with Him is only and altogether heavenly. He acts as Priest in a tabernacle which is not of this creation: it is heavenly, in the presence of God, not made with hands. Our place is in heaven.
In the second place: "Christ offered Himself, by the eternal Spirit, without spot, to God." Here, the precious offering up of Christ is viewed as an act that He performed as man. He offers Himself to God-but as moved by the power, and according to the perfection of the eternal Spirit. All the motives that governed this action, and the accomplishment of the fact according to those motives, were purely and perfectly those of the Holy Ghost, i.e., absolutely divine in their perfection, but of the Holy Ghost acting in a man, (a man without sin, who, born and living ever by the power of the Holy Ghost, had never known sin; who, being exempt from it by birth, never allowed it to enter into Him), so that it is the man Christ who offers Himself. This was requisite.
Thus the offering was in itself perfect and pure, without defilement; and the act of offering was perfect, whether in love, or in obedience, or in the desire to glorify God, or to accomplish the purposes of God. Nothing mingled itself with the perfection of His intent in offering Himself.
Moreover, it was not a temporary offering which ap-plied to one sin with which the conscience was burdened, and which went no farther than that one, an offering which could not, by its nature, have the perfection spoken of, because it was not the person offering up Himself, nor was it absolutely for God; there was in it neither the perfection of will, nor of obedience. But the offering of Christ was one which, being perfect in its moral nature, being in itself perfect in the eyes of God, was necessarily eternal in its value. For this value was as enduring as the nature of God who was glorified in it.
It was made, not of necessity, but of free will, and in obedience. It was made by a man, for the glory of God, but through the Eternal Spirit, ever the same in its nature and value.
All being thus perfectly fulfilled for the glory of God, the conscience of every one that comes to Him by this offering, is purged; dead works are blotted out and set aside; we stand before God on the ground of that which Christ has done.
And here the third point comes in. Being perfectly cleansed in conscience from all that man, dead in sin, produces, and having to do with God in light and in love, there being no question of conscience with Him, we are in a position to serve the living God. Precious liberty! in which, happy and without question before God, according to His nature in light, we can serve Him ac-cording to the activity of His nature in love. Judaism knew no more of this than it did of perfection in con-science. Obligation towards God, that system indeed maintained; and it offered a certain provision for that which was needed for outward failure. But to have a perfect conscience, and then to serve God in love, ac-cording to His will: of this it knew nothing.
This is Christian position: the conscience perfect by Christ, according to the nature of God Himself; the service of God in liberty according to His nature of love, active towards others.
For the whole Jewish system was characterized by the Holy Place;-there were duties and obligations to be fulfilled in order to draw near, sacrifices to cleanse him outwardly who drew near outwardly. Meanwhile, God was always concealed. No one entered into the place where He sat. For, in saying the priests entered into "the holy place," it is implied that the Most High was inaccessible. No sacrifice had yet been offered which gave free access, and at all times. God was concealed. That He was so, characterized the position. They could not stand before him. Neither did He manifest Himself. They served Him out of His presence, without going in.
It is important to notice this truth, that the whole system was characterized by the Holy Place, in order to understand the passage before us.
Now the first Tabernacle-or Judaism as a system-is identified with the first part of the Tabernacle; the second part, i.e., the Sanctuary, only showing, by the circum-stances connected with it, that there was no access to God. When the author of the epistle goes on to the present position of Christ, he leaves the earthly tabernacle -it is heaven itself he then speaks of, a tabernacle not made with hands, not of this creation, into which he introduces us.
The first tent or part of the tabernacle gave the character of the relationship of the people with God, when they could not reach God. When we approach God Himself, it is in heaven; and the entire first system disappears. Everything was offered as a figure in the first system, and, even as a figure, showed that the con-science was not yet set free, nor the presence of God accessible to man. The remembrance of sins was continually renewed (the annual sacrifice was a memorial of sin), and God was not manifested, nor the way to Him opened.
Christ comes: accomplishes the sacrifice, makes the conscience perfect, goes into Heaven itself; and we draw nigh to God in the light. To mingle the service of the first tabernacle or holy place, with Christian service, is to deny the latter; for the meaning of the first was, that the way to God was not yet open,-the meaning of the second, that it is open.
God may have patience with the weakness of man. Till the destruction of Jerusalem, He bore with the Jews; but the two systems can never really go on together; namely, a system which said that one cannot draw nigh to God, and another system which gives access to Him.
Christ is come, the High Priest of a new system-of "good things," which, under the old system, were yet " to come;" but He did not enter into the earthly Most Holy place, leaving the Holy place to subsist without a true meaning. He is come by the (not a) more excellent and more perfect Tabernacle. I repeat it, for it is essential here, the holy place, or the first tent, is the figure of the relationship of men with God under the first Tabernacle (taken as a whole); so that we may say, " the first Tabernacle," applying it to the first part of the Tabernacle; and pass on to the first Tabernacle as a whole, and as a recognized period having the same meaning. This the epistle does here. To come out of this position, we must leave typical things and pass into heaven, the true Sanctuary where Christ ever liveth, and where no veil bars our entrance.
Now it is not said, that we have " the good things to come." Christ has gone into heaven itself, the High Priest of those good things, securing their possession to them that trust in Him. But we have access to God in the light, by virtue of Christ's presence there. That presence is the proof of righteousness fully accomplished; the blood, an evidence that sin is put away forever; and our conscience is made perfect. Christ in heaven is the guarantee for the fulfillment of every promise. He has made access for us, even now, to God in the light, having cleansed our consciences once for all-for He dwells on high continuously—that we may enter in, and that we may serve God here below.
All this is already established and secured: but there is more. The New Covenant, of which He is Mediator, is founded on His blood.
The way in which the apostle always avoids the direct application of the New Covenant is very striking.
The transgressions that were imputed under the first Covenant, and which the sacrifices it offered could not expiate, are by the blood of the New Covenant entirely blotted out. Thus they which are called-observe the expression-(ver. 15),-can receive the promise of the eternal inheritance; that is to say, the foundation is laid for the accomplishment of the blessings of the Covenant. He says, " the eternal inheritance," because, as we have seen, the reconciliation was complete; sin was definitively put away with respect to the nature and character of God Himself. This is the main point of all this part of the epistle.
It is because of the necessity there was for this sacrifice -the necessity that sin should be entirely put away, in order to the enjoyment of the eternal promises (for God could not bless, as an eternal principle and definitively, while sin was before His eyes) that Christ, the Son of God, the Man on earth, became the Mediator of the New Covenant, in order that by death He might make a way for the permanent enjoyment of that which had been promised. The New Covenant-in itself-did not speak of a Mediator. God would write the law on the hearts of His people, and would remember sins no more.
The Covenant is not yet made with Israel and Judah. But, meanwhile, God has established and revealed the Mediator, who has accomplished the work on which the fulfillment of the promises can be founded in a way that is durable in principle, eternal, because connected with the nature of God Himself. This is done by means of death, the wages of sin, and by which sin is left behind; and, expiation for sin being made, according to the righteousness of God, an altogether new position is taken outside and beyond sin. The Mediator has paid the ransom. Sin has no more right over us.
The 16th and 17th verses are a parenthesis, in which the idea of a testament (it is the same word as covenant in Greek-a disposition on the part of one who has the right of disposal), is introduced, to make us understand that death must have taken place before the rights acquired under the testament can be enjoyed.
This necessity of the covenant being founded on the blood of a victim was not forgotten in the case of the first covenant. Everything was sprinkled with blood. Only, in this case, it was the solemn sanction of death attached to the obligation of the covenant. The types always spoke of the necessity of death intervening before men could be in relationship with God. Sin had brought in the judgment of death. We must either undergo the judgment ourselves, or see our sin blotted out through its having been undergone by another for us.
Three applications of the blood are presented here. The covenant is founded on the blood. Defilement is washed away by its means. Guilt is removed by the remission obtained through the blood that has been shed.
These are, in fact, the three things necessary. 1St. The ways of God in bestowing blessing according to His promises, are connected with His righteousness-sin being put away. The requisite foundation of the covenant.
2nd. The purification of the sins by which we were defiled, (by which all things, that could not be guilty, were, nevertheless, defiled), is accomplished. Here there were cases in which water was typically used; this is moral and practical cleansing. It flows from death; the water that purifies proceeded from the side of the holy victim, already dead. It is the application of the Word -which judges all evil and reveals all good-to the conscience and to the heart.
3rd. As regards remission. In no case can this be obtained without the shedding of blood. Observe that it does not here say " application." It is the accomplishment of the work of true propitiation, which is here spoken of. Without shedding of blood, there is no remission. All-important truth! For a work of remission, death and blood-shedding must take place.
Two consequences flow from these views of atonement and reconciliation to God.
It was necessary that there should be a better sacrifice, a more excellent victim, than those which were offered under the old covenant; because it was the heavenly things themselves, and not their figures, that were to be purified. For it is into the presence of God in heaven itself that Christ has entered.
In the second place, Christ was not to offer Himself often, as the high priest went in every year with the blood of others. For He offered up Himself. Hence, if all that was available in the sacrifice was not brought to perfection by a single offering once made, He must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. This remark leads to the clear and simple declaration of the ways of God on this point-a declaration of priceless value. God allowed ages to pass, (the different distinct periods in which man has in divers ways been put to the test, and in which he has had time to show what he is;) without yet accomplishing His work of grace. This trial of man has served to show, that he is bad in nature and in will. The multiplication of means only made it more evident that he was essentially bad at heart, for he availed himself of none of them to draw near to God.
When God had made this plain-before the law, under the law, by promises, by the coming and presence of His Son,-then the work of God takes the place (for faith) of man's responsibility, on the ground of which faith knows man is entirely lost. This explains the expression (ver. 26), " in the consummation of the ages."
Now this work is perfect, and perfectly accomplished. Sin had dishonored God, and separated man from Him. All that God had done to give him the means of return, only ended in affording him opportunity to fill up the measure of his sin by the rejection of Jesus. But, in this, the eternal counsels of God were fulfilled. The Christ, whom man rejected, had appeared in order to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Thus it was, morally, the consummation of the ages.
The results of the work and power of God are not yet manifested. A new creation will develop them. But man, as the child of Adam, has run his whole career in his relationship with God: he is enmity against God. Christ, fulfilling the will of God, puts away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. This is the moral power of His act, of His sacrifice, before God; in result, sin will be entirely blotted out of the heavens and the earth. To faith, this result, namely, the putting away of sin, is already realized, in the conscience.
Moreover, this result is announced to the believer, to those who are looking for the Lord's return. Death and judgment are the lot of men as children of Adam. Christ has been offered once to bear the sins of many; and "unto them that look for Him He will appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
For them, sin is, even now, put away: their own sins are blotted out. Christ appeared the first time in order to be made sin, to bear sins; they were laid upon Him on the Cross. And, with regard to those who wait for Him, those sins are entirely put away. When He returns, Christ has nothing to do with sin, as far as they are concerned; He put it away at His first coming. He appears the second time to deliver them from all the results of sin, from all bondage. He will appear, not for judgment, but unto salvation. The putting away of sin has been so complete, the sins of believers so entirely blotted cut, that when He appears the second time He has nothing to do with sin. He appears apart from sin -not only without sin in His blessed person; this was the case at His first coming-but (as to those who look for Him), outside all question of sin, for their final deliverance.
"Without sin" is in contrast with "to bear the sins of many." But it will be remarked, that the taking up of the Church is not mentioned here. It is well to notice the language. The character of His second coming is the subject. He has been manifested once. Now He is seen by those who look for Him. The expression may apply to the deliverance of the Jews who wait for Him in the last days. He will appear for their deliverance. But we expect the Lord for this deliverance, and we shall see Him when He accomplishes it even for us. The apostle does not touch the question of the difference between this and our being caught up—and does not use the word which serves to announce His public manifestation. He will appear to those that expect Him: He is not seen by all the world, nor is it, consequently, the judgment, although that may follow. The Holy Ghost speaks only of them that look for the Lord. To them He will appear. By them He will be seen, and it will be the time of their deliverance. So that it is true for us, and also applicable to the Jewish remnant in the last days.
Thus the Christian position, and the hope of the world to come, founded on the blood and on the Mediator of the new Covenant, are both given here. The one is the present portion of the believer, the other is secured as the hope of Israel.
(To be continued.).