The Epistle to the Hebrews bears the name of no earthly writer. Rather, the Lord Himself is peculiarly the Author of this epistle: “God... hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son” (Heb 1:12). Christ is seen as the Apostle: “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” (ch. 3:1).
The book is written to the Hebrews the “we” used habitually throughout a people whose hopes were earthly. They looked for an earthly kingdom and an earthly Messiah, but where was all that now? This epistle lifts their eyes heavenward. There we see the One of whom it is written, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom” (ch. 1:8, cited from Psa. 45:6). There we see Jesus “who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:9).
For the Jew who had received Jesus as Messiah (Luke 24:21; Acts 19:14), this was undoubtedly perplexing. Hebrews opens to them things seen only by faith. For all that the Jew valued, better things are to be found in Christ: a better hope, a better covenant, better promises, a better sacrifice, in heaven a better and abiding substance, and a better country.
For us, in a day when Christianity has become an earthly religion, Hebrews likewise takes us out of this scene, through the rent veil, into heaven itself.
Alas, there were those who had partaken of the wonders and miracles of the Holy Spirit, but were in danger of rejecting this testimony, to turn back to the dead ritualism of Judaism. This is apostasy having come so far, and then turning from the truth. Grace rejected leaves man without remedy.
Better Things
The Epistle to the Hebrews follows an easily discerned line of reasoning. It neither addresses an assembly, nor takes up matters of the assembly. Instead, it has the form of a treatise, its special purpose outlined above.
In the first chapter we have the Son of God: His glory as Son and Messiah, and His superiority to angels. The second brings before us the Son of Man: the Captain of salvation and Sanctifier of those He calls His brethren. Between the two we have a parenthesis: “If the word spoken by angels was steadfast... how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord” (Heb. 2:23).
The third chapter contrasts Christ as Son over His own house with Moses; this brings us to the wilderness journey. Many who left Egypt failed to enter the land of Canaan. They were to take heed, lest they too should find within themselves the same heart of unbelief. In the fourth chapter we have the subject of rest. Canaan was their destination, their rest, but there is a rest beyond the promised land “My rest” (Psa. 95:11). There remains, then, a rest for the people of God. As with those in the wilderness, we have a High Priest One who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, who sympathizes with our infirmities, having been tempted in all things in like manner, “sin apart” (Heb. 4:14-15 JND).
The fifth chapter further develops the priesthood of the Lord Jesus, comparing and contrasting it with the Aaronic priesthood. Christ glorified not Himself to be made a high priest, but God has appointed Him a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec (Psa. 110:4). The writer would develop this subject further, but must first address their spiritual state; they had become dull of hearing. The things written aforetime are types and shadows, but they didn’t comprehend.
The sixth chapter is an exhortation to go on. They were not ignorant of the principles of the doctrine of Christ the Messiah, the Lord’s anointed (Heb. 6:1). Not only that, they had witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit, which things in themselves spoke of the glorification of the Lord. There was no going back; the former things would be of no help now.
The seventh chapter resumes the subject-matter of the fifth. The priesthood of Melchisedec is in every aspect superior to that of Aaron. Abraham, from whom Aaron descended, paid tithes to Melchisedec (ch. 7:9-10).
In the eighth chapter we have the new covenant—a better one established upon better promises, of which Christ is the mediator. This is a covenant that will be made with the house of Israel (not the church): “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord” (ch. 8:10). A new covenant necessarily makes the former old, ready to vanish away (vs. 13).
The ninth chapter contrasts the sacrifices of the old covenant with the one, perfect sacrifice of Christ, a sacrifice that does not give entrance into an earthly tabernacle which was a figure of the true but rather into heaven itself (ch. 9:24). The tenth chapter continues with the subject of the sacrifice, now in its application to the believer. “The law... can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect.... For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (ch. 10:1,14). As purged worshipers, we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The veil is rent, that is to say, His flesh the rent veil of the temple confirmed the access we have into the holiest, but was not the means that provided the access (vss. 19-20).
The Path of Faith
The doctrinal portion ends with verse 22 of the tenth chapter; the path of faith in practice follows. They suffered persecution, but there could be no drawing back that would be apostasy. The writer, however, could confidently say, “We are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (vs. 39).
The just shall live by faith (vs. 38, cited from Hab. 2:4). God’s Word cannot and will not fail; Habakkuk had to learn this, as did those in the eleventh chapter. Each had to walk by faith, not by sight. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (ch. 11:13).
In the twelfth chapter, weights and sin entangle us; the difficulties of the way lead to discouragement; the hands hang down, and the knees become feeble. Far above all earthly example, we have One on whom we fix our gaze, and whose path we are to consider, Jesus in the glory the leader and completer of faith. We also have a loving Father, who sees that we do not wander out of the path, chastening those He loves. “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.... Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me” (Psa. 23:34).
The old earthly kingdom and its characteristic mount, the unapproachable Sinai, are contrasted with the future millennial kingdom (Heb. 12:18-24). Sinai shook with the giving of the law, but His kingdom will be established with the shaking of heaven and earth (vs. 26, cited from Hag. 2:67). It is a serious thing to reject His grace, “for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29).
The exhortations of the thirteenth chapter close the book. There could be no mingling of the old, earthly altar with the heavenly. Christ had suffered outside the gate; we go unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach (ch. 13:10-14).
N. Simon