Chapter 8
Chapter 8 in this respect 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 a
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 have an offering to present there. Jesus, were He on
earth, would not be a Priest; there were priests on earth according 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 shewn
him in the mount. But the ministry of Jesus is more excellent, because
He is the Mediator of a better covenant, spoken of in Jeremiah 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 afterwards. 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, that
is, 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, and 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, and so to
Abraham (Gen.15), and like cases; but, strictly speaking, there are but
two covenants, in which God has dealt with man on earth, or will-the
old and the new. The old was established at Sinai. The new covenant is
made also with the two houses of Israel.[15]
The gospel is not a covenant, but the revelation of the salvation of
God. It proclaims the, great salvation of God. We enjoy indeed all the
essential privileges of the new covenant, its foundation being laid on
God's part in the blood of Christ, 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.
Chapter 9
The epistle, recounting some particular circumstances which
characterised the first covenant shews that neither were sins put away,
nor was the conscience purged by its means, nor the entrance into the
holiest granted to the worshipers. 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 previsionary and figurative ordinances, until God took
up the real work itself, in order to accomplish it fully and for ever.
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
actual 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:-first,
the opened way into the sanctuary was manifested, that is , access to
God Himself, where He is, second, the purification of the conscience;
third, and eternal redemption (I may add the promise of an eternal
inheritance).
One feels the immense importance, the inestimable value, of the first.
'The believer is admitted into God's own presence by a new and living
way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say,
His flesh; has constant access to God, 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 through Him who was once offered to bear the sins of many? But
here it is the precious and perfect result, in this respect, which is
revealed to us, and formally proved in chapter 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. And it is important to note this
last, and it is as precious in its p]ace as the other. We are viewed as
on earth and being on earth we have free and full access to God in the
sanctuary. We go in perfect liberty to God, 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 shews 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 Saviour 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, and 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 goats, and the washing repeated under the law, could never make the
conscience perfect. They could sanctify carnally, so as to enable the
worshiper to approach God outwardly, yet only afar off, with the veil
still unrent. But a real purification from sin and sins, so that the
soul can be in the presence of God Himself in the light without spot,
with the consciousness of being so the offerings under the law could
never produce. They were but figures. but, thanks be to God, Christ has
accomplished the work; and, present for us now in the heavenly and
eternal sanctuary, He is the witness there that our sins are put away;
so that all conscience of sin before God 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 the purification not only of
sins 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 characterises 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 our sins are effectually put away,
God glorified, and righteousness complete, 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. The work has been done which puts
sin away. This redemption is neither temporal not 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; and eternal redemption.
Three points remain to be noticed before entering on the subject of the covenants, which is here resumed.
First, 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
[16], without spot, to God." Here the precious offering up of Christ is
viewed as an act that He performed as man, though in the perfection and
Value of His Person. He offered 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; that is, 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, with out 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 purpose of God.
Nothing mingled itself with the perfection of His intent in offering
Himself. Moreover, it v.was not a temporary offering, which applied 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, because 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 in his sinful nature 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 according to the
activity of His nature in love. Judaism knew no more of this than it
did of perfection in conscience. 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, according to His will-of this it knew
nothing.
This is christian position: the conscience perfect by Christ, [17]
according to the nature of God Himself; the service of God in liberty,
according to His nature of love acting towards others.
For the Jewish system, in its utmost advantages, was characterised by
the holy place. There were duties and obligations to be fulfilled in
order to draw near, sacrifices to cleanse outwardly him who drew near
outwardly. Meanwhile God was always concealed. No one entered into "the
holy place :" it is implied that the "most holy" was inaccessible. No
sacrifice had yet been offered which gave free access, and at all
times. God was concealed: that He was so characterised 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 in its
highest and nearest access to God was characterised by the holy place,
in order to understand the passage before us.
Now the first tabernacle-Judaism as a system-is identified with the
first part of the tabernacle, and that open only to the priestly part
of the nation, the second part (that is, the sanctuary) only shewing,
by the circumstances 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, nor 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, and that only by a priesthood.
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 shewed that the
conscience was not yet set free, nor the presence of God accessible to
man. The remembrance of sins was continual]y renewed (the annual
sacrifice was a memorial of sins 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
recognised 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 lives, 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 [18]
God in the light by virtue of Christ's presence there. That presence is
the proof of righteousness fully established; the blood, an evidence
that our sins are put away for ever; and our conscience is made
perfect. Christ in heaven is the guarantee for the fulfillment of every
promise. He has opened an 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, our sins borne and canceled, and the work by which sin is
finally put away out of God's sight accomplished, according 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 sins, and finally sin, should be entirely put away, [19]
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, 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
His laws 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 sins 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.
Verses 16, 17 are a parenthesis, in which the idea of a " testament "
(it is the same word as "covenant " in the 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 enjoyed. [20] 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 death and judgment. We must either undergo the judgment
ourselves or see our sins blotted out through it 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. First the ways of God in
bestowing blessing according to His promise are connected with His
righteousness, the sins of those blessed being, atoned for, the
requisite foundation of the covenant, Christ having withal glorified
God in respect of sin when made sin on the cross.
Second the purification of the sin 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 the heart.
Third, 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.
First, 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.
Secondly, 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. [21] 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 shew what he is) without yet accomplishing His
work of grace. This trial of man has served to shew 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. On the contrary, his enmity against
God was fully manifested.
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 our salvation and God's glory, 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
dishonoured 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, at least the moral basis
laid, and that in infinite perfection, for their actual accomplishment
in their results. All now in fact, as in purpose always, rested on the
second Adam, and on what God had done, not on man's responsibility,
while that was fully met for God's glory. (Compare 2 Tim. 1:9, 10;
Titus 1:1, 2.) 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 result 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, has come in the consummation of
ages, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and His work to this
end is accomplished. This is the moral power of His act, [22] 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 realised in the conscience, [23] because Christ
who was made sin for us has died and died to sin, and now is risen and
glorified, sin (even as made it for us) left behind.
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 opened once to bear the sins of many;
and " unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time
without sin unto salvation," not to judgment.
For them, as to their standing before God, sin is even now put away: as
Christ is, so are they; their own sins are all blotted out. Christ
appeared the first time in order to be made sin for us, and to bear our
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. It
was fully dealt with 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
on their behalf before God has been so complete, the sins of believers
so entirely blotted out, that, when He appears the second time, He has,
as to them 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." [24] But
it will be remarked, that the taking up of the assembly 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 who 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.
How wonderful is the grace which we are now considering!
There are two things that present themselves to us in Christ-the
attraction to our heart of His grace and goodness, and His work which
brings our souls into the presence of God. It is with the latter that
the Holy Ghost here occupies us. There is not only the piety which
grace produces; there is the efficacy of the work itself. What is this
efficacy? What is the result for us of His work? Access to God in the
light without a veil, ourselves entirely clear of all sin before Him,
as white as snow in the light which only shews it. Marvelous position
for us ! We have not to wait for a day of judgment (assuredly coming as
it is), nor to seek for means of approach to God. We are in His
presence. Christ appears in the presence of God for us. And not only
this: He remains there ever; our position therefore never changes. It
is true that we are called to walk according to that position. But this
does not touch the fact that such is the position. And how came we into
it ? and in what condition ? Our sins entirely put away, perfectly put
away, and once for all, and the whole question of sin settled for ever
before God, we are there because Christ has finished the work which
abolished it, and without it in God's sight. So that there are the two
things- this work accomplished, and this position ours in the presence
of God.
We see the force of the contrast between this and Judaism. According to
the latter, divine service, as we have seen, was performed outside the
veil. The worshipers did not reach the presence of God. Thus they had
always to begin again. The propitiatory sacrifice was renewed from year
to year-a continually repeated testimony that sin still was there.
Individually they obtained a temporary pardon for particular acts. It
had constantly to be renewed. The conscience was never made perfect,
the soul was not in the presence of God, this great question was never
settled. (How many souls are even now in this condition!) The entrance
of the high priest once a year did but furnish a proof that the way was
still barred that God could not be approached, but that sin was still
remembered.
But now the guilt of believers is gone, their sins washed away by a
work done once for all; the conscience is made perfect; nor is there
any condemnation for them. Sin in the flesh has been condemned in
Christ when a sacrifice for sin, and Christ appears ever in the
presence of God for us. The High Priest remains there. Thus, instead of
having a memorial of sin reiterated from year to year, perfect
righteousness subsists ever for us in the presence of God. The position
is entirely changed.
The lot of man (for this perfect work takes us out of Judaism) is death
and judgment. But now our lot depends on Christ, not on Adam. Christ
was offered to bear the sins of many [25] -the work is complete, the
sins blotted out, and to those who look for Him He will appear without
having anything, to do with sin that question having been entirely
settled at His first, coming. In the death of Jesus, God dealt with the
sins of those who look for Him; and He will appear, not to judge, but
unto salvation-to deliver them finally from the position into which sin
had brought them. This will have its application to the Jewish remnant
according to the circumstances of their position; but in an absolute
way it applies to the Christian, who has heaven for his portion.
The essential point established in the doctrine of the death of Christ
is, that He offered Himself once for all. We must bear this in mind, to
understand the full import of all that is here said. The tenth chapter
is the development and application of this. In it the author
recapitulates his doctrine on this point, and applies it to souls,
confirming it by scripture and by considerations which are evident to
every enlightened conscience.
1. The law, with its sacrifices, did not make the worshipers perfect;
for, if they had been brought to perfection, the sacrifices would not
have been offered afresh. If they were offered again, it was because
the worshipers were not perfect. On the contrary the repetition of the
sacrifice was a memorial of sins; it reminded the people that sin was
still there, and that it was still before God. In effect the law,
although it was the shadow of things to come, was not their true image.
There were sacrifices; but they were repeated instead of there being
one only sacrifice of eternal efficacy. There was a high priest, but he
was mortal, and the priesthood transmissible. He went into the holiest,
but only once a year, the veil which concealed God being unrent, and
the high priest unable to remain in His presence, the work being not
perfect. Thus there were indeed elements which plainly indicated the
constituent parts, so to speak, of the priesthood of the good things to
come; but the state of the worshipers was in the one case quite the
opposite of that which it was in the other. In the first, every act
shewed that the work of reconciliation was not done; in the second, the
position of the high priest and of the worshiper is a testimony that
this work has been accomplished, and that the latter are perfected for
ever in the presence of God.
Chapter 10
In chapter 10 this principle is applied to the sacrifice. Its
repetition proved that sin was there. That the sacrifice of Christ was
only offered once, was the demonstration of its eternal efficacy. Had
the Jewish sacrifices rendered the worshipers really perfect before
God, they would have ceased to be offered. The apostle is speaking
(although the principle is general) of the yearly sacrifice on the day
of atonement. For if, through the efficacy of the sacrifice, they had
been permanently made perfect, they would have had no more conscience
of sins, and could not have had the thought of renewing the sacrifice.
Observe, here, that which is very important, that the conscience is
cleansed, our sins being expiated, the worshiper drawing nigh by virtue
of the sacrifice. The meaning of theJewish service was that guilt was
still there; that of the Christian, that it is gone. As to the former,
precious as the type is, the reason is evident: the blood of bulls and
of goats could not take away sin. Therefore those sacrifices have been
abolished, and a work of another character (although still a sacrifice)
has been accomplished-a work which excludes all other, and all the
repetition of the same, because it consists of nothing less than the
self devotedness of the Son of God to accomplish the will of God, and
the completion of that to which He was devoted: an act impossible to be
repeated, for all His will cannot be accomplished twice, and, were it
possible, it would be a testimony of the inadequacy of the first, and
so of both.
This is what the Son of God says in this most solemn passage (vers.
5-9), in which we are admitted to know, according to the grace of God,
that which passed between God the Father and Himself when He undertook
the fulfillment of the will of God-that which He said, and the eternal
counsels of God which He carried into execution. He takes the place of
submission and of obedience, of performing the will of another. God
would no longer accept the sacrifices that were ordered under the law
(the four classes of which are here pointed out), He had no pleasure in
them. In their stead He had prepared a body for His Son; vast and
important truth! for the place of man is obedience. Thus, in taking
this place, the Son of God put Himself into the position to obey
perfectly. In fact He undertakes the duty of fulfilling all the will of
God, be it what it may-a will which is, ever "good, acceptable, and
perfect."
The psalm says in the Hebrew, " Thou hast digged [26] ears for me,"
translated by the Septuagint,"Thou hast prepared me a body ;" words
which, as they give the true meaning, are used by the Holy Ghost. For "
the ear" is always employed as a sign of the reception of commandments,
and the principle of obligation to obey or the disposition to do so. "
He hath opened mine ear morning by morning" (Isa. 1), that is, has made
me listen to His will, be obedient to His commands. The ear was bored
or fastened with an awl to the door, in order to express that the
Israelite was attached to the house as a slave, to obey, for ever. Now
in taking a body, the Lord took the form of a servant. (Phil. ii.) Ears
were digged for Him. That is to say, He placed Himself [27] in a
position in which He had to obey all His Master's will, whatever it
might be. But it is the Lord Himself* who speaks in the passage before
us: " Thou," He says, " hast prepared me a body."
Entering more into detail, He specifies burnt offerings and offerings
for sin, sacrifices which had less of the character of communion, and
thus had a deeper meaning; but God had no pleasure in them. In a word
the Jewish service was already declared by the Spirit to be
unacceptable to God. It was all to cease, it was fruitless; no offering
that formed part of it was acceptable. No; the counsels of God unfold
themselves, but first of all in the heart of the Word, the Son of God,
who offers Himself to accomplish the will of God. " Then said he, Lo, I
come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O
God." Nothing can be more solemn than thus to lift the veil from that
which takes place in heaven between God and the Word who undertook to
do His will. Observe that, before He was in the position of obedience,
He offers Himself in order to accomplish the will of God, that is to
say, of free love for the glory of God, of free will; as One who had
the power, He offers Himself, He undertakes obedience, He undertakes to
do whatsoever God wills. This is indeed to sacrifice all His own will,
but freely and as the effect of His own purpose, although on the
occasion of the will of His Father. He must needs be God in order to do
this, and to undertake the fulfillment of all that God could will.
We have here the great mystery of this divine intercourse, which
remains ever surrounded with its solemn majesty, although it is
communicated to us that we may know it. And we ought to know it; for it
is thus that we understand the infinite grace and the glory of this
work. Before He became man, in the place where only divinity is known,
and its, eternal counsels and thoughts are communicated between the
divine Persons, the Word-as He has declared it to us, in time, by the
prophetic Spirit- such being the will of God contained in the book of
the eternal counsels, He who was able to do it, offered Himself freely
to accomplish that will. Submissive to this counsel already arranged
for Him, He yet offers Himself in perfect freedom to fulfill it. But in
offering He submits, yet at the same time undertakes to do all that
God, as God, willed. But also in undertaking to do the will of God, it
was in the way of obedience, of submission, and of devotedness. For I
might undertake to do the will of another, as free and competent,
because I willed the thing; but if I say '"to do thy will," this in
itself is absolute and complete submission. And this it is which the
Lord, the Word, did. He did it also, declaring that He came in order to
do it. He took a position of obedience by accepting the body prepared
for Him. He came to do the will of God.
That of which we have been speaking is continually manifested in the
life of Jesus on earth. God shines through His position in the human
body; for He was necessarily God in the act itself of His humiliation;
and none but God could have undertaken and been found in it; yet He was
always, and entirely and perfectly, obedient and dependent on God. That
which revealed itself in His existence on earth was the expression of
that which was accomplished in the eternal abode, in His own nature.
That is to say (and of this Ps.40 speaks), that which He declares, and
that which He was here below, are the same thing; the one in reality in
heaven, the other bodily on earth. That which He was here below was but
the expression, the living, real, bodily manifestation of what is
contained in those divine communications which have been revealed to
us, and which were the reality of the position that He assumed.
And it is very important to see these things in the free offer made by
divine competency, and not only in their fulfillment in death. It gives
quite a different character to the bodily work here below.
In reality, from chapter 1 of this epistle, the Holy Ghost always
presents Christ in this way. But this revelation in the psalm was
requisite to explain how He became a servant, what the Messiah really
was; and to us it opens an immense view of the ways of God, a view, the
depths of which-clearly as it is revealed, and through the very
clearness of the revelation-display to us things so divine and glorious
that we bow the head and veil our faces, as having had part as it were
in such communications, on account of the majesty of the Persons whose
acts and whose intimate relationships are revealed. It is not here the
glory that dazzles us. But even in this poor world there is nothingto
which we are greater strangers than the intimacy of those who are, in
their modes of life, much above ourselves. What then, when it is that
of God! Blessed be His name! there is grace that brings us into it, and
that has drawn nigh to us in our weakness. We are then admitted to know
this precious truth, that the Lord Jesus undertook of His own free will
the accomplishment of all the will of God, and that He was pleased to
take the body prepared for Him in order to accomplish it. The love, the
devotedness to the glory of God, and the way in which He undertook to
obey, are fully set forth. And this-the fruit of God's eternal counsels
-displaces (by its very nature) every provisional sign: and contains,
in itself alone, the condition of all relationship with God, and the
means by which He glorifies Himself.[28]
The Word then assumes a body, in order to offer Himself as a sacrifice.
Besides the revelation of this devotedness of the Word to accomplish
the will of God, the effect of His sacrifice according to the will of
God is also set before us.
He came to do the will of Jehovah. Now faith understands that it is by
this will of God (that is, by His will who, according to His eternal
wisdom, prepared a body for His Son) that those whom He has called unto
Himself for salvation are set apart to God, in other words, are
sanctified. It is by the will of God that we are set apart for Him (not
by our own will), and that by means of the sacrifice offered to God.
We shall observe that the epistle does not here speak of the
communication of life, or of a practical sanctification wrought by the
Holy Ghost:[29] the subject is the Person of Christ ascended on high,
and the efficacy of His work. And this is important with regard to
sanctification, because it shews that sanctification is a complete
setting apart to God, as belonging to Him at the price of the offering
of Jesus, a consecration to Him by means of that offering. God took the
unclean Jews from among men and set them apart -consecrated them to
Himself; so now the called ones, from that nation, and, thank God,
ourselves also, by means of the offering of Jesus.
But there is another element, already pointed out in this offering, the
force of which the epistle here applies to believers, namely, that the
offering is "once for all." It admits of no repetition. If we enjoy the
effect of this offering, our sanctification is eternal in its nature.
It does not fail. It is never repeated. We belong to God for ever
according to the efficacy of this offering. Thus our sanctification,
our being set apart to God has-with regard to the work that
accomplished it-all the stability of the will of God and all the grace
from which it sprang; it has, too, in its nature, the perfection of the
work itself, by which it was accomplished, and the duration and the
constant force of the efficacy of that work. But the effect of this
offering is not limited to this setting apart for God. The point
already treated contains our consecration by God Himself through the
perfectly efficacious offering of Christ fulfilling His will. And now
the position which Christ has taken, in consequence of His offering up
of Himself, is employed in order clearly to demonstrate the state it
has brought us into before God.
The priests among the Jews-for this contrast is still carried on-stood
before the altar continually to repeat the same sacrifices which could
never take away sins. But this Man, when He had offered one sacrifice
for sins, sat down for ever [30] at the right hand of God.
There-having finished for His own all that regards their presentation
without spot to God-He awaits the moment when His enemies shall be made
His footstool, according to Psalm 110: "Sit thou at my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool." And the Spirit gives us the
important reason so infinitely precious to us: "For he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified."
Here (ver. 14) as in verse 12, on which the latter depends, the word "
for ever " has the force of permanence-uninterrupted continuity. He is
ever seated, we are ever perfected, by virtue of His work and according
to the perfect righteousness in which, and conformably to which, He
sits at the right hand of God upon His throne, according to that which
He is personally there, His acceptance on God's part being proved by
His session at His right hand. And He is there for us.
It is a righteousness suited to the throne of God, yea, the
righteousness of the throne. It neither varies nor fails. He is seated
there for ever. If then we are sanctified-set apart to God-by this
offering according to the will of God Himself, we are also made perfect
for God by the same offering, as presented to Him in the Person of
Jesus.
We have seen that this position has its origin in the will, the
good-will of God (a will which combines the grace and the purpose of
God), and that it has its foundation and present certainty in the
accomplishment of the work of Christ, the perfection of which is
demonstrated by the session at the right hand of God of Him who
accomplished it. But the testimony-for to enjoy this grace we must know
it with divine certainty, and the greater it is, the more would our
hearts be led to doubt it-the testimony upon which we believe it must
be divine. And this it is. The Holy Ghost bears witness to us of it.
The will of God is the source of the work; Christ, the Son of God
accomplished it; the Holy Ghost bears witness to us of it. And here the
application to the people, called by grace and spared, is in
consequence fully set forth, not merely the fulfillment of the work.
The Holy Ghost bears us witness, " Their sins and iniquities will I
remember no more."
Blessed position! The certainty that God will never remember our sins
and iniquities is founded all the steadfast will of God, on the perfect
offering of Christ, now consequently seated at the right hand of God,
and on the sure testimony of the Holy Ghost. It is a matter of faith
that God will never remember our sins.
We may remark here the way in which the covenant is introduced; for
although, as writing to "the holy brethren, partakers of the heaven]y
calling," he says, "a witness to us," the form of his address is always
that of an epistle to the Hebrews (believers, of course, but Hebrews,
still bearing the character of God's people). He does not speak of the
covenant in a direct way, as a privilege in which Christians had a
direct part. The Holy Ghost, he says, declares, "I will remember no
more," & etc. It is this which he quotes. He only alludes to the
new covenant, leaving it aside consequently as to all present
application. For after having said, "This is the covenant," & etc.,
the testimony is cited as that of the Holy Ghost, to prove the capital
point which he was treating, that is, that God remembers our sins no
more. But he alludes to the covenant (already known to the Jews as
declared before of God) which gave the authority of the scriptures to
this testimony, that God remembered no more the sins of His people who
are sanctified and admitted into His favour, and which, at the same
time, presented these two thoughts: first, that this complete pardon
did not exist under the first covenant: and, second, that the door is
left open for the blessing of the nation when the new covenant shall be
formally established.
Another practical consequence is drawn: sins being remitted, there is
no more oblation for sin. The one sacrifice having obtained remission,
no others can be offered in order to obtain it. Remembrance of this one
sacrifice there may indeed be, whatever its character; but a sacrifice
to take away the sins which are already taken away, there cannot be. We
are therefore in reality on entirely new ground-on that of the fact,
that by the sacrifice of Christ our sins are altogether put away, and
that for us, who are sanctified and partakers of the heavenly calling,
a perfect and everlasting permanent cleansing has been made, remission
granted, eternal redemption obtained. So that we are, in the eyes of
God, without sin, on the ground of the perfection of the work of
Christ, who is seated at His right hand, who has entered into the true
holiest, into heaven itself, to sit there because His work is
accomplished. Thus all liberty is ours to enter into the holy place
(all boldness) by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, that is
His flesh, to admit us without spot into the presence of God Himself,
who is there revealed. For us the veil is rent, and that which rent the
veil in order to admit us has likewise put away the sin which shut us
out.
We have also a great High Priest over the house of God, as we have seen, who represents us in the holy place.
On these truths are founded the exhortations that follow. One word
before we enter on them, as to the relation that exists between perfect
righteousness and the priesthood. There are many souls who use the
priesthood as the means of obtaining pardon when they have failed. They
go to Christ as a priest, that He may intercede for them and obtain the
pardon which they desire, but for which they dare not ask God in a
direct way. These souls-sincere as they are-have not liberty to enter
into the holy place.They take refuge with Christ that they may afresh
be brought into the presence of God. Their condition practically is
that in which a pious Jew stood. They have lost, or rather they have
never had by faith, the real consciousness of their position before God
in virtue of the sacrifice of Christ. I do not speak here of all the
privileges of the assembly: we have seen that the epistle does not
speak of them. The position it makes for believers is this: those whom
it addresses are not viewed as placed in heaven, although partakers of
the heavenly calling; but a perfect redemption is accomplished, all
guilt entirely put away for the people of God, who remembers their sins
no more. The conscience is made perfect-they have no more conscience of
sins-by virtue of the work accomplished once for all. There is no more
question of sin, that is, of its imputation, of its being upon them
before and, between them and God. There cannot be, because of the work
accomplished upon the cross. The conscience therefore is perfect; their
Representative and High Priest is in heaven, a witness there to the
work already accomplished for them. Thus, although the epistle does not
present them as in the holiest, as sitting there-like in the Epistle to
the Ephesians-they have full liberty, entire boldness, to enter into
it. The question of imputation no longer exists. Their sins have been
imputed to Christ. But He is now in heaven-a proof that the sins are
blotted out for ever. Believers therefore enter with entire liberty
into the presence of God Himself, and that always-having no more for
ever any conscience of sins.
For what purpose then is priesthood? What is to be done with respect to
the sins we commit? They interrupt our communion; but they make no
change in our position before God, nor in the testimony rendered by the
presence of Christ at the right hand of God. Nor do they raise any
question as to imputation. They are sins against that position, or
against God, measured by the relationship we are in to God, as in it.
For sin is measured by the conscience according to our position. The
perpetual presence of Christ at God's right hand has this twofold
effect for us: 1st, perfected for ever we have no more conscience of
sins before God, we are accepted; 2nd, as priest He obtains grace to
help in time of need, that we may not sin. But the present exercise of
priesthood by Christ does not refer to sins: we have through His work
no more conscience of sins, are perfected for ever. There is another
truth connected with this, found 1 John 2: we have an Advocate [31]
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. On this our communion with
the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ is founded and secured. Our
sins are not imputed, for the propitiation is in all its value before
God. But by sin communion is interrupted; our righteousness is not
altered-for that is Christ Himself at God's right hand in virtue of His
work; nor is grace changed, and " he is the propitiation for our sins;"
but the heart has got away from God, communion is interrupted. But
grace acts in virtue of perfect righteousness, and by the advocacy of
Christ on behalf of him who has failed: and his soul is restored to
communion. Nor is it that we go to Jesus for this; He goes, even if we
sin, to God for us. His presence there is the witness of an
unchangeable righteousness which is ours; His intercession maintains us
in the path we have to walk in, or as our Advocate He restores the
communion which is founded on that righteousness. Our access to God is
always open. Sin interrupts our enjoyment of it, the heart is not in
communion; the advocacy of Jesus is the means of rousing the conscience
by the action of the Spirit and the word, and we return (humbling
ourselves) into the presence of God Himself. The priesthood and
advocacy of Christ refer to the condition of an imperfect and feeble,
or failing, creature upon earth, reconciling it with the perfectness of
the place and glory in which divine righteousness sets us. The soul is
maintained steadfast or restored.
Exhortations follow. Having the right thus to approach God, let us draw
near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. This is the only
thing that honours the efficacy of Christ's work, and the love which
has thus brought us to enjoy God. In the words that follow, allusion is
made to the consecration of the priests-a natural allusion, as drawing
near to God in the holiest is the subject. They were sprinkled with
blood and washed with water, and then they drew nigh to serve God.
Still, although I doubt not of the allusion to the priests, it is quite
natural that baptism should have given rise to it. The anointing is not
spoken of here-it is the power or privilege of the moral right to draw
nigh.
Again, we may notice that, as to the foundation of the truth, this is
the ground on which Israel will stay in the last days. In Christ in
heaven will not be their place, nor the possession of the Holy Ghost as
uniting the believer to Christ in heaven; but the blessing will be
founded on water and on blood. God will remember their sins no more;
and they will be washed in the clean water of the word.
The second exhortation is to persevere in the profession of the hope without wavering. He who made the promises is faithful.
Not only should we have this confidence in God for ourselves, but we
are also to consider one another for mutual encouragement; and, at the
same time, not to fail in the public and common profession of faith,
pretending to maintain it, while avoiding the open identification of
oneself with the Lord's people in the difficulties connected with the
profession of this faith before the world. Besides, this public
confession had a fresh motive in that the day drew nigh. We see that it
is the judgment which is here presented as the thing looked for-in
order that it may act on the conscience, and guard christians from
turning back to the world, and from the influence of the fear of man
-rather than the Lord's coming to take up His own people. Verse 26 is
connected with the preceding paragraph (23-25) the last words of which
suggest the warning of verse 26; which is founded, moreover, on the
doctrine of these two chapters (9 and 10), with regard to the
sacrifice. He insists on perseverance in a full confession of Christ,
for His one sacrifice once offered was the only one. If any who had
professed to know its value abandoned it, there was no other sacrifice
to which he could have recourse, neither could it be ever repeated.
There remained no more sacrifice for sin. All sins were pardoned by the
efficacy of this sacrifice: but if, after having known the truth, they
were to choose sin instead, there was no other sacrifice by virtue even
of the perfection of that of Christ. Nothing but judgment remained.
Such a professor, having had the knowledge of the truth and having
abandoned it, would assume the character of an adversary.
The case, then, here supposed is the renunciation of the confession of
Christ, deliberately preferring-after having known the truth-to walk
according to one's own will in sin. This is evident, both from that
which precedes and from verse 29.
Thus we have (chaps. 6, 10.) the two great privileges of Christianity,
what distinguishes it from Judaism, presented in order to warn those
who made profession of the former, that the renunciation of the truth,
after enjoying these advantages, was fatal; for if these means of
salvation were renounced, there was no other. These privileges were the
manifested presence and power of the Holy Ghost, and the offering
which, by its intrinsic and absolute value, left no place for any
other. Both of these possessed a mighty efficacy, which, while it gave
divine spring and force, and the manifestation of the presence of God
on the one hand, made known on the other hand the eternal redemption
and the perfection of the worshiper; leaving no means for repentance,
if any one abandoned the manifested and known power of that presence;
no place for another sacrifice (which, more over, would have denied the
efficacy of the first), after the perfect work of God in salvation,
perfect whether with regard to redemption or to the presence of God by
the Spirit in the midst of His own. Nothing remained but judgment.
They who despised the law of Moses died without mercy. What then would
not those deserve at the hand of God, who trod under foot the Son of
God, counted the blood of the covenant, by which they had been
sanctified, as a common thing, and did despite to the Spirit of grace?
It was not simple disobedience, however evil that might be; it was
contempt of the grace of God, and of that which He had done, in the
Person of Jesus, in order to deliver us from the consequences of
disobedience. On the one hand, what was there left, if with the
knowledge of what it was, they renounced this? On the other hand, how
could they escape judgment? for they know a God who had said that
vengeance belonged unto Him, and that He would recompense; and, again,
the Lord would judge His people.
Observe here the way in which sanctification is attributed to the
blood; and, also, that professors are treated as belonging to the
people. The blood, received by faith, consecrates the soul to God; but
it is here viewed also as an outward means for setting apart the people
as a people. Every individual who had owned Jesus to be the Messiah,
and the blood to be the seal and foundation of an everlasting covenant
available for eternal cleansing and redemption on the part of God,
acknowledging himself to be set apart for God, by this means, as one of
the people-every such individual would, if he renounced it, renounce it
as such; and there was no other way of sanctifying him. The former
system had evidently lost its power for him, and the true one he had
abandoned. This is the reason why it is said, " having received the
knowledge of the truth."
Nevertheless he hopes better things, for fruit, the sign of life, was
there. He reminds them how much they had suffered for the truth, and
that they had even received joyfully the spoiling of their goods,
knowing that they had a better and an abiding portion in heaven. They
were not to cast away this confidence, the reward of which would be
great. For in truth they needed patience, in order that, after having
done the will of God, they might receive the effect of the promise. And
He who is to come will come soon.
It is to this life of patience and perseverance that the chapter
applies. But there is a principle which is the strength of this life,
and which characterises it. In the midst of the difficulties of the
christian walk the just shall live by faith; and if anyone draws back,
God will have no pleasure in him. " But," says the author, placing
himself as ever in the midst of the believers, "we are not of them who
draw back, but of them that believe unto the saving of the soul."
Thereupon he describes the action of this faith, encouraging believers
by the example of the elders who had acquired their renown by walking
according to the same principle as that by which the faithful were now
called to walk.
Chapter 11
It is not a definition of this principle, that the epistle gives us at
the commencement of chapter 11, but a declaration of its powers and
action. Faith realises (gives substance to) that which we hope for, and
is a demonstration to the soul of that which we do not see.
There is much more order than is generally thought in the series given
here of examples of the action of faith, although this order is not the
principal object. I will point out its leading features.
1st. With regard to creation. Lost in reasonings, and not knowing God,
the human mind sought out endless solutions of existence. Those who
have read the cosmogonies of the ancients know how many different
systems, each more absurd than the other, have been invented for that
which the introduction of God, by faith, renders perfectly simple.
Modern science, with a less active and more practical mind, stops at
second causes; and it is but little occupied with God. Geology has
taken the place of the cosmogony of the Hindoos, Egyptians, Orientals,
and philosophers. To the believer the thought is clear and simple; his
mind is assured and intelligent by faith. God, by His word, called all
things into existence. The universe is not a producing cause; it is
itself a creature acting by a law imposed upon it. It is One having
authority who has spoken; His word has divine efficacy. He speaks, and
the thing is. We feel that this is worthy of God; for, when once God is
brought in, all is simple. Shut Him out, and man is lost in the efforts
of his own imagination, which can neither create nor arrive at the
knowledge of a Creator, because it only works with the power of a
creature. Before, therefore, the details of the present form of
creation are entered upon, the word simply says, " In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth." Whatever may have taken place
between that and chaos forms no part of revelation. It is distinct from
the special action of the deluge, which is made known to us. The
beginning of Genesis does not give a history of the details of creation
itself, nor the history of the universe. It gives the fact that in the
beginning God created; and afterwards, the things that regard man on
the earth. The angels even are not there. Of the stars it is only said,
" He made the stars also ;" when, we are not told.
By faith then we believe that the worlds were created by the word of God.
But sin has come in, and righteousness has to be found for fallen man,
in order that he may stand before God. God has given a Lamb for the
sacrifice. But here we have set before us, not the gift on God's part,
but the soul drawing near to Him by faith.
By faith then Abel offers to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain-a
sacrifice which (founded on the revelation already made by God) was
offered in the intelligence which a conscience taught of God possessed,
with regard to the position in which he who offered was standing. Death
and judgment had come in by sin, to man insupportable, although he must
undergo them. He must go therefore to God, confessing this; but he must
go with a substitute which grace has given. He must go with blood, the
witness at the same time both of the judgment and of the perfect grace
of God. Doing this, he was in the truth, and this truth was
righteousness and grace. He approaches God and puts the sacrifice
between himself and God. He receives the testimony that he is
righteous- righteous according to the righteous judgment of God. For
the sacrifice was in connection with the righteousness that had
condemned man, and owned too the perfect value of that which was done
in it. The testimony is to his offering; but Abel is righteous before
God. Nothing can be more clear, more precious on this point. It is not
only the sacrifice which is accepted, but Abel who comes with the
sacrifice. He receives from God this testimony, that he is righteous.
Sweet and blessed consolation! But the testimony is made to his gifts,
so that he possessed all the certainty of acceptance according to the
value of the sacrifice offered. In going to God by the sacrifice of
Jesus, not only am I righteous (I receive the testimony that I am
righteous), but this testimony is made to my offering, and therefore my
righteousness has the value and the perfection of the offering, that
is, of Christ offering Himself to God. The fact that we receive
testimony on God's part that we are righteous, and at the same time
that the testimony is made to the gift which we offer, (not to the
condition in which we are), is of infinite value to us. We are now
before God according to the perfection of Christ's work. We walk with
God thus.
By faith, death having been the means of my acceptance before God, all
that belongs to the old man is abolished for faith; the power and the
rights of death are entirely destroyed - Christ has undergone them.
Thus, if it please God, we go to heaven with out even passing through
death. (Compare 2 Cor. 5:1-4.) God did this for Enoch, for Elijah, as a
testimony. Not only are sins put away, and righteousness established by
the work of Christ, but the rights and power of him who has the power
of death are entirely destroyed. Death may happen to us-we are by
nature liable to it; but we possess a life which is outside its
jurisdiction. Death, if it come, is but gain to us; and although
nothing but the power of God Himself can raise or transform the body,
this power has been manifested in Jesus, and has already wrought in us
by quickening us (compare Eph.1:19); and it works in us now in the
power of deliverance from sin, from the law, and from the flesh. Death,
as a power of the enemy, is conquered; it is become a "gain" to faith,
instead of being a judgment on nature. Life, the power of God in life,
works in holiness and in obedience here below, and declares itself in
the resurrection or in the transformation of the body. It is a witness
of power with regard to Christ in Romans 1:4.
But there is another very sweet consideration to be noticed here. Enoch
received testimony that he pleased God, before he was translated. This
is very important and very precious. If we walk with God, we have the
testimony that we please Him; we have the sweetness of communion with
God, the testimony of His Spirit, His intercourse with us in the sense
of His presence, the consciousness of walking according to His word,
which we know to be approved by Him -in a word, a life which, spent
with Him and before Him by faith, is spent in the light of His
countenance and in the enjoyment of the communications of His grace and
of a sure testimony, coming from Himself that we are pleasing to Him. A
child who walks with a kind father and converses with him, his
conscience reproaching him with nothing-does he not enjoy the sense of
his parent's favour?
In figure Enoch here represents the position of the saints who compose
the assembly. He is taken up to heaven by virtue of a complete victory
over death. By the exercise of sovereign grace he is outside the
government and the ordinary deliverance of God. He bears testimony by
the Spirit to the judgment of the world, but he does not go through it.
(Jude 14, 15) A walk like that of Enoch has God for its object, His
existence is realised-the great business of life, which in the world is
spent as if man did everything-and the fact that He is interested in
the walk of men, that He takes account of it, in order to reward those
who diligently seek Him.
Noah is found in the scene of the government of this world. He does not
warn others of the coming judgments as one who is outside them,
although he is a preacher of righteousness. He is warned himself and
for himself; he is in the circumstances to which the warning relates.
It is the spirit of prophecy. He is moved by fear, and he builds an ark
to the saving of his house. He thus condemned the world. Enoch had not
to build an ark in order to pass safely through the flood. He was not
in it: God translated him-exceptionally. Noah is preserved (heir of the
righteousness which is by faith) for a future world. There is a general
principle which accepts the testimony of God respecting the judgment
that will fall upon men, and the means provided by God for escaping it:
this belongs to every believer.
But there is something more precise. Abel has the testimony that he is
righteous; Enoch walks with God, pleases God, and is exempted from the
common lot of humanity, proclaiming as from above the fate that awaits
men, and the coming of Him who will execute the judgment. He goes
forward to the accomplishment of the counsels of God. But neither Abel
nor Enoch, thus viewed, condemned the world as that in the midst of
which they were journeying, receiving themselves the warning, addressed
to those who were dwellers therein. This was Noah's case: the prophet,
although delivered, is in the midst of the judged people. The assembly
is outside them. Noah's ark condemned the world; the testimony of God
was enough for faith, and he inherits a world that had been destroyed,
and (what belongs to all believers) righteousness by faith, on which
the new world too is founded. This is the case of the Jewish remnant in
the last days. They pass through the judgments, out of which we, as not
belonging to the world, have been taken. Warned themselves of God's way
of government in the earth, they will be witnesses to the world of the
coming judgments, and will be heirs of the righteousness which is by
faith, and witnesses to it in a new world, wherein righteousness will
be accomplished in judgment by Him who is come, and whose throne will
uphold the world in which Noah himself failed. The words, " heir of the
righteousness which is by faith," point out, I think, that this faith
which had governed a few was summed up in his person, and that the
whole unbelieving world was condemned. The witness of this faith before
judgment, Noah passes through it: and when the world is renewed, he is
a public witness to the blessing of God that rests on faith, although
outwardly all is changed. Thus Enoch represents the saints of the
present time; Noah, the Jewish remnant. [32] The Spirit, after
establishing the great fundamental principles of faith in action, goes
on (ver. 8)to produce examples of the divine life in detail, always in
connection with Jewish knowledge, with that which the heart of a Hebrew
could not fail to own; and, at the same time, in connection with the
object of the epistle and with the wants of Christians among the
Hebrews.
In the previous case we have seen a faith which, after owning a
Creator-God, recognises the great principles of the relations of man
with God, and that onwards to the end upon earth. In that which
follows, we have first the patience of faith when it does not possess,
but trusts God and waits, assured of fulfillment. This is from verse 8
to 22. We may subdivide it thus:-first, the faith which takes the place
of strangership on earth, and maintains it because something better is
desired; and which, in spite of weakness, finds the strength that is
requisite in order to the fulfillment of the promises. This is from
verse 8 to 16. Its effect is entrance into the joy of a heavenly hope.
Strangers in the land of promise, and not enjoying the fulfillment of
promises here below, they wait for more excellent things-things which
God prepares on high for those who love Him. For such He has prepared a
city. In unison with God in His own thoughts, their desires (through
grace) answering to the things in which He takes delight, they are the
objects of His peculiar regard. He is not ashamed to be called their
God. Abraham not only followed God into a land that He shewed him, but,
a stranger there, and not possessing the land of promise, he is, by the
mighty grace of God, exalted to the sphere of His thoughts; and,
enjoying communion with God and the communications of His grace, he
rests upon God for the time present, accepts his position of
strangership on earth, and, as the portion of his faith, waits for the
heavenly city of which God is the builder and the founder. There was
not, so to speak, an open revelation of what was the subject of this
hope, as was the case with that by which Abraham was called of God; but
walking closely enough with God to know that which was enjoyed in His
presence, and being conscious that he had not received the fulfillment
of the promise, he lays hold of the better things, and waits for them,
although only seeing them afar off, and remains a stranger upon earth,
unmindful of the country whence he came out.
The special application of these first principles of faith to the case
of the christian Hebrews is evident. They are the normal life of faith
for all.
The second character of faith presented in this part is entire
confidence in the fulfillment of the promises- a confidence maintained
in spite of all that might tend to destroy it. This is from verse 17 to
22.
We next find, the second great division, that faith makes its way
through all the difficulties that oppose its progress. (Ver. 23-27.)
And from verse 28 to 31 faith displays itself in a trust that reposes
on God with regard to the use of the means which He sets before us, and
of which nature cannot avail itself. Finally, there is the energy in
general, of which faith is the source, and the sufferings that
characterise the walk of faith.[33] This general character belongs to
all the examples mentioned, namely, that they who have exercised faith
have not received the fulfillment of the promise; the application of
which to the state of the Hebrew Christians is evident. Further, these
illustrious heroes of faith, however honoured they might be among the
Jews, did not enjoy the privileges that Christians possessed. God in
His counsels had reserved something better for us.
Let us notice some details. Abraham's faith shews itself by a thorough
trust in God. Called to leave his own people, breaking the ties of
nature, he obeys. He knows not whither he is going: enough for him that
God would shew him the place. God, having brought him thither, gives
him nothing. He dwells there content, in perfect reliance on God. He
was a gainer by it. He waited for a city that had foundations. He
openly confesses that he is a stranger and a pilgrim on earth. (Gen.
23:4) Thus, in spirit, he draws nearer to God. Although he possesses
nothing, his affections are engaged. He desires a better country, and
attaches himself to God more immediately and entirely. He has no desire
to return into his own country; he seeks a country. Such is the
Christian. In offering up Isaac there was that absolute confidence in
God which, at His command, can renounce even God's own promises as
possessed after the flesh, sure that God would restore them through the
exercise of His power, overcoming death and every obstacle.
It is thus that Christ renounced His rights as Messiah, and went even
into death, committing Him self to the will of God and trusting in Him;
and received everything in resurrection. And this the Hebrew Christians
had to do, with respect to the Messiah and the promises made to Israel.
But, if there is simplicity of faith, for us the Jordan is dry, nor
could we indeed have passed it if the Lord had not passed on before.
Observe here that, when trusting in God and giving up all for Him, we
always gain, and we learn something, more of the ways of His power: for
in renouncing according to His will anything already received, we ought
to expect from the power of God that He will bestow something else.
Abraham renounces the promise after the flesh. He sees the city which
has foundations; he can desire a heavenly country. He gives up Isaac,
in whom were the promises: he learns resurrection, for God is
infallibly faithful. The promises were in Isaac: therefore God must
restore him to Abraham, and by resurrection, if he offered him in
sacrifice.
In Isaac faith distinguishes between the portion of God's people
according to his election, and that of man having birthrights according
to nature. This is the knowledge of the ways of God in blessing, and in
judgment.
By faith Jacob, a stranger and feeble, having nothing but the staff
with which he had crossed the Jordan, worships God, and announces the
double portion of the heir of Israel, of the one whom his brethren
rejected-a type of the Lord, the heir of all things. This lays the
ground of worship.
By faith Joseph, a stranger, the representative here of Israel far from
his own country, reckons on the fulfillment of the earthly
promises.[34] These are the expressions of faith in the faithfulness of
God, in the future fulfillment of His promise. In that which follows we
have the faith which surmounts every difficulty that arises in the path
of the man of God, in the way that God marks out for him as he journeys
on towards the enjoyment of the promises.
The faith of the parents of Moses makes them disregard the king's cruel
command, and they conceal their infant; whom God, in answer to their
faith preserved by extraordinary means when there was no other way to
save it. Faith does not reason; it acts from its own point of view, and
leaves the result to God.
But the means which God used for the preservation of Moses placed him
within a little of the highest position in the kingdom. He there came
to be possessed of all the acquirements which that period could bestow
on a man distinguished alike by his energy and his character. But faith
does its work, and inspires divine affections which do not look to
surrounding circumstances for a guide of action, even when those
circumstances may have owned their origin to the most remarkable
providences.
Faith has its own objects, supplied by God Himself, and governs the
heart with a view to those objects. It gives us a place and
relationships which rule the whole life, and leave no room for other
motives and other spheres of affection which would divide the heart;
for the motives and affections which govern faith are given by God, and
given by Him in order to form and govern the heart.
Verse 24-26 develop this point. It is a very important principle; for
we often hear Providence alleged as a reason for not walking by faith.
Never was there a more remarkable Providence than that which placed
Moses in the court of Pharaoh; and it gained its object. It would not
have done so if Moses had not abandoned the position into which that
Providence had brought him. But it was faith (that is to say, the
divine affections which God had created in his heart), and not
Providence as a rule and motive, which produced the effect for which
Providence had preserved and prepared him. Providence (thanks be to God
!) governs circumstances; faith governs the heart and the conduct.
The reward which God has promised comes in here as an avowed object in
the sphere of faith. It is not the motive power; but it sustains and
encourages the heart that is acting by faith, in view of the object
which God presents to our affections. It thus takes the heart away from
the present, from the influence of the things that surround us (whether
they are things that attract or that tend to intimidate us), and
elevates the heart and character of him who walks by faith and confirms
him in a path of devotedness which will lead him to the end at which he
aims.
A motive outside that which is present to us is the secret of stability
and of true greatness. We may have an object with regard to which we
act: but we need a motive outside that object-a divine motive- to
enable us to act in a godly way respecting it.
Faith realises also (ver. 27) the intervention of God without seeing
Him; and thus delivers from all fear of the power of man-the enemy of
His people. But the thought of God's intervention brings the heart into
a greater difficulty than even the fear of man. If His people are to be
delivered, God must intervene, and that in judgment. But they, as well
as their enemies, are sinners; and the consciousness of sin and of
deserving judgment necessarily destroys confidence in Him who is the
Judge. Dare they see Him come to manifest His power in judgment (for
this it is, in fact, which must take place for the deliverance of His
people)? Is God for us the heart asks-this God who is coming in
judgment? But God has provided the means of securing safety in the
presence of judgment (ver. 28); a means apparently contemptible and
useless, yet which in reality is the only one that, by glorifying Him
with regard to the evil of which we are guilty, has power to afford
shelter from the judgment which He executes.
Faith recognised the testimony of God by trusting to the efficacy of
the blood sprinkled on the door, and could, in all security, let God
come in judgment-God who, seeing the blood, would pass over His
believing people. By faith Moses kept the passover. Observe here that,
by the act of putting the blood on the door, the people acknowledged
that they were as much the objects of the just judgment of God as the
Egyptians. God had given them that which preserved them from it; but it
was because they were guilty and deserved it. No one can stand before
God.
Verse 29. But the power of God is manifested, and manifested in
judgment. Nature, the enemies of God's people, think to pass through
this judgment dry-shod, like those who are sheltered by redeeming power
from the righteous vengeance of God. But the judgment swallows them up
in the very same place in which the people find deliverance-a principle
of marvelous import. There, where the judgment of God is, even there is
the deliverance. Believers have truly experienced this in Christ. The
cross is death and judgment, the two terrible consequences of sin, the
lot of sinful man. To us they are the deliverance provided of God. By
and in them we are delivered and (in Christ) we pass through and are
out of their reach. Christ died and is risen; and faith brings us, by
means of that which should have been our eternal ruin, into a place
where death and judgment are left behind, andwhere our enemies can no
longer reach us. We go through without their touching us. Death and
judgment shield us from the enemy. They are our security. But we enter
into a new sphere, we live by the effect not only of Christ's death,
but of His resurrection.
Those who, in the mere power of nature, think to pass through (they who
speak of death and judgment and Christ, taking the christian position,
and thinking to pass through, although the power of God in redemption
is not with them) are swallowed up.
With respect to the Jews, this event will have an earthly antitype; for
in fact the day of God's judgment on earth will be the deliverance of
Israel, who will have been brought to repentance.
This deliverance at the Red Sea goes beyond the protection of the blood
in Egypt. There God coming in the expression of His holiness, executing
judgment upon evil, what they needed was to be sheltered from that
judgment-to be protected from the righteous judgment of God Himself.
And, by the blood, God, thus coming to execute judgment, was shut out,
and the people were placed in safety before the Judge. This judgment
had the character of the eternal judgment. And God had the character of
a Judge.
At the Red Sea it was not merely deliverance from judgment hanging over
them; God was for the people, active in love and in power for them.
[35] The deliverance was an actual deliverance: they came out of that
condition in which they had been enslaved, God's own power bringing
them unhurt through that which otherwise must have been their
destruction. Thus, in our case, it is Christ's death and resurrection,
in which we participate, the redemption which He therein accomplished,
[36] which introduces us into an entirely new condition altogether
outside that of nature. We are no longer in the flesh.
In principle the earthly deliverance of the Jewish nation (the Jewish
remnant) will be the same. Founded on the power of the risen Christ,
and on the propitiation wrought out by His death, that deliverance will
be accomplished by God, who will intervene on behalf of those that turn
to Him by faith: at the same time that His adversaries (who are those
also of His people) shall be destroyed by the very judgment which is
the safeguard of the people whom they have oppressed.
Verse 30. Yet all difficulties were not overcome because redemption was
accomplished, deliverance effected. But the God of deliverance was with
them; difficulties disappear before Him. That which is a difficulty to
man is none to Him. Faith trusts in Him, and uses means which only
serve to express that trust. The walls of Jericho fall down at the
sound of trumpets made of rams' horns, after Israel had compassed the
city seven days, sounding these trumpets seven times.
Rahab, in presence of all the as yet unimpaired strength of the enemies
of God and His people, identifies herself with the latter before they
had gained one victory, because she felt that God was with them. A
stranger to them (as to the flesh), she by faith escaped the judgment
which God executed upon her people.
Verse 32. Details are now no longer entered into. Israel (although
individuals had still to act by faith), being established in the land
of promise,furnished less occasion to develop examples of the
principles on which faith acted. The Spirit speaks in a general way of
these examples in which faith re-appeared under various characters and
energy of patience, and sustained souls under all kinds of suffering.
Their glory was with God, the world was not worthy of them.
Nevertheless they had received nothing of the fulfillment of the
promises; they had to live by faith, as well as the Hebrews, to whom
the epistle was addressed. The latter, however, had privileges which
were in no wise possessed by believers of former days. Neither the one
nor the other was brought to perfection, that is, to the heavenly
glory, unto which God has called us, and in which they are to
participate. Abraham and others waited for this glory; they never
possessed it: God would not give it them without us. But He has not
called us by the same revelations only as those which He made to them.
For the days of the rejected Messiah He had reserved some better thing.
Heavenly things have become things of the present time, things fully
revealed and actually possessed in spirit, by the union of the saints
with Christ, and present access into the holiest through the blood of
Christ.
We have not to do with a promise and a distinct view of a place
approached from without, entrance to which was not yet granted, so that
relationship with God would not be founded on entrance within the
veil-entrance into His own presence. We now go in with boldness. We
belong to heaven; our citizenship is there; we are at home there.
Heavenly glory is our present portion, Christ having gone in as our
forerunner. We have in heaven a Christ who is man glorified. This
Abraham had not. He walked on earth with a heavenly mind, waiting for a
city, feeling that nothing else would satisfy the desires which God had
awakened in his heart; but he could not be connected with heaven by
means of a Christ actually sitting there in glory. This is our present
portion. We can even say that we are united to Him there. The
Christian's position is quite different from that of Abraham. God had
reserved some better thing for us.
The Spirit does not here develop the whole extent of this " better
thing," because the assembly is not His subject. He presents the
general thought to the Hebrews to encourage them, that believers of the
present day have special privileges, which they enjoy by faith, but
which did not belong even to the faith of believers in former days.
We shall be perfected, that is to say, glorified together in
resurrection; but there is a special portion which belongs to the
saints now, and which did not belong to the patriarchs. The fact that
Christ, as man, is in heaven after having accomplished redemption, and
that the Holy Ghost, by whom we are united to Christ, is on earth, made
this superiority granted to Christians easily understood. Accordingly
even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the greatest of
those who preceded it.
Chapter 12
The epistle now enters on the practical exhortation, that flow from its
doctrinal instruction, with reference to the dangers peculiar to the
Hebrew Christians-instruction suited throughout to inspire them with
courage. Surrounded with a cloud of witnesses like these of chapter 11,
who all declared the advantages of a life of faith in promises still
unfulfilled, they ought to feel themselves impelled to follow their
steps, running with patience the race set before them, and above all
looking away from every difficulty [37] to Jesus, who had run the whole
career of faith, sustained by the joy that was set before Him, and,
having reached the goal, had taken His seat in glory at the right hand
of God.
This passage presents the Lord, not as He who bestows faith, but as He
who has Himself run the whole career of faith. Others had traveled a
part of the road, had surmounted some difficulties; the obedience and
the perseverance of the Lord had been subjected to every trial of which
human nature is susceptible. Men, the adversary, the being forsaken of
God, everything was against Him. His disciples flee when He is in
danger, His intimate friend betrays Him; He looks for some one to have
compassion on Him and finds no one. The fathers (of whom we read in the
previous chapter) trusted in God and were delivered, but as for Jesus.
He was a worm, and no man;His throat was dry with crying. His love for
us, His obedience to His Father, surmounted all. He carries off the
victory by submission, and takes His seat in a glory exalted in
proportion to the greatness of His abasement and obedience, the only
just reward for having perfectly glorified God where He had been
dishonoured by sin. The joy and the rewards that are set before us are
never the motives of the walk of faith-we know this well with regard to
Christ, but it is not the less true in our own case-they are the
encouragement of those who walk in it.
Jesus, then, who has attained the glory due to Him becomes an example
to us in the sufferings through which He passed in attaining it;
therefore we are neither to lose courage nor to grow weary. We have not
yet, like Him, lost our lives in order to glorify God and to serve Him.
The way in which the apostle engages them to disentangle themselves
from every hindrance, whether sin or difficulty, is remarkable; as
though they had nothing to do but to cast them off as useless weights.
And in fact, when we look at Jesus, nothing is easier; when we are not
looking at Him, nothing more impossible.
There are two things to be cast off: every weight, and the sin that
would entangle our feet (for he speaks of one who is running in the
race). The flesh, the human heart, is occupied with cares and
difficulties; and the more we think of them, the more we are burdened
by them. It is enticed by the object of its desires, it does not free
itself from them. The conflict is with a heart that loves the thing
against which we strive; we do not separate ourselves from it in
thought. When looking at Jesus, the new man is active; there is a new
object, which unburdens and detaches us from every other by means of a
new creation which has its place in a new nature: and in Jesus Himself,
to whom we look, there is a positive power which sets us free. It is by
casting it all off in an absolute way that the thing is easy-by looking
at that which fills the heart with other things, and occupies it in a
different sphere, where a new object and a new nature act upon each
other; and in that object there is a positive power which absorbs the
heart and shuts out all objects that act merely on the old nature. What
is felt to be a weight is easily cast off. Everything is judged of by
its bearing on the object we aim at. If I run in a race and all my
thought is the prize, a bag of gold is readily cast away. It is a
weight. But we must look to Jesus. Only in Him can we cast off every
hindrance easily and without reservation. We cannot combat sin by the
flesh.
But there is another class of trials that come from without: they are
not to be cast off, they must be borne. Christ, as we have seen, went
through them. We have not like Him resisted even to the shedding of our
blood rather than fail in faithfulness and obedience. Now God acts in
these trials as a father. He chastises us. They come perhaps, as in the
case of Job, from the enemy, but the hand and the wisdom of God are in
them. He chastises those whom He loves. We must therefore neither
despise the chastisement nor be discouraged by it. We must not despise
it, for He does not chastise without a motive or a cause (moreover, it
is God who does it); nor must we be discouraged, for He does it in love.
If we lose our life for the testimony of the Lord and in resisting sin,
the warfare is ended; and this is not chastisement, but the glory of
suffering with Christ. Death in this case is the negation of sin. He
who has died is free from sin; he who has suffered in the flesh has
done with sin. But up to that point, the flesh in practice (for we have
a right to reckon ourselves dead) is not yet destroyed; and God knows
how to unite the manifestation of the faithfulness of the new man, who
suffers for the Lord, with the discipline by which the flesh is
mortified. For example, Paul's thorn in the flesh united these two
things. It was painful to him in the exercise of his ministry, for it
was something that tended to make him contemptible when preaching, and
this he endured (for the Lord's sake), but at the same time it kept his
flesh in check.
Verse 9. Now we are subject to our natural parents who discipline us
after their own will: how much more then to the Father of spirits, [38]
who makes us partakers of His own holiness! Observe here the grace that
is appealed to. We have seen how much the Hebrews needed warning-their
tendency was to fail in the career of faith. The means of preventing
this is doubtless not to spare warning, but yet to bring the soul fully
into connection with grace. This alone can give strength and courage
through confidence in God.
We are not come to Mount Sinai, to the law which makes demands on us,
but to Sion, where God manifested His power in re-establishing Israel
by His grace in the person of the elect king, when, as to the
responsibility of the people, all was entirely lost, all relationship
with God impossible on that footing, for the ark was lost; there was no
longer a mercy-seat, no longer a throne of God among the people.
Ichabod was written on Israel.
Therefore in speaking of holiness he says, God is active in love
towards you, even in your very sufferings. It is He who has not only
given free access to Himself, by the blood and by the presence of
Christ in heaven for us, but who is continually occupied with all the
details of your life; whose hand is in all your trials, who thinks
unceasingly about you, in order to make you partakers of His holiness.
This is not to require holiness on our part-necessary as it must ever
be-it is in order to make us partakers of His own holiness. What
immense and perfect grace! What a means! It is the means by which to
enjoy God Himself perfectly.
Verse 11. God does not expect us to find these exercises of soul
pleasant at the moment (they would not produce their effect if they
were so): but afterwards, the will being broken, they produce the
peaceable fruits of righteousness. The pride of man is brought down
when he is obliged to submit to that which is contrary to his will. God
also takes a larger (ever precious) place in his thoughts and in his
life.
Verse 12. On the principle then of grace, the Hebrews are exhorted to
encourage themselves in the path of faith, and to watch against the
buddings of sin among them, whether in yielding to the desires of the
flesh, or in giving up christian privileges for something of the world.
They were to walk so courageously that their evident joy and blessing
(which is always a distinct testimony and one that triumphs over the
enemy) should make the weak feel that it was their own assured portion
also; and thus strength and healing would be administered to them
instead of discouragement. The path of godliness as to circumstances
was to be made easy, a beaten path to weak and lame souls; and they
would feel more than stronger souls the comfort and value of such a
path.
Grace, we have already said, is the motive given for this walk; but
grace is here presented in a form that requires to be considered a
little in detail.
We are not come, it says, to Mount Sinai. There the terrors of the
majesty of God kept man at a distance. No one was to approach Him. Even
Moses feared and trembled at the presence of Jehovah. This is not where
the Christian is brought but, in contrast with such relationships as
these with God, the whole millennial state in all its parts is
developed; according however to the way in which these different parts
are now known as things hoped for. We belong to it all; but evidently
these things are not yet established. Let us name them: Sion; the
heavenly Jerusalem; the angels and general assembly; the Church of the
firstborn, whose names are inscribed in heaven; God the Judge of all;
the spirits of the just made perfect; Jesus the Mediator of the new
covenant, and finally, the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better
things than that of Abel.
Sion we have ,spoken of as a principle. It is the intervention of
sovereign grace (in the king) after the ruin, and in the midst of
theruin, of Israel, re-establishing the people according to the
counsels of God in glory, and their relationships with God Himself. It
is the rest of God on the earth, the seat of the Messiah's royal power.
But, as we know, the extent of the earth is far from being the limits
of the Lord's inheritance. Sion on earth is Jehovah's rest; it is not
the city of the living God-the heavenly Jerusalem is that, the heavenly
capital, so to speak of His kingdom, the city that has foundations,
whose founder and builder is God Himself.
Having named Sion below, the author turns naturally to Jerusalem above;
but this carries him into heaven, and he finds himself with all the
people of God, in the midst of a multitude of angels, the great
universal assembly [39] of the invisible world. There is however one
peculiar object on which his eye rests in this marvelous and heavenly
scene. It is the assembly of the firstborn whose names are inscribed in
heaven. They were not born there, not indigenous like the angels, whom
God preserved from falling. They are the objects of the counsels of
God. It is not merely that they reach heaven: they are the glorious
heirs and firstborn of God, according to His eternal counsels, in
accordance with which they are registered in heaven. The assembly
composed of the objects of grace, now called in Christ, belongs to
heaven by grace. They are not the objects of the promises, who, not
having received the fulfillment of the promises on earth, do not fail
to enjoy them in heaven. They have the anticipation of no other country
or citizenship than heaven. The promises were not addressed to them.
They have no place on earth. Heaven is prepared for them by God
Himself. Their names are inscribed there by Him. It is the highest
place in heaven above the dealings of God in government, promise, and
law on the earth. This leads the picture of glory on to God Himself.
But (having, reached the highest point, that which is most excellent in
grace) He is seen under another character, namely, as the Judge of all,
as looking down from on high to judge all that is below. This
introduces another class of these blessed inhabitants of the heavenly
glory: those whom the righteous Judge owned as His before the heavenly
assembly was revealed, the spirits of the just arrived at perfection.
They had finished their course, they had overcome in conflict, they
were waiting only for glory. They had been connected with the dealings
of God on the earth, but-faithful before the time for its blessing was
come-they had their rest and their portion in heaven.
It was the purpose of God nevertheless to bless the earth. He could not
do so according to man's responsibility: His people even were but as
grass. He would therefore establish a new covenant with Israel a
covenant of pardon, and according to which He would write the law in
the hearts of His people. The Mediator of this covenant had already
appeared and had done all that was required for its establishment. The
saints among the Hebrews were come to the Mediator of the new covenant:
blessing was thus prepared for the earth and secured to it.
Finally, the blood of Christ had been shed on earth, as that of Abel by
Cain; but, instead of crying from the earth for vengeance, so that Cain
became a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth (a striking type of the
Jew, guilty of the death of Christ), it is grace that speaks; and the
shed blood cries to obtain pardon and peace for those who shed it.
It will be observed that although speaking of the different paths of
millennial blessing, with its foundations, all is given according to
the present condition of things, before the coming of that time of
blessing from God. We are in it as to our relationships; but the
spirits of the just men of the Old Testament only are here spoken of,
and only the Mediator of this new covenant: the covenant itself is not
established. The blood cries, but the answer in earthly blessing has
not yet come. This is easily understood. It is exactly according to the
existing state of things, and even throws considerable light on the
position of the Hebrew Christians and on the doctrine of the epistle.
The important thing for them was, that they should not turn away from
Him who spoke from heaven. It was with Him they had to do. We have seen
them connected with all that went before, with the Lord's testimony on
earth; but in fact they had to do at that time with the Lord Himself as
speaking from heaven. His voice then shook the earth; but now, speaking
with the authority of grace and from heaven, He announced the
dissolution of everything which the flesh could lean upon, or on which
the creature could rest its hopes.
All that could be shaken should he dissolved. How much more fatal to
turn away from Him that speaketh now, than from the commandments even
of Sinai! This shaking of all things (whether here or in the analogous
passage in 2 Peter) evidently goes beyond Judaism, but has a peculiar
application to it. Judaism was the system and the frame of the
relationships of God with men on earth according to the principle of
responsibility on their part. All this was of the first creation, but
its springs were poisoned; heaven, the seat of the enemy's power,
perverted and corrupted; the heart of man on earth was corrupt and
rebellious. God will shake and change all things. The result will be a
new creation in which righteousness shall dwell.
Meanwhile the first fruits of this new Creation were being formed; and
in Christianity God was forming the heavenly part of the kingdom that
cannot be moved; and Judaism-the centre of the earthly system and of
human responsibility-was passing away. The apostle therefore announces
the shaking of all things-that everything which exists as the present
creation shall be set aside. With regard to the present fact he says
only, " we receive a kingdom that cannot be moved;" and calls us to
serve God with true piety, because our God is a consuming fire; not- as
people say-God out of Christ, but our God. This is His character in
holy majesty and in righteous judgment of evil.
Chapter 13
In this next chapter there is more than one truth important to notice.
The exhortations are as simple as they are weighty, and require but few
remarks. They rest in the sphere in which the whole of the epistle
does: what relates to the Christian's path as walking here, not what
flows from union with Christ in heavenly places. Brotherly love,
hospitality, care for those in bonds, the strict maintenance of the
marriage tie and persona! purity, the avoiding of covetousness: such
are the subjects of exhortation, all important and connected with the
gracious walk of a Christian, but not drawn from the higher and more
heavenly sources and principles of the christian life as we see in
Ephesians and Colossians. Nor, even though there be more analogy-for
the Epistle to the Romans rests in general in life in Christ in this
world, presenting Christ's resurrection, without going on to His
ascension [40] -are the exhortations such as in this latter epistle.
Those which follow connect themselves with the circumstances in which
the Hebrews found themselves, and rest on the approaching abolition and
judgment of Judaism, from which they had now definitely to separate
themselves.
In exhorting them (ver. 7) to remember those who have guided the flock,
he speaks of those already departed in contrast with those still
living. (Ver. 17.) The issue of their faith might well encourage others
to follow their steps, to walk by those principles of faith which had
led them to so noble a result.
Moreover Christ never changed; He was the same yesterday, today, and
for ever. Let them abide in the simplicity and integrity of faith.
Nothing is a plainer proof that the heart is not practically in
possession of that which gives rest in Christ, that it does not realise
what Christ is, than the restless search after something new- "divers
and strange doctrines." To grow in the knowledge of Christ is our life
and our privilege. The search after novelties which are foreign to Him,
is a proof of not being satisfied with Him. But he who is not satisfied
with Jesus does not know Him, or, at least, has forgotten Him. It is
impossible to enjoy Him, and not to feel that He is everything, that is
to say, that He satisfies us, and that by the nature of what He is, He
shuts out everything else.
Now with regard to Judaism, in which the Hebrews were naturally
inclined to seek satisfaction for the flesh, the apostle goes farther.
They were no longer Jews in the possession of the true worship of God,
a privileged worship in which others had no right to participate. The
altar of God belonged now to the Christians. Christians only had a
right to it. An earthly worship, in which there was no entering within
the veil, into God's own presence in the sanctuary, could no longer
subsist-a worship that had its worldly glory, that belonged to the
elements of this world and had its place there. Now, it is either
heaven or the cross and shame. The great sacrifice for sin has been
offered; but by its efficacy, it brings us into the sanctuary, into
heaven itself, where the blood has been carried in; and on the other
hand it takes us outside the camp, a religious people connected with
the world down here, into shame and rejection on earth. This is the
portion of Christ. In heaven He is accepted, He has gone in with His
own blood- on earth cast out and despised.
A worldly religion, which forms a system in which the world can walk,
and in which the religious element is adapted to man on the earth, is
the denial of Christianity.
Here we have no continuing city, we seek the one which is to come. By
Christ we offer our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. By sharing
also our goods with others, by doing good in every way we offer
sacrifices with which God is well pleased. (Ver 16)
He then exhorts them to obey those who, as responsible to God, watch
over souls, and who go before the saints in order to lead them on. It
is a proof of that humble spirit of grace which seeks only to please
the Lord.
The sense of this responsibility makes Paul ask the saints to pray for
him, but with the declaration that he had assuredly a good conscience.
We serve God, we act for Him, when He is not obliged to be acting on
us. That is to say, the Spirit of God acts by our means when He has not
to occupy us with ourselves. When the latter is the case, one could not
ask for the prayers of saints as a labourer. While the Spirit is
exercising us in our conscience, we cannot call our selves lahourers of
God. When the conscience is good we can ask unreservedly for the
prayers of the saints. The apostle so much the more asked for them
because he hoped thus the sooner to see them again.
Finally, he invokes blessing upon them, giving God the title he so
often ascribes to Him-" the God of peace." In the midst of exercise of
heart with regard to the Hebrews, of arguments to preserve their love
from growing cold, in the midst of the moral unsteadiness that
enfeebled the walk of these Christians, and their trials in the
breaking down of what they considered stable and holy, this title has a
peculiarly precious character.
The Spirit sets them also in the presence of a risen Christ, of a God
who had founded and secured peace by the death of Christ, and had given
a proof of it in His resurrection. He had brought Christ again from the
dead according to the power of the blood of the everlasting [41]
covenant. On this blood the believing people might build a hope that
nothing could shake. For it was not, as at Sinai, promises founded on
the condition of the people's obedience, but on the ransom which had
been paid, and the perfect expiation of their disobedience. The
blessing was therefore unchangeable, the covenant (as the inheritance
and the redemption) was everlasting. He prays that the God who had
wrought it, would work in them to grant them full power and energy for
the accomplishment of His will, working Himself in them that which was
well pleasing in His sight.
He urges them to give heed to exhortation; he had only sent them a few words.
He who wrote the letter desires they should know that Timothy had been
set at liberty; he himself was so already; he was in Italy;
circumstances which tend to confirm the idea that it was Paul who wrote
this letter-a very interesting point, although in nowise affecting its
authority.
It is the Spirit of God who everywhere gives His own authority to the word.
[15]We have also, at the end of the epistle, the expression " the blood
of the everlasting covenant." " Covenant" he uses I doubt not (as the
word "law" also is used), because it was commonly employed as the
condition of relationship with God, and " eternal " is characteristic
of the Hebrews. There have been, and will be, covenants in time and for
the earth; but we have eternal conditions of relationship with God, of
which the blood of Christ is the expression and security, founded in
everlasting grace, and righteousness as well as grace, by that precious
blood, in which all the character and all the purpose of God has been
made good and glorified, as well as our sins been put away.
[16] The reader will remark how anxiously, so to speak, the Epistle
here attaches the epithet "eternal" to everything. It was not a
temporary or earthly ground of relationship with God, but an eternal
one; so of redemption; so of inheritance. Corresponding to this, as to
the work on earth, it is once for all. It is not unimportant to notice
this as to the nature of the work. Hence the epithet attached even to
the Spirit.
[17]For in Christ we are the righteousness of God. His blood cleanses
us on God's part. Jesus wrought out the purification of sins by
Himself, and glorified God in so doing.
[18]It is all-important thoroughly to understand, that it is into the
presence of God that we enter; and that, at all times, and by virtue of
a sacrifice and of blood which never lose their value. The worshiper,
under the former tabernacle, did not come into the presence of God; he
stayed outside the unrent veil. He sinned-a sacrifice was offered: he
sinned again-a sacrifice was offered. Now the veil is rent. We are
always in the presence of God without a veil. Happen what may, He
always sees us-sees us in His presence-according t the efficacy of
Christ's perfect sacrifice. We are there now, by virtue of a perfect
sacrifice, offered for the putting away of sin, according to the divine
glory, and which has perfectly accomplished the purification of sins. I
should not be in the presence of God in the sanctuary, if I had not
been purified according to the purity of God, and by God. It was this
which brought me there. And this sacrifice and this blood can never
lose their value. Through them I am therefore perfect for ever in the
presence of God; I was brought into it by them.
[19] The work in virtue of which all sin is finally put away out of
God's sight-abolished-is accomplished, the question of good and evil is
come to a final issue on the cross, and God perfectly glorified when
sin was before Him; the result will not be finally accomplished till
the new heavens and the new earth. But our sins having been borne by
Christ on the cross, He rises, atonement being made, an eternal
testimony that they are gone for ever, and that by faith we are now
justified and have peace. We must not confound these two things, our
sins being put away, and the perfectly glorifying God in respect of
sin, when Christ was made sin, the results of which are not yet
accomplished. As regards the sinful nature, it is still in us; but
Christ having died, its condemnation took place then, but, that being
in death, we reckon ourselves dead to it, and no condemnation for us.
[20] Some think that these two verses are not a parenthesis speaking of
a testament, but a continuation of the argument on the covenant, taking
the word "diatithemai" to mean, not the testator, but the sacrifice,
which put a seal, more solemn than an oath, on the obligation of
observing the covenant. It is a very delicate Greek question, on which
I do not here enter. But I cannot say they have convinced me.
[21] And He must have repeatedly suffered, for there must be reality in putting away sin.
[22] The more we examine the cross from God's side of it, the more we
shall see this: man's enmity against God, and against God come in
goodness, was absolutely displayed; Satan's power in evil over man too;
man's perfectness in love to the Father and obedience to Him; God's
majesty and righteousness against sin, and love to sinners, all He is;
all good and evil perfectly brought to an issue, and that in the place
of sin, that is, in Christ made sin for us. When sin was as such before
His face in the sinless One where it was needed and God perfectly
glorified, and indeed the Son of man too, morally the whole thing was
settled, and we know it: the actual results are not yet produced.
[23]The judgment, which will fall upon the wicked, is not sin. Much
more also is involved in the work and position of Christ, even heavenly
glory with God: but it is not our subject here.
[24]It is of moment to see the difference between verses 26 and 28. Sin
had to be put away abstractedly out of God's sight, and hence He had to
be perfectly glorified in respect of it, in that place where sin was
before Him. Christ was made sin, appeared to abolish it out of God's
sight, "eis athetesis (?) hamartia". Besides this, our sins (guilt)
were in question, and Christ bore them in His own body on the tree. The
sins are borne, and Christ has them no more. They are gone as guilt
before God for ever. The work for the abolition of sin in God's sight
is done, and God owns it as done, having glorified Jesus who has
glorified Him as to it when made sin. So that for God the thing is
settled, and faith recognises this, but the result is not produced. The
work is before God in all its value, but the sin still exists in the
believer and in the world. Faith owns both, knows that in God's sight
it is done, and rests as God does in it but the believer knows that sin
is still, de facto, there and in him: only he has a title to reckon
himself deadto it-that sin in the flesh is condemned, but in the
sacrifice for sin, so that there is none for him. The athetesis (?) is
not accomplished, but what does It is; so that God recognises it, and
so does faith, and stands perfectly clear before God as to sin and
sins. He that is dead (and we are, as having died with Christ) is
justified from sin. Our sins have all been borne. The difficulty partly
arises from " sin " being, used for a particular act, and also
abstractedly. In the word "sins" there is no such ambiguity. A
sacrifice for sin may apply to a particular fault. Sin entered into the
world is another idea. This ambiguity has produced the confusion.
[25]The word " many" has a double bearing here, negative and positive.
It could not be said " all," or all would be saved. On the other hand
the word many generalises the work, so that it is not the Jews only who
are its object.
[26] It is not the same word as to "bore, or thrust through , in Exodus
21 nor as "open" in Isaiah 1. The one (digged) is, to prepare for
obedience, the other would be to bind to it for ever, and to subject to
the obedience when due. Exodus 21 intimates, the blessed truth that,
when He had fulfilled His personal service on earth, He would not
abandon either His assembly or His people. He is ever God, but ever
man, the humbled man, the glorified and reigning man, the subject man,
in the joy of eternal perfection.
[27] As throughout the epistle, the Messiah is the subject. In the
psalm it is the Messiah who speaks, that is, the Anointed here below.
He expresses His patience and faithfulness in the position which He had
taken, addressing Jehovah as his God and He tells us that He took this
place willingly, according to the eternal counsels respecting His own
Person. For the Person is not changed. But He speaks in the psalm
according to the position of obedience which He had taken, saying
always, 'I' and 'me', in speaking of what took place before His
incarnation.
[28]Remark, also, here not only the substitution of the reality for the
ceremonial figures of the law, but the difference of principle. The law
required for righteousness, that man should do the will of God, and
rightly. That was human righteousness. Here Christ undertakes to do it,
and has accomplished it in the offering up of Himself. His so doing the
will of God is the basis of our relationship with God, and it is done,
and we are accepted. As born of God our delight is to do God's will,
but it is in love and newness of nature, not in order to be accepted.
[29]It speaks of this last in the exhortations, chapter 12:14. But in
the doctrine of the epistle, "sanctification" is not used in the
practical sense of what is wrought in us.
[30] The word translated here " for ever " is not the same word that is
used for eternally. It has the sense of continuously without
interruption, "eis" ____ "dienekes". He does not rise up or stand. He
is ever seated, His work being finished. He will indeed rise up at the
end to come and fetch us, and to judge the world, even as this same
passage tells us.
[31] There is a difference in detail here; but it does not affect my
present subject. The High Priest has to do with our access to God; the
Advocate with our communion with the Father and His government of us as
children. The Epistle to the Hebrews treats of the ground of access and
shews us to be perfected for ever; and the priestly intercession does
not apply to sins in that respect. It brings mercy and grace to help in
time of need here, but we are perfected for ever before God. But
communion is necessarily interrupted by the least sin or idle
thought-yea, really had been, practically if not judicially, before the
idle thought was there. Here the advocacy of John comes in: " If any
man sin," and the soul is restored. But there is never imputation to
the believer.
[32] Indeed all that are spared for the world to come. Their state is
expressed in the end of Revelation 7, as that of the Jews in the first
verses of chapter 14.
[33]In general we may say that verses 8-22 are faith resting assured on
the promise, the patience of faith: verse 23 to the end, faith resting
on God for the activities and difficulties faith leads to, the energy
of faith.
[34]Observe that in these, cases we find the rights of Christ in
resurrection; the judgment of nature, and the blessing of faith,
through grace; the inheritance of all things heavenly and earthly by
Christ; and Israels future return to their own land.
[35] Stand still, says Moses, and see the salvation of Jehovah.
[36] Crossing the Jordan represents the believer being set at liberty,
and intelligently entering by faith into the heavenlies; it is
conscious death and resurrection with Christ. The Red Sea is the power
of redemption by Christ.
[37]It is not insensibility to them, but, when they are felt to be
there, looking from them to Christ. This is the secret of faith. "Be
careful for nothing" need not have been said, if nothing had been there
calculated to awaken care. Abraham considered not his body now dead.
[38] "Father of spirits" is simply in contrast with "fathers of our flesh."
[39] The word here translated "assembly" was that of all the states of
Greece; that of the "firstborn" is the word for the assembly of
citizens of any particular state.
[40] It is only spoken of in chapter 8:34, and an allusion in chapter 10:6.
[41]The word "everlasting" is specific, in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
in contrast with a system which was passing away. It speaks of eternal
redemption, eternal inheritance, the eternal Spirit even.