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EXPOSITORY LECTURES
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
EXPOSITORY LECTURES
ON
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
By REV. A. SAPHIR, B.A.
First Series, Chapters i. to vii., crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 6d.
" Singularly independent in his line of thinking, and unconventional in his way of expressing his thoughts, the author has succeeded in throwing much and varied light upon the high argument of the apostle. The book is a rare outcome of sanc- tified genius. Readers of it will mark many a favourite passage as they pass along, and return to dwell on it."— Daily Review.
EXPOSITORY LECTURES
ON
THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
SECOND SERIES.
CHAPTERS VIII.-XIII.
ADOLPH SAPHIR,
AUTHOR OF
LECTURES ON THE LOKd'S PRAYER," " CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES,
ETC. ETC.
LONDON: JOHN F. SHAW AND CO.;
48, PATERNOSTER ROW.
nPHE more urgent duties of the ministry have obliged me to delay the publication of this volume, which appears a few months later than was promised. My aim has been not so much to enter Into a minute analysis of the text, as to reproduce the argument, and to help the reader to enter Into the spirit and tone of the epistle.
This portion of Scripture bears very forcibly on many questions of the day ; but my desire was rather to dwell on the positive and unchanging doctrines of revelation, believing that the only real preservative against error Is the spiritual per- ception and enjoyment of the truth as It Is In Jesus. Though conscious of Its numerous faults and imperfections, I commend the book to the divine blessing, and to the Indulgent kindness of the reader. A. S.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, NoTTiNG Hill, W.,
December, 1875.
CONTENTS.
LECTURE I. ' Page
THE CROWNING POINT : CHRIST THE HIGH PRIEST IN HEAVEN . I
LECTURE IL THE TRUE TABERNACLE . . . . . -31
LECTURE in. THE BLESSINGS OF THE NEW COVENANT . . . . 55
LECTURE IV. WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH . , . . - 1^
LECTURE V. THE FIRST TABERNACLE ...... lOO
LECTURE VL CHRIST ENTERED IN BY HIS OWN BLOOD .... 123
LECTURE Vn. THE MEDIATOR OF THE NEW TESTAMENT . . . I48
LECTURE VIIL
"lo, I come" . . . . . . .167
LECTURE IX.
"according to the good pleasure of HIS will" . . 186
LECTURE X. OUR PERFECTION ....... 204
LECTURE XI. FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE ...... 2I9
vlii Contents.
LECTURE XII. Page
WARNING AGAINST APOSTASY ..... 237
LECTURE XIII. FAITH AND THINGS HOPED FOR AND UNSEEN . . .257
LECTURE XIV. FAITH IN GOD THE CREATOR ..... 273
LECTURE XV. ABEL, ENOCH, NOAH ...... 289
LECTURE XVI. THE PATRIARCHS ....... 3O4
LECTURE XVII. MOSES . - . . . . . . . 321
LECTURE XVIII. FROM THE JUDGES TO THE MACCABEES : THE BETTER THING
FORESEEN FOR US ..... . 337
LECTURE XIX. THE EXEMPLAR OF FAITH ...... 352
LECTURE XX. "WHOM THE LORD LOVETH HE CHASTENETH " . . -371
LECTURE XXI. PEACE AND HOLINESS ...... 388
LECTURE XXII. MOUNT SINAI AND MOUNT ZION ..... 405
LECTURE XXIII.
EXHORTATIONS AND BENEDICTIONS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL . 423
LECTURE XXIV. EXHORTATIONS AND BENEDICTIONS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL —
CONTINUED ....... 439
THOUGHTS ON THE QUESTION : WHO WROTE THE EPISTLE TO THE
HEBREWS? . . . . . . .451
EXPOSITORY LECTURES
ON THE
EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
LECTURE I.
THE CROWNING POINT: CHRIST THE HIGH PRIEST IN HEAVEN.
Hebrews viii. i.
JESUS is our High Priest in heaven. This is the crowning-point in which all the previous teaching of our epistle culminates. It is the sum- mary of the apostle's preceding argument, in the sense that it is the highest and central-point to- wards which his exposition had constantly tended, and in which all the truths which he had deduced from Scripture are manifested in the clearest and most convincing light. "We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens."
This crowning-point may be perceived already in the very commencement of the epistle ; for there the apostle declares, that God has spoken
II. B
2 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
to us in His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also He made the worlds ; and that Jesus, after having by Himself purged our sins, took His position, according to the pro- phetic word, at the right hand of God, where He is now in royal power and dignity. If as Son Jesus is at the right hand of God, then it follows of necessity that the whole dispensation connected with the priesthood of Aaron and the first sanc- tuary has vanished, and that, no longer on earth, but in the Holy of Holies is now the true and eternal High Priest, the Minister of the new and better covenant. Here is the solution of all the difficulties which perplexed the Hebrews ; here the only safety and consolation amidst the persecutions and temptations which pressed sorely upon them living in the midst of the Jews, who were still cleaving to that which was vanishing away.
The Lord Jesus is our High Priest in heaven. These simple but majestic and weighty words sum up the teaching of the first eight chapters of our epistle. This is the crowning-point of the apostle's profound and massive argument, Jesus, who suffered and died, is consecrated the priest for ever after the order of Melchlsedec, after the power of an endless life. He is the minister of the heavenly sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. The apostle seems to a superficial reader to inter- rupt frequently the thread of his argument, when
VI 11.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 3
out of the abundant love, sorrow, and solicitude of his heart he addresses solemn warnings and exhor- tations to the Hebrews, but he never for a single moment loses sight of that luminous centre of doctrine and consolation, Christ, the Priest in heaven ; his constant aim is to direct the minds and the hearts of the Hebrews to that perfection which in the glorified Saviour is given to all believers. In the very first verses he sounds the key-note, describing Jesus as the Son, and de- claring His royal priesthood. The eternal glory of the Son, His divine power in creation. His central position in the future Inheritance, His supremacy over the angels, His session at the right hand of God — all these great truths are brought before us, to show how perfect Is the royal priesthood of Him who is on the throne. His true and real humanity, the mystery of His Incarnation, is brought before us in the second chapter and for the same purpose ; He was made like unto His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest. When in the third chapter the Lord Jesus is contrasted with Moses, it is to show that Jesus, the High Priest, is the perfect Mediator, that He, the Son, Is greater than Moses, the servant. Our responsi- bility is Indeed greater than that of Israel in the wilderness, yet while it becomes us In our earthly pilgrimage to take heed, to fear, and to labour in
4 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
order to enter into rest, and while the Word of God is given unto us, that it may judge and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, we have more abundant reason to hold fast our profession, beholding Jesus, the great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, boldly we draw near to the throne of grace, for He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (Chap, iv.) And after showing how Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of priesthood, being chosen from among men and called of God, and how in the garden of Gethse- mane He entered into the lowest depth of human weakness and obtained the victory in the severest test of faith, he reminds the Hebrews that Jesus, being made perfect, both by the obedience which He learned by the things He suffered, and by His resurrection and ascension, was addressed by God an Hieh Priest after the order of Melchisedec. (Chap. V.) Thus he has reached the long-desired and much-loved summit, but before he describes the glorious sanctuary, which opens here to our view his heart fails him by reason of the weak and infantine condition into which the Hebrews had lapsed, and by a most solemn and piercing, yet affectionate exhortation, he entreats them to go on unto perfection, that Is unto that which is within the veil, to behold Him who by His death became the High Priest after the order of Mel- chisedec.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Heb7'ews. 5
What Is implied in this mysterious and com- prehensive word, uttered by David when he was in the Spirit, and uttered by him as the solemn declaration and oath of the Most High, is explained in chapter vii. and again in this chapter, in con- nection with the new and everlasting covenant in which we stand. For if the priesthood is changed, there is of necessity also a change of the dis- pensation. And this according to God's counsel. For even Jeremiah, six centuries before the advent of our Lord, had announced that the Lord would make a new covenant with the house of Judah and Israel. The High Priest is in heaven, the covenant is new and eternal, and therefore the sanctuary must likewise be in heaven. And to this latter point our attention is now turned. The old dispensation had a priesthood and an earthly tabernacle. The new dispensation has a high priest and a heavenly sanctuary, and the worship of believers — all of whom are priests — is in spirit and in substance, that is, in heaven itself, in the holy of holies.
In no other portion of the new covenant Scrip- tures is the High Priesthood of the Lord Jesus explained. Hence in this precious and most essential epistle, more than in any other book, stress is laid upon the ascension rather than the resurrection, and upon the fact that Jesus is in
6 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
heaven. In the book of Revelation also (between which and our epistle are many interesting and instructive points of resemblance and connection) heaven is brought before us ; but there it is in connection with the royal dignity and power of our glorified Redeemer. There we behold Jesus, the Lamb that was slain, in the midst of the throne. From Him proceed all the manifesta- tions of the Creator -power and government of God ; and all the developments of history, as well as its ultimate consummation, are represented as having their central source in the Son of God, who died once, and who liveth now for evermore. But in our epistle heaven is viewed as the sanc- tuary, w^here the High Priest intercedes for us, and whence He bestows upon us all the benedic- tions of the new covenant in virtue of the blood, by which He entered into the holy of holies.
It has been noticed by attentive readers of the Scriptures that in this epistle, concerning whose authorship there is much difficulty, the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus is not brought for- ward prominently, as it is in all Pauline epistles. This remark is perfectly correct, and of great importance. Let me remind you that in all the epistles of the apostle Paul, as well as in most apostolic epistles, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead holds a very prominent position. In this epistle it is mentioned but once, in that beau-
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 7
tiful passage where the apostle speaks of the God of peace who brought again (or rather brought up, i.e. to heaven, di/ayaya>i/) from the grave the great Shepherd of the flock. And here also the reference to the resurrection is more, as leading to the ascension and consummation of His exal- tation. In all other epistles, where the apostle speaks of man's justification, of man's renewal, and of the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is not the ascension but the resurrection which is represented as the great crisis, and as the founda- tion. He, who was delivered for our offences, was raised again for our justification. If we believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from dead, we shall be saved. Thus Paul teaches in his epistle *to the Romans. " Now is Christ risen from the dead," is his triumphant exclamation in his epistle to the Corinthians, and therefore our faith is not vain, and we are no longer in our sins. Together with Christ — thus he explains to the Ephesians other aspects of this central truth, we, who were dead in trespasses and sins, were quickened, and as the first-born from the dead, Christ is the Head of the Church, is the teaching of the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. * How important is the place assigned in them to the resurrection of our Lord in connection with the new life of
* Rom. iv. 25; X. 9; I Cor. xv. ; Eph. i. 20; Eph. ii. ; Col. i. 18; Phil. iii. 10,
8 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
the believer. As risen with Christ, he Is to seek the things that are above, and In the description of the apostle's spiritual experience, we find that his great and constant desire was to know "the power of Christ's resurrection."
The question naturally arises : '* Why Is it that In the Epistle to the Hebrews the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is comparatively put Into the background, and all the emphasis is laid upon the ascension .^ "
The answer is simple. The object of the Epistle to the Hebrews was to comfort and also to exhort the Jews, whose faith was sorely tried because they were excluded from the services of the temple In Jerusalem ; to confirm unto them the great truth, that they had the reality and the substance of those things which were only tem- porary and signs, and that the real sanctuary was not upon earth but high In the heavens, and that Jesus had gone to be the minister of the holy things, and of the true or substantial tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. Hence all the emphasis must be laid upon this, that Jesus, the Son of God, in human nature, by virtue of the blood which- was shed upon Golgotha, has entered above all heavens into the real and true heaven, and on the throne of God, according to the prediction of the iioth Psalm, Is a priest now after the order of Melchisedec.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Heb7^ews. 9
But in order to understand more fully what is meant by heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ is now exercising the office of High Priest, let us see with what great clearness the doctrine of the ascension of the Lord Jesus is brought for- ward throughout the whole of the new covenant Scriptures.
Before the incarnation, the true sanctuary was not yet made manifest ; but when the Word of God was made flesh He tabernacled in the midst of us, and we beheld the glory of the Only-be- gotten. Israel was taught that God, who made the heavens and the earth, was omnipresent, and yet combined with this spiritual conception of the omnipresence of God was the revelation of a heavenly sanctuary, of an eternal throne, of a special locality, in which the presence and the glory of God were manifested, unto which the prayers and offerings of His people ascend, and from which divine blessings and powers descend.'"' With the advent of the Son of God commenced the full manifestation of heaven. At His birth the angels sang. Glory to God in the highest; for the incarnation of Jesus was the unfolding and the accomplishment of that eternal counsel, in which the glory of God shines forth most brightly. The announcement of Jesus to the first disci- ples, whom He gathered, was : From henceforth
* Compare next Lecture.
lo The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
shall ye see the heavens opened. The kingdom of heaven is come, was the declaration of the Prophet of Galilee. He speaks of the kingdom of heaven and the reward in heaven to the poor in spirit, unto whom He unfolds the blessedness and the character of His kino-dom and riorhteous-
o o
ness. And in that solemn and decisive moment, in which Jesus, the Son of God, the heavenly- High Priest, is brought before the representative of the Aaronic priesthood and the old Levitical dispensation. His testimony is, " From henceforth shall ye see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power."
Now let us look upon the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ as it is narrated or testified in the Gospels.
I begin with the gospel in which the ascension, as an actual event, is not mentioned — the Gospel of John. The apostle, who dwells so emphatically on the divinity of the Lord Jesus, gives us no account of the ascension. Though not narrated, however, it is frequently alluded to ; as in a simi- lar manner the institution of the Lord's Supper is never mentioned by this evangelist, though his gospel is full of references to, and expositions of, that eating and drinking of which the Lord's Supper is the outward representation and blessed seal. Let us collect now the testimony of this gospel concerning the ascension. Jesus says to
yiii.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 1 1
Nathanael, " Ye shall see the heavens open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man," the great Mediator between heaven and earth. He says to Nicodemus, " No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." Jesus here explains, that He had come down from heaven in order to go back again into heaven, to be the source of regeneration and life. Again, in the Saviour's arguments with the Jews, when they are astonished and offended at His words, especially at His declaration that He is the Bread come down from heaven, and that we are to live by Him, the Lord asks, '' Doth this offend you ? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before .'^" ''' Did He not refer to His ascen- sion when He said to the unbelieving Jews, ''Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me : and where I am, thither ye cannot come " 1 1 Or when on that most solemn last night He spoke to His dis- ciples '' plainly " — " I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world : again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father":^ — of His Father's house and its many mansions, of the place He was going to prepare for us, of His return unto glory, and not merely to the apostles, but be- fore them to His heavenly Father. Lastly, what
^ John vi. 62. t John vii. 34, X John xvi. 28.
12 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
fuller announcement of the ascension than His gracious and majestic words to Mary Magdalene : " Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father : but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father ; and to my God, and your God." '■' When we con- sider these passages, which belong to every por- tion of this gospel, from its commencement to its conclusion, which consist of the Saviour's own words, addressed to inquirers, to opponents, to disciples, and to the Father ; when we consider the manner in which the Lord connects in these passages His ascension with His pre-mundane glory, with His eternal relation to the Father, and with His mediatorial work, we feel that al- though the ascension of our Lord is not narrated by the Apostle John, it is taught by him in the most profound, radical, and comprehensive manner.
In the Gospel of Mark, which narrates the in- cidents of the life of Christ in the most terse and graphic style, the ascension of the Lord Jesus is mentioned in one verse, in which everything that is necessary is comprehended ; namely, that He was taken away from the earth, and that He took His position at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
In the Gospel of Luke the ascension is narrated most fully and circumstantially. Both the place —
* John XX. 17.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews, 13
Bethany, the mount of OHves — and the manner of His ascension are mentioned. ''Jesus lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And while He blessed them. He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." The beloved physi- cian, unto whom it was given to write the gospel of the Son of man, thus describes the ascension of our Lord with most instructive and touching detail. In his account we hear the loving voice and see the pierced hands of our blessed Saviour.
In the Gospel of Matthew the ascension is not narrated. It is distinctly implied in Christ's reply to the adjuration of the high priest : " Tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him. Thou hast said : nevertheless I say unto you. Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."''' In this gospel Jesus is chiefly represented as the Messiah, the King of the Jews. The great object is to show that Jesus, though rejected and crucified by His people, is the theocratic Lord ; that the stone re- jected by the builders is the corner-stone. Hence the conclusion, while implying the ascension in the words, '' All power is given unto m.e in heaven and earth," points to the consummation of this age, to the restoration of Israel, and the Messianic reign.
Thus we have the most spiritual and theological
* Matt. xxvi. 63, 64.
14 The Epistle to the Heb7'ews. [chap.
account of the ascension in the Gospel of John ; the most concise and terse statement in the Gospel of Mark ; the most circumstantial and, if I may say so, human description, entering into the affec- tions of our Lord, in the Gospel of the physician Luke ; and a statement of the ascension of Christ, with special reference to His theocratic position as the Messiah and King of the Jews, in the Gospel of Matthew.
Now pass we on to that which is, as it were,
the neck, the connecting-link, between the gospels
and the epistles and Revelation — the Acts of the
.Apostles, written by the evangelist Luke, the
friend and companion of the apostle Paul.
We have in the first chapter of the book of Acts another account of the ascension, and from a different point of view. Let us only bring to the reading of the Scripture a reverential spirit, taking for granted that the men that wrote it, even apart from the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, were men who approached their high task with the greatest solemnity and concentration of mind, whose every expression in the description of the grand events they narrate was based upon deep thought, and who always kept a specific and im- portant purpose in view.
In the book of Acts the evangelist Luke wishes to describe to us how the root of that tree that was now to be developed was not on earth, but in
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 15
heaven. Therefore he shows unto us how, when Jesus parted with His disciples, they asked Him, '' Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel ?" It is not, as it is generally explained, a question of ignorance, or a question of prejudice, but a question of true spiritual insight into the Word of God. They had been taught by our blessed Saviour after His resurrection that it was from not understanding the whole Scripture that they expected the glory of the Messiah to be revealed without or before His sufferings. It was impossible for Christ to enter into glory, unless first He died upon the cross. But now that He had died, that He had offered the sacrifice, and that His glorified humanity had come forth from the grave, what hindered Him to establish the king- dom of Israel ? Why should not now the prophe- cies be immediately fulfilled ? If the apostles had asked Jesus the question before His crucifixion, "Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel.-^" the Lord Jesus would have told them, that now it behoved Him to suffer. But now that He had suffered the question of the disciples was a perfectly correct one ; nor does Jesus in any way contradict them, but His answer confirms the kingdom. He only tells them that it is delayed, it is postponed : there is a new development. The river has taken a new turn unforeseen by Israel.
1 6 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
Now Is the time of the Church, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles in one body. Its charac- teristic Is not rule, but testimony ; not power, but suffering ; not Israel as a nation, and other nations, converted as such; but from among Israel and all the nations a peculiar people, unacknow- ledged and unloved by the world, witnesses who are to wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus from heaven. It is In the Acts, and not in the Gospel of Luke, where it would not be in accord- ance with the scope of the whole book, that the ascension is related from this point of view. Jesus is King of Israel. He is not forgetting the earth, or the promises, which God had given to the fathers, of which He is the minister unto the circumcision. But In the meanwhile the apostles must be witnesses in Judaea, and in Galilee, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost ends of the earth. And finally, this Jesus shall so come in like man- ner, the angels declare, as ye have seen Him go up into heaven.
The first chapter having thus explained the relation of the ascended Lord to Israel, and the earthly promise, and the nature of the intermediate Church dispensation, which does not set aside or take the position of a substitute of the earthly promise of the Christocracy, the rest of the book narrates the acts, not so much of the apostles, as of the Lord Jesus, the glorified Head of the
vni.] The Epistle to the Hebrews, 17
Church. It is to the ascended Lord that Peter attributes the gift of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. It is of Jesus in heaven, and of His return thence to fulfil the promises spoken of by all God's holy prophets since the world began (for Enoch, the seventh from Adam, spoke of the coming of the Lord with His saints), that the apostle of the circumcision testifies, after the first miracle in Jerusalem. It is to the ascended Lord Jesus that the prayer of the proto-martyr is directed. The ascended Jesus appears unto Saul of Tarsus, and calls him to be His disciple and His apostle to the Gentiles. The Lord from heaven appears throughout this book as the Head and Ruler of the Church ; He guides and blesses His messengers ; He opens the heart of Lydia ; He comforts and encourages the fainting heart of the apostle Paul in Corinth ; His hand is with the evangelists, so that many believe. '"'" The whole life, strength, and victory of the Church are derived from Jesus, seated at the right hand of God, who is in this book called emphatically Lord. Let us glance now at the Pauline Epistles. In the teaching of this apostle we naturally expect that the ascension should hold a prominent position; for it was as the ascended Lord of glory that Jesus first appeared unto him, and thus we find in all his epistles the triumphant conclusion, the glorious
* Chap. ii. 33 ; iii. 20 ; vii. 56 ; ix. 5 ; xvi. 14, &c. II. C
1 8 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
consummation, of Christ's life and work on earth. He who was God manifest in the flesh was after His death "received up into glory."*
In the Epistle to the Philippians we can see more clearly and fully than in any other portion of Scripture the peculiarity of the apostle's inward life. There is no more vivid and accurate portrait of his spiritual individuality. In other epistles we learn more of his conflicts both before and after his conversion (Romans and Corinthians) ; here the features of his spiritual countenance are, as it were, in repose, and we behold them in their most real and their most beautiful and placid character. And throughout this epistle we see that Christ in heaven was the apostle's constant thought, strength, joy, and aim. His experience was different from that of the twelve disciples. In their case there was gradual development. They knew Jesus of Nazareth as their Master and Teacher, as the Prophet of Galilee, as their Friend. Even after recognizing in Him the Messiah, they did not understand the mystery of His sufferings. After three years' discipleship Philip asked, " Show us the Father." The risen Jesus taught them the whole counsel of God, and at Pentecost they entered into the full enjoyment of light. Not so with Paul. Jesus, the Lord from heaven, appeared unto him, and beholding Him, he
* I Tim. iii. i6.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 19
entered into a new region, a new life. Here he beheld God's righteousness ; here he beheld per- fection In glory ; here he beheld the source of life and strength ; here he beheld joy, which no circumstances could cloud, and the hope of the consummation of blessedness. What Is earth now to him ? What his former righteousness and all the national distinctions In which he used to trust ? What are all things compared with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus ?*
" To me to live Is Christ," " Rejoice In the Lord.'' I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." '' Our citizenship is In heaven, from whence we look for the Lord." *' Christ In heaven," this Is his aim and hope ; to be like Him, even in His glorious body, this Is the per- fection, heavenly In its character, for which at the return of the Lord he awaits In hope.
In the Epistle to the Romans, and In kindred epistles, the object of the apostle Paul is to lead the sinner to God. He begins with man in his present condition. He shows the depth of the fall, the guilt of sin, the helplessness of the flesh ; then the propitiation that was made by Christ, the death of the Lord Jesus, the resurrec- tion, and the consequent gift of the Holy Ghost. He goes from earth upwards. Such Is not the method of the apostle John. He always goes ^ Phil. iii.
20 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
from heaven earthwards. He begins with God — the Hfe that was with God from the beginning", the Word that was with God, and is now mani- fested to us. The apostle Paul begins with man, Jew or Gentile — the sinner guilty and condemned, dead and helpless. Now from this point of view the death and resurrection of Christ must needs form the centre. There all lines meet, as in the central nextis. Yet the end must always be Christ enthroned in heaven — Christ at the right hand of God. Thus, in answer to the question, " Who is he that condemneth V his answer culminates in the heavenly exaltation of our Lord. '' It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."*
In the Epistles to the Corinthians the apostle's testimony is of Christ, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, and he brings before us the glorious hope, " As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." t He describes the attitude of the believer, living in the spirit and liberty of the New Testament, as with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord ; for the Lord Christ, exalted in heaven. Is that SpIrit.J
Look again at his experimental and prophetic
■^ Rom. viii. 34. Compare also the expression, "Who is over all" (ix. 5) ; and the striking passage, Rom. x. 6.
t I Cor. XV. 48. % 2 Cor. iii.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews, 21
epistles. We have already referred to the Epistle to the Philippians, as a comment on the words : ''Our citizenship is in heaven."* To the Thes- salonians he writes more fully about our waiting for the Son of God from heaven, and of the de- scent of the Lord Himself to gather His saints.f In his Epistles to Timothy he concludes his ex- ulting and rhythmical summary of Christian truth, " Received into glory," the first link of the golden chain being God manifest in the flesh. \
Again, in the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, which we may call Christological, re- ferring chiefly to the person of Christ, the ascen- sion of the Lord holds a very prominent position. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, although Christ is not spoken of as High Priest, yet His exalta- tion at the right hand of God is represented in the same manner as in our epistle. From the very outset the apostle speaks of all spiritual blessings as in heavenly places in Christ, and of the Lord as exalted by the Father far above all princi- pality and power, and might, and dominion at His own right hand in the heavenlies, in order to be the head over all things to the Church. In like manner he connects in the fourth chapter Christ's rule over, union with, and gifts to the Church, with His ascension ''far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." As in the Hebrews,
* Phil. iiL 20. t I Thess. i. and iv. X i Tim. iii. i6.
2 2 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
Christ as High Priest is shown to be in heaven, so here Christ, the Head and Bridegroom of the Church, the Centre and Heir of all things. The Epistle to the Colossians contains the same teach- ing, and with some new aspects and applications. Here the apostle connects the pre-eminence of Christ, as the first-begotten of the dead and as the Head of the Church, with His eternal glory as the Word by whom all things were made. He shows that being risen and exalted with Christ we have been transplanted out of the region of law and earthly elements (touch not, taste not, handle not), out of the region of shadows and types, into the liberty and substance of heavenly realities; hence His exhortation, "Seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God."* How very striking and close the resemblance is here with the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Thus we find in all (the other) Pauline writings the same importance attached to the culminating part of Christ's first advent — His ascension into heaven, t
* Compare Col. i. 15 with Heb. i. 1-3.
t Peter, who was an eye-witness of the ascension (as he was likewise one of the three favoured disciples who were with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, and thus saw the Son of man coming in His kingdom ; compare Matt. xvi. 28 with 2 Peter i 16), declared with joyous emphasis the heavenly exaltation and power of the Lord both in his addresses to the Jews (Acts passim), and in his epistles. " He is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebi^ews. 23
It is because the Son of man, who came down from heaven, hath ascended up into heaven, it is because Jesus is at the right hand of God, that He is the true and perfect mediator between God and man. Him we in common with all believers invoke. Him we adore as Lord; to Him, as ex- alted by the Father, pertaineth the name above every name, and the homage of the whole crea- ture-world; unto Him, as the Lord in heaven, all celestial and earthly power is given, and all angelic orders are obedient to His command. From His throne in heaven He gives repentance and the remission of sins ; from thence He gives unto His Church all needful gifts, even as He at first sent forth the Holy Ghost, because He had been exalted by the right hand of God. From heaven He shall descend and gather His saints, changing their vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like unto His glorious body ; from heaven He worketh now, and will work, until He hath subdued all things unto Himself.
Christ in heaven — this sums up all our faith.
Here is our righteousness, and our standing before God ; here our storehouse of inexhaust- ible blessings, and of unsearchable riches ; here
God ; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him." " God raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory." (i Peter iii. 22 ; i 21.)
The book of Revelation is from beginning to end a testimony of the ascended Lord.
24 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
our armoury, whence we obtain the weapons of our warfare ; here is our citizenship, and the hope of our glory.
What is meant by the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens ? In the first chapter the apostle had used the similar expres- sion, "the right hand of the Majesty," and with evident reference to the prophecy of the iioth Psalm. The expression does not denote the omnipresence of God ; as the creed correctly and significantly says, " SItteth at the right hand of the Y^^xki^x Almighty I' Jesus is now on the throne of omnipotence. He ascended into the eternal, highest, and uncreated heaven. The term denotes the rank of equality which our Lord takes in His glory. He has entered into the participation of the sovereign authority.
The right hand is the place of affection, as well as of honour and dignity." Christ is on the right hand of the Father, being His beloved Son, in whom He manifests His glory. The right hand is also the symbol of sovereign power and rule. Christ is Lord over all.
Great is the mystery of the Incarnation — the
* So we are told in the 45th Psalm that the bride is to stand at the right hand of the King. As the apostle explains in the epistle to the Corinthians, in accordance with this, the husband is the head of the woman ; Christ is the head of the Church ; God is the head of Christ. The husband is the head of the wife ; God is the head of Christ. The wife is the glory of the husband; Christ is the glory of God.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 25
Son of God in human nature, both before and after His exaltation. It was not the human nature of Christ that suffered upon the cross, but the Son of God in human nature. It is not the human nature that is glorified at the right hand of the Father ; but the Son of God in human nature, who humbled Himself, is now exalted above all heavens. Unto Him all power is given ; the government of all things is upon His shoulder; Jesus rules now. In the book of Revelation His royal dignity is unveiled. There we behold the First-begotten of the dead possessing the keys of hell and of death ; the Lamb, who alone can open the book ; the Governor, the Lord ; who overrules and directs all events ; who controls all storms and tempests, and unto whose kingdom all developments of history, and all conflicts and movements among angels and among the nations on earth must serve ; who shall finally be revealed, acknowledged, and obeyed as King of kings, and Lord of lords. The royal aspect of the word, '' Sit thou at my right hand," is explained in the Apocalypse, where we behold the Lamb in the midst of the throne ; in our epistle, the priestly aspect of the word is unfolded.
Heaven being the locality of Christ's priest- hood, it must needs be perfect, eternal, spiritual, and substantial. What are the things in which Christ is now occupied as a priest ? In one respect
26 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
He rests, because He finished His work upon the earth, and therefore He is described as sitting down on His Father's throne; His is now the perfect and peaceful rest of victory, for He has overcome. But, on the other hand. His is now a constant priestly activity. Every single indi- vidual that is brought unto God, is brought through His intercession ; and day by day Christ is occupied with all His children who are upon earth, bestowing upon them the benefits which He has purchased with His blood, sustaining their spiritual life, and overruling all things for their good.
If Christ is in heaven, we must lift up our eyes and hearts to heaven. There are things above. The things above are the spiritual blessings in heavenly places. * " Seek those things which are above ;"t faith and love, hope and patience, meek- ness, righteousness, and strength. The things above are also the future things for which we wait, seeing that our inheritance is not here upon earth. All that is pertaining unto the inheritance " incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away," belongs unto those things which Christ has now to minister in the tabernacle which God has made, and not man. \ Our transfigured body, our perfectly enlightened mind, our soul entirely filled
■* Eph. i. 3. t Col. iii. i. X Compare i Peter i.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 27
with the love of God, all the strength and gifts for government (for we shall be called to reign with Christ upon the earth), all those powers and blessings which we have now only by faith and in germ, are in the heavenly places with Christ, who shall bring them to us when He comes again at the command of the Father.
Let us pause here to examine the character of our faith and of our walk in the light of this truth. Our High Priest is in Heaven. The New Covenant Scripture explains to us that there are two kingdoms, two realms, two atmospheres or methods of life. The one shall pass away, and the other shall remain for ever. The one is the world and the earth in its present condition ; the other is heavenly, and shall abide for evermore. The one belongs to the first creation, and the power of sin and death ; the other belongs to the second creation, to the power of redemption and life through righteousness. To believe is to see the things which are unseen and eternal. It is to behold the land that is afar off, and to take possession of it.^'* It is to enter into the kingdom t prepared for us from the foundation of the world, existing at present, and ready to be manifested at the appearing of our Lord. It is to cherish the lively, animating, and purifying hope of the in-
* " Faith is the discovery and conquest of a new country." — J. MiJLLER. t Matt. XXV. 34.
28 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
herltance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, even the heavenly kingdom.'"' It is to be trans- planted into this unseen and yet most real world of blessing and of power. It is to mind no longer earthly things,! and to have the affections set upon the things above. It is to be intrusted with the true riches. J Such is the nature of faith. § It is to prefer spiritual things to carnal ; eternal things to temporal ; real things to things which are mere shadows.
" Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth ; but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven." Hence, the whole aim and purpose of our ex- istence here below, all our endeavour, all our works, all our diligence, ought to be given to this one thing, the kingdom of God, which remains for ever. So, while we are occupied with earthly duties, our great object should always be to lay up treasure for ourselves in heaven ; to have our affections set upon the things which are above, that thus we may learn Christ in the occupa- tions and discipline of our present life ; to be filled with the mind which was in Christ Jesus, who humbled Himself, and obeyed the Father in love ; to be heavenly-minded, as they who have a lively
* I Peter i. 4 ; Col. i. 12 ; 2 Tim. iv. 18. t ra eirLyeia ^popovyres. (Phil. iii. 1 9.)
X kx-neivbv. (Luke xvi. 11.) § Heb. xi. I ; 2 Cor. iv. 18.
vrii.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 29
hope, and whose citizenship is in heaven. Such is the Christian Hfe — other-worldly, heavenly.
A spurious or superficial conversion dwells rather on the peace of God than on the God of peace, contemplates the cross of Christ and not the Christ of the cross, rejoices prematurely in deliverance from punishment, instead of cleaving in repentance and faith to Jesus, who delivers us from this present evil world, and raises us unto newness of life ; heavenly in its character and hope. Wretched and fatal self-deception, to imagine that after a worldly, selfish, self-centred life upon earth we shall be transplanted into the kingdom of glory, into a blessedness of which we have had no foretaste, into an inheritance of which we have received no earnest in the gift of the indwelling Spirit. Jesus, who died on the cross, is now in heaven; it is only from heaven that the blessings of redemption, forgiveness, and the eternal love of God, are now bestowed by Him ; He never delivers from the wrath to come without drawing us unto Himself, without separa- ting us by His cross from the dominion of sin and the tyranny of self, without sending into our hearts the Spirit, as the Spirit of life. If our life is now hid with Christ in God, then, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also shall appear with Him in glory. Our citizenship is in heaven, and Jesus, whom we now love and serve, will come to receive us unto Himself.
30 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [vm.
From the lowest depth of sin and guilt, of weakness and fear, look up to heaven, and behold there the great High Priest. It is because He finished the transgression, and made an end of sins, and made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness, that Jesus is on the throne of God. Behold in Him the forgiveness of sin, righteousness everlasting, per- fect access to the Father, the fountain of renewing grace, of upholding strength, and of endless bless- edness. Only believe ! Our works and merit are of no avail. Into this height none can ascend. Jesus, who went to the Father, is the way. Faith beholds the great High Priest who died for sin- ners on the cross, and who as the sinner's right- eousness is now before God ; faith beholds Jesus at the right hand of the Majesty on high ; and faith can rest, and worship, and say, '' The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is my God and my Father."
LECTURE II.
THE TRUE TABERNACLE. Hebrews viii. i, 2.
T T Is the locality where the great High Priest ^ now exercises His functions which the apostle emphasizes. Here the contrast is not so much that of law and gospel, of grace and works, as in other epistles ; the contrast is between the earthly and temporary and the heavenly and eternal. In spirit and reality, the Levitical dispensation ter- minated when the veil of the temple was rent in twain ; actually and in outward appearance, it continued till the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple declared unto all the world that the times of the old dispensation had come to an end. While the temple was still in existence, it was difficult for the Hebrews to understand the heavenly character of their calling and worship. It seemed to them that faith in the Messiah ex- cluded them from the blessings and privileges of Messiah's nation. Levitical services in the earthly sanctuary still continued. Where was the place of believing Hebrews ? The apostle shows that
32 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
Jesus Is High Priest In heaven, and that therefore ours is a heavenly sanctuary, where all Is substance, and possessed of an eternal vitality and glory.
All this Is Implied in the fundamental fact that Jesus Is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord said of Peter's confession that on this rock the church is built ; but even Peter did not fully understand for some time the truths which necessarily follow from faith in the Christ, the Son of God. The Priesthood of the Son must needs be heavenly and eternal. It cannot be connected with the old covenant ; but it is inseparably con- nected with the new, in which divine love and life are truly bestowed through the righteousness of grace, and in which forgiven and renewed sinners worship the Father in spirit and in truth. It must break down the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile ; for through the exalted Saviour the Spirit is given, by whom both have the same access to the Father. Hence the apostle returns at the end of the seventh chapter to the key-note struck at first — Jesus the Son.
If our High Priest Is Jesus, God and man in one person, the only mediator, the sanctuary in which we worship is above. He is the minister'" of the true tabernade, which the Lord pitched, and not
^ \€iTovpybs — compare Isa. Ixi. 6 ; Jer. xxxiii. 21 ; Neh. x. 40 — an expression used for the service of the priests in the sanctuary, especially as connected with the sacrifices and offerings.
viii.i The Epistle to the Hebrews. 33
man. This tabernacle is contrasted with the taber- nacle in the wilderness. It is ''true," in the sense in which Jesus says, " I am the true vine ; that is, the real and substantial vine, of which the outward and visible vines are merely emblems.
In the second place, this tabernacle was made, not with hands, and not through the mediation of human beings, as was the tabernacle in the wilder- ness ; but it was made by God Himself. And, in the third place, this tabernacle is not a tent in the wilderness, but it is an abiding place in the hea- venlies, there to be for ever.
The tabernacle is one of the most important and instructive types. Here is such a variety of truths, here is such a fulness and manifoldness of spiritual teaching, that our great difficulty is to combine all the various lessons and aspects which it presents.
Now, the tabernacle has no fewer than three meanings.
In the first place, the tabernacle is a type, a visible illustration, of that heavenly place in which God has His dwelling. In the second place, the tabernacle is a type of Jesus Christ, who is the meeting-place between God and man. And, in the third place, the tabernacle is a type of Christ in the Church — of the communion of Jesus with all believers.*
* The analogy between the tabernacle and man, or rather the II. D
34 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
Moses, when he went up into the mount, after the glory of the Lord had appeared unto him and unto the elders, received from God a wonderful
individual believer, has struck Luther. He calls the outer court the body, the holy place the soul, and the most holy the spirit. As the passage is in itself interesting and instructive, I add a translation. Speaking of the Magjiificat (Luke i. 46), Luther says : " Scripture divides man into three parts, as the apostle writes (i Thess. v. 23), ' The God of peace sanctify you wholly ; that your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved unblameable.' And each of these three, as well as the whole man, is divided in another manner into two, spirit and flesh, which is a division, not of human nature, but of its condition. That is, each of the three may be either good or bad, spiritual or carnal, of which subject we do not treat here. The spirit is the highest and noblest in man, whereby he is able to grasp incomprehensible, invisible, eternal things ; and it is, in short, the dwelling-place of faith, and of God's word, of which David speaks (Ps, li. 12), put into my inmost being a right spirit. (Compare Ps. Ixxviii. 37.) The second is the soul ; that is, the same spirit accord- ing to its natural aspect, in so far as it animates the body, and is often called in scripture life ; for the spirit can live without the body, but not the body without the spirit. This soul, we notice, lives and works constantly even in our sleep, and can perceive and under- stand, not spiritual things, but the things of reason ; for reason is the light in this house, and the soul cannot be free from error unless the spirit illumines and rules it with faith or the higher light. . . . The third is the body with its members, the works of which are only exercise and habit, according to the knowledge of the soul, and the faith of the spirit. . . . Now of this I shall show a simili- tude from Scripture. Moses made a tabernacle with three distinct parts. (Exod. xxvi. 33, 34.) The first, satictiwi sanctorum, where God dwelt, and in which there was no light. The second, sanctum, in which stood the candlestick with seven branches. The third was called atrium, or court, that was without, and in the open daylight. Which is a picture of the Christian. His spirit is satictum sanc- torum, God's dwelling-place, in faith without sight ; for he believes what he cannot see, or feel, or comprehend. His soul is sanctum, in which are seven lights, reason, discernment, knowledge, and understanding of outward things. His body is atrium, this is open
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 35
revelation.'" There was shown unto him — in what manner it is impossible for us to conceive — a pattern of the heavenly places ; not the heavenly realities themselves, but he beheld, most likely in a vision, the model of heavenly places, the picture of heavenly realities. And according to that model he was instructed to give the orders in the framing of the tabernacle, and to execute the design ; so that the tabernacle in the wilderness was to be a faithful representation of what he had seen, as far as it is possible to represent heavenly and spiritual realities by outward and visible things. Surely when God showed unto Moses the pattern of heavenly things. He showed unto him also the great m'ystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, by whom there would be brought about not merely a reconciliation, but also the indwelling of God in the hearts of His people ; and as Abra-
and patent to all, and every one can see what he does, and how he lives." No doubt this analogy is correct. (Compare on the dis- tinction—soul and spirit, i Cor. ii.) What is true of the whole Church, is true of each individual member ; but to find in this the purport of the tabernacle chiefly or exclusively is erroneous and untenable.
^ It is stated four times in the book of Exodus that the taber- nacle was built after the pattern shown in the mount. (Exod. xxv. 9, 40 ; xxvi. 30 ; xxvii. 8.) To this Stephen also alludes. (Acts vii. 44.) In like manner the temple was built according to divine direction, as we read (i Chron. xxviii. 11) that "David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses, . . . and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit." (Compare Heb. ix. 8, where, speaking of the high priest's yearly entrance into the Holy of Holies, it is said, " The Holy Ghost this signifying.")
36 The Epistle to the Hebreivs. [chap.
ham saw the day of Christ, and rejoiced and was glad in it — as Isaiah, when he heard the trisagion of the seraphim, beheld the glory of the Lord, even of the Christ,'"* — so there can be no doubt that, when Moses the man of God was on the mount, there was revealed unto him the mystery of the counsel of God, the incarnation, and the mediatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The tabernacle presented wonderful truths f to Israel. In the sacrifices and ordinances of the tabernacle God declared unto His people the for- giveness of their sins ; He brought them near unto Himself through expiation and mediation ; He healed their diseases and comforted their hearts. But the ultimate object in all this was to reveal Himself, to manifest His divine perfection, to show forth His glory. In all the gifts of pardon, and in all the privileges of approach unto God, the Lord revealed the perfection and manifold glory of Himself. Here Israel beheld the glory of the Redeemer-God. Everywhere the twofold object was accomplished, the need of sinful, guilty, and failing man was supplied, and in this very grace the character and glory of Jehovah was revealed. Thus, as in Christ crucified we possess all we need, and behold all the thoughts and purposes of God,
* John xii.
t Psalm cxix. 18: " Wondrous things." (Compare Lectures V. and VI.)
VIII.] The Epistle to tJie Hebrews, 37
so in the tabernacle the believing Israelite, receiving pardon and help, was taught to exclaim, "Who is a God like unto Thee ? "
The tabernacle was a symbol of God's dwelling. There is a sanctuary, wherein is the especial resi- dence and manifestation of the glorious presence of God. Solomon, although he confesses that the heaven of heavens cannot contain God, yet prays that the Lord may hear in heaven His dwelling- place.* Jeremiah testifies, "A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary."! The visions of Isaiah and of Ezekiel also bring before us the heavens opened and the likeness of a throne, and the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord ; the likeness as the appear- ance of a man above upon the throne, J Of this heavenly locality David speaks, when he asks, Who shall abide in thy tabernacle ^ who shall dwell in thy holy hill?§ In the book of Revelation we receive still further confirmation of this truth. " And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of the covenant ;" and again, '' And after that I looked^ and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened." |J As in the tabernacle there was a distinction between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place, so we read
* 2 Chron. vi. t Jer. xvii. 12. + Ezek. i. 26, 2Sidi passi7n. § Psalm xxiv. 3. |1 Rev. xi. 19 ; xv. 5.
38 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
of the throne of God and of the temple of the Redeemed, of mount Zion and of the heavenly Jerusalem. Almost all expressions which are em- ployed in describing the significance of the taber- nacle, are also used in reference to heaven. As in heaven so in the tabernacle God has His dwell- ing, and manifests His grace and glory. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. His manifesta- tion in the tabernacle is generally called glory. God, the King, has His palace in the midst of His people. His palace is the sanctuary. The throne, from which He issues His royal law and the declaration of His sovereign grace, is between the cherubim, a symbol of the heavenly throne of divine majesty. "The temple of thy holiness" is the name both of the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary. "'
God, who dwells in heaven, and from His heavenly throne dispenses all blessings, manifests Himself on earth and holds communion with His people, and the place or sanctuary chosen for this purpose is a symbol of heaven, and there subsists a real connection between the celestial archetype and the earthly image. When Jacob awoke out of his sleep, in which the Lord appeared unto him, he said, " This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." In the sublime prayer of dedication, Solomon constantly
* Psalm V. 7 ; Habakkuk ii. 20.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 39
expresses the same thought : '* That thine eyes may be open toward this house, even toward tJie place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servants, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place!'
But the tabernacle is, secondly, a type of the Lord Jesus Himself. For it is in Him that God dwells with us ; in Him dwells the fulness of God- head bodily, that we dwelling in Him should have communion with the Father.
See the fulfilment of the type in the first place in the Incarnation. " A body hast thou prepared for me." He was born of the Virgin Mary, con- ceived of the Holy Ghost. God, and not man, built this tabernacle. He dwelt in the midst of us even as the tabernacle was in the midst -of the people. And as that tent, although It was made of materials which were common and earthly, was irradiated and sanctified by the indwelling glory of the Lord, so although He was born of the Virgin Mary, and was in every respect like unto His brethren, and was found in fashion as a man, yet is the humanity of Jesus called that holy thing, for it is the tabernacle in which was beheld the glory of the Only-begotten.
In the second chapter of the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus explains unto us how He is not merely the tabernacle, but the temple that was
40 The Epistle to the Hebrews, cchap.
to endure for ever. This temple had first to be broken, Jesus had to die, but it was to be built again on the third day by His resurrec- tion. This is still more fully explained, when it is said that the veil of the temple was rent in twain. As the apostle teaches us, this refers to the crucifixion of our Lord, the veil of His flesh was then rent. For then heaven was not merely revealed, but the way of access was opened to all sinners who believe in Jesus. Nay, more than this. Jesus Himself went thereby into the holy of holies. And now we behold Him at the right hand of God, the true tabernacle, in which all believers worship, even in the very presence of God, before the throne, which is now a throne of grace.
Thus do we dwell in Him, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead; and thus has the Father brought us into His very presence, even in His Son, in a way which could not be ade- quately symbolized. It was by a gradual develop- ment that Jesus became the true tabernacle. First, by His incarnation. The tabernacle was pitched of God, and not of man. The Holy Ghost came upon the Virgin Mary, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her. Then Jesus, in His holy humanity, in His perfect walk of obedience, in His words and works, manifested the Father: God was with Him ; the Father was in Hhn ; the
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 41
glory of the Only-begotten shone through His body of humiliation. Then, by His death on the cross, the holy place became, as it were, the holy of holies ; the veil being rent, all that separated God from sinners was removed according to righteousness. Then, by His resurrection and ascension, He actually entered in — as our repre- sentative— for us, and, so to say, with us.
It is difficult to combine all the aspects of Christ, who is Sanctuary, Priest, Sacrifice ; but the more we dwell on Him as the One who is all, the more fully are our hearts established. Behold Him, then, as the tabernacle, where all sacred things are laid up. All that was in the taber- nacle is in Him. He is the true Light, the true Bread of the countenance, the true Incense of intercession, with which our prayers and offerings come before God. All spiritual blessings in hea- venly places are in Christ.*
But the tabernacle has yet a third aspect. There God and His people meet. The ark of the covenant was not merely the throne where God manifested Himself in His holiness, but it was also the throne of relationship with His
■^ " All the utensils of holy worship of old, all means of sacred light and purification, were placed and laid up in the tabernacle. And these were all patterns of the heavenly things themselves, which are all laid up in Christ, the true tabernacle. They are all inclosed in Him, and it will be in vain to seek for them else- where."— Owen, Hebrews, vol. iii. p. 666.
42 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
people. In all the offerings and sacrifices God was manifested, just as regards sin, merciful as regards the sinner ; there also God and the sinner met. So throughout the tabernacle there was the manifes- tation of God, in order to bring Israel into com- munion with Himself. In the tabernacle man's fellowship with God was symbolized through manifold mediations, sacrifices, and offerings. But in Jesus we have the perfect and eternal fulfil- ment. In Him God and the sinner meet ; in Him God and the believer dwell and have communion. In and from Jesus we have received the Spirit. God now dwells in His saints by His Spirit, whereby they become an holy temple unto Him. We are builded together in Him (Christ) for an habitation of God through the Spirit. "^^ We are, according to the testimony of another apostle, a spiritual house, in which sacrifices and offerings of thanksgiving and obedience are continually brought unto God. In this chosen Temple God has His rest and His joy. This is the glorious gospel : God in Christ, we in Christ, Christ in us.
Thus we have seen that the tabernacle was a picture of heaven, a type of Christ Jesus, and of Christ Jesus in the saints. And therefore, when Jesus Christ comes again with His saints, it will be said, ''Lo, the tabernacle of God with men." True,
* Eph. ii. 21, 22.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 43
there is a locality where Christ and His saints have their abode. But the glory and substance of that heavenly place is the Lord Jesus, one with the saints. In thinking of the throne of God and of heaven, we must avoid a phantomising hyper-spiritualism, and on the other hand a carnal and materialistic view. Heaven is not a state merely, but a place ; yet in our present condition it is not possible for us to form a conception of that spiritual, sub- stantial, and eternal abode which God has pre- pared for them that love Him. It is sufficient for us to receive the Scripture statements, and to rejoice in the descriptions given- in the prophetic books, and especially in the Apocalypse, of the glorious home, of the beautiful and eternal city, in which the Lamb and His Bride shall dwell. It is enough for us to believe the word of Jesus, so simple and sweet : "In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you."*
* T^TTOJ/. Is it merely figurative language which the apostles use when they speak of the city of the living God, and proclaim what they beheld in the Spirit ? One day John stood on the mount of Olives, and beheld the city of Jerusalem at his feet, while the Lord ascended into the heights above. Again, on the Lord's-day, he was in the Spirit ; an angel led him to a high mountain, and he beheld another Jerusalem descending from heaven. He numbered the gates of this holy city, and measured its walls ; he recognized in the Lamb the temple and the light of the city. All this does not sound hke mere imagery and similitude. Let us not exchange the green pas- tures thus revealed to our eyes for the vague abstraction of a colour- less existence. There is a higher world in the strictest sense of the word ; and into this world, His home, the Saviour returned when He ascended.— Steinmeyer.
44 'rhe Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
It is in heaven, and in heaven only, that the Lord exercises His priesthood. '' For if Jesus were on earth He would not be a priest at all." As our Lord belonged to the tribe of Judah, and not to the tribe of Levi, it would have been impossible for Him to exercise the functions connected with the Aaronic priesthood. How forcible a demonstration to the Jews, who saw the priests of Levi performing their daily office in the temple at Jerusalem. Godly Israelites might even in those days be taught by the image and pattern of heavenly realities ; but those Israelites, who had recognized in Jesus the Messiah, were now to walk in the clear bright- ness of the gospel light, and in the fulness of the day to perceive the temporary and fragmentary character of the Levitical dispensation.
But as with the Jews, so with us all, the great difficulty is, to realise the spiritual and heavenly character of worship. To lift up our eyes and hearts to heaven, to feel the power and the reality of things unseen, to hold communion from the heart, as mans holy of holies, with God Himself in His holy of holies — this is, indeed, the gift and grace of God, and blessed are all whom He chooses and causes to approach.*
* " The glory and worship of the temple was that which the Jews would by no means part withal. They chose rather to reject Christ and the gospel, than to part with the temple, and its outward pompous worship. And it is almost incredible how the vain mind
viiL] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 45
Now of the holy things,* the spiritual and heavenly blessings, and of the true tabernacle, Jesus is the minister or priest. He is ministering before God and towards God on our behalf; He
of man is addicted unto an outward beauty and splendour in religious worship. Take it away, and with the most you destroy all religion itself : as if there were no beauty but in painting, no evidence of health, or vigour of body. The Christians of old suffered in nothing more from the prejudice of the whole world, Jews and Gentiles, than in this, that they had a religion without temples, altars, images, or any solemnity of worship. And in latter ages men ceased not, until they had brought into Chris- tianity itself a worship vying for external order, ceremony, pomp, and painting, with whatever was in the tabernacle or temple of old, coming short of it principally in this, that that was of God's institution for a time, this of the invention of weak, superstitious, and foolish men. Thus is it in the church of Rome. And a hard thing it is to raise the minds of men, unto a satisfaction in things merely spiritual and heavenly. They suppose they cannot make a worse change, nor more to their disadvantage, than to part with what is a present object and entertainment unto their senses, fancies, carnal affections, and superstitions, for that which they can have no benefit by, nor satisfaction in, but only in the exercise of faith and love, inclining us to that within the veil. Hence is there at this day so great a contest in the world about tabernacles and temples, modes of worship and ceremonies, which men have found out in the room of those which they cannot deny but God would have removed. For so they judge that He will be satisfied with their carnal ordinances in the church, when the time is come that He would bear His own no longer. But unto them that believe, Christ is precious. This true Tabernacle, with His ministration, in their estimation far excels all the old pompous ceremonies and services of divine institution, much more, all the superstitious obser- vances of human invention." — Owett.
* The expression rdv ayiuv is here neuter, and does not refer to holy persons, or tho3e sanctified by Jesus. It seems to refer to holy things, those things which are essentially connected with the heavenly sanctuary, both the offering which Christ presents to the Father, and the blessings which He sends down to the Church.
46 7he Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
is continually bestowing upon us the blessings of the new covenant. There was no approach unto God without continual respect unto sacrifice and oblation. However excellent the person of the high priest, it was an absolute necessity, that He should have somewhat to offer. And thus our great High Priest had somewhat to present unto the Father when He entered into heaven. The sacrifice, we know, was offered when Jesus died upon the cross. What was typified on the day of atonement, found its fulfilment on Golgotha. Jesus died outside the camp.'^ His precious blood was shed on the accursed tree.f But as was already understood in the type, the blood of Jesus, though shed on earth, pertains to the heavenly sanctuary. Jesus presents Himself, the victim, before the Father, and enters by His own blood into the holy of holies. This is the only perfect and efficacious oblation. This is the only true and real propitiation or atonement made for our sins. Jesus Himself could not save us, or bring us unto God without this sacrifice ; it was necessary that He should bring Himself, the victim and substi- tute, before the throne of God.
But now the High Priest, by virtue of the one
■**• Matt, xxvii. 32, 33 ; John xix. 17, 18. (Compare also Acts vii. 58 ; Heb. xiii. 12.)
t Compare the important declaration of Deut. xxi. 23. There is a reference to the manner of Christ's death in His word, John xii. 32. He was to be " lifted up from the earth."
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 47
sacrifice, is in heaven. There can be only one temple. There was only one ark in the days of Noah, one tabernacle in the wilderness, one tem- ple in Jerusalem. The forgiving, merciful, and glorious presence of Jehovah is manifested now in the throne on which Jesus is exalted. Now that the Antitype is in heaven, and the living reality of every act of the ritual is fulfilled, and that abidingly, the earthly type has no longer divine right and sanction to exist. Before the coming of Jesus, the shadows symbolized truth to believing worshippers. After the coming of Jesus it must fade and vanish before the sub- stance.
If this is true of the Levitical priesthood, which was of divine appointment, how much more fear- ful is the assumption of any priestly title, position, and function during the new dispensation. All Christians are priests. To imitate a revival of that which God Himself has set aside by a fulfil- ment perfect and glorious, is audacious, and full of peril to the souls of men. It is not even the shadow of a substance ; but the unauthorised shadow of a departed shade. The one sacri- fice and oblation has been offered on Golgotha, and presented to the Father by the ascended Saviour, once for all ; * and now believers are a
* How true and obvious is Owen's remark : " If any one else can offer the body of Christ, he also is the minister of the true taber-
48 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
kingdom of priests, drawing near in full assurance of faith.
The apostle Paul connects "the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." (Rom. ix.) These go together, and the character of one link deter- mines that of the rest. In the first dispensa- tion, of which Moses was the mediator and Aaron the priest, the service was connected with an earthly tabernacle, and the promises also possessed an earthly and temporal character. How much more glorious is the new dispensation, where all is substance, and not shadow ; heavenly and eternal, and not earthly and temporal ! Here one Person is Mediator- Priest ; the law is written on the heart ; the service is in spirit and in truth ; the promise is life eternal. True, the contrast between the old and the new would be viewed in a false light, if we forgot that in the old dispensation spiritual reality and blessings were presented, and were actually embraced in faith by the people of God. The law had a positive or evangelical aspect ; although herein also it was elementary and transitory, it acted as a guardian and a tutor ; as the snow is not merely an indication of w^inter, and a contrast to the bright and genial sunshine, and the refreshing verdure of summer,
nacle. For the Lord Christ did no more. He did but offer Himself, and they that can offer Him do put themselves in His place."
viii.i The Epistle to the Hebrews. 49
but is also a beneficent protection, cherishing and preparing the soil for the approaching bless- ings from above. But now the winter is past, the fulness has come. The sanctuary being changed, thedispensation and covenant are likewise changed. The new covenant is now revealed, of which Jesus is both Surety and Mediator. In a previous chap- ter the apostle had inferred, from the superior ex- cellence of the Priest after the order of Melchisedec, the superiority of the covenant, of which He is Mediator. He calls Jesus the Surety of a better testament. The expression reminds us that the Lord Jesus gave unto the Father all that divine righteousness and holiness demanded, that He gave to man every pledge and assurance of our full and everlasting salvation. In the Lord Jesus, who sanctified Himself for our sakes, the Father possesses all believers ; in Him all believers are brought into communion with divine love and life. The expression, '' Mediator," used here is more comprehensive.*
The mediator and surety of the old covenant was Moses, and not Aaron. Yet since the first covenant also could not be instituted without sacrifice, Moses acted as priest ; the priestly dignity and functions were afterwards transferred to Aaron. But now is Jesus the true and eternal
■^ It occurs only in two other Pauline passages. The somewhat obscure passage, Gal. iii. 20, and i Tim. ii. 5.
II. E
50 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
Mediator- Priest ; not a servant like Moses, but the Son. True mediation is accomplished now because the Mediator as the Son is in the heavenly sanctuary at the right hand of God, and because from thence He sends the Spirit into our hearts.
This newcovenant is based upon better promises. The expression "established" means formally estab- lished as by a law. It reminds us that here all is arranged, fixed, and secured by inviolable sanc- tions. The '' everlasting covenant is ordered in all things, and sure;"* it is based upon immovable foundations ; it is according to the eternal purpose of God and to the divine and unchanging perfec- tions.
The promises are better, because they are now clearly and directly spiritual and eternal. For- giveness of sin, the knowledge of God, communion with God, His indwelling in our hearts, the inherit- ance reserved in heaven, such are the promises and gifts of the new covenant. The promises are better because they are unconditional, secured by the great Mediator and High Priest. They are better because they were given to Christ before the world began, and are according to the infinite love which the Father has to His only Son, in whom He hath chosen us. The promises are better because in the new dispensation the blessing comprehends all, Jews and Gentiles, and unites all
* 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews, 51
believers as a royal priesthood, who have access unto the Father by one Spirit.
There is a wonderful simplicity in the new covenant revelation. The true light which now shineth does indeed possess an exceeding greater brightness than that of the old dispensation ; and yet everything is full of simplicity^ directness, and peaceful calm. When we contrast the old and the new, then we become conscious of the wonderful transparency, simplicity, condensation of divine teaching which we possess. Our little children possess in the words Jesus, Lamb of God, trust in the Saviour, in the simple gospel declarations and promises, that which the old saints had to combine laboriously from the necessarily frag- mentary types and teachings, and could only see darkly. We look to Jesus for everything ; we have and receive all from Him. Our sins and infirmities, our trials and sorrows, so bind us to the grace of Jesus, and to His High Priestly ministrations, that we are constantly with Him, and experience the power of His blood, and the sustaining influence of His love. Jesus in heaven, at the right hand of God, the Lamb in the midst of the throne — this sums up all our faith, all our love, all our hope. // is the crozujting point.
Looking back in the light of fulfilment on the history of God's dealings with mankind and with Israel, on the long and marvellous, the manifold
52 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
and complicated, yet harmonious events, ordi- nances, types and predictions, in which the wisdom and love of God vailed, and at the same time re- vealed, the central mystery of redemption, we are impressed with a sense of the magnitude and the glory of the new revelation in Christ Jesus, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for us. We do not merely, like aged Simeon, rejoice in beholding the salvation which God hath pre- pared before all nations, but the salvation which He purposed in Himself from all eternity, to the praise of the glory of His grace.
How wonderful is the love of God, that from all eternity this was the secret, cherished purpose of His will — that He should manifest Himself in Christ Jesus, and bring poor, guilty, and helpless sinners nigh unto Himself, that they should dwell in Him, and that He should dwell in them. How wonderful is the grace of God — that purpose of grace which was in God before the foundations of the world were laid, according to which He has given unto us eternal life in Christ Jesus, that not in creation, that not in the perfection and purity of angelic beings, who never fell, but that in the redemption, and sanctification, and glorification of sinners there should be made manifest the fulness of God.
See then how everything leads you unto the
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 53
ultimate love of God. Conceive In an enlarged manner, and with an assured and blessed con- fidence, that all the thoughts of God concerning you are thoughts of peace. You cannot think too highly of the love of God. You cannot exagger- ate how Important you are In God's estimation, how precious your salvation Is unto Him, how great Is His joy and His delight In His people, how culminating Is that position which He has given unto Christ as the head of the church, and how this is the one thought In God from everlast- ing to everlasting, so that In Christ Jesus and the church there should be summed up in one all things visible and invisible, whether they be in heaven or on earth. God loved us and chose us in Christ Jesus that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace. '' The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens ;" and what is His throne but Christ Jesus, who is the tabernacle, and in whom we are also become the habitation of God.
Learn, in the second place, the wonderful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Minister of the sanctuary. He is still going on with His service. His thoughts. His prayers, His affec- tions. His energies, are all engaged now with regard to His people who are still upon the earth. He has ascended into the holiest, into the region of perfection and glory ; but not to forget us who are still in the wilderness. As He loved His
54 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [\^iii.
own even to the end, He loves them now, and throughout all the ages ; and He will come again to receive us to Himself. He is the same lovine, serving Jesus as He was on earth, the minister of holy things even now. In the fulness of His love, power, and glory, our exalted Lord, the Son of God, the man Christ Jesus, is ministering continually on behalf of and unto the saints.
Thirdly. Learn here the true character of worship. This is more fully explained in the subsequent chapters of the Epistle. But from what we have seen, it is evident that it is only by faith we can worship, for only by faith we can discern the heavenly and spiritual realities here set forth. '''^ The heavenly sanctuary is the only place of worship. We are brought into the very presence of God in heaven, we draw near in the one great High Priest, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins through His blood. Such are now the elements of worship, and only faith can realize and appropriate these gracious truths and gifts. Believers only can worship ; they worship in spirit and in truth.
* " The fundamental and essential contrast between the former and the latter things is, that the discernment by faith of things in- visible is now the alone condition of true worship." — A. Prideaux.
LECTURE III.
THE BLESSINGS OF THE NEW COVENANT.
Hebrews viii. 6-13.
" I ^HE Lord Jesus Christ, as our High Priest in •^ heaven, is the Mediator of the new covenant or dispensation, which is based upon better pro- mises. New as contrasted with old means in Scripture that which is perfect and abiding. The old vanishes, the new remains. God gives us a new heart that we may love and praise Him for ever. If any man is in Christ, he is a new crea- ture. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. " Behold, I make all things new," saith the Lord ; I will create new heavens and a new earth ; and in the new creation all is eternal, perfect, possessed of vitality, beauty, and strength, which can never fade.
The old covenant was temporary and imperfect. God findeth fault with it ; for although the law was holy, just, and good, yet by reason of Israel's sin neither righteousness nor life could come through it. And as the purposes of divine love could not
56 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
be attained by the old covenant, so the character of God, as the God of grace, could not be fully revealed therein. Hence the promise of a new covenant, which in itself proves the imperfection and insufficiency of the old ; and this new covenant is represented as a contrast, unlike the old ; it is new, that is, perfect, everlasting. God is pleased with it because it shows forth the glory of Jehovah as the God of salvation.
Let us remember that this covenant, announced by the prophet Jeremiah, is to be made first with the house of Judah and the house of Israel. It is a spiritual covenant, yet a national one. To Israel pertain the covenants, both of law and of grace. This is taught by Scripture throughout, and most clearly in the chapters in which this precious pro- mise of the Messianic covenant is contained. No one can read this section of the prophetic w^ord * and entertain the slightest doubt that literal Israel, the seed of Abraham, and their restoration in their own land, form the subject of divine promise.
The prophet Jeremiah, called in early youth by God to announce unto his people the impending judgments on account of their ingratitude and impenitence, seems little fitted, by his natural disposition and temperament, to be the bearer of a message so awful and stern. A character eminently sensitive and tender, shrinking from
* Jeremiah xxx.-xxxiii.
VIII.] I he Epistle to the Hebi^ezvs. 57
conflict, almost feminine In his delicacy, was chosen by God to testify against the whole land, the kings of Judah, and the princes thereof, and against the priests, and against the people of the land. The Lord chose this gentle and timid child (Jer. i. 6) to be as a defenced city and an Iron pillar and brazen walls against the whole nation. The prophet's heart was overwhelmed with grief; his eyes were filled with tears. His soul was dis- tracted ; his heart was faint within him, when he would comfort himself against sorrow. The mes- sage, that Israel's sin and Iniquity had so abounded that judgment was inevitable, filled him with an- guish. How solemn and touching are the suppli- cations which he pours out before God ! While he was thus consumed by zeal for Jehovah and sorrowful love for his people, he had to experience constant and cruel opposition, hatred, and scorn. His life was continually in jeopardy. Persecution, Ignominy, and reproach were heaped upon him. Driven to the utmost verge of despair, he ex- claimed, " I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name." But the Word was in him as a burning fire shut up In his bones. He was faithful to God ; and with a breaking heart testified against the nation and her false prophets. During forty years Jeremiah stood firm, a solitary witness among a rebellious and godless nation of adversaries and persecutors, led astray and forti
58 The Epistle to the Hebi^ews. [chap.
fied in their opposition by false prophets. He endured insuh and mockery ; he was beaten and imprisoned. And when the armies of Babylon proved the divine character of his mission and the truth of his predictions, the lofty height to which God had raised him did not separate him from his nation, his previous sufferings did not embitter his heart or blunt his sympathy and affection. He sat down on the ground as a mourner, and his lamentations over Jerusalem are to this very day the expression of the grief of desolate and banished Israel.
Is he not a type of our Lord ? Were the people, who said that Jesus was Jeremiah, not uttering a truth, which was then daily unfolding ? For as Jeremiah announced the first destruction, so Jesus, in the days of Pharisees and scribes, predicted the second destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus wept when He beheld the city. And Jesus is greater than Jeremiah. For in the Spirit Jeremiah called Him Lord. Yet were the tears of Jeremiah in the Spirit of the Christ, who said, " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now are they hid from thine eyes."
It is in the night of adversity that the Lord sends forth bright stars of consoling hope. When the darkest clouds of woe were gathering above Jerusalem, and the prophet himself was in the
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 59
lowest depths of sorrow, God gave to him the most glorious prophecies of Judah's great re- demption and future blessedness. The advent and reign of Messiah, the Lord our righteousness, the royal dominion and priesthood of Israel's .Re- deemer, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the renewal and restoration of God's chosen people, the days of unbroken prosperity and blessedness — all the golden Messianic future was predicted '' in the last days of Jerusalem, when the magnificent fabric of its temple was about to sink into the dust, and its walls and palaces were about to be thrown prostrate on the ground." *
Thus, while Jeremiah announced the judgments of God, he was sustained and comforted by the promises of ultimate restoration and glory. Israel, the chosen nation of God, could not frustrate the purpose of God's grace by their unfaithfulness. God's promise unto Abraham rested upon no con- dition ; it rested only on the electing, sovereign, free, and eternal love of God. '' The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." Israel's sin abounds unto judgment, and even (temporary) national death ; but Jehovah's grace abounds unto resurrection -life, unto restoration and everlasting blessing. Jeremiah predicts the national restora- tion of Judah and Israel. In most emphatic words the Lord declares, that as the ordinances of
* Wordsworth.
6o The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
the sun, and moon, and of the stars shall not depart from before Him, the seed of Israel shall not cease from being a nation before Him. The prophet describes the prosperity of the cities of Judah, once desolate, and the melody and joy of the streets of Jerusalem, once filled with sorrow and lamentation.
But this national and external restoration and prosperity are inseparably connected with Israel's spiritual and inward renewal. It is the new cove- nant of grace in the Messiah, even King David, which brings life, strength, and joy to the chosen people. As the promise was of grace, to Abraham and to Abraham's seed, so the fulfilment of the promise is not through the old covenant, of which Moses is mediator, but in the new and eternal Messianic dispensation.
In like manner prophesied Ezeklel at the river Chebar among the captives of Babylon. He also beholds Israel restored; dwelling in their own land, in prosperity and gladness ; the temple built in a new and glorious manner, and Jerusalem the city of the great king, whence the glory of Jehovah shall never depart again ; for she shall be called Jehovah- Shammah (the Lord is there). For Israel restored and glorified is Israel pardoned, cleansed, and re- newed. The blessing is both spiritual and national ; the heart within and the land without ; thus do all prophets testify, and thus the apostle of the
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 6i
Gentiles explains to us in the light of the inter- mediate church-dispensation the counsel of God. Israel had once the land without the Spirit ; Israel now has neither the land nor the spiritual knowledge of God and His love ; but the time is coming' when Israel shall possess the land, and receive the Holy Ghost from the Lord, whose feet shall stand upon the mount of Olives ; in the liberty of the new covenant they shall worship and serve the Lord their God.
Apply this truth to the condition of the Hebrews, whom the apostle was addressing. The law of Moses, the old covenant, was vanishing ; but the Messianic promises never were connected with the legal dispensation ; they are rooted in the promise to Abraham ; they are fulfilled in the covenant of grace. The relation of law to gospel as regards our justification, and also as regards the rule of life and conduct, is a different question, which is fully solved in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, and in the Apostolic Council at Jeru- salem. The question which troubled the minds and hearts of the Hebrews was their relation to the Levitical priesthood, and to the old dispensation. The temple was still in Jerusalem, and the Levi- tical ordinances appointed by Moses were still being observed. Although the Sun had risen, the moon had not yet disappeared. It was waning ; it was ready to vanish away. Now it became an
62 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
urgent necessity for the Hebrew Christians to understand that Christ was the true and eternal High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, and that the new and everlasting covevant with Judah and Israel was connected with the gospel promise, and not with the law. God Himself hath made the first covenant old by promising the new. And now that Christ had entered into the holy of holies by His own blood, the old covenant had passed away ; and yet the promises of God to His chosen people remain firm and unchanged.
This is the very question which unbelieving Israel has not been able to solve during the last eighteen centuries. The temple of Jerusalem has been destroyed ; the Levitical economy has been taken away ; Israel has neither high priest, nor sacrifice, nor altar ; it is without temple, and it is, strictly speaking, outside covenant. Where is the old covenant ? The sanctuary, with its ordi- nances of divine service, was intimately connected with the old covenant, with the Levitical dispen- sation. It has vanished. During all these cen- turies Israel has not been able to account for their strange condition. When Moses was on mount Sinai, and the people, in their unbelief and im- patience, asked Aaron to make unto them gods which should go before them, they added : " For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become
VOL] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 63
of him." In like manner Israel, since the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, cannot understand the dealings of God. They know not what has become of Moses, the old covenant. It is impossible for them to keep its ordinances. And in this darkness they have formed to themselves a religion of their own traditions and reasonings,'^' human and un- authorized substitutes for the divinely- appointed ordinances of the Mosaic dispensation. How clear is the light shining from the cross of Jesus and from the heavenly sanctuary, where the Mediator of the new covenant is now enthroned. Moses himself and the prophets testified that communion with God in light and peace, that spiritual life and strength could only come by grace, not through the works of the law, not out of man's unrenewed heart. The history of Israel abund-
* Modern Judaism (both rabbinical and rationalistic) is not able to account for the cessation of sacrifices and the Levitical dispen- sation. The former acknowledges that in the destruction of the temple and the present condition of Israel without high priest and offerings, divine judgment on the nation's sin is expressed : the idea of atonement through a vicarious sacrifice is not quite extinct, as appears in the rite of the cock performed on the eve of the day of atonement, though devoid of all Scriptural authority. Rationalistic Judaism has departed still further from the truth. Rejecting the idea of substitution and expiation in connection with sacrifices, it regards the present condition of Israel as a more spiritual develop- ment, misinterpreting the protests of David and the prophets against a mere external view of the ceremonial law. (Ps. xl. 7 ; Hos. vi. 6 ; Jer. vii. 21-23.) The old has indeed vanished; but accord'ng to the will of God, because the true light now shineth, because the substance has come in Christ.
64 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
antly showed that the law was not able to fill them with the knowledge and the love of God ; for they remained a disobedient and idolatrous people, they understood not God's character and ways, and continued not in His precepts.* The purpose of electing grace can only be fulfilled in the gift of Jesus and of the Holy Ghost. The new covenant alone Is the complete manifestation of God Himself It alone Is everlasting, because it alone is the fulfilment of God's eternal counsel, according to which divine love and power accom- plish the whole work of His people's salvation.
Thus the apostle confirms and comforts his brethren, who were perplexed and tempted by the outward splendour of the temple, and the out-
* In reviewing the history of Israel before the exile, it is most melancholy to notice that the periods of obedience and godliness are comparatively few ; they are rather exceptional brief glimpses of light than the normal condition of the chosen people. The forty years in the wilderness, the age under the Judges and the Kings, are on the whole periods of darkness. There was always a remnant according to the election of grace, the seven thousand, who had not bowed the knee unto Baal ; but idolatry and heathenish abominations co-existed beside the true worship and the testimony of the prophets. The reign of David and Solomon is a bright exception. The law of Moses, with its stern denunciation of idolatry, with its loving and generous consideration of the poor and its requirements of liberality and devotedness, was rarely carried out, as is evident from the prophetic expostulations. Since the Baby- lonian exile Israel has not fallen into idolatry, but into an external and superficial view of the law, into dead formalism and self- righteousness. How true then, in the light of history, is the asser- tion of the prophet Jeremiah and of the apostle Paul, that Israel has not continued in the first covenant.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 65
ward insignificance of the Christian assembHes. Theirs was the worship In spirit and in truth ; they had received the better promises of the new covenant. For now they knew the will of God, not in the form of an outward commandment, but in the power of the indwelHng Spirit ; not en- graven on tables of stone, but written on the renewed heart. Now the knowledge of God, a knowledge full of light and certainty, given directly by God Himself, was the privilege of each be- liever ; they were a congregation of prophets and priests, to whom God revealed Himself, and who could draw near to Him in worship ; and these unspeakable privileges are based upon the perfect and absolute forgiveness and remission of sin through the precious blood of Christ.
How great is the contrast between the old and the new covenant! In the one God demands of sinful man : " Thou shalt." In the other God pro- mises : *' I will." The one is conditional ; the other is the manifestation of God's free grace, and of God's unlimited power. In the one the promise is neutralized by the disobedience of man ; in the other all the promises of God are Yea in Christ, and Amen in Christ. In the new covenant Christ is all ; He Is the Alpha and Omega ; all things are of God, and all things are sure and stedfast.
The blessings of the new covenant are all
II. F
66 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
based upon the forgiveness of sin. God pro- mises to put His laws into our minds, and write them in our hearts, and to be to us a God, because He is merciful to our unrighteousness, and will remember our sins and iniquities no more. The forgiveness of sin is not merely the beginning, but it is the foundation, the source ; it is, so to say, the mother of all divine blessings. For as long as sin is upon the conscience, and man is not able to draw near unto God, he is separated from the only source of life and blessedness. In the forgiveness of sin God gives Himself, and all things that pertain to life and godliness. Hence David, in enumerating the benefits God hath be- stowed on him, commenced with this fundamental one, " Who forgiveth all thine iniquities." Sin is removed, and we are brought nigh to God, and thus enter into the possession of all spiritual blessings. If we look at this most elementary and simple truth, the first which little children are taught,* we find it contains the germ of all truths. Hence all our progress in the divine life, and all the consolations of the Christian pilgrim, are rooted in this primary doctrine of forgiveness through faith in Jesus.
To know God is the sum and substance of all blessings, both in this life and in that which is to come. Now, although the law manifests to a certain
* I John ii. 12.
viii] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 6^
extent the holiness and truth, the justice and un- changeableness, the goodness and bounty of God, the law does not reveal God Himself, the depth of His sovereign and eternal love, the purpose which He purposed in Himself before the foun- dation of the world was laid. When in Christ we receive the forgiveness of sin, we behold God.
Here is also the source and the commencement, the root and strength of our love to God. '' We love Him, because He first loved us." We love much, because much is forgiven unto us. We are now a kingdom of priests unto God, becatise Christ loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood. When the doctrine of forgiveness in its fulness and freeness is scripturally set forth, it re- quires no supplemental cautions, restrictions, and additions ; for it is the central truth from which all doctrines radiate. The new obedience, the spiritual worship,* the fight and victory of faith, the knowledge and fear and love of God, have their starting-point in the pardon of sin.
And this is the new covenant blessing. True, the servants of God always knew this blessing. '; Of the divine righteousness both the law and the prophets testify. David describeth this blessed- ness. The sacrifices typified, faith looked forward to the great atonement. But now that Christ has
* Compare Ps. cxxx. 4. : " With Thee is forgiveness of sin, that Thou mayest be worshipped."
68
The Epistle to the Hebi^ews. [chap.
nil]
come, and that He died once for all, we receive forgiveness in a full and perfect manner : there is no more remembrance of sins ; no repetition of sacrifice is needed ; no yearly recurrence of the day of atonement ; in Christ we have redemption in His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
How precious is this emphatic declaration, *' Their sins and their transgressions will I re- member no more." Our sins are removed and buried in the depths of the sea, and this according to divine holiness, justice, and truth. Here is the righteousness of God. " The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation ; for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." " Between God and us, there is now no longer sin ; Jesus, and Jesus only, fills our view.
It is in giving this perfect pardon that God renews the heart, and writes in it His laws. We must needs contrast law and gospel. Yet let us not forget that the law from the very outset showed its temporary and negative character, pointed beyond and away from itself; sighed, as it were, after Him, who by fulfilling would take it away, and by taking it away would fulfil it in us, and in fulfilling it in us, raise us to the still greater height of the new love ! Oh that My people had a heart to obey My commandment ! was the language of God in the ancient days. I
"*" Rom. i. i6, 17.
tor n' IIV-
VIII]
The Epistle to the Hebrews.
69
L Here is tk
' "■':! is '::n is ■■■':': to
.: God :;...o. We ^ Yet let us y ven- outset ..,, character, ::<•!; sigki 'rilini: ^-0"^^ ...^■ouldf* !^;eustot^^ ; Oh that* irnandniei' - javs.
will circumcise their hearts, was His promise. The law testified, that fallen man could not keep it ; that written on tables of stone it only condemned, that it had no power to inscribe itself on the hard, unrenewed heart of man. The law commands love, and love never can come out of law. The fulfilment of the law presupposes life and spirit ; and by the law dead souls can never be quick- ened. As the Apostle Paul fully explains in the Epistle to the Galatians, the Holy Ghost is re- ceived through the preaching of the gospel, the new covenant, the forgiveness of sins.
Now the grace of God, which bringeth salva- tion, hath appeared, and teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. The law of God is fulfilled in the believer, in the spiritual man, who trusts in Jesus.
Of this renewal of the heart and gift of the Holy Ghost the prophet Ezekiel also testifies.* May we not say that the whole of the Old Testa- ment points (both as a contrast and a preparation) to this : Jesus saves His people from their sins ; for He comes with water and with blood and with the Spirit : He is Righteousness and Life.
All spiritual life flows from Jesus as our Saviour.
When we believe in Jesus we are not in the flesh
- but in the Spirit. His precious blood is not merely
our peace, but our strength ; and our strength
* Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.
68 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
come, and that He died once for all, we receive forgiveness in a full and perfect manner : there is no more remembrance of sins ; no repetition of sacrifice is needed ; no yearly recurrence of the day of atonement ; in Christ we have redemption in His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
How precious is this emphatic declaration, " Their sins and their transgressions will I re- member no more." Our sins are removed and buried in the depths of the sea, and this according to divine holiness, justice, and truth. Here is the righteousness of God. " The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation ; for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." * Between God and us, there is now no longer sin ; Jesus, and Jesus only, fills our view.
It is in giving this perfect pardon that God renews the heart, and writes in it His laws. We must needs contrast law and gospel. Yet let us not forget that the law from the very outset showed its temporary and negative character, pointed beyond and away from itself; sighed, as it were, after Him, who by fulfilling would take it away, and by taking it away would fulfil it in us, and in fulfilling it in us, raise us to the still greater height of the new love ! Oh that My people had a heart to obey My commandment ! was the language of God in the ancient days. I
■*^ Rom. i. 1 6, 17.
viii] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 69
will circumcise their hearts, was His promise. The law testified, that fallen man could not keep It ; that written on tables of stone it only condemned, that It had no power to inscribe itself on the hard, unrenewed heart of man. The law commands love, and love never can come out of law. The fulfilment of the law presupposes life and spirit ; and by the law dead souls can never be quick- ened. As the Apostle Paul fully explains in the Epistle to the Galatlans, the Holy Ghost is re- ceived through the preaching of the gospel, the new covenant, the forgiveness of sins.
Now the grace of God, which bringeth salva- tion, hath appeared, and teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. The law of God Is fulfilled In the believer, in the spiritual man, who trusts in Jesus.
Of this renewal of the heart and gift of the Holy Ghost the prophet Ezeklel also testifies.* May we not say that the whole of the Old Testa- ment points (both as a contrast and a preparation) to this : Jesus saves His people from their sins ; for He comes with water and with blood and with the Spirit : He Is Righteousness and Life.
All spiritual life flows from Jesus as our Saviour. When we believe in Jesus we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. His precious blood is not merely our peace, but our strength ; and our strength
* Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27.
70 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
because it Is our peace. Justification and sancti- fication emanate from this One Source.
When Israel is brought In repentance and faith to the Lord, then shall be fulfilled the gracious purpose of God, which under the law was frus- trated through Israel's sin and disobedience. Although God was a Husband unto them, they brake His covenant. But now, forgiven and renewed, Israel will be in actual reality, and not merely in position, God's people, and Jehovah will be their God. This is the most exalted and com- prehensive blessing which was ever promised. Jehovah is not ashamed to be called their God. He identifies Himself with His people. All His glorious perfections are revealed in His relation to them. In them is fulfilled the good pleasure of His will. And because He is God to them. Source of Light and Life, they are His people. Not merely chosen and appointed ; not merely called and treated collectively as God's people ; but in reality, according to truth, according to their individual character and experience, the people in whom God's name is revealed, who show forth His praise, who walk in His ways and obey His will. For of Him shall their fruit be found ; God working in them both to will and to do, they shall abound in the fruits of righteousness to the glory of His grace.
For then each one individually shall know
VI II.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 71
the Lord. *' God is known in Judah," said the Psalmist. God had indeed revealed Himself unto His people. He had taught them and given unto them His Word. In their marvellous history, in the divine messages sent by Moses and the prophets, in the types and ordinances, in the Judges and Kings, God had revealed unto His people His name. His character and will, and His great desire was that they should know Him. How touching is the complaint of Jehovah, that after all the signs which they had seen, and after a'l His mighty works of redeeming and guiding love, and after all the words of light and of grace which He had sent them, His people did not know Him! So long had He been with them, and erring in their hearts, they did not know His ways!* What could be more grievous to the fatherly heart of God, yearning to be known, trusted, and loved ? What gives us a sadder picture of the fall of man, of the alienation of the human heart from God, of our utter incapacity to understand and to receive divine things, than the fact that Israel did not know the revealed God, who taught and blessed them constantly, abundandy, and with most tender compassion ? But when the Holy Ghost shall be poured out upon them, they shall all know Jehovah, from the least to the greatest ; though one shall encourage and exhort the other, yet
* Isa. i. ; Ps. xcv.
72 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
they shall not need to teach and to say to their neighbour, Know the Lord.
In the Church this promise is already fulfilled.* Although the apostle John distinguishes between little children, young men, and fathers, he writes unto the whole congregation of believers : '' Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." f It is true that he sends unto them an epistle, rich in doctrine and exhortation, but, as he expresses it, in full harmony with our passage, " I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it." " The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you." '' They shall be all taught of God." This promise, uttered by the prophet Isaiah,]: is regarded by our Saviour as the promise uttered by all prophets ;§ for it is the great Messianic blessing, the promise of the Father.
From Jesus, the Anointed, all Christians re-
* " And how do I know thee .'' I know thee in thee ! I do not know thee as thou art in thyself, but as thou art to me, and that not without thee, but in thee, because thou art the Hght, which hath enlightened me. For what thou art to thyself is known only to thee ; what thou art to me, according to thy grace, is known also unto me ; I know, because thou art my God." — Aiigustifie's Soliloquia.
t I John ii. 20. Compare the apostle Paul's words (i Thess. iv. 9) : " But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you : for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." Likewise 2 Peter i. 12.
X Isa. liv. 13. § John vi. 45, eV roi% Tr/Jo^Tjratj.
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 73
ceive the Holy Ghost ; they have, according to their name, the unction from above. Hence they possess the Teacher who guides into all truth. Knowledge is within them. There is within them a well of living water. They are not dependent on external instruction. There is given unto them the Paraclete, who always reveals the things that are freely given unto us of God. The spiritual man knows all things — all the things of the Spirit, all that pertains to life and godliness. True, he does not know all things actually, or in any given moment ; but he knows them potentially. There is within him the light which can see, the mind which can receive all truth. It is for this reason that apostles and teachers give instruction. They teach the God-taught ; they present spirit-revealed realities to the spiritual. Human erudition, mental acuteness or profundity, are of no avail here. The youngest and most illiterate, the least gifted and most uncultivated, may possess the wisdom which is from above. And this knowledge, God- given, is full of assurance ; it possesses the nature of light, of conviction, of absolute certainty. We know that our Redeemer liveth ; we know whom we have believed ; we know that we are born of God, and that all things work together for good unto them that love Him ; we know the things that are freely given to us of God. Every Chris- tian knows himself individually, and that because
74 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
he is taught of God ; he relies not on the testi- mony of man ; his faith stands in the power of God.
This personal knowledge of God is the secret of our spiritual life. It is our safeguard against error, and against sin. It is the great and the constant gift of God, the fruit of Christ's redemp- tion. We now see and know God and His Son ; we know Jesus, because Jesus always knows His sheep, revealing Himself unto them, and giving them guidance and life. This knowledge is no- thing less than walking with God, walking in the light, praying without ceasing. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. In much dark- ness, amid many difficulties, and in constant war- fare we yet walk in the light of His countenance, until at last we shall see Him as He is, and know even as we are known.
How great is the blessedness of all who are in the new, the everlasting covenant ; in the cove- nant of grace and life, in which God Himself is revealed, and in which all things are of God. Here Christ is to us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Our transgres- sions are pardoned, yea, there is no more remem- brance of sin. The heart is renewed, and the Holy Ghost is given as an indwelling Spirit. God works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. We are in constant and filial
VIII.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 75
communion with Him. He Is our God, and we are His people ; He Is our Father, and we are His children. And all these blessings have their root and commencement, their vitality and perma- nence In the redemption, accomplished on Gol- gotha, they are dispensed from the heavenly sanctuary by the Mediator, who was the Paschal Lamb on the cross. Little children and fathers, young converts and experienced Christians, always hear the voice of Jesus : This is the New Testa- 7nent in my blood.
Hallelujah ! I believe !
Now no longer on my soul
All the debt of sin is lying ;
One great Friend has paid the whole.
Icebound fields of legal labour
I have left with all their toil ;
While the fruits of love are growing
From a new and genial soil.
LECTURE IV.
WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.
Hebrews ix. 1-5.
{Introductory Remarks.)
'T^HE nature of spiritual worship, even after it -*- has been revealed in Scripture, is very rarely understood.
Apart from revelation, we do not find anywhere traces of spiritual worship. " Think of the reli- gions of antiquity. Where do we seek and find the sanctuary of true, deep, manifold, and eloquent prayer ? where the language and grammar, where the scale of all notes of supplication, typical for all humanity and all the ages ? where, except in the assemblies of the worshippers of Jehovah, in the courts of that service which knew no image of the Unseen, in that temple where God, in His sub- lime, spiritual presence and reality, transcends all human thought, who for centuries since, and through all coming ages, fills and guides the hearts of all believers." =•' Only Israel and the
* Nitzsch.
CHAP. IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. jj
Church possess the knowledge of God ; the most cultivated and learned nations were not able to rise to a pure, spiritual, and exalted conception of divinity. And the spirituality, as well as the ex- clusiveness of true worship, Jewish and Christian, have at first a repulsive effect on the natural man. The Greeks and Romans were not merely astonished at, but felt irritated by the worship of Christians, who without image and altar, without priests and vestments, appeared to them to be a^cot, men without gods, influenced by what they deemed a strange superstition, the mysterious power of which they could not comprehend, when they saw how it enabled Christians to rejoice in suffering, and to meet with calm courage and hopefulness the tortures of death. It was enig- matic, and the absence of all visible symbol, of all idols and altars, still more bewildered them. When they beheld how faith in the unseen Lord was a real and mighty power in the hearts and lives of men and women, filling them with earnestness, zeal, hope, and joy, how it lifted them above the sinful pleasures of the world, the love of money, the fever of ambition, the frivolity and emptiness of a selfish life, how it enabled them to bear calmly and patiently the trials, and sufferings, and persecutions which they had to endure, and to face the cruel and excruciating death to which they were condemned, not merely with
yS The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
equanimity, but with the fortitude of heroes, and the radiant joy of virgins going forth to meet the Bridegroom — their astonishment was boundless. They called it a mania, a demoniac possession, a mysterious moral epidemic, which had broken out and threatened to undermine the commonwealth. Of truth, of a real, living, and loving God, they knew nothing. They felt annoyed, that the small and insignificant Jewish nation would not adopt their gods and customs, would keep aloof from their temples, feasts, and banquets. It is narrated, that when Pompey had conquered Jerusalem, and without reverence penetrated into the interior of the temple, he proceeded into the holy of holies. There, a feeling of awe seized him, and he left all things untouched. Since that time, the Roman author says, it is known that the Jews worship something empty and vague, that cannot be seen. While the Greeks, proud of their culture and in- telligence, looked down in contempt upon all other nations, and also upon Israel, the Romans, proud of their power, judged of the gods of nations by the amount of victories achieved under their protec- tion. You may know, remarks Cicero, what is the power of the Jews and their God, by the circum- stance that their land has been subjugated and divided.
Having no knowledge of objective truth, re- garding all religions as equally legitimate ex-
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 79
pressions of national traditions, sentiments, and modes of thought, they were quite wilHng to worship, in whatever country they happened to be, according to the prevaiHng usage. To add Christ also to the number of their gods and heroes would have been quite in accordance with their thought. Hence they could not understand the nature of that faith and worship which had for its object the true and living, the only God, and which could not be added to or mingled with any other faith and worship. Israel and the Church claim to possess the truth, to know, love, and serve the only true and living God. Therefore they must be hated by all who do not submit themselves to the heavenly revelation. Philoso- phers of every age, both before and since the advent, can tolerate every system of moral and spiritual thought and worship. They can find something good, noble, and elevating in every religion ; but they cannot tolerate the one only God-revealed truth in Christ Jesus.* The adop- tion of the Christian name and of Christian terminology is very superficial. Only a short
* Man delights in the activity of his mental faculties, in fearless and free speculation, making his own mind the idol, even in inquir- ing after God and His service. Lessing said, " Did the Almighty, holding in His right hand truth, and in His left search after truth, deign to proffer me the onp I might prefer, in all humihty, but without hesitation, I could request search after truth." This is the very opposite spirit of the Jewish and Christian. God hath spoken. (Heb. i. 1-3.)
8o The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
time may be required to complete that process of development, or rather chemical separation, which is at present dividing true spiritual Chris- tians, who believe God's word, and the world, who reject the counsel of God, in His incarnate Son and His cross. And again it will be seen, that of a truth against God's holy child Jesus, Pontius Pilate and the heathen and unbelieving Jews have risen, denying God and His Anointed; for Christ is against the world, and the world against Christ. Modern Paganism (often using Christian terminology) only conceals this fact. Jesus claims to be the truth, absolute, exhaustive, ultimate ; He claims to be, not one of many ways, not the best" of all ways, but the way — the only, exclusive, divine way of access unto the light, love, and life of God. If He was not exclusive. He would be like the others, only giving guesses at truth, and not its revelation ; He cannot but assert His absolute and exclusive Mediatorship. It is this exclusiveness of Jesus (like the abso- lute and jealous denunciation of Jehovah against all idolatry) which is met by the bitter, though often latent and unconscious, enmity of the world. He that is not for Jesus is against Him. All they that attempt, without Him, to enter into the fold are thieves and robbers. Jesus is the truth, and in Him alone we draw near to the Father.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 8i
Apart from Revelation, men have not the idea of God as Lord, Spirit, Father. And even after the light of Scripture has appeared, God is to many only an abstract word, by which they desig- nate a complex of perfections, rather than a real living, loving, ever-present Lord, to whom we speak and of whom we ask the blessings we need. How different from this vague life and colourless abstraction, without will and love, this incompre- hensible All and Nothing is the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him we can pray. Without revelation prayer is regarded not so much as asking God in order to receive from Him, but as an exercise of mind which elevates, ennobles, and comforts. It is a monologue. Wor- ship is viewed as a representation of our ideas of divine attributes and perfections, not the recog- nition of God, as through revelation we know Him in His relation to us.
See how God reveals to the poor sin-con- vinced soul — to the humblest, the most ignorant, the most guilty — what the wise and righteous of the world can neither discover nor attain. A sinful, thoughtless, frivolous woman, living in the dark- ness of an ungodly life, and belonging to a race possessing only dim and imperfect knowledge of divine truth, had been drawn into conversation by a mysterious stranger, who beginning with the lowly
II. G
82 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
request of a favour had brought before her in words (whose meaning she scarcely comprehended, but which roused deep longings within her soul), the misery and emptiness of the world, the ex- istence and blessedness of a higher spiritual and divine life ; and He who at first spoke as a weary traveller had gradually presented Himself as the mysterious Mediator and Dispenser of a divine and transcendent gift. But the heart and the con- science, the deepest centre of her being, had not been touched yet. Jesus then reveals Himself as the Searcher of Hearts, the Lord and Judge, who knoweth secret things. He brings before her the guilty past. The arrow is sent forth by a strong yet gentle hand ; its purpose is to wound and to heal. The woman exclaims : I perceive thou art a prophet; that is, a seer, a messenger of God, one entrusted with a divine message. Brought thus unto the presence of God, realizing God, as only the sin-convinced conscience and heart do, she immediately wishes to please, worship, serve that Supreme Lord.
The question she now addresses to the Saviour is not a skilful evasion of a painful and humili- ating subject ; it proceeds from the depths of a wounded heart ; it is the question of repentance and profound desire after God. If God is He must be worshipped. Hitherto theological dis- putes had no interest for her, but noAv she thirsts
Tx.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 83
after God, the living God, and longs to come unto Him in true worship.
It was to this poor and sinful Samaritan woman that Jesus explained, in that solemn, lonely hour, the profound truths of spiritual worship. He reminds her, first of all, that the question of wor- ship is not to be decided by man, but by God. Human thought, sentiment, traditions, cannot have authority in this highest and most sacred matter. The Samaritans, as all other nations left to themselves, have no knowledge of worship, because they know not God. True worship can only be found on the territory of revelation. In Israel God had revealed Himself, and His revela- tion of Himself was as the God of salvation. Because salvation is of the Jews, with them also was found true worship. True, it was for a long time under a limited, preparatory, symbolical dis pensation, but at the same time real and spiritual, and the germ of the universal and free worship which has been brought in through the fulfilment in Christ Jesus.
Spirituality is not an inherent subjective quality, it is the reflection of the person worshipped ; as the God so the worshipper. The words of the Saviour, " Ye worship ye know not what," have a far more extensive application than to Samaritans. The most cultivated and refined men cannot, by their risason, intuition, or learning, find God ; and their
84 The Epistle to the Hebreivs. [chap.
conception of the supreme, ethereal and ideal as it may be, is not spiritual but carnal. But Israel knew Jehovah as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; as the God who had appeared unto their fathers with condescending, familiar, loving favour, guiding and comforting, blessing and helping, the God who had chosen them, and who had redeemed them out of Egypt to be His peculiar people, and to show forth His praise. They were called to the knowledge and service of God, that through them light and salvation should be brought to all Gentiles, even to the uttermost ends of the earth. And we await still the fulfill- ment of the immutable promises connected with the Abrahamic covenant when, from Israel as a centre, the light of God's salvation shall shine forth unto all nations, and all the ends of the earth shall worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
The dispensation of the law came in as an intermediate and preparatory one. One great object was to show forth by types the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, and the character of true worship. There are only two chapters of Scrip- ture to narrate the creation of the world ; but no fewer than sixteen chapters of the inspired record are devoted to the description of the tabernacle. It has been remarked, that God took only six days in the work of creation, but spent forty days with Moses in directing him to make the tabernacle.
IX. J The Epistle to the Hebrews. 85
The work of grace is more glorious than the work of creation. Three times the book of Exodus gives a full account of all the parts of the tabernacle. First, when the command is given to build it ; then again, when its preparation is narrated ; and a third time, after it was actually erected. For the tabernacle shows forth the redemption in Christ ; and the whole world was created that the glory of God should be manifested in Christ and the Church. And Scripture, by thus attaching a far greater importance to the description of the tabernacle than to the narrative of the world's creation, teaches us to contemplate the things that are unseen, to fix our thoughts and affections on the eternal and heavenly world, to lift our eyes to those heights whence descend the light and love of our blessed God.
Scripture teaches us that the tabernacle was built according to the divine revelation given unto Moses. 1 1 was according to the pattern of heavenly things beheld by him on the mount. The idea of the structure in its grand outlines, as well as the arrangements of the detail, were not of human origin. They are not to be traced to the inge- nuity of Moses, or to the model of heathen sanc- tuaries. All things were of God, everywhere the Holy Ghost did symbolize. The tabernacle was to the believing Israelite full of symbols, showing the grace of their Redeemer God, and shadowing
86 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
forth the manifold mercy of God, who forgives and sanctifies His people, who brings them Into His presence, bestows upon them His blessing, and enables them to worship and serve Him with thankful and rejoicing hearts. And to us who read these chapters In the light of fulfillment, they are full of gospel instruction and comfort ; unfold- ing the varied treasures of grace, the many aspects of Christ and His work, and of the experience of His saints.'''
The people offered with exceeding liberality and willingness of heart all the material needed for the building, and the skill and genius of en- lightened workmen prepared the various portions of the structure and the vessels. Thus according to the condescending wisdom and goodness of God, the affections and energies of His people were enlisted, and they were workers together with Him of whom and by whom are all things.
* We find here, to use Owen's words, such an evidence of divine wisdom and goodness, as gives them beauty, desirableness, and usefulness, unto their proper end. There is that in them, which unto an enlightened mind will distinguish them for ever from the most plausible inventions of men, advanced in the imitation of them. Only a diligent inquiry into them is expected from us. (Ps. cxi. 2, 3.) When men have slight considerations of any of God's institutions, when they come unto them without a sense that there is divine wisdom in them, that which becomes him from whom they are, it is no wonder if their glory be hid from them. But when we diligently and humbly inquire into any of the ways of God, to find out the characters of His divine excellencies that are upon them, we shall obtain a satisfying view of His glory. (Hosea vi. 3.)
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews, 87
When afterwards the temple was built, and the tabernacle of the wilderness was changed into a permanent and stationary house on mount Zion, the palace of the great King, whose chosen city- is Jerusalem, the affection and reverence of the nation clung to it with great intensity. From the very excess of superstition and formalism into which this feeling degenerated, we can infer its original strength. And indeed, though we find in David and Solomon the most spiritual and ele- vated conceptions of the divine omnipresence, and of the true nature of prayer and sacrifice ; though in all the prophetic writings we meet with constant warnings against a merely outward service, and a constant reference to inward purity and to the adoration and obedience of the heart, yet the temple, where God revealed His presence and His glory, where His beautiful ordinances were observed, and the most solemn transactions took place between Jehovah and His people through the appointed mediation of priests and high priest, was necessarily most sacred and endeared to every true Israelite. How touching is the description in the book of Ezra of the laying of the founda- tion at the rebuilding of the temple : '' But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice ; and
88 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
many shouted aloud for joy : so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people : for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off."
The position of Israel at the time of our Lord was one of great solemnity. It was the most solemn crisis in Israel's history. The Lord whom they sought (some really, and others only in profession) came suddenly to His temple. Jesus came as a minister of the circumcision to fulfill the promises made unto the fathers. He came first as a prophet, preaching repentance ; for the kingdom of God was at hand. He came to gather them. He was the last as well as the greatest messenger sent unto Jerusalem. But they did not reverence the Son. They under- stood not the time of their visitation. Jesus with tears predicted judgment on the beloved city, the city of the great King. "For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another : because thou knewest not the time of thy visita- tion." And of the temple He said, '' There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
rx] The Epistle to the Hebreius. 89
But between the announcement and the execu- tion of the judgment forty years intervened. The Lord is slow to anger; He is long-suffering, and gracious. He delays judgment to gather in a remnant, and to show to the whole world the righteousness and the mercifulness of all His dealings. How important and solemn, how wide- reaching in their influence, are these forty years of the patience of God, of the further probation of Israel ! Israel had hated Jesus ''without cause," and with cruel hands nailed Him to the accursed tree ; yet Jesus on the cross prayed, " Father, for- give them ; for they know not what they do." Israel had committed the great and culminating sin ; they had rejected the Lord of glory, the Son of the Most High, yet God hath not cast away His people. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance, and the everlasting covenant shall yet be made with them, when everlasting joy and glory shall be given unto the children of Abraham. And as a pledge of this ultimate favour, in answer to the prayer of the dying Saviour, and through the preaching of the apostle Peter, three thousand were converted on the day of Pentecost, and many thousands (tens of thou- sands) were added unto the number of disciples. The apostle Peter preached to the men of Israel. He addressed the whole nation, delivering unto them as a nation the message that God had sent
90 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
Jesus unto them first. He called upon them to turn unto the Lord, in order that the fulness of divine blessing might come upon them according to the promise. In the same patriotic spirit as the prophets, with the most tender regard for the national privileges and customs, the apostles ad- dressed themselves unto the nation, preaching the first and second advent of Israel's Messiah and King. The apostle of the Gentiles also came as a Jew to the Jews, as under the law to those who were under the law, and in all his addresses to his people breathes the same fervent national con- sciousness ; he declared the hope of the promise made of God unto the fathers.
But, alas ! the nation resisted the counsel of God, and took no heed to the voice of the Holy Ghost, speaking to them with such clearness and love through the apostles. They counted them- selves unworthy of eternal life. God, in the abundance of His love and wisdom, made Israel's unbeHef the occasion of sending the gospel to the Gentiles. Still the period of mercy to Israel was prolonged. The testimony was still sent to them. The doctrine of the Church, as the body, con- sisting of both Jews and Gentiles, was now fully revealed ; the apostle Peter, who opened the door to the Gentiles in the baptism of Cornelius, and the apostle Paul, who was specially led to the uncircumcision ; the Council of Jerusalem, with
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 91
reference to the relation of the Gentiles to the law of Moses ; and finally, the full and explicit teaching of the Pauline Epistles ; — all this unveiled what had been hitherto hid, the intermediate position of the Church, when Israel as a nation was to be set aside. From the very com- mencement, In the parables and warnings of the Saviour, In the experience of Peter and John after Pentecost, In the first persecution of the saints. In the martyrdom of Stephen, In the oppo- sition against the apostle Paul, the dark clouds were gathering, and the wrath to the uttermost was approaching.
Meanwhile, It was most difficult for many Jewish Christians to understand the true character of the transition period, and to enter into the spirit of the new era, which in reality had already commenced, though not actually and formally. If It Is difficult at present for the Church to remem- ber that they have not taken the place of Israel, If, as the apostle anticipated, the Church in many ages has become Ignorant of the " mystery," that all Israel shall be saved, that Jesus shall reign as king over His chosen people, when all the bless- ings promised to Abraham and through all the prophets will be fulfilled, can we wonder that the Hebrews could not readily understand the cha- racter of the Church dispensation, while they were still, and with apostolic sanction, observing the law of Moses ?
92 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
We learn from the book of Acts, and this very epistle, how much the believing Jews suffered from their countrymen. Their goods were con- fiscated ; they had to suffer imprisonment ; some were put to death ; they were banished from what was most sacred and precious to them. Israel, as a nation, would not submit to the righteousness of God. They became obdurate in self-conceit, self- righteousness, and formalism. They rested with a false security in their mechanical obedience of legal enactments, and in the possession of the temple services. They were without fear, while the terrible judgment was approaching. Destruction came suddenly, unexpectedly. Even to the last moment the inhabitants of Jerusalem expected divine deliverance. They had not heard the loving voice of Him who said, ''Ye daughters of Jeru- salem, weep not for me ; " they understood not the fearful words which they had uttered, when they cried : ''His blood be upon us, and upon our children."
This is, indeed, the tragedy of history. It is most melancholy to notice the enthusiasm, the intense and tenacious trust, which moved them to resist the invincible might of Romie. They could not believe that God would give up His beloved city, and the place of His sanctuary. They hoped and trusted against all hope. But the hour of God's righteous judgment had come. Jerusalem
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebi^ews, 93
was destroyed ; their house was left unto them desolate.*
Extremely solemn and awful is this catastrophe as the end of centuries of the most marvellous revelations and dealings of divine love, wisdom, and power. God, who revealed His truth by His Spirit to His chosen saints among Jews and Gentiles, has manifested to the whole world His counsel by the solemn judgment which de- scended on Jerusalem. Amid all the vicissitudes and struggles of the covenant-people, the sanc- tuary and the Levitical service continued ; only once it had been interrupted during the Baby- lonian captivity. During the centuries that Israel had to live under the Roman yoke, though no
* The character of Roman conquest and rule is most graphically symbolized in the prophetic vision (Dan. ii.) " Strong as iron : for- asmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things." The Greco-Macedonian monarchy was characterized by the presence of poetical and ide^l conceptions ; but in Rome we see an embodiment of force. State policy, and the cold haughtiness of violence and power, must have been very hard to bear. No wonder Tacitus speaks of the hostile hatred (hostile odium) of the Jews against the Romans, who regarded them with great indignation and contempt, because the Jewish God could not be conquered as the other gods. This small nation would not yield to Roman idolatry. In the whole of Asia, as Caligula complained, there was not a single temple, a single city or province of the empire, which had refused to admit his statue, and to honour him as a divinity, except in Judaea. The last struggles of Jerusalem show a most extraordinar)' strength and energy. Never was conflict so unequal, as the Emperor Titus points out to the two captive leaders of the Jews (according to Josephus, whose want of patriotism and Jewish spirit is very melan- choly), when neither the Germans, so renowned for their physical
94 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
Son of David sat upon the throne, the temple stood in glory, and Israel rejoiced in the beauty of its stones and in the splendour of its services. But since the rejection of Jesus, no human power has been able to restore this visible sanctuary and the sacrifices and priestly ordinances. God had spoken to His people by the voice of apostles. At last He spoke by the voice of Judgment. The destruction of the temple and the removal of the whole Levitical dispensation teaches, by actual historical demonstration, truth which the epistles set forth doctrinally. It is an anachronism to speak now of priests in the sense of sacerdotal mediators. It is an anachronism to speak of sym- bolic worship, of ordinances, which are figures and shadows of spiritual realities. The Levitical dis-
vigour, nor Britannia, guarded by the ocean, nor Carthage, with all its courage, and with all the skill of its generals, could successfully resist the power of Rome. He did not know of their trust in Jehovah, and in His word, which, notwithstanding their grievous apostacy, and amidst fearful perversions and fanatic zeal, still lodged ill their hearts. Hence their unparalleled sufferings, and the agoniz- ing grief with which the destruction of the beloved city and the temple filled their hearts, could not extinguish the hope of a future resto- ration and glory. Rabbi Akiba was walking with some friends about Jerusalem. They saw nothing but deb?is, and caves of wild beasts. A fox was bounding past them. The friends of Akiba are grieved ; he himself laughs. How can you laugh when unclean animals inhabit the sacred soil ! This is why I laugh ; as sure as the word is fulfilled, uttered by Jeremiah (xxvi. i8): "Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest," that which was spoken of by the prophet Zechariah will also come to pass.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 95
pensation was given only to Israel, and to Israel only, for a certain period of their history. Since the destruction of Jerusalem, Israel is without high priest, without sacrifice, without temple. God Himself has removed the shadow, because the substance is come. God Himself has by severe judgment taken away the earthly, elementary, and fragmentary, that Israel may turn to the heavenly, eternal, and perfect.
But unto the Gentiles God nevei^ gave an Aaronic priesthood, an earthly tabernacle, a sym- bolical service. From the very commencement He taught them, as Jesus taught the woman of Samaria, that now all places are alike sacred, that the element in which God is worshipped is spirit and truth, that believers are children who call
Zech. viii. 4 : " Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age." The destruction of Jerusalem is not like the fall of Troy, of Babylon, of Carthage. Even while the divine judgment is on Israel, and Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles, the Scripture entrusted to their guardianship, and the gospel which first was preached among them, goes forth among all nations, gaining the affection and prayers of multitudes for their conversion and restoration, while under the special care of God they are preserved until the appointed time of her favour is come, and God shall visit and rebuild her in great mercy. But the 'judgment is yet awaiting Rome, who passed unrighteous sentence against that Just and Holy One, and delivered Him up to be crucified, who destroyed the holy city, and scattered the chosen people, who for many centuries shed the blood of the martyrs, and who is still the centre of the most God-dishonouring perversion of His truth.
96 The Epistle to the Hebrews. chap.
upon the Father, that they are a royal priesthood, who through Jesus are brought nigh unto God, who enter into the holy of holies which is above." As the apostle says so frequently to the Hebrews, "We have," we do possess the reality and substance of those things of which the unbelieving Jews boast, so may we say in these days of priestly pre- tension and false views of the Christian ministry and worship. We have, blessed be God, the true sanctuary, the new and consecrated way into the
■^ While the temple stood, Jesus and the apostles honoured the temple. The Lord said unto the leper, " Show thyself unto the priest." He and His apostles went daily into the temple. After His resurrection, and while the gospel was being preached unto Israel, the temple services and ordinances may have been blessed to souls, as images and prophecies of the heavenly realities. But any imitation of the Levitical dispensation in the present day must needs be contrary to God's mind, and obscure the clear revelation in Christ Jesus. The expression "priest," in the sense of lepev%, applied to a Christian minister, can in no wise be defended. The expression "consecration," as applied to buildings, ought also to be given up, and with the expression every remnant of the old leaven, which attaches some kind of " sanctity " to any place. Sacred places there are none now. We never read of the apostolic Christians going to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, or to Golgotha, where He died, or to the garden, where He rose, or to the mount of Olives, where He ascended, or to the temple- chamber, in which the Pentecostal gift was received. " Where two or three are gathered together," there, because, and ivheji they are gathered together in the name of Jesus ; wherever we worship in spirit and truth, there and theti we may say, How dreadful is this place ! This view does not in the least affect the necessity and the desirability of having spacious, suitable, and attractive buildings set apart for the meetings of God's people and the preaching of the gospel. Here is a proper field for Christian liberality and also for architectural skill.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews, 97
holy of holies, we have access by one Spirit through the blood of Jesus unto the Father. We have the real presence, even Jesus, dwelling in our hearts by faith ; Jesus, where two or three are gathered in His name; Jesus making Himself known in the breaking of bread ; Jesus speaking by the Holy Ghost through the Word read and preached. Where two or three are gathered together in His name, there it is not merely as if He was in the midst of them, but He Himself is with them in truth and reality, in Spirit and in power, in love and in blessing. If any man love Him, the Father and the Son will come and take up their abode with him. Jesus is our Immanuel in the heart, in the assembly, in the world. We have Christ, and in Him we have all.
How difficult is it to rise from the spirit of Paganism to the clear and bright atmosphere of the gospel ! How much inclined are men to wel- come everything which does not reveal to them their true condition, and bring them into the very presence of God. Priesthood, vestments, conse- crated buildings, symbols, and observances — all place Christ at a great distance, and cover the true, sinful, and guilty state of the heart which has not been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Look again at the woman of Samaria. Ignorant, guilty, degraded as she was, Jesus brought her at once into the presence of the living, loving
II. H
98 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
Redeemer-God. He revealed unto her the fulness of divine love. He revealed Himself as the giver of the living water. As a free gift He declared to her salvation. The sinner believes, and as a child He is brought by Jesus unto the Father. High above all space, high above all created heavens, before the very throne of God, is the sanctuary in which we worship. Jesus pre- sents us to the Father. We are beloved children, clothed with white robes, the garments of salvation and the robes of righteousness, we are priests unto God.
There is one expression in the teaching on wor- ship, which the Lord gave unto the woman of Samaria, which in its simplicity and height ex- ceeds the teaching of our epistle. Jesus said, " The Father seeketh such to worship Him." The doctrine of adoption or sonship is rather implied* than developed in this epistle. In it God is never called our Father, f or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our epistle rather prepares for the higher and yet simpler view, which presents to us God as our Father in Christ Jesus, and believers as His adopted and beloved children. In this
* Heb. ii. 11.
t Hebrews xii. 9 is no exception. Only one who fully saw the doctrine of adoption could have written this epistle ; for although from the aim and scope of the epistle it does not move, as it were, in this highest plane, yet is all the teaching harmonious with the full New Testament doctrine.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 99
present dispensation the Father seeketh worship- pers, and it is in childi^eji that He seeketh wor- shippers. Now we understand the full meaning of Christ's blessed and sweet word : After this manner shall ye pray, " Our Father, which art in heaven;" for the Holy Ghost, whom the ascended Saviour hath sent into our hearts, teaches and enables us to cry, in the Spirit of adoption, Abba ! The shadow has vanished ; unto us the true light shineth ; but Israel is still in darkness, and the world without the knowledge of God. But the day is approaching when Israel shall seek the Lord and their King David ; when the idols shall be utterly abolished, and the Lord alone be ex- alted. Meanwhile, let us, who are gathered out of the world, and who invoke the Name of the revealed Lord, worship In Spirit, having no con- fidence In the flesh, but rejoicing in Christ Jesus.
LECTURE V.
THE FIRST TABERNACLE. Hebrews ix. 1-5.
nPHE apostle had shown (vill. 13) that the -^ old covenant was ready to vanish away ; yet he is anxious to show that it was given of God, and for the appointed time full of blessing and in- struction. It also possessed ordinances of divine service ; that is, the divine service connected with it was given of God, instituted and sanctioned as a law among Israel. But the sanctuary was " worldly," that is, visible and tangible, according to this present world, and built with materials belonging to this earthly creation."
* The force of dLKaido/xara is, like the Hebrew judgments, ordi- nances, statutes in Deuteronomy. The service \va.s jure diviiio.
The antithesis to worldly {KoafiiKov) is heavenly, uncreated, eternal. Thus in the epistle to the Galatians, the apostle, speaking of the legal parenthetical dispensation, says we were then in bondage under the elements of the world ; and in the epistle to the Colos- sians, he contrasts with the rudiments of the world the heavenly position of the believer who has died with Christ, and " is no longer living in the world " (Gal. iv. 2, Col. ii. 20), but seeking the things above. Of the temporary character of the Jewish service, we have ver>' striking indications in the prophets. Thus we read in the prophet Jeremiah (iii. 16) : " And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiphed and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord,
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. loi
But now we worship in the heavenly sanctuary. By the destruction of the Temple, God declared unto the whole world, in the solemn language of judgment, what He had before revealed by His Spirit to His saints. They knew the mystery of the church : that during the times of the Gentiles, while Israel, on account of unbelief, is set aside as the theocratic and central nation, God gathers to Christ a people from among Jews and Gentiles, who, united in one body by one Spirit, and through the mediation of the High Priest, have access unto the Father. They possess the sub- stance, the body, the fulness of which Israel had shadows, pictures, and manifold and imperfect emblems. Through the death of Christ, and by the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, the new covenant saints have entered into the true worship of sons. Jesus is the perfect mediator ; He per- fectly accomplishes mediation ; He brings us nigh
they shall say no more. The ark of the covenant of the Lord : neither shall it come to mind : neither shall they remember it ; neither shall they visit it ; neither shall that be done any more." It was already noticed by ancient Jews, that the sacrifices, described by Ezekiel in connection with the new temple in Jerusalem, are different from those ordained by Moses. The cleansing of the sanctuary at the commencement of the year, is substituted for the atonement at the end of seven months. " The defective and im- perfect form of the old law gives place to a higher and more com- plete order." — Hdvernick. Everything is simplified ; the passover and the feast of tabernacles are the two characteristic festivals of the new condition ; redemption and the rest and enjoyment of harvest.
I02 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
unto God by His Blood, He brings God nigh unto us by His Spirit.
There is no room in the Church-dispensation for anything Hke the Levitical priesthood and sym- boHsm. We who beheve in Jesus, who honour the adorable Lord as the one Mediator between God and man, regard with profound sorrow, dismay, and abhorrence the antlchrlstian attempt to introduce priestly mediation between Christ and His people. Christ is the only Prophet, and of Him, and none else, the Father says to us, " Hear ye Him." Christ Is the only High Priest ; and because He is on the throne of God, we are to come boldly, even out of the depth of our sin and weakness ; we ascend above angels and prin- cipalities Into the highest heaven, and find there help in time of need. Jesus Is King, and has all power In heaven and on earth ; and by the Holy Ghost He energises in every saint who cleaves to Him. It is true, that In the old dispensation there were symbols. They were not man-Invented, but God-given, they descended from heaven ; they derived their authority from God ; they origin- ated in the divine mind ; they were framed by Him, who seeth the end from the beginning, and who In the most elementary and partial revelation has regard to the harmony and organic unity of the whole. Again, these symbols were to teach, to signify, to Illustrate spiritual truths.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 103
The divine word, the teaching of the prophets, and the very instinct of the godly, continually pointed away from the symbol to the reality, to the heavenly sanctuary, to the worship of the broken and the contrite heart. And last of all, they were known to be temporary, the star and moonlight to guide and cheer the faithful who waited for the sunrise, the promised redemp- tion. What has Israel's symbolism — God-given, inspired, spiritual, heart-searching, and Christ-un- folding— to do with the inventions and institutions of men, substituted for the Word of God, and placed, not to illustrate, but to obscure the truth as it is in Jesus ? Has the Church of Rome been, like the law, a schoolmaster to lead men unto Christ, to deepen the knowledge of sin, to exalt the holiness of God, to magnify His boundless grace, to point to the Lamb of God, and to the one perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice ?
What a marvellous confusion of Jewish, Pagan, and Christian elements do we see here ! Jewish things which have waxed old, and vanished away ; preparatory and imperfect elements which the apostle does not scruple to call beggarly now that the fulness has come — revived without divine authority, and changed and perverted to suit cir- cumstances for which they were never intended. Pagan things, appealing to the deep-seated and time-confirmed love of idolatry, and of sensuous
104 T^^^ Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap!
and mere outward performances ; the Babylonian worship of the Queen of Heaven ; the interces- sion of saints and angels, the mechanical repetition of formulas, the superstitious regard of places, seasons, and relics. Burled among these elements are some relics of Christian truth, without which this ingenious fabric could not have existed so long, and Influenced so many minds — a truth which in the merciful condescension of God Is blessed to sustain the life of His chosen ones in the mystical Babylon. This so-called Church, vast and imposing, opens its door wide, except to those who honour the Scriptures, and who magnify the Lord Jesus. It can forgive sins, and grant pardons and indulgences, extending the astounding assumption of jurisdiction even beyond the grave ; yet it cannot bring peace to the wounded conscience, and renewal to the aching heart, because It never fully and simply declares the efficacy of the blood of Jesus, by which we obtain perfect remission, and the power of the Holy Ghost, who joins us to Christ. This com munity speaks of sacrifice, of altars, of priest- hood, and stands between the people and the sanctuary above, the only High Priest, who by His sacrifice has entered for us into the holy of holies. And In our day this great apostasy has reached a point which we would fain regard as its culminating point, when it places the Virgin Mary
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 105
by the side of the Lord Jesus as sinless and pure, and when it arrogates for man infahible authority over the heritage of God.
But I have referred to this great perversion of truth, to this apostasy, which exerts such a potent fascination, in order to remind you by contrast of the sImpHcity of the Gospel.*
They who believe in Jesus are, a royal priest- hood, a chosen generation, the people who are God's peculiar portion ; all whom Jesus loves, and whom He has washed from their sins in His own blood, are made by Him kings and priests unto God and His Father. So we are taught by the apostles Peter and John.f And in our epistle we are reminded of the heavenly calling and the spiritual worship of all believers who consider with believing and simple hearts the great Apostle and High Priest of their profession.
God prepared the present dispensation of reality and substance by one of types and shadows.
Among the high and august privileges of Israel
* The true character of the Church of Rome was well described by Martin Luther in these forcible words : " The Church of Rome is built not upon the rock of the divine word, but on the sand of human reasoning." It is a rationalistic church. The only method to fortify young minds against Rome's fascinating errors, is to instruct them fully in the truths of God's word. The blood of atonement and the indwelling Spirit are the two great and precious gifts by which we obtain perfect peace, and knowing these two truths we shall not look for an outward infallible authority.
t I Pet. ii. 5-9 ; Rev. i. 5, 6.
io6 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
which the apostle Paul enumerates In his epistle to the Romans, and which culminate In the trans- cendent fact, which is also their root, " Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who Is God over all," he mentions also the service, includ- ing in this expression all the divine institutions concerning worship which were given unto the people through Moses. The people whom God, had chosen and redeemed were separated to be a holy nation, to draw near unto Jehovah, and to worship Him. This was the great purpose of election and redemption. Hence the God- appointed service is as important as '' the adop- tion, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law." The word service Is apt to convey an erroneous Impression, because In the nominal church the character of spiritual worship has been so frequently and during protracted periods misunderstood. The service which God appointed In Israel must not be compared with ritual Imposed by human authority, and arranged according to man's Ingenuity or aesthetic feeling. In the tabernacle, which Moses built according to the pattern of heavenly things, shown unto him of God, everything, down to the minutest detail of number and colour, was of divine authority, and full of meaning. The Holy Ghost Himself teaches here by signs. When the apostle, after enumerating the vessels of the sanctuary, adds
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebreivs. 107
that he cannot now speak of them particularly,'^ he thereby establishes, or rather confirms, the truth, well known to the Hebrews, that every- thing in the tabernacle was of divine appoint- ment, and was symbolic of spiritual realities.
If we understand the nature of worship, we also see that the method of worship must be given and appointed of God. Man neither knows whom or how to worship. Even the chosen and redeemed people need to be taught how to wor- ship ; and herein is only a fuller revelation of the character of God Himself. Genesis is the funda- mental book, the book of election ; Exodus is the book of redemption ; Leviticus the book of wor- ship. The inference which the Puritan Divines drew from the second commandment — *' Thou shalt not make to thyself any image ;" viz., that it prohibited all methods and ceremonies in the worship of God invented and appointed by man, was not merely perfectly correct, but touched the very vital and sensitive point to which the super- stition of centuries had become dead and obtuse.
* This expression plainly indicates, that although the apostle hastens to the consideration of the most important and central truth of which he is treating here, he could enter into a minute exposition of the various parts of the tabernacle. Hence the endeavour to find the typical meaning of those portions of the tabernacle which are not explained in the New Testament is per- fectly legitimate, even as there are many more types and Messianic passages than those referred to and expounded by evangelists and apostles.
io8 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
God taught Israel worship. The fulfilment of the types is in Christ ; and now there is no other worship but worship of the forgiven and renewed believers, who through the great High Priest are before God, and know and love Him as Father.
Let us consider now the earthly tabernacle, as we are here reminded of it. The saints of old, whose souls thirsted for the living God, who could find no happiness and rest in the things of time and sense, whose hearts could not be filled with mere form, found in the ordinances of God's house their greatest delight. *' How amiable are thy tabernacles. Lord God of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord : my heart and my fiesh crieth out for the living God." And in still stronger words : '' One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after ; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple." And we, who live in the bright light of the gospel, shall also find it good to be here, and to contemplate the divinely- appointed images of the spiritual blessings in heavenly places. " The Holy Ghost explains to us in the New Testament the highest mys- teries of eternal redemption by words which are taken from these types, and says to us, ' Know the Lord,' by unfolding to us the Person, the Sacrifice, the High Priesthood of Christ, pre-
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 109
figured more profoundly and completely by the types than in the prophecies, properly so called." * *' Types were institutions intended to deepen, expand, and ennoble the circle of thoughts and desires, and thus heighten the moral and spiritual wants, as well as the intelligence and suscepti- bility of the chosen people." f Tyndal says : " These similitudes open Christ, and the secrets of God hid in Christ, and have more virtue and power with them than bare words, and lead a man's understanding further into the pith and marrow and spiritual understanding of the thing than all the words that can be imagined."
The apostle does not give a full description of the tabernacle. He makes no mention of the outer court, of the brazen altar, of the golden altar of incense, and other important parts. He hastens to point out that the way into the holiest was not then made manifest. His object is not to explain the meaning of the tabernacle, but to show how the tabernacle itself pointed beyond the earthly and temporary symbol.
God reveals Himself unto Israel as holy. Holi- ness, according to the Old Testament, is not so much one of the divine attributes, such as good- ness, power, grace ; but rather means the unity of
* Stier.
t From Dr. A. Bonar's excellect introduction on the nature of the book, Co7n)?ie?it. oti Leviticus.
no The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
all divine attributes, the very nature of God in His covenant relation to Israel. We bless His holy name, and mean thereby His forgiving grace, His healing mercy, His renewing power, His faith- fulness and loving-kindness.* All His mighty wonders, and all the marvels of His guidance and rule, are to show forth His holiness. As in the new covenant we say God is love, so the Israelites said God is holy.
Because God is holy, His people, whom He has chosen, are by this very fact holy. There is no other holiness but that which is rooted in divine election.
But this people, chosen and redeemed, called holy, is in its actual condition ignorant, guilty, and polluted ; in reality it is distant from God, and therefore God brings them nigh unto Himself. For this purpose the priesthood is chosen and the tabernacle is built.
God dwells in heaven, and therefore heaven is holy. The expression, God dwells in heaven, was well understood by Israel to refer to the manifes- tation of His glory, and not to any local limitation of His infinite and incomprehensible Majesty. The heaven of heavens, they acknowledged, can- not contain Him, yet is the throne of God in heaven ; there His glory is beheld, and His presence adored. Now as there is in heaven the
* Psalm ciii.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 1 1 1
holy of holies, where God Himself is, and the heavens the holy place where God's angels are ; so in the earthly tabernacle the holy of holies and the holy place are the two places where the presence, the glory, and the gracious blessing of the covenant God are vouchsafed to Israel. God condescends to reveal Himself there, and to give the blessings of His forgiving and sanctifying grace.
In the holy of holies was no light. " The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.'""* We read that clouds and darkness are about God, and yet we know that He is light, and covereth Himself with light as with a garment. But the light in which God dwelleth is dark by excess of brightness. No man can approach unto it. No man hath seen God at any time. "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself," is the exclamation of even His worshippers, who know Him as the Holy One of Israel. Yet this God, who is infinite and incomprehensible, dwelling in light and glory ineffable, is the Holy God, whose love delights to draw His chosen people unto Himself, and to enrich them with the inexhaustible riches of His grace. From the throne of God shines forth the revelation of God. He who is the brightness of God's glory, the image of the invisible God, is sent forth, and we behold light in God's light. As God, who is light,
* I Kings viii. 12.
1 1 2 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
said on the first day, ''Let there be light : and there was Hght," so He hath given us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How peaceful and gentle is this light. They that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death can bear and welcome it ; it is the tender mercy of God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us. Yet how perfect and infinite is this light. For he that hath seen Jesus hath seen the Father. Christ is the brightness of the Father's glory; not in that He is less glorious than the Father, less unsearchable and inexhaus- tible, for no man knoweth the Son, but the Father, but that men can behold the glory of the Only- begotten ; for the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled with us.
Of this light the candlestick, which stood in the holy place, was the significant emblem. Here we behold Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, the light of the world ; the Lord, upon whom was the Spirit of the Lord, anointing Him, to declare salvation unto the broken-hearted ; the Messiah, who came in the sevenfold plenitude of the Holy Ghost, and who was continually revealing the Father. The light of the holy of holies, which was unapproachable, the glory of the Most High, was beheld when Jesus lived on earth, when He, who was in the bosom of the Father, came to reveal Him. But as He manifested the Father,
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 1 1 3
so He also revealed the perfection of humanity ; He was filled with the Spirit, and always walked in the Spirit. It is as Immanuel that He is the candlestick. He came to be a mediator, to reveal God, and to bring the light of God in our hearts. He is the light of the world in such a way, that sinful men, becoming one with Him, are also the light of the world. He is able to say unto His disciples : '' Let your light so shine before men ! " Our light, and yet His light, even as the branches have life, but no other life than that which the True Vine gives them. Hence in the book of Revelation we behold seven golden candlesticks, the seven churches. Christ the Lord walks in the midst of them ; nay, He is the light within them. And although in that which is spiritual every part forms a complete and individual whole, yet are the seven one ; even as every believer may be viewed as a temple, yet is there only one temple, one spiritual house, even Christ's, who is one with all His saints.
Wonderful light, so clear and simple that little children behold it, and rejoice ; so peaceful and consoling that they who cry out of the depths salute it as the dawn of sweetest hope ; so perfect and infinite that the more we contemplate it the more we desire "to know Him," and long for the day when He shall appear, and we shall know even as we are known ; so high above us and so
II. I
114 ^^^^ Epistle to the Hebi^ews. tchap.
deep within us, even In the very central seat of vision, transfiguring and transforming us, nay, shining out of us Into the dark world of sin and misery. '' I will dwell In the thick darkness," salth God ; for He Is God, and through all the ages all His angels and saints shall worship Him, vailing their faces and adoring His awful majesty ; but He Is the Holy One who delights In mercy, in giving, In shining forth Into our hearts. In filling heaven and earth with His glory. In Jesus Christ we have and are light. Oh that the waves of light out of the heavenly sanctuary would descend con- tinually Into our souls with sanctifying, gladdening, and transforming power !
But In the holy place stood also the table and the shew-bread. Jesus Christ Is the light of life. Life and light ; these mysterious highest blessings are inseparably connected. In Christ, as the eternal uncreated Word, was life, and the life Is the light of men.* The Word Is only another name for light ; It Is the manifestation, the ex- pression of that which is hidden. We behold, we hear God In the Son of His love. The Lord brings to us both life and light. There can be no spiritual light proceeding from God without life. To know Him and Jesus Christ is life eternal. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And there is no spiritual
* John i. 3.
IX.'] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 1 1 5
life without light. With God is the fountain of life, and in His light do we see light.
Bread is the symbol of life. Bread is the peculiar food of humanity. It grows out of the earth, and is the result of human labour and diligence. It is of all nourishment the most important, essential, and precious. When we combine the symbolism of earthly bread with the symbolism of the manna which God sent to the Jews in the desert, we are prepared to understand the deep teaching of our Lord who presents Him- self as the living Bread, the Bread that comes down from heaven, the Bread of life. He is the Son heaven-given, the Child earth-born, the Life and the Giver of life ; and through His death on the cross He became bread for all poor sinners, whose faith in Him can be so fitly compared with eating, satisfying their hunger after righteousness, and in their emptiness grasping and rejoicing in the fulness of God's redemption.
The shew-bread, or bread of presence, set before God was a type of Jesus, as the delight of His heavenly Father, who was always well pleased in Him, and satisfied with His love and obedience. The number twelve shows that for each tribe which the High Priest bore on His breast-plate, there was bread and abundance ; for Jesus came that we might have life, and that abundantly. The priests, even all Christians, feed now on the true
1 1 6 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
bread in the presence of God. And as in the candlestick we behold in the first place Christ, the true light ; and in the second place Christ in the Church, the light of the world ; so may we also behold in the twelve loaves a reference to Christ in His people. Jesus was the corn of wheat that died. Jesus was the sheaf of the first-fruits, which, on the morrow after the Sabbath, on the first day of the week, was waved before the Lord ; and fifty days after His resurrection the Holy Ghost descended, and the disciples were filled with the Spirit. Then was the Church born, then the two loaves of fine flour were presented unto the Lord ; for we are the first-fruits of His creatures. And thus we read also that Jesus, entering the heart, sups with us and we with Him.
The apostle does not mention the golden altar of incense symbolizing the intercession of our adorable Lord, and the presentation of our peti- tions by Him unto the Father. The candlestick, the table, and the golden altar — light, life, and acceptable worship, are inseparably connected. Christ Jesus, God and man, is the true Light, the true, substantial, living, and life-giving Bread, the true Intercessor. Yet so perfect is His mystical union with His believing people, according to the love of the Father, and by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, that we also are seven golden candle- sticks, children of light, and light-bearers ; that we
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews, 1 1 7
also are an acceptable offering unto the Lord ; and that the prayers of saints ascend as incense unto the heavenly throne.
To us it is given to understand the full meaning of these divine symbols, to behold in the one Lord Jesus Christ the manifold wisdom of God, to re- ceive in the one unspeakable gift all the gifts of eternal blessedness. The brightness of gospel light brings us to the simplicity which is in Christ Jesus. Knowing Him, who is all, we contemplate with delight each single type, that so we may grow in adoring knowledge, and be increasingly established in the comforting and sanctifying truth. Let us, then, look also with reverence into the most holy, which was separated by a veil, itself a type, from the first tabernacle.
The apostle enumerates seven things as be- longing to it — types of seven divine and heavenly realities : (i) The golden censer; (2) The ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold ; (3) The golden pot that had manna ; (4) Aaron's rod that budded ; (5) The tables of the covenant ; (6) The cherubims of glory ; (7) The mercy-seat."^
The apostle does not explain the meaning of these things, but he simply refers to them. His wish therefore is merely to remind us of the manifold symbols by which the solemn realities of the
■* In the sanctuary we noticed three things, in the most holy- seven.
T 1 8 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
heavenly sanctuary were signified by the Holy Ghost.
1. In the book of Exodus (xxx. 34-38) we read a full description of the Incense, which was regarded as most holy. The golden censer con- taining It brings before us the Intercession of our Lord at the right hand of God ; this Is the only perfect prevailing mediation, fragrant and delightful unto the Father, whereby all our sin-defiled and imperfect petitions, praises, and gifts are well- pleasing unto the Most High.
2. The ark of the covenant, sometimes called simply the ark, or the ark of testimony ; or In the last passage where it occurs, " The holy ark," with (3) The golden pot that had manna ; (4) Aaron's rod that budded ; and (5) The tables of the covenant.
The ark was a symbol that God was present among His people, that His covenant blessing was resting upon them. It was the most sacred and glorious instrument of the sanctuary ; yea, the whole sanctuary was built for no other end, but to be as it were a house and habitation for the ark.* Hence sanctificatlon proceeded unto all the other parts of It ; for, as Solomon observed, the places were holy whereunto the ark of God came.t The nations took it to be the Gods that the Israelites worshipped. | "God gave this
* Exod. xxvi. 33. t 2 Chron. viii. ii. J i Sam. iv. 8.
IX.1 The Epistle to the Hebi^ews. 1 1 9
ark that it might be a representation of Christ, and He took it away to increase the desire and expectation of the Church after Him and for Him. And as it was the glory of God to hide and cover the mysterious counsels of His will under the Old Testament, whence this ark was so hidden from the eyes of all men, so under the New Testament, it is His glory to reveal and make them open in Jesus Christ."'-' It contained originally (and the apostle is not here giving an account of the actual condition of the temple, but of the original and perfect design) the manna, or the symbol of the heaven -descended, real, spiritual, and therefore hidden bread, f which they who overcome shall know and taste perfectly in the Paradise of God. It contained also the rod of Aaron that budded, whereby God confirmed the election of Aaron and his sons to be priests unto Him. This is a beautiful and striking type of Him who is Priest according to the power of an endless life, of Him who was dead, and, behold. He liveth for ever- more, of the Rod out of the stem of Jesse, of the Man whose name is the Branch, and who shall be a Priest upon His throne.]: It contained also the tables of the covenant, in which God had written His holy law. These tables testified against Israel's sin and hardness of heart. And at first
* 2 Cor. iii. 1 8.— Owen. t Rev. ii.
X Isaiah xi. i ; Zecli. iii. 8 ; vi. 12, 13.
I20 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap;
slo^ht it seems strangfe and alarminof that in the ark of merciful covenant-presence, besides the manna and the symbol of resurrection-life and unfading youth, we should behold the accusing and con- demning witness of the broken law. But the law which condemns us is and ever remains holy, just, and good ; and the God who justifies us is none other than the just God. Not merely is the pro- pitiation, the covering and atoning blood, sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, but the law of God was magnified and fulfilled by Christ ; as is written in the psalm, '' Thy law is within my heart."* Our Advocate with the Father is Jesus Christ the righteous.
Then there were the cherubim of glory. There is no reason why we should view the cherubim as mere personifications either of divine powers or the Church. We read of them as of other celestial beings, as of the seraphim who stand before God's throne, and as of the angels or messengers whom God sends forth to do His commandments, and to minister unto the heirs of salvation. We read of them as guarding the entrance into the garden of Eden after man's fall. Afterwards in the Psalms, as the chariot of the Lord, and in the visions of Ezekiel, they appear as the representatives of creation and the medi- ators and agents of divine life-power in the world.f
* Psalm xl. 8. f Ps. xviii. lo ; Ezek. i. 4, etc.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 121
In the book of Revelation also we read of them as the living beings. We may In a general way call them angels, as the apostle Peter does with evident reference to the mercy-seat. These high angelic creatures — thus mysteriously connected with the divine world-rule — behold with eager and adoring desire the glory of God In Christ Jesus, God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, the eternal counsel of divine love fulfilled in the redemption through the blood of the Lamb. Thus the apostle teaches us, that by the church the manifold wisdom of God Is shown unto the princi- palities and powers in heavenly places. And In harmony with this sublime truth is the song of the heavenly host on Bethlehem's plains, " Glory to God in the highest," and the majestic ascription of praise to the Lamb, which the myriads of angels offer in the vision of the apostle John, and to which the four living beings respond, Amen.
And what shall we say of the mercy -seat ? Even in the holy of holies, when we have con- templated so many symbols of the most solemn character, we pause in reverential silence as we are brought to this highest manifestation of the divine presence of holiness and love. Here we behold the propitiation through faith in the blood of the Son of God ; the atonement which, while it covers our sins, manifests the glory of God, and reveals to us and to all angels the depths of divine
122 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [ix.
wisdom, grace, truth, the marvellous union of all His glorious perfections : God is love.
Have we come to the blood-besprinkled mercy- seat ? What other position can we take than either remain outside, far from God and strangers to His love, or enter by faith, now that the veil is rent, into the holy of holies ? If it is true that Jesus is the way, and that no man cometh to the Father, but by Him, can we approach, can we pray, can we adore in any other way than in and by Jesus ? in any other place than in the heavenly sanctuary ? We cannot go back by the works of the law into the garden of Eden. The cherub with the flaming sword guards the entrance. But even the cherubim will adore with children of Eve, guilty and fallen, when in repentance and trust we look unto the Lord our righteousness, the Lamb in the midst of the throne! A bond of more thrilling tenderness binds Jesus to us sinful men than to the angels.
LECTURE VI.
CHRIST ENTERED IN BY HIS OWN BLOOD. Hebrews ix. 7-14.
nPHE apostle, having briefly referred to the •*■ glory of the first tabernacle, contrasts now the entrance of the high priest into the holy of holies on the day of atonement and the typical sacrifice, which sanctified to the purifying of the flesh with the entrance of our Lord Into heaven Itself by His own blood, and the real and spiritual purification connected with Christ's one oblation. The type was necessarily Imperfect ; the fulfilment Is per- fect. The former consisted of many parts. There is a multiplicity of sacrifices, and yet, even when combined, there is still imperfection. The latter possesses a marvellous simplicity, for Christ Is the one sacrifice, by whom all the purposes of God, as to our redemption, and sanctlficatlon, and future glory, are fulfilled. In the type, the purifica- tion was legal, ceremonial, provisional — It admitted the worshipper to the services of the worldly sanc- tuary ; in the fulfilment, the conscience is purged,
124 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
and we have access, continuous and for ever, unto the throne of God. In the type, the very sanctuary itself required to be cleansed by expiatory sprink- lings, the sins of priests and worshippers in their relationship to the sanctuary needed atonement, and through this purification the continuance of typical sacrificial communion with God was secured ; in the fulfilment, through the blood of Christ, heaven itself is the sanctuary in which we worship, and as Christ is there for ever, our acceptance and worship know no interruption or cessation. Thus the type itself, witnessing throughout of its imper- fection, points to the glorious fulfilment.
The way into the holiest, access to the very presence of God, was not yet made manifest. While the priests went always into the holy place, accomplishing the service of God, kindling the lamps, laying shew-bread every Sabbath-day upon the table, and offering incense on the golden altar, they were not allowed to enter into the holy of holies. Even the high priest could not enter, except once a year, on the day of atonement — that solemn and awful day, on which, divested of his golden and glorious robes, without the mitre, the embroidered vest, and the breast-plates, he entered in the garments of humility, offering for himself and for the errors of the people. Even on that day the high priest's entrance into the holy of holies was imperfect ; for he was by no means to
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 1 2 5
see clearly the ark of the covenant with the mercy- seat ; the cloud of incense was to be a covering, lest he die."
But now Christ is come, and now begins the dispensation, not again of the first tent, or of the holy place, but of that symbolized by the Most Holy — of the heavenly sanctuary itself — of the worship in Spirit and in truth — of entrance into the holy of holies, where the great High Priest is enthroned at the right hand of the Father. What a contrast to the Levitical dispensation !
Even in the first tent, or part of the tabernacle, the relation of the people with God was through the priesthood. The sacrifice, by which alone access could be given to sinful men, according to divine holiness, had not yet been offered ; hence the conscience of the worshipper was not perfect,
* This then was perfectly evident, that the Jewish dispensation was characterized by the holy place, and that access into the "most holy" was as yet not revealed and given to the chosen people. The whole structure of the tabernacle, and the whole arrangement of services, made this clear to every single-hearted and conscientious Israelite. He must have known, and was con- tinually reminded, that the most holy place with the mercy-seat was hid in deepest mystery; that it was as yet veiled and inac- cessible ; that the blood of goats and calves could not really take away sins ; and that the imperfection of these sacrifices was mani- fest both because they had to be repeated, and because the veil remained, which separated even the priests from the mercy-seat. The God-fearing Israelite must have felt that meats and drinks, and divers washings and carnal ordinances, were only figurative, preparatory — an intermediate education as well as promise and pledge of the times of reformation, of fulfilment and substance.
126 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
and his service was not in liberty. But now, through the death of Christ, beHevers are brought from the first tabernacle and priestly mediation into the true archetype of the earthly holy of holies, into the heavenly sanctuary itself, having the conscience perfect according to divine right- eousness, and in the spirit of liberty, in the know- ledge of the infinite love of God.
Hence, there is a real and great difference between believers in the new covenant dispen- sation and in the old. It is true that there was at all times only one way of salvation, only one right- eousness through faith in the divinely-appointed Substitute provided by God for guilty sinners. But the difference between the condition of believers before the death of Christ and those after is indi- cated fully in this and the succeeding chapter, in harmony with the whole Pauline teaching.* The law made nothing perfect.
But, as the apostle triumphantly continues, Messiah is come, the high priest of good things to come ; that is, of eternal blessings which shall be fully revealed and bestowed in the ages to come, but the substance of which is ours already, even spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He Himself is the true tabernacle. Conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, He is called from His very infancy that holy Thing * Rom. iii. 25.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 127
or Sanctuary. This Body the Father prepared ; He built it by the Holy Ghost to be the tabernacle of divine glory. The Word was made flesh, taber- nacled with us, and we beheld the Son's glory. He was the Light of the world, the golden can- dlestick ; He was the Bread of the countenance, and from His pure humanity, as well as His filial divinity (inseparably united), ascended the true incense unto God, even as afterwards He inter- cedes in the holy of holies. But while on earth Jesus is only the Holy Place; not yet has He entered into the very presence of God, into heaven itself. Before He can ascend to His God and our God, to His Father and our Father, He must die ; His flesh is the veil, and the veil must be rent. True, His flesh also is without sin. Blessed be God, in Him was nothing but Spirit and life. He came in the weakness and in the likeness of sinful flesh, for thus it was necessary in order to bring us unto God. He learned obedience. He submitted His human will to the Father's, and in all His walk, trial, and suffering He was holy, harmless, and undefiled. But, as the apostle explains it, because man was without righteousness, inasmuch as the law could not be fulfilled in us, through the sinful weakness of the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and by a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. When Jesus died on the cross,
128 The Epistle to the Hebrews, [chap.
then God condemned sin. When the body of Christ was broken, then God judged sin — executed sentence on it — and in the true and real sense destroyed it for evermore.
Notice how careful the apostle is to remind us in this very passage of Christ's divinity.* Who is this man on the cross in the weakness of sinful flesh ? Who is this man in whose sacrifice of Himself God the Judge condemns sin ? He is God's own Son, eternal, infinite, all-glorious. Wonderful veil rent by God Himself! But now is Christ no longer the Holy Place, but the Most Holy, the Holy of Holies. See Him on the right hand of God ; see now the throne of God a throne of grace; with His own blood He entered, and the manifestation of God between the cheru- bim is now God reconciled to us in Christ Jesus, our Father and covenant God. Jesus, who glori- fied the law, manifesting it in His person and life, and fulfilling and exhausting both its precepts and its curse, is the ark wherein the tables of the law were hid ; He Himself is the mercy-seat, the propitiation, revealing the holy love of God with such brightness and perfection that angels desire to look into this mystery. He has the hidden manna by which He sustains our inner life on earth, and shall communicate to us in eternity renewed strength ; and He is the rod, which,
* Rom. viii. 3.
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 129
though cut off and given over unto death, budded forth in resurrection-power, and is Hving for ever- more; thus proving Him to be the true Priest after the power of an indissoluble life. The veil is rent ; Christ died on the cross ; we see the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. The darkness is past ; no cloud of in- cense conceals the mystery ; Christ has no veil on His face when for us He appears in the presence of God ; and we also with open face behold the Father.
The whole throne of God is irradiated now by the sweet and peaceful light of mercy, for the Lamb who found an eternal redemption is at the right hand of God. The Father Himself loveth us ; God the just and holy One hath accepted us in the Beloved. Here is what no symbol could prefigure. ' Jesus, both Sacrifice and Priest, has fulfilled Aaronic types, and reigns after the order of Melchisedec, while presenting us continually unto the Father, is always sympathizing with us in our infirmities and temptations, and supplying all needful strength unto us in our earthly pilgrim- age and conflict.
But let us reverently consider the way by which Jesus entered, and the position which is thereby given unto all believers of God. We notice two expressions. He entered in once by His own
II. K
130 The Epistle to the Hebrews. [chap.
blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us, and, the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unto God.
Not without awe and trembling, and yet with deep and solemn joy, ought a Christian to speak of the precious blood of Christ. Here is the very heart, the inmost sanctuary of our faith. Marvel not, brethren, that this doctrine is at all times, both to wise Greeks and self-righteous Jews, the stumbling-block and the rock of offence. But where man's reason can see no wisdom, where the unrenewed mind doubts, cavils, and mocks, the saints of God adore, and expect to adore for ever. Here is indeed the centre of all divine revela- tions. With increasing clearness this mystery shines through the whole Scripture. Do we not see it in the better sacrifice of Abel ? Do we not behold it on the door-posts of Israel, on the memorable night of the passover ? Does it not meet us on every page of Leviticus ? Do we not hear it in the solemn and emphatic declaration : " Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin ? " Does it not shine forth in all the ordi- nances of the tabernacle ? Can we not discover it in the words of Isaiah, when he speaks of Messiah pouring out His life ? and in the words of Zecha- riah, "They shall look unto me, whom they pierced"? Jesus the Lord declared "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 131
blood, ye have no life In you ; " and on the last evening said, " This is the new testament in my blood ; this is my blood, shed for the remission of sins." In like manner all the apostolic epistles assign peculiar importance as to the death of the Lord, so especially to the shedding of His pre- cious blood ; and in the culminating book of Scripture, the Apocalypse, the doctrine is asserted with peculiar solemnity. The beloved disciple ascribes glory and honour unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us a kingdom of priests unto God and His Father; and all the heavenly doxologies, the voice of celestial angels and saints, ascribe redemption to the blood of Christ ; to the blood they ascribe the righteousness of the saints, as well as their triumph over sin and evil.
On no subject is the apostolic teaching so emphatic, so lucid, so abundant. This truth filled their hearts, and was their central thought. By the blood of Christ we who were far off were made nigh ; by His blood we are justified ; Christ suffered that He might sanctify us by His blood; we possess (and that for ever) redemption through His blood ; His blood cleanseth us from all sin, and the Church has been purchased with this precious price.*
* Eph. ii. 13 ; Rom. v. 9 ; Heb. xiii. 12 ; Eph. i. 7 ; i John i. 7 ; Acts XX. 28 ; Rev. i. 5 ; v. 9, etc.
132 The Epistle to the Hebi^ews. [chap.
As the types teach us, the great object of the death of Christ was, that His blood might be shed. By His own blood He entered into the holy place.
And as in no single sacrifice could be adequately represented the power and efficacy of His precious blood, the apostle mentions here, not merely the blood of bulls and of goats, but also the ashes of an heifer. By the former the high priest, the priests, and the people were ceremonially purified, their iniquities and transgressions being removed, and the sanctuary cleansed for continued worship. By the other was symbolised the cleansing and vivifying power of Christ's blood, keeping us during our pilgrimage in this wilderness of sin and defilement.'" But while these types could
"^ The ashes of an heifer. It was to take away the defilement of death. The institution is recorded in the book of Numbers as relating to the provision God makes for His people in their wilder- ness journey. As no blood of the slain victim was " incorruptible," it was necessary, in order to show the cleansing by blood from defilement through contact with death, to have as it were the essential principle of blood presented in a permanent and avail- able form. The red heifer, which had never been under the yoke, symbolises life in its most vigorous, perfect, and fruitful form. She was slain without the camp. (Heb. xiii. 11 ; Num. xix. 3, 4.) She was wholly burnt, flesh, skin, and blood, the priest casting cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet into the fire. The ashes of the burnt heifer, put into flowing water, were then sprinkled with hyssop for ceremonial purification. It is also important to notice that it was not Aaron or the high priest himself to whom the red heifer was given, but to his son or successor. The high priest was to be separate from death. Here also we see the imperfection of the type. Our victim is the Lord of life, who by the eternal Spirit offered Him-
IX.] The Epistle to the Hebrews. 133
not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, but were given in the mercy of God for an intermediate period, and to bring in a better hope, the blood of Christ, by which He entered into the holy of holies, brings unto us eternal redemption and heavenly perfec- tion. Here the sanctification (dyta^a v. 13) is real.
We are separated from God the Holy One by sin, from God the living One by death. In order to bring us into communion with God, and to purge our consciences, we have to be delivered both from the guilt of sin and the defilement and
self and rose in the power of an endless life. Christ is the fulfilment. For the blood of Christ is not merely, so to speak, the key unlock- ing the holy of holies to Him as our High Priest and Redeemer, it is not merely our ransom by which we are delivered out of