The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews Part 19

The holiest place includes, therefore, the whole mountain of Zion, on which the tabernacle was erected; yea, all Jerusalem is within the precincts. If we extend the range of our survey, we behold the earth sanctified by the presence of the first-born sons of G.o.d, who are the Church, and of His myriads, the other sons of G.o.d, who also have, not indeed the birthright, but a blessing, even the joyful mult.i.tude of the heavenly host.[370] The Apostle describes the angels as keeping festal holiday, for joy to witness the coming of the first-born sons. They are the friends of the Bridegroom, who stand and hear Him, and rejoice greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice. If, again, we attempt to soar above this world of trials, we find ourselves at once before the judgment-seat of G.o.d. But even here a change has taken place. For we are come to a Judge Who is G.o.d of all,[371] and not merely to a G.o.d Who is Judge of all. Thus the promise of the new covenant has been fulfilled, "I will be to them a G.o.d."[372] If in imagination we pa.s.s the tribunal and consider the condition of men in the world of spirits, we recognise there the spirits of the righteous dead, and are given to understand that they have already attained the perfection[373] which they could not have received before the Christian Church had exercised a greater faith than some had found possible to themselves on earth.[374] If we ascend still higher, we are in the presence of Jesus Himself. But He is on the right hand of the Majesty on high, not simply as Son of G.o.d, but as Mediator of the new covenant. His blood is sprinkled on the mercy-seat, and speaks to G.o.d, but not for vengeance on those who shed it on the Cross, some of whom possibly were now among the readers of the Apostle's piercing words. What an immeasurable distance between the first man of faith, mentioned in the eleventh chapter, and Jesus, with Whom his list closes! The very first blood of man shed to the earth cried from the ground to G.o.d for vengeance. The blood of Jesus sprinkled in heaven speaks a better thing. What the better thing is, we are not told. Men may give it a name; but it is addressed to G.o.d, and G.o.d alone knows its infinite meaning.

From all this we infer that the comparison here made between Sinai and Zion is intended to depict the difference (seen, as it were, in another Bunyan's dream) between a revelation given before Christ offered Himself as a propitiation for sin and the revelation which G.o.d gives us of Himself after the sacrifice of Christ has been presented in the true holiest place.

The Apostle's account of Mount Zion is followed by a most incisive warning, introduced with a sudden solemnity, as if the thunder of Sinai itself were heard remote. The pa.s.sage is beset with difficulties, some of which it would be inconsistent with the design of the present volume to discuss. One question has scarcely been touched upon by the expositors. But it enters into the very pith of the subject. The exhortation which the author addresses to his readers does not at first appear to be based on a correct application of the narrative. For the Israelites at the foot of Sinai are not said to have refused Him that spake to them on the mount. No doubt G.o.d, not Moses, is meant; for it was the voice of G.o.d that shook the earth. The people were terrified.

They were afraid that the fire would consume them. But they had understood also that their G.o.d was the living G.o.d, and therefore not to be approached by man. They wished Moses to intervene, not because they rejected G.o.d, but because they acknowledged the awful greatness of His living personality. Far from rejecting Him, they said to Moses, "Speak thou unto us all that the Lord our G.o.d shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it and do it."[375] G.o.d Himself commended their words: "They have well said all that they have spoken." Can we suppose, therefore, that the Apostle in the present pa.s.sage represents them as actually rebelling, and "refusing Him that spake"? The word here translated "refuse"[376] does not express the notion of rejecting with contempt. It means "to deprecate," to shrink in fear from a person. Again, the word "escape," in its reference to the children of Israel at Sinai, cannot signify "to avoid being punished," which is its meaning in the second chapter of this Epistle.[377] The meaning is that they could not flee from His presence, though Moses mediated between Him and the people.

They could not escape Him. His word "_found_[378] them" when they cowered in their tents as truly as if they had climbed with Moses the heights of Sinai. For the word of G.o.d was then also a living word, and there was no creature that was not manifest in His sight. Yet it was right in the people to deprecate, and desire Moses to speak to them rather than G.o.d. This was the befitting spirit under the old covenant.

It expresses very precisely the difference between the bondage of that covenant and the liberty of the new. In Christ only is the veil taken away. Where the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is, there is liberty. But, for this reason, what was praiseworthy in the people who were kept at a distance from the bounds placed around Sinai is unworthy and censurable in those who have come to Mount Zion. See, therefore, that ye do not ask Him that speaketh to withdraw into the thick darkness and terrible silence. For us to deprecate is tantamount to rejection of G.o.d. We are actually turning away from Him. But to ignore and shun His presence is now impossible to us. The revelation is from heaven. He Who brought it descended Himself from above. Because He is from heaven, the Son of G.o.d is a life-giving Spirit. He surrounds us, like the ambient air. The sin of the world is not the only "besetting" element of our life. The ever-present, besetting G.o.d woos our spirit. He speaks. That His words are kind and forgiving we know. For He speaks to us from heaven, because the blood sprinkled in heaven speaks better before G.o.d than the blood of Abel spoke from the ground. The revelation of G.o.d to us in His Son preceded, it is true, the entrance of the Son into the holiest place; but it has acquired a new meaning and a new force in virtue of the Son's appearing before G.o.d for us. This new force of the revelation is represented by the mission and activity of the Spirit.

The author's thoughts glide almost imperceptibly into another channel.

We can refuse Him that speaketh, and turn away from Him in unbelief. But let us beware. It is the final revelation. His voice on Sinai shook the earth. The meaning is not that it terrified the people. The writer has pa.s.sed from that thought. He now speaks of the effect of G.o.d's voice on the material world, the power of revelation over created nature. This is a truth that frequently meets us in Scripture. Revelation is accompanied by miracle. When the Ten Commandments were spoken by the lips of G.o.d to the people, "the whole mount quaked greatly."[379] But the prophet Haggai predicts the glory of the second house in words which recall to our author the trembling of Mount Sinai: "For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desirable things of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts."[380] It is very characteristic of the writer of this Epistle to fasten on a few salient points in the prophet's words. He seems to think that Haggai had the scenes that occurred on Sinai in his mind. Two expressions connect the narrative in Exodus with the prophecy. When G.o.d spoke on Sinai, His voice shook the earth. Haggai declares that G.o.d will, at some future time, shake the heaven. Again, the prophet has used the words "yet once more." Therefore, when the greater glory of the second house will have come to pa.s.s, the last shaking of earth and of heaven will take place.

The inference is that the word "yet once more" signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken. The whole fabric of nature will perish in its present material form, and the Apostle connects this universal catastrophe with the revelation of G.o.d in His Son.

Many very excellent expositors think that our author refers, not to the final dissolution of nature, but to the abrogation of the Jewish economy. It is true that the Epistle has declared the old covenant a thing of the past. But there are two considerations that lead us to adopt the other view of this pa.s.sage. In the first place, this Epistle does not describe the abrogation of the old covenant as a violent catastrophe, but rather as the pa.s.sing away of what had grown old and decayed. In the second place, the coming of the Lord is elsewhere, in writings of that age, spoken of as accompanied by a great convulsion of nature. The two notions go together in the thoughts of the time. "The day of the Lord will come as a thief, in the which the heavens shall pa.s.s away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up."[381]

We connect the words "as things that have been made" with the next clause: "that those things which are not shaken may remain." It is not because they have been made that the earth and the heaven are removed; and their place will not be occupied by uncreated things only, but also by things made. The meaning is that nature will be dissolved when it has answered its purpose, and not till then. Earth and heaven have been made, not for their own sakes, but in order that out of them a new world may be created, which will never be removed or shaken. This new world is the kingdom of which the King-Priest is eternal Monarch.[382] As we partake in His priesthood, we share also in His kings.h.i.+p. We enter into the holiest place and stand before the mercy-seat, but our absolution is announced and confirmed to us by the Divine summons to sit down with Christ in His throne, as He has sat down with His Father in His throne.[383]

Let us therefore accept the kingdom. But beware of your peculiar danger, which is self-righteous pride, worldliness, and the evil heart of unbelief. Rather let us seek and get that grace from G.o.d which will make our royal state a humble service of wors.h.i.+pping priests.[384] The grace which the Apostle exhorts his reader to possess is much more than thankfulness. It includes all that Christianity bestows to counteract and vanquish the special dangers of self-righteousness. Such priestly service will be well-pleasing to G.o.d. Offer it with pious resignation to His sovereign will, with awe in the presence of His holiness. For, whilst our G.o.d proclaims forgiveness from the mercy-seat as the wors.h.i.+ppers stand before it, He is _also_ a consuming fire. Upon the mercy-seat itself rests the Shechinah.

FOOTNOTES:

[361] Chap. iv. 16.

[362] Chap. vi. 20.

[363] Chap. x. 19.

[364] Phil. i. 23.

[365] Rev. xxi. 10.

[366] John xiv. 3.

[367] Gen. vi. 7.

[368] Gen. ix. 9, 10.

[369] Deut. ix. 16, 19.

[370] Reading ?a? ????s??, ??????? pa?????e?, ?a? ?????s?? p??t?t????

(xii. 22, 23). This disconnected use of ????? is amply justified by Deut. x.x.xiii. 2, Dan. vii. 10, and Jude 14. Besides, pa??????? is precisely the word to describe the a.s.semblage of angels and distinguish them from the Church.

[371] ???t? ?e? p??t??.

[372] Chap. viii. 10.

[373] tete?e??????.

[374] Chap. xi. 40.

[375] Deut. v. 27, 28.

[376] pa?a?t?s?e??? (xii. 25).

[377] Chap. ii. 3.

[378] "The Bible finds me," said Coleridge.

[379] Exod. xix. 18. In his citation of this pa.s.sage our author forsakes the Septuagint, which has "And all the people were greatly amazed."

[380] Haggai ii. 6, 7.

[381] 2 Pet. iii. 10.

[382] Chap. xii. 28.

[383] Rev. iii. 21.

[384] ?at?e??e? (xii. 28).

CHAPTER XVI.

_SUNDRY EXHORTATIONS._

HEBREWS xiii.

Let love of the brethren continue. Forget not to shew love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are evil entreated, as being yourselves also in the body. Let marriage be had in honour among all, and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers G.o.d will judge. Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for Himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee. So that with good courage we say.

The Lord is my helper; I will not fear: What shall man do unto me?

Remember them that had the rule over you, which spake unto you the word of G.o.d; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever. Be not carried away by divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace; not by meats, wherein they that occupied themselves were not profited. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us therefore go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come. Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to G.o.d continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices G.o.d is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account: that they may do this with joy, and not with grief: for this were unprofitable for you.

Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honestly in all things. And I exhort you the more exceedingly to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

Now the G.o.d of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of the eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

But I exhort you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation: for I have written unto you in few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy hath been set at liberty; with whom if he come shortly, I will see you.

Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints.

They of Italy salute you.

Grace be with you all. Amen.