THE PROMISES OF GOD
THE PROMISES OF GOD
JT This scripture is proposed not only because it instructs us as to the promises of God, but also because the apostasy and the consequences of it are contemplated in it as the alternative to the appropriation of the promises. The non-appropriation of the promises will mean falling away; that is, apostasy. The chapter is intended to strengthen us in the truth so that we should go on to the end, as it says, that “we might have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us, which we have as anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that within the veil, where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us, become for ever a high priest according to the order of Melchisedec”. The writer is aiming throughout the whole epistle to get the saints steadily going on and entering into the holiest, which is the final thought. We read in Hebrews 10 of the day drawing near; that is to say, faith discerns the circumstances of the moment, and notes that the day is drawing near. It is not simply the end of this dispensation, but the day drawing near, and this chapter is intended to strengthen us to go on. It is intended therefore that we should understand and use the ways and means by which we can pursue the way of God until the end; this is in mind throughout the epistle.
Ques Were you connecting the day drawing near with the promises?
JT Yes. What is in mind is that the young people especially may lay hold of the promises; the allusion in Hebrews 6 is to Abraham in Genesis 22. There is a danger of young people [p. 121] truth mentally, whereas this passage contemplates the soul of the believer, as it says, “we have as an anchor of the soul”. The mind, of course, is used by the believer, but the soul is the seat of affections, feelings and consciousness. It is worth while counting on the promises of God, for we are held in our souls by them.
FB The promises to Abraham were substantial.
JT Quite so. Genesis 22 stresses the oath and the promises — the swearing of God and the promises of God. As Abraham is ready to lift up his knife to slay Isaac, it says, “The Angel of Jehovah called to him from the Heavens, and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here am I. And he said, Stretch not out thy hand against the lad, neither do anything to him; for now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt-offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; as it is said at the present day, On the mount of Jehovah will be provided”. Then further it adds, “And the Angel of Jehovah called to Abraham from the heavens a second time, and said; By myself I swear, saith Jehovah, that, because thou hast done this, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, I will richly bless thee, and greatly multiply thy seed, as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because thou hast hearkened to my voice”.
Great promises are made to Abraham and secured to him by oath. Following that he returns to his young men and they rose up and went together [p. 122] to Beer-sheba and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba. He is now resting in the oath and promise of God. Beer-sheba is the well of the oath. God is resting all for Abraham in the promise made to him, and Abraham going to and dwelling at Beer-sheba suggests a state to be sought after, one of restfulness in the knowledge of God.
FB In that sense Abraham embraced the promises.
JT He saw them afar off and embraced them. Young believers are sometimes remiss in this respect; their minds are clear, but their souls are lean, because of not laying hold of the promises of God.
HB It also says in Hebrews 11 that “Abraham ... had received to himself the promises”.
JFC Would you link that up with Acts 2: 39 where it says, “For to you is the promise and to your children”?
JT Quite. Peter brought in the thought in connection with the gospel, saying, “For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God may call”. That is another thing that enters into this passage.
SG Are these promises calculated to make us restful and stabilise us in the presence of the apostate conditions around?
JT So many things are coming in to darken the minds of the young, who are apt to trust the mind, which in a sense is right, but we should not forget the soul, which is the feeling part of man’s being. We are composed of spirit, soul and body; the soul is most important, especially in the case of young people, because there is that which holds them feelingly. That which holds us thus includes the fellowship, we are to be held by the doctrine, of course, but by the fellowship too, the fellowship of [p. 123] brethren.
JW Would Isaac be an example in this? In Genesis 26 his servants come, and tell him concerning the well that they had dug, and he called it Shebah, and it adds, “therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day”. Is he following Abraham in this?
JT The idea set out in the father continued in the son, the latter continuing in the truth which his father had. The wells had been stopped by the Philistines after the death of Abraham, but they are unstopped by Isaac, and he goes on in this until it becomes a broad position — Rehoboth; he can stay there, and he does not need to move again. It shows that stabilisation is in the power of the Spirit, and it goes with what we have been saying as to the soul of the believer. The Spirit being in him would operate in relation to his feelings and affections. The danger is referred to in the early part of Hebrews 6, “Wherefore, leaving the word of the beginning of the Christ, let us go on to what belongs to full growth ... For it is impossible to renew again to repentance those once enlightened, and who have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the works of power of the age to come, and have fallen away”. It seems to me a most solemn thing, and it should be noted how near we might be to this very thing. The apostasy is developing so rapidly and we may even ourselves have part in it, hence the need of being held by the anchor, that is, what the promises make available to us.
JG Did king Saul fall away because he lacked the soul feelings of which you have spoken? He seemed to be void of right feelings at the outset, and was not ready to hearken. You were stressing the importance of [p. 124] hearkening.
JT Quite. The report did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard.
AM-d On the other hand God tried Abraham. He could trust His own work. Would that be seen in Genesis 22?
JT A very good point. God, as we see, trusting His own work and we ought to be able to trust the work of God. So that we are capable of going through things such as the brethren in this country have been capable of going through in all the pressure of the last few years.
RM God tests Abraham and he comes up to the test. As a result of that God adds something to him.
JT Quite so.
AH Does the end of the previous chapter in any way support what you are suggesting? It says that “solid food belongs to full-grown men, who, on account of habit have their senses exercised for distinguishing both good and evil”.
JT That is exactly what I was thinking. In verse 12 of the previous chapter it says, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have again need that one should teach you what are the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food”. What is in mind in reading this chapter is that we might go on to full growth, and that would be in keeping with what is said at the end of the chapter, of “the hope set before us, which we have as an anchor of the soul ... and entering into that within the veil”. That means that the soul is steady, and able to take hold of things; able to lay hold on the hope set before us which we have as an anchor “entering into that within the veil, where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us, become for ever a high priest according to the order of Melchisedec”. So that the end is seen to be attainable and [p. 125] near.
GE Is Abraham to be regarded in Genesis 22 as having reached full growth? Was God able to renew the promise, and the blessing to him because of his obedience? It seemed to provide Jehovah with a new motive to renew the matter with him.
JT Is He able to trust His own work? God had discovered that He could do so. He says, “Because thou hast done this”. The angel says in verse 12, “For now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me”. It must be a great triumph for God when He takes up persons like ourselves, and tests us, to see what there is of Himself with us. It is in keeping with God’s ways. It was so at the beginning when He brought the animals to Adam to see what he would call them. God intended to test His great creature in this way. And so here He tests Abraham in this remarkable performance and says, “For now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me”. God tests out His work to prove it.
TG Would these promises, to which you have been referring, be in line with what Peter says in his epistle: God “has given to us the greatest and precious promises”?
JT It is a remarkable reference, that. Through these, it says, “ye may become partakers of the divine nature”. Then we have the idea of one thing working out another thing, as you will see if you look into the passage. There is therefore, the need of adding things. God is stressing the idea of the subjective side with us, the Spirit of God having come down. He is concerned that the truth of the incoming of the Spirit might stand out and that we might reach the end, that is, reach on to the coming of the Lord. So here in Hebrews 6 it is the state of [p. 126] the soul that is in mind and is described, so as to lead on to the thought of the anchor of the soul, that we might be held and go on to the end.
ACSP Would you say a little as to the place faith has in this matter of the soul being anchored and the place the Holy Spirit has?
JT As we have remarked, the chapter contemplates faith and the work of God. Abraham was tested and was proved to be genuine and hence he goes on in the testimony of God. He is pursued in his history from one point to another and thus proceeds in the testimony, and in this chapter, whilst faith is in mind, yet the Holy Spirit is in mind too, as it says in the fourth verse, “it is impossible to renew again to repentance those once enlightened, and who have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the works of power of the age to come, and have fallen away”. It is a terrible thought that, in spite of all this that is said, one may fall away and prove to be unreal. It is a most solemn consideration. It is thought well to bring this all in now especially for the young people. How near the idea of apostasy is to us and how we may slip into it and become lost! That is what is in mind. There is no such thing as recovery in Hebrews, which makes it very solemn if we are not going on.
FRS You spoke about soul history. God says later in the epistle, “If he draw back, my soul does not take pleasure in him”. Young people should have soul history. Is that what is in your mind?
JT The saving of the soul is referred to, and the soul is mentioned there in Hebrews 10, showing that it is a soul matter. These matters are within the range of certainty and consciousness, and are not [p. 127] simply viewed from the standpoint of the work of God, but there is the Spirit’s work too.
FB Is Judas an example of this? He was with the Lord and the disciples all along and yet in the end proved to be unreal.
JT Quite so. He had been with the Lord and had partaken of the apostleship with all its attendant grace and privileges and yet the Lord has to say, “Have not I chosen you the twelve? and of you one is a devil” — an awful thing to contemplate. It says of him, that transgressing he fell to go to his own place.
AH The allusion in verse 6 to the ground which drinks the rain which comes often upon it producing useful herbs, would remind us that it is not only a question of sitting under the ministry, but what is going to be produced by it.
JT Quite so. It is important that we should have a sense in our souls of the perfection of Christ. Abraham experienced this typically as Melchisedec came to meet him, and he was thus enabled to overcome the world. It shows how God is concerned about us, for Melchisedec came just at the right time. We are told here in Hebrews 7 who he was, and John has this in mind in his gospel, as he brings the Lord before us as a divine Person. So we have in John that which gives us assurance as He says, “No one shall seize them out of my hand”. In this way Abraham had the service of Melchisedec, and it is most important and urgent that young people should be on their guard as to the apostasy which is all around us, and we are in danger of slipping into it. There is on this account great need that we should judge ourselves. So it says here in verse 6, “And have fallen away, crucifying for themselves as they do the Son of God, and making a show of him. For ground which drinks the rain which comes often upon it, and produces useful herbs for those [p. 128] for whose sakes also it is tilled, partakes of blessing from God; but bringing forth thorns and briars, it is found worthless and nigh to a curse, whose end is to be burned”. So that we have to look into ourselves, not to belittle the word that we have believed, but to see whether there is evidence of the work of God in each of our souls; the feelings proper to the work of God.
CH We do well to note and imitate the faith of those in whom faith is substantial. In Genesis 22 Isaac raises questions with Abraham. Do you think we might view them in that sense as an old and a young brother journeying together?
JT Isaac is called a lad and Abraham is quite an old man. One has often noticed that the Lord encourages us to help the young people to keep with the older brethren and not to company by themselves. They thus see the idea of faith illustrated before their eyes.
FB Is the same idea set out in Elijah and Elisha, the old and young journeying together?
JT Quite so. How Elisha learned from his master, as he calls Elijah.
JnoG Would Lot, while not representing one permanently lost, show how we might be somewhat on the line of apostasy?
JT Indeed. There is a peculiar expression in 1 Peter 4: 18, “And if the righteous is difficultly saved, where shall the impious and the sinner appear?” The righteous difficultly saved would be Lot. He was saved because he had a righteous soul. It is good that this much is recorded of him. It says of him, “For the righteous man through seeing and hearing, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul day after day with their lawless works”. It is noteworthy that the word soul is used.
Ques In the second book of Psalms the writer has a good deal to say about the soul. There are several references to it such as, “Our soul is bowed down to the dust”, Psalm 44: 25. Is the answer to all the soul desires summed up in the King in Psalm 45?
JT Just so. Those psalms are in the second book, and in that book the people are seen as in hard circumstances, as Lot was. The people had been driven out of Jerusalem, but the countenance of Jehovah is referred to as well as their own countenance. All the desires culminate in the King in Psalm 45, as you say, and indeed, in the queen too, for both must be taken account of if we are to deal with these matters. Young people particularly should take account of the queen as well, for it opens up much as to the feminine side and this must be taken account of if the souls of the young are to be held.
AM-d Would salvation as mentioned in verse 9 come in there? “But we are persuaded concerning you, beloved, better things, and connected with salvation”.
JT Very good. And that is what we ought to go on to now. “For ground ... bringing forth thorns and briars, it is found worthless and nigh to a curse, whose end is to be burned. But we are persuaded concerning you, beloved, better things, and connected with salvation, even if we speak thus”. The Spirit of Christ is thus seen appealing to them. So the writer of the epistle, as imbued with the Spirit of Christ, was a witness in earlier days of their faithfulness and suffering, and he goes on to say, “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love which ye have shown to His name, having ministered to the saints, and still ministering. But we desire earnestly that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience have been inheritors of the promises”, Hebrews 6: 10 - 12. All that confirms what we have been saying as to the importance of the younger people being with the elder ones, for that is the point which he makes here when he refers to their being imitators of those who through faith and patience have been inheritors of the promises.
FB How far does the thought of salvation in verse 9 go?
JT Well, I would refer back to the beginning of the epistle where you have in chapter 2 verse 3, the great salvation referred to and that is what the Hebrews had presented to them. Although the word great is not used here in chapter 6, yet I think that the writer would mean that. In chapter 2 it says, “How shall we escape if we have been negligent of so great salvation”. The danger of apostasy is in mind and the fact that young people may slip into it. We need therefore to guard ourselves and to look into ourselves to discern evidences of the work of God. We are not, of course, to be unduly introspective, but it is nevertheless quite right that we should look in and be able to call upon all that is within us to praise His name.
GE Is it a question of normal growth, the normal development of the work of God; and would the blind man in John 9 be an example of it?
JT Quite so. That is a good point to bring up. The disciples ask, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents ... ? Jesus answered, Neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifested in him”. It is a question of the work of God; really the works of God, the plural being used would stress the importance of the matter.
GE The blind man at the outset says, “A man called Jesus” but ends with the knowledge of the Son of [p. 131] God.
JT He says to the neighbours who enquired as to what happened when he got his eyes opened, “Having gone and washed, I saw”, but when they bring him to the Pharisees he says, “I washed and I see”. The first is a question of what is historical; the man states simply the effect of certain things happening and he saw, but when dealing with the Pharisees that is, persons who would challenge things and criticise, it is a question of some present evidence of the work of God and the man says, “I see”.
CH The blind man says, “One thing I know”.
JT He is a very good witness of the truth of the development of the work of God in John’s gospel, where it is a question of life. The Lord says to him, after these things had happened, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” The man says, “And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?” as much as to say, If I only knew Him I would believe on Him at once. Then Jesus said to him, “Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he. And he said, I believe, Lord: and he did him homage”. That is what we get in John, and it is the point in Hebrews also; namely, evidence of the work of God.
TG It says of the saints in Hebrews 6, “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love which ye have shown to his name, having ministered to the saints, and still ministering”. They were going on in that way.
JT Yes. It was still an existing thing, as they were going on with God. It would mark those who are genuine.
HB Does that link up with the seventh verse, the product of the ground that drinks the rain being for those for whom it is tilled? Does that refer to the saints or to divine [p. 132] Persons?
JT It is for those to whom the ground belongs; it partakes of blessing from God. There is someone caring for the ground and he gets his reward, but in truth it is God. He gets His part.
JM Would the book of remembrance referred to in the prophet Malachi be like this?
JT Quite so. They were genuine persons and Jehovah elevates them to the dignity of sons: “And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”.
Ques Peter speaks of the proving of your faith which is much more precious than gold which perishes, and then he goes on to say, “Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls”. Is that in line with what is here in Hebrews?
JT It would be. It is the end of your faith, meaning the end morally; that in which it culminates. We have a somewhat similar thought in Romans 6, “and the end, eternal life”.
SR Would the promises in 2 Corinthians 6 be encouraging to the young? The Lord says, “I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”.
JT Quite so. It is one of God’s exceeding great and precious promises, hence the need for cleansing ourselves, as it says, “Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear”.
SB All this of which you have been speaking as to the soul is seen in those who are going on with God. In Psalm 86 there is the word, “Incline thine ear, Jehovah, answer me; for I am afflicted and needy. Keep my soul, for I am godly; O thou my God, save thy servant who confideth in thee”. Then further down, “Rejoice the soul of thy servant for unto thee, Lord, do I lift up my soul”.
JT We get many such illustrations in the Psalms of the truth of what we have been saying; it is the book of experience.
JCT Is there an encouraging word as to all this in Hebrews 11 where Abraham is referred to as having dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise? Isaac would have been quite a young man.
JT Quite so. Heirs with him. They were with Abraham, the man of faith; that is the point.
CD If we keep near to those who are going on in the way Abraham was, we shall increase in enjoying heavenly things. Lot got astray because he left Abraham.
JT He detached himself from his uncle, but he would have been safe if he had kept with him.
AB Was he deceived by material prosperity?
JT Quite so; the well-watered plains of Jordan appealed to him.
JW The children of Israel said in the song in Exodus 15, “This is my God, and I will glorify him, My Father’s God, and I will extol him”. They began with this thought of old and young.
JT Abraham himself is set before us as an example and we have to look at his history. God says of him, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing ... ? For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him”. God honours him in the fact that he proves his genuineness, not only for himself, but for his children as well. The children need to be cared for.
AH God is looking for persons that He can bring forward as inheritors of the promises, so that the generation coming may be affected.
JT One generation goes and another comes, but generation after generation is preserved, having in [p. 134] view the maintenance of the testimony. The service of the Holy Spirit proceeds in bringing the fruit out of the ground so that in result the testimony continues until the end.
FB In verse 11 it says, “But we desire earnestly that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end”.
RM The soul here seems to be set in contrast to what is external and shallow.
JT That is what is meant. The closing verses of the chapter show the substantial and practical side of the matter. It says, “For men indeed swear by a greater, and with them the oath is a term to all dispute, as making matters sure. Wherein God, willing to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose, intervened by an oath, that by two unchangeable things, in which it was impossible that God should lie, we might have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us, which we have as anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that within the veil, where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us, become for ever a high priest according to the order of Melchisedec”, Hebrews 6: 16 - 20. The reference is to the Jewish position, the city of refuge being opened to them. It would seem that the passage is intended to establish each one of us in the certainty of Christianity.
Rem In verse 17 the promise and the purposes are both referred to.
JT It is to show what God has in the promise; and then there is the oath, God intervening by an oath, in order that the heirs of the promise might be assured as to it, and of the unchangeableness of His purpose.
GE It is important that there should be balance in the matter.
JT [p. 135] Quite so. And this passage is intended to give that. Abraham is a type of the believer, and we have here how God assured him of things in the oath and in the promise, so that the soul of the believer is to have an anchor. It is a remarkable type that is employed, but the idea is that we are to be made sure and certain; which hope “we have as anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that within the veil”.
AH Would you say a word as to what is involved in the expression, “within the veil”?
JT It involves our going inside into the presence of God. In Psalm 73 Asaph is set right and confirmed in his faith as he went into the sanctuaries of God. He had been discouraged because of the ungodly, but then he enters into the sanctuaries of God (it is the plural) then he says, that he understood their end. He is assured there. Then we have other psalms of Asaph so beautifully setting out what is there in regard to David and others. Asaph in that sense is a prophet as well as a singer and a psalmist. So, as within the veil, as in chapter 10, we are in the presence of God, where everything is assured to us. God Himself is there.
CH In the sanctuary things are better understood.
JT Quite so, as Asaph says, “Then understood I their end”.
Rem In Psalm 77 God’s way is said to be “in the sanctuary”.
JT That shows that you get illuminated there. In the case of ordinary exercises you may perhaps be doubtful, but in the sanctuary you are in the presence of God and all is clear there.
JCT Does the Lord’s supper greatly strengthen us in regard to being assured? I was thinking particularly of the cup.
JT Quite [p. 136] so.
AH Is there development here in the line of priesthood and does that help us in the service of God which would be within the veil?
JT We need to be assured. We get persons asking questions, which in a certain sense is right, but faith would go into the sanctuary and would get the answers there.
FB Is it a question of looking from the inside to the outside and of our getting God’s view of any matter?
JT That is the thought. We read in Numbers 7, that Moses went in to speak to Jehovah, but we are told that God spoke to him.
FB Asaph saw things from the inside, that is from the sanctuary.
JT There were great communications came out through Moses, but in Numbers 7, where we get the offerings of the princes recorded, we are told at the end of the chapter that Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak to God. As going in he had the assurance that all would be well, and although he went in to speak with God, yet God spoke to him. It says, “He heard the voice speaking to him from off the mercy-seat which was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubim; and he spoke to Him”. The way of God in that sense is in relation to the divine communications which are made in the sanctuary.
FB That should result in enlargement and expansion with us.
JT Quite so.