HEBREWS 13 (FIRST READING)
HEBREWS 13 (FIRST READING)
Ques What is the thought in the altar in this chapter?
CAC It is looked at as a source of food supply. Those who serve the tabernacle are regarded as serving a system of things which God has now discarded and in connection with which there were certain supplies of food referred to [p. 145] as meats in verse 9. They were not such as to profit in a spiritual way those that participated in them.
Ques How would you regard the altar as a food supply for us?
CAC It indicates clearly that what has nourishing power is the fruit of the sufferings and death of Christ which is outside the system of things these believers had known, and links on with the thought of the suffering of Jesus without the gate. The bodies of the sin-offerings which were burned without the camp could not be eaten (Leviticus 6: 30). There is something outside the system that these people had known and that they had found to be unprofitable. The sin-offering is the basis of the whole thing. It has become food for us although the blood has been carried into the holy of holies.
Ques If the priests were to eat certain sin-offerings, what connection has that?
CAC This is a supply of food of a more excellent character, not giving any place to man in the flesh. The consuming judgment of sin has come on that man. The whole system of grace is entirely outside the man after the flesh.
Ques Does not the altar give character to what we are connected with?
CAC It is as necessary for us to see that clearly, as it was for the Hebrews. We see a system of things around, which is very much like serving the tabernacle. We cannot give any place to man after the flesh if we want to participate with the present divine altar. We serve God in relation to a system that gives no place to man after the flesh and it is abundantly furnished with food. “Let us serve God acceptably”. We serve God in relation to this new altar; if we do, we find that there is an abundance of food.
[p. 146] Ques Would the altar spoken of in 1 Corinthians 10 be an altar of law and this an altar of grace?
CAC Yes; it is a great thing to leave the material and come to the spiritual. We all have to take up these exercises.
Ques Did Peter get to the light of these exercises on the mount of transfiguration?
CAC He had a right thought in one sense and he desired to provide a tabernacle for what came before him in that scene of glory. The three tabernacles were there in Peter, James and John; they desired to enshrine what they had seen. God desired that it should be enshrined in a spiritual way in their affections and Peter became a tabernacle for it. All is connected with a system of glory to be enshrined in human vessels, morally now and actually by and by.
Rem The Lord went outside the tabernacle system that then existed.
CAC That was in order that He might sanctify the people by His own blood. It is a setting apart from the system that existed. The sanctification that has been effected by the blood of Jesus is absolute; it is not connected with the work of the Spirit in the saints, but it is connected with an absolute system of things connected with the blood of Jesus. All that was in the mind of God according to His revelation in grace has been secured in the value of the death of Christ. It has often been a joy to me to think that the sufferings of Christ and the whole system of divine glory are perfectly proportioned. There is nothing more important than that believers should enter into all that has been effected by the blood of Jesus. These believers were flagging and the writer of the epistle brings these things before them as stimulation. This epistle is not exactly teaching, but it is a stimulant. We all need spiritual stimulants.
[p. 147] Ques What is the force of the blood being carried into the holiest by the high priest?
CAC It shews that the thing that was of the greatest value was, even in the typical system, not connected with the regular service of the tabernacle. What is outside the camp is not connected with the ordered service, nor is what was inside the veil: it is not part of the normal service of the tabernacle. That must have been striking to the Hebrews when it was brought before them. The system contained typically the promise of something greater and more excellent. Think of the greatness of it! God is glorified as to sin outside the camp, the bodies were burnt, everything was consumed that was obnoxious to the judgment of God. This is a great divine fact. It always strikes me in reading Hebrews that things are presented that are tremendous realities and they are there for the youngest babe in Christ and the oldest father. All through the epistle we get the greatness of God and the greatness of Christ and the greatness of the death of Christ.
Ques Why is it that the greatest thoughts are presented in Jesus, which is His personal Name?
CAC It brings out the greatness of the Person. The Person is greater than the office. Among men the office confers greatness on the person, but in the divine system the Person is greater than the office.
Ques What is the altar to us? Is it a place where we meet God?
CAC I thought it was the general idea of approaching God to serve Him. Those who built an altar in the Old Testament were impressed by some outshining or communication of God to them.
Ques What is the thought of the saints making the altar?
CAC It was available as part of the divine system; [p. 148] it was a very important part of it, and it is equally so now, but it has to be apprehended spiritually.
Ques What would the camp be today?
CAC I think it is that which professes to be in relation with God but where everything that is purely of God is under reproach. The truth today is used to darken and obscure the knowledge of God. Christendom is full of Bibles and there is a great deal of truth, but it is used to prevent God being known according to the way that He has made Himself known through His Son, and anything that diverts from that is idolatry. The ten commandments may be idolatrous now.
Rem The Lord having suffered would be the antitype of what is typified in the tabernacle. We have no longer to do with what is material but with what is spiritual.
CAC Yes. The Spirit of God would appeal to our affections in using His personal name so much. There is no more touching expression than “I Jesus”.
Ques What is your thought as to the gate?
CAC This great sin-offering was outside the Jewish system altogether. It was not offered on the altar of the temple; it was outside the gate and it corresponds with outside the camp. Outside the gate would be where Jesus suffered. There is nothing more important for us than to ponder the sin-offering. We are more familiar with the burnt-offering than with the sin-offering. The sin-offering is the consuming of the whole thing. It determines our place in relation to the whole system of divine glory. The burning outside the camp is connected with what is carried in and put on the mercy-seat. God has set up a system of everlasting glory and He has done it on the basis of the sin-offering. He can set up a universe of bliss on the ground of the sin-offering. He has been glorified in respect to sin and He can build up a universe on that for His own glory. “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him” (John 13: 31); there is much more in that than the removal of what is offensive. God is glorified in the highest by the blood being put on the mercy-seat. He now has a free hand, He can fill the earth with blessing and heaven too. He does it all on the ground of the sin-offering. That makes man utterly insignificant; it would prepare us for reproach. Outside the camp is a place of reproach, but Jesus is there.
Rem It is “to him”, not merely outside the camp.
CAC Quite, and that gives attraction. All this is important in connection with the service of God. If everybody approved of us we should know that somehow or other we had got all wrong!
Ques Does going forth to Him make it entirely a spiritual movement?
CAC It is there that we serve the altar. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of the lips confessing his name”.
Ques What is the sacrifice of praise?
CAC We have understood the sin-offering and we go forth to Him. Jesus is the attraction; we understand that all is connected with Jesus. The blessed outshining of God must be under reproach in a world that is all wrong, but in that place of reproach we serve God continually. I have been struck in noticing that there is hardly anything said in the New Testament as to what we do when we come together. We have no example of the assembly meeting and the only thing spoken of in connection with it is the coming together to eat the Lord’s supper. That is the only thing told us; there is nothing said as to what follows. We have simply to follow the hints that are given, but there is a great deal told us in Scripture about the kind of people that do assemble together. If there are people who have gone forth to Jesus bearing His reproach and offering the sacrifice of praise continually, there is not much doubt as to [p. 150] what will happen when we get together! I was asked once to have a reading on the assembly as convened, and I said, First, we must look at the kind of people that are convened. You can take Romans, Colossians and Ephesians, and note what appears in the saints in a general way as not convened, but if people are in the good of Romans, Colossians and Ephesians, what sort of time would it be like when we come together? It would be fine! The Father does not exactly seek worship, but worshippers. If I am not a worshipper continually in my affections I cannot worship when I come with others.
Rem There should be a continual flowing of praise.
CAC Yes. God has a people who serve Him all the time; it is whole-time service. We are apt to forget that and think that the meetings are the only time of service. But the thought is that we must all come as worshippers, we must come in that spirit. There is no thought of the sacrifice of praise going on independently of Christ. It is put very strikingly here, “the fruit of the lips confessing his name”; that is not public confession to man, it is purely to God. Do we habituate ourselves to confessing to the blessed God how we know Him and appreciate the way He has made Himself known to us? That is not done only in the meeting; it is the fruit of the lips. You give audible expression to God of what He is to you and how He has made Himself known to you. That is to go on continually, not at stated times, but you are always in tune for this blessed service. You put into the hands of Christ an offering that is suitable for Him to present. If a company of persons were on this line from Monday morning to Saturday night, what sort of meetings would there be when they came together?
It would be very good if we understood that leadership was first of all in relation to God. You recognise a leader by the way that he leads you to God; a true leader always leads [p. 151] to God. We should have more speaking to God if we understood the leadership of Christ. We often speak to the Lord in the meetings when it would be more in line with the truth if we allowed Christ to lead us to God.
Ques What is the force of giving thanks at all times?
CAC It supposes that you have come to a system of things where everything is an occasion for thanksgiving. You are in an environment where everything makes you thankful.
Rem In the previous chapter we are told to be thankful in connection with grace (verse 28 footnote).
CAC That is the true state of holiness. “Unthankful” and “unholy” are put together. If there is an absence of thankfulness there is an absence of holiness. A holy person is one who is continually thanking God. God loves that our thanks should be voiced in words; it does not altogether satisfy God if it is only in the heart.
Then there is also the practical side, “doing good and communicating of your substance”. The two are put together; the fruit of the lips and then the practical correspondence, doing good and communicating of your substance, “for with such sacrifices God is well pleased”. It is part of the service of God; it is not merely the fruit of grace. It is a positive part of the holy service of God to do good and to communicate. If there is a need and we have the wherewithal we supply it, it is part of the service of God. It puts these matters on a very high plane.