HEAVENLY THINGS (A READING AT EVESHAM 4 AUGUST 1935)
[p. 191] HEAVENLY THINGS (A READING AT EVESHAM 4 AUGUST 1935)
Hebrews 1:1-4; Hebrews 12:25; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 4:9; Hebrews 9:15-17; Hebrews 9:24
CAC This epistle was intended to be of great help to us in relation to what is heavenly, especially as being addressed to a people who were disposed to cling to what was earthly, as we all are more or less. The Hebrew believers were in the presence of most wonderful light from God but they were, like ourselves, slow to appreciate and to respond to it. So this epistle applies to us very much in what we may sincerely speak of as our dullness and slowness. It is not merely an exposition; it is an exhortation; that means it has stimulating power. It is designed to move us definitely in the direction of the divine thoughts, and that is very necessary.
Rem I am sure we need the light of that.
CAC I suggested these scriptures because they bear on the heavenly. We have first to take account of the fact that the speaking of God to us is heavenly. There is no other speaking of God at the present time but what is heavenly.
Rem That is important, it is the only speaking.
CAC Yes; the oracles are being uttered from heaven and if we do not take account of that we shall have no understanding of the present ways of God. And if we do not understand His present ways we shall not know God because God is known in His ways. So Moses says, “Make me now to know thy way, that I may know thee”, Exodus 33: 13. 1 believe the knowledge of God for us today lies [p. 192] particularly in the appreciation of the heavenly. Do you agree, Mr. C.?
SJBC Yes, very nice. I was thinking the apostle is labouring to win the affections of these Hebrew believers from what was earthly and fix them upon what was heavenly; as you say, it is no more an earthly Christ but a heavenly Christ.
CAC So there is heavenly speaking, the heavenly calling, a heavenly Priest and the heavenly inheritance, and in this epistle the covenant stands in relation to what is heavenly, and the will of God stands in relation to what is heavenly. All this is very important.
S.
JBC What you say about the word of exhortation is very nice. I think it is illuminating, because J.N.D. has said this epistle is not revelation exactly, although it is inspired. The writer gives Scripture for what he says, and he writes that we may be stirred up.
CAC We all need that. We are all inclined to slip back and the only way to be delivered from retrogression is to have very definitely before us the present mind of God, and that is heavenly. If every young believer here could remember that simple thought it would be a life-long benefit, that the present is the time of the heavenly, and the “great salvation” (Hebrews 2: 3) is the mighty power of God by which men are taken out of the earthly and brought into the heavenly. That would be very great in the mind of the Jew who had been accustomed to look for an earthly deliverance. The great salvation which had its commencement in being spoken by the Lord referred to men being taken out of the earthly and put into the heavenly.
SJBC Yes, very good.
Rem “Such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”, 1 Corinthians 15: 48.
CAC Quite so, and this epistle would move us; it is a “word of exhortation”; the idea is that the stimulus of it is applied to our souls. It is not merely that the thing is laid down in doctrine but the stimulus of it is pressed upon our souls.
“Better” is a characteristic word in this epistle; the covenant is spoken of as a “better covenant” (Hebrews 8: 6), not only a “new covenant”. Israel will have a “new covenant” (Hebrews 8: 8), but they will not have the “better covenant” as we have it. That relates to the heavenly; the Lord brings the covenant to us in relation to the heavenly, and so the cup of the covenant in the Lord’s supper relates to the heavenly. It has in view what He was going to commit to Paul. We should get clearly before us that it is a covenant in the sense of making known to us the disposition of God. In His love He has made a certain disposition of things and has assigned to us a heavenly inheritance. That is the idea according to chapter 9. The covenant is illustrated by the thought of a will. Now what are the provisions of the will? They assign a certain inheritance, and it consists in the heavenly. This is very important because it is the way by which we know God in the present thoughts of His love. We know God as being instructed in the heavenly purpose which His blessed love has formed and for which He has secured us through the death of Christ. The strength of His love has been testified in the death of Christ, but the inheritance which it has secured for us is a heavenly one.
Ques Would that be involved in the Lord’s words to Mary, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father”, John 20: 17? Former links of the earth would be done with.
CAC Yes, I think that is involved in it. The “great salvation, which having had its commencement in being spoken of by the Lord” (Hebrews 2: 3) was heavenly speaking. It was illustrated by the speaking from above the [p. 194] mercy-seat. That was the character of the divine speaking when the Lord was here. The tabernacle was figuratively representative of the things in heaven and the holiest was the very centre of the system, and the speaking was from there. It is in the light of that that we understand the great supper and the parable of the prodigal son.
Rem So Moses was told to make a tabernacle after the pattern that was shown him, showing that the thing was there before Moses made it.
CAC Yes, it was in heaven, and it shows that in presenting the covenant God had in His mind to introduce a system of heavenly things. We think of the covenant, I am afraid, far too much as Israel will think of it.
SJBC It used to be confined to Israel.
CAC They will think of it in relation to their sins and iniquities being forgiven and forgotten, but as a people with an earthly portion. God will put His laws in their minds and in their hearts, but it will be His ordering in relation to an earthly people that will be put into their hearts. That is not what God is doing now; His laws today are His orderings with reference to the place and service of a heavenly people.
SJBC F.E.R. used to say all the blessings and privileges that Israel forfeited by their unbelief are, as taken up in christianity, made good in the saints by the Spirit.
CAC And the kingdom now takes on a heavenly character. We receive “a kingdom not to be shaken” (Hebrews 12: 28); that is a heavenly kingdom. The covenant stands in relation now to a heavenly people and the priesthood is taken up by a heavenly people. There is nothing for God now in an earthly people, so if our relations with God are connected with what is on the earth we had better get out of them and come into relation to the heavenly.
SJBC I think we have got out of them.
CAC We are perhaps moving a bit, but I do not [p. 195] suppose any of us are completely transferred to the heavenly yet, therefore I beg the brethren to suffer the word of exhortation.
Ques So would you say that through the heavenly speaking we come into some sense of the magnificence of what is in the heart of God and there is to be response to all that?
CAC That is the idea. These things are not presented as things that should be, but as the positive light of God and of His working. The thought has been already referred to that God will put His laws into the minds and into the hearts of His people; that is, He gives us ability to appreciate what is before Him. Certain things will be suitable in an earthly people and they constitute the laws that God will put into the minds and hearts of Israel, but certain other things are suitable in a heavenly people and those are the laws which God, by His Spirit and working, puts in our minds and hearts so that we may appreciate what God has been pleased to give us, and that we may know God in relation to His will, and that will at the present time relates to the heavenly.
SJBC What you are pressing now is not warning us exactly against being worldly in a bad sense, but against being worldly like the Jews were; that is they were earthly. It is quite possible not to be worldly but earthly, like the two and a half tribes.
CAC Quite. I suppose to learn fully the heavenly it is necessary to go into the holiest. I suppose it is true that in approaching the holiest we learn how to assemble together as a heavenly company. If we do not assemble as a heavenly company we are not in accord with the will, we are not taking up the inheritance according to the provisions of the will.
Ques Would you open up a little what going into the holiest is?
CAC [p. 196] Well, the writer stimulates us to do it; he says, “Let us approach”, Hebrews 10: 22. It is a stimulant, he does not say we are there, but “let us approach”. We have boldness through the blood of Jesus and we have a great Priest over the house of God and the great Priest is a heavenly Priest so that we go in as identified with Him, and therefore as a heavenly people. It is important to consider not only the Apostle but also the Priest.
Ques Would you mind saying a word as to the holiest, and what is set forth in the ark of the testimony, and what the things that constituted the tabernacle system were illustrative of?
CAC Well, the point in the teaching is that the ark of the covenant and the tables of the covenant in verse 4 of chapter 9 are both in the holiest, indicating that the covenant stands in relation to the heavenly. They are within the veil and the Priest is there. It is formally stated that He has entered into heaven itself, so that we are represented there. It is wonderful to consider that we are represented in heaven by Christ as the heavenly Priest. The covenant has in view our being along with Him there. As we sing sometimes, ‘In Him we stand, a heav’nly band, where He Himself is gone’. That is the thought of the love of God, and the death of Christ has made the divine thought irreversible. It is a great thing to lay hold of that; the provisions of the will cannot be altered. The provisions of the will are that our place and portion, and we might say, our character, are all heavenly; and the will has been testified in the mighty power of death and therefore it cannot be altered.
SJBC I suppose Hebrews is really preparatory to Colossians. We have before us what is on the other side of Jordan; there is the stirring up that we might go on.
CAC Yes, we are in the wilderness but we are not a wilderness people. We need to bear that in mind. We [p. 197] come together to break bread in the wilderness; we eat the Lord’s supper in the wilderness but we do not eat it as a wilderness people. The cloak of the ephod of the priest was all of blue and the Israelites all had to wear on the border of their garments a ribbon of blue; they were typical of a heavenly people moving through the wilderness and taking up sanctuary service in relation to a heavenly Priest. Exodus and Leviticus were not written only for the Israelites, they were written for us.
Ques Does not the will encourage us and tend to set us at liberty?
CAC We cannot take things up on any other ground; we cannot change the conditions of the will. The will and the covenant in regard to Israel refer to the place of an earthly people, but in relation to the present period they refer to the place of a heavenly people. Our privilege is to go within the veil and we are represented in heaven. “Consider the Apostle and High Priest”. Everything that He instituted is heavenly and all is founded on His death. When the Lord was here, what He referred to in the great supper and in the reception of the prodigal was all founded on His death. There could be no great supper, no festivities in the house of God except as being based on His death. The blood of the sin-offering is on the mercy-seat.
Ques Is it not of great force that the ark and the blood and the Priest are in the holiest?
CAC That is the thought; it is all typically that which is heavenly.
Rem You suggested that we are slow and sluggish in entering into these things.
CAC Well, I am afraid we are, and this epistle is a heavenly stimulus applied by the Spirit to all our hearts so that the divine ordering and disposition shall be really put into our minds and hearts so that we may not only have a heavenly place and portion but have capacity to appreciate [p. 198] it. That is the idea of having it in the mind and heart; there is intelligent capacity to appreciate it.
Ques Do you think that one element with us may be that we are slow to accredit that God is speaking in this way?
CAC Yes, I think that is right.
Rem Thus the great danger is unbelief; we are slow to accredit that God really has this in mind.
CAC And so chapters 2, 3 and 4 come in, and hearkening to the word is most important. It is in hearkening to the word we come into line with the thoughts of God. The rest of God in its application to us is heavenly; it is a heavenly idea. The rest of God is the sabbath, the termination of the ways and working of God, and that for us is heavenly, and it is that that we are to labour to enter into. It is to be the lively exercise of all our souls to enter into it.
Ques Do you suggest we should always be in the holiest?
CAC No, I do not say that. The drawing near is at certain times; there is no idea that we live in the holiest. “Let us approach” is the exhortation; it indicates the necessity for a certain movement on our part. It does not say that we are set there, but “let us approach”. Entering into the holiest requires a certain movement on our side. All that is presented in the epistle up to chapter 10 supplies the stimulus so that we are able to move; if we do not move we shall not get there.
Rem We have liberty of access.
CAC That is the idea. We have boldness because the blood of Jesus is there; the life of flesh has been poured out. That is the blood of the sin-offering. It is important to remember the sin-offering is a great offering; the burnt-offering never went beyond the brazen altar, but the blood of the sin-offering goes in to the mercy-seat [p. 199] in the holiest.
SJBC Referring to the rest of God, absolutely it is future, rest from toil and conflict, but in spirit we can enter into it now. Indeed, when we do get into it now we get out of Hebrews into Colossians and Ephesians. The believer is a very complex person, different from the Israelite; the Israelite was not in Egypt and the wilderness and Canaan at the same time, but we are, not at the same moment but during the time of our sojourn here.
CAC And do you not think the way to get help is to take each scripture in its own setting? We shall never get on if we set one scripture over against another; we shall lose the virtue of Hebrews if we bring Colossians and Ephesians into it. Each scripture stands in its own setting and the value of it lies in taking it in its own setting. The value of Hebrews is that it has such speaking as becomes stimulating power to every one of us.
Rem Those who have this stimulation as a heavenly people become different from the people around us.
CAC The greatness of the speaking constitutes those who receive it heavenly. God is speaking from heaven now and the very character of the speaking makes us heavenly; thus we become partakers of the heavenly calling and have a heavenly Priest. These are things that cannot be denied.
SJBC The Jew who has not taken christian ground would say to the one who had, ‘Here is our temple and our sacrifices’, and they would have you show them what you have. Well, the believer could only say, ‘Christianity is spiritual so the natural mind cannot see it’.
CAC We need to consider the greatness of the Priest. We are told that He has “passed through the heavens” (Hebrews 4: 14), and it says He is “become higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7: 26), indicating to us that He is a divine Person; so that He represents us according to the full height of the divine thought. How blessed to think that we are represented in heaven in the full height of the blessed [p. 200] will of God; that is, His will in the sense of His testament. His will is that we should have a place there, and we are represented there this minute; we are not actually there but represented there. That is the force of Mr. Darby’s beautiful verse:
‘He’s gone within the veil,
For us that place has won;
In Him we stand, a heav’nly band,
Where He Himself is gone’. (12:2)
We are there representatively in the Priest. It is in the light of this that we do not forsake the assembling together. We should not assemble together if we were not a heavenly people; it is because we are consciously strangers here that we cling to one another. We assemble together because we recognise our spiritual kindred; we recognise we are joint partakers of the heavenly calling.
Rem “As he is, we also are in this world”, 1 John 4: 17.
CAC That is it. It is not as He was or will be, but “as he is”. What a dreadful thing in the light of that it would be to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together”, Hebrews 10: 25! When people do, they give up the heavenly. It is a very solemn thing for people to give up the meetings; they practically give up the heavenly. It is a dreadful thing for that to become a custom, “as the custom is with some”. That is very different from the line we have been speaking of.
Rem Not just coming on special occasions.
CAC Oh no; it is characteristic; the heavenly company is drawn together by a kindred feeling.
Rem So it is important we should pay earnest heed to what is spoken.
CAC Yes, surely.
SJBC The apostle wrote warning us against apostasy. In chapter 6 it is the abandonment of christian principle and christian privileges. I was thinking the speaking [p. 201] to us is His last word to men; He could not say more if He has spoken in Son. In the old times He spoke by the prophets in many diverse manners but now it is not a question of morsels; He has told out all His will in Son.
CAC And in the Son who is now in heaven, because the speaking is from the One who has “set himself down on the right hand of the greatness on high”.
SJBC I think it is well to bear that in mind; He began to speak on earth but did not finish.
CAC No, He did not finish. “Rejoice that your names are written in the heavens”, Luke 10: 20. That is the great salvation as it began to be spoken by the Lord, and to the thief, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”, Luke 23: 43. He put him in paradise, that is the great salvation. The will of God, which Christ came to do, relates to our heavenly place and portion.
Ques Does what the writer says in chapter 12 help in relation to what you are saying, that we have definitely come to a certain system of things?
CAC It refers to what we have been saying, because the things we have come to are a holy system of heavenly things, the centre of which is the heavenly Jerusalem and the assembly of the firstborn registered in heaven. It is things seen in a heavenly setting, and we have come to that.
Rem So they are not abstract, but something substantial.
CAC Yes, they are present spiritual realities, though actually future. We get in this epistle the introduction of a better hope. All these things are a matter of hope; that is to say, actually they belong to the future but they are spiritual realities known to hope, and we approach God by that hope. Hope makes what is future present, so that we approach God in the light of what is heavenly. No service [p. 202] of God is acceptable now except the service of a heavenly people. An earthly people could not be in accord with the present mind of heaven.
SJBC I think that “Ye have come to mount Zion” and so on, refers to the whole system as come to in Spirit, but it will be in actuality by and by.
CAC Yes, and there is a lovely little touch in connection with that, “And to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant”. He uses a word that is nowhere else applied to the covenant; it is new in the sense of freshness, as being maintained in perennial freshness. Not only a new kind of covenant but in Jesus the covenant is preserved in perennial freshness. I believe on the Lord’s day morning we should know what it is to come to Jesus as the Mediator of the new covenant. He presents it to us in the cup, and as He is the Mediator of it, it is preserved in perennial freshness; so there is a spring about it. All this is part of the stimulating power of this epistle.
Rem You run with freshness.
CAC That is it. The whole thought of the writer is to put the saints in movement and so he brings in great incentive. It is not the race of life from the cradle to the grave, but a moral race from earth to heaven. Do we get nearer heaven every day? We sing, ‘A day’s march nearer home’, but is it true? Are we nearer heaven today than we were last Lord’s day? If not we have lost a week in the race.
SJBC I remember reading in your writings years ago that we first of all get deliverance from hell to heaven, but then we need deliverance from earth to heaven.
CAC I felt impressed in view of this meeting to suggest the thought of the heavenly in the way of stimulation. We all hold the truth of this, no doubt, in a doctrinal way, but in Hebrews it is presented as stimulation. One of the most encouraging words in Scripture is what we get in chapter 11 where the secret is told of what [p. 203] governed the patriarchs. They sought the heavenly; Abraham waited for a city. How remarkable that God gave the light of the heavenly to these men! He knew they were not going to get the fulfilment of earthly promises so He gave them the light of the heavenly. They sought the better country, that is the heavenly, and we read, “Wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God”. He was so charmed with the thought of a people who had the heavenly in prospect that He was not ashamed to be called their God. If we want God to be in that relation to us, we must pursue the heavenly. It is suggestive that God would be ashamed of some, but He was not ashamed to be called the God of those who sought the heavenly. They had not the epistle to the Hebrews; I wonder how Abraham would have been affected by the epistle to the Hebrews! Would not his every desire have been definitely satisfied? A heavenly calling and Priest and inheritance! Why, he would have been in ecstasy.
Rem He “exulted in that he should see my day”, John 8: 56.
CAC Now we are called to be impressed with the faith of these men and especially to follow them on the line of the heavenly, because that is our present portion.
Rem J.T. has said these men are set before us for they had not the light we have.
CAC No, so what about ourselves? God has prepared a better thing for us. It is good to bear in mind that God’s covenant relations have in view the heavenly. The “better covenant” (Hebrews 8: 6) is based upon better promises; that is the covenant we know. God is with us and we are with God in relation to the heavenly. God would have us to cherish that with intelligence and affectionate interest.
Rem It is a very stimulating thought that God is going to give us what they looked for, but God has prepared [p. 204] some better thing even than that which He is going to give to them.
CAC It is indeed. So we have come to the best. All this is an encouragement to us to lay hold of the heavenly. God has spoken and He has confirmed His speaking by an oath. The unchangeableness of the divine purpose stands in relation to God’s service and God would have us to be full grown men for His holy service. Full grown men in christianity are men who have heaven in view. Strong meat refers to heaven; milk, in Hebrews, refers to the earthly; the strong meat which makes men is the heavenly. May God encourage us to go in for it; we all need stirring up.
SJBC You have warned us against spiritual stagnation; we are very prone to stagnate. A beautiful word, “Let us... run”, Hebrews 12:1.
Rem Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord”, Luke 1:46.
CAC She was one who moved affectionately and responsively to the wonderful divine speaking that came to her. She speaks of an exaltation of the lowly (Luke 1: 52). Now our exaltation is heaven.