HEBREWS 9 (SECOND READING)
HEBREWS 9 (SECOND READING)
Rem You were telling us that the High Priest had gone in for us, and that the bells began to ring then and have been ringing ever since!
CAC There is nothing more important than for us to see that He has gone in. He has taken something into heaven that was never there before. He has secured something that has enriched heaven. He has acquired the value of redemption (verse 12). It is a great help to see that He has “found an eternal redemption”. It would help us to realise what Christ has acquired, not in the church, but what He has acquired by coming into this world. He has acquired what He could not have acquired in heaven. I was thinking that in the Authorised Version it says “for us”, which shews that they were governed by selfish thoughts. It is far greater than that. It is what Christ has acquired.
Rem He has secured a universe for God.
CAC That will be, surely, but it is a very great thing to see what He has acquired at the present time. He has gone within the veil in the value of what He has acquired. It says here, He has “found an eternal redemption”.
Ques For whom was the redemption?
CAC For Himself! The first thing that is important is that God should take to Himself His rights. In the Old Testament the thought of salvation is something that God has acquired for Himself. The Lord has acquired what is infinitely precious to Him. He is in the presence of God as possessed of it in all its value. I was thinking of a scripture in Isaiah which gives you something in relation to Jehovah — chapter 59: 16, 17. The helmet of salvation was on His head: that is, Jehovah has acquired this for Himself. There is another similar verse in chapter 63, verse 5, — “I looked, and there was none to help... mine own arm brought salvation unto me”. He moved in the greatness of His strength to! secure salvation. There was no one to help or intercede, so God has to take the matter in hand Himself. He acquires redemption, He has that glory. Men may get the benefit of it, but God acquires the glory of it first.
He is the first to be possessed of salvation. God is minded to acquire the glory of getting salvation. According to Hebrews 9, Christ goes within the veil in all the value of the preciousness of His own blood; He has acquired redemption.
Ques Are others associated with Him?
[p. 31] CAC Quite so, because He is priest. The idea of priesthood is representation. God is jealous for His own glory; what God acquires is the first consideration. There is a special value now attaching to Christ.
Rem The universe will display it because it is so great.
CAC That is what I had in mind. Christ has acquired that which He can apply to the whole universe; He has found eternal redemption. The glory of His death and the glorious value of His blood we need to have much before us. This epistle enlarges on all this, and on the covenant, to furnish us with praise when we come to the service of the assembly. He fills a place before God now. He is our priestly Representative now.
Ques The Spirit of God speaks so much of the blood in this chapter — it is mentioned ten times, I think. What is the reason?
CAC To bring out the sacrificial value of the death of Christ, the purifying power of it.
Ques What is the thought in Luke in regard to the mount? They speak of His decease — the word is ‘exodus’. Does that point to what is here?
CAC Yes. He was going out of flesh and blood conditions. Things concerning Him were brought to an end. The shedding of His blood secured to Him a new glory and value, something additional to His Person. That is very important. He is in the presence of God in all that value. His Person is unchangeable, but He is there too in the value of this wonderful offering. He offered Himself by the eternal Spirit to God.
Ques Do we get that in Colossians?
CAC Yes, what corresponds very much with it. That wonderful little word “it” — “You, who once were alienated and enemies in mind... yet now has it reconciled” (Colossians 1: 21). I consider that “it” the biggest word in the sixty-six books of the Bible. The “it” means the Fulness,
Father, Son, and Spirit; the “it” is a big little word! I think if we got more on to this side we would be liberated in the service of praise. The service of God is the great theme in Hebrews. We are purged to serve the living God; we are to serve in the way of worship. The tabernacle is the place of service. It was not perfect because it gave no immediate access to God. Now in “the high priest of the good things to come” we have the things that have come.
Ques Do you mean promised blessings that are come in in Christ, not things in the future?
CAC Yes, it includes all that will be unfolded in the future; all is secured in Christ. All that redemption means Christ has secured. By redemption things are brought back to God for the divine pleasure. God has exercised the right of redemption for His own pleasure and glory. The word is applied to transgressions here — “redemption of the transgressions”. Israel is looked at as God’s property, He had taken them out of Egypt to be to Himself, but they were guilty of transgressions under the first covenant. God came in by Christ in order that those transgressions might be forgiven. God acquired something in relation to it all.
God is better off now through Christ and His blood.
God would magnify before us Christ, His death and His blood. Think of His Person as brought before us in chapters 1 and 2, and think of that Person having blood to shed and of its value! The whole universe is going to resound with the value of Christ’s blood. Think of Adam and Eve clothed by God! Something was added to them that could not have found part in their original endowment.
Ques Would you link these thoughts with the cup?
CAC All comes out in connection with the covenant and the will of God, which links it directly with the Supper and indicates how the Supper stands in relation to the service of God. It is not simply the announcement of His death, but it stands in connection with the service of God.
[p. 33] He likes us to handle the loaf and the cup in connection with His service.
Ques Would the Lord give us the cup, put it into our hands?
CAC In the account in Luke the Lord speaks of giving His body and pouring out His blood, but when the Lord gives it to Paul from heaven (1 Corinthians 11) He says nothing about “giving” or “pouring out”. The Lord would take us away from the act to the preciousness of the thing. “This is my body which is for you”; “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; this do... in remembrance of me”, 1 Corinthians 11: 24, 25. It is the preciousness of the thing that is given and poured out, not so much the act.
We need to dwell on that. All this would lift the service of God on to a high spiritual level.
Rem “Thou hast prepared me a body”.
CAC Yes, the teaching is very much on that line. On entering on this we are qualified to serve God. The youngest of us can give God more pleasure than an angel can. Do we want to give God pleasure?
Ques What is the meaning of the expression in verse 10, “Until the time of setting things right”?
CAC I thought it gave a wonderful impression of the character of the present time; God is setting everything right; He is not improving things. When you come to Christ, what is effected by Christ is right, there is no defect; well that time has come; things are set right.
Ques Is it in keeping with the epistle? Speaking in Son cannot be improved upon.
CAC Yes. The Spirit would emphasise that to us. It would have a great effect on saints if they got that impression. It is an immense thing and very liberating. The Holy Spirit would never witness to anything else. He comes down to witness to Christ and to the blood of Christ. Christ has gone within the veil. That is all so right [p. 34] that it cannot be improved upon. We worship on that footing only. It may be very nice for people to confess that they are miserable sinners, but it does not sound nice to heaven. It is a delight to God to see us entering into these things, and to have a sense that what we enter into is good beyond description. The religious world is full of activity, but they are dead works which the living God can take no pleasure in.
Ques Does the Holy Spirit witness to a divine Person?
CAC In this epistle He is looked at as bearing witness to us. The indwelling Spirit is not seen in Hebrews, but you get the Spirit as a divine Person witnessing to certain things.
Ques As we move in relation to a living system is there an increase as we come together?
CAC I think so. Growth is a law to a living system — “increases to a holy temple” (Ephesians 2: 21) — holiness increases. There should be more of the holy temple amongst us next Lord’s Day than there was last Lord’s Day. We should not have this in a formal way, but in substance in our hearts. Now we have a living service that God can take pleasure in. The Holy Spirit witnesses through this epistle; it is for us to allow Him to act on us; it will have great effect.
Ques Would you help us in regard to verse 14, “who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God”?
CAC It is connected with what we said before; the fulness of the Godhead enters into this. The Spirit gave particular character to the offering; Christ offered Himself by the Holy Spirit. All that He did and said in the service of grace was in the power of the Holy Spirit. He offered Himself by the eternal Spirit. A peculiar grace marked the offering character.
Ques He “set himself down” (Hebrews 1: 3); is not that in contrast to the priests who were [p. 35] always standing?
CAC Yes. If all that was in the mind of God has been secured, restful conditions are brought about. God has made a certain disposition of things, alluded to here as a ‘will’ or a ‘testament’. Through Christ’s death that disposition of things is made effective. All that God has in His mind is secured.
Ques In Hebrews 9 it says, “the better and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, (that is, not of this creation,)”. In the Authorised Version it says, “not of this building”. Why is this?
CAC I suppose it is to shew that the true tabernacle is heavenly. The tabernacle in the wilderness was made according to the pattern typically of the heavenly system; it was only a shadow; the heavenly is the reality.
Ques The Scripture speaks of the eternal God. Does that refer to deity?
CAC Yes. In this epistle the word ‘eternal’ is often brought in referring to a system of things outside time — eternal redemption, eternal covenant, eternal inheritance, eternal salvation. They are things outside the limit of time. They stand in connection with what is eternal; they are not of this creation at all.