HEBREWS 9 (FOURTH READING)
HEBREWS [p. 41] 9 (FOURTH READING)
Ques You spoke last week as to God making a will. Is not that very distinctive?
CAC We get the thought in verse 16. I suppose the promise of the eternal inheritance in verse 15 leads to the thought of a testament or will which acquires force by the death of the testator, the object of the Spirit of God being to magnify before our hearts the death of Christ and what has come to pass through the death of Christ. There is nothing more important for us as believers than to see what has come to pass in His death; what is purely of God is brought in and secured by the death of Christ.
Ques Verses 16 and 17 are put in brackets in the New Translation but not in the Authorised Version, why is this?
CAC I do not know that there is any special thought in putting the brackets. It forms part of the line which the Spirit of God is pursuing. Having referred to Christ as the Mediator of the new covenant, He is Mediator in the sense that He has accomplished everything so that God is free according to His nature to give the eternal inheritance, which obviously has the heavenly side in view. Christ is introduced as Mediator and as having effected through redemption the full liberty in which God is acting and that leads the writer to refer to the covenant as a will — a testament which acquires force through the death of the testator. It is a beautiful thought which comes in the line of the teaching of the Spirit in this part of the book. The great point is that God is free through the death of Christ; God can dispose of things according to His own heart. Among [p. 42] other things this brings out what is important, namely the deity of Christ. If He is the Testator it is the mind of God that is brought out. The Mediator is entirely on God’s part; it is through His death that Christ has become the Mediator, the One by whom the thoughts of God’s love have been made good. Nothing could give greater force to the thought of the eternal inheritance, the heavenly position. That is how God has disposed of things; He has assigned to His called ones a heavenly portion. In Hebrews we have a heavenly people.
There are all the provisions of the will and they are irreversible. If you entertain the great thought of God in assigning a heavenly portion to His called ones you can see that it all takes effect in the death of Christ. The covenant now is not like the covenant which was under law and which the people broke. The idea of the Mediator in christianity is different from the Mediator as seen in Moses. In writing to the Galatians the apostle will not have the thought of the Mediator at all; for from this standpoint a mediator supposes that there are two parties obligated, whereas God is one and all is carried out according to the will of one party. The thought of a will is that if a man disposes of his estate and dies, the death of the testator brings the will of the testator into force; it is not a question of the beneficiaries, or what they think or say. The Mediator as seen in Hebrews sets forth the particular way in which God has come near to men. God came here in Manhood in the Person of the Son, that He might go into death to secure everything. How wonderful it is to think of! It is a question of God’s disposition. Christ is the Testator and Executor of the will; it is all on the divine side. That is what is so blessed. There are not two parties obligated; there are beneficiaries, but no part of the disposition of things depends on them. The thought of the Mediator includes the value of His death and His perfect [p. 43] efficiency as Administrator of the estate. What glories come together in that blessed Person! It makes us long for an opportunity to praise and glorify Him!
It is important that we should be confirmed in the thought of the covenant. The covenant made with Abraham was unconditional.
Ques Is there no Mediator when it is a question of promise?
CAC We have not here two parties who are both to maintain faithfulness to the covenant. That is usually the case; two parties must sign the covenant. That is how it stood under law, but christianity is different. It is what God proposes and His disposition is in the sense of the provisions of a will; it is important to see that. Two things are brought out commensurate with one another, the love of God and the death of Christ. The death of Christ in its value is commensurate with the divine nature. God’s love is expressed in that death never to be so expressed again. This makes us think much of the death of Christ.
Rem His death is for the redemption of transgressions.
CAC It had to take into account the former histories of every one of us — our sins, our guilt. All that was connected with our sinful state was taken into account when Christ died.
Ques Was the first covenant set on one side?
CAC Yes, because it did not make known the nature of God. It did not give men a purged conscience, so it failed on God’s side and on man’s side. The new covenant is the wonderful way that God has taken to dispose of things; it reveals His nature and secures a purged conscience so that the worshippers can approach. All this comes to us by the Spirit, but the prominence that is given to Christ in this epistle is very striking. As we said last week there is no indwelling Spirit in Hebrews. The Spirit is spoken of as a divine Witness but not as indwelling.
[p. 44] Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant and His mediatorship is the carrying out of the office of executor. The fact that this matter of the will is introduced shews that it is a figure that God can take up and which is suitable to express the way of His acting at the present time. The object of it is that God should be known, so that knowing and loving God we may serve God.
Ques Would the understanding of this help us in connection with the meaning of the cup?
CAC Yes, and the loaf too. This epistle bears much on the Lord’s supper without mentioning the Supper. Much is made in this epistle of the Lord’s body — His body being offered, and the covenant being in His blood. All this is to qualify us for the morning meeting, and to help us to enter into the Supper is to help us in the service of God.
He has made a disposition of things that is adequate to His own nature; nothing could be greater than that. In the presence of the death of Christ we learn what we are, and we can learn it no other way. I realise how sinful my life is when I see that in no other way could God approach me than in the death of His Son.
Ques Who are “the called” (verse 15)?
CAC That connects the whole thing with the purpose of God. The thought of being called introduces divine purpose.
Ques Where does the gospel come in on these lines?
CAC This is not exactly gospel for sinners, this is gospel for saints. What we preach to sinners is the righteousness of God through the death of Christ. God is just and the Justifier of those who believe in Jesus — that is the gospel we present. But the presence of people on the earth in the good of the new covenant would be a powerful witness to the world in addition to the preaching. A man of the world would say, ‘There are people who were once like me, seeking satisfaction from things here, but now they [p. 45] are supremely happy in the love of God; they do not want the world at all. I wish I had what they have!’ What kind of disposition has God made of His property? He has assigned to His called ones a heavenly portion; they have part in all that of which Christ is the Heir. The heavenly side comes into view in the fact that the Heir is already in heaven and the saints down here are joint heirs. God has made that disposition and carried it out in the death of Christ. Whatever is in the mind of God has been secured through the death of Christ for the called ones.
Ques What is the inheritance? Is it sonship?
CAC No, it is rather that sonship includes the inheritance; it is the sons who inherit.
I thought the promise indicated the proposition on God’s part. The more excellent ministry is established on better promises which brings the heavenly into view. In Ephesians Christ is seen as the One who is in possession on the heavenly side. It is in Him that we obtain the inheritance on the heavenly side. The heavenly calling brings in the heavenly inheritance. This epistle is written to deliver the people of God from earthly thoughts and bring them to heavenly thoughts. God will give the earthly to Israel in a coming day. He gives the heavenly to His called ones today.
Rem In the opening chapter of the epistle it speaks of the Son being established Heir of all things.
CAC The inheritance in the full scope of it is “all things”. The created universe is viewed as the subject of reconciliation through the death of Christ. God puts His saints into possession of it. How God enjoys the inheritance! The Hebrews were tested as to whether they had yielded themselves to the divine call, and we too are tested. The Spirit of God is magnifying in this part of the epistle the value of the death and blood of Christ. He [p. 46] shews how according to the first order of things the blood has a great place. Even the former covenant was connected in the mind of God with death.
Ques Do not Psalm 2 and Psalm 8 touch this heavenly calling?
CAC The heavenly calling is not a subject of the Old Testament. We have a lot of typical teaching we can take up in the light of the heavenly, but it was not the thought in that day. Take the words of the law; there is a lot in it typically that applies to us now. In Exodus 24 we read of the blood being put on the altar and on the people and then Moses and seventy elders of Israel go up the mountain and see the God of Israel. They go up to what was heavenly in character. All the things of the tabernacle made known the heavenly typically.
Ques How would sprinkling the people with blood apply today?
CAC The “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”, Peter says. That is how it applies today.
God is moving and operating that He should be made known to men. In God becoming known response is secured. It is not the thought of God that people should be unresponsive. If we come to the knowledge of God we shall be responsive. If there is no response it shews we have not come into the love of God. How could a creature know the love of God and not respond? It is impossible. A great many people live on texts, but texts do not go beyond comfort. People may get comfort in a text but that is not what we are talking about. The thing is to get the knowledge of God — to get God before you. God in dealing with a people in flesh could not make Himself known; men according to flesh could not approach God. God is known in the light of the death of Christ; that is something altogether different from flesh. We get a new generation who are not in the flesh — they can be in perfect liberty.
[p. 47] Moses on the mount was there in liberty hearing things for the making of the tabernacle.
Ques Would liberty be in the virtue of the blood?
CAC Yes. If we come in the value of the death of Christ there will be no barrier, not only to heaven, but to God in the value of the blood. The nearer we get to God, the happier we are, and the more conscious of supreme delight and liberty. As we receive the value of the death of Christ into our hearts it produces response.
Rem I suppose Hebrews 10 is, “Let us approach”.
CAC Yes, He encourages us to draw near. This epistle is a stimulant, a word of exhortation. We see the way God has come out; that is the great theme. This epistle dwells on the Person, the offices, sacrifice and priesthood of Christ. God thus comes out with a view to our going in. God has secured a heavenly inheritance for us. We are to be stimulated to draw near to God.