THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HEBREWS
[p. 99] THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HEBREWS
Hebrews 2: 4; Hebrews 3: 7; Hebrews 6: 4 - 6; Hebrews 9: 8; Hebrews 10: 15 - 22
I have in mind to dwell on the Holy Spirit as presented to us in this epistle. I have no doubt that the manner of His presentation in each book of Scripture is distinctive, and that it opens up a wide subject for us; our understanding of each book would be greatly enhanced were we to lay hold of the setting of the Spirit therein. And so I would venture to look at this epistle from that point of view; for whilst the Holy Spirit, as we learn from the Lord’s own word, does not speak of Himself, that is, as from Himself, He does speak of Himself as an object. He should be that in our minds, for it is a marvellous fact that the Holy Spirit of God, one of the divine Persons to whose name we are baptised, is still here. Indeed, He is the continual attestation to the divine gift here. The apostle says to the Corinthians, “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable free gift” (2 Corinthians 9: 15, New Trans.). It was not something unknown nor merely historical; it was a living presence, and is livingly present. The fact that the “gift” in that particular passage is not specified, presents it in greater evidence and fulness as appealing to the intelligence and experience and consciousness of the saints of God. It is a divine Person here, a marvellous fact, the fulness of divine giving; and the more we so regard it, the more we shall be affected, and brought into accord with God.
Now that is the setting of the passage in 2 Corinthians. It is a question of giving. “He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever”. 2 Corinthians 9: 9. We are thus in the very midst of the unspeakable free-giving of God. The gift of the Spirit and all that it involves is of a piece with the gift of the Son; the Spirit of God continuing here maintains the sense of divine presence.
The epistle to the Hebrews has remarkable correspondence [p. 100] with our own times; it deals with apostasy. It indicates the divine way of meeting apostasy, and delivering the people of God from its current. As it was then, so now, the current is definite and strong. Young ones particularly are little aware of the strength of it, and how enormously it has been accentuated during the past quarter of a century; and hence the importance of understanding how God would fortify us against it, so that if we are caught by it, as some, alas, are, we may be delivered from it! The divine way necessarily hinges on the presence of the Holy Spirit here. The writer speaks of God bearing witness with the early servants “both by signs and wonders, and various acts of power, and distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to his will” (Hebrews 2: 4, New Trans.).
We are thus brought back at the very outset of the epistle to the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, and His subsequent activities and services; it was a marvellous intervention, far exceeding that of the heavenly multitude which came down when Jesus was born. The Holy Spirit had come, taking up His residence here. It was not a passing thing. It was not a visit. It is said that He sat upon each of them; upon each of those assembled; which word usually denotes permanency as to position with something in view, however short or long the period. He came in definitely and resolutely to take up His residence in the assembly, the one hundred and twenty at Jerusalem being the work of Christ Himself. No one afterwards received the Holy Spirit as they did. The great initial idea of His coming and presence and continuance here is indicated in Acts 2. He sat upon each of them, and in the form of cloven tongues as of fire. That is, He was here to speak, and to speak universally; and with means of dealing effectively with all obstruction, for there appeared cloven tongues as of fire. There were thus the distributions of the Holy Spirit according to God’s will (Hebrews 2: 4).
[p. 101] I think christians should begin with the great fact in their souls of what God has done, of what He did at Pentecost, and what He has done in a lesser degree since, even in our own time. There has been a great revival; not such as we have been speaking of this afternoon as seen in the work of Saul (1 Samuel 15). That was an incomplete work; it was not finished; it was like Sardis, of whom the Lord says, “I have not found thy works complete before my God” (Revelation 3: 2). They may appear to be complete. Saul’s victory over the Amalekites seemed to be complete, and he would persuade even Samuel that it was so, but it was not so before God. There had been disregard of the divine command in selfishly sparing what should have been utterly destroyed. And so, as at Sardis, which historically preceded our time, and which is still all around us, the works are not complete before God. Take all the great religious movements since the Reformation. In no instance do you find completion until you come to the true revival; not indeed what christendom regards as a revival, but what the Spirit would give us to understand as a revival, that is, in the recognition of Christ in heaven, and the Holy Spirit here; and, as a consequence, His presence for the maintenance of the assembly. That is completeness!
A believer begins with himself as regards the assembly; he is of it. As soon as I apprehend Christ in heaven and the Holy Spirit here, and what the assembly is, I begin to see that I am a Peter, so to speak, I belong to it; and then I begin to move. Then as to service, the Lord says, “Go, for I will send thee” Acts 22: 21, and that is the important thing, especially for young people. I begin with it and move in it, and I hold myself in regard of it. So that you see what we come to in the wonderful sovereign mercy of God is genuine recovery, corresponding with what was at the beginning; and especially in the distributions of the Holy Spirit of God “according to his will” Hebrews 2: 4. And that shuts out at once all human [p. 102] innovation in regard to the church of God. It is all a question of His own will. God’s will must enter into everything as regards the distributions of the Holy Spirit. It is said as regards gifts that God has set them in the assembly. It is also said that “there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are distinctions of services, and the same Lord; and there are distinctions of operations, but the same God who operates all things in all” (1 Corinthians 12: 4 - 6).
Thus you see how we are set in this connection; the Holy Spirit operating in gifts, in distributions, the Lord operating in services, God operating all things in all, as over all. We are in God’s world, and man and his world are shut out. However small the limits to which it may be reduced, these great facts apply. So, as regards the distributions of the Spirit; they are not something merely abstract or theoretic, they are existent and actively, livingly present; and that is the first great thing to recognise as to the Spirit, these widespread distributions. Whatever they are, they are for the saints, for every one of them, old and young; and our salvation in the testimony depends on our recognising this, that all is on the principle of God’s unspeakable free giving.
Following the distributions of the Holy Spirit according to God’s will, the next thing is the partaking of It. Chapter 6 contemplates partaking of the Holy Spirit and the possibility of one having done so falling away (verse 6). In speaking of the Holy Spirit’s presence here, and of partaking in It, it is well to hear in mind that it involves the system of grace which God has inaugurated; and that is what is implied in the figure of a well in the Old Testament. It is not only the Person of the Holy Spirit, and His availability, but the system of grace that has been established in His power here. In this book He is called “the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10: 29), a significant term! “The Spirit of grace” involves the system of it, making what is of God dominant for good.
[p. 103] Grace effects good in spite of evil. Hence I take Hagar in Genesis as a type of one who partook of the system, who had part in it, but fell away. She had part in the household of faith, and was treated accordingly. It is with her that the idea of a well is first introduced in scripture; and then with herself and her son. In the second instance (Genesis 21) she is an outcast, and he is an outcast, the “bondwoman and her son” Galatians 4: 30, but grace pursues them. She was rightly an outcast from the house of faith, for her son was a mocker of Christ, but grace, as I said, pursues them. This epistle develops that thought; for it is the continuance of the overtures of God to His earthly people.
I refer to Hagar in a simple and practical way, as indicating how one may be a participator in the Spirit of grace in this sense, and fall away, and “fail”, as it says, “of the grace of God” Hebrews 12: 15. So in Genesis 21 she has her eyes opened. She cast the boy under a shrub to die, and a voice came to her from heaven — that is the principle of this epistle — the second overture to Hagar was from heaven. Then God opens her eyes, and she sees the well, and she filled the flask with water and gave to the lad, and he drank of it. She availed herself of it, but she did not continue in it. Abraham in this same chapter went on in it and contended for it. He rebuked the Philistines because of a well they had violently taken away. He valued it. The seven ewe lambs were to be a witness that he had dug the well. But Hagar did not go on in it. It says she took a wife for her son out of Egypt. I speak of this so that you may see how easily after coming to Christ one may turn aside and form links with the world. Ishmael became an “archer”, and scripture says of Joseph that “the archers shot at him” (Genesis 49: 23). As links in the world are formed the course then is rapidly down.
Simon Magus (Acts 8) would give money to receive the Holy Spirit, that he might be a great one, and Peter says to him, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter” Acts 8: 21. It is a terrible thing to have neither part nor lot in this matter, but here in Hebrews it speaks of those who had had part and who fell away. Such were not born of God; they had part in an outward way in the Spirit.
Over against this we have the Holy Spirit speaking. First in Hebrews 3: 7,8, “Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts”. In this chapter He is speaking about our hearts, and how susceptible they are to hardening, but in chapter 10 He is speaking clearly about the heart of God, that never hardens towards His people! Moreover He intimates, as He speaks about the heart of God, that God takes away the stony heart from us. How blessed to retire into the knowledge of God in His faithfulness! He takes away the stony heart and gives a heart of flesh. The thought of the covenant tends to make the heart soft and tender; and then He says, “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them” Hebrews 8: 10. The covenant implies that God in His faithfulness takes possession of the heart and mind so as to secure us wholly for Himself. He leaves not a stone unturned to reach the hearts of His people. We are to keep them with all diligence (Proverbs 4: 23). The Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God, so that God should rule and dwell there.
Chapters 8 and 10 speak about the covenant; and what I would point out is that what the Spirit says to us here is from the Old Testament; He gives it a present voice. Many belittle the Old Testament; scarcely a greater error could be made than to disparage or neglect the Old Testament. “Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3: 16). So that you see the Holy Spirit makes these two passages speak now. He is a witness, “as says the Holy Spirit” (not “said”). Psalm 95 is thus written directly to us, for He quotes that psalm in chapter 3. He brings it to bear upon me, lest I should harden my heart; and in chapters 8 and 10 He brings Jeremiah to bear upon me, to witness to us of the covenant of God. Thus you [p. 105] see what the testimony of the Spirit is, what He is to us, even without going on to the full christian state, which this epistle hardly gives you, for that you would go to Colossians or Ephesians. The Holy Spirit is speaking directly to us in the language of the Old Testament as a witness. How important, therefore, to read the Old Testament!
And then as regards “the holiest” in Hebrews 9, we read that the Holy Spirit shows, for the word in verse 8 is “showing” or “signifying”, that is to say, it is a question of typical instruction. The prophets are one witness, and the types are another, showing the importance of typical teaching. “The Holy Spirit showing this, that the way of the holy of holies has not yet been made manifest while as yet the first tabernacle has its standing”. Hebrews 9: 8. How needful, therefore, to read the types, for in them the Holy Spirit would show us things! We have not only what He says but what He shows. In Hebrews 10 He speaks, and brings in the covenant through Jeremiah. He speaks from Jeremiah, using his very words. He is speaking now, and all is in view of our entering “the holiest”. For if the heart of God is so brought to us in these precious terms, in the thought of forgiveness, we are perfected by the one offering for ever (Hebrews 10: 14) — we have encouragement to draw near to God. He says, as it were, I wish you to be so perfectly free that you can draw near to Me. Is it not touching, dear brethren? He is in the tabernacle, so to speak, and He would call us to Him. In Leviticus God called out of the tabernacle. The way into the holiest is open to us; “Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us, through the veil, that is, his flesh” (Hebrews 10: 19, 20). It is Jesus become Man here, and that involved His death. There is no other way than the death of Jesus; there is no way in for the natural man. It involves, too, the gift of the Spirit, for it is a living way.
And then “having a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water” (Hebrews 10: 22). That is the way out of this world of apostasy. Inside the veil, outside the camp. How can we be outside the camp save as we go in sustained by the great Priest!
What a group of facts we have here! The blood of Jesus, the new and living way through the veil, which is His flesh, and the great Priest over the house of God. All these things are grouped together so that a way is made for us into the holiest. It is “heaven itself” that is opened up to us in Hebrews; it has been called ‘the book of the opened heavens’. It has special application to us today. Heaven is the outlet from what is going on around us! May God bless His word!