THE HEAVENLY CALLING
THE HEAVENLY CALLING
Hebrews 1: 1 - 5; Hebrews 2: 7 - 10; Hebrews 12: 1 - 11
We were speaking together this afternoon, dear brethren, of the heavenly character of Christianity, and I have turned to the epistle to the Hebrews because in this epistle we are addressed in the beginning of chapter 3 as partakers of the heavenly calling, and the first two chapters are intended to attract us by presenting Christ to us personally as in heaven, in the double character of Apostle, on the one hand, and High Priest, on the other, of our confession. And then at the end of chapter 12 we have an exhortation to see that we refuse not Him who is speaking from heaven. The epistle opens with the fact that God is speaking, and chapter 12 urges us, near the end of the epistle, to see that we refuse not Him that speaks. The passage in chapter 12 which we have read takes up the path of faith in which we are all set at the present time, and the ways of God in regard of us in that path. I have in mind that we should lay hold at the present time of heavenly things, and enter into our portion as sons, which is in God’s mind for us, and that we should not be hindered by anything that the world or the flesh or even nature might bring in.
Well, now, the epistle starts with the thought that God has spoken, and in a distinctive way; as it says, “in Son.” He had previously spoken by prophets, but now no less a one than the Son Himself has come into view, and He Himself is the Speaker. He speaks to us; He appeals to us by bringing Himself before our hearts, that we may learn in Him what God’s thoughts toward us are. It is a very important thing to understand, dear brethren, that the mind of God is that we should have our attention directed to Christ in glory, and should understand that He sets forth in Himself, and would convey to our understanding, what God intends we should be brought into. I think if a moment’s consideration is given to that it will become clear, because Jesus is God Himself, the second Person of the Godhead, but He has become Man. Why should He do that? Obviously it was not necessary, so to speak, unless men were in mind for blessing. Unless men were in mind there was no object, so to speak, in one Person of the Godhead becoming Man and taking up manhood condition. And so the whole intent of God is that the Son having come into view as having become Man, and now having taken His place at the right hand of the Majesty on high, that should arrest our attention and that we should inquire, so to speak, What is it that God is showing to us in these wonderful facts? What are we intended to learn by it? And so it says that “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son (or in the Son).” Notice these last days, which have extended from the day of Pentecost, for the speaking, I suppose, really began with the coming down of the Holy Spirit. I do not doubt, of course, that there was a speaking of God to men in the presence here of the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh, but I believe the speaking in its fulness dates from the coming of the Spirit, because the whole point is that we are to understand what God is saying in the fact that Jesus is now to be apprehended in a position in heaven as Man. So the speaking has extended for nearly two thousand years, and it is called “these last days.” That is, there is nothing, so to speak, to follow. The Lord said in the parable, “Last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son,” Matthew 21: 37. There could be nothing to come after the Son.
John, at the end of his first epistle, says, “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding.” There is nothing to follow, but then in order that our attention might be further arrested, the Spirit of God enlarges on the greatness of Christ. He says, Whom God has appointed heir of all things. Think of that, this forward look into the future, that in a day soon to come Christ is to inherit all things. All things in heaven and earth are to be taken up by Him and held by Him for the pleasure of God. And then there is a backward look, it says, “by whom also he made the worlds.” We know not how many worlds there are, but however many there are they were all created by the Son. Hence in the consideration of this forward look on the one hand, that He is the appointed heir of all things, and this backward look on the other hand, that by Him God made the worlds, we are intended to be arrested as to the greatness of the Person who is now appealing to us to engage our attention. And then it makes another remarkable statement, “who being the effulgence of his glory and the expression of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power.” That is the present time. We have had a forward look and a backward look, and now there is something that fits into the present, and that is that the Son in whom God has spoken to us is no less than the One who at the present time is upholding all things by the word of His power. A remarkable statement intending to impress us with the greatness of Christ, and to impress us with the fact that God is calling attention to Christ in the present position that He fills as Man in the presence of God, that we might understand what God is saying to us in Him. And then it adds, when He had by Himself purged our sins, or having made by Himself the purification of sins. A few words but full of meaning. Who else could do it? Think of the immensity of it! By Himself He did it, setting God free in that way. The question of sins lay in the way of God opening up the thoughts of blessing that He had in mind for men, and, if I might use a human expression, in one stroke He by Himself made purification of sins. It was not done without cost, I need not say, and there was none else in heaven or earth who could do it, but He did it by Himself, removing everything that stood in the way of God bringing to light the thoughts of grace and blessing that He had in His mind for men. And having done it He set Himself down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. We know that it was as Man that He made purgation of sins, and it is as Man that He has set Himself down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Now that is the position from which He is addressing Himself to us. God is speaking to us in the Son, and the Holy Spirit will also speak to us in the matter, for when we come to chapter 3 we read, “Wherefore, even as says the Holy Spirit, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” It is urgent that we should take account of the way God is speaking in these last days. So Christ having come in in the greatness of His Person, and having set Himself down on the right hand of the majesty on high, in the value of all that He has accomplished in making purification of sins, it says, “taking a place by so much better than the angels, as he inherits a name more excellent than they.” The writer of the epistle is writing to Christians who had been Jews, and who in that capacity had been accustomed to God speaking to them by angels. Angels are wonderful creatures, infinitely greater and more powerful than man. They are not mortal. He makes His angels spirits, it says, His ministers a flame of fire. We read of Gabriel in the book of Daniel, and hundreds of years later we find that same Gabriel coming to Zacharias and saying, I am Gabriel, who stand before God. They were mighty creatures, and the Jews were accustomed to God occasionally speaking to them by angels, and they naturally were impressed with the greatness of angels. Indeed nearly always those to whom an angel appeared were struck with fear. But now it says in regard of Christ that He has inherited a name more excellent than angels, and the rest of the chapter is taken up with unfolding to us what the name is that He has inherited. The idea of a name is that of renown, and as you go through the chapter you will find that there are several quotations from the Psalms and one quotation from the first book of Chronicles, and they predicated certain things concerning someone.
Passing over one or two quotations referring to angels which are introduced by way of contrast to enhance the name of Christ, all these quotations predicate something of someone. When these statements were made by the Spirit of God it was not clear to whom they referred. It was no doubt understood by many that they referred to the Messiah who was to come, but at any rate there it was, for instance, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,” in the second Psalm. Of whom was David speaking when he wrote that? It could apply to no one who had appeared up till then. And then again, “I will be to him for father, and he shall be to me for son.” To whom did that refer? You say, It referred to Solomon. It did literally, but God had in His mind One greater than Solomon. And then, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” To whom did that refer? All these quotations from the Psalms and 1 Chronicles refer to someone, but the point is that Christ having come in and gone to the right hand of God the Spirit of God now testifies that all these quotations offer to Him. He has inherited the name. Whatever renown these quotations indicate the Lord has come in and taken it all up. He has inherited a name more excellent than the angels.
Now what is involved in the name? The first thing is, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” That is the very first thing, so to speak, that God would call our attention to in relation to Christ, that He hails Him as His Son. “Thou art my Son,” He says, indicating clearly that what God had in mind for men was that they should be brought into the place of sons. Now of recent years, dear brethren, we have heard a great deal about sonship, and rightly so too, but one just fears lest we should become so used to the expression that we should fail to apprehend the magnitude of it, that God has nothing less in mind than that men should stand before Him in sonship, and with a view to that, the second Person of the Godhead came into manhood, and as having become man is saluted by God as His Son. And then there is something further, He says, “I will be to him for father, and he shall, be to me for son.” That means that not only is sonship in mind for man, but it is to be sonship filled out with the reciprocated affections proper to sonship. “I will be to him for father and he shall be to me for son.” It is not going to be a mere matter of title, it is not going to be an abstract idea, it is going to be a position which will be filled out with the reciprocal affections proper to the position. Well now, God is speaking to us in all this. Have we apprehended that that is God’s thought for us? How far are we in sonship practically, I mean actually in the liberty of it? How far are we in the enjoyment of the affections proper to it? All this is intended, dear brethren, not to place us in bondage, far from it, but rather to induce exercise on our part, that if God is thus speaking to us, evidently He desires and intends that we should come into it. You remember in the well-known passage in Luke 15, that the younger son, as he returned, had in mind to suggest that he should become a hired servant; but what does the father say? He says, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.” That is to say, he has nothing less in mind than the best, and not simply to be brought out, as an abstract idea, but to be put on the young man, so that he would be actually clothed with the best robe and would have the ring on his hand, and as having the shoes on his feet would move in the liberty proper to him as a son.
And so it says, “because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” That is not a matter to be taken up, dear brethren, in mere words. The words are of no value if the affections and feelings that go with the words as uttered by the Lord Jesus are not present with us. But then God has nothing less in His mind than that the position of sonship which is set before us objectively in Jesus glorified in the presence of God, should be filled out by us with the actual affections and feelings and liberty that are proper to it, and if we have received the Holy Spirit, we have in the Spirit the potentiality for entering fully into these things. If we are conscious that our actual measure in them is small, that is something that we might well take up in private exercise with the Lord, because the Lord is prepared to help us into these things, and the Spirit is prepared to do so also, and the one that asks receives, the one that seeks finds, the one that knocks will have things opened to him; but the one that is dilatory and careless will have nothing opened to him.
Let us seek these things with diligence, wisdom says, I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me; Proverbs 8: 17. That is an encouragement to the young to begin young in going in for these things; “those that seek me early shall find me.” The Lord says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” I stress this, dear brethren, because of the urgent need in these days of really proving the power and satisfying character of Christianity, so that we may stand, in spite of the influences of the world around, and minister to the pleasure of God, for sonship is primarily for God; as we read in the second chapter, “it became him, for whom are all things.” Primarily everything is for God and we are for God.
Well now, I did not read the rest of the quotations in chapter 1, they bring in various glories which are all gathered up in the Person of the Son at the right hand of God. You will find that they involve that His throne is for ever and ever because it is founded in righteousness. It is established on moral foundations so that it can never be shaken; and moreover He Himself is anointed with oil of gladness above His companions. That is, it is a system of joy into which we are introduced, and Christ is supreme in it. And then it is a system that will never pass away, because it depends on Him as to whom it is said, “Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” It is a question of the greatness of Christianity, the system of blessing and glory which is brought in in the Person of Christ. And His years shall never fail, and we as linked up with Him by the Spirit will find ourselves with Him in eternal blessing.
Well now, chapter 1 is the Apostle of our confession, that is, One who brings out the mind of God and presents it to us authoritatively. It is a question of what is set out objectively before our eyes in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and apprehended by us as God’s mind for us, but now in chapter 2 He is the High Priest of our confession. That is, He is able to bring us into it practically. It is one thing to have an idea of what God has in mind for us, but it is another thing to be brought into it, and so, while in chapter 1 the Lord is presented as on God’s side, in chapter 2 He is on our side. He is presented as tasting death for every man, entering into death in order that that which lay upon man, that is death, might be removed. And so the Lord tasted death for every man, and tasting meant proving to the full what was involved in if, for the thing in its dread reality was entered into by our Lord Jesus Christ. By the grace of God He tasted death for every man and in the power of His own Person He has broken its power and is now crowned with glory and honour in the presence of God. And so we have in Him as beyond death One who is great enough to bring us into all that is set forth in Him in chapter 1 as God’s thoughts for us. And He is presented as the Captain or Leader of our salvation.
God is bringing many sons to glory; to be beyond death and in heaven in a condition of glory as set out in Christ is the end to which God is bringing us. The place of sonship is heaven, and the condition of sonship is conformity to Christ. We enjoy sonship in the power of the Spirit of adoption already, but that is only in the way of earnest; Romans says that we await adoption, or sonship; that is, the redemption of the body. The full thought of sonship is seen in Christ in glory in the presence of God, and He is the Leader of our salvation. He is the one who sets out in Himself the full thought of salvation which God has in mind for us. But then it says it became God, “for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” I understand that He is perfected in the sense that He has now reached, so to speak,
the terminus. We have not yet reached it, but He has. He personally sets out in Himself the full condition of salvation and sonship which is in the mind of God for us. He is personally the Son of God; we become sons by adoption, but He is now in the place and the condition proper to sonship, but He has reached that position by way of sufferings.
Now God, it says, is bringing many sons to glory. Glory is the shining out of what God is in the blessedness of His love, and in His wisdom and power as subservient to His love. And bringing many sons to glory has in mind that He would have those before Him who can respond appreciatively to the glory in which He is revealed. You will remember when He said the foundations of earth He had in angels those who were called sons of God, and they shouted for joy. That is, those who were the masterpiece of His creatorial power celebrated His glory seen in the founding of the earth. But now God has come out in the shining out of His love. What other explanation can there be, but that God is love, that He should desire that we should be set up in the place of sons before Him? And then along with His love there is His wonderful wisdom, involving the incarnation, and there is also the greatness of His power seen in resurrection and the mighty working in the saints of the Spirit. And so God is bringing many sons to glory, that there might be in them a response suited to that glory. But then there was something further that was befitting to God, and that was the depths of divine love, expressed in suffering, should also be brought out, and so it became God “in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” It was necessary, that the one in whom divine thoughts were to be set out in their fulness should reach that position by way of sufferings, in order that the depths of which divine love is capable should be brought to light. God would not be deprived of what He had set His heart upon even though it meant the cost to Him of giving up Christ to death, and though it meant for Christ the sufferings of Calvary. And therefore the matter is complete, so to speak. It became God that there should be a complete setting out of what He is in His glory, the heights of His love as seen in sonship, and the depths to which love could go as seen in the sufferings of Christ. And so, with these things before us, dear brethren, we have the complete setting out of divine glory to which we are to respond affectionately and intelligently in sonship.
Well now, that being in the mind of God we come to chapter 12, which brings in the path of faith, and God uses the path of faith to develop in us the features that go along with sonship. And so chapter 12 begins with “Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” Witnesses to the principle of living by faith; witnesses to that fact, that the called ones of God, partakers of the heavenly calling, are to go through this world on the principle of faith, and I would say to the young ones here especially, bear this in mind, that Abel is speaking to us, and Enoch is speaking to us, and Noah is speaking to us, and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and Rahab are all speaking to us; they are all testifying to us that they have passed through their life here an the principle of faith. They, with the others referred to in chapter 11, are the cloud of witnesses brought forward to remind you and me that this idea of going through the world on the principle of faith is not a new one. It is something that governed them from the very outset. They are brought forward to show us that we are in distinguished company, we are on a well trodden path, a path in which God has proved Himself in every sense. Sin having come into the world God began at once to give the light of another world, and this necessitated living by faith on the part of all who were governed by that light.
Now what is it to live by faith? It is not simply walking in confidence in God, it is that you are governed, as regards the way you shape your course, by the light of unseen things. God has given you light in your soul as to another world, and you regulate your course by that light, the light of a world that subsists in relation to One as to whom it is said, “Thou art the same and thy years shall not fail.” So we are to run with patience the race that is set before us, and to look off unto Jesus, the Leader and Completer of faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Let us think of that, the Lord is presented to us as having had a joy set before Him. I do not know whether one would state dogmatically what the joy was, because if one did so one might limit it. I suspect that the great joy set before Him was the joy of bringing into effect all the will of God, and that would include the assembly, what we are to the heart of Christ, but I believe that the joy set before the heart of Christ was the joy of bringing into effect all that God had in His mind to secure. Now Satan made it as difficult for Him as possible, and both directly and through men sought to overcome Him, but for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross. Think of what the cross was, the reproach of it, the public contempt of it and all that was met by Him. And then, of course, what is meant as the judgment of God, too. He endured the cross, and despised the shame. How easily we shrink from a little shame or suffering. In order to go through we are to look steadfastly on Jesus, “who endured the cross, having despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” That is, He has reached the terminus, and it is a terminus of power and glory in answer to what He suffered. But now it says, “Consider well him who endured such contradiction from sinners against himself.” That is, it is contemplating that the people of God will endure contradiction from sinners. I daresay even the children at school know a little of this, and as you go to business you perhaps find it out a little more, and it may be very testing, but the word is, “Consider well him who endured such contradiction from sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” You see the Lord has gone through the whole course, and has tasted the path of faith with all that is incidental to it, including the reproach and shame and the contradiction of sinners, and He is now at the right hand of the throne of God.
But then there is another thing, and that is that God uses for blessing all that may come upon the saints from those who are opposed to the truth. There may be the contradiction of sinners, the reproach of Christ, but we have to do with a God who holds everything under perfect control and never relaxes His control. God is always working with us from the standpoint of His purpose, and His ways with us have in view our partaking of His holiness. He never has any other thought than that He is dealing with us as sons. Let those that are tried keep that in mind. Nothing less than that is in His mind, and Satan may attack and will attack, but God will use the contradiction of sinners and all the testings of the way as a means by which His work in our souls is prospered. Anything that brings us into the presence of God, and casts us more and more upon Him in dependence, tends to produce holiness in us, and that is what God is after. “Without holiness no one shall see the Lord.” God is the Father of spirits. We were reading this afternoon about Stephen; what contradiction of sinners against himself he endured. He looked off steadfastly onto Jesus and what was the result? He had a spirit that he could commend to the Lord. Lord Jesus, he says, receive my spirit; a spirit that the Lord would delight to receive. The Lord Himself had marked the way. He said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit,” Luke 23: 46, and what contradiction of sinners He had endured, but His spirit went through in perfection and Stephen followed in like manner. And now with every one of us whatever it may be in the way of testing in the path, the whole matter is in the Father’s hands, and He is the Father of spirits, and He has in mind that we should live. And so we are not to shrink from the thought of chastening. No chastening for the present seemeth joyous but rather grievous, but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby. I do not believe there are any peaceable fruits resulting from discipline if we are not exercised by it, but if we understand the God with whom we have to do, and that He has committed Himself to bringing us into sonship, His ways in discipline having that in mind, we shall be subject to the Father of spirits, and live.
And so it says, “Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way.” The writer of the epistle is speaking to some who were in danger of giving things up, and so I would urge on old and young alike, that the way to continue to the end is to go in for the heavenly calling. The more it is gone in for the more its power and satisfying character will be known.