CHAPTERS I and 2
CHAPTERS I and 2
It is important to note to whom the epistle is written. The Hebrews had not gone back, but were in danger of doing so, and this “word of exhortation” (chapter 13: 22) is written to encourage them to continue. The apostle begins by showing how God had spoken in these last days in the person of the Son as formerly by the prophets, the stream of communication being continued thus to the people of God. In this sense we have continuity as well as contrast. In the main it is contrast, showing how much better off the people of God were now than of old.
We never get out of the wilderness in the Hebrews, hence we get the tabernacle, but not the temple referred to. The tabernacle is connected with the wilderness, the temple with the kingdom.
The writer s name does not appear. Scripture is adduced to prove every point - thus the author’s name was not needed. Christ is the Apostle. The point is to establish what is the word of God.
A scripture proof of the truth of christianity was the object. It was not merely a new revelation, but a continuation of the communications from God (verse 2).
Why to the Hebrews, and not to Israelites?
‘Hebrews’ refers to what they were naturally - their origin (Genesis 14: 13) - ‘Israelites’ to what they were made in grace (Genesis 32: 28).
A striking internal proof that Paul wrote the epistle is that directly he gets Rahab the harlot into blessing in the land, he stops - time fails him (chapter 11: 31).
We never get union in Hebrews, but we get companionship, like the consecrated company with Aaron. Here the consecrated company enter the holiest with One greater than Aaron. “Anointed thee with oil of gladness above thy companions”.
[p. 96] In chapter 1: 3 our sins are gone, and in the epistle we are seen as the congregation of God.
In His dignity He sat down, having by Himself purged our sins. In chapter 2 we see Him as a Man, as kinsman, relieving us of judgment; and in order that He might do so, since the children were partakers of flesh and blood, “he also, in like manner, took part in the same”.
Having found out where Christ is, and where our position is, we are seen here (that is, on earth) as running on to Him there. We are not seen united, but as a consecrated company going into the holiest with the High Priest, all being according to the divine order, as in Leviticus 8, where we have three points:
(1) Body washed with pure water.
(2) Heart sprinkled from an evil conscience.
(3) Hands filled with consecrations which are waved before the Lord, and then eaten. The third is not in Hebrews, where you get the right to approach; it does not go on to communion. They (the priestly family) are in company with Him, and feeding on Him inside. The point is that we are companions of a heavenly Christ - everything to us as it is to Him - sharing with Him in the holy of holies - not the holy place. He is heir of all things as Son of God. The universe was made in order that it might be filled with mediatorial glory.
The tabernacle was a figure of the universe. The Son has passed through the heavens, and is seated in the highest place of dignity - the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Christendom has made the laity the camp, and the clergy the tabernacle.)
Chapter 2: 12 quotes from Psalm 22: 22, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”. In Psalm 22 we see Christ first in death, and then as risen out of it.
“Spoken to us in the person of the Son” is characteristic of the communications. This communication is not limited to His life on earth. The tendency was [p. 97] to go back to the earth, and the Hebrews are warned that if they did so they would lose sight of these relationships, that is, companionship with a heavenly Christ. Christendom generally has gone back to the earth.
In chapter 3 we find the Apostle as well as the High Priest. As Apostle He came from God, as High Priest He goes to God, and we are seen not only in the company of the High Priest, but also listening to the Apostle. There is a present ministry of “the Apostle”. “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it”.
Ministry in the assembly is from Christ apostolically. In John 17 He says, “The words which thou hast given me I have given them”. This is in His apostolic character. In the assembly we are viewed as on heavenly ground, and thus entirely dependent upon the Lord to open out to us there what heavenly things are. There are two kinds of apostolic communications - one in connection with the pathway in the wilderness (Exodus 29: 42); the other in connection with what is inside - God speaking from the mercy-seat (Numbers 7: 89). The point was that they now belonged to the inside and not to the outside. We have to do with the priest inside - Israel with the priest outside.
“All of one”. One what? One everything.
Christ never had brethren on earth after His own type, His own order, until resurrection. in Matthew 12: 48 - 50 “brethren” is used morally. The Lord owned what was of God in Israel.
The word forms the link in Matthew’s gospel (”Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in the heavens”, etc.). Nature and life form it in John’s gospel.
In Hebrews God reveals Himself as One whom it “became” in bringing “many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings”.
[p. 98] In Leviticus 16 we see two companies - Israel and Aaron’s house. It is a wonderful thought! I belong to the inside company. Everything depends on where the priest is. “My brethren”, chapter 2: 12, was accomplished historically to the remnant in John 20. “Brethren” in Psalm 22: 22 applied to the Jews at the time, but it brought them on to new ground. (See John 20.) They were Jews when He appeared to them, but He put them on ground which could not be limited to Jews. “The great congregation” of Psalm 22 is Israel in the kingdom. “I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. In the assembly we ought to catch the leading of the Lord in His praises to the Father; we should be like the strings of a harp, ready for His finger at any moment - I do not know whether He will touch me, but I am ready. The three mighty men came down to David (2 Samuel 23: 13), and coming thus near him, learned his mind, and were ready to do his pleasure. “I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. In the sense of relationship we worship the Father. John 4 goes beyond Hebrews 10. In the former it is worship; in the latter it is only title to enter.
In John 20 it is Father and God. ‘Father’ is grace usually; ‘God’ responsibility. In Hebrews it is a people on earth - Christ speaking to a people on earth. In Romans it is a man personally on earth. In Hebrews a man on his way to heaven. ‘God’ is used in a sense relatively in Hebrews 2. “It became him... in bringing many sons to glory”, etc.
The three quotations, Hebrews 2: 12, 13, seem to refer to three positions in which we are viewed.
- “I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises” - our association with Him now.
- “I will trust in him” - our dependence upon God during our wilderness journey.
- “Behold, I and the children which God has given me” - This last shows how, when Christ had not the nation, God gave Him children.
[p. 99] In Isaiah 8: 17, 18 we find Jehovah hiding His face from Israel, but giving Messiah a people - children. All these quotations are made to prove that we belong to the same company, and yet His place is ever kept - “Behold, I and the children”, etc. When the Lord said to Mary, “Go to my brethren”, they took no advantage of it, for when He appears before Thomas He is addressed as “My Lord and my God”.
“Death has been swallowed up in victory” is still future, though we are already in the victory. “Thanks to God, who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ”. Death will be destroyed absolutely when every believer is taken out of it. Resurrection is the end of death. “He also, in like manner, took part in the same”, that is, flesh and blood, and by death brought to an end that condition for the glory of God. Death is the end of a condition, the end of a state in which I am; thus, much more than mere separation of soul and body. Satan presented in the wilderness that which would captivate a man, in the garden of Gethsemane that which would appal a man.
“Perfect” (chapter 2: 10) has always to do with Christ taking His place as a Man in glory. Suffering of death - atonement. Sin having come in, suffering came in too - through all this Christ had to pass, and having got to the other side, He is seen in glory, made perfect (a soldier passing through all the war to the highest post, to generalship). In chapter 5 “the days of his flesh” and “being made perfect” are contrasted. He learned obedience - not He learned to obey, or to be obedient. The very perfections of Christ added to His sufferings when tempted, His perfect sensibilities shrinking from the very proposal of independence. He knew all the weakness of man - what man had to go through. In the temptation in the wilderness in Luke’s gospel, Satan suggests independence that he should do the thing needed by His own means. You will always notice that if you yield to the first temptation, independency of God, you will go on secondly to get a slice of the world, and then, falling under the third, seek to get God to authenticate your position by giving results in service, etc. During the forty days, it was not human nature suffering from hunger, but holy nature suffering from Satan’s suggestions. Satan, baffled in the wilderness, comes back in Gethsemane in a new way. If you will not drink the king’s wine (Daniel 1) he will throw you into the fire (Daniel 3). Peter’s suggestion was not in the way of direct temptation (Matthew 16: 22, 23). During the Lord’s ministry Satan knew that He was his master - a Man was his master.
The sympathy of Christ will extend to the remnant by and by. Christ suffered otherwise than in atonement, suffering on account of Israel’s treatment of Him as Messiah. The man who has the greatest sense of Christ has the greatest sense of Satan. He will disturb wherever he can.
I never saw a wrong key struck in a meeting, but that all who were in a wrong state would drop into the same key, until the power of God came in and stopped it.
The “new man” suffers as Christ did. “Arm yourselves with the same mind” (1 Peter 4) - that is like Marah. I see an apple that is not mine, which I would like to have. I say, ‘No! that is sin’. I leave it, I suffer in the flesh. Priesthood has reference to a people in relationship with God.