FOUR READINGS ON HEBREWS (1)
[p. 543] FOUR READINGS ON HEBREWS (1)
Hebrews 1: 1 - 14; Hebrews 2: 1 - 18
FER The whole epistle to the Hebrews is built up on the two Psalm 2 and Psalm 110. Other psalms are quoted in regard to Christ Himself, but in general the epistle is built up on these two. Christ is the Son of God, and He is exalted to the right hand of God, and He is Priest there. Chapters 1 and 2 are more built up on Psalm 110. We get first in this epistle that the throne of God is established in a Man at the right hand of God. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom”; then, in chapter 2, He is the centre of a company in rejection.
Ques Will not the quotation from chapter 1 be said to Him in the world to come?
FER It is said to Christ now. It is not manifest, but He has the name, and the renown. He is made better than the angels. The name is inherited. It is embodied now, and identified with the glorified Man. What is not yet displayed in any public way is true to us now. It is important to see that the throne of God is established now in a Man; God is working now in regard to the world to come. Things are provisional for the moment, but God is working all in view of the world to come.
Ques What is the object of this epistle?
FER It is to make manifest the present position of things connected with Christ at the right hand of God, and what He is doing now upon earth. In order to understand what God is bringing to pass on earth it is necessary that you should see what is established in heaven. Eventually the earth will be governed by what prevails in heaven.
[p. 544] Rem You get that in Revelation. What is transpiring in heaven is given, so that you may understand what is going to take place on earth.
FER What is established in heaven comes to us now in the way of light, so that we may walk in the light of it. God is bringing many sons to glory, and the display of what is established really waits for that. The Holy Spirit has come down meanwhile to report the glory of Christ.
Ques Is it the same as beholding the glory of the Lord?
FER Pretty much the same. He is appointed Heir of all things. He hath obtained a more excellent name than angels. You get His glory in that way. Christ, not angels, is the Head of all things. Angels could not put things on the ground of redemption. It is the Son of man who puts all on that basis; the throne is based on that. There are all these quotations, and prophecies, but all are established and centre in Christ now. They are not prophetic, but they have their accomplishment in Christ — the One in whom God now speaks. We want to know the greatness of the Speaker. The Son is the One in whom God is speaking, and not only to Hebrews.
Chapter 1 is brought in that we may know the greatness of the Speaker. God has been revealed, and so, too, is all His mind in regard of man; that is what has come out now in the Son. Our part is to apprehend the direct way in which God is speaking. It is testimony, but in view of display, and it is by the Son. It is a time of testimony, but the testimony is quite peculiar; it is “in Son” that God speaks. It is a last word, for it is a testimony antecedent to display. “We see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honour”. All is established in a Man at the right hand of God; the throne is established there;
[p. 545] but meanwhile, before it is displayed, He has a word — a word as to what is to be displayed.
The time is peculiar; the important point is to apprehend the present position of things. The casting-off of the Jew is the reconciling of the world. That is true now provisionally — it is not displayed yet, but Christ is Head of every man, and on the part of God in regard to Christ the world is taken up in the way of reconciliation. That is the position of things; Christ is Head of every man; God has seen fit to take up the world in that way.
Ques What will bring that provisional state of things to an end?
FER When antichrist comes in, then God will interfere. The present position of things is that the world is on the ground of reconciliation. For the time being the gentile is grafted into the olive tree; the blessing of Abraham has come to the gentiles in Christ Jesus. The fact that Christ has gone to the right hand of God has brought about a change in the position of the world in regard to God. It is now on the ground of reconciliation, that is, a provisional state of things; it is not final. Nothing could be final until the coming of the Lord. While Christ is hid, all must be provisional. It is a time of testimony, and things are not displayed; but when they are displayed, all will be final, because things will have come to an issue.
In connection with Christ, and the place of Christ at the right hand of God, you get the reconciling of the world. It is not that the state of the world is changed, but that, on the ground of accomplished redemption and Christ exalted to the right hand of God, as a consequence the attitude of God is altered. As far as God is concerned, it is presented to man; if man receives the testimony, then he receives the reconciliation, and then it can be said, “you ... hath he reconciled”. The word of reconciliation could [p. 546] not go forth unless there was reconciliation there. Christ has been able to take up a certain position in regard to men, having borne the liabilities of men, and so God has been able to take up that attitude in regard to the world. If men do not accept Christ as Head, they declare themselves defiant of God, and of Christ. Whatever be the attitude of God in regard to man, it is equally true that men are declaring their attitude in regard to God and Christ.
Ques “That the world through him might be saved”?
FER Had Christ not come in, there would be nothing but wreck and ruin for it. Sometimes ‘world’ in Scripture refers to the system around, while sometimes it is used as referring to the people. “God so loved the world”, that is the people; “Now is the judgment of this world” — that is in the sense of a system. “The whole world lies in the wicked one” — that is the system; but the reconciling of the world has reference to men. The word of reconciliation is in view of bringing man into it. People have to get into the light of the grace and present position of Christ. All is dependent upon one Man, and the relation of that one Man to all men.
It is important to see the bearing, not only of what Christ has effected, but the consequence of what He has effected in the place He now occupies at the right hand of God. In the holiest you get an apprehension of the mystery of Christ; it is where the secret is learnt. The Spirit of God presses on the Hebrews to hear the word spoken on account of the greatness of the Speaker in contrast to prophets and angels. The Speaker is on the line of prophets; it comes as testimony.
We are going on to the rest of God, but on the way certain privileges are open to us. The calling, the heavenly calling, is to reach Christ in glory. We [p. 547] do not reach glory until Christ comes, but meantime there are certain privileges, such as entrance into the holiest. Divine supremacy is established in Christ — in a Man at the right hand of God. Our privilege is to enter the holiest. You never can learn the divine resources of the love of God, unless you go in and learn the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat. We draw nigh to God to learn the resources of God — the wisdom by which God accomplishes all the purposes of His love.
The love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit given to us, is the beginning of it; but then in drawing nigh you find all the recesses of that heart. The more you know the resources of divine love, the more able you will be to preach; but you have to preach the preaching that He bids you, and that is what you are told to preach. You are not told to preach all that is in Scripture, but you have to preach and testify what you are commanded. The preaching should be confined to what the Lord commissioned.
Ques What is the “great salvation” in chapter 2?
FER Salvation is what is inherent in Christ Jesus. You find salvation in Christ, not in Adam. People want to get assurance of salvation where they are, without changing their ground; whereas God’s way is that it lies in the transfer from Adam to Christ. “In Christ Jesus” is another system. The great point is to come to the reality of salvation. We should not be content with the faith of things, but to get the reality of them. Faith gives the light, but the Spirit gives the reality. All for us is realised in the power of the Spirit; but more than that, what the Spirit is bent upon is the building up of a Man — Christ — in the believer, and everything is realised in that inward man. Salvation practically lies in that Man; the secret lies in the Man whom the Spirit forms in us. The Spirit of God is really building [p. 548] up a man in every one of us. We never can get salvation in the absolute sense save by the Lord; we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.
Ques “By grace ye are saved”?
FER That is in contrast with their being quickened together with Him. They were in the life of Christ, and hence he could say of them, “by grace ye are saved”. The first blush of salvation to anyone is when he comes into the place of Christ’s association, and to the renewal of the Holy Spirit. It is like Noah, who stood on the other side of the waters of the flood, on a new regenerate earth. As to us, we realise it in being brought into Christ’s circle. In order to realise salvation people want to leave all the religious worldly systems. These systems are really part of the world; you are saved out of the system where the enemy can work and affect people.
Association is a great secret, so you must not leave out the renewing of the Holy Spirit as well as the washing of regeneration. They had come out into a clean place, where things are according to the Spirit of God. God will not connect salvation with this world; you have to come out of it, and to get into a clean place where the Spirit of God is; there salvation is found. Hereafter it will be found in the coming of the Lord, just as Noah found it when he came on to a regenerate earth. In the Holy Spirit we do actually get the regeneration, but not of course in an outward public way.