Hebrews 12
The exhortation, begun at ch. 10:19,
but interrupted at ch.11:1 by the chapter on
faith, is now taken up again with increased force from the
array of examples that
have been adduced to support it. Observable in the Greek is the fine roll of
the
majestic and well-ordered phrases with which this chapter
begins, as if the writer
had felt the dignity of his subject, and the commanding
power with which he can
now approach it. Even the initiatory word τοιγαροῦν – toigaroun – surely in
consequence then; wherefore seeing - rather than the
usual ὃθεν – hothen –
wherefore; thence, or οὖν – oun – now, or διό - dio - wherefore, adds to the effect.
1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of
witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us
run with patience (rather, endurance)
the race that is set before
us,” - Christians, still “fighting
the good fight of faith,” are here regarded
under
the image of athletes in the palaestra,
contending for a prize. It is a
favorite image
with Paul, not only, we may suppose, because of its appropriateness, but also
because of the probable
appreciation of it by his readers in consequence of the
general interest taken
in the famous games (compare I Corinthians 9:24-27;
I Timothy 6:12;
II Timothy 4:7). The idea in this first verse is that of a race
(τρέχωμεν ἀγῶνα – trechomen agona – let us
run; we may be racing [the] race).
The word προκείμενον (τὸν
προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα – ton prokeimenon haemin
agona – the
race that is set before us) is the usual one in
the case of a contest
appointed in public games, though, of course, otherwise
applicable, as in v. 2
and ch. 6:18. “Every
weight” (ὄγκον …πάντα
– ogkon ….panta – every
impediment; weight), which we are to “lay aside,” or rather put off from us
(ἀποθέμενοι – apothemenoi – putting
off ), means,
probably, in the figure, any
heavy accoutrement, or other encumbrance, which the runner might
have about
him. Some, indeed, take ὄγκον to denote “obesity” — a sense in which the
word is sometimes used, as by Hippocrates, Diodorus, AElian — and think
the allusion is to the training required of athletes for
getting into condition.
But the word ἀποθέμενοι rather suggests as above.
In the word
ἁμαρτίαν – hamartian - sin, that follows, the figure is dropped, so as to make
evident what is meant, but still
retained apparently in the epithet εὐπερίστατον –
euperistaton – popular; so easily beset us. This word, which
is found nowhere
else either in biblical or
classical Greek, has to be interpreted from its derivation,
the analogy of similar words, and
the context.
The usual and most probable view
is, deriving it from περιΐστασθαι – periistasthai - to understand “that
which easily
surrounds us.” It is true that other verbals,
similarly derived from ἱστημι –
histaemi - or
its compounds, are not active, but intransitive or passive; thus
περιστασος – peristasos - means “surrounded,” not “surrounding; ἀπεριστασος -
aperistasos
- means “unguarded,” i.e. “not surrounded.”
Still, as such verbals
derived from other verbs are often active, this may be so here, and thus have
an intelligible sense in
connection
with the context. We may understand the
figure of a race to be still kept
in view, with regard to the runner not only laying
aside encumbrances, but also stripping himself of his clothes, which would
cling round him and impede his course. (The idea of close personal encirclement
thus supposed to be expressed by εὐπερίστατον seems better to suit the
figure,
as also the
governing verb ἀποθέμενοι, than that of sin getting in our
road as
we run, as might surrounding obstacles in an actual race. The
application of
the whole figure to Christian athletes is not hard to
understand. The
encumbrances to be laid aside by them, lest they should be
weighted in their
race, may include:
o
old associations,
o
lingering Jewish
prejudices,
o
ties to the world, or
o
habits and customs
which,
whether or not in themselves blameless, might prove clogs
and hindrances. Then
the “easily besetting sin” would be all
such as might cling to them personally,
whether in the heart or in habits of life; which, if not got rid of, would be
ever like an
encircling and impeding robe, crippling alacrity and arresting
speed. But further, as runners, however unencumbered for the
race, require
what in modern phrase is called “pluck” to keep it
up to the end, so with
the Christian athlete; for there will always be danger of
his flagging as his
course goes on under trials and difficulties, and this
especially in times of
persecution. This further requirement is expressed by δι ὑπομονῆς – di
hupomonaes - with endurance; with patience
- i.e. throughout to the end.
Thus we have presented to us a grand conception of
Christians being as
athletes contending on the arena of this present world for
the crown of
immortality; and, as is expressed at the beginning of the
verse, under the
eager gaze of a vast multitude of unseen spectators,
corresponding to those
in the crowded seats, rising higher and higher, of an
earthly amphitheatre.
These unseen spectators are the innumerable saints before
us, who have
finished their course and are now at rest, but who are as
it were in the air
around us, watching us from
above with sympathy. The word “cloud”
(νέφος - nephos), though applicable to any great multitude, is peculiarly
appropriate here, as suggesting the idea of an aerial company. The word
“witnesses,” too (μαρτύρων – marturon), though here most obviously to
be understood in the sense of θεαται – theatai - i.e. witnesses of our
contest, may be intended to convey also, as it certainly
suggests to the
mind, its other well-known meaning — that of witnesses to
the faith, or
martyrs (compare Acts
22:13; Revelation 2:13; 11:3; 17:6). So the
Fathers generally understand it here. The saints before us,
as they bore
witness to God in life, so
are conceived as witnesses also of our like
witness now, awaiting
the day when, “not without us,”
they shall be finally
perfected. (ch. 11:40)
Those who have preceded us in the life of faith in immense
numbers surround us as witnesses to the power of faith, as
testifiers by
their example to the might of that principle by which we
are called to run
our course successfully, and war our warfare nobly, and do
our life work
faithfully. The writer would teach us to think often of
this great cloud of
witnesses, to meditate upon the noble lives and glorious
deeds of the true
men who have gone before us, that by the remembrance of
their trials and
triumphs we may arouse ourselves to greater diligence in
running the race
that is set before us. In them we see what trials can be
borne, what
victories won, what work accomplished, what characters
built up, by faith.
If by faith they overcame every difficulty, why should we
be discouraged
by the difficulties of our course? If by faith they
conquered their many and
mighty enemies, why should we dread to encounter our foes?
If by faith,
despite outward opposition and inner weakness, they came
off victors in
the fight and winners in the race, why should we despond
and shrink from
the contest?
2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (rather, the Leader,
or Captain, as in ch.
2:10, and Perfecter of the faith, or of
faith — faith’s Captain
and Completer),; who
for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross,
despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The idea is not, as implied in the Authorized Version and
understood by Chrysostom
and other ancients, that Jesus first inspires and then
brings to its complete result the
individual Christian’s faith, but (as implied in the word ἀρχηγὸν
– archaegon –
author; inaugurator - and suiting the context better) that He is the Leader of
the
whole army of faith, whose standard we are to follow, and
whose own completed
victory is the enabling cause as well as the earnest of our
own. (A winning
tradition if you will! – CY – 2014) It is no valid objection to this view that He
could not have been a Leader in this sense to the faithful
ones before His coming,
referred to in the last chapter; for, as has been before
observed (see on “the reproach
of Christ,” ch.
11:26), He is regarded as the Head and Leader, in
all ages, of the
faithful; and in virtue of His future warfare for mankind
the saints of old endured
and triumphed: — and certainly Christians, to whom the exhortation is
addressed, may look to Him
in an obvious sense as their Captain to be
followed. Nor,
again, is there difficulty — apart from that of the whole
mystery of the Incarnation — in His being presented to us
as Himself an
example of triumphant faith. For He is elsewhere spoken of
as having so
“emptied Himself”
of His Divine glory as to have become like unto us in all
things, sin except; and thus to have been sustained during His
human life by
faith in the unseen, as we are. His addresses to the Father
(see especially
John 17.) are strikingly significant in this regard. The
expression, “for the
joy,” etc. (ἀντὶ τῆς προκειμένης
αὐτῷ χαρᾶς
– anti taes prokeimenaes auto
charas – for the
joy that was set before Him), does not mean, as
some
take it, “instead of the joy which He might have had
on earth” (such e.g. as
was offered to Him by the tempter), but, as is evident from
the word
προκειμένης “as set against, i.e. for the sake of,
future joy” (compare
ἀντὶ βρώσεως
μιᾶς – anti broseos mias – for one morsel - v.
16). Such looking
forward to joy with the Father and the redeemed after
triumph is expressed in
the great intercessory prayer above referred to (John 17:5,
13, 22-24, 26). It may
be here observed that anticipation
of reward hereafter is among legitimate
human motives to a good life. (“While
we look not at things which are
seen,
but at the things which are not seen:
for the things which are seen are
temporal;
but the things which are not seen ARE ETERNAL!”
(II Corinthians 4:18) It may be said, indeed, that the highest virtue
consists in doing what is right simply because it is right
— in fulfilling
God’s will, whatever may come of it to ourselves; but the
hope of a final
happy issue comes properly, and indeed inevitably, in as an inspiring and
sustaining motive.
Aspiration after Happiness is a God-given instinct of
humanity, necessary for keeping up the life of virtue.
There may be some
so in love with virtue as to be capable of persevering in
lifelong self-denial,
though without any faith in a life to come. But human nature in general
certainly requires this further incentive, and CHRISTIAN FAITH
SUPPLIES IT! Nor are those who
thus work with a view to future joy
to be accused of selfish motives, as though they balanced
only a greater
against a smaller gain. To the
true Christian the grand inspiring principle
is still the love of God and of his neighbor, and of
goodness for its own sake,
though the hope of an eternal reward supports and cheers him
mightily.
Nor, again, is the joy looked forward to a selfish joy. It
is the joy of sharing
in the triumph of eternal righteousness in company with ALL THE
REDEEMED (think
of all the accumulation of our common
experiences
and all people from all ages being there! – CY – 2014) whose salvation,
no less than his own, he desires and strives for. And, further, with regard to
his own individual joy, what is it but THE JOY OF ATTAINING THE
PURPOSED END OF HIS BEING, the perfection God meant him for,
and to which it is his duty to aspire? Hence Christ would not have been a
perfect Example to man had He not been represented as looking forward
to “the joy that was set before Him.”
In the long procession of heroes celebrated for their faith
our Lord stands at the
head; He is the Leader, and in Him faith appears in full and
perfected glory. And
the text exhorts us to look to Him as our great Exemplar,
and to draw from
Him support and encouragement. The example of our Savior is
especially
sustaining and cheering, for the course He had to run was
one of extreme
difficulty and danger and suffering; yet He overcame, and
finished His
course with joy, and gained the highest honors. “Who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross.” In time of
suffering, then, pursue your
course “looking unto
Jesus,” the perfect Example of
patience; and in the
presence of Gethsemane and
and the calm face of the supreme Sufferer will impart
patience and power
unto you. In seasons of despondency, when faith is weak and
your spirit
sinks within you, look unto Jesus, and the trust which He
exercised and
the destiny He attained, and let the bright example brace
your heart with
courage. In times of exhaustion and weariness, when you
faint because of
the duties and difficulties of the way, look up to Jesus,
and His example
will raise and strengthen your powerless hands, and nerve
your whole frame
with new energy. And in seasons of temptation look unto Him
who
“resisted unto
blood, striving against sin,” and yield not in the conflict, give no place to
the tempter. Let this be our attitude, “looking unto Jesus.” Let the eye of
the soul be fixed upon Him as our Pattern and Helper; so
shall we finish our
course with joy, and “receive
the crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Looking to Jesus (v. 2)
looking away from one thing to
some other thing. We must always have
some object before the eyes of
our mind, and very often it is an object that
will cause the
natural man discomposure, doubt, vacillation in his practice.
Looking round on your companions
professedly in the path of faith, you
may feel that they are doing
anything but live the life of faith. You may see
some backsliding, Demas-like,
through their love of the present evil world.
(II Timothy 4:10) And even the best of brother believers have
their moments
of failure and misapprehension.
Then, moreover, as we look round us, we see
not only the cloud of testifying
believers, we see a cloud given over to the
things of this world. To mingle
with them in many relations is a necessity of
life. Insensibly they affect that standard of
excellence at which we ought to
aim. We see something which is not God’s standard,
but in our self-deception,
honestly enough, we take it to
be so. And so we must look away from the
ordinary surroundings of life,
and even from the achievements of ordinary
believers, to one in whom we
shall find every good we find in man, without
alloy, without contradiction,
and with special power in us to produce
perseverance and aspiration.
satisfactory, so inspiring, on
which our eyes may rest, on which our
thoughts may dwell! But we must
look at that Object in a certain way. As
we have looked for faith in
Abraham, in Moses, in the prophets, and found
it, so we must look for faith in
Jesus. It is of the greatest importance for us
to see that the life which Jesus
lived in the flesh was a life of faith — faith
in His Father in heaven, faith
in His brethren upon the earth. And what is to
be noticed most of all is this
combination of Author and Finisher. We see
Jesus beginning His course of
faith, we also see Him finishing it. With
regard to other believers, it is
by an act of faith on our part that we
comprehend a reward to be in
store for them. But the reward of Jesus is
before our eyes. That reward is
to be clearly seen by us if we have any
power of spiritual perception at
all. We see the faith of one who submits to
death with the certainty that He
will rise again, and in due time He does rise
again. Jesus is at the right
hand of God, for He does actually rule over many
human hearts, He did not pass
through suffering and shame into an
obscurity which was only the
last stage of the suffering and shame. His
present glory is
A MANIFEST THING, manifest in the
light of more tests
than one. It is a glory
perceptible from the common historian’s point of view.
The richness and depth of that
glory become more and more apparent
when the eye of a real Christian
is turned upon it; he looks for things and
sees things which to the world
are only names. And yet what appears to
our eyes is a very imperfect
representation of the reality proposed to Him
and seen by Him. He saw more
with His sense of truth, His power of insight,
His superiority to this world’s
considerations, than we can see. And along
with the end He saw the way to
it. Well might He warn rash, would-be
disciples to count the cost, for
He Himself had counted the cost to begin
with. Thus must we ever look to Jesus, not in one part of His career, but in
all taken together. The cross
and the shame must not be separated from the
seat of honor and of power. Nor
must the end be looked at apart from the
way. We also have a joy set before us, namely, that of attaining to
COMPANIONSHIP
WITH JESUS! When we look to
Jesus we
look, not only to an example, to
an inspiration, but also to a goal.
3 “For consider Him that
hath endured such contradiction of
sinners against Himself (or,
of the sinners against him), lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds.” The word ἀντιλογίαν - antilogian – contradiction –
though strictly applicable to verbal gainsaying, and thus
especially suggesting
to our minds the blasphemies and false accusations against
Christ, includes
opposition of all kinds. It is used in the Septuagint for “rebellion”
(Hebrew,
yr"s]), II Samuel 22:41; Proverbs
17:11, compare Jude 1:11, τῇ ἀντιλογίᾳ
τοῦ
Κόρε – tae antilogia tou Kore – the gainsaying
of Core (Korah). (Instead of
εἰς ἑαυτὸν – eis heauton - against Himself (al. εἰς αύτόν – eis auton - ) there is
weighty manuscript authority for εἰς ἑαυτούς - eis heautous -, equivalent
to against
themselves.) “Lest
ye be weary,” etc., keeps in view the idea of getting
tired in a race, the word ἐκλυόμενοι – ekluomenoi – fainting being used primarily
for corporeal, and figuratively for mental, lassitude (compare
Matthew 15:32,
µήποτε ἐκλυθῶσιν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ - maepote ekluthosin en tae hodo – lest
at some
time
they may be fainting in the way).
The Life of Faith, and Its Supreme Exemplar
(vs. 1-3)
In these verses the apostle gathers up the practical lesson
to be derived
from his historical demonstration of the power of faith
contained in
Hebrews 11. The figure of the passage is that of a race
which the believer
is required to run, the reference being doubtless to the
foot-race in the
Grecian games.
or truths intended to be
taught by this figure. The life of faith is:
Ø
An arduous struggle. “The righteous
is with difficulty saved”
(I Peter 4:18). The
Christian calling is not a stroll or a saunter, but a race.
It entails strenuous
effort.
Ø
A struggle which involves fixedness of aim. It is “set
before us.” There is
a goal to be kept in view, and a
prize to be won; and there is, accordingly,
a prescribed path of faith and
duty.
Ø
A struggle which involves perseverance. The believer must “run
with
patience.” He must not allow his ardor to decline. He must not desist
until he finishes his course.
Ø
A struggle which will soon be over. “Yet a very little
while,” and the
Christian shall have
reached the goal, and won Christ.
Ø
A public spectacle. “We are
compassed about with a great cloud of
witnesses.” We run this race under the eye of God Himself. Other
spectators are the holy and the
fallen angels, “the spirits of
just men
made perfect,” our fellow-believers on earth, and the ungodly world
around us.
Olympic runner put off his
flowing robes, and everything else that might
impede his course. So the
Christian is to “lay aside,”
Ø
Weights. This word denotes whatever would put one to disadvantage in
running, whether it be in itself
innocent or not. Of course every evil
passion is a weight, which can
only clog the believer’s heavenward
progress. But even that which is
in itself lawful may become, if we
abuse it, a heavy load. We may pervert a good gift of God into a
dead weight. And some habit
which is no hindrance at all to my
Christian brother may have
proved to be a great spiritual cumbrance
to me. There is, e.g.,
the weight of prosperity, of care, of sorrow; the
weight of worldly business, of
earthly ambition, of human affection.
“The things which
are seen” must not be allowed to lie
heavy on the soul, if we would successfully
run the Christian race.
Ø
Sin. This is the essential burden. It “easily besets us,” i.e.
cleaves to us,
wraps itself round us like a
cloak, clings to us as a parasitical plant to a
tree. It is sin in general which
the apostle characterizes as “easily
besetting.” The adjective in the
original does not refer to the particular
sins, whatever these may be, to
which individuals are most prone; although,
of course, in taking home the
exhortation to the conscience, this thought
will naturally be suggested. The
writer probably had in his mind just now
(indeed, be never forgets it
throughout this letter) the sin of apostasy —
the danger to which the Hebrew
Christians were exposed of drifting back
to Judaism, and thus of “falling
away from the living God” (ch.3:12).
This sin, and all others, must
be laid aside. If we do not renounce
sin, we give up the race.
midst of affliction and
weariness, as well as of powerful temptations to
apostatize, how are our fainting
hearts to be revived? Two great motives
are presented.
Ø
The presence, as
spectators, of the former heroes of faith. (v. 1.) The
Old Testament saints are “witnesses”
now of the race which they once
ran themselves. They not only testify
to the power of faith; they are also
spectators of the struggles and conflicts of their successors. The
apostle’s
language is not that merely of
poetic imagination. He seems to say that
“the spirits of
just men made perfect” are cognizant
of what is done upon
the earth, and take an absorbing
interest in it. We are to think of them as
hovering over us in the heavens.
They circle and crowd around us, tier
upon tier, on both sides of the
race-course. On the one side is the gallery of
the saints before the Flood,
that of the Hebrew Pilgrim Fathers, of the
heroes of the Exodus, of the
judges, and of the prophets; while on the
other side is the gallery of the
apostles, that of the Christian confessors and
martyrs, of the missionaries of
the Church, and of our own departed
friends
who have gone to
glory. These spectators are a “great
cloud “ —
multitudinous in number; they are radiant with the brightness of
immortality; and, having themselves passed through the same experience
as we, they keenly sympathize
with us. We should therefore take heart,
as we hear their heavenly
greetings, and realize the fellowship with us
which they claim.
Ø
The example of Jesus, the Leader and Perfecter
of faith. (vs. 2-3.)
While gratefully conscious of
the presence of the men of faith, we are to
gaze fixedly ONLY UPON JESUS! The writer refers to
the Savior here
in his human nature, as the
Pattern Man, and as our supreme Exemplar.
His portrait is
the grandest in the whole exhibition of the heroes of faith;
indeed, none of those in Hebrews
11 can for a moment compare with it.
This noblest picture is arranged
in two divisions; we see Christ on the one
side in His humiliation, and on
the other in His exaltation. And the
inscription set over it reads
thus: “Jesus, the Author and Perfecter
of faith.”
He is the Author, i.e.
Captain, Prince, Head, or Leader, of all
the men of
faith. He exhibited, during His
own earthly life, an absolutely perfect
example of trust in God:
o
By faith He waited at
His heart, during thirty
years.
o
By faith He assumed
the burden of the world’s sin.
o
By faith He conquered
Satan in the wilderness.
o
By faith He performed
the labors of His three years’ active
ministry.
o
By faith He endured
the agonies of
“gainsaying” (v. 3) of Gabbatha, and the
soul-darkness of
Jesus did not “shrink back unto perdition,” notwithstanding His unparalleled
temptations. So He is also
the “Perfecter of
faith;” for in Him faith has had
its perfect work. No other
man will ever appear in our world equal to Him as
a specimen of faith.
Therefore He is our great Model. The early Hebrew
Christians were to “consider Him.”
That very “cross” at which they
stumbled, He “endured.” If
they were being treated by “sinners” (v. 3)
as renegades from the
religion of
sufferings and temptations
were not nearly so dreadful as His. Seeing,
then, that the Man Christ
Jesus, for the sake of the eternal reward in
store for Him, persevered
to the end in running His appointed race,
why should any of His
followers allow themselves to “wax weary,
fainting in their
souls”?
It was His endurance of the cross that gave
Him His place “at
the right hand of the throne of God;” and
all who
follow Him as their
Leader in the race of faith shall eventually
sit with Him upon
His throne. (Revelation
3:21) Christ
will give us
strength to run well, if we ask
Him.
To What Christ was Exposed (vs. 2-3)
darkness came upon Him, He was
left to those policies of the wicked
which are cruel. It was part of
His victory to endure whatever men chose to
inflict in the way of pain. All
who afterwards had to endure crosses, all
who were thrown to wild beasts,
burnt, etc., knew that their Savior had
been in exactly the same path.
He did not choose the cross; it came in the
way He had to take to the joy.
If it had been the Roman amphitheatre, the
stake, or the rack of the
Inquisition, he would have gone with equal
willingness. Whatever suffering
evil men in their recklessness thought fit to
inflict, He was ready for it.
And we, always determined in the way of duty,
service, honor, and reward, must
also be ready for all that comes in the
way of pain. Notice the force of
“endure,”
the verb corresponding to the
substantive ὑπομονῆς - hupomonaes – endure. Not only did He bear the
cross as a Stoic might have
done, in grim silence, but with the veritable
patience of one testifying for
God. In all His bearing there was love,
meekness, and patient waiting
for the joy yet to be revealed.
cruelly and yet not shamefully. Shame, according
to human reckoning, was
added to keen pain. But human shame could not reach to the height of our
Leader’s magnanimity. He had too
clear a view of everything to be affected
by mere reputation. The cross is
not shameful to us. Things reckoned
shameful are largely so
according to custom. What would be shameful in
one age and country has no such
repute in another age and country. Hence,
while we can at once see the
pain of the cross, we cannot see the shame.
But we can understand that there
would be a shame when we recollect that
it has even been counted a
privilege to die by the headsman’s axe, and not
by the hangman’s rope. And this
shame would be a great difficulty in the
way of the apostles in preaching
Christ; indeed, we know it actually was
so. It is not the slightest
difficulty now, however. How an old Roman
would have laughed to hear it
predicted that the cross of crucifixion could
ever become an ornament! What
men reckoned shameful has proved the
way to glory and exaltation. He
who conquered the worst men could do to
Him, might well take a place at
the right hand of God.
not but come into the
reflections of Jesus; but also to the silent insult of the
cross itself was added the
bitterest words men could find. But let men do
their worst. “All things Work together for good to
them that love God.”
(Romans 8:28) And surely of such Jesus is facile princes
(easily first).
Taunts bound back from the innocent
and the God-fearing as arrows do
from one who is thoroughly clad
in armor.
4 “Ye have not yet
resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”
Here (as in I Corinthians 9:26) there is a transition of
thought from a
race to a combat. Your trials have not yet reached the
point of dying in the
good fight of faith, as has been the case with some of your
brethren before
you, who have followed their Leader to the end (compare ch.13:7).
5 “And ye have forgotten (or, have ye forgotten?) the exhortation which
speaketh unto you (more
correctly, discourses, or reasons, with you; i.e.
in
the way of fatherly remonstrance) as unto children, My
son, despise not
thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor
faint when thou art rebuked of Him:”
We are not to sink under the reproofs and strokes of the Divine discipline,
though they be severe. The fact that our trials are regulated by our Father’s hand,
that
they are educational, that they are intended
and adapted to promote our
spiritual and eternal well-being, should keep us from sinking beneath their pressure.
6 “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every
son
whom He receiveth.” This verse introduces a further motive for
persevering under prolonged trial, viz. our being assured
in Holy Writ of its
beneficial purpose as discipline. The quotation is
from Proverbs 3:11-12,
as it is in the Septuagint. We observe that the word (ἐκλύου - faint ) is the
same as was used in v. 3. In the seventh and following
verses this
scriptural admonition is applied and commented on.
Divine Discipline (vs. 5-6)
“My son, despise not thou the chastening of
the Lord,” etc. Our subject is
Divine discipline. Let us notice:
“chastening,” “scourging.” The last two seem to be used synonymously
here. To rebuke” and to chasten are often found
together, but they are very
capable of being distinguished. “To rebuke” is so to rebuke that the
person
is brought to the acknowledgment of his fault — is convinced, as
David was
when rebuked by Nathan (II Samuel 12:13).” The word translated to “chasten,”
being in classical Greek to instruct, to educate, is in sacred Greek to instruct
or educate by means of correction, through the severe discipline of love.
The object of the discipline is:
Ø
to deliver the
subjects of it from sin,
Ø
to establish them in the
faith, and
Ø
to perfect them in
holiness.
The means of the discipline are:
Ø
afflictions,
Ø
persecutions, and
Ø
trials.
And it may be administered by
the enemies of the
persecutions of man may be the
discipline of God. Persecution for religion
is sometimes a correction and rebuke
for the sins of professors of religion.
Men persecute them because they
are religious; God chastises them because
they are not more so: men persecute
them because they wilt not give up
their profession; God chastises
them because they have not lived up to
their profession.”
Ø
ITS AUTHOR. “The chastening of the Lord .... Whom
the Lord loveth
he chasteneth.” Some
of our trials are from His hand. He is the great
Husbandman, and He prunes the
vines that they may bring forth more fruit.
(John 15:2) The trials which are not sent by Him are
permitted by Him
(compare Job 1:12; 2:6; II
Corinthians 12:7). And He gives to all our trials
their disciplinary character. He makes the bitter potion medicinal. By His
blessing our sufferings become
salutary, and our sorest afflictions our
sagest instructors. The fact that the Lord is the Author of our
discipline,
that our trials either proceed
from Him or are permitted and regulated by
Him, supplies a guarantee that
we shall not be tried beyond our strength.
He is infinite in wisdom and in
love. “He knoweth our frame;” (Psalm
103:14) and He will either
restrict our trials so that they exceed not our
strength, or increase our
strength until it surpasses the severity of our trials.
“He stayeth his
rough wind in the day of the east wind.” (Isaiah 27:8)
“I will correct
thee in measure.” (Jeremiah
30:11) “Though He
cause grief, yet
will He have compassion according to the multitude of His
mercies.” (Lamentations
3:32) “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my
strength is made
perfect in weakness.” (II Corinthians
12:9)
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”
Ø
They are filially related to Him. “Every son” of His He subjects to
reproof and chastisement. “God has one Son without sin, but none without
suffering.” If we are his sons, we may rest assured that He will not
fail to
secure to us the discipline that
we need. Thus our sufferings may be
an
evidence of our sonship.
Ø
They are beloved by Him. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.”
Because Hhe
loves us He corrects us. It has been well said, that “lawns which
we would keep in the best
condition are very frequently mown; the grass
has scarcely any respite from
the scythe. Out in the meadows there is no
such repeated cutting; they are
mown but once or twice in the year. Even
thus the
nearer we are to God, and the more regard He has for us, the
more frequent
will be our adversities. To be very
dear to God involves no
small degree of chastisement.
Lord,” etc.
Ø
It should not be deemed unimportant. Regard not lightly the
chastening
of the Lord. We may be said to despise the chastening of the Lord
in the following situations:
o
When it is not felt;
when there is a want of natural sensibility to the
particular stroke of the rod.
This is but rare. Men in general are quite
sufficiently alive to the value
of temporal things. But the value is
comparative. There are cherished
and favorite possessions, and others
less highly thought of, less
fondly held. The Lord, it may be, deals
gently. He spares the ‘gourd.’ (Jonah)
He does not take what is
most highly set by. And instead
of humbly owning the kindness —
being lowly and submissive, and seeking
a blessing on the gentle
stroke, that the heavier one may
be withheld — the preservation
and safety of the greater produces insensibility to the privation of
the less; and the correction is
thus disregarded, and proves
inefficient.
o When it is not duly felt as from God.
o
When, although God is
seen in it and His hand is felt, it is not felt
humbly and submissively; not bowed to, but resisted.
o
When the design or
end of correction is not laid to heart.
Ø
It should not be deemed intolerable. “Nor faint when thou art rebuked
of Him.” We are not to sink under the reproofs and strokes of the
Divine
discipline, though they be
severe. The fact that our trials are regulated
by
our Father’s hand, that they are educational, that they are intended and
adapted to
promote our spiritual and eternal well-being,
should keep us
from sinking beneath their
pressure.
“The tears
we shed are not in vain;
Nor worthless is the heavy strife;
If, like
the buried seed of grain,
They rise to renovated life.
It is
through tears our spirits grow
‘Tis in the
tempest souls expand,
If it but
teaches us to go
To Him who holds it in His hand.
Oh,
welcome, then, the stormy blast!
Oh, welcome, then, the ocean’s roar!
Ye only
drive more sure and fast
Our trembling bark to heaven’s bright shore.”
(T. C. Upham.)
7 “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth
with you as with sons; for
what son is he
whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without
chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”
For chastening ye endure; The reading εἰς παιδείαν
ὑποµένετε – eis paideian
hupomenete - It is for chastening that ye
endure, supported by almost the
whole weight of manuscripts (including all the uncials that
contain the
text), of ancient versions, and commentators (Theophylact being the only
certain exception), is decidedly
to be accepted instead of the εἰ παιδείαν
ὑποµένετε – ei paideian
hupomenete - equivalent
to “if ye endure chastening”)
of the Textus Receptus.
Moreover, it is required for the sense of the passage in
regard to the proper meaning of the verb ὑποµένετε (endure), which is to “submit
to,” or “endure patiently,” not simply “to undergo.” For to
say, “if ye
endure
chastisement patiently, God dealeth with you as
sons,” has no
meaning; our being treated as sons depends, not on the way
we take our
chastisement, but on our being chastised at all. The use of
the preposition
εἰς to express purpose is common in this Epistle (compare ch. 1:14,
εἰς διακονίαν
– eis diakonian – to
minister: 3:5, εἰς µαρτύριον – eis marturion –
for a testimony: 4:16, εἰς … βοήθειαν
– eis boaetheian – to help: 6:16, εἰς βεβαίωσιν
–
eis bebaiosin – for
confirmation): and the essential sense of παιδεία – paideia –
chastening; correction
- is discipline or education. The drift is the
same, whether
we take ὑποµένετε (endure) as an indicative or an imperative. Thus the next clause
of the verse follows suitably: God dealeth with you as
with sons; for what son is
there (or, who is a son) whom his father chasteneth not? But if
ye be without
chastening, whereof all (i.e. all God’s children, with reference
to ch.11.)
have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not
sons (ye are not your
father’s real children whom he cares for as
such).
9 “Furthermore we
have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us
(more correctly, we once had, or, we used to have,
the fathers of our flesh
as chasteners), and
we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather
be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” This introduces an
à fortiori argument. We are reminded
of the days of our youth, while we
were under
parental discipline, and bore with it submissively: much more
should we submit to the discipline of our heavenly Father, to whom we are
as children under training all our life long! Commentators differ as
to what
is exactly meant by the contrast between “the fathers
of our flesh” and
“the Father of
spirits (τῶν πνευµάτων
– ton pneumaton – of spirits).”
Some find here a support to the
theory of creationism as against traducianism;
i.e. that the soul of
each
individual, as distinct from the body,
is a new creation,
not transmitted from
the parents. This view would have more to go on than it
has, were we justified in
implying ἡµῶν – haemon – of us; our - after πνευµάτων
(“our spirits,” in opposition to “our flesh,” preceding). But τῶν πνευµάτων (of
spirits)
seems evidently meant to be understood generally; and the expression
(suggested probably by Numbers
16:22 and 27:16, “The God of the
spirits of
all flesh”) need imply only that, though GOD IS
THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR
OF FLESH AS WELL AS SPIRIT, yet the latter, whether
in man or otherwise
existing, has in a peculiar
sense its parentage FROM HIM (compare Genesis 2:7,
“The LORD GOD formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul;” also Job 33:4,
“The Spirit of the LORD hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath
given me life”).
Our earthly parents transmit to us our carnal existence; our
spiritual part, in whatever
mysterious way derived or inspired, is due to
our
Divine parentage; and it is in respect of
this that we are God’s children and
AND ACCOUNTABLE TO HIM!
But, as has been intimated above, it is not
human spirits only that are here in the writer’s view. God is the Father of all “the
spirits,” whether
in the flesh or not; all are of Divine
parentage, (It is important
to realize that Jesus Christ is bringing both worlds, flesh
and spirit, into one!
See Ephesians 1:10 – cy – 2014) for
God Himself is Spirit — Πνεῦμα ὁ θεός
–
Pneuma ho Theos – God is Spirit! (John 4:24).
10 “For they verily for a
few days chastened us after their own
pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers
of His
holiness.” The afortiori argument is thus continued. The
discipline of our
earthly fathers was “for a few days,” i.e. during
our childhood only, since
which we have been left to ourselves; and even then not
necessarily for our
greatest advantage; it was only as seemed good to them (κατὰ τὸ δοκοῦν
αὐτοῖς –
- kata to dokoun dautois – after their own pleasure); it might be injudicious, or
even capricious. But our
heavenly Father’s discipline we may trust to be:
o
always good for us, and
o
with a definite
final purpose.
Though there is here no distinctly expressed antithesis to
the “few days” of
ordinary parental chastisement, yet one is implied in the
last clause; for if
God’s purpose in chastening us is to make us partakers of His
own holiness,
we may conclude that the discipline will be continued
till the end be attained;
and thus also a further reason is implied why Christians should not “faint”
under even lifelong trials.
God’s Discipline of His Children (vs. 5-10)
Continually in the New Testament, when we get into
circumstances of
doubt and pain, we are brought back to the rich truth and
comfort to be
found in the fatherhood of God. Here, as elsewhere, à fortiori argument is
employed. If an earthly father, being evil, gives good
gifts to his children,
how much more will the heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit
to them
asking Him? (Matthew 7:11)
And even so, if an earthly father disciplines his
children, making them do and bear many hard things that
they may grow into
a useful manhood, how much more will the heavenly Father
make His
children to suffer hardness that they may be fit to run in
the way of His
commandments hereafter?
were evidently a sadly tried
community to whom this letter was written.
What shall be done to comfort
and encourage them? In the fourth verse
there is a very common and not
altogether useless ground of comfort
suggested. Things are bad, no
doubt, but they might be worse. “You have
to suffer a good
deal in resisting sin, but not yet have you resisted to
blood.” This view of suffering, however, useful as it is for the
moment,
soon leads on to the question,
“Why should others suffer, or seem to
suffer, more than I?” And so the
writer quickly turns to bid his friends
remember that they are the
children of God, and if they only recollect their
character and destiny, and live
under the ever-deepening influence of this
recollection, then they will see that nothing can do them abiding harm.
All
the comfort of the exhortation
passes away, unless it mingles with the
assurance of the
Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are indeed
the children of
God. (Romans
8:16) Suffering must cast an
ever-thickening
gloom upon the heart unless the
hopes of a child of God come in to shed
abroad an amply countervailing
light.
a serous thing for one who
reckons himself a Christian to pass through
suffering and difficulty. He is
expected to be the better for it all. If he uses
it aright, according to the
wisdom communicated from above, then
assuredly he will emerge front it with a purified heart and a
clearer spiritual
vision. The first rule is that
suffering is to be escaped if possible. But if it
cannot be escaped, it must not
merely be endured. It must be received as
an agent of
God’s will in making us better and more capable children.
Hence the plain truth that we
shall be held responsible for all we have had
in the way of pain.
here sought to be comforted were
evidently suffering persecution. This is
distinctly suggested in the
expression “striving against sin.” And thus it is
made manifest how the discipline
comes in. Much suffering could have
been escaped by yielding to the
temptation of compromise, or of total
retreat from the Christian’s
position. Little do the enemies of Christ
imagine the service they render His
true people by the demonstrations of
hostility. We are forced to a firmer grasp of truth and to a more
penetrating and
exact estimate of our spiritual possessions.
11 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth
to be joyous, but
grievous (literally, not of joy, but of grief): nevertheless afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised
thereby.” This is a general statement with respect to all
chastening, though the expression of its result at the end
of the verse is
suggested by the thought of Divine chastening, to which
alone it is
certainly, and in the full sense of the words, applicable. “Of righteousness”
is a genitive of apposition; δικαιοσύνης – dikaiosunaes – righteousness
- is the
peaceable fruit yielded by παιδεία (chastening). And the word here surely
denotes actual righteousness in ourselves; not merely
justification in what is
called the forensic sense: the proper
effect of chastening is to make us good,
and so at peace with
our own conscience and WITH GOD! It is by no means
thus implied that
we can be accepted and so have peace on
the ground OF
OUR OWN IMPERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS, only that it is in the fruits
of faith perfected by discipline that we may “know that we are of the truth,
and assure our hearts before Him” (I John 3:19). (compare
James 3:18,
“The fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace;” also Isaiah 32:17, “And
the work of righteousness shall be peace”).
Chastisement (vs. 4-11)
In this passage the writer reminds the Hebrews that
although doubtless
they had sustained severe trials on account of their
devotedness to Christ,
none of them had yet been required to seal their faith with
their blood (v.4).
Other children of God had suffered much more than they
(ch.11:35-38),
and had remained faithful. For them to apostatize would,
therefore, be very heinous sin. Rather they must learn to
view their
afflictions as the corrections of God’s fatherly love.
Consider:
Ø
Our afflictions are really such. Sometimes,
in forgetfulness of God, the
believer may regard his sorrows
simply as calamities — untoward events
which have no particular
spiritual meaning. At other times he may receive
them merely as trials of his
faith, or as sent to strengthen his Christian
graces. But this passage reminds
us that we greatly err if we do not
find in our troubles the element
of chastisement. It is true that
Jesus Christ has borne the essential penalty
of His people’s sins; but,
though He has done so, He has
not removed any lesser punishment
which we may require in order to
the correcting of our faults.
God “forgives” us, but He “takes vengeance of our inventions”
(Psalm 99:8).
Ø
Chastisement is inevitable. The Lord “scourgeth every son” (v. 6).
“All have been
made partakers” of it — all the Old
Testament saints,
and all believers in Christian
times. The unchastened man is a bastard.
Ø
Chastisement is various in kind and in degree. There are, e.g.:
o
disease of body,
o
distress of mind,
o
the loss of property,
o
injury of character,
o
the profligacy of
children,
o
the faithlessness of
friends,
o
persecution for
righteousness’ sake.
Ø
Chastisement is severe. He “scourgeth” (v. 6). The Lord’s rod draws
blood. It checkers the
believer’s life with wales (Isaiah 1:5-6). The
Christian “bears branded on his body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians
6:17).
Divine penalties fall upon the
believer as a necessary discipline. The love as
well as the righteousness of God
prompts to these retributions.
Chastisement is sent:
Ø
To correct our faults. Possibly there are
certain sins of ours in regard to
which correction is needed, that
we may be led to repent of them; and,
when affliction overtakes us, we
should endeavor to find out what these
sins are. (“Before I was afflicted I went
astray: but now have I kept thy
word………It is good
for me that I have been afflicted; that I might
learn thy
statutes.” Psalm 119:67,71) Or,
perhaps, a life of ease and
prosperity may have seduced us
into spiritual carelessness, and favored
the growth of pride within the
soul, In such a case God sends
chastisement to convince us of
the vanity of the world, and to attract
our thoughts towards the things
which belong to our peace.
Ø
To form our spiritual character. Correction is sent as
a means of
assimilating our moral nature to
that of God Himself (“partakers
of His holiness” -
v. 10). Sorrow accepted as Divine chastisement
refines and
sanctifies the soul. It stirs its tenderest emotions,
and
touches its richest chords. It draws the heart towards God
Himself,
as its only Rest
and Strength and Joy. The most
beautiful human
faces are not those which show merely the most regular features
and
the purest complexion; they are
those saintly faces which have been
beautified by chastisement — “made perfect through sufferings.”
Ø
To promote our eternal well being. The ultimate purpose
is that we may
“live” (v. 9), spiritually and
eternally. To become “partakers of God’s
holiness” is to be educated for spending eternity with God. Each
believer must pass through, a
curriculum of chastisement before
he can graduate to glory.
“‘Tis sorrow builds the shining ladder up,
Whose
golden rounds are our calamities,
Whereon
our firm feet planting, nearer God
The spirit
climbs, and hath its eyes unsealed.”
(
gently censures his readers for
having overlooked, as it is exhibited in the
Old Testament Scriptures. He
quotes Proverbs 3:11-12, and adds a
few sentences of beautiful and
suggestive commentary. The quotation
(vs. 5-6) exhibits the duty
negatively, and the comment (vs. 7-11)
positively.
Ø
Negatively.
o
We are not to “despise” chastisement. (v. 5.) We do so when
we proudly strive to feel
it as little as possible, treating our
troubles in a stoical
spirit, as if they were meaningless. We
do so, too, when we refuse to see God’s hand in them, or to
believe that they are
determined in providence by our spiritual
condition. We despise chastisement when we insist that we
do not deserve any; and when, in haughty insubordination,
we allow ourselves to be “made cross by
cross providences.”
o
We must not “faint” under it. (v. 5.) This is the other extreme - to
become depressed, despondent,
despairing. We abuse chastisement
if we do nothing but bemoan it.
We “faint” when we cherish dark
and hard and unbelieving
thoughts regarding our afflictions —
forgetting the blessed purpose that is behind them, and the
grace which the
Sender will supply to enable us to
bear them.
Ø
Positively.
o
We must “be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits.” (v. 9.)
This is the opposite of “despising” our troubles. The child of
God
will school himself into
unquestioning submission. He will receive
his afflictions as from the Lord, on whose paternal grace he
depends for every
blessing.
o
We must be “exercised
thereby.” (v. 11.) This is the
opposite of
“fainting” when God
reproves us. Chastisement is intended to
brace the believer, not to
depress him. Afflictions are the
gymnastics of the spiritual
life. They are like the exercises of the
athlete, who is in training for a contest. We are “exercised thereby”
when we accept our troubles as
sent by God Himself for our
correction; and when,
recognizing this, we cooperate with Him
in carrying out their gracious
purpose.
suggests many comforting
thoughts, which should help us submissively to
bear it. It is:
Ø
Appointed by God. (v. 5.) Afflictions do not come
casually. They do
not overtake us merely at the
pleasure of our enemies, He who
chasteneth is “the Lord,” the
Sovereign of all. Let us, with Job
(Job
1:21) and Eli (I Samuel 3:18),
realize this: to do so will strengthen
our hearts.
Ø
Sent in fatherly love. This thought runs
through the passage like a
golden thread (vs. 5-10). God is “the Father of our spirits;” and He
cherishes towards us the heart
of a Father. His corrections are a token
of His loving-kindness. He loves
not to smite; but He smites because
He loves. He uses the rod only because necessity
requires it. And if a
dutiful child submits patiently
to the chastisements of his earthly
parents, although he has derived
only his body from them, how much
more
submissively should we bear the Divine corrections, seeing
they proceed from Him from whom alone we
have received our
spiritual and
immortal nature!
Ø
Dealt in unerring
wisdom. (v. 10.) We who are parents often
chastise our children wrongly.
Sometimes our motives are wrong, as
when we punish under the
influence of temporary passion or caprice.
At other times our measures are
wrong, as when we choose an
infliction of an unsuitable
kind, or make it unduly severe. Parents also
are prone to study only the
temporal well being of their children, and
to chastise them merely with a
view to the “few days” of their earthly
life. But our heavenly Father makes no mistakes in His
chastisements.
The pain which He appoints is
always wise and right and salutary. He
never punishes beyond our
deserts, or in excess of what we are able to
bear. And He is ever seeking our spiritual and eternal well being.
Ø
Productive and profitable. (vs. 10-11.) The “profit”
is that we may
share the holiness of God. The “fruit” consists in “righteousness,”
i.e.
moral and spiritual excellence —
the beautiful graces and the holy habits
of the Christian life. This
blessed fruit is “peaceable,” in sweet contrast
with the “grievousness”
of the affliction considered in itself. It begins
to be reaped even here on earth
(Romans 5:3-5); and the full harvest of
it will be gathered in heaven
(Ibid. ch. 8:18; II Corinthians 4:17-18).
Discipline in Its Endurance and in Its
Results (v. 11)
“Now no
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,” etc. Two
aspects of discipline, distinct yet vitally related, are
here set before us.
present to be not
joyous, but grievous.” All life’s
discipline, while we are
enduring it, is painful. It is
so even to sincere and saintly Christians, for:
Ø
The Christian is not insensible to pain. Christianity offers
no
encouragement to stoicism. It
does not call upon us to repress or to
blunt the natural
susceptibilities of our nature. We are summoned in
the Scriptures to feel for others and with others. “Rejoice with them
that rejoice; weep with them that weep.” (Romans 12:15)
Insensibility
is neither manly nor saintly,
virtuous nor blessed. Our Savior was
deeply moved by the afflictions
and griefs of others (compare Mark
7:34; 8:2; Luke 19:41; John
11:33, 35, 38). And He felt acutely the
sorrows and sufferings which
fell to His own lot (John 12:27;
Matthew 26:38; Luke 22:44;
Matthew 27:46; here, ch.5:7-8).
Ø
Pain or trial is an essential element of discipline. Our text speaks of
discipline as “chastening,”
and that is painful. If we speak of it as
correction, that is not easy to
bear. It may be administered in various
forms, but in every form it
carries with it trial or suffering of some kind.
Take away the trying element
from the experience, and you take from
it the character of discipline.
Ø The endurance
of discipline demands the strenuous exercise of
spiritual powers. The
writer speaks of those who have been exercised
by the chastening. This exercise is not an amusement, but an arduous
putting forth of mental and moral powers. Suffering sorely tests our
submission to the Divine will. Tribulation tries
our patience and piety.
Enigmas of providence and dark passages in our own
experience test
our faith in the Divine Father. Remember how God’s
servant Job was
“exercised.” And Paul (II Corinthians 4:8-13;
11:23-30; 12:7-8). And
the Christians in
pain of the discipline, we could not derive
any profit from it. If the
chastening were not grievous for the present,
it could not result in any
blessing hereafter.
unto them that
have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of
righteousness.” It is a well-attested fact of human experience that trial
borne in a right spirit, and
sanctified by God, results in rich benefits. But
notice:
Ø
The condition of the fruit of discipline. “It yieldeth fruit unto them that
have been exercised thereby.” The chastening must have been felt, and
recognized and accepted as
discipline, in order to the reception of its
fruits. Suffering is the condition of the deepest
serenity. The pain
of moral conflict must precede
the glory of moral conquest.
Ø
The season of the fruit of discipline. “Afterward it yieldeth,” etc. Not
while we are passing through the
painful experiences do we reap the
rich result of them, but “afterward.”
Time is required for the fruit to
form and to ripen. There are
beautiful pictures which cannot be truly
seen when we are near to them.
So viewed, they appear to be inartistic
and rough daubs. But, viewed from the right angle and from a
suitable
distance, their beauty captivates
the eye and delights the soul. We must
leave our disciplinary experiences
and travel into the “afterward,”
before we can discover their true
significance and their gracious uses.
In conclusion, our subject should encourage us to be:
Ø
Patient under our discipline. Discipline is like a
tree; it requires time
and seasonable influences
to produce the ripened fruit of peace and
righteousness. Wait
patiently for the “hereafter.” “Behold, the
husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and
hath long patience
for it, until he receive the early and the
latter rain.” etc. (James 5:7).
Ø
Resigned under our discipline. Let us not rebel
against the suffering
which is designed for our
sanctification; but let us “be in subjection
unto the Father of
spirits, and live.” (v. 9)
Ø
Hopeful under our discipline. The trial may be
bitter, but it wilt
be brief, and the fruit
thereof will be blessed and eternal (compare
Romans 8:18; II Corinthians
4:17-18
The Fruit of Discipline (v. 11)
parents, while we are passing
through it, is all pain and no pleasure. Even
when exercised with wisdom and
consideration, the discipline must be
painful; and in many instances
there is a needless harshness which increases
the pain. Parents are apt to
take the course of discipline which gives them
the least trouble. But even
harsh and stern discipline is better than
indulgence, infinitely better
than letting
the child have its own way. What
bitter pain men have had to suffer, because as children they suffered little
or none! The boy at school finds
it very hard to be kept at the desk and the
book, when the sun shines bright
through the window, and he hears the
merry cry of other lads at play;
and hard it must seem while he is going
through it. But it will soon
slip past and manhood come, and then how glad
he will be for knowledge gained
and for facility in the use of the knowledge!
How he will then rejoice over
the encircling rigor of the parental will!
the experiences through which we
are passing. A schoolboy’s estimate of
life is amusing to listen to,
but when we come to reflect over it, the
reflection makes us sad. For we
know well how different things are from
what he thinks them to be. And what changes there must be in his view of
life before it can be, even
approximately, a true one! Therefore, whenever
we listen to the confident and
artless prattling of boyish ignorance, let there
be in it a warning for us, a
fresh admonition to walk by faith
and not by
sight. What we know
not now and cannot know, we shall know hereafter.
We must not kick against
circumstances, for they are doubtless the very
safety of our life if we only
knew it. It is the greatest folly to say that a
thing must be bad for us because
it is painful and straight opposite to the
strongest inclinations of the
moment.
general rule discipline is
grievous, always grievous to the child. And even
to one who is sure of his
position of sonship towards God, discipline
comes as a hard thing. But what
makes it hard is that the flesh as yet
counts for more
than the spirit. Only let the spirit have free course and be
glorified, and then joy will
spring up in the very midst of the discipline. The
man who wrote this letter,
whoever he was, had not yet himself got out of
the era of discipline; but the
grievousness of discipline must have been
abundantly sweetened by all the divinely born hopes and assurances that
would throng into
his heart. All the considerations here
pressed upon the
suffering believer are meant to
bring joy in the midst of discipline. Joy
especially there should be in
the certainty of fruit. Youthful discipline,
however careful and however
successful in appearance for the time, yet
may show little of result in
after life. Something that no discipline can avert
spoils the manhood. But we have the joy of feeling sure that God’s
discipline of us
cannot fail if we work together with Him in submissive
docility and
patience.
12 “Wherefore lift up (for, straighten anew) the hands which
hang down, and the feeble knees (rather, the relaxed hands and the
loosened or enfeebled knees).” The word παραλελυμένα
– paralelumena –
feeble; having been paralyzed - is used only by Luke elsewhere in the New
Testament, and with reference to persons paralyzed (Luke
5:18, 24; Acts
8:7; 9:33). The form of the exhortation
is taken from Isaiah 35:3, ἰσχύσατε
χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι
καὶ γόνατα
παραλελυμένα
– ischusate cheires aneimenai kai
gonata paralelumena – strengthen
the weak hands and make firm the weak
knees. The figure of
the palaestra is thus again brought into
view, with
reference both to boxing and
running.
Christians are often faint and feeble in our own times.
Piety may be sincere yet
deficient in strength. A genuine Christian may suffer with
lameness in some
element of his character or some faculty of service. This
feebleness may arise:
are corrected by Him (v. 5). The
first effect of discipline may be to
discourage us, and this will
probably lead to lack of earnestness and vigor
in Christian life and service.
Discipline misunderstood or resented may
disable us for a time.
knees may cause the Christian runner to give up running, and to relapse into
ignoble ease. Instead of imitating Gideon’s heroic three hundred who were
“faint, yet pursuing” their fleeing foes (Judges 8:4), the feeble may relinquish
the pursuit altogether. Thus faintness may lead to failure.
tedious, requiring painful effort to walk in it, those who are lame may be
turned out of it. The Christian race is easy when the runners are strong and
the course is smooth. But oh, it is very difficult when the hearts are heavy,
and the hands
nerveless, and the limbs are lamed, and the way is rough
and steep! Under such conditions it requires no little patience and heroism
to keep moving onwards even at any pace; and the temptation to turn aside
is very
great.
13 “And make straight
paths for your feet, lest that which is
lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.”
The ideas
in this verse correspond to, and may be suggested by, those
that follow in
Isaiah the passage above referred to. For there too the
prophet goes on to
speak, among other things, of the lame leaping, and of a
way of holiness
along which none should err. But the words themselves are
suggested by
Proverbs 4:26, Aύτὸς δἐ ὀρθὰς
ποίήσει τὰς τροχιὰς
σου – Autos de orthas
poiaesei
tas prochias sou - Make
the path of your feet level. Let all you
ways be established. (Septuagint), the verb διαστρέφεσθαι - diastrephesthai
having been previously used for
turning out of the way. It is
observable
that the words, καὶ τροχιὰς
– kai trochias – and paths - etc., are
arranged so
as to form an hexameter line. This
may have been unintentional, but it is
at any rate effective. The duty to which the writer urges,
his, readers is
courageous self-recovery in Gods strength. The tone and
language are elevated
accordingly, and v. 12 is like a trumpet-blast. It need not surprise us, then, if
our author here turns poet, and proceeds in heroic
measures. With regard to the
purport of this verse, we observe that, while the figure of
running is still
continued, a new idea is introduced — that of pursuing a
straight course with
a view to others who are to follow on the same track. “That
which is lame
(τὸ χωλὸν – to cholon) ” denotes the weak and wavering brethren — the
ἀσθενοῦντες - asthenountes,
such as are referred to in Romans 14 and
I Corinthians 8. The expression
well suits (specially those among the
Hebrew
Christians who halted between two
opinions —
between the Church and the
synagogue (compare I Kings 18:21, ἕως πότε ὑμεῖς χωλανεῖτε
ἐπ’ ἀμφοτέραις
ταῖς ἰγνύαις
– hoes pote humeis cholaneite ep’ amphoterais tais ignuais – how
long will ye waver
between two sides?). The strong in faith ought to
desire
and aim at the healing of
such lame ones, i.e. their being strengthened in the
faith, rather than expose them to
the risk of apostasy by any wavering of
their own.
We have a duty to be pursued even
in faintness and infirmity in the Christian
life!
the feeble knees.”
How shall we do this?
Ø
By prayer to God. “He giveth power to the faint; and to them
that have no
might He increaseth strength,” (Isaiah 40:29-31).
Ø
By the recollection
of former mercies. Memory may be used
as an
inspiration of hope and
courage. “Because thou hast been my Help,
therefore under
the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.”
(Psalm 63:7)
Ø
By consideration of
the uses and benefits of our trials and discipline
(compare Romans 5:3-5;
James 1:2-3,12).
Ø
By contemplation of
the great multitude who have reached the goal
and won the prize (v. 1).
Ø
By contemplation of “the prize of our high calling.” (Philippians 3:14)
Exercises such as
these are calculated to inspire
moral courage, and increase spiritual
strength, and promote Christian
progress.
“Make straight
paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned
out of the way,
but rather be healed.” The meaning seems to be, let your
walk be so firm and so unanimous
in the right direction, that a plain track
and highway may be thereby
established for those who accompany and
follow you, to perceive and walk
in (compare Isaiah 35:8). If
the whole
congregation, by their united and consistent walk, trod a plain
and beaten path
for men’s feet, these lame ones,
though halting, would be
easily able to keep in it, and,
by keeping in the ‘straight tracks,’ would even
acquire the habit of walking straight
onward, and so be healed; but if the
tracks were errant and confused,
their erratic steps would deviate more and
more, till at length they fell
away out of the right way altogether.
Ø Let not the faint yet sincere Christian yield to discouragement.
Ø Let not the vigorous Christian despise the feeble and
halting, but
rather cheer and help them.
Ø Let all Christians in the strength of God press onward to the goal
and to the crown.
14 “Follow peace with all (i.e. as required by the context, with all
the brethren; compare Romans 14:19), and holiness (more
properly,
sanctification), without
which no man shall see the Lord.” Here
the
figure is dropped, and two cautions given, peculiarly
needed, we may
suppose, by the community addressed. The exhortation to “peace
with all”
reminds of the tone of Paul’s admonitions both in Romans
and in I Corinthians,
where he so strongly warns against dissensions and party spirit,
and enjoins
tolerance and mutual allowance with regard to the weaker
brethren. The word
ἁγιασμόν – hagiasmon – holiness; sanctification
- need not be limited to the
idea of chastity; but the special allusion to πόρνος – pornos – fornicator;
whoremonger - in v. 16 (as also
in ch.13:4) is evidence that chastity was
especially in the writer’s mind, with definite reference to
which the word
ἁγιασμόν (holiness; sanctification) is used in I Thessalonians 4:3.
The frequent
and earnest warnings
against fornication in Paul’s Epistles are enough to show
how slow even some in the Church were to recognize the strict code of
Christian morality, unknown to the heathen world, and by the Jews very
imperfectly recognized, in this regard; and the case of I Corinthians 5
illustrates
how easily such vice might creep into and infect a Christian
community without
general reprobation. Hence
probably the
special warning here.
The Pursuit of Peace and Holiness (v. 14)
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no
man will see
the Lord.” The primary meaning of the text seems to be
that the Christians
addressed are to guard
against differences among themselves; they
are NOT to
quarrel with one another, but every one is to be
earnestly intent on his own
sanctification; for without
holiness no one shall see the Lord
with joy. Three
chief points arise for consideration.
men.” Peace here is the opposite of strife, division, or
misunderstanding
amongst Christian brethren. “Seek
peace, and pursue it.” (I Peter 3:11)
“Behold, how good
and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity!”
(Psalm 133:1). Notice:
Ø
The importance of
the object of pursuit. “Peace.” It is essential to:
o
spiritual
progress,
o
Christian
usefulness, and
o
the enjoyment of the Divine presence.
Discord drives away the Holy Spirit, and is fatal to:
o
personal growth
in grace,
o
mutual
edification, and
o
successful evangelization.
Ø The extent of this pursuit. “With ALL
men.” The primary meaning is “all
their
fellow-Christians.” The context shows
this. Our text immediately
follows the exhortation to guard
against any feeble Christian being
turned out of the way, and it
immediately precedes the exhortation
to take heed that no one should
fall short of the grace of God. And
if the “all” signified all mankind, the exhortation under
consideration
would be exceedingly unconnected.
It is clearly the brethren who are
here meant by all as in Romans 14:19, “Let us follow after the things
which make for
peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”
But in applying it to ourselves
may we not take it in its widest
signification? “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably
with all men.” (Romans
12:18)
Ø
The limit of this
pursuit. In our endeavors after peace we
must not
sacrifice anything which is
essential to the pursuit of holiness. “First
pure, then peaceable.” (James 3:17) Follow after peace, but not
at
the expense of CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLE!
holiness,” or, “sanctification.” Sanctification is not holiness, but
is the
putting on of it and becoming
holy. But for popular speech we may use
the term “holiness.” Let us
consider two inquiries:
Ø
What is holiness? It
is that attribute which is THE VERY CROWN
FOR ALL THE CULTURE OF HUMANITY, for it
carries the
soul up nearest to the everlasting Fountain of wisdom, power,
goodness, from which it came. It
enters in only where repentance opens
the way, and spiritual renewal
puts the heart into wholesome relations
with the Divine will. It is
the peculiar gift for which the world stands
indebted to revelation, and
it is multiplied just in proportion as the
heart is formed into the likeness of Christ’s. It is THE
OF MANHOOD, but no less the
grace of God. It is
achieved by effort, because your
free will must use the means that
secure it; and it is equally the
benignant inspiration of that Father
who hears every patient
petition.
Ø
How shall we pursue holiness? Not by efforts,
however sincere and
earnest, after self-reformation
or self-improvement. It is assumed that
the persons who are exhorted to
follow after holiness have accepted
Christ as their Savior and Lord.
Supposing that we are sincere
Christians, we should seek for holiness:
o
By keeping our
spiritual nature open to Divine impression
and action. We must let Christ enter, and dwell, and work,
and reign within us.
o
By communion
with Jesus Christ. “He that walketh
with
wise men shall be
wise.” “We all, with unveiled
face
beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the
Spirit of the
Lord!” (II Corinthians 3:18).
o
By conscious and
deliberate imitation of Christ. “Take
my yoke
upon you, and
learn of me.” (Matthew 11:29) “I have
given
you an example,” (John 13:15). “Christ suffered for you, leaving
you an example,
that ye should follow His steps.” (I Peter 1:21)
This imitation obviously
includes endeavors to render
complete and
hearty obedience to the DIVINE WILL!
o
By diligent use
of Divine ordinances. The holy Book will be
prayerfully and
thoughtfully read, “the
assembling of ourselves
together” (ch. 10:25) will be welcomed, and the ministry of the
Word and the sacraments
will be devoutly considered and
accepted.
o
This pursuit should
be continuous. It is not by fits and starts
that men become holy. It is not occasional, but continuous,
prolonged, and
lifelong efforts that are required; to be daily
at it; always at it; resting but to renew the work; falling but
to rise again. It is not by
a few rough, spasmodic blows of the
hammer that a graceful
statue is brought out of the marble
block, but by the labor of
continuous days, and many delicate
touches of the sculptor’s
chisel. It is not with a rush and a
spring that we are to reach Christ’s
character, attain to perfect
sainthood but step by step, foot
by foot, hand over hand, we
are slowly and often painfully
to mount the ladder that rests
on earth and rises to heaven.
o
The pursuit both of
peace and of holiness should be zealous.
The word used by the writer
in enjoining it shows this. It means
to pursue rapidly, to follow
eagerly, to earnestly endeavor to
acquire. Half-hearted efforts are of little avail. As the miser
seeks to amass temporal
wealth, as the enthusiastic student
strives after knowledge, so
let us follow after peace and
holiness. And with even
greater eagerness should we pursue
them because of their greater
importance.
“Sanctification,
without which no man shall see the Lord.”
Ø
Heaven is the place of THE SUPREME MANIFESTATION
OF GOD! (Compare Psalm 16:11; 17:15; I John 3:2; Revelation 7:15;
22:3-4.)
Ø Holiness is
an essential qualification for the perception of this
manifestation.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they
shall see God.”
(Matthew 5:8) The pure heart itself is the organ whereby
the vision
of God becomes attainable
by us. Without holiness a person has no
more fitness for heaven than a
blind man has for the enjoyment of
a beautiful art gallery or a
glorious landscape.
Ø If it were
possible for an unholy soul to enter heaven it could find no
peace or happiness there,
but would realize intense misery.
Heaven
would be hell to an irreligious
man; How forlorn would he wander
through the courts of heaven! He would find no one like himself;
he would see in every
direction the marks of God’s holiness,
and
these would make him
shudder. He would feel himself always
in
His presence. He could no longer turn his thoughts another way,
as he does now, when conscience reproaches him. He would know
that the eternal eye was ever
upon him; and
that eye of holiness, which
is joy and life to holy
creatures, would seem to him an eye of wrath and
punishment. God cannot change His nature. HOLY HE MUST EVER
BE! But
while He is holy, no unholy soul can be happy in heaven.
(Of course, this is impossible because of the revelation of Jesus Christ,
that “there shall in no wise enter into it [Heaven] any thing that
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a
lie:
but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation
21:27 – CY – 2014) Fire does not inflame iron, but it inflames straw.
It would cease to be fire if it did
not. And so heaven itself would be
fire to those who would fain escape across
the great gulf from the
torments of hell. (Luke 16:26)
The finger of Lazarus would but
increase their thirst. Therefore, let us “follow after
peace with all
men, and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
15 “Looking diligently
lest any man fail of the grace of God (i.e.
fall short of it;
or, ὑστερῶν – husteron – fail - being here followed by ἀπὸ
- apo – of; from, the
idea may be rather that of falling back from it); lest
any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you, and thereby many (or, according to the more
probable reading, the many, i.e. the general
community) be defiled. In this,
the usual rendering of the verse, ή is supplied,
so as to make μή τις ὑστερῶν –
mae tis husteron - mean “lest there be any one that fails.” But
this is not
necessary; the verb ἐνοχλῇ - enochlae - trouble you - may be common both
to the first μή τις and to μή τις ῥίζα – mae tis riza – lest any root, thus:
“Lest any one
failing… lest any root… trouble you.” The sentence may have
been broken off after its first clause in order to bring in
the appropriate
quotation from Deuteronomy 29:18, which in our Authorized
Version runs thus:
“Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood.”
The reference in the speech of Moses is to the future
possibility of any “man,
or woman, or family, or tribe” turning from the
LORD to go and serve the
gods of the nations, and so involving, not only themselves, BUT
EVEN THE
WHOLE PEOPLE IN A CURSE! The figure is that of a plant being allowed
to grow of such a nature at its root as to bear bitter and
pernicious fruit. There
is no special allusion in the word “bitterness” to
disturbance of “peace” by
dissensions; for this is not the idea in the original passage, nor is it carried out
in the following verses of the Epistle. (Compare Acts 8:23, “Thou art in the
gall of bitterness
(Εἰς χολὴν πικρίας – Eis cholaen pikrias
– I see you are in
the gall of bitterness).
The Worst Perils of the Christian Life (vs.
14-15)
It may be presumed that these people suffering persecution
are somewhat
discontented and murmuring under it. Thus persecution may
become a
temptation; it may bulk so largely before the eye as to
hide far worse perils.
It would almost seem as if the writer had the Beatitudes in
mind (Matthew
5:3-12). He has been seeking to illustrate the blessedness
of those who are persecuted
for righteousness’ sake. And now in v. 14 he urges not to
lose the blessedness of
the peacemaker, and the blessedness of those who are made
able to look on God.
There are four important counsels in these two verses.
both to the individual and the
Church. The maltreated man is very likely to
have a settled feeling of anger
against the man who maltreats him. That we
should behave
rightly under suffering is far more important than
that we
should escape
suffering. Notice the intensive force of the verb. The same
verb is used to signify
persecution. The same pursuing energy that
persecutors employed against
Christians was to be employed by Christians
themselves in preserving a
feeling of settled peace towards the persecutors.
Animosity and
irritation towards others, however justified it may seem by
their conduct, will destroy ALL PEACE IN OUR OWN HEARTS! Even
when the necessities of duty
bring us into marked controversy with others, we
must in the very height of the
dispute show that our aim is concord, not discord.
here may be taken as the
equivalent of what is elsewhere called purity of
heart. That is the blessedness
of the pure in heart that they are made able to
look on God. Our right state towards all men is to have perfectly peaceful
inclinations
towards them, and doing everything
that shall incline them to
reciprocate the peace. Our right state towards
God is to have a heart
perfectly consecrated
to Him. And the diligent pursuit of
peace and holiness
must go
together. You cannot follow the one without following the other.
That can be no true peace
towards man which is gotten by compromising
our position towards God. Nor
can that be true holiness which is very
profuse in services to God and yet leaves room to
indulge animosities
toward man.
GRACE. We must not
lose the loving favor of God. We must keep in such
paths of spiritual courage and
enterprise as will preserve to us continually
His loving smile. What shall we
be if God be against us? It will be a poor
compensation to escape trial, if
at the same time we miss God’s help out of
our life.
MISCHIEF. Watch the
Christian community as you would watch a garden.
You have not only to nourish
what has been planted so that it may bring
forth the peaceable fruits of
righteousness, but you must
watch against the
entrance of
noxious plants. In a large garden something
of this kind may
easily make headway unless there
be the most vigilant eye upon it. All
mischief must be stopped in the
very beginning, if possible.
16 “Lest there be any
fornicator, or profane person, as Esau,
who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know
how that afterward, when he would have inherited (i.e. desired to
inherit) the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no
place of
repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. The word
“fornicator” is to
be understood literally, not figuratively of spiritual
fornication (see ἁγιασμόν – hagiasmon – holiness; sanctification,
v. 14).
βέβηλος - bebaelos – profane - denotes one outside the
sphere of sanctity,
and so debarred
from sacred privileges. Esau is
appropriately adduced as a
notable instance in the Old Testament of a person thus profane, and especially,
in the way of warning, of one who lost
irrecoverably the privileges which in
his profaneness he had scorned. It is immaterial whether Esau himself is
intended to be designated as a fornicator (πόρνος) as well as profane (βέβηλος).
The essential moral of his history is this: being the firstborn
of
primary inheritor of the promises made to Abraham, he set no store by the
privilege, and so LOST IT
IRRETRIEVABLY! In early
life he so lightly
esteemed his birthright as the eldest born (carrying with it, as is supposed,
in the patriarchal age, the priesthood of the family, and in his
case, as might be
presumed, the custody and transmission of the promises)
that he parted
with it for the gratification of a PASSING APPETITE! His words on that
occasion expressed the limit of his aims and interests: “Behold, I am at the
point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to
me?” (Genesis 25:32)
Later in life he nevertheless presented himself to claim
the blessing of the
firstborn from his dying father, but found that he had been
forestalled. It does
not appear that he had meanwhile changed his mode of life
or made amends
for his former carelessness; still, he felt now that he had
lost something worth
having, and was grieved
exceedingly. But not even his “great and exceeding
bitter cry” (Ibid.
ch. 27:34) availed then to recover what was
forfeited.
And so neither he nor his
seed had part or lot in the Abrahamic promises:
the time of opportunity was gone forever. There is some doubt with regard
to the latter part of v. 17,
(1) as to whether “it” (αὐτήν - autaen) in “he sought it” refers to “repentance”
(μετανοίας - metanoias) or to “the
blessing” (τὴν εὐλογίαν
– taen eulogian);
(2) as to what “place
of repentance” means. If “it” refers to “repentance,”
it is difficult to see how Esau’s own repentance can be
meant; for not only
does seeking repentance with tears seem in itself to imply
the capability of
it, but also the “great
and exceeding bitter cry” to which
allusion is made
was, not because he could not himself repent, but because he could not get
THE BLESSING! Hence, if “it” refers to “repentance,” it must be repentance,
i.e. change of mind,
in Isaac that is meant, or rather in God, against whose
will Isaac could not go; compare “God is not a man… that He should repent”
(Numbers 23:19). Of such change of mind and purpose it may
be meant
that Esau found no place. This seems to be the view of many
modern
interpreters though not of Bengel,
De Wette, Bleek, Hofmann, Delitzsch,
Alford, or of Luther, Calvin, Grotius,
or any of the Greek Fathers. Against
it is the consideration that such is not the more obvious
meaning of “he
found no place of repentance,” taken by itself, especially as μετανοίας is
always elsewhere in the New Testament (though not always in
the Septuagint)
used for a person’s change of mind with respect to his own
misdoings (compare
ch.
6:6). Difficulty on this ground is removed if, taking the clause, “for he
found no place of repentance,” as parenthetical, we refer
αὐτήν to τὴν εὐλογίαν, preceding. This is by no means a forced
construction of the sentence, and it is supported (as above
intimated) by
the fact that in Genesis it is the blessing itself that
Esau is expressly said to
have craved in his “great
and exceeding bitter cry:” “Hast thou
but one
blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted
up his voice, and wept.” (Genesis
27:38) Thus we may render either,
“When he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected;
for he found no
place of repentance [i.e. of change of mind in the bestower of the blessing],
though he sought it [i.e. such change of mind] with
tears;” or, “When he
desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected (for he
found no place of
repentance), though he sought it [i.e. the blessing] with
tears.” If, the
latter rendering
being adopted, Esau’s own repentance be intended, the
idea maybe, either that there was no place left in which
even a real repentance
could avail, or that of a real repentance he had become
incapable; for his tears
might be those only
of vexation and remorse, not expressing any
more appreciation
than before of the birthright in its religious aspect. Ebrard’s remark, that his
conduct as related in Genesis 33, shows “a changed heart,”
and hence a
true repentance, is not to the point. For all that there
appears is that he had
got over his angry feeling towards his brother; it is by no
means implied —
rather the contrary — that he would have preferred his
destiny to his own,
or that his views of life had risen above thoughts of worldly prosperity. We
observe, further, that nothing is implied one way or the
other as to Esau’s
own salvation; it is only the privilege of being the
patriarch of the chosen
seed that he is said to have thus irrecoverably forfeited. But his example is
adduced as a warning to Christians with regard to their still more precious
inheritance, which does involve their own ETERNAL PROSPECTS. The
warning to them is similar to those of ch.
6:4-6, and ch.10:26-27, to the
effect that sacred
privileges, if persistently slighted, MAY BE LOST
BEYOND RECOVERY. And
if the passage before us seems to imply,
according to one view of it, what the former ones were
found not to do,
the possible inefficacy of a true repentance, however late,
— we may say
that, even if this is implied of Esau with respect to his
lost blessing, it is not
therefore necessarily implied of Christians with respect to
their personal
salvation; or that, if it is implied of them, it is not
till their probation in this
life is over that a “place
of repentance” in this sense can for them be found
no more (compare the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew
25:1-13); also
Ibid. ch.7:22-23; Luke 13:24-29).. See also ‘Christian Year’
(Second
Sunday in Lent), with the appended note: “Esau’s probation,
as far as his
birthright was concerned, was quite over when he uttered
the cry in the text.
His despondency, therefore, is not parallel to anything on
this side the grave.”
Esau sacrificed his birthright for a mess of
pottage, a
sacrifice which involved
irreparable loss! (Genesis 25)
“For ye know how that afterward, when he
would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,” Our text mentions
the
“tears” of his
great sorrow. “He cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry,
and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my
father.... Hast thou
but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my
father. And Esau
lifted up his voice, and wept.” (Genesis
27:34-38) Earnest desire and deep
distress were of no
avail for the recovery of the forfeited blessing. “He was
rejected: for he found no place of repentance.” We do not understand by
this either that Esau was unable to change his father’s
mind, or that he could
not himself repent of his sins; but that he found no way
open to reverse what
had been done: the sin had been
committed and the
consequence entailed,
irrevocably. He
might change, but the penalty could not, from the very
nature of the circumstances, be taken off. So that
repentance, in its full
sense, had no place. And such is the meaning of the ‘place of repentance,’
wherever occurring. We do not mean by it an opportunity to
repent in a
man’s own bosom, to be sorry for what he has done, for this
may be under
any circumstances, and this might have been with Esau; but
we mean a
chance, by
repenting, to repair.” There is an awful
permanence in deeds.
They cannot be undone. Words
once spoken are beyond recall.
Opportunities once lost are lost forever. Others may, perhaps, be granted;
but those are irrevocably gone.
A Threefold Cord of Duty (vs. 12-17)
The word “wherefore” (v. 12) connects this
admonition with what goes
before. For these reasons, says the apostle — since the
Savior was
subjected to such hard treatment at the hands of wicked
men; since your
own resistance to sin has not yet exposed you to bloodshed;
since your
very trials are an expression of God’s fatherly love; and
since His
chastisements are fitted to be so profitable in their
results — surely you will
never allow yourselves to fall away from the Christian
faith. The direct
admonition in vs. 12-14 refers to ourselves, to our
fellow-believers, and
to God — an arrangement of thought which is eminently
Pauline. And the
three parts of it are reduplicated in vs. 15-17, each being
introduced with
the word.” lest.”
seems to return to the metaphor
of “the
race set before us” (v. 1).
“Hands” and “knees” and “feet” represent the
powers of action, motion,
and progression. The Hebrews
must no longer faint in the presence of their
trials. They must be resolute,
manly, courageous. The exhortation has
respect mainly to the spiritual
life of each believer himself. Each ought to
form a decided purpose to
correct his own faults, and to continue faithful
at all hazards to his Christian
profession. The whole Church should
advance in the right course with
such unanimity that the highway of
holiness shall be beaten smooth
by their feet — so smooth that even the
“lame” will not stumble in it. If we remain remiss and
vacillating, we may
finally “fall short of the grace of God” (v. 15). Slothfulness and
indecision cause one to lag
behind, and may prevent him from ever
reaching the goal. If we be not
resolute in our fidelity we shall come short
of ultimate salvation, and shall never “see the Lord.”
personal spiritual life which is
fed by the Church is in turn to react for good
upon the whole congregation. Two
prominent duties towards our brethren
are here indicated.
Ø
To “follow after
peace with all.” (v. 14.) The scope of
the passage
seems to restrict this “all” to the members of the
Christian brotherhood.
We need not expect that God will
bless us in our Church relations if we
cherish a persistent grudge
against any fellow- communicant, resolving
never to forget some injury that
he may have done us. A vindictive or
malignant
disposition is not Christian. The soul that harbors malice,
and that takes pleasure in exhibiting
its animosities, will not only
become stunted in its spiritual
growth, but will injuriously affect the
life of the Church to which it
belongs. A prominent cause of
ecclesiastical disturbance is
the springing up of “any root of bitterness”
(v. 15). Sometimes the noxious
weed is a wicked person, like Achan,
who “troubled”
principle, the growth of which
may defile the Church with dissension.
In either case, it
must be rooted up and cast out.
Ø
To have a brotherly care over all. This thought
underlies the entire
passage. Each of us by his own
example is to help the weak of the
flock to become strong; and. to
set a guard upon the “lame,” so
that they may not wander out of
the right way, While the cure of
souls is, of course, the
especial duty of the spiritual rulers of the Church,
the expression, “looking
carefully,” in v. 15, reminds us that the ordinary
members also ought to exercise
the office of a bishop over one another.
The communion of our Churches
would be purer, were this duty of
mutual spiritual care more clearly
understood and better practiced than
it is. Indeed, we cannot place too
much stress on this point, as one main
purpose and function of our Church
life. No spiritual work is more
restful and rewarding, than that which
a Christian man does in
connection with the particular
congregation to which he belongs.
as well as “peaceable.” The peace
that we follow after must be “by
righteousness;” for “without holiness no
man shall see the Lord.” This is
one of the most solemn sayings
of the Bible. How short and simple it is;
but how pointed and powerful] It
falls upon the ear with a sharp sound of
authority. It reverberates within the conscience like the echoes of
thunder
among the hills. GOD IS PURE AND HOLY therefore only the
consecrated
and sanctified can see Him.
Sanctification must be “followed
after,” i.e.
pursued earnestly. We must labor
to cleanse ourselves from our carnality and
impurity:
Ø
by washing in
Jesus’ blood,
Ø
by the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit,
Ø
by the use of
the means of grace, and
Ø
by living always
as in the presence of God.
Notice what the writer says in
particular of the man who strives after
this “sanctification.”
Ø
He will not be a sensualist.
(v. 16.) He will not only avoid acts of
gross immorality; he will hate
every filthy thought. How dreadful
for any one to sit down at the
Lord’s table, as a professed disciple
of Christ, who is in the habit
of visiting also the disgusting haunts
of secret vice!
Ø
Neither will he be a “profane person.” (vs. 16, 17.) “Profane”
means common, secular, worldly; and such a person loves only the
things of sense and time, and has no appreciation of what is
SPIRITUAL! Esau
was such a man. He cared nothing for the
blessings of the covenant,
or for the hopes which centered in the
promised seed of Abraham.
Hence his guilty folly in bartering
away his birthright for a
mess of lentils. The apostle, in one or
two forcible expressions,
depicts the consequences of this act
of profanity. All Esau’s subsequent regrets were
unavailing. On
the second occasion, when his younger
brother circumvented him,
his father Isaac refused to recall the blessing
which he had just
pronounced; for Isaac realized
that in blessing
Jacob he had
unwittingly been the mouthpiece
of a Divine oracle.
Esau, therefore, was in this
matter God-rejected. He failed to induce
his father to change his mind.
And he found no means of undoing
his own first act of folly. “Now,”
says the apostle in effect to the
Hebrew Christians, “beware of profanity like Esau’s. You belong
to God’s ‘firstborn’ nation; and
the gospel of the Lord Jesus is for
‘the Jew first.’ (Romans 1:16) Take
care that you do not forfeit
your rights of spiritual
primogeniture. Should you forsake the
new and final covenant, for any
consideration whatever, you
will make as bad a bargain as
Esau did.” (“What shall it
profit a man if he
gain the whole world and LOSE HIS
OWN SOUL?” (See How to Be Saved - # 5, this website –
CY – 2014)
also back from the whirlpool of APOSTASY! He was a man of a very
ordinary type. There are many
such all around, who for the savory
meat
of sensuous pleasure
will barter away their birthright of spiritual
opportunity, and at last irrevocably SELL THEIR
SOULS! May Divine
grace preserve us from cultivating the character of which these words are
an adequate epitome — “A
profane person, who for one mess of meat
sold his own
birthright”!
Esau — a Warning (vs. 16-17)
Esau is an excellent example of what serious results may
come out of sheer
thoughtlessness. (I
recommend Isaiah 1 – Spurgeon Sermon – To the
Thoughtless –
this website – CY – 2014)
There were special reasons why Esau should be a careful,
thoughtful, prudent man. Thoughtfulness is the need of
every man in such a
maze as life is continually tending to become, but the
position of some
makes thoughtfulness a special duty. So it was with Esau.
He had the
birthright. To him it specially belonged to continue and
increase the
prosperity and credit of the family. Yet for the sake of a
single meal,
because in his hunger he could
not wait a little, he sold his
birthright. He
did, indeed, make a pretext of saying as it were, “What shall it profit me to
keep my birthright and lose my life?” but this very question
showed that he
had never made a careful estimate of his privileges and
responsibilities. The
folly of Esau’s conduct is plain enough to us; would that
we could see as
clearly how often it is reproduced in the reckless,
self-destructive conduct
of those to whom belongs the birthright of children of God!
Esau is called a profane person.
A profane person is one who treats sacred
things as if they were common.
Esau was himself a sacred person as the
firstborn, but the thought of
his peculiar position never seems to have
gained real entrance to his
mind. And so it too often is with us. The serious
and sublimer
side of life, the side that connects us with God, Christ, and
eternity, is too seldom in our
minds. Too seldom! Why, that is too
complimentary a word as regards
many; they never seem to think of this
side of life at all. And assuredly
none of us thinks of it as we ought to do.
We are more
valuable in the eyes of God THAN WE ARE IN
OUR OWN!
God looks on each one of us as
on a pearl of great price, but we view the
pearl of our position with only swinish
eyes.
is made to think, and think
deeply, on his position, duties, and destiny; and
to this actual course of
reflection he is driven sooner or later. Man cannot
escape the necessities inherent
in his nature. The hint here, in this parallel
from Esau, is that these reflections may come too late. Omnipotence
cannot bring back the past. If
you have failed to sow in the spring, you
cannot reap in the autumn. Nor will you be able to escape the bitterness of
reflecting that this absence
of the proper harvest is your own fault.
Thousands in the earlier years
of life do as Esau did. They barter the joys
of self-denial and holy aspiration
for self-indulgence. The fragrance of
worldly pleasures rises into
their nostrils, and they
never stop to consider
the height and
depth, the breadth and length, of a life
redeemed by Christ
and sanctified by His Holy Spirit. Then, when the passing pleasure (when
I taught United States History in High School, one of our text books, in
commenting on the “Roaring 20’s” said: “Is it
any wonder that the
pleasures of a moment are only a momentary pleasure?” – CY – 2014)
is past and gone, THEY COME FACE TO FACE WITH
ETERNAL
REALITIES and they are not ready for them. Yet
the parallel with Esau
must not be pushed too far. He found no place
of repentance so far as the
earthly birthright was
concerned. But that is not to say that Esau has lost his
share in spiritual and eternal realities.
Isaac could not give him the blessing
that belonged to another As long as he sought
the earthly blessing he might
well seek with tears, and seek in vain. Along with the folly, suffering, and
futile regrets
of Esau we
must take the folly, suffering, and profitable
repentance of the prodigal in the parable. (Luke 15:11-32)
There follows now, in vs. 18-29, both for encouragement and
for warning,
a grand contrast between the Mosaic and Christian dispensations,
founded
on the phenomena that accompanied the giving of the Law. To
with its repelling terrors, is opposed an ideal picture of
heavenly
then at v. 25 (as previously in Hebrews 10.) the tone of
encouragement changes
again to one of warning, the very excess of privilege being
made the measure
of the guilt of slighting it.
18 “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched,
and
that burned with
fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and
tempest,” The
allusion is to the Israelites approaching
the Law was given (see Deuteronomy 4:11, whence still more
than from Exodus
19 the whole description is taken, “And ye came near [προσήλθετε – prosaelthete –
the same word as is used supra, ch.4:16; 7:25], and
stood under the mountain”).
Though the word “mount” in the Received Text has the
support of no ancient
authority, it must be understood, whether or not originally
written. For it comes
after προσήλθετε in the passage of Deuteronomy which is evidently referred
to,
the following words, “blackness,
darkness, tempest” (σκότος – skotos – darkness;
γνόφῳ - gnopho – blackness; murkiness; θυέλλῃ - thellae – tempest; tornado),
being also found there. And
otherwise we should have to translate, “a touched
[i.e. palpable] and kindled
fire;” but “touched” (ψηλαφωμένῳ
- psaelaphomeno –
to be handled; to be
touched) is not suitable to fire; and we
should also lose the
evidently intended contrast between the two mountains of
Sinai and
which appears in v. 22. Neither may we translate, as some
would do, “a
mountain that might be touched, and kindled fire;” for the
original passage
in Deuteronomy has “and the mountain burned with fire (καὶ τὸ ὄρος ἐκαίετο
πυρὶ - kai to oros ekaieto
puri).”
The participle ψηλαφωμένῳ
| (literally, that was
touched), rather than ψηλαλητῳ - psaelalaeto - may be used here, although on the
occasion referred to all were forbidden to touch the mountain, by way of
bringing more distinctly into view the actual Sinai, which
was touched at
other times, and which Moses both touched and ascended. If
so, the main
purpose of the word is to contrast the local and palpable
mountain of the
Law with the ideal
ψηλαλητῳ - psaqelalaeto - may here carry with it its common sense of groping after,
as in the dark (compare Deuteronomy
28:29, καὶ ἔσῃ ψηλαφῶν μεσημβρίας
ὡσεὶ
ψηλαφήσαι ὁ τυφλὸς
ἐν τῷ
σκότει – kai esae psaelaphon
mesaembrias hosei
psaelaphaesai ho tuphlos en to skotei – and you shall grope at noonday as the
\blind gropes in
darkness), with reference to the cloudy darkness
about Sinai,
and in contrast with the clear
unclouded vision of
19 “And the sound of a trumpet (Exodus 19:16), and
the voice of words
(Deuteronomy 4:12);
which voice they that heard intreated that the word
should
not be spoken to them
any more: (Deuteronomy 18:16; compare v. 25 and
Exodus 20:18): 20 (For they could not
endure that which was commanded
(rather, enjoined), And if so much as a beast touch the mountain,
it shall be
stoned (Exodus 19:13; “or thrust
through with a dart” is an interpolation in the
text from the passage
in Exodus):, or thrust through with
a dart: 21 And so
terrible was the
sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly
fear and quake:
(Deuteronomy 9:19, ἔκφοβός εἰμι – ekphobos eimi – I was
afraid, to
which
ἔντρομος. – enotromos – quake; in a
tremor - is added in the text. This saying
of Moses was really uttered
afterwards, when he was descending from the
mount, and became aware
of the sin of the golden calf. It was called forth by
the people’s sin, but
was due to the alarming character of the preceding
phenomena, of τὸ φανταζόμενον - to phantazomenon – sight; spectacle –
that which was being revealed or manifested. Mention of it
is added here
to show that the general fear extended even to Moses, the mediator)”
This whole account, thus powerfully condensed from Exodus
and Deuteronomy, presents a vivid picture of the terrors of the Mosaic
revelation. God was,
indeed, revealed to man, but still as unseen and
unapproachable, terrible in His wrath against sin, and
surrounded by sounds
and sights of fear. But now mark the serene and glorious
contrast.
22 “But ye are come unto mount Sion,
and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which
are
written in
heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made
perfect, 24
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood
of sprinkling, that speaketh better things that that
of Abel.”
But ye are come
unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly
regarded, are contrasted with Sinai. The foundation of the conception is in the
Old Testament. When David at length won the citadel of Zion, and placed the
ark upon it, it was a sort of primary and typical fulfillment of the promise
of rest,
seen afar off by the patriarchs and from the wilderness. Psalm 24., which was
sung on that occasion, expresses the idea of the King of glory being at length
enthroned there, and
His people of clean hands and pure hearts being admitted
to stand in the holy
place before Him (compare “This is my rest
forever: here
will I dwell,” - Psalm 132:14). In the Psalms
generally the holy hill of Zion
continues to
be viewed as the LORD’S immovable abode, where He is surrounded
by thousands
of angels, and whence He succors His people (compare Psalms 48.;
68.; 125.;
132). Then by the prophets it is further idealized as the scene
and center of Messianic blessings (compare Isaiah 12.; 33.;
35.; 46:13;
Micah 4.; to which many other passages might be added).
Compare also
the visions, in the latter chapters of Ezekiel, of the
ideal city and temple of
the future age. Lastly, in the Apocalypse the seer has
visions of “Mount
Zion” (14.), and “the
holy city, new Jerusalem” (21.), with the presence
there of God and the Lamb, and with myriads of angels, and
innumerable
multitudes of saints redeemed. If, in the passage before
us, a distinction is
to be made between “
that the former represents the Church below, the latter the
heavenly
regions, though both are blended together in one grand
picture of the
communion of saints. For so in Revelation 14. the hundred
and forty-four
thousand on
the throne, whose song is heard from heaven and learned by
those below;
while the picture of the holy city in Revelation 21. is one
entirely heavenly,
representing there the
final consummation rather than any
present state of
things. And to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and
Church of the Firstborn (rather, and to myriads, the
general assembly of angels, and the Church of the Firstborn), which are
written in heaven,
and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made
perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant,
and to the blood
of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that
of
Abel (literally, than Abel). Of the several ways
of translating the beginning
of the above passage, the best seems to be to take μυριάσιν
– muriasin – myriads;
to ten thousands; innumerable - by itself as including both the angels and the
Church of the Firstborn, and to connect πανηγύρει - panaegurei – to the
general assembly - with “angels” only. “Myriads” is a well-known expression for
the LORD’S attendant hosts (compare Jude 1:14; Deuteronomy 33:2;
Daniel 7:10); further, καὶ - kai – and - which throughout the passage connects the
different objects approached, comes between πανηγύρει and ἐκκλησίᾳ -
ekklaesia – to the
out called; church --, not between ἀγγέλων – angelon – angels;
messengers and
πανηγύρει, and the application of both πανηγύρει and ἐκκλησίᾳ
to πρωτοτόκων – prototokon – of the
first born - would seem an unmeaning
redundancy. The word πανηγύρις – panaeguris - public festival - which in classical
Greek denotes properly the assembly of a whole nation for a
festival, is peculiarly
appropriate to the angels, whether regarded (as in the Old
Testament) as
ministering round the throne or as congregated to rejoice
over man’s
redemption. (Luke 15:7)
“The Church of the Firstborn” seems to denote the
Church militant rather than the Church triumphant; for
(1) ἐκκλησίᾳ is elsewhere used for the Church on earth (so also in the
Old Testament; compare Psalm 79:6);
(2) the phrase, ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς – apogegrammenon en ouranois –
which are written in heaven - expresses the idea of being enrolled in the books
of heaven rather than being already there (compare Luke
10:20; Philippians 4:3;
Revelation 20:12; 21:27);
(3) the “spirits
of the perfected” are mentioned afterwards as a class
distinct. The word πρωτοτόκων may be suggested here by the firstborn of
Israel, who were specially hallowed to the Lord (Numbers
3:13), and
numbered as such by Moses (Ibid. v.43), or perhaps still
more by
the birthright (πρωτοτόκων) spoken of above as forfeited by Esau. God’s
elect may be called His firstborn as being hallowed to Him
and heirs of His
promises (compare Exodus 4:22, “
Jeremiah 31:9, “Ephraim
is my firstborn”). They thus correspond to the
hundred and forty-four thousand of Revelation 14., standing
on Mount
written on their foreheads;” seen distinct from, and yet in communion with,
the saints in bliss, whose voices are heard above. Between
them and the
spirits of the perfected is
interposed, “God the Judge of all;” and this
appropriately, since before Him the saints on earth must
appear ere they
join the ranks of the perfected: the former look up to Him
from below; the
latter have already passed before Him to the rest assigned them.
Tετελειωμένων – teteleiomenon – perfected; made perfect) expresses, as
elsewhere in the Epistle, full accomplishment of an and or
purpose with
regard to things or persons (compare ch.2:10; 5:9; 7:19,28;
9:9; 10:1, 14; 11:40);
the word is used here of those whose warfare is accomplished,
and who have
attained the rest of God. Their “spirits” only are spoken of, because the
“perfect consummation and
bliss both in body and soul” is still to come. In the
meanwhile, with respect to the issue of their earthly
course, they have been
already perfected (compare Revelation 14:13, “They
rest from their labors”).
Corresponding to the Lamb in Revelation, there is seen next
Jesus the
Mediator, through whom is the approach of the whole
company to the
Judge of all, and the accomplishment to the perfected. The “new
covenant”
is, of course, meant to be contrasted with the old one
before
under which there was no such approach or accomplishment.
Then “the
blood of sprinkling”
has reference to that wherewith the old covenant was
ratified (Exodus 24.; cf. supra, ch.
9:18). The blood shed by
Christ on earth
for atonement is conceived as carried by Him with Himself
into the holy place on high (Ibid. v.12), to be forever “the blood
of sprinkling”
for effectual cleansing. And this blood “speaketh better
things
than Abel.” His
blood cried from the ground for vengeance, with the
accusing voice of primeval sin; Christ’s speaks only of
reconciliation and
peace. Some commentators (Bengel
in the first place, whom Delitzsch
follows)see in this contrast between Sinai and
between vs. 18-19 and vs. 22-24; seven objects of approach
in one
case being supposed to be set against seven in the other,
More obvious is
the correspondence of the successive clauses of vs. 22-24
to the general
ideas connected with the giving of the Law. The two
pictures may be
contrasted thus:
The Old Covenant.
1. Sinai, a palpable earthly mountain, surrounded by gloom
and storm.
2. The angels through whom the Law was given (compare ch.2:2;
Galatians 3:19; Acts
7:53), unseen by men, but operating in the winds
and in the fire
(compare ch.1:7).
3. Israel
congregated under the mountain, afraid, and forbidden to
touch it.
4. The LORD,
unapproachable, shrouded in darkness or revealed in
fire.
5. Moses, himself
afraid, and winning through his mediation no access
for the people.
6. The blood
sprinkled on the people to ratify the old covenant, but
which could not
cleanse the conscience.
7. The sound of a
trumpet and the voice of words, inspiring fear.
The New Covenant.
1. Zion, radiant
with light and crowned with the city of God.
2. Festal choirs of
assembled angels.
3. The accepted
Church of the Firstborn, with free approach to the
holiest of all.
4. The Judge of all,
without His terrors, accessible, and awarding rest
to the
perfected.
5. The Divine
availing Mediator.
6. The
ever-cleansing blood of complete atonement.
7. The voice of that
cleansing blood, speaking of peace and pardon.
Such is the vision by the contemplation of which the
inspired writer would
arouse his readers, amid their trials and waverings, to realize the things that
are eternal. He would have them pierce with the eye of
faith beyond this
visible scene into the world invisible, which is no less
real. If they were
perplexed and disheartened by what they found around them —
by the
opposition of the world and the fewness of the faithful — he bids them
associate themselves in thought with those countless
multitudes who were
on their side. The
picture is, indeed, in some respects, ideal; for the actual
Church on earth does not come up to the idea of the “Church of the
Firstborn;” but
it is presented according to God’s purpose for His people,
and it rests with us to make it a present reality to ourselves.
Sinai and
This grand passage, extending to the end of the chapter,
forms a
magnificent finale to the lengthened general
exhortation to constancy,
beginning at ch.10:19, which occupies so important a place
in the Epistle.
The verses before us exhibit a highly wrought and
impressive contrast
between the Mosaic and the Christian dispensations.
emblem of the one,
superior to Sinai, in the privileges and blessings which
flow from it.
The nature of the dispensation
inaugurated there was reflected in the
character of the scene on
occasion of the giving of the Law. The old
economy was:
Ø
Sensuous. Sinai was “a mount that might be touched” (v. 18); i.e. a
tangible, palpable, physical
mountain. The expression suggests the
ceremonialism which was so
prominent a feature of the Mosaic
dispensation. The scene at Sinai
was spectacular; and Judaism, in
like manner, was a religion of
externals. Its teaching was elemental,
because elementary, Its ritual
was sensuous. Its precepts were
sustained by earthly sanctions.
Ø
Obscure. When God came down upon Sinai, He made “blackness
and darkness” His pavilion; He revealed Himself in flame and storm.
This is an emblem
of the clouded character of the Old Testament
revelation. Under it the
plan of redemption still remained veiled in
mystery. “The
way into the holy place was not yet made manifest”
(ch.9:8). The Jews, in their
ignorance and weakness, could only bear
a shaded, shadowy, portentous
manifestation of truth.
Ø
Exclusive. God spoke at Horeb only to one
small nation, gathered
before Him there on the plain,
and separated by the rocks and passes
of the desert from the great
peoples of the world. The Jews were a
little flock, and the Shepherd
of Israel shut them into a little fold by
themselves.
Ø
Remote. The
Hebrews dared not approach the God who revealed
Himself to them. The
mountain was fenced round, and the stern
penalty of death was
threatened upon the trespasser (v. 20).
Similarly, while the Mosaic
economy granted a certain access to
God, and
yet not the most real. For
Jehovah, to the mind of the Jew, was
clothed with thunder; legal
barriers stood between Him and
sinful men; and the Levitical system was saturated with ceremonial
restrictions. Moses could not be
an adequate mediator for
bring them to God; at the giving
of the Law he was himself smitten
with fear and trembling (v. 21).
Ø
Terrible. This is the most prominent feature of the whole picture. At
Sinai the lightning flashed and
the thunder rolled; the trump of God
sent forth its wild weird
blasts, and the awful voice of the Eternal
spoke the ten “words”
(v. 19). But the people could not endure the
revelation. They crouched and
cowered in terror.
“When God
of old came down from heaven,
In
power and wrath He came;
Before His
feet the clouds were riven,
Half
darkness and half flame.
“Around the
trembling mountain’s base
The
prostrate people lay;
A day of
wrath, and not of grace;
A dim
and dreadful day.”
(Keble.)
Now, this awful scene symbolized
the spirit and genius of the old
dispensation. The Law inspired
terror. It was “the ministration of
death” and of “condemnation.” (II Corinthians
3:7,9) It “bore
children unto bondage.” The
ceremonial system became an
unbearable yoke, by reason of its burdensome constraints;
while the moral law pronounced
its pitiless curses upon the
disobedient.
Ø
Temporary. Sinai rears its shaggy cliffs of granite in the naked
wilderness, and
tented plain of the desert was
not their home. And so the
dispensation set up at
It was only to stand until,
under the Divine leading, the Church
should be brought to the
spiritual
points of comparison in detail,
we should yet be impressed with the
contrast as seen in the large
outlines of the two pictures, and in their
general tone and color. The new
economy, as represented by
Ø
Spiritual. The Church of Jesus Christ is the ideal
heavenly
The New Testament system of
religion is inward, supersensible,
experimental. The types and
ceremonies of Sinai have passed away.
The matter of the new revelation
is more spiritual. Christianity
speaks of righteousness, not
of ritual. The gospel laws are written
upon THE HEART!
Ø
Clear. No night, or cloud, or storm gathers around
name means “sunny.” The Sun of
righteousness shines upon its towers
and palaces, gilding them with
brightness and beauty. The new covenant
is “clear
as the sun” in its teachings.
It has given the world the most
advanced truth; and it presents that truth in the simplest and the most
explicit form.
Ø
All-embracing.
are cosmopolitans. The Jewish
Church was shut out from intercourse
with the rest of the world; but
our fellow-citizens under the new
covenant are:
o
The holy angels: “myriads of angels, a
festal assembly”
(vs. 22-23); — the cherubim
and seraphim, all the princes,
potentates and rulers of
the celestial hierarchy.
o
The saints on earth: the “Church of the
Firstborn who are
enrolled in the album of
heaven.
numbered at Sinai; and so
the New Testament Church, although
dispersed all
over the world, forms but ONE SOCIETY of
firstborn ones, each
of whom is a prince of the blood of GOD!
o
The believers of the ancient Church: “the spirits
of just men
made perfect.” The disembodied souls of the Old Testament
saints could not be made
perfect “apart from us” (ch.11:40);
and thus we now form ONE BROTHERHOOD
with them,
as well as with departed
believers who lived in Christian times.
Ø
Access-giving. At Sinai “the people stood afar off.” They
could not
draw near to God. The presence
of His attending angels brought them
no confidence. The mediation of
Moses could not remove the barrier
of their guilt. But now the
great invitation is, “Come.” The
sum of
gospel privilege is expressed in
the words, “Ye are come” (v. 22).
Believers have been admitted to
the mount and city of
companionship of His angels, to
the fellowship of His redeemed
saints, and into HIS VERY PRESENCE as the righteous “Judge,
THE GOD OF ALL!” And to what are we indebted for this
access? We have come to God,
because we have come “to Jesus,”
and have been sprinkled with His “BLOOD” (v. 24). Christ and
His blood are the ground of all
our blessings, and the sum of all.
The nail-pierced hand of A BETTER MEDIATOR
than Moses
has opened for
us the door of access.
Ø
Genial. The scene at Sinai was terrific; but all is peaceful in the
sunny
garden-city of
new dispensation are far more dreadful than the merely spectacular
terrors of the old; but these occupy the background of the picture,
while at Sinai the terrors were
in the foreground. And ALL WHO
COME “to the blood of sprinkling” ARE SAFE! The atmosphere
of the new covenant is balmy and genial by reason
of the merit of
that blood. Abel spoke (ch. 11:4) by his sacrifice
only of a coming
atonement and a future
redemption; but Christ’s blood
certifies that
these blessings
have been secured. And so the whole panorama
of
all is winsome
and gladsome and serene.
Ø
Final. “The heavenly
foundations” (ch.11:10). The life of the Church now is no longer a
tent-life. It has exchanged
the tabernacle for the true temple. The
covenant of which Jesus is
the Mediator is a “new,” i.e. (according to
the Greek in v. 24) a fresh covenant, one that shall never become stale
or old. The kingdom of
heaven is a “kingdom that cannot be shaken”
(v. 28). As this whole
picture embraces the entire history of the Christian
Church, its truthfulness will be more and more appreciated as the
centuries roll on, and most of all in the times of
the latter-day glory.
passage is indicated in the
solemn verses which follow.
The Exalted Privileges of Sincere Christians
(vs. 18-24)
“Ye are come unto
heavenly
Church upon earth, the
sacred Scriptures Mount
Zion is not set forth as the antithesis of
heaven, but of the Christian
Church (Galatians 4:24-26); and the text
affirms that Christians “are come unto
the statement of a present fact,
and not a future prospect. Mark the
characteristics of this
distinguished society.
Ø
It is spiritual in its constitution. “The heavenly
qualification for admission into
this society is spiritual, not carnal;
a thing of character, not of
circumstances; not physical descent
from Abraham, but moral
approximation to Christ. Its worship is
not restricted by local limitations,
or by conventional and artificial
rules; but by spiritual conditions only. “The hour cometh, when
neither in this
mountain, nor in
Father.... The
hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers
shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth,” etc.
(John 4:21-24).
Wherever there is a devout soul,
there is the true
heart can consecrate for itself
a temple wherever it may be.
Ø
It is hallowed by the Divine presence. “Ye are come unto
the city of the
living God, the heavenly
destruction of
exclusively to the eastern hill,
or that on which the temple stood. The
glory of the Holy Land to the
pious Hebrew was
glory of
was the temple, and the glory of the temple was the Shechinah
(compare Psalm 48:1-3; 80:1;
132:13-14). “The Lord is in His holy
temple.” “He sitteth
between the cherubim. The Lord is great in
(Ibid. ch.
99:1-2) But in a higher sense He dwells
in
the consecrated
heart, and in the Christian
Church. “Where
two or three are gathered
together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew
18-20)
Ø
Its members are individually consecrated to God. “To
the Church of the
Firstborn.” The firstborn of
(Exodus 13:1-2, 11-15). Afterwards
the tribe of Levi was selected for
this service instead of the
firstborn of all the tribes (Numbers 3:11-13).
And it is characteristic of every Christian that he is consecrated to God;
he is a priest unto God. “Ye are a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices,
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ Ye are an elect race,
a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.”
(I Peter 2:5,9)
Ø
Its members are heirs to a glorious inheritance. All Christians are
called “firstborn” because they
are all heirs of the heavenly inheritance.
“We are children of God: and if children, then
heirs,” (Romans 8:17)
Heirs “unto an inheritance incorruptible,
and undefiled,” (I Peter 1:4)
Ø
Its members are INDIVIDUALLY KNOWN UNTO GOD. They
“are written in heaven.” They are not yet citizens of heaven who have
taken up their full citizenship
by passing through death, but persons to
whom their citizenship is assured, they being as yet here below.
This enrolment in the book
of life is the sign that the citizenship of the
Christian is in heaven, and
that his name and character are known unto
God. “The Lord knoweth
them that are His.” (II Timothy
2:19)
The good
Shepherd “calleth His own sheep by name” (John 10:3;
compare Luke 10:20).
“Ye are come… to
an innumerable company of angels.”
Notice:
Ø
The great number of angelic beings. The text speaks of “myriads of
angels,” an expression
which is employed to indicate a great multitude.
John in spiritual vision saw “many angels round about the throne;…
and the number of
them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands.” (Revelation 5:11)
Ø
The joyful spirit of angelic beings. And to myriads, the
festal host of
angels.” “πανηγύρει - panaegurei – to the general assembly; to
universal
convocation - is the
complete, multitudinous, above all,
jubilant, festal,
and blissful assembly. “There
is joy in the presence
of the angels of
God over one sinner that repenteth.” (Luke 15:10)
They rejoice in the
progress of
the cause of Christ, in the extension
of His Church, in
the triumphs of His cross and Spirit.
Ø
The gracious relation of angelic beings to Christians.
Angels were
present at Sinai in great
numbers, and assisted at the giving of the
Law (compare ch.
2:2; Deuteronomy 33:2; Galatians 3:19). But their
ministry upon that occasion
seems to have been majestic and terrible,
fitted to awe but not to attract men. But their relation to Christians
is gracious
and engaging. We are come unto them. Invisibly yet
beneficently they are present
with us as our spiritual helpers.
“Are they not all
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for
them who shall be
heirs of salvation?” (ch. 1:14)
PERFECTED SPIRITS OF THE GOOD. “And to the
spirits of just men
made perfect.” We have here:
Ø
The noblest portion of human beings. “Spirits.” Having laid down
their bodies at death,
these thinking, reflecting, loving, worshipping
spirits live on in consciousness
and in blessedness.
Ø
A commendable character of human beings. “Spirits of just
men.” Not
innocent; but pardoned and
purified from sin through the mercy of God.
Spirits of all the just who have
entered the eternal state, from righteous
Abel down to the spirit which last responded to the home-call.
Ø
The most excellent condition of human beings. “Spirits of just
men
made perfect.” Made perfect, not in degree, but in character and
condition. Perfect as being without error and sin, but
not as being
incapable of further progress.
They are without sin, but they will
grow in holiness. They are without
error, but they will increase in
knowledge. “Made perfect;”
then how different are they from
even the best of men in this
world! Many an imperfection will be
put off by us at death; many an
error will be corrected soon as we
see things in the clear light of
eternity. “We are come… to the
spirits of just
men made perfect.” They are not lost
to us. Life and
immortality are brought to light in the gospel. Deep and tender is
their interest in us. We are one
with them in sacred and blessed
sympathy:
“E’en now by faith we join our hands
With those that went before;
And greet the blood-besprinkled bands
On the eternal shore.”
(C.
Wesley.)
to God the Judge
of all.” At Sinai the Israelites were
terrified at the signs
of His presence as Lawgiver; but
in this later dispensation sincere
Christians draw near to Him with
confidence even as the Judge of all.
Nay, there is a sense in which
this aspect of His being attracts them. They
are yet in the world. They have
enemies to contend against and wrongs to
endure; and they look up to God
as their righteous Judge, who will vindicate
their right and their cause. We
are come unto Him. He is not a cold, impassive,
remote being. He is near to us; He
loves us, draws us to Himself, and blesses
us with His gracious presence.
We confide in Him, and realize our holiest
impulses and most blessed experiences
in fellowship with Him.
Jesus the
Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that
speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
Ø
We are come to Him as our Mediator. By Him God is brought
so
near to us, and we are
reconciled to God. Through Him we enter
into the possession of all
our exalted and rich privileges.
Ø We are come to
Him who effected His mediatorial work by the
sacrifice of His own life. The blood of
sprinkling is His own
precious blood, which He shed
for us. “We have our redemption
through His
blood,” etc. And this blood speaks of:
25 “See that ye refuse
not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not, who
refused Him that spake (rather, warned; the word here used is not λαλοῦντα –
lalounta – Him that speaketh; the one speaking,
as before, but χρηματίζοντα –
chraematizonta – Him that spake; the one apprizing - expressive of a
Divine
admonition or warning. In the passive it is translated “warned of God,”
“admonished of God,”
Matthew 2:12, 22; supra. ch.8:5; 11:7; compare Acts
10:22,
ἐχρηματίσθη ὑπὸ ἀγγέλου ἁγίου – echraematisthae hupo angelou hagiou – was
directed by a holy angel) on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn
away from Him that speaketh (or, warneth) from
heaven.” Here the warning
begins. “Him
that speaketh (τὸν λαλοῦντα
– ton lalounta – Him that speaketh;
the
One speaking),”
is suggested by λαλοῦντι - lalounti – speaketh;
talking; speaking –
in the preceding verse. But the subject is changed:
it is God, not the “blood of
sprinkling,” that is now
regarded as speaking to us from heaven. It was God
also that warned on earth; not, as some take it,
Moses, whom the word
χρηματίζοντα does not suit: of him it is said, κεχρημάτισται – kechraematistai –
admonished; had been apprized - (ch. 8:5). The allusion is to the voice heard
from the earthly Sinai,
which the people entreated (supra, v. 19, παρῃτήσαντο –
paraetaesanto – refuse - the same word
as is used here) should be heard no more.
But they escaped not the
hearing of that voice, or the consequences
of disregarding
its warning (compare ch. 2:2;
3:10).
26 “Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath
promised,
saying, Yet once
more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
Whose voice then
shook the earth (see Exodus 19:18, “The
whole mount
quaked greatly,” though there the Septuagint has λαὸς – laos – people -
instead of ὄρος – oros – mount : but compare Judges 5., “The earth quaked,”
and Psalm 114:7, “Tremble,
thou earth,” etc., with reference to the phenomena
at Sinai; also Habakkuk 3:6, 10): but now He hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I
shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
The
prophecy referred to is Haggai 2:6-7, “Yet once, it is a little while, and
I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and
the dry land; and I
will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations
shall come: and I will fill
this house with glory, saith the
LORD of hosts.” Again, Ibid. v. 21, “I will
shake the heavens
and the earth” (compare Isaiah 2:19,21;
Revelation 6:12-17).
The prophecy was uttered with reference to the second
temple, the glory of which
was to be greater than the glory of the first, in that it
should be the scene of the
LORD’S final revelation of Himself to His people. Its first fulfillment is
rightly seen in Christ’s first coming (compare Haggai 2:9, “And in this
place will I give peace, saith
the Lord of hosts;” and Malachi 3:1, “The
Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple”). But the
language used points evidently, even in itself, to a
further fulfillment; nor
do readers need to be reminded here of the pregnant and
far-reaching sense
of all Messianic prophecy. The ultimate reference is what is seen dimly
afar
off in so many of the prophetic visions — the final dissolution of the whole
present order of things, to
be succeeded by the
RIGHTEOUSNESS (compare
Psalm 102:25-27; II Peter 3:10-13). By the
heaven that is to be shaken in that great day is meant, of course, not the eternal
abode of God, but that which is created and visible (τῶν … πεποιημένων –
ton pepoiaemenon – of
having been made - v. 27). This final shaking is
set
against the local and typical shaking of
contrast:
and from the latter expression the removing of the things
thus
finally shaken is in the next verse inferred. This
inference, though not
following necessarily from the expression itself, is
involved in the general
drift of Haggai’s prophecy, taken in connection with other
cognate ones, in
which an entirely NEW AND
HEAVENLY ORDER is pictured as rising
over the ruins of the old (compare Isaiah 65:17; 66:22,
referred to in II Peter 3:7,
10, 13, “new heavens and a
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
27 “And this word, Yet once more, signifieth
the removing of those
things that are
shaken, as of things that are made, that those things
which cannot be
shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore we receiving
a
kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may
serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For
our
God is a
consuming fire.” And this word, Yet once more, signifieth
the removing of
those things that are shaken, as of things that have been
made, that those
things which are not shaken may remain. Wherefore,
receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken
(observe the present participle,
παραλαμβάνοντες – paralambanontes – receiving: we already belong to
this kingdom, which
exists now behind the veil of this visible scene, and
will survive its catastrophe; observe also that the phrase, βασιλείαν
ἀσάλευτον παραλαμβάνοντες – basileian asaleuton
paralambanontes -
receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved - corresponds with Daniel
7:18, καὶ παραλήψονται
τὴν βασιλείαν
ἅγιοι ὑψίστου
– kai paralaepsontai
ton basileian hagioi hupsistou – but the
saints of the most high shall receive
shall receive the kingdom — it implies an actual share in the royalty of the
kingdom;
compare Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 1:6;
5:10), let as have grace (or,
thankfulness; the
usual meaning of ἔχωμεν χάριν – echomen charin
– let us
have grace; we may be having grace - is “to be thankful,” or “to
give thanks,” as in Luke 17:9; I Timothy 1:12; II Timothy
1:3),
whereby we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
for our God is a
consuming fire. This last verse is from Deuteronomy 4:24,
where the Israelites are being warned of the danger of
forgetting the
covenant of the LORD their God. The LORD’S nature is not
changed: He
is still a consuming fire against evil, as He declared Himself
from Sinai; and
if we scorn the present dispensation of grace, the day of
judgment will still
be to us a day of terror (compare ch.
10:26-31)
“A
kingdom which cannot be moved.” We have seen that this kingdom is “grace
and truth,” “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” These are
immutable and
abiding things; They are essential to the being and character of God,
and He is unchangeable and eternal. And these things as possessed by His
people are derived from Him. Ephemeral is the seeming reign of falsehood
and wrong; ETERNAL is the reign of truth and righteousness — the kingdom
of
God. Amid change and decay, amid revolution and dissolution, here is
an abiding thing, a
sovereign and eternal thing. Have we
received the
“grace and
truth,” the “righteousness and peace and joy IN
THE
HOLY GHOST? Then
we have received the immovable kingdom, the
kingdom which rests upon THE ETERNAL AND UNCHANGEABLE
GOD!
uncertainties and changes of this life, he possesses the unalterable and the
certain.
He has a portion and an inheritance which shall not be taken
away
from him.
He will carry his wealth with him into eternity, and it will
increase forever.
(Matthew 6:20-21) “Grace
and truth,” “righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,” are incorporated with his very
being, and will never pass away
from him. The blessed and
permanent
“
Christianity is not to give place to any other remedial dispensation. The patriarchal
form of religion passed away, and the Mosaic system followed; that in its turn passed
away
with the advent and growth of Christianity, which will
never be removed until
THE END OF TIME! God will not speak to us with any voice more attractive,
persuasive,
or convincing than that by which He now addresses us. “See
that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.
For if they escaped not who refused Him
that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from
HIM THAT SPEAKETH FROM HEAVEN?” (vs. 25-27).
ACCEPT
AT ONCE the blessings and obligations of this kingdom.
The Final Appeal (vs. 25-29)
The body of the Epistle seems to conclude with these
verses, chapter 13.
being of the nature of a postscript. The solemn warning
which they utter
breaks forth abruptly. It drops like a thunderbolt out of
the sunny sky of
Ø
God speaks to us from heaven. (v. 25.) At Sinai,
and while the Jewish
dispensation lasted, God spoke
as it were “on earth,” by an earthly
mediator, Moses; and largely by
means of material forms, which were
only “copies” (ch.9:23) of the
great spiritual realities. But now God
speaks “from heaven,” — from His home at the heart of the universe,
and therefore from the heart of
truth; and by His Son, the
Divine
Mediator, who is “in the bosom of
the Father.” (John 1:18)
The whole
Epistle is clasped together with
the emphatic declaration — in its
opening sentence (ch. 1:2), and here at its close — that the Lord Jesus
is the Prophet of
the new covenant.
Ø
God has removed the things that were shaken. (vs. 26-27.) It was
only “the earth” that shook at
Sinai. And that convulsion speedily
subsided. Indeed, the Jews became lulled into the
delusion that
the Levitical
institutions would never be overthrown. But Haggai
predicted (Haggai 2:6-7) that
the shaking which was to accompany the
introduction of Christianity
would affect “the heavens, and the earth,
and the sea, and
the dry land, AND ALL NATIONS.” It would do
greatly more than produce
alteration in the outer form and state of the
Church. It would grasp its very
heart and life — flooding it with
THE
NOONDAY LIGHT of spiritual truth,
and with the abundant grace
of THE HOLY
GHOST! The movables of Judaism, which had
been “made” at Sinai — the
tabernacle, the priesthood, the ritual, the
sacrifices, the festivals, etc.
— were “shaken” and “removed” when
the Church “came” to
temporarily with a view to the
erection of the permanent structure of
Christianity. Its ceremonial was the mere husk of religion; and when
the husk rotted and perished,
the kernel still lived and became fruitful.
Ø
God has given us a kingdom THAT CANNOT BE SHAKEN. (v. 28.)
Believers in Christ “receive”
the
subjects in it, but kings.
And this kingdom is THE FINISHED WORK
OF GOD — THE DIVINE MASTERPIECE!
Everything
connected
with it IS
STABLE! Nothing
that is loose or perishable can adhere to it.
It is built upon those great
facts and truths, which the convulsions that
overturned the Levitical system could not disturb. The “things
which
are not shaken
remain;” e.g.:
o
the character of
God,
o
the moral nature
and responsibility of man,
o
the dark fact of
human guilt,
o
the doctrine of
acceptance by sacrifice.
Christianity has solved the
problem of sin, in relation to the life of man;
and therefore it “cannot
be shaken.” Throughout all time the way of
salvation, the
encouragements to believe, the rule of duty, the principles
of the Christian life, the
fruits of holiness (I Corinthians 13:8, 13), will
be the same. And what a joy to live, as we do, AMONG THOSE
ABIDING
REALITIES! The kingdoms of the
world
pass away;
but Christ’s kingdom “shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:37-45).
Systems of philosophy cease to
be; but the truth as it is in Jesus
endures. Denominations disappear; but the Church
continues.
Political establishments of
religion are shaken; but national religion
remains. Creeds decay and wax
old; but the Bible possesses an
indestructible
vitality. The heavens and the earth
shall pass away;
but the kingdom of the saints
cannot be moved.
INVOLVE. We must:
Ø
Obey the voice of God. (v. 25.) That voice
speaks to us in the
Scriptures, and in the pleadings
of the Holy Spirit within our souls.
But in our time earth is “so
full of dreary noises” that our weak
hearts are sorely tempted not to
listen to the words of God. There
is the voice of:
o
the philosophic thinker,
o
the political leader,
o
the social reformer,
o
the scientific teacher,
o
the college professor,
o
the newspaper editor,
o
the popular novelist,
o
the movie director,
o
the
but none of these
voices are prophetic. (In the 21st century,
many are down right DEMONIC as a messenger of HELL –
CY – 2014) The man who can speak with authority
regarding some department of
physical science is not on that
account entitled to deference
when he discourses about God
and the future life. ONLY the Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos, by
whom God now speaks from
heaven, can instruct us concerning
the spiritual universe and THE WAY OF SALVATION!
Ø Cherish
gratitude for the kingdom. (v. 28.) “Let us have
grace,” i.e.
gratitude. To cultivate the
spirit of thankfulness is the very essence
and sum of Christian duty. When
God in His mercy invests us with
the kingdom, what can we say,
but just “Many thanks”? “I will take
the cup of salvation;”
(Psalm 116:13)
“Thanks be to God for His
unspeakable Gift.” (II
Corinthians 9:15)
Ø
Devote our lives to the service of God. (v. 28.) For, while
the saint is
a king, he is at the same time a
servant; indeed, he is a servant because
he is a king. The service is
involved in the kingdom. The entire life
of
the Christian is
to be that career of devout consecration which is the
natural outcome
of the grace of gratitude. And, while
thankfulness is
the secret motive of the
service, its befitting spirit is “reverence and
awe.”
The believer’s manner and tone are not to be flippant or
frivolous; but
grave, chastened,
solemn. (“In all things showing thyself a
pattern
of good
works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.”
Titus 2:7)
ENFORCED. This passage
is an earnest admonition. It opens with an
arresting “Beware” (v. 25);
and it sounds three notes of warning.
Ø
From Hebrew history. (v. 25.) When God
spoke by Moses and the
prophets, “His people would not hearken to His voice;” and thus
they were constantly drawing
down punishment upon themselves.
If, then, they escaped not who
spurned the less adequate revelation
made by THE HEAVEN-DESCENDED GOD, how may we hope
to escape, if we
turn away from the full-orbed revelation
made by
THE HEAVEN-ASCENDED
SON OF GOD?
Ø
From Hebrew prophecy. (vs. 26-27.) God has no other “Yet
once
more” to promise to the world. That was to be the last “shaking”
of the Church which should
accompany the introduction of the gospel.
“It is the last
hour” (I John 2:18). The final
overthrow of types and
forms is proceeding. God has done
all for us that He can do. He has
given us the “eternal gospel.”
To reject it were to attach ourselves only
to THE PASSING AND THE PERISHING!
Ø
From Hebrew theology. (v. 29.) The words of
this verse fitly close the
prolonged strain of exhortation.
They are borrowed from Deuteronomy
4:24; and the apostle, in citing
that passage here, reminds us that the
Divine character
is not one of “those things that are shaken.”
If the
God who spoke at Sinai was just
and severe, the God who dwells in
and mercy, He must be “a consuming
fire” to all who are essentially
alien to Him. Sometimes, when
this warning word is quoted, it is
softened after this fashion: “Out
of Christ God is a consuming fire.”
But such a gloss is unwarrantable.
For God is never out of Christ.
Christ is the manifested God. It is not
so that God the Father is all
justice and severity, and God
the Son
all tenderness and grace.
Christ the
Redeemer is “a consuming fire.” The most dreadful
declarations about the doom of
the impenitent which the
Bible contains were made by
Him. (“And to you who are
troubled rest with
us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with
His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not
the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with
EVERLASTING
DESTRUCTION FROM THE PRESENCE
OF THE LORD, AND
FROM THE GLORY OF HIS POWER;
When He shall come to be
glorified in His saints and to be
admired in all them that believe……….! II Thessalonians 2:7-10;
“And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should
smite the nations…” See Revelation 19:11-16 – CY – 2014)
The Purpose of the Shakings (v. 27)
This chapter, which has been full of comforting elements,
rises to the
highest kind of comfort at the close — that to be drawn by
the believing
heart from the conviction that
stable good is coming out of all present
vicissitudes.
Terrible as was the shaking at Sinai, that only affected an
infinitesimal part of the crust of the earth for a short
time. THERE REMAINS
A FAR MORE TERRIBLE AND SEARCHING SHAKING. The
shaking at Sinai
was only a sign of Jehovah’s power, but the shaking yet to
come will be more than a
sign; it will bring a result the most desirable of any we
can imagine. Heaven
and earth will be shaken, so that the heavenly
Jehovah’s glory and the abode of His saints, may at last appear
in all its
strength and all the excellency of
its beauty. The alternate rising and
falling
— the one generation going and the other coming — of the
present scheme
of things will cease. THE
THINGS OF ETERNITY will then be
finally freed
from all the weights and encumbrances of:
o
time,
o
sin, and
o
death.
·
THIS GREAT CATASTROPHE OF THE FUTURE. It is vain to
speculate on the mode of
its happening. Far more important to be well
assured that this
catastrophe is coming, and to rejoice that something
inexpressibly glorious and
beautiful lies beyond. (II Peter 3:10-13)
Only then will the perfect
men in Christ Jesus be constituted into the
perfect society. Only some
such revolution in human affairs as is here
indicated can set things
right finally and completely. Good and evil
are not to be
forever mingled. The Lord who has so
often shaken the
earth will shake both earth
and heaven. Then it will be seen who is
on the rock and who on the
sand, who has built gold and silver and
precious stones, and who
wood, hay, and stubble. (Matthew
7:24-27;
I Corinthians 3:11-15) (See Isaiah 34:1-4; Revelation 6:12-17)
One of the signs of the
Coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
is that there will be
earthquakes in various places (Matthew 24:7;
Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11)
Shaken in order that they may be
utterly removed from us. Each of the
elect and glorified now within
the walls of the new Jerusalem is there
because he has known within his
own experience what it is for both earth
and heaven to be shaken. The whole process of life is but a continual
loosening and
steady progress towards the dissolution of all the corruptible
frame. We are in the
hands of both Builder and Destroyer. The
spiritual life
is strengthened
and enriched, while the natural is weakened
and diminished.
That it is so shows that it
ought to be so. All bitter and trying experiences
only bring the weak and unworthy
to the surface and cast it out. Like the
corn placed in the ground, we
must be ready to decay and die; that even as
it presently breaks forth to the
air and sunlight, so we may break away
from our limitation and darkness
into a sinless and sorrowless
eternity.
This truth may be illustrated:
Ø
from the physical
frame;
Ø
from the present mixed
relations of life.
Ø
A very practical
question is — HAVE WE EXPERIENCE OF THE
UNSHAKEN THINGS? Do we know the work OF THE LORD
JESUS to be our only secure refuge amid the tempests and
earthquakes of our
life?
Can we look
away through vicissitudes of
time and sense, and feel that
far out of
their reach is A KINGDOM
OF ETERNAL which the Lord
fills with His life and love and power?
Our citizenship must
be IN THE
HEAVENLY
The Unshaken Kingdom (v. 28)
what notions the disciples had
of a visible kingdom, with its center of
power and glory in the earthly
among them down to the very
departure of their master. They greeted Him,
getting ready for His ascension,
with the inquiry whether He was about to
restore the kingdom to
among all the Hebrew Christians
this hope prevailed to the last. A spiritual
and invisible kingdom could not
all at once become manifest. And as a
visible kingdom retreated
further and further into the region of
improbabilities, this would add
another trial to whatever came in the way
of personal suffering. They had
prayed the prayer, “Thy kingdom
come,”
but prayed it too much after their own fancies. And now to their sorrowing
eyes it looked a kingdom clean
gone forever.
The writer has just been
dividing existing things into the shaken and the
unshaken. Naturally, therefore,
considering what the hopes of Hebrew
Christians had been, there
follows a reference to an unshaken kingdom.
The true Israelite does well to
keep his thoughts fixed on a kingdom. But
let him be careful not to
neglect the reality for the phantom. God desires a
kingdom based on something more
than material force, for such kingdoms
can only get built up through
ambition, cruelty, violence, and injustice. God
has promised a
kingdom, and His promise cannot be broken; but it must be
kept in His own
way. That kingdom has its foundation
in the accepted claim
and power of Christ over the
individual human heart. We may say of that
kingdom what Paul says of the
love of God in Christ Jesus, “that neither
death, nor life,…
nor things present, nor things to come. . . nor any other
creature, should
be able to shake the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Romans 8:38-39) It cometh without observation (Luke 17:20);
the
inspection of the natural eye
will never discern it; the assaults of the
natural man operate in another
realm altogether.
grace,” says the writer. What he really means is, “Let us show
thankfulness.” Instead of sorrowing over a corrupt ideal vanished, let us be
deeply thankful
for a Divine reality THAT CANNOT PASS
AWAY!
The old mode of serving God has
gone forever. The old temple, with its
altar and its holy place, its
sacrifices and its priests, can never be aught
but a memory. The foreshadowing
service of outward ceremonies is gone,
and the
true spiritual service HAS FOR EVER TAKEN ITS
PLACE!
And recollect especially THE SAME GOD REMAINS!
God appointed
the old λατρεία – latreia – Divine
service (ch. 9:1) from amid all the terrors
of Sinai. And He is not the less
God of Sinai because
He appears in the
gentler aspect of Father of
Christ Jesus.
consuming fire
upon occasion, and the same indignation and
power reside
in Him still. Whatever outward
form our λατρεία may take — and there is
much latitude in this — there must ever be a deep feeling of personal
unworthiness and
of humblest adoration. Outward pomp in itself,
however costly, however
laborious, cannot please the spiritual God;
if it have no heart of spirituality and sincerity, the fires of
His wrath will soon lick it all
away.
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