You, as a Christian, ought to have the calm settled consciousness that God, looking on you, discerns not one spot or stain, but only the blood of Jesus Christ His Son that cleanses from all sin. God said that he would be gracious to their iniquities and could forget their sins. In this part of the chapter, the apostle illustrates and confirms the superior excellency of the priesthood of Christ above that of Aaron, from the excellency of that covenant, or that dispensation of the covenant of grace, of which Christ was the Mediator (Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 8:6): his ministry is more excellent, by how much he is the Mediator of a better covenant. This is the fourth circumstance adduced in which the new covenant will surpass the old. In Hebrews 10:1-39 he applies the matter to the present state of the believer. Then comes a second exhortation as to their guides, or leading men among the brethren. As they are companions, so do they test a walk with God; one is faith, the other is suffering. That puts it in my reach. If He is to be often offered, He must also often suffer. At the end of his course there was a still heavier tax on him. What is the value, the import., of the sacrifice of Christ viewed according to God, and as bearing on His ways? All the effort of Christendom is first to deny the one, and then to escape from the other. By that hope, then, "we draw nigh unto God. But this shows the main object of the Spirit of God in directing us for the type that applies to the believer now to an unsettled pilgrim-condition, not to Israel established in the land of promise. Such is the true sense of the passage. They had never known so great and frequent and constant trial. If God's word be true, and to this the Spirit adheres, the blood of Christ has thus perfectly washed away the sins of the believer. [1.] To us Christ is all. He does not draw attention here to the account, that there was only blessing from man to God, and from God to man. This is the meaning of the phrase, not that He will sit there throughout all eternity. It became God that Christ should go down to the uttermost; it became us that He should be exalted to the highest. ", The next point proved is the indisputable superiority of the Melchisedec priesthood to that of Aaron, of which the Jews naturally boasted. You want to know what heaven is like? But God took care to summon His children outside to abandon the whole system before it was destroyed. Hebrews 11. Thank You, Father, for the walk and the life in the Spirit that we experience through Jesus Christ our Lord. I mean his sins now; not sin as a principle, but in fact, though it be only for faith. This, he maintains, has always been so; it is no novelty he is preaching. And just to read it as a part of an old dead system that can destroy you. Christendom prefers the middle course; it will have neither the conscious nearness, to God, nor the place of Christ's reproach among men. Then you may bless God that He has so blessed you, and given you to know as true of yourself that which, if not so known, effectually prevents one from having the full joy and bearing the due witness as an unworldly and simple-hearted servant of Christ here below. He uses in the most skilful manner the change of the priest, in order to bring along with it a change of the law, the whole Levitical system passing away "but [there is] the bringing in of a better hope." You see, laws are only for the lawless. WebKing James Version 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. no mention of family or ancestors, "having neither beginning of days, nor end of life" neither is recorded in scripture; "but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. He argues that the word "new" puts the other out of date, and this to make room for a better. The parties to a suntheke are on the one level and each can bargain with the other. But once and for all offered the sacrifice before God, by which I am saved to the uttermost as I come to God by Him.Shall we pray.Father, we thank you for our great High Priest, Jesus Christ. "In those sacrifices," referring to the law to which some Hebrew Christians were in danger of going back, "there is a remembrance made again of sins every year. The earthly was only pointing forward to when the real should come. Such is pre-eminently the bearing of this epistle to those who had no such frequent opportunities of profiting by his teaching as the Gentile churches. Then he shows us others higher than these, by a divine call "and to the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven." He reasons that, while our parents only chastise us the best way they can (for after all their judgment might not be perfect), the Father of spirits never fails. Religion to him, remember, was access to God; therefore the supreme function of any priest was to open the way to God for men. Let men who can see only look there, and what will be found? It may then be stated summarily, in few words, unless I am greatly mistaken, that the word should always be translated "covenant" in every part of the New Testament, except in these two verses; namely, Hebrews 9:16-17. It ( ) means "testament" as well as "covenant." But here is One who proffers Himself to come, and does come. It is not implied that they may not sin, or that they have no consciousness of their failure, either past or present. He does not require to add more to the person and facts of Christ than the Old Testament furnishes, to prove the certainty of Christianity and all its characteristic truths with which he occupies himself in this epistle. Accordingly advantage is taken of an unquestionable meaning of the word for this added illustration, which is based on the death of Christ, "Where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator." That is, sin; for all unrighteousness is sin, being contrary to the justice of God, and his righteous law: and the phrase is expressive of God's forgiveness Let us next apply the word "covenant" here, and you will soon see the insuperable difficulties into which you are plunged. But the answer to this is, that there is not a single writer in the language, not sacred only but profane, who employs it in such a sense. "It is." And he sprinkled likewise with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And because the new covenant is predicated upon the faithfulness and the work of God, it shall stand. The writer to the Hebrews has finished describing the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek in all its glory. First, he is the Son, and as such speaks with greater authority and completeness than the prophets. The epistle sets before us the seat of glory prepared on high; the Revelation speaks of the bride represented as a glorious golden city with figures beyond nature. These things were to serve as an example and a shadow of the heavenly things.That is why, though oftentimes we get bogged down in Leviticus, if we understand as we are reading in Exodus and Leviticus, we are reading about the temple and the dimensions and the things that were in it. It is not a question of justification here. This is precisely what modern research amounts to. "The priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. There is nothing more serious than to set grace against holiness. What comes in between the two? For why should there be a new covenant, unless because the first was faulty or ineffectual! It is a conditional covenant. because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." Now the reality is here. For sin, see on Matthew 1:21; and for both and , see on 1 John 1:9. In the blood of the Lamb, sprinkled on the door-posts of Israel, we see the type of God's judgment of their sins; next, in the passage of the Red sea, the exhibition of His power, which, in the most conspicuous way, saved them, and destroyed for ever their enemies. All spiritual evil against the nature and law of God is represented here under the following terms:-. Do you want to know what it looks like and all? In short, the word in itself may mean either; but this is no proof that it may indifferently or without adequate reason be translated both ways. Let us hold fast the profession of our hope [for so it should be] without wavering (for he is faithful that promised); and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." It was true that it contemplated pardon, and made arrangements for it; but it is still true that this is much more prominent in the new dispensation than in the old. If the first covenant had been faultless [had it been perfect], then there would be no reason sought to have a second covenant ( Hebrews 8:7 ). "For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator." Salute all your leaders, and all the saints. Nothing more can be said in a thousand volumes than is comprehended in these few words: I will be a God to them. In point of fact the English translators did not know what to make of the matter; for they give sometimes one, sometimes the other, without any apparent reason for it, except to vary the phrase. But who put it in my mind, "Why not go by the beach?" This is the center, the crown, the glory of the new dispensation. We have the church, but even when the expression "church" occurs, it is the church altogether vaguely, as inHebrews 2:12; Hebrews 2:12, or viewed in the units that compose it not at all in its unity. And that is the condition, my believing in Him.As I believe in Him, He then takes over and begins to work in my life, conforming me into His image. He knew that he had been given his supreme position, not jealously to guard it in splendid isolation, but rather to enable others to attain to it and to share it. Thus it will be observed, at the end of all the moral and experimental dealings with the first man (manifested in Israel), we come to a deeply momentous point, as in God's ways, so in the apostle's reasoning. The fact was plain that the priest was always doing and doing, his work being never done; whereas now there is manifested, in the glorious facts of Christianity, a Priest sat down at God's right hand, a Priest that has taken His place there expressly because our sins are blotted out by His sacrifice If there was any place for the priest, one might have supposed, to be active in his functions, it would be in the presence of God, unless the sins were completely gone. Had they been taunted with having no altar, possessing nothing so holy and so glorious in its associations? So we'll get to that in a minute. Mesites comes from mesos ( G3319) , which, in this case, means in the middle. FOREWORD In the ordinary life of the Jews there was a complete cleavage. Thus the only time when he comes into notice he is acting in the double capacity here spoken of: King of righteousness as to his name, King of Salem as to his place, blessing Abraham on his return from the victory over the kings of the Gentiles in the name of the Most High God, and blessing the Most High God the possessor of heaven earth in the name of Abraham. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. According, to the Jews it was quite impossible, if God had once established a covenant, He could ever change; but the apostle replies that their own prophet is against their theory. It did not matter whether it was a priest or an Israelite. He goes on to say two things about Jesus. Who was this One? he says, "a priest precisely like that that we have in Jesus.". Attention is drawn to the permanence of His position at the right hand of God. It is without fault, well ordered in all things. From the beginning to the end of it the Christian in Hebrews is not thus dealt with apart from the old nature, as we may see him regarded in the ordinary epistles of Paul, where the old and the new man are most carefully separated. That was comparatively severe in its inflictions (see Hebrews 10:28); marked every offence with strictness, and employed the language of mercy much less frequently than that of justice. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed. In Genesis 12:1-3, God called Abram to leave his country, his relatives, and his fathers house, and to go to the land that God would show him. But then comes far more definite instruction, and, beginning with Abraham, the details of faith. I'm following the plan of God. 208, 209.]. Somewhere there is an idea of a horse of which all actual horses are inadequate reflections. You ought to have the consciousness that there is no judgment for you with God by-and-by, however truly He, as a Father, judges you now on earth. Footnotes Hebrews 8:2 Or tabernacle; also verse 5 Hebrews 8:6 Greek he That it is a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 8:6), a more clear and comfortable dispensation and discovery of the grace of God to sinners, bringing in holy light and liberty to the soul. ". The point to which he directs the reader is the evident and surpassing dignity of the case the unity too of the Priest and the priesthood; and this for an obvious reason. 1. I'll write my law in your mind and on the fleshly tablets of your heart." I ask my brethren here if they are looking to God strenuously, earnestly, for themselves and for their children, not to allow but to oppose as their adversary every thing that tends to weaken either of these truths, which are our highest privilege and our truest glory as Christians here below. Nor is it that redemption only is denied, but creation also; so that there is very great importance in maintaining the rights and the truth of God in creation. "He suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust," says another apostle, "that he might bring us" not to pardon, nor to peace, nor to heaven, but "to God." 6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. If in these two verses we bear in mind that it really means "testament," growing out of the previous mention of the "inheritance," I am persuaded that you will have better understanding of the argument. He has to present his message in language and in thoughts which will get home because they are familiar or at least will strike a chord in the reader's mind. Its force implies that it is not merely what He did once, but what He is also doing still. Then he adds: "And to myriads of angels, the general assembly" for such is the true way to divide the verse "and to the church of the firstborn," etc. I will by no means remember any more. Arranged all beforehand, neither Isaac's partiality nor Jacob's deceit was able to divert the channel. This is the excellency of the new dispensation, and these are the articles of it; and therefore we have no reason to repine, but great reason to rejoice that the former dispensation is antiquated and has vanished away. But they are completely gone; and therefore at God's right-hand sits down He who is its witness. One of the greatest of the Roman Emperors was Marcus Aurelius; as an administrator he was unsurpassed. It was given for Israels benefit, but it failed to produce the promised blessings, because the people failed to obey its commandments. He will be to them a God; that is, he will be all that to them, and do all that for them, that God can be and do. And as thus were shown the people immutably blessed (for salt shall not be wanting to that covenant) in the scene that will soon come, we finally hear of the earth itself joyful in the curse removed for ever. It accepts of godly sincerity, accounting it gospel perfection. This deeply interesting chapter closes with the reason why those who had thus not only lived but died in faith did not get the promise: "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." ", But again the solemn notice of Jehovah's oath is enlarged on. The consequence is, that many have tried (and I remember making efforts of that kind myself, until convinced that it could not succeed) to give , in the English Bible rightly rendered "the testator," the force of the covenanting victim. The apostle argues that, just as the blood of the beast was brought into the holiest of all, while the body of the same animal was taken outside the camp and burnt, so this too must be made good in our portion. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness In order to be their God, as mentioned under the preceding verse, it is requisite (v) There is one even more fundamental difference. The word of God can probe us like a surgeons expert scalpel, cutting away what needs to be cut and keeping what needs to be kept. This will always be a new covenant, in which all who truly take hold of it shall be always found preserved by the power of God. It is not a question of the law, which a Jew might naturally conceive to be the standard of the will of God now as of old for Israel. Amen.Jesus said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. "And unto the city of the living God, (not of dying David,) the heavenly Jerusalem" (not the earthly capital of Palestine). This leads to another point; for the change of the priesthood imports a change of the law. "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, in virtue of the blood of the everlasting covenant, perfect you in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight "through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for the ages of the ages. The rest of the chapter brings in, accordingly, the closing scene, when the Lord comes to shake everything, and establish that blessed day. John 1:14 , "Word . 1 Thessalonians 3:1-3 Commentary. when I will consummate a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. But having done this, He points us to the place of Christ without the camp. Such was the Priest of whom God spoke. So here the Psalms acquire a meaning self-evidently true, the moment Christ is brought in, who is the truth, and nothing less. III. 1 Thessalonians 3:4 Then follows the heavenly glory, to which grace naturally leads; then the natural inhabitants of the heavenly land, namely, the angels "and to myriads of angels, the general assembly." Because the new covenant is not predicated upon my faithfulness. The earthly priesthood is unreal and cannot lead men into reality; but Jesus can. Every transgression does not turn us out of covenant; all is put into a good and safe hand. Thither they are to be brought, and there are means for the road to keep us moving onward. as He will appear to the salvation of His own people. Because the more you will realize how much He loves you and all that He has done for you. Here it is the proof of the perpetual efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ. First of all, "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. But whether the one or the other, all was by faith. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness: And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more; , , , , I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, , Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king." Thus the chain of blessedness is complete. In the want of better instruction, one neighbour should be teaching another to know the Lord, as they have ability and opportunity for it. It remained for a brief season; but even then it soon began to show rents down. The best of God's children need chastisement. Here it is the grand truth itself in its own character. They would obey him not because the law compelled them unwillingly to do so, but because the desire to obey him was written on their hearts. He saw his error at last, and put his seal on God's original appointment of the matter. Neos ( G3501) describes a thing as being new in point of time. Christendom precisely takes the middle ground of Judaism between these two extremes. The greater part of the affections of the Christian are drawn out toward our Saviour by all this scene of sin and sorrow through which we are passing on to heaven. But it could not, and that's why you needed a New Testament. It never quite reaches what we know the thing might be. Web4 Jesus is the better *mediator 8:1-10:39 A new and better agreement 8:1-13 A new way to praise God 9:1-28 A new *sacrifice and way to life 10:1-39. He has nothing more to do with sin; He will judge man who rejects Himself and slights sin. For not merely did David receive from Jehovah that throne, but never were the people of God lifted out of such a state of distress and desolation, and placed on such a height of firm and stable triumph as under that one man's reign. . If you believe in Christ at all, such is your portion nothing less. Why not?" Somewhere there was a world where there was laid up the perfect forms of which everything in this world is an imperfect copy. "Who needeth not daily," therefore says He, "as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's." Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. remember no moreContrast the law, Heb 10:3. Had he merely referred to the covenant ( i.e. The Jews themselves acknowledge that Psalms 110:1-7 must be fulfilled in Christ, in His quality of Messiah. Never was there a time when men used terms with a more equivocal design than at the present moment. Nor is it pleasant to nature. But it is the language for us to learn and speak, as we are called to rest on God and not on the creature. He will have nothing more to do with sin. And observe that it is assumed to be so common and obvious a maxim that it could not be questioned. For Christ, on whom the promises depend. He is suddenly ushered upon the scene. The fulfilment of the Melchisedec Order is found in Christ, and in Him alone. We have just the fact of their passing through the Red sea, and no more; as we have the fall of Jericho, and no more. 1 John 5:17. How could this be disputed by one who simply believed Psalms 110:1-7? He went bail for a friend who was on trial; he guaranteed a debt or an overdraft. He is "minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not of man." The Lord forbid that anything should enfeeble our sense of the value and necessity of such daily grace, There may be that which calls for confusion of face in us, but there is unceasing ground also for thanksgiving and praise, however much we have to humble ourselves in the sight of God. " The hill of Zion up to this time had been the constant menace of the enemy against the people of the Lord; but in due time, when David reigned, it was wrested out of the hands of the Jebusites, and became the stronghold of Jerusalem, the city of the king. What is here said of the New-Testament dispensation, to prove the superior excellency of Christ's ministry. ", This naturally leads the apostle to bring before them One that never ends "Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." In Athens in classical times there was a body of men--all citizens in their sixtieth year--who could be called upon to act as mediators when there was a dispute between two citizens, and their first duty was to effect a reconciliation. I will be to them all that a God should be to them, and they will be to me all that a people should be to me. "Whereupon neither the first [covenant] was dedicated without blood. First, in God's counsels it was always before Him to have One more than man though a man to deal with this greatest of all transactions. He had beyond all mere men known sorrow and rejection in Israel; yet he himself not only mounted the throne of Jehovah, but raised up His people to. Where is the mountain that could stand out so well against Sinai? Sin, , deviation from the Divine law; MISSING THE MARK; aiming at happiness but never attaining it, because sought out of God, and in the breach of his laws. The real presumption, therefore, is to pretend to be a Christian, and yet to doubt the primary fundamental truth of Christianity as to this. But the apostle goes farther, as indeed was due to truth. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do, thy will, O God." We hear first of Melchisedec (King of righteousness), next of Salem or peace; without father, without mother, without genealogy. But this essential difference separates between the city for which Abraham looked and the bride so symbolised in the Apocalypse. Let him learn his error. Its being referred to as a shadow could also call attention to its temporary nature. (4.) The body and soul too of all divinity (as some observe) consist very much in rightly distinguishing between the two covenants--the covenant of works and the covenant of grace; and between the two dispensations of the covenant of grace--that under the Old Testament and that under the New.