Seeing Christ in Hebrews
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The Book of Hebrews ever stands before us as a great Bible masterpiece on the glories of Christ. The 1st chapter, which we are using, for the introduction, demonstrates that Christ is, in at least seven stated points superior to angels.
We need not marvel at this, inasmuch as the opening verses of Hebrews establish the Deity of our Lord, and Saviour Jesus Christ. In these verses, Christ is set forth as follows:
1. He is God's Son.
2. He is the Heir of all things.
3. He made the worlds, or, planned the ages.
4. He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and, the express image of His person.
5. He upholds all things by the greatness of His power.
6. He purged us of our sins.
7. He is set down at the Father's right hand.
With the sevenfold glories of Christ before us, let us give our attention to this one thing: The sequential superiority of Christ to angels.
1. To none of the angels said God at any time, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." Jesus Christ is, in the purposes of God, the eternal Son. He is, however, so far as His earth life is concerned, the only begotten Son.
2. The angels are commanded to worship the Son. The occasion of Hebrews 1:6, is that of Christ's coming the second time into the inhabited earth. The 5th verse spoke of the first coming of Christ, when He was begotten of the Holy Ghost and born of a virgin. From Hebrews 1:5 to Hebrews 1:6 we have passed over twenty centuries, and we are on the threshold of Christ's Return. He comes again not as the only-begotten, but the first-begotten from the dead. When He comes again He comes, as the risen and ascended Christ, in His glorified body.
3. The angels are ministering spirits. They are ministers of judgments toward evil men, but ministers of watchcare, and succor, toward saints. In this, however, they are in subjection to Christ, as servants.
4. The Son, in Hebrews 1:8, in contrast to the angels, in Hebrews 1:7, is thus addressed: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom." This statement acclaims Jesus Christ as God, and in so acclaiming Him, establishes, forever, His superiority to angels, who are servants of the Kingdom.
5. In Hebrews 1:9 Jesus Christ is announced as having been anointed by God with the oil of gladness above His fellows. His fellows are they who serve Him, and who sound His praises. He has an oil of gladness above them, because His accomplishment, in the redemption of men, is far above theirs.
6. Hebrews 1:10 carries us back into the beginning of all things and it establishes the fact of Christ's superiority to angels inasmuch as He laid the foundation of the earth, and inasmuch as the heavens are the works of His hands. He not only is before His creation, but, when they wax old as a garment, and perish; He remains.
It is an illuminating statement that the earth and the heavens, shall be folded up as a vesture, and be changed; while the Lord Jesus Himself remains forever the same, and changes not.
7. In Hebrews 1:13 Christ is acclaimed above angels, because never unto angels, but unto the Son, did the Father say: "Sit [Thou] on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."
8. Christ finally is acclaimed superior to angels because they, as spirits, minister to the heirs of salvation, while the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord and Saviour and Master and the All in all to those who are saved.
I. SEEING CHRIST AS THE FILE LEADER OF SAINTS (Hebrews 12:2)
In the 1st verse of Hebrews 12:1-29, the saints are urged to run with patience the race which is set before them. They are, to be sure, compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses. They, however, are not to run their race looking unto the witnesses, although they remember that witnesses are looking upon them. They are to run, looking unto Jesus.
The verse as a whole teaches us that the path, which we are now treading, is one over which our Lord has gone.
1. Christ is a File Leader in the sense that He has prepared for us the way. Yea, He is Himself the Way from earth to Heaven. He passed ahead of saints, and laid down the. road, upon which they should travel. We meet nothing excepting what He has met. He was tempted in all points like as we are, apart from sin. He met Satan and triumphed over him, vanquishing him. He met every difficulty of life as a conqueror. He now leads us in the train of His triumph. He paved the way; we follow after. His victory becomes ours. He is the File Leader. He is the Pioneer. We pursue upon the trail which He forged.
2. Christ is a File Leader in the sense that He preceded us by going down into hades, grasping the keys of death and hell and then went up to the Father. He is, even now, saying unto us: "Because I live, ye shall live also." All the way from His cradle to the Cross, from the Cross to Paradise, and from Paradise, back in resurrection to earth again; then, from earth up through the starry spheres, to the right hand of the Father All the way Christ was a File Leader of saints. He delighted in speaking of His being the Shepherd, who goes before the sheep, and leads the way. Let us faithfully follow.
II. SEEING CHRIST IN A THREEFOLD MINISTRY (Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 9:28)
There are three remarkable statements in the three verses which are before us.
1. "He appeared to put away sin" (Hebrews 9:26).
2. "Now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:24).
3. "Unto them that look for Him shall He appear" (Hebrews 9:28).
It is written that a threefold cord is not easily broken. The threefold cord, in the Scriptures above, present Christ in a threefold way.
1. He hath appeared to put away sin. Our minds immediately go back to Calvary. It was there that He put away our sins, suffering the Just, for the unjust. We love to take our place at the Cross, as we see the Saviour die.
2. He doth appear now in the presence of God for us. This is a wonderful ministry of our Lord, and it is absolutely vital to us. First of all it tells us that the One who was dead, now liveth. This imparts unto us hope in the assurance that we too shall live.
3. Unto them that look for Him shall He appear. We worship a Christ who died, and who also rose again. We worship a Christ who is risen, and who also has ascended. We worship a Christ who is with the Father, at His right hand, and who also is coming again in the clouds of Heaven.
If you will write the three things, above, down in your memory and fasten them there, you will find that first of all you have One who saves you from the penalty of sin. You next have One who is saving you from the power and dominion of sin. You also have One who shall come apart from sin to take you to Himself. You have justification at the Cross; sanctification in Christ, at the Father's right hand; and glorification, when He shall appear.
III. SEEING CHRIST AS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST (Hebrews 4:14-16)
1. As a Great High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ was perfected through suffering. He came down to earth as a Saviour. He then ascended to the Father as a High Priest. There is, herein, a dual ministry. He is not a High Priest upon the Cross. He is not a propitiation for our sins at the Father's right hand. However, His propitiatory work, and His high priestly work is carried on by virtue of His earth life, and, of His Calvary suffering.
The Book of Hebrews puts it this way: "We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." It is for this cause that we may come boldly to the throne of grace, and obtain mercy in the time of need.
We do not know how you feel about it, but we rejoice in the fact that the One up there has been down here. It is a joy to us to know that our High Priest has walked along the pathway where we now walk. It is such an One who ever liveth for us.
2. As a Great High Priest, we have One, therefore, who KNOWS and knowing CARES, and caring stands ready to HELP in our time of need. He KNOWS because He was down here, therefore He knows experimentally. He knew what it was to be poor, and weary, and hungry. He knew what it was to be maligned, misrepresented, misunderstood.
He also CARES. He cares because He is a sympathetic High Priest. This is comforting indeed. Great is His faithfulness. He watches over us with His eye.
He also HELPS. Thank God, that there is never an hour of testing, of trial, of struggle, of undertaking in His behalf, but that He is at our side.
He knows:
He walked in the flesh, He tasted our woes;
Was tested and tried in all points as we,
Excepting in sin from that He was free.
He cares:
He knows and He cares, our burdens He shares;
Our Priest, sympathetic, and tender is He,
He walks at our side, our Helper to be.
IV. SEEING CHRIST AS THE ONE WHO EVER LIVETH (Hebrews 7:25)
1. Our Christ is not a dead, buried, forgotten Christ To be sure our Lord did die, and He was buried, but He is not dead. If He were dead, we would be, of all men, the most miserable. The hope of the resurrection is the hope of the Christian.
2. Our Christ is a Living, Glorified Christ. The Christian may think of Christ sometimes as the One who was. This is entirely legitimate, but we think of Him all the time as the One who is. In truth, the fact that He lives, glorifies everything that He was.
If we serve a Christ who was and not the Christ who is, our Lord and our religion would of necessity take a place by the side of all other religions which are based upon mere men, who have passed and gone.
3. Our Christ is One who not only lives, but lives forever. He has passed beyond death, into life forevermore. In the Christ, whom we serve there is nothing therefore which can mock us. He will justify every hope we place in Him, and satisfy every longing of our soul. Since He ever lives, He ever watches, He ever guides, He ever prays, He ever loves.
There is not a day, an hour, or a moment, that He is not near; for He not only ever liveth, but He ever liveth for us. He is, to be sure, on the mountain top of glory, at the Father's right hand. However, He is not so far away, but that His eye can see us, and His hand can lead us. He still calleth us by name, and He will lead us through to victory.
4. We may safely draw near, therefore, in the full assurance of faith. We are looking through an open door into the glory. He sees us from Heaven, and we, with an eye of faith, may see Him in Heaven. His throne room is our room. We are invited to draw near in a full assurance of faith. He wants us to talk to Him and to confer with Him about everything that concerns us.
V. SEEING CHRIST REJOICING IN THE JOY SET BEFORE (Hebrews 12:2)
We have already considered the first part of this verse. We now take up the statement, "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."
1. We have before us an anticipating Christ. He did not live, on merely past achievements, although His works of old were full of glory. He wrought in a new sphere, when he was found in fashion as a man. He wrought with a new objective. As He went to the Cross He saw, in contemplation, the fruition of the travail of His soul, and was satisfied.
When He comes again, and with Him brings our Immortality, that is our glorified bodies; when He comes again and we are caught up to meet Him in the air, He will be exceeding glad.
His coming for His saints does not, however fulfill all of His anticipated joy. He will also come to the earth, and deliver His chosen and beloved people. He will come to them from whom, for a while, He has hid His face. Then He will rest over them in love; He will joy over them with singing.
His redemption of Israel, however, is not yet all of the joy which was set before Him. We must go into the New Jerusalem, and into the new heavens and the new earth, to see the unfolding of much of that joy. It is in the ages to come, that we will see the exceeding riches of His grace. As this unfolds, from aeon to aeon, before our gaze, we see more and more of the joy which He had set before Him.
2. We should make His anticipating joy, an ensample unto us. If our Lord lived, looking for things to come, why should not we?
Onward, and never back,
My eyes look on for aye;
Onward and never back,
I press a forward track,
The joy I shall not lack
At break o' day.
Onward, with mighty stride,
The joy I almost see;
Onward with mighty stride,
All else I cast aside,
To reach whate'er betide
God's joy for me.
VI. SEEING CHRIST AS THE EVER FAITHFUL ONE (Hebrews 13:5)
1. He is faithful to His own. The Bible tells us that father and mother may forsake their child, but the Lord will never forsake us; for He hath said: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." We may wander away from Him and forget Him days without number; we may ever scatter our ways under every green tree; we may play the harlot, but He will never leave us.
All day long He holds forth His hands, even to a disobedient and a gainsaying people,
(1) He will not leave us in the hour of our trouble. It is then that He will come over the waves of our affliction, saying, "It is I; be not afraid."
(2) He will not leave us in the hour of our persecution. He even says: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely."
(3) He will not leave us in the hour of our penury. He will the rather say unto us: "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
It is written "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."
2. He is faithful to His promises. There is not a word, from Him, that is not "yea and amen" in Christ Jesus. Every promise of the Lord we may place our feet upon. And, if it is given to us, we may claim it as our own. He who walks upon the more sure Word of God, will never find himself sinking 'neath the waves of despair. God always tempers His wind to the shorn lamb. He carries His sheep in His bosom.
He walks with me and talks with me,
Along my pilgrim way,
He ne'er forsakes, but undertakes
Until the break of day.
Nothing can cheer the believer's heart more than to know that his Lord is near. The wee child delights in feeling the touch of his mother's hand, and we delight in the touch of the Master's hand.
VII. SEEING CHRIST AS THE COMING ONE (Hebrews 10:37)
Our text reads: "For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry."
1. Has the little while seemed a long while? Perhaps, to us, it may seem long, but it is not long with Him. The faithful waited for the first coming of Christ for four thousand years. We have waited but two thousand. With the Lord one thousand years is but a day, and even with us, as we look backward, it seems but a handbreadth since we were a child. Our lives are short. They are as the grass which today is, and tomorrow withereth away.
2. When the little while is fulfilled the Lord will not tarry. We often hear, and we have even used the expression, We will do this or that if the Lord tarry. We should the rather say, If the Lord has not yet come.
All of God's prophecies come true on schedule time. We read of Christ's advent as a Babe, "And when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law."
We read of the coming of the Holy Ghost, "And when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, * * there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind."
Thus, we may also assure our hearts that the coming One, will come and will not tarry. He will come on time. That train is never late.
3. All the world of His enemies cannot hold Him back. The Bible says, "He that shall come will come!" That is as much as to say, that there shall not fail one thing that is spoken of Him.
The kings of the earth, and the earth peoples may confederate against the Son of God, but He who sits in the heavens will laugh at them. In spite of their enmity, in spite of the nation's efforts to enthrone the antichrist, and thus forever to dethrone the Lord; in spite of it all, the Lord will come.
AN ILLUSTRATION
Hebrews glorifies Christ the Creator and magnifies Him as our All in all. Out of the last years of the life of Haydn, the matchless musician, comes an incident of gripping interest and stirring power, and whenever I think of the thoughtless ingratitude of mankind to the Giver of every good thing and every perfect gift this story of the renowned composer of the oratorio known as "Creation" comes into my mind.
In the Music Hall at Vienna in the year 1808 a rendition of this production was being made by a number of celebrated artists assisted by an equally celebrated orchestra and a great chorus of well-trained singers. Haydn himself was there, having been brought into the hall in a wheel chair. The performance began, and as it proceeded from line to line it carried the audience into a transport of almost irrepressible enthusiasm. As the passage, "And there was light!" was reached, and the chorus and orchestra burst forth in full power, the vast assembly, keyed to a higher pitch by the presence of the venerable author, could no longer restrain itself.
In the midst of the tumult the enraptured throng by one spontaneous impulse leaped to its feet. The aged composer was seen struggling in an effort to rise from his wheel chair; upon his feet, with the rapturous applause of the people ringing in his ears, he motioned for a moment of silence, and, lifting his hand high toward Heaven, he cried with all the strength he could muster, "No, No, not from me, but from thence comes all." When he had so cried out, giving to God the glory and the praise, he fell back in his chair weakened and exhausted, and was taken from the hall before the moistened eyes and solemnized hearts of the admiring crowd.
"From thence, from God cometh all!" And yet there is this ingratitude that cares not and accepts His bounty with less of recognition than a brute that eats from his master's hand. He is the author of every good that falls across our way. W. E. Biederwolf.