Which entereth into that within the vail;— The apostle means, that the hope set before us, is not limited to any thing temporal or present, but reaches to heaven and heavenly things; which he compares to the holy of holies, that part of the tabernacle which was behind, or within the second vail. Compare ch. Hebrews 9:3. Into which (Hebrews 6:20.) Jesus is entered. See ch. Hebrews 9:24. The sacred writer here assigns a verymaterialdifferencebetweenthehighpriest'senteringwithintheearthlysanctuary, andJesusourHighpriest'senteringwithintheheavenlysanctuary. The Aaronical high priests did not enter the sanctuary as forerunners of the people, who were utterly debarred an entrance into it at any time: but Jesus is entered for us as a forerunner, and who will take care that all his faithful saints shall come after him into it.
Inferences.—In every respect, both with regard to knowledge and practice, let us go on to perfection. For this purpose, as Christians, let us remember what foundation has been already laid, of repentance and faith, of baptism, of a resurrection, and a future judgment; a judgment, eternal in its consequences, and therefore infinitely important. And let us remember, that as the building, in its highest advances, rests upon the foundation, and owes its stability to its union with it; so in like manner does our progress and advance in Christian piety stand in a near connection with our retaining these truths, though we by no means confine ourselves to them.
It is by a continual care to improve in them, that we shall most happily escape the danger, the dreadful danger of apostacy, to which we may otherwise be exposed. And O! let the awful passage before us be duly attended to in this view! Let us not rest in any enlightening that we may have received, in any taste that we may have had of the heavenly gift, of the good word of God, or the powers of the world to come, nor in any operation of the Spirit of God upon our minds. Men may now have all these, and yet fall away, and their guilt become more aggravated: they may injure the Redeemer so much the more in proportion to all that they have known of him; and indeed will be capable of wounding him the deeper by their apostacy, and of exposing him to greater infamy. Let us daily pray to be delivered from so great an evil! We are not left to be like a barren wilderness; the rain from on high comes often upon us, and we enjoy the choicest cultivation: may we bring forth fruits meet for him by whom we are dressed, the genuine fruits of practical, vital religion. So shall we receive a blessing from God, and flourish more and more, till we are transplanted to the paradise above.
But as for those unhappy creatures who bring forth briars and thorns, let them dread that final rejection which will be the portion of those who persist in abusing the divine goodness; let them dread the curse, the awful, irrecoverable curse, to be pronounced on such; let them dread the everlasting dearth with which their souls shall be parched, when ordinances, when the workings of the Spirit of God, when the common comforts and supports of this mortal animal life, shall be no more. Gladly do the ministers of Christ entertain better hopes concerning those committed to their care, while yet there is room for hope; though faithfulness to God, and to the souls of men, obliges them to speak in the language of such cautions as there. May divine grace apply it to those who are particularly concerned in it; and plant what is now a barren and abandoned desart, with such fruits of holiness, as may transform it into the garden of the Lord!
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The apostle,
1. Exhorts the Hebrews to advance in spiritual attainments. Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, to a far more advanced state of grace and understanding; even to love God with all our hearts, and all our souls, and all our mind: not laying again the foundation, and continuing still to insist on the first principles of the Christian doctrine, but proceeding to greater heights in heavenly wisdom and holiness. The principles that I speak of are those, (1.) Of repentance from dead works, implying a sense of the evil and danger of sin, the wages of which is death, an abhorrence of it, and the real conversion of heart from the love and practice of all iniquity. And, (2.) Of faith toward God, since all who come to him, must believe his being, attributes, and perfections; and especially that he is our reconciled God in the Son of his love, Christ Jesus. And these two principles of Christianity were typified under the Mosaical dispensation by the doctrine of baptisms, or divers washings prescribed to the temple worshippers, which signified the purification of the conscience, through faith in the blood of Jesus, and by the power of his Spirit, and of laying on of hands, for the receiving of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or as used for any other purpose in the Christian church. (3.) And of the resurrection of the dead, which may be reckoned another first principle of Christianity. And, (4.) Of eternal judgment, when every man must appear to give account at God's bar, and to receive his sentence to be happy or miserable for ever, in body and soul, according to his deeds. These having been so often insisted upon, we design to leave them to your serious reflection, and pass on to sublimer things. And this will we do, if God permit. Note; (1.) When the foundation of religion is laid, the superstructure must be raised in an increase of knowledge, grace, and holiness. (2.) All that we purpose must be undertaken in dependance upon God's support; for without him we can do nothing aright.
2. To quicken them to diligence, he sets before them the fearful case of apostates. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and so far received the knowledge of the truth as to experience the power of it, and have tasted of the heavenly gift in its genuine and divine consolations; and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, enjoyed the indwelling presence and witness of the divine Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God in its enlivening and regenerating influences; and of the powers of the world to come, enabled to perform many wonderful works; if after all this, they shall fall away from the gospel to Judaism, or Heathenism, the case is desperate, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, approving the wickedness of those who nailed him to the tree as an imposter; and put him to an open shame, by assenting in words or actions to the black calumnies of his murderers: apostacy, being a sin against the very remedy, cannot but be necessarily fatal. Note; Satan will often seek to distress the souls of the sincere, when under darkness or temptation, with these terrible declarations; let it therefore be remembered, that it is never impossible to renew those unto repentance, in whom the Lord still awakens a desire to repent and turn to him.
3. The different states of the gracious soul and the apostate are here described. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God; so the faithful heart, watered with the dew of divine influences from the Lord, brings forth the fruits of righteousness, which by Christ Jesus are acceptable and well pleasing to God, who blesses his own work, and gives a more abundant increase of every holy and gracious disposition. But that ground which after all the culture bestowed upon it, now beareth thorns and briers, is rejected by the owner as barren, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned: so where, amid the means of grace, unbelief and hardness of heart remain, or return, and after all their professions and experience men turn aside to error in principle, and ungodliness in practice, such are in God's sight reprobate, his curse lieth upon them, which soon shall be fearfully executed; when, cast into the belly of hell, they shall lie down in everlasting burnings which none can quench.
2nd, The apostle, from these awful warnings, passes on to the most powerful encouragements to steadfastness and perseverance.
1. He professes his good opinion of them, in general at least. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak; that you will never prove apostates, but, taking warning by the fatal examples of others, will perseveringly cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and holiness.
2. He suggests the reason on which his confidence was built. For God is not unrighteous or unfaithful to his promises, and therefore will not forget your work and labour of love, the genuine principle of all holy obedience, and assured proof of your interest in the blessings of the gospel; which love ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do continue to minister unto them under all their afflictions. Note; (1.) Our love to God must appear in every work and labour of love for the good of his people. (2.) They who perseveringly give genuine proofs of their faith unfeigned, by a conversation such as becometh godliness, will find God faithful to his promises, and their bounteous rewarder.
3. He exhorts them to persevere. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence, in every good word and work, your fruits of righteousness abiding and abounding, to the full assurance of hope unto the end, growing up to a more satisfied confidence of your interest in the eternal blessedness, invariably attached to your living Head and Saviour, and carried as a ship under full sails into the port of eternal rest. See therefore that ye be not slothful, but diligent in every means of grace, and in the duties of your calling, as followers of them who have trod before this holy path, and, through faith and patience amidst every trial, persevering unto the end, are now gone to inherit the promises in glory everlasting. Note; (1.) If we have good hope through grace, we should seek to grow up to the full assurance of hope unto the end. (2.) Diligence in religion, as in every thing else, is the only way to thrive. (3.) The examples of those who are gone to glory before us, should encourage and quicken us to follow them.
4. The faithfulness of God to his promises, should engage their fidelity to him. For when God made promise to Abraham concerning the Messiah, his future Seed, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, to give him the strongest assurance of the fulfilment of the promise, Saying, Surely, as I live, my being and perfections are engaged to accomplish my word, blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee, so that thou shalt be a father of many nations, and on thy spiritual seed shall thy blessing descend to the latest ages. And so after he had patiently endured, through manifold afflictions, he obtained the promise of a son, the pledge of that Messiah who should descend from him; and at last departed himself in the faith, and entered the eternal world of glory. For men verily swear by the greater, solemnly appealing to God as the witness of truth, and avenger of falsehood; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife, this being judged the most solemn and decisive evidence which can be given to silence doubt, and terminate dispute. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, in condescension to our weakness, and to give us the utmost satisfaction with regard to his fidelity on his part in the accomplishment of all his promises: that by two immutable things, the promise and oath of God, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, filled with the sweetest delight, and supported under all our trials, who have fled for refuge, as the manslayer to the appointed city, (Numbers 35:11-12.) with eagerness, under an awakened sense of our guilt and danger, to lay hold upon the hope set before us, even Christ, the rock of his people's confidence: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; Christ, the object of our hope, being ascended into heaven, thither the grace of hope follows him, keeping the soul unmoved amidst all the storms of temptation: whither the forerunner, our representative, is for us entered, even Jesus the exalted Saviour, gone to prepare a place for all his faithful saints, made an high-priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Note; (1.) In Christ there is a refuge provided for the chief of sinners, and all who flee to him shall not only be safe but happy. (2.) In this tempestuous world we shall be hourly exposed to shipwreck, if hope do not enable us to ride out the storm, having cast anchor within the vail.