God … hath … spoken … by His Son.
Personal reserve
The Epistle to abruptly, like 1 John, without either greeting from the author, address to the church, or words of introduction. This omission distinguishes these two from every other epistle in the New Testament, and creates of itself a strong presumption that St. Paul was not the author. It is obviously not due to any attempt at concealment; for the tone of personal authority occasionally assumed, and the personal allusions towards the close, show that the author was well known to his readers, and affected no disguise. The character of the Epistle supplies an obvious explanation: the dignity of an oratorical address demanded Some personal reserve; and this dignity is especially conspicuous in the measured rhythm and elaborate antitheses of the opening period. (F. Rendall, M. A.)
Apostolic tact
The wisdom of the apostle is strikingly displayed in the manner of commencing this letter. He is writing to Jews for the purpose of removing their misconceptions and allaying their prejudices; and the line of argument which he intends to pursue, requires him first of all to treat of the native and essential dignity of Jesus Christ. But he so constructs the opening sentence of his letter, that on the wry fore-front of it there stands a spontaneous acknowledgment of the heavenly origin of the system which they so much admired. The Jews were apt to imagine then Christians undervalued the ancient institutions. Paul does not wait to state his views afterwards in the shape of a concession; but the very first words that flow from his pen do homage to Moses and the prophets. In dealing with an adversary, if it is your wish to persuade him, if you are not merely actuated by the empty desire of gaining a triumph over him, by all means frankly and at once acknowledge whatever you believe to be good and sound in his views. The same acknowledgment, afterwards made and viewed as a concession, will not produce the same effect. The Scriptures display a profound knowledge of human nature. (W. Lindsay, D. D.)
Christ and the prophets
This long, sonorous sentence forms the introduction to the whole Epistle if as it were, the portico of an august temple, its many weighty clauses being as rows of stately ornamental pillars supporting the roof. This temple front has a most imposing aspect! It fills the mind with awe, and disposes one to enter the sacred edifice in religious silence, rather than to indulge in critical remarks. In these opening verses the writer announces at once the theme of his discourse, and introduces the leading thoughts on which he intends to expatiate. The first point to be noticed in the proem is the contrast drawn, in anithetic terms, between the Old and the New Testament revelations. By “the prophets” may be meant those strictly so called, but more probably the phrase is meant to cover the whole Old Testament revelation, including the law-giving; the recognition of the angels as the agents by whom the law was given being rather a concession to Jewish opinion than the expression of the writer’s own view. To be noted is the use of the phrase “the fathers” absolutely, as the recipients of the ancient revelation. It implies that the Epistle is meant solely for Jewish readers. Very remarkable are the terms employed to describe the character of the Old Testament revelation. It is characterised as a piecemeal multiform revelation. For what purpose are these epithets employed? Hardly for the purpose of mere literary description, to suggest, for example, the picturesque nature of the Hebrew literature; still less for the purpose of pointing out its spiritual excellences. Rather, to indicate the inferiority of the earlier revelation, that the Hebrew Christians might not cling to it as something final. This end these epithets are well fitted to serve. The first of the two points to a fact with which the first readers of the Epistle were perfectly familiar. They knew that the Divine communications to Israel came bit by bit: the promise by Abraham; the law by Moses; the song of the sanctuary by David and other poets; the wisdom of life by Solomon and the other sages of Israel; and by the prophets commonly so called, to relieve the gloom of the present, successive rays of light concerning Messiah and the Messianic kingdom. And of course they understood that no one of these partial fragmentary revelations could be regarded as complete or final. Each successive piece of revelation proved the incompleteness of all that went before. But might not all the pieces taken together, when the last had been given, and the Hebrew canon was complete, amount to a full, adequate revelation, possessing the character of finality? The presumption was the other way. The likelihood was that the prophets collectively, including under that category all the men by whom the Hebrew books were written, were but luminaries of the night--street lamps set in a row to show travellers their way through the gloom; stars set in the spiritual firmament to mitigate the darkness till the sun should arise, bringing in the day. This presumption is converted into certainty by the second epithet, which greatly strengthens the argument against finality suggested by the first. It gives us to understand that the ancient revelation was communicated, not only in many parts, but in many modes. The general idea intended is plain. It is that the revelation made to each prophet was relative--relative to him temperament, circumstances, and historical position. This relativity or subjectivity of the ancient revelation makes it impossible to add together the separate pieces of revelation, and so bring out the whole final revelation. For the pieces are not homogeneous fragments of one whole. They are heterogeneous wholes, often incapable of combination. This is most clearly seen in the Messianic prophecies uttered by successive prophets, which are not separate fragments of one picture of the future capable of being combined into a harmonious whose, but independent pictures, each exhibiting the future from its own point of view. Of Him by whom the much needed new revelation was made the writer next proceeds to speak. “God hath, in the end of these days, spoken unto us in (His) Son.” The revelation made in the Son is not qualified by descriptive epithets, as in the case of the earlier revelation, the reason being that such epithets in this case are not needed. The finality of the revelation made through the Son is expressly taught by the phrase “ in the end of these days.” The writer expresses himself in accordance with the Jewish mode of viewing the history of the world as divided into two great periods, the present age, and the age to come. He conceives of Christ as the divider and maker of the ages (as of the worlds), coming at the end of the old time and inangurating the new. Having made mention of the Son, the writer proceeds to invest Him with all due honours, Divine and mediatorial, to win for His word fitting attention. The elaborate encomium which follows presents a very high view of the Person of Christ. It ascribes to Him (by implication) pre-existence, an essential and therefore eternal relation to God, universal heirship, participation in the Divine functions of making and upholding the world. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
God’s revelation of Himself
I. The revelation of the will of God, as to all things which concern His worship and our faith and obedience, IS PECULIARLY AND IN A WAY OF EMINENCE FROM THE FATHER.
1. The whole mystery of His will antecedently to the revelation of it, is said to be hid in God, that is, the Father (Ephesians 3:9), it lay wrapt up from the eyes of men and angels, in His eternal wisdom and counsel Colossians 1:26-27).
2. The revelation of the mystery of the will of God, so hidden in the counsel of His will from eternity, was always made and given out in the pursuit, and for the accomplishment of the purpose of the Father; or of that eternal purpose of the will of God, which is by the way of eminence ascribed unto the Father (Ephesians 1:8-9).
3. This purpose of God being communicated with, and unto the Lord Christ, or the Son, became the counsel of peace between them both Zechariah 6:13). The Son, rejoicing to do the work that was incumbent on Him for the accomplishment of it (Proverbs 8:30-32; Psalms 40:7-8), it became peculiarly the care and work of the Father to see that the inheritance promised Him upon His undertaking (Isaiah 53:10-12) should be given unto Him. This is done by the revelation of the will of God unto men, concerning their obedience and salvation, whereby they are made the lot, the seed, the portion and inheritance of Christ.
4. The whole revelation and dispensation of the will of God in and by the Word, is, as was said, eminently appropriated unto the Father. “Eternal life (the counsel, the purpose, ways, means, and procurer of it) was with the Father, and was manifested to us by the Word of truth” (1 John 1:1-2). And it is the Father, that is, His will, mind, purpose, grace, love, that the Son declares (John 1:18); in which work He speaks nothing but what He heard from, and was taught by the Father (John 8:28). And thence He says, “the doctrine is not Mine,” that is, principally and originally, “but His that sent Me” (John 7:16). And the gospel is called, the “gospel of the glory of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11), which is a periphrasis of the person of the Father, who is the “Father of glory” (Ephesians 1:17).
And from the appropriating of this work originally and principally to the Father, there are three things that are particularly intimated unto us.
1. The authority that is to be considered in it; the Father is the original of all power and authority; of Him the whole family in heaven and earth is Ephesians 3:15).
2. There is also love. It was out of infinite love, mercy, and compassion, that God would at all reveal His mind and will unto sinners. This mixture of authority ant love, which is the spring of the revelation of the will of God unto us, requires all readiness, willingness, and cheerfulness in the receipt of it, add submission unto it.
3. There is care eminently seen in it. The great care of the Church is in, and on the Father. He is the husbandman that, takes care of the vine and vineyard (John 15:1-2).
What directions from these considerations may be taken for the use both of them that dispense the word, and of those whose duty it is to attend unto the dispensation of it, shall only be marked in our passage. For the dispensers of the Word, let them
1. Take heed of pursuing that work negligently, which hath its spring in the authority, love, and care of God (see 1 Timothy 4:13-16).
2. Know to whom to look for support, help, ability, and encouragement in their work (Ephesians 6:19-20).
3. Not to be discouraged, whatever opposition they meet with in the discharge of their duty, considering whose work they have in hand (2 Corinthians 4:15-16).
4. Know how they ought to dispense the Word, so as to answer the spring from whence it comes; namely, with authority, love to, and care for ,he souls of men.
5. Consider to whom they are to give an account of the work they are called to the discharge of, and entrusted with (Hebrews 13:7).
And for them to whom the Word is preached, let them consider
1. With what reverence and godly fear they ought to attend to the dispensation of it, seeing it is a proper effect and issue of the authority of Hebrews 12:25).
2. How they will escape if they neglect so great salvation declared unto them from the love and care of God (Hebrews 2:3).
3. With what holiness and spiritual subjection of soul unto God, they ought to be conversant in and with all the ordinances of worship, that are appointed by Him (Hebrews 12:28-29).
II. THE AUTHORITY OF GOD SPEAKING IN AND BY THE PENMEN OF THE SCRIPTURES, IS THE SOLE BOTTOM AND FOUNDATION OF OUR ASSENTING TO THEM, and what is contained in them, with faith divine and supernatural. He spake in them: He then continues to speak by them, and therefore in their word received (2 Peter 1:20-21).
III. GOD’S GRADUAL REVELATION OF HIMSELF, His mind and will unto the Church, was a fruit of infinite wisdom and care towards His elect.
1. He over-filled not their vessels; He gave them out light as they were able to bear.
2. He kept them in a continual dependence upon Himself, and waiting for their rule and direction from Him, which, as it tended to His glory, so it was exceedingly suited to their safety, in keeping them in an humble waiting frame.
3. He so gave out the light and knowledge of Himself, as that the great work which He had to accomplish, that lay in the stores of His infinitely wise will, as the end and issue of all revelations, namely the bringing forth of Christ into the world, in the way wherein He was to come, and for the ends which He was to bring about, might not be obviated.
4. He did this work so that the pre-eminence fully and ultimately to reveal Him, might be reserved for Him, in whom all things were to be gathered unto a head. All privileges were to be kept for, and unto Him, which was principally done by this gradual revelation of the mind of God.
5. And there was tender care conjoined with this infinite wisdom. None of His elect in any age were left without that light and instruction which were needful for them in their seasons and generations. And this so given out unto them, as that they might have fresh consolation and support as their occasions did require.
IV. We may see hence the absolute perfection of the revelation of the will of God by Christ and His apostles, as to every end and purpose whatever, for which God ever did, or ever will in this world reveal Himself, or His mind and will. For as this was the last way and means that God ever designed for the discovery of Himself, as to the worship and obedience which He requires, so the person by whom He accomplished this work, makes it indispensably necessary that it be also absolutely perfect; from which nothing can be taken, to which nothing must be added under the penalty of the extermination threatened to him that will not attend to the voice of that prophet. (John Owen, D. D.)
The method of the Divine Teacher
I. THE DIVINE METHOD AS TO TIME.
1. As the ages passed on, first one and then another truth was revealed; first one and then another aspect of a truth was made known, until, in the fulness of time, the glory of God shone in the face of Jesus Christ. There is in the East an anticipatory dawn, a sort of premature twilight, which always disappears before the true dawn commences. So in the history of the world, especially in the history of Israel, have there been many dawnings of light, to be followed perhaps by periods of obscurity, yet graciously illumining the successive ages, and heralding the coming of the Light of the world.
2. Is there not even fuller light for the individual, even fuller light for the Church, until we come to that city where the glory of God shall shine forth with unclouded splendour? God always gives light as we are able to
(1) Bear,
(2) Use it.
II. THE DIVINE METHOD AS TO MODE.
1. God presents the truth to the individual in such a form as may best secure his obedience. The Spirit of God shows the things of Christ in an intellectual, ethical, imaginative, emotional light, according to the genius of those to whom He may appeal.
2. God influences the preacher, that in the selection and presentment of his themes he may best win his congregation.
3. God knows the special truths for the times; or the particular aspect in which the truth needs to be recognised.
III. THE DIVINE METHOD AS TO ORGAN. Not any men, but certain men, of spiritual susceptibility and force were selected to be the organs in which God would “speak to the fathers”; and the same rule of selection obtains still, for Christ makes Himself known to the world through certain spiritual agents a d holy ministries. Lessons:
1. Let unconverted men learn the greatness of their responsibility.
2. Let the Church take encouragement touching the salvation of the word.
3. Let the Church be more faithful, that she may increase in the knowledge of Christ.
4. Let the Church be more pure, that she may the better make Christ known. (The Metropolitan Pulpit.)
God’s revelation of Himself
I. THE KNOWLEDGE WE POSSESS OF GOD WAS SUPERNATURALLY COMMUNICATED. Language--the words we use to utter our thoughts and feelings must have been a supernatural gift in the first instance. If the casket came from hearers, much more the jewel. ‘l he mind of man was created as much to receive the thoughts of God, as the eye was to receive the light of the sun, and to behold the many beauties of creation. All the truest and best thoughts of our mind are heaven-inspired.
II. THE KNOWLEDGE WE POSSESS OF GOD WAS GRADUALLY AND VARIOUSLY REVEALED. There was, first of all, the morning star, then the soft grey dawn, which spread itself by degrees over the horizon, until, in these latter days, the whole world was overtaken by the fuller light of the meridian sun.
III. IN CHRIST WE HAVE A FULL AND FINAL REVELATION OF GOD’S TRUTH. We sometimes find the light in our houses small and feeble, not because there is an insufficient quantity of the means of lighting manufactured, but because a large portion of it is shut up in the meter; only a small quantity is allowed to run into our dwellings, consequently the light is faint, and only illuminates a very small space; but when it is turned on in full force, the light is abundant, lighting up every nook and corner of the apartments in which it is kindled. When men depended on the amount of light which was in the prophets, they could not see far; only a small quantity of Heaven’s light was allowed to flow, or could flow into them, and therefore they could only emit a faint glimmer upon those who wooed to them for illumination; they only saw through “a glass darkly” themselves, and so their power to impart light could not be great. But of Christ it was said, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of none.” Between the measure of light that came by the first prophets and that which came by Christ there is no comparison, but a perfect contrast. Just as there is no comparison between the degree of the light of a star and the sun; the star has just enough light to show the darkness, but the sun chases the night away and makes it day. It is our inestimable privilege to live in the meridian light of Him who said, “I am the Light of the world.” (D. Rhys Jenkins.)
The manner of revelation
I. TIME. Centuries were required to complete the scheme, Man was to be taken at a low and infantile point, and raised up to the fulness of the stature of a perfect manhood; from “a living soul” to “a quickening spirit.” By no one sudden blow could the benevolent design of giving man the true knowledge of God, and his own duty and destiny, be executed. The laws of progress, gradation, and periodicity must be observed in regard to our higher nature. One age was to witness one attainment, and another, another. It has much to establish the unity of the Deity; it was more to develop the Idea of the Father.
II. AGENTS AND EXAMPLES. Again, the manner of revelation is not abstract, but concrete. The ordinary as well as supernatural agencies are employed. If angels are sent, so are men; if the special messenger raised up, sanctified, and commissioned be the Son of God by excellence, yet a long line of the good and the great bear up the ark of God; and patriarch, king, and priest, and prophet, and apostle, are seen at different intervals along the majestic procession. In selecting men to act so distinguished a part in the designs of God towards His children, we perceive a part of the same system which we witness in business, art, science, government, and literature. For if “History be philosophy teaching by example,” then is revelation religion teaching by example. In this feature of the mode of communication we see the wise adaptation of means to ends, the use of causes to produce effects, such as we should anticipate from so great a Designer.
III. LANGUAGES AND BOOKS. In two principal languages, Hebrew and Greek, with a few passages in the Chaldee--in sixty-six books, written by at least thirty-nine authors--the Jewish and Christian Scriptures present that fertility of human genius, as well as of sacred truth, that fitly entitles it to be called the Bible--The Book. Here are flowers of every hue and fragrance, fruits of every taste and nut iment. The sinner cannot read far without meeting with his warning, nor the saint without hearing his beatitude nor the sad without alighting upon his consolation, nor the weak without touching the wand of spiritual strength, nor the poor without opening the mine of heavenly treasures, nor the rich without being reminded that they brought nothing into this world, and that they can carry nothing out.
IV. MIRACLES. Most of us are so earthly-minded that some extraneous means to arouse us from indifference are needed. We want a bell rung to call us to the temple of the Lord to receive His gracious message. Miracles are that tell. They prove nothing by their solitary selves. It would be hard to defend miracles in general, but not the Christian miracles; for they subserve a great and good end, worthy of the interposing finger of God. All along, too, in speaking of His signs and wonders, Jesus very remarkably and clearly points out their office. It was that men might believe on Him, and believing, have life. They added no weight to the truth as truth, but they did add weight to truth, as received by the ignorant, the degraded, and the inattentive.
V. INSTITUTIONS AND ORDINANCES. The institution of Moses, however puerile they may seem to a Christian, were yet admirably adapted to raise up a low and barbarous people, and give a race of idolators the knowledge and we, ship of the One True and Living God. But if we turn to the Christian revelation, the institutions are more simple, as becomes a more perfect faith and spirituality. Forms are not absolute, but relative; not essential, but important; they have place, but it is not the first place. They are a species of gigantic language, whose letters are facts and whose sentences are customs. They are to be observed, not for their own sake, but for the spiritual purport they imply and convey. (A. A. Livermore.)
The various classes of prophetical announcement
I. DREAMS were a frequent mode by which the future was opened up to the minds of the prophets. There is something peculiarly solemn in the thong it of these revelations of the future made to the mind, whilst the body is in a state of repose and temporary insensibility. They illustrate the capabilities and susceptibilities of the human mind, independent of the corporeal frame: the power of the Most High and His grace and condescension in thus communicating to man H s counsels and purposes. They prove the fact of God’s interest in what concerns the human race, and His constant intercourse with a family of His intelligent creatures, perhaps the most unworthy of His notice. The state of the body, too, when these revelations were made, may be regarded as a type of the respective conditions of the mind and body, when death has severed the bond that unites them. The body asleep in the grave, the mind conversant with the plans of the Almighty, and blessed with the vision of His glory. The body at rest--the cares of life, its scenes, its passions all hushed--its conflicts and struggles succeed, d by repose; the mind released from its attention to what was immediate and temporary; but in that solemn hour of release, God, its Creator, appears; the future is unveiled, and truth revealed leaves its right and unqualified impression.
II. The second class of prophetical announcements may be ranged under the head of VISIONS. Dreams and visions are not always distinguished in sacred scripture. Sometimes the same revelation is said to be made by a dream and a vision. Thus Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is called the visions of his head (Daniel 2:28). A vision, then, may be defined as a representation of things made to the mind of the prophet while he was awake. The eyes rest on the object, the impression is not only as distinct and vivid as if the object were present to the senses in an ordinary way, but more so, from the extraordinary manner, of its appearance. The most terrible elements of nature--the most beautiful of its inanimate objects--all that is magnificent and costly in art, all that is dignified in personal form, formed scenes surpassing in splendour the conceptions of the most brilliant fancy. They were fitted and intended to produce a due measure of impression on minds like ours, necessarily more affected by what is thus clothed and presented to the eye and the imagination in vivid forms, in order to its awakening attention, and giving a just conception of the importance of the events thus represented. Our responsibility is great, and our gratitude ought to be intense.
III. Another method in which these announcements were made, and to which we must advert, is AN AUDIBLE VOICE. Moses at bush. Giving of law. Elijah in cave.
IV. But although it pleased the Lord to communicate His will to men, and the knowledge of His purposes, by such direct addresses to the senses, or to the imagination, yet a great part of the sacred Scriptures was written under A MORE DIRECT INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY GHOST, communicating immediately to the mind, the doctrines and facts to be recorded.
1. From them all we learn that the communications thus made, various as they were--sometimes judgments, and at others most signal mercies--all furnish striking illustrations of the providence and government of God.
2. The condescension of God.
3. Our responsibilities.
4. The unbroken continuity of the Divine government, and unity of God’s purposes. (J. Robinson.)
A revelation from God to man both probable and necessary
I. The infidel meets us with this PRELIMINARY OBJECTION--A REVELATION FROM GOD IS CONTRARY TO ALL THE EXPERIENCE AND ANALOGIES OF OUR COMMON HISTORY. Now I maintain, in the first place, that a revelation is not contrary even to fact. For how was Adam instructed? Where got he language?’ God must have taught him. And now we proceed, further, to maintain that a revelation is not contrary to our experience or to the analogies of nature. We allege that there is every probability that God would give a revelation of His will. Can we believe that the God of nature is benevolent, yet leaves millions of the family He fashioned to grippe in “darkness that may be felt”? I say, the surprise should not be that God has given a revelation; the matter of surprise would be if He had not. Observe that such a revelation of God’s will is not contrary to the analogies of nature. Now, observe how we are taught. You find the child is taught by its father; the scholar is taught by his tutor; the inexperienced taught by the experienced. Now what is a revelation but just the extension of this plan, just the addition of another link? If the young be taught by the aged, the stripling by the patriarch, the inexperienced by the experienced, you have only to add another link to the chain, and you come to the inference that the world may be taught by its Creator, the human family by its Almighty Father. Let me ask, in the next place, what is the nature of the instruction that we derive one from another. Is it not of an experimental and a moral kind? In other words, when you see the patriarch or the aged teaching the group that is around him, what is the nature of his teaching? He is teaching them all the dangers and the difficulties through which he had come; he is telling them how to withstand this peril, how to overcome that trial, how to meet this emergency, how to unravel that perplexity. Now what else is God doing in revelation? Just teaching us how we are to meet the difficulties, to overcome the trials, to vanquish the foes, and to inherit the glory and the happiness which lie before us.
II. I observe, in the second place, that a revelation is not only probable, but THAT IT WAS ABSOLUTELY DEMANDED BY THE EXISTING STATE OF THE WORLD. Here I might show you that there are wants in man’s heart, which all the philosophy of a Plato cannot satisfy; that there are feelings and perplexities in man’s moral constitution, which all the writings of all the moralist, in the world cannot meet. I might show you that there is a consciousness of sin and a dread of punishment, which cannot be stilled unless by the pages of the oracles of God. But I forbear from that, and I take facts; and I will show you, first, from the admitted state of the ancient heathen; secondly, of the modern heathen; and, lastly, of infidels themselves, that a revelation from God was a desiderarum, for which all creation groaned, and for which all mankind earnestly (though unintentionally) prayed. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
The reasonableness of a Divine revelation
The question before us is, whether the great Author of truth, the inexhaustible source of pure celestial light, can--and if He can, whether it be probable that He would--and if it be probable that He would, whether He has--rolled back the veil that hangs between Himself and us; whether it be true that “ He giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding,” and whether “He revealeth the deep and secret things.”
I. In entertaining this grave inquiry, it will be proper, in the first place, to ascertain WHETHER IT BE POSSIBLE FOR THE SUPREME MIND TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO MEN. Two things must be proved. First, that there is a Supreme Being, the Maker and Preserver of all being. And, secondly, that we are rational creatures, capable of entertaining the question at present in debate. It is then admitted that we all are the offspring of God. Such is the testimony of reason, or rather of the common sense of mankind. But surely it will not be denied that He who made us can influence and inform our under-standings--can, in one word, operate up ,n our souls, in any manner that shall be suitable to its faculties.
II. Presuming that we are agreed on the possibility, let us advance another step in the argument. Let us cart fully inquire whether there are not considerations us, THAT RENDER IT HIGHLY PROBABLE THAT THE SUPREME INTELLIGENCE WOULD FAVOUR MAN WITH A REVELATION. The question is this: whether, taking into our consideration the character of the Supreme Being, our necessary connection with Him, the peculiar capacities with which we are endowed, and the deplorable condition in which we find the human family, it be not most probable that this infinitely benevolent Being would make important communications to mankind.
1. It cannot be rationally denied, that the human spirit is capable of enjoying intercourse with “the Father of our spirits.” Minds correspond with fellow-minds, and hearts sympathise with kindred hearts. But who will say that that noble spirit, with which the Almighty has distinguished us, is not formed for communion with Him who is a pure spirit, and who has been sublimely defined as Light and Love. Now if it cannot reasonably be denied that man is formed for such lofty communion, then it is highly irrational to deny that God would impart such instructions to him as would lay the foundation for this communion.
2. But if it be rational to suppose that the chief end of our being is to know, and love, and obey our Maker, to glorify God, is it not equally rational to suppose that God would make such communications to His creature as should enable him at once to fulfil the end of his being? Can it be rationally, believed that God would create the first man, or the first men, capable of religion, and designed for its obligations and its exercises, and then abandon him to gather up the necessary information as best he might?
3. We must not, however, overlook the real condition of mankind. Indeed, who can deny that man is the subject of moral derangement--the child of misery? Ask yourself whether it be, or be not, an improbable thing that his compassionate Creator should mercifully make some discoveries that should enlighten and relieve him in relation to his condition, the means of his restoration to happiness, and his final destiny?
III. I would ascend another step in the argument, and endeavour to show THAT SUCH A REVELATION IS NECESSARY.
1. It has been the practice amongst a certain portion of the community, to speak of those who are believers in a Divine revelation as being, on that account, weak and irrational persons, seduced by prejudice, and overreached by designing and self-interested men. Now it may be as well to remind those who thus judge of their fellow-countrymen, that men of all ages and all creeds--Heathens, Jews, Christians, and disbelievers in Christianity--have not thought it a proof of an irrational weakness to believe that our Creator has made some revelations to us, His creatures. Nay, many in each of these classes of persons have entertained the conviction that a revelation is even necessary to teach men language. Even Hobbes gives it as his decided opinion, that God taught Adam this useful invention.
2. But I am to show that God has given to men something more than the faculty of receiving knowledge, and reasoning upon such knowledge. I contend that He has actually unveiled to our race His own character and His law. The constitution of our nature renders the knowledge of these great things absolutely necessary. But was it possible that this knowledge could have been originally acquired otherwise than by revelation?
3. But the necessity of such revelation is most fully sustained by facts. Read history, and learn what man has been; look around you, and see what man is; and turn your eyes within, and analyse yourself; and then candidly say whether such a process has not induced the conviction that revelation is necessary.
IV. In conclusion, I would DIRECT ATTENTION TO THE BIBLE. WHICH PROFESSES TO BE GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD.
1. I remark that the disclosures which the Bible makes, relating to the character of the Supreme Being, are such as commend themselves to right reason. Let not those who live in a country where the revelations of the Bible are known forget the manifold information which, whether they think so or not, they cannot but have derived from this source.
2. Again, the disclosures which the Bible makes to us, relating to the Divine Law, are such as commend themselves to right reason. That Jaw, which this book records as coming from God, will be found to accord with the characters which it ascribes to God. There is no discrepancy between the Lawgiver and His enactments. This law is well deserving the description of “holy, just, and good.” It has, moreover, the high advantage of being spiritual; insinuating itself into the soul--reaching the heart--and convincing the understanding. It is further possessed of the character of universal adaptation. It suits men in all conditions, ages, and circumstances. And then it ought, to be particularly remarked of it, that it possesses two points of excellence which every other code must be acknowledged to want--it exhibits a fixed standard, and adequate motives.
3. Once more; I argue, that the things which the Bible reveals, relating to the system of reconciliation, commend themselves to right reason. We are accustomed to trace out the fitness of things in the works of nature. The soil of the earth is made for its vegetable productions, and those vegetables are fitted to the soil in which they grow--the fish is made for the waters, and the waters for the fish; the eye is made for the light, and the light for the eye; and the lungs are made for the air, and the air is adapted to the lungs. Now if we are accustomed to trace these contrivances of the material avid visible world to an all-wise Contriver, can we refuse to allow that a system, which, like nature, is adapted to the end it seeks to accomplish, is likewise from God? A few instances may be sufficient to bring out this fitness of Christianity to the wants of man. Are we not ignorant? And does not this revelation impart all necessary knowledge? What is there necessary to be known about the Supreme Being--our relation to Him--our own nature and responsibilities--our immortality--our death--the final judgment and our ultimate destiny--which this book does not unfold? Jesus Christ is the light of the world; and he that believeth in Him shall not walk in darkness. Have we not broken the Divine Law? In other words, are we not guilty? Do not our consciences accuse us of guilt? And does not the doctrine of Christ’s substitution meet our ease? Yet again; are we not conscious of being in a state of moral pollution? Must not all agree that our minds are darkened, and our hearts depraved? Can anything, then, be more rational than the doctrine of a spiritual influence--the influence of God” the Spirit renewing us in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, after the image of Him that created us? This the scheme of redemption provides. (H. Christmas, M. A.)
God’s revelation to man
I. HE HAS ACTUALLY MADE A REVELATION OF HIMSELF TO MAN.
1. Man has a capacity to appreciate, to some extent, God’s thoughts.
2. Man stands in need of God’s thoughts.
3. Man is bound to study God’s thoughts.
II. HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO MAN THROUGH MAN.
1. To increase the intelligibility of God’s thoughts.
2. To increase the attraction of God’s thoughts.
III. HE HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO MAN IN A VARIETY OF WAYS.
1. The necessity of modesty in pronouncing concerning the methods of Divine influence.
2. The importance of keeping the soul ever in a waiting attitude.
IV. HE HAS MADE CHRIST THE FINAL REVELATION OF HIMSELF. Christ, as the final organ of Divine revelation to man, transcends all preceding organs
1. In His relation to the universe.
(1) He is the inheritor of the creation. “Appointed heir of all things.”
(2) He is the creator of the universe. “By whom also He made the worlds.”
(3) He is the sustainer of the universe. “Upholding all things,” &c.
(4) He is the Sovereign of the universe. On the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
2. In the completeness of His Divine manifestations. Represents Him more accurately than the impression on the wax represents the seal that produced it.
3. In the moral service He has rendered to humanity.
4. In His superiority to all angelic intelligences.
(1) In His position.
(2) In His reputation. (Homilist.)
Revealed truth
I. THE SUPERNATURALISM OF THE TENTH. It is impossible for nature to reveal
1. The spiritual Deity.
2. The special truths needed for fallen man.
II. THE IMMORTALITY OF THE TRUTH. It is truth about
1. The unchangeable God.
2. The immutable law.
3. The eternal universe.
III. THE UNITY OF THE TENTH. The Divine revelation is a plant of life and healing in which the different parts are not essentially different, but variously developed according to the will of God and the differing conditions of the human race in successive generations.
IV. THE FULNESS OF THE TRUTH. In Christ we have the truth
1. Fully.
2. Finally. (W. L. Watkinson.)
The superiority of the Christian revelation over the prophetic
I. ITS SUPERIORITY IN THE EXCELLENCY AND EXTENT OF THE DISCOVERIES MADE.
1. In reference to the perfections of God. His existence, unity, holiness, goodness, love, &c.
2. In reference to the doctrine of providence.
3. In reference to a future life.
4. In reference to the method of salvation.
II. ITS SUPERIORITY IN THE MODE OF MAKING THESE DISCOVERIES.
1. The authority of the medium.
2. The finish and perfection stamped upon it.
3. The simplicity, clearness, mildness, and benignity which characterise it.
4. The superior energy and influence with which it is accompanied. (James Bromley.)
The old and new covenants one in Christ
The great object of the Epistle is to describe the contrast between the old and the new covenant. But this contrast is based upon their unity. The new covenant is contrasted with the old covenant, not in the way in which the light of the knowledge of God is contrast d with the darkness and ignorance of heathenism, for the old covenant also is of God, and is therefore possessed of Divine glory. Great is the glory of the old covenant; yet greater is the glory of the new dispensation, when in the fulness of time God sent forth His own Son and gave unto us the substance of those things of which in the old times He had shown types and prophecy. “God hath spoken unto the fathers”; and by that expression “unto the fathers” the apostle reminds us that without a church, without a union of believers, without a manifestation of God in grace, historically, among a people whom He had set apart for His service, there would have been no Scripture; and that there was a congregation of the Most High from the very beginning of the world. “Unto the fathers “ whom He had chosen that they might have fellowship with Him, God spake in old times, even as in the last times unto the Church--unto those who are called both from among Jews and Gentiles--He has made fully known His purpose in Christ Jesus. This, then, is the great resemblance. The Father is the author of revelation in both. The Messiah is the substance and centre of the revelation in both. The glory of God’s name in a people brought nigh unto Him, to love and to worship Him, is the end of the revelation in both. The two are one. Martin Luther has quaintly compared it to the two men who brought the branch with the cluster of grapes from the promised land. They were both bearing the same fragrant fruit; but one of them saw it not, yet he knew what he was carrying. The other saw both the fruit and the man who was helping him. Thus is it that the prophets who came before Jesus testified of Him, although they did not yet behold Him; and we who ,ire in the fulness of limes see both the Christ of whom they testified and themselves who were sent by God to witness of Him. But let us consider the marvellous unity of the two covenants. “Sod hath spoken.” This is the first point. Oh, how little do we think of the grandeur and majesty and all-importance of this simple declaration, “God hath spoken.” A living God and a loving God must needs speak. The god of the philosophers is a silent god, for he hath neither life nor affection; but our God, who created the heavens and the earth, who is and who loves, must speak. Even in the creation, which is an act of the condescension of God, He utters His thoughts; and when He created man as the consummation of the world, it was for this purpose, that man should hear Him and love Him, and should rejoice in His light and in His life. When sin enters into the world silence ensues. Man dreads God, and the melody of praise and prayer ceases; but the need of a revelation remains continually the same. When man forsakes the fountain of living water he cannot get rid of the thirst, and he cannot divest himself of the nature with which God had endowed him; so that there is still within man the same absolute necessity for a revelation of God from on high. And God does speak. Often we read the words and do not realise what marvel of condescending love they reveal, what great and central mystery they unfold. Unless God speaks we do not know the thoughts of God. But notice, secondly, man having by his own sin fallen away from God, and silence reigning now, it is only the infinite compassion and love of God that induces Him to speak. If there was no redemption, there would be no revelation. The love of the Father, and the blood of Jesus Christ, and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; behold, these are the three” necessary foundations upon which the Scripture rests. God, the Triune Covenant God, hath spoken. God hath spoken: in old times unto the fathers by the prophets; fully and perfectly unto us by His Son. In both dispensations the same God, on account of the same sacrifice, impelled by the same love, and for the same sublime and gracious purpose. Both Old and New Testaments are of God; the New Testament, as the Church-father Augustine said, is enfolded in the Old, and the Old Testament is unfolded in the New. Nor can we, who live in the times of fulfilment, dispense with the record of the preceding dispensation. As an old author writes: “As the brilliancy of the sun appears far greater when contrasted with the darkness of the shade, so this epistle compares the light of the gospel with the shadows and types of the Old Testament, and by this means displays the glory of the gospel in full relief; for as shadows are images of bodies, so the ancient shadows are images of Jesus Christ, of His power and of His graces, and assist us to recognise more and more the substance and the truth; but from hence we derive also this additional advantage, that although the shadows of other bodies serve only to obscure them, the shadows of the Old Testament are so many reflectors, contributing light to the gospel.” But now let us consider the contrast. Jesus Christ was not born till four thousand years after the creation of the world. “At sundry times and in divers manners” did God speak unto the fathers by the prophets. These three things constitute a prophet: direct commission from God Himself, gift of the Holy Ghost, and being entrusted with the very thoughts and words of the Most High. It is not merely by the prophets that God spake. They were chosen not merely as the channels of separate and isolated revelation. God spake in them. They were the personal bearers of the message, the representatives and exponents of Divine truth, Their words and typical actions were inspired, and in them the word of the Lord came unto Israel. Yet let us consider what were the imperfections of these messengers. The first imperfection was this--that they were numerous; they were many. One succeeded another. They lived in different periods. Another imperfection was, that it was “in divers manners,” in dreams, in similitudes, in visions, in symbols. Each prophet had his peculiar gift and character. Their stature and capacity varied. They were men of different temperament and tone of mind. The manner in which the revelation of God was given to them varied; even in the case of the same prophet the One Spirit appeared in various manifestations. Another imperfection was that they were sinful men. Another imperfection was that they did not possess the Spirit constantly. Of a sudden, after a long pause, the Spirit of God came upon them. God spake unto them’, and gave unto them His message. But it was not like a continuous river. The word came to them from time to time; they did not possess the word. Another imperfection was this, that of that message that was entrusted to them they did not understand the heights and the depths. They themselves had to search diligently, and to inquire what the Spirit that was in them did signify of the sufferings and glory that should come. Another imperfection was that, as they did not understand adequately that portion of the message that was given unto them, they could still less comprehend and contain the whole message. They saw only one aspect of it, only one portion of it in connection with the peculiar history and the peculiar trials of the people at the period to which they were sent. Another imperfection was, that they all testified, like John the Baptist, “I am not the light. I am only sent to witness of the light.” They were only finger-posts directing the pilgrim, as he was in pursuit of the heavenly city, to go on further, until he would come to the pearly gates of the new Jerusalem. We notice the imperfect and fragmentary character of the old dispensation, when we consider n,4 merely the words, but the types, which are living prophecies. There was not a single one which could stand by itself, it had always to be supplemented. Wherever we go we find it is in fragments. There is an altar; there is a sacrifice. There is a fourfold sacrifice, a sin-offering, a burnt-offering, a peace-offering, a meat-offering. There is a high priest; there is a tabernacle; there is a holy of holies; there is a candlestick; there is a shewbread; there is a veil. Everything a fragment; everything in itself showing unto us some aspect of truth, some portion of the pressure, without which we would be poor; but we must combine them all to see the fell and blessed truth. But now the time of fragmentary, imperfect, and temporary revelation is past. God speaks to us now in another and more glorious manner. Look now at the contrast. The whole contrast is in one word--in our language in one syllable--“by the Son.” The prophets were many: the Son is one. The prophets were servants: the Son is the Lord. The prophets were temporary: the Son abideth for ever. The prophets were imperfect: the Son is perfect, even as the Father is perfect. The prophets were guilty: the Son is not merely pure, but able to purify those that are full of sin and pollution. The prophets point to the future: the Son points to Himself, and says, “Here am I.” God has spoken to us “by His Son.” He is the true and faithful witness, whose testimony is co-xtensive, if I may so say, with the counsel and the things of God: the Prophet whose mind is adequate to understand the mind of the Father. He is not merely the true and faithful witness because He is from everlasting, He is also the beloved of God. Notice this in the word “ Son.” “The only begotten,” says John, “who was in the bosom of the Father,” who is His treasure and delight, the infinite object of His love in whom from all eternity was His rejoicing, who shares with Him all His counsels. This beloved one of God--oh surely He is the true messenger who will reveal all the secrets of the Father’s heart, and who will tell unto us all the fulness of His counsel, and all the purposes of His grace! God hath spoken to us by His Son. Let me remind you how in the Son all the message of God is contained. You who know the Scripture, and you especially who have come through the law unto the gospel, will understand me when I say that if the sinner knew nothing else but this, “God has sent a messenger, and this messenger is His own Son,” he might discover in this the whole gospel; for, in order to send unto us condemnation, in order to give unto us the knowledge of our sin and of our desert, His own Son is not needed. Any angel would suffice for this work; any servant could proclaim this message. When God sends His own Son into the world, when God makes the stupendous sacrifice of allowing His only begotten to take upon Him our flesh and blood, there can be only one meaning in it--salvation. It can only have one purpose--our redemption. It can only have one motive--the overwhelming love of God. God has spoken to us by His Son, and therefore we know that He has spoken peace to us. But notice, secondly, as the Sonship is the beginning of the gospel, so it is also the end and purpose of God’s message. God, speaking to us by His Son, shows unto us that we also are to become the sons of God. In the Incarnate Son the Father has brought many sons unto glory. The only begotten of the Father has, after His death on the cross, become the firstborn among many brethren. The Holy Ghost, coming through the glorified humanity of Jesus, unites us to Him, who is the beloved Son, and in whom the eternal and it, finite love of the Father zests upon all His believing people. In the Son we know and have the Father; in the Son we also are the children of God. Lastly, remember this is the ultimate revelation. There can be nothing higher; there can be nothing further. If Christ is our life, then, when the Son of God shall appear, we also who are the sons of God--nosy in weakness, suffering, temptation--shall be made manifest with Him in glory. (A. Saphir.)
The prophetic revelation contrasted with the filial revelation made by Jesus Christ
I. First let us note and consider well, touching this doctrine which we are taught, by Christ--THE CERTAINTY OF IT, WHICH IS FIRST IN THE AUTHOR, WHO IS GOD HIMSELF, EVEN THE SAME GOD OF OUR FATHERS, which so many times and ways spake ever by His prophets; even He, in assured truth, hath also spoken by His Son. Thus giving the authority of the word of Christ to God the Father, that it might be confessed true, and to take away all vain quarrelling of contentious men, who under pretence of the name of God, would easily have disputed against our Saviour Christ, and said: We know God is true, and He spake to Moses, He spake to the prophets; but this man speaketh of Himself, and we will not hear Him.
II. Now, as our Saviour Christ is our certain teacher of undoubted truth, so HOW FAR THIS TRUTH IS TAUGHT BY HIM APPEARETH ALSO IN THE WORDS, “many times,” “many ways,” “by many prophets,” “of old,” “to our forefathers.” Of all these we must set the contrariety in our Saviour Christ, that God spoke by Him, not many times, revealing His will by measure, now some, then more; but once He has sent Him, filled with all treasure of wisdom and understanding. And before God spake many ways, either by angels, or by the cloud, or between the cherubims, or by Urim, or by visions, or by dreams; but now He hath spoken one way, even by Christ made our brother, with the voice of a man, in the midst of the congregation, plain and evident in all men’s hearing, and all variety shall cease for evermore. Likewise before God spake by many prophets; now He doth not so, but hath sent His Son alone instead of all, that all His people should hear him. Likewise those times they are old and past; but the time of Christ’s teaching passeth not, but is for ever. And that was to the fathers, men of divers calling, but this is to us all of, one condition.
1. Now let us see the difference here spoken of between our Saviour Christ and all other prophets, what we may learn of them was at divers times revealed, but that which Christ teacheth is reveal d but once. And this is twice after expressly noted by the apostle (Hebrews 9:26; Heb 22:26.) And thus it is which St. Jude saith of the Christian faith, “that once it w is given to the saints”; which once doth mean the time of Christ in earth; for so he saith it was by His Son.
2. The second difference, that the doctrine of Christ is taught after one sort. For though first were miracles, and now none; first apostles, now none: these were but means to confirm the preaching, the Word only was the power of salvation, which is the same it was then. Which because it is but one, therefore it is perfect.
3. The third difference here is, that that was old, and therefore abolished; for it cannot be but that which waxeth older and older must at last vanish. But the testament of Christ, it is still new, yea, through it were from the beginning, yet it is still the same, and the day passeth not in which it was given, but it endureth with the age of man.
4. The fourth difference is in the fathers with whom the first covenant was made, who though they were all called in Jesus Christ, yet was there a difference of their honour, and every one more exalted, as God approached more near unto them. So Abraham and His posterity were a more honourable people than the others before him. So the Israelites that had received the law, and dwelt in the land of promise, had greater blessing than their fathers in Egypt. So John Baptist more than all Israel. But now they that are called of Jesus Christ by His own voice, and in Him crucified before their eyes, have attained a singular honor, and the least of them touching their calling are greater than all patriarchs and prophets. And these all in like precious faith, like spirit, like promises, like covenants, like accepted of God, every man in his own measure of grace.
5. The fifth difference is, that God then spake by His prophets, now by His Son: by prophets, meaning the continual succession of prophets in all ages. For as they were men taken away by death, so it was necessary for others to come in their places: and because no prophet was able to give his grace to other, or of his fulness make other learned in the mysteries of God, but they were all taught of the Lord; therefore they had the credit of their word every one in himself, and none judged by another’s gifts. But so it is not with the Son of God; for both He liveth to appoint us teachers still, and of His fulness He giveth all other their continual increase of grace; for which cause now the warrant of all dependeth upon Him alone; and the greatest apostle that ever was hath no other glory but only to be His servant and messenger; for He is that Redeemer whose word must be in the mouth of His seed, and in the mouth of His seed’s seed after Him for evermore. (E. Deering, B. D.)
Divine revelation under the law, and under the gospel
I. THE MATTER OF THE DOCTRINE. It was given them by piecemeal, now a part, then a part. They had one part of it in Adam’s time, another in Noah’s; one in Abraham’s, another in Moses” time; one in David’s time, another in Jeremiah’s, Isaiah’s, and the rest of the prophets. It was parcelled out to them as the capacity of the people in sundry times did require; but we bare the doctrine of salvation at one lamp propounded to us, in one whole and entire sum. Thus God hath dealt more graciously and bountifully with us. They had one flower now and another anon; we have all the flowers in God’s garden sweetly smelling all at once in our nostrils. They had now a loaf and then a loaf; now a draught and then a draught of the Lord’s wine; the whole magazine of God Almighty is open to us. Then Low thankful ought we to be to God above them! And how careful should we be to enrich ourselves with these heavenly wares, that may freely enter the whole storehouse of the Lord of Hosts!
II. THE MANNER. God delivered His will to them after divers manners: to Abraham by angels in the shape of men; to Moses in a bush and a cloud; to Samuel in a dream; to Ezekiel in visions; by the oracles and answers of the priests, in soft wind, etc. To us He hath delivered His will in one manner, by the sweet, comfortable, powerful voice of His own Son. This one manner far surpasses all the manners whereby God spake to them. Those were dark and obscure, this plain; many of those were terrible to the hearers, this was a rues, mild and amiable manner.
III. THE TIME. He spake to them of old time, in the first and oldest age of the world; He speaks to us in a now time, whereto all things are made green, fresh, and flourishing by our Saviour Christ.
IV. THE PERSONS by whom and in whom it was delivered. They were men; Christ, by whom God speaks to us, is God and man; thy were wise, could foretell things to come, aptly and pithily interpret the Word of God, yet all their wisdom and knowledge was berry wed; Christ was wise of Himself, clad with His own feathers; they mortal, dust and ashes; Christ never saw, corruption but abideth for ever and ever; they were servants m the House of God; Christ is the Son, yea, the Lord and owner of the house. Therefore wonderfully hath Go, honoured ,.s in the time of the gospel above them in the time of the law. If a king should speak to us by one of his privy council, it is much; but if he speak to us by his son and heir apparent to the crown, it is a greater dignity. Many (prophets and kings) have desired to see these things which we see, and have not seen them. God give us grace ,to use our happiness to His glory and the salvation of us all. (W. Jones, D. D.)
The progressiveness of revelation
In these few words are set forth the relation in which the two dispensations stand to one another, the light in which the revelation as a whole is to be regarded. No words can more strongly lay down a principle which was for long regarded with suspicion. That revelation was given by degrees. This truth is necessary in order to prove the necessity or even the allowableness of Christianity; the incompleteness of the first covenant must be admitted ere the reason for the existence of the second could be perceived. God had undoubtedly spoken, but how had He spoken? He had spoken at sundry times and in divers manners.
1. At sundry times, or rather, by divers portions. It was by degrees--fragmentarily--one truth at one time another at another. And the degree in which God was known, in which He had been manifested to successive generations, was clearly not the same in all. There might be faith, there might be obedience in all ages to Him who was invisible; but unquestionably, though the men of one generation might not be better than the men of another--though,, unfortunately, in all sin and unbelief had prevailed, yet who could not see that, as time went on, there were new truths insisted on, new discoveries made as to His holiness and His spirituality; that while it was the same eternal One whom men served or dishonoured, the way in which His will revealed itself varied from age to age; that the knowledge of David or of Jeremiah was different from the knowledge of Noah or of Abraham? This difference--this evolution, we might almost call it--lies upon the surface of the Old Testament. The history which is recorded there is, as has frequently been pointed out, like the biography of an individual life. It narrates so palpably the childhood, the youth, the manhood of a race; the education in Divine things, the development of spiritual truth. There were times when there were no Scriptures and no solemn ceremonies; there were times when men observed the complicated ritual of the law; there were times when men worshipped amid the splendours of the Temple; there were days when in exile they could not sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. Thus gradually, thus at different times, as they were able to bear it, they heard God speaking.
2. And varied as were the times in which He had spoken to men, equally varied were the modes which He had employed to make them listen. How diversified was that volume in which they thought they had eternal life. By what different means were its lessons conveyed: by commandments and by promises, by similitudes and by symbols, by prophecy and by visions. History, psalms, proverbs, poetry, philosophy, all were in turn employed; the heart, the mind, the imagination were in turn appealed to. How different also from one another were those to whom the Word of the Lord came. But amid all the variety there was unity, amid all the diversity of means there was oneness of end and aim. There was progress, there was order. The whole revelation pointed onward, confessed itself imperfect and shadowy, placed its completion and glory in the future, could not be realised until what it showed forth in figure and under a veil should be fully manifested. “Consciously or unconsciously,” as has been said by Dean Stanley. “the character and writings of the rest of the Bible fall into their relative places around the gospel history, as surely as in that history itself the soldiers, priests, disciples, Jews, and Romans de, ire their interest and significance from being grouped round the central figure, and round the Cross on Calvary.”
3. God hath spoken in His Son, the brightness, the effulgence, the shining-forth of His glory, the express image of His Person, the impress of His substance, the essence of the Divine Being, the revelation of the very heart of God. In Him has been seen the embodiment of the Eternal Power by which the worlds were made. In Him has been unveiled the Eternal Love by which all things are preserved and sustained. In His sacrifice has been seen that offering of Himself through the Eternal Spirit without spot, to God, which alone can purify and reconcile a guilty world. In His exaltation to the right hand of God is seen the completion of the Divine purpose, the final triumph of the kingdom of heaven, our own deliverance from sin and faultless appearance before the throne, the gathering together in one of all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. (P. M.Muir.)
The Old and the New Testament dispensations compared with respect to the different ways in which the will of God was revealed in each
I THE MANNER IN WHICH GOD COMMUNICATED HIS WILL IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES. This He is said in the text to have done “at sundry time., and in divers manners.” The sundry times here spoken of may perhaps refer to the three great eras of the Old Testament history--the patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the prophetical ages of the Church. But as This view of the subject, however warrantable in itself, would conduce but little to the elucidation of the subject, namely, the manner in which the will of God was revealed, we shall consider the sundry times here spoken of as referring simply to the gradual and sucessive intimations of God’s will, which were given to the fathers, or Old Testament saints, from the time of Adam to the time of Christ. During the whole of that period, though the manners in which He spake were divers, yet there is one common property which belonged to the mode of all His communications, namely, that they were made “ by the prophets.”
1. Let us, then, briefly glance at the means by which, when the prophets had ascertained the will of God for themselves, they communicated it to the people. The two great means by which the prophets communicated God’s will to the people were words and representative acts.
2. But before it could be comunicated by the prophets to the people, it required first of all to be announced to the prophets themselves. And this also God accomplished not only at sundry times, but in divers manners. Sometimes it was effected by an impulse or inspiration of the Spirit upon the mind--“holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”--and sometimes by an audible voice, as it was to Elijah when he stood upon the mount before the Lord (1 Kings 19:11-13). But there was yet another mode of communication between God and His prophets more striking and wonderful. We find frequent instances in the Old Testament history of the appearance of a mysterious visitor from heaven, who talks with His servants face to face. This is to be understood of Christ our own Immanuel, the great Prophet of the Church. It was the eternal “ Word,” though not then “made flesh,” whose voice was heard by the first guilty pair in Eden, in the cool of the day, who appeared to Abraham, and wrestled with Jacob. It was our identical Saviour who, having heard the groaning of His people in Egypt, came down to deliver them, and gave Moses his commission from the midst of the bush. In short, it was He by whom the scheme of salvation has been administered from its commencement, and shall continue to be administered till its close. What a glorious consistency is thus stamped upon the whole scheme of grace!
II. THE MODE IN WHICH GOD IS NOW ADDRESSING US UNDER THE NEW TESTAMENT DISPENSATION. God “hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” The use of the word “spoken” is here striking and peculiar. It is not said that God hath sent us a message, but that He hath spoken to us by or in His Son. It seems to contain an allusion to one of Christ’s titles--“The Word.” Just as a wore spoken or written is an audible or visible representation of invisible thought, so is Christ “the visible image of the invisible God.” “No man hath seen God at any time, the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Farther, He hath declared Him.” Now, as we have already seen that there were two ways in which the prophets addressed the people, namely, by words and by representative acts, so there are two ways in which the Son of God addresses us. He speaks to us both by His preaching and by His patience, by what He said and by what He suffered. Is there not a speaking power in the humbleness of His birth, and the stedfastness of His obedience--in His fasting, and watching, and temptation--in His tears, and His agonies, and His cries. As He hung upon the Cross, a spectacle to angels and to men, His latest words, “It is finished,” tell of His completed obedience, and the full purchase of eternal salvation to as many as believe. And even after tits body has ceased to breathe, and His heart has cease d to beat, what mean those outstretched arms--those bleeding hands? Do they not tell of the efficacy of His Mediatorship for reconciling sinners to the Holy One?
III. Let us no, COMPARE THESE TWO MODES IN WHICH GOD HAS REVEALED HIS WILL BY NOTICING A FEW POINTS OF RESEMBLANCE AND CONTRAST BETWEEN THEM.
1. Now it is obvious to remark that the revelation contained in t e Old Testament and that contained in the New have the same author. Both are from God. Nor is there any difference in regard to their substance. Christ is set forth as the object of saving faith in both.
2. Let us now consider wherein they differ.
(1) First, then, there is this obvious difference between them, that the way of salvation is more clearly revealed to us than it was to the fathers. The Old and the New Testament revelations thus resemble the lesser and the greater lights which were made, the one “ to rule the night,” the other “to rule the day.”
(2) But, again, the will of God is now revealed more extensively than it was under the ancient economy. Under that economy the written revelation of God’s will was confined to the Jews.
(3) Once more, the revelation made to us in the gospel is final, and therefore more enduring than that contained in the Old Testament Scriptures. The revelations which those Scriptures contained, and the economy with which they were more immediately connected, were not intended to be final.
(4) But, finally, the most important distinction of all remains to be noticed. In times past, God spake to the fathers by the prophets, hut He hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Not that we are to suppose that m former times God spake to the prophets directly and immediately without the intervention or mediatorship of the Son. We have already seen that it has always been the office of Christ to reveal as well as to purchase salvation for His people. But the grand distinctive difference consists in this--that while formerly the Son of God, in His Divine person, revealed thewill of God to the prophets; in these last times, Jesus Christ, Incarnate, hath revealed the will of God to the Church. In conclusion, are there any who, while gratefully alive to the importance of all these distinctions, and joyfully appreciating the pre-eminent privileges now possess-d, yet feel as if all these advantages were counterbalanced by the fact that the Jewish people lived under a theocracy, and that prophets were raised up to address them from time to time, according to the ever-varying exigencies of their condition, while Christ is now gone “to His Father and our Father,” and we have no farther revelation to expect, however our circumstances may vary? Now it is most true that the Shekinah is no longer visible, resting upon the mercy-seat, and that He whom the Shekinah represented no longer tabernacles among men. “The heavens haw received Him until the time of the restitution of all things.” Yet He has not left His people comfortless. Among His latest words we find the promise recorded, “Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” But the objection keeps out of view the important truth that Christ still “walks among the seven golden candlesticks”--that He sends forth His Spirit to enlighten His people’s eyes, and to comfort His people’s hearts. Indeed, the objection seems to be anticipated and answered by the very form of expression in the text. “God hath spoken to us by His Son”; as if He had said, You are not dependent merely upon a dead book for counsel and consolation; you have a living teacher, an ever-present guide! (A. Grierson, M. A.)
The heavenly voice
God has now ceased to speak in sundry times and in divers manners; there ore, if you dream, you are not to put a construction on your dream as if God inspired it. And hence, if God has ceased thus to speak, we may expect now that the Bible, beginning with Genesis and closing with the Apocalypse, is the completed volume of all God’s will and God’s ways; and that we are not to expect any additional revelation in the course of this present dispensation; for God has now, says the apostle, in this passage, spoken to us by His Son. Man left to his own fancy falls into all sorts of idolatries and delusions; and it is only when God speaks that man re ponds rationally, and justly, and purely, and worships Him who is a Spirit in spirit and in truth. We must notice here what is very remarkable; God speaks to us by His Son. You must have heard sometimes those who object to the Bible as the only rule of faith argue that they want a speaking judge; they want a living high-priest, or prelate, or pope, who will speak audibly as well as infallibly to them. We answer, though they may feel the want of it, yet if such an officer be not given, it is presumptuous evidence that it is not necessary. But the fact asserted here, that God speaks in the Bible, is evidence that we actually have a speaking tribunal. The Bible is spoken every day; there is a freshness in every chapter of the Bible that makes us feet that we are reading something higher than man’s writing, and are in contact with God speaking to us in these last days by His Son. I might argue, in the next place, the great necessity of such a revelation. If this earth were as it once was before sin corrupted it, it would be a lesson-book that any one might adduce as quite sufficient to teach us all we ought to know. But if there were place,! in your hands a book with a great many precious lessons in it, but all stained and blotted with ink, and so stained and blotted that whole pages are illegible, that fragments of other passages only are legible, and those fragments broken sentences, that you cannot fully understand, some of which at times convey meaning positively opposite to that which they originally were designed to convey, you would be very anxious to have some book clearer, distincter, and more intelligible. This world of ours is that blotted book, stained by sin; and what it revealed when it was made in Paradise as the grand and the illuminated lesson-book, it has lost and is now unable to reveal. And if we appeal to the inner page of conscience for an estimate of God, there is in ,he conscience of the holiest up on earth, so much sin, that if we look at God through the m sty and broken atmosphere of our own consciences, our sins will instantly suggest the notion of an angry and an offended God. If, again, we look into the law; if we stand with the Israelites at the bottom of the burning mouser, and see the lightning and hear the thunder, and listen to God’s voice as He proclaims, “Thou shalt, and thou shalt not,” we like Moses, must quake; and like the children of Israel, we, too, should beg that God would be silent, and not speak any more to us. God in nature is above us, and inscrutable by our investigation to a very great extent; God in the law is against us; but God in Christ is God with us, our Father and our Guide. And, therefore, we rejoice now to hear the apostle say in this passage that God, who spake at sundry times and in divers manners in times pact, has now spoken to us by His Son. But what has He spoken? Words of truth, words of life, words of peace, and happiness, and hope, and joy. The Bible was not written to teach me anything hut religion. If the geologist come and consult it for lessons in geology, the oracle is dumb; if the astronomer come and ask for explanations about the stars, it is dumb; if the philosopher ask it for explanations about metaphysical subjects, the oracle is also dumb. But if the humblest peasant or the poorest mechanic inquire of it the way to heaven, it will tell him in a thousand places, by a thousand different similitudes, so plainly, so intelligibly, that the wayfaring man need not err therein. Now, what He has said m tills blessed book by His Son, and what He still speaks in it, is a word for all; it is an encyclical, addressed from heaven to all that God has made, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same; so much so, that if you are not acquainted with the Bible, it is not because the Bible was not sent to you, but because you have not studied it. Let us be thankful that God has thus spoken to us; let us study this precious book; let us pray that the Spirit would lead us unto all truth; and especially plead that promise that He will take of whatsoever Christ has said, thai is, whatsoever God has spoken by His Son, and will show it unto us. (J. Gumming, D. D.)
The variety of prophetic revelation
Some men ask, If the prophets spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, why did they not all speak in the same manner? why these varieties of style? I will answer that by a-king you another question: Why do not all the pipes of that organ give one and the same sound? What awakens all the sounds, but one and the same blast from the wind-chest? If there be a mono-blast, why is there not a mono-tone? Because the pipes are of different shapes and different sizes: the awakening breath is one, the intonation varies with the shape and size of the pipe. The inspiration was one, but the style and manner varied with the all-position and character of the individual employed. (H. M’Neile.)
Progressive revelation
It is impossible rightly to comprehend Scripture if we read it as we read the Koran, as though it were in all its parts of equal authority, all composed at one time, and all are addressed to persons similarly situated. (Thos. Arnold, D. D.)
Judaism and Christianity
Canon Stubbs says in his “History of England” that “the roots of the present lie deep in the past, and that nothing in the past is dead to the man who would learn how the present comes to be what it is. The political forces which are operating now are the result of forces which have been operating ever since English history began. What they are cannot be understood except on condition of understanding whence they come. On the same condition only can it be foreseen whither they tend.” Now, as it is with politics so is it with religion. The present is the outgrowth of the past. The roots of the tree of Christianity lie deep in the soil of Judaism. The New Testament comes from the Old. (J. Fleming, D. D.)
These last days
The last days
It hath pleased God that these last days should be many, that the world might the longer enjoy the bright light of the gospel, and that all that are ordained to life might in their due time be called. Why are they called the last days (as here), the last time (1 John 2:18), the ends of the world (1 Corinthians 10:11), and why in the beginning of this time was the coming of the Lord said to draw nigh (James 5:8), and the end of all things to be at hand? (1 Peter 4:7).
1. By the exhibition of Christ the prophecies and promises that in former times were made of Christ were accomplished, therefore as the days wherein these promises and prophecies were first made known were counted the first days so these wherein they were accomplished the last.
2. The new covenant of grace is in these last days fully revealed by the gospel, and ratified by the death of Christ; so as no clearer revelation, nor former ratification can be expected, and in this respect also they are fitly styled the last days.
3. No alteration of the stale and order of God’s Church is to be expected after Christ exhibited, but a final end of all by Christ’s second coming unto judgment; therefore these days may be accounted the ends of the world, and the end of all things to be at hand.
4. As God at first made all things in six days, and rested the seventh, so He continueth to govern the world in six distinct times, which may be accounted as six days of the great week of the world, and eternity following an everlasting Sabbath. The first of these days was from Adam to Noah; in it the covenant of grace was first made to man. The second was from Noah to Abraham; in it that covenant was renewed. The third was from Abraham to David; in it that covenant was appropriated to Abraham and his seed. The fourth was from David to the captivity of Israel; in it that covenant was established in a royal line. The fifth was from their captivity to Christ’s coming in the flesh; in it as the brightness of that covenant was eclipsed by the captivity; so it was revived by Israel’s return out of the captivity and re-edifying the Temple. The sixth was and still is and shall be from Christ’s first coming in the flesh to His second coming in glory; even to the end of the world. In it that covenant most clearly and fully laid open, was most firmly and inviolably ratified. Now when the sixth day, which is the last day, is come, then the end of the week may well be said to be at hand; and the coming of the Lord, following thereupon, to draw nigh. (W. Gouge.)
Our condition under the gospel
1. In those that were the first days some new doctrine was daily to be expected, but in these last days God hath opened to us His whole counsel, there is no mint of any new doctrine to be looked for. If an angel from heaven preach any other doctrine than that which we have received in these last days let him be accursed.
2. In the last days there is greatest abundance of knowledge. “In the last days I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.” God then was sparing Of His Spirit, He sent it down by drops, but now He pours it out upon the Church. They had the moonlight, we have the sunlight. Therefore if we be ignorant our condemnation shall be the greater. The preaching of the Word is a well of water, but we will not come with our buckets to fetch water at this well, or if we do we come with riven buckets, the water runs out by and by.
3. These last days wherein we live are the most dangerous; sin overfloweth with a full stream. In the last days perilous times shall come. Never did sin show herself with such a brazen face as it doth now. Men now stick not to set themselves against the Word of God itself, to call the authority of the Scripture in question, whether all things be true in it or not.
4. Seeing they be the last days, let us not be so much in love with them. Will any be bestowing great cost on his house the last day, when he is to go out of it? In the first days, when they entered first into the farm of the world, they might be merry; we live in the last days, when we cannot have long to tarry in it, therefore let us not be wedded to it; let us use this world as if we used it not, for the fashion of this world fadeth away in these last days; let us so live that wheresoever Christ comes to judgment we may meet Him joyfully in the air and be translated with Him into His kingdom of glory. (W. Jones, D. D.)
By His Son
Christ the Son
Two critical remarks.
1. “Sundry times”--more literally, sundry portions--sections, not of time, but of the matter of the revelation. God gave His revelation in parts, piecemeal, as you teach a child to spell a word--letter by letter, syllable by syllable--adding all at last together. God had a word to spell--His own Name. By degrees He did it. At last it came entire. The Word was made flesh.
2. “His Son,” more correctly, “a Son”--for this is the very argument. Not that God now spoke by Christ, but that whereas once He spoke by prophets, now He spoke by a Son. The filial dispensation was the last. I am to show, then, that the manifestation of God through a Son was implied, not realised, in the earlier dispensation. “Sundry portions” of this truth are instanced in the Epistle. The mediatorial dispensation of Moses--the gift of Canaan--the Sabbath, &c. At present I select these:
1. The preparatory dispensation.
2. The filial and final dispensation.
I. IT WAS IMPLIED, NOT FULFILLED, IN THE KINGLY OFFICE. Three Psalms are quoted, all referring to kingship. In Psalms 2:1-12. it was plain that the true idea of a king was only fulfilled in One who was a Son of God. In the 110th Psalm a new idea is added. The true king must be a priest. “Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.” Further still. The Epistle extends this idea to man. The psalm had ascribed (Psalms 8:6) kingly qualities and rule to manhood--rule over the creation. Thus the idea of a king belonged properly to humanity; to the Jewish king as the representative of humanity. In Jesus of Nazareth alone all these fragments, these sundry portions of the revealed idea of royalty met.
II. CHRISTIANITY WAS IMPLIED IN THE RACE OF PROPHETS. The second class of quotations refer to the prophets’ life and history (Hebrews 2:11-14; Psalms 22:22; Psalms 18:2; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 8:18). Remember what the prophets were. They were not merely predictors of the future. Nothing destroys the true conception of the prophets’ office more than those popular books in which their mission is certified by curious coincidences. But in truth, the first office of the prophet was with the present. He read eternal principles beneath the present and the transitory, and in doing this of course he prophesied the future; for a principle true to-day is true for ever. But this was, so to speak, an accident of his office: not its essential feature. A philosopher saying in the present tense the law by which comets move, predicts all possible cometary movements. Now the prophet’s life almost more than his words was predictive. The writer of this Epistle lays down a great principle respecting the prophet, “Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one.” It was the very condition of his inspiration that he should be one with the people. He burned with their thoughts, and expressed them. He was obliged by the very sensitiveness of his humanity to have a more entire dependence and a more perfect sympathy than other men. The sanctifying prophet was one with those whom he sanctified. Hence he uses those expressions quoted from Isaiah and the Psalms above. He was more man, just because more Divine--more a son of man, because more a son of God. He was peculiarly the suffering Israelite: His countenance marred more than the sons of men.
III. THE PRIESTHOOD CONTINUED THIS IDEA LATENT.
1. The Jewish priest represented the holiness of the nation; he went into the holy of holies, showing it. But this great idea was only implied, not fulfilled in the Jewish priest. He was only by a fiction the representative of holiness. Holy he was not. He only entered into a fictitious holy of holies. If the idea were to be ever real, it must be in One who should be actually what the Jewish priest was by a figment, and who should carry our humanity into the real holy of holies--the presence of God; thus becoming our invisible and eternal Priest.
2. Next it was implied that his call must be Divine. But in the 110th Psalm a higher call is intimated than that Divine call which was made to the Aaronic priesthood by a regular succession, or as it is called in the Epistle, “the law of a carnal commandment.” Melchizedek’s call is spoken of. The king is called a priest after his older. Not a derived or hereditary priesthood: not one transmissible, beginning and ending in himself Hebrews 7:1-3), but a priesthood in other words, of character, of inward right: a call internal, hence more Divine: or, as the writer calls it, a priest “after the power of an endless life.” This was the idea for which the Jewish psalms themselves ought to have prepared the Jew.
3. Again the priests offered gifts and sacrifices. Only Christ’s all-perfect sacrifice of Himself can avail in the sight of God. He is the only High Priest of the universe. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
God hath spoken by His Son
I. The first truth which God has made known to us, the important conclusion resulting from His message by Christ, is the infinite VALUE OF THE SOUL, and the misery to which it is reduced by sin: that is, by a thoughtless neglect of God, or a practical disobedience to His will.
II. The second truth which is declared to us in the gospel relates to THE WAY OF SALVATION; the way in which this fearful interest of the soul may be secured.
III. The third truth which I mention at present as brought to light by the gospel, is THE NEED OF THE RENEWAL OF THE SOUL IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Archbp. Sumner.)
God revealed by Christ
Imagine a painter who loved his art, and who had a son he loved so well that he would not do a bad piece of art. By and by the painter dies, and one day the son enters a gallery and stands and hears all the empty talk and idle judgment of the crowd, as they stand before his father’s great masterpiece and fail to understand it. How would that son say to himself, “These do not know thee; but I know thee, and my knowledge shall vanquish their ignorance.” What is here imagined has happened. When this generation was young the greatest painter of the day was unknown. Tarrier awaited an audience; but Ruskin arose, saw and interpreted him, and the world suddenly found itself enriched not simply by the works of a great painter, but also of a great writer and thinker as well. So let us mark that if we are to reach God as Christ knew Him it must be through the Christ who knew. (A. M. Fairbairn, D. D.)
The final revelation: its helpfulness
Fathers, mothers, when you set your little ones some task, and they come and ask you how it is to be done, very likely you have repeated instructions over and over again; but still they do not understand. And then you have taken it in your hands and worked it out before their eyes, and shown the principle, that you could not explain or define embodied in actual form; and they had then to study the realised product, to see bow to copy it, and work it out again in their own way. God has asked from His earthly children the task of the true life, truly lived; they have asked of Him its principles and the method of their application; and by the mouth of lawgiver, and prophet, and priest, He has explained and defined. But the mind of man could not comprehend. There remained one way, and only one. It was that God Himself should take in hand the task of life, and live it out before the world. It was that He should work out its principles, and make them actual in flesh and blood, and leave to men the will of God embodied for all time in the exemplary and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. He is the end and crown of revelation. From the study of that life it is possible to derive all guidance in all difficulty. It is the law of every nature. It is the commandment of God for us; and it is the inspiration and potency of all our effort, and the reward of all our life. For us, then, Jesus Christ and our knowledge of Him is at once our matchless inspiration, and the measure of our shortcoming and our sin. It would be possible for us to keep the Ten Commandments and yet to live lives of very low morality. The standard is raised; the standard is rising. The influence of the Spirit of God, in unfolding the holiness of Christ, is beginning to condemn many things that past generations were content to condone. “God is not dumb that He should speak no more.” The holiness of Christ is dawning on the world. There is the world’s hope. (C. S. Home, M. A.)
Revelation by Jesus; its certainty
It is four hundred years since the heroic Columbus sailed over the Atlantic, and unveiled to the world a new continent. The poets had sung of the lost island Atlantis. Geographers had tried to guess the secrets of the great ocean, Many theories had floated about, but there was no certainty. But when the brave Genoese landed in Spain with his trophies and his wonderful story of the new land, his words were not as other men’s. He had seen a new world, and men crowded to hear his tale. There was not such another man in Europe. He had uncovered or discovered a new world, and his achievement made him a unique man. Even so our Lord discovered to us the great spiritual world--the Eldorado of the soul--the world of God, of perfect life, of freedom from sin, and sickness, and death. He came from that world, and revealed to us what was there. He was not as other men; He had unique experiences, and so was empowered to tell us what none other could. He gave us not waifs from an unknown world. He was not like Isaac Newton, a learner on the shore of an unexplored ocean of truth. He had explored that ocean, and mastered its secrets, and His story is a statement of facts. (Archibald Hadden.)
If Christianity is Divine, why was it so long in being given to the world?
A teacher dare not plunge a child all at once in medias res. He begins with the alphabet and brings him on little by little. The Hebrews, not less than the heathens, were unprepared in the primitive ages for the full blaze of gospel day. They would not have been prepared to understand either the grandeur of Christ’s teaching, or the grandeur of His life, or the grandeur of His death. Let the boy be taught his letters and his grammar, and then put Milton before him. And, in like manner, God’s plan seems to have been to give the world a few centuries of typical teaching and training among the bills of Judah, and then present them with the wondrous Loges, the Word by whom all things were made. Besides, it seems to have been the purpose of the Most High to let the heathen nations find out the vanity of their false systems of religion and philosophy. Then, when the mind of man was in a state of disquietude and unrest, Jesus came to whisper His heavenly “Peace, be still.” Paganism’s lords many and gods many were being laughed at by all sensible men. Even in the hands of Plato philosophy had declared herself to be only a tiny lamp; whereas surely a Sun would be sent to illumine our darkness. At length the fulness of time arrived, the clock struck twelve on the great horologe of the world, and lo! “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” (Evangelical Repository.)
Difficulties in the Old Testament do not warrant the rejection of Christianity
It is a logical mistake to abandon faith in the Lord Jesus because of difficulties, insoluble perhaps to us, which occur in the books of the Old Testament. Look at the block of marble which has only just begun to feel the formative hand of the sculptor, and you may be uncertain whether or no the great master has realty had anything to do with the rough hewing of the still unshapely mass; but because of this you will not hesitate when the idea of the artist is perfected, when the marble has been inspired with beauty, majesty, and strength, and seems to have caught an immortal life from the imagination of genius. And so, whatever difficulty any of you may have for a time--and I believe it will only be for a time--in discovering the presence of God in His primitive revelations to the human race, this should be no reason for regarding with diminished faith the full revelation He has made of Himself in His Son. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Jesus the manifestation of God
The devout heart yearns after a personal God. It craves for something more than the works of God, however replete with proofs of His power and glory; it wants to get near Himself. Its instinctive desire is after a Father and a Friend--a loving ear into which its sorrows may be poured--a loving heart on which its weariness may rest. But Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Being without form or place, Existence without beginning or end, Eternal Rest without change or motion; these, in their very sublimity, constitute a notion which tends to repel rather than to attract, to overwhelm and crush rather than gently to raise and foster our human sympathies and desires. Our mortal feebleness shrinks from it in trembling awe. The heart cannot feed on sublimities. We cannot make a home of this cold magnificence; we cannot take Immensity by the hand. The soul lost in such contemplations, like a trembling child wandering on some mountain solitudes, longs, amidst all this vastness and grandeur, for the sound of some familiar voice to break the stillness, or the sight of some sheltered spot in which it may nestle with the sense of friendliness and security. Now that which is thus the deep-felt want of our natures is most fully and adequately met in the Person of Jesus Christ. For here is One whom, while we may reverence and adore as God, we can think of as clearly, and love as simply, trustingly, tenderly, as the best known and loved of our earthly friends. Here is a point which our shadowy conceptions may condense, a focus towards which our aimless aspirations may tend. Here we have set before us the Boundless, limited in form; the Eternal, dwelling in time; the Invisible and Spiritual God revealed in that Word of Life which human eyes have seen, and human hands have handled. (J. Caird, D. D.)
Revelation of God
When a prince, affianced to the heiress of some distant kingdom, has sent his portrait to her by the hand of his vicegerent, and the casket comes, it is so glowing with diamonds and with sapphires rare that it seems itself to be priceless; and yet, on being opened, so royal is the face within, and so does it blaze with superior diamonds, that the casket becomes forgotten. So God is revealed as a worldbuilder arid material worker, as a physical governor, as grand past human language; but when you open the casket and behold Jesus Christ, and hear His voice as revealing what God is in His interior disposition and mother soul, you forget the other. (H. W. Beecher.)
Heathen anticipations of the Messiah
From the remotest ages prophetic utterances, announcing better times and a coming deliverance, had pervaded the ancient world. Such mutilated and ancient prophecies are found amongst the most widely differing nations. It was the hope of the Persians that a time would come, a Messianic time, in which Ahriman would be annihilated, the world renewed, and delivered from all evil; in which all mankind would be converted to a state of obedience to law, and the happy condition of former times restored. The Indians expected, at the end of the present age of sin, the tenth Avatar, that is, incarnation. That of Buddha was the ninth, and this would be an incarnation of Vishnu, who would appear under the name Kalki, overthrow all evil, and restore the happy times which had prevailed at the beginning of the world. Even the Chinese were not without such Messianic hopes. The advent of a great and Holy One in the West is frequently announced in their sacred books--One who was not only to lay down the way of perfection, but also to destroy the ancient idols. Nor were similar expectations less familiar to other Oriental nations. Among the Greeks they were profoundly expressed in the legend of Prometheus. Prometheus chained to the rock, in daily torment, utters the oracle, known to himself alone, that the dominion of the false god Zeus will one day be terminated b, a Son of God, who will be mightier than Zeus, while he himself beholds Hercules as his deliverer in the distant future. But this deliverance--as Hermes announces to him--is not to take place without vicarious suffering:
“And of that anguish, look not for the end
Before some god shall come to bear thy woes,
And will to pass to Hades’ sunless realm
And the dark, cloudy depths of Tartarus.”
And this is done by Chiron, the most just and wise of the Centaurs, the son of Chronos, sacrificing himself for him, while Hercules kills the eagle at his breast, and so delivers him from his torments. AEschylus made this significant legend the subject of a dramatic trilogy, of which, indeed, only a fragment, the “Prometheus Bound,” remains. Enough has, however, been preserved to show us how the deep ideas of the Greek world concerning guilt, atonement, and the redemption of mankind are poetically reflected therein. This poetic legend is indeed almost a prediction of the true Redeemer. (Prof. Luthardt.)
The gospel of the Son
1. As the Son is above the servants, so is Christ above the prophets. And no reason, that the Jews should think so much of Moses, and the prophets, as for them to misregard Christ’s doctrine and stick to the Levitical service under pretence of estimation of the prophets.
2. The glory of the gospel is greater than the glory of the law.
3. The glory of the ministerial calling of preachers of the gospel is by so much the greater, as it hath the Son of God first man in the roll thereof; as first preacher, and prince of preachers.
4. Christ’s sermons are all of them directed unto us: and so much the more highly should the doctrine of the gospel be esteemed of by us. (D. Dickson, M. A.)
Christ explains past revelations
A singer will sometimes sit down to an instrument and strike a few mysterious chords, or pick out a few bars of melody, which excite only vague thoughts and vaguer emotions within us; but soon the rich sweet voice steals in, uttering articulate words, and then our vague thoughts and emotions take definite forms, and we comprehend what it was that touched and moved us in the prelude. Not till God uttered His voice in Christ could men understand the preluding notes which the prophets were constrained to sound, or put dear, definite, authentic meaning into these yearning, mysterious tones. (S. Cox, D. D.)
Whom He hath appointed heir of all things
Christ appointed heir
God is said to appoint His Son
1. By ordaining in His eternal counsel that His Son should be heir. As Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel of God to be slain Acts 2:23) so was He appointed to be heir (1 Peter 1:20).
2. By sending Him into the world, or by giving Him to be incarnate for that very end (Philippians 2:7-9).
3. By raising Him from the dead, and setting Him at His right hand in heaven. On these grounds St. Peter thus saith, “God hath made Him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). This word “appointed” showeth the right that Christ hath to His supreme dignity. That which is said of Christ’s being Priest (Hebrews 5:5) may be applied to this dignity “Christ glorified not
Himself to be an heir; but He that said to Him, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee,” appointed Him heir. (W. Gouge.)
Jesus heir of all things
Be married to this heir, and have all. (J. Trapp.)
The heir of all things
God has appointed Christ heir of all things. What, then, is the preparation being made for the inheritance? The history of the earth is carrying the preparation. How slowly this history unfolds itself, as if it were some long procession. And as we think of that, people following Jesus, the key to the whole situation in the world’s history is connected with their combination and their prospect. The history of the world is preparing the inheritance for Jesus Christ. Now take a glimpse of the inheritance itself. This we shall gain if we can look forward with the eye of faith to the consummation of all things. If we can pass away from the tumult, the conflict, the iniquity, the disappointment, the woe, all belonging to us, and go forward to that place where Christ shall stand when He gathers His ransomed to Himself, not one wanting, and receives the inheritance from the Father, we shall have a glimpse of that which He is providing that His Son may be glorified. And towards that distant yet glorious time we may turn with something of the feeling of those who, after they have been battling on the billows for long months, strain the eye to see the first outline of the native land to which they are returning; with something of a gladness like that we may contemplate the coming glory of our Redeemer when He shall receive the inheritance provided for Him. But it must often be with us as with a master of a ship when the clouds have shut out from him the light of the sun, and there has been no visible token by which reckoning could be made for days. What can there be in such a case but uncertainty? And yet the course is fixed. When the clouds break up and pass away, and the dear sun shines once more, reckonings will be simple, adjustments will be prompt, and the haven will be secure. So it must be with us. It is an idle expectation which we cherish in our hearts when we anticipate that all our difficulties are thus to be cleared at once from our path. There is no progress made by us, not a single step which we do not claim as an achievement for ever. So that our progress must be onward and upward until we stand on the level where Christ is. And how much we are now turning our backs upon that will tell us how steadily things are moving; how we are advancing along the way towards coming glory? For what are these things left behind? They belong to the scene of conflict, and as such they must vanish away. The time for ploughing the fields, and for reaping the harvest will come to a close; we shall see the end of conflict, and of all the weariness it brings; we shall see a close of sin, and all that terrific sorrow which has kept trailing along the path on account of our transgression. These are the things which we are leaving behind. The progress of the world means perfect righteousness. For this is the teaching of the Bible, that even worlds wear out and pass away, as a scroll which has been burnt up, and we look for a new heaven and a new earth; not a place tarnished by iniquity, not a place blurred by sorrows, not a place so often the scene of temptation, where wickedness has had dominion--we look for a new heaven and a new earth. This inheritance, then, shall include all the good as it is coming towards perfection. Christ’s inheritance is the consummation of all things. If this be so, then He is teaching us that man is destined for an eternal service. And this is the faith that moves in the soul of the human race; this is the faith which has taken possession of it, the faith which dominates it, for the human race will not believe that its life is mere bone and muscle. Man will not believe it, and ought not to; if he has a conscience he cannot. He will rather believe, as the Bible teaches, that he is “little lower than the angels.” For Jesus Christ has His inheritance in the souls of men made perfect in the fellowship of saints and angels. In drawing our meditation to a close, let me ask you to remember that as we think of progress we must also place alongside of it the lesson concerning deterioration. Progress is a thing of life; eternal progress, that which belongs to a life which can never die; yet we hear of a second death. (H. Calderwood, LL. D.)
The superiority of Christianity as shown in the glory of its supreme Head as Son of God
I. CHRIST AS THE SON OF GOD THE PROPHET OF CHRISTIANITY.
1. Notice the Divine authority of the Old Testament Scriptures.
2. Notice God’s gracious adaptations in qualifying His messengers to meet the demands of each age.
3. Notice the transcendent glory of Christianity.
II. CHRIST, AS SON OF GOD, UNIVERSAL PROPRIETOR.
1. His heirship is absolutely universal.
2. Christ’s universal ownership is used by Him for the highest moral and spiritual purposes.
3. This investment of Christ with all power is the all-sufficient encouragement of the Church.
III. CHRIST, AS SON OF GOD, SUPREME HEAD OF ALL DISPENSATIONS.
1. Christ has been the leader in every dispensation of the past.
2. Christ will be the leader of future dispensations (Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 7:24; Hebrews 7:28).
IV. CHRIST, AS SON OF GOD, THE REVEALER OF THE ETERNAL FATHER.
1. Christ reveals the supreme excellence of the Divine character in its totality.
2. Christ reveals the infinite perfections of the Divine nature in their individuality.
V. CHRIST, AS SON OF GOD, IS THE ALMIGHTY SUSTAINER OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE.
1. The absoluteness of His omnipotence is here set forth.
2. The ultimate triumph of Christianity is thus assured by virtue of the power of its glorious Head.
VI. CHRIST, AS SON OF GOD, THE WORLD’S REDEEMER.
1. Notice the personal suffering of Christ by which redemption was wrought.
2. The perfect character of the work.
3. The glorious reward received.
VII. CHRIST, AS SON OF GOD, INFINITELY SUPERIOR TO THE ANGELS.
1. By virtue of His Sonship (Hebrews 1:4-7).
2. By virtue of His Kingship (Hebrews 1:8-9).
3. By virtue of His Creatorship (Hebrews 1:10-12).
4. By virtue of His ultimate Mastership over all His enemies (Hebrews 1:13-14).
Lessons:
1. The unspeakable glory of Christianity.
(1) As seen in its being God’s last masterpiece.
(2) As seen in the glory of its Prophet, Priest, and King.
(3) As seen in its intimate object in bringing this fallen race into practical relations with God.
2. the unspeakable obligation the world is under to Christ through Christianity.
(1) In giving us the only true conception of God.
(2) In giving us the only true conception of the value of the soul.
(3) In giving us the only true conception of true manhood in its means and nature.
3. The unspeakable deadness to all that constitutes true moral excellence, seen in indifference to Christ, to Christianity, and to the privileges it offers. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The supreme glory of Christ
I. THAT CHRIST IS GOD.
1. The Lordship of Christ.
2. The Creatorship of Christ.
3. The Governorship of Christ.
II. THAT GOD IS MADE KNOWN IN CHRIST.
1. God is unknown out of Christ.
2. God is revealed in Christ.
(1) We can only know God in Christ.
(2) In Christ we know God as He is. Not indeed fully, but really, truly, blessedly.
III. THAT GOD IS MADE KNOWN IN CHRIST AS THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD. (The Metropolitan Pulpit.)
Of the Kingdom or Lordship of Christ
The grant of dominion in general unto the Messiah, is intimated in the first promise of Him Genesis 3:15). His victory over Satan was to be attended with rule, power, and dominion (Psalms 68:18; Isaiah 53:12; Ephesians 4:8-9; Colossians 2:15), and confirmed in the renewal of that promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17-18). For in Him it was that Abraham was to be heir of the world (Romans 4:13). His kingdom was fully revealed unto David, and is expressed by him (Psalms 2:1-12; Psalms 45:3-8; Psalms 89:19-24, &c., Psalms 72:6-9, &c., Psalms 110:1-3). As also in all the following prophets: see Isaiah 11:1-2; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 53:12; Isaiah 63:1-3; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Daniel 7:13-14, &c. As this was foretold in the Old Testament, so the accomplishment of it is expressly asserted in the New. Upon His birth, He is proclaimed to be Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11). And the first inquiry after Him is, “Where is He that is born King?” (Matthew 2:2; Matthew 2:6). And this testimony doth He give concerning Himself, namely, that all judgment was His, and therefore all honour was due unto Him (John 5:22-23). And that all things were delivered unto Him, or given into His hand (Matthew 11:25), yea, all power in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18), the thing pleaded for. Him who was crucified did God make both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:35-36), exalting Him at His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour (Acts 5:31). He is highly exalted, having a name given Him above every name Philippians 2:9-11), being set at the right hand of God in heavenly places, far above, &c. (Ephesians 1:20-22), where He reigns for ever 1 Corinthians 15:25), being the King of kings, and Lord of lords Revelation 5:12-14), for He is Lord of quick and dead (Romans 14:7-9). Thus is the Son made heir of all in general; we shall further consider His dominion in a distribution of the chief parts of it, and manifest His power severally in and over them all. He is Lord or Heir, παντων that is, of all persons and of all things. Persons, or rational subsistences here intended, are either angels or men; for it is evident that “He is exempted, who hath subjected all things unto Him” (1 Corinthians 15:27). Angels are of two sorts:
1. Such as abide doing the will of God, retaining that name by way of eminence.
2. Such as by sin have lost their first habitation, usually called evil angels, or devils.
The Lord Jesus hath dominion over all of both sorts of them. Men may be cast under one common distribution, which is comprehensive of all distinctions, either elect or reprobates. And the Lord Jesus hath rule and dominion over them all. Things that are subject unto the Lord Jesus, may be referred unto four heads: for they are either
1. Spiritual; or,
2. Ecclesiastical; or,
3. Political; or,
4. Natural. Again, Spiritual are either
(1) Temporal, as Grace, Gifts; or,
(2) Eternal, as Glory.
Ecclesiastical, or Church things, are either
1. Judaical, or Old Testament things; or,
2. Christian, or things of the New Testament.
Political and civil things may be considered as they are managed
1. By His friends;
2. His enemies.
Of natural things, we shall speak in a production of some particular instances to prove the general assertion. Those in the first place assigned as part of the inheritance of Christ are the angels, and the good angels in especial.
1. His pre-eminence above them is asserted by the apostle in verse 4. He is made better, more excellent than the angels.
2. As He is exalted above them, so by the authority of God the Father they are made subject unto Him (1 Peter 3:22).
3. They adore and worship Him; the highest act of obedience, and most absolute subjection. This they have in command (Hebrews 1:6).
4. They always attend His throne (Isaiah 6:1-2). Thus His lordship over angels is universal and absolute, and their subjection unto Him answerable thereunto.
The manner of the grant of this excellence, power, and dignity unto Him, must be further cleared in the opening of these words of the apostle (verse 4), “being made better than the angels”; the original right and equity of this grant, with the ends of it, are now only to be intimated.
1. The radical fundamental equity of this grant lies in His Divine nature; and in His creation of angels; over whom, as Mediator, He is made Lord.
2. It is founded in that establishment in the condition in which they were created, which they received by His interposition to recover what was lost by sin, and to preserve from ruin the untainted part of the creation.
And as this act of God in appointing Christ Lord of angels hath these equitable foundations, so it hath also sundry glorious ends.
1. It was as an addition unto that glory that was set before Him, in His undertaking to redeem sinners.
2. God hereby gathers up His whole family, at first distinguished by the law of their creation into two especial kinds, and then differenced and set at variance by sin, into one body under one head, reducing them that originally were twain, into one entire family (Ephesians 1:10).
3. The Church of mankind militant on the earth, whose conduct unto eternal glory is committed unto Christ, stands in need of the ministry of angels.
II. There is another sort of angels, those who “ by sin left their primitive station,” and fell off from God, of whom, and of their sin, fall, malice, business, craft in evil, and final judgment, the Scripture treateth at large. These belong not indeed to the possession of Christ, as He is the heir, but they belong unto His dominion as He is Lord. Though He be not a King and Head unto them, yet He is a Judge and Ruler over them.
1. As before, this right is founded in His Divine nature, by virtue whereof He is ἱακανος, fit for this dominion. He made these angels also, and therefore, as God, hath an absolute dominion over them.
2. The immediate and peculiar foundation of His right unto rule over fallen angels rendering the special grant of it equal and righteous, is lawful conquest. This gives a special right (Genesis 48:22). Now that Christ should conquer fallen angels was promised from the foundation of the Genesis 3:15). The ends of this lordship of Christ are various, as
(1) His own glory (Psalms 110:1).
(2) The safety of the Church (Matthew 16:18; Revelation 12:7-9).
(3) Exercise for their good
(a) By temptation (1 Peter 5:8-10).
(b) Persecution (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 12:10); both which He directs and regulates to their eternal advantage.
(4) The exercising of His vengeance on His stubborn enemies, whom these slaves to His righteous power seduce, blind, harden, provoke, ruin, and destroy (Revelation 12:15; Revelation 16:13-14; Psalms 106:1-48.).
III. All mankind (the second sort of intellectual creatures or rational subsistences) belong to the lordship and dominion of Christ.
1. He is Lord over all flesh (John 17:2), both living and dead Romans 14:9; Philippians 2:9-10).
2. Particularly He is Lord over all the elect.
1. They were given to Him from eternity in design and by compact, that they should be His peculiar portion, … and He their Saviour (John 17:2)
2. His grant is strengthened by redemption, purchase, and acquisition. This was the condition of the former grant (Isaiah 53:10-12), and this condition was made good by Him; so that His lordship is frequently asserted on this very account (1Co 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; John 10:15; John 11:52; Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 5:9).
3. Those thus given Him of the Father and redeemed by Him are of two sorts.
(1) Such as are actually called to faith in Him, and union with Him. These are further become His, upon many other especial accounts. They are His, in all relations of subjection, His children, servants, brethren, disciples, subjects, His house, His spouse.
(2) Some of them are always uncalled, and shall be so, until the whole number of them be completed and filled. But even before they are called they belong, on the former accounts, to His lot, care, and rule (John 10:6).
2. His lordship and dominion extends to the other sort of men also, namely, reprobates, and men finally impenitent. They are not exempted from that “all flesh” which He hath power over (John 17:2), nor from those“quick and dead” over whom He is Lord (Romans 14:9), nor from that “ world” which He shall judge (Acts 17:31). And there are two special grounds that are peculiar to them of this grant, and power, and authority over them.
(1) His interposition upon the entrance of sin against the immediate execution of the curse due to it, as befell the angels. This fixed the world under a dispensation of
(a) Forbearance and patience (Romans 2:4-5; Acts 17:30; Romans 9:22; Psalms 75:3).
(b) Goodness and mercy (Acts 14:16-17).
(2) He makes a conquest over them. It was promised that He should do so Genesis 3:15), and though the work itself prove long and irksome, though the ways of accomplishing it be to us obscure and oftentimes invisible, yet He hath undertaken it, and will not give it over, until they are every one brought to be His footstool (Psalms 110:1; 1 Corinthians 15:25). And the dominion granted Him on these grounds is
(a) Sovereign and absolute: His enemies are His footstool (Ps Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42; Act 2:34; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 1:13).
(b) Judiciary (John 5:22-23). As He hath power over their persons, so He hath regard unto their sins (Romans 14:9; Acts 17:3; Matthew 25:31). And this power He variously exerciseth over them, even in this world, before He gloriously exerts it in their eternal ruin. He exerciseth rule and dominion over them in providential dispensations Isaiah 63:1-4; Revelation 6:15-16; Revelation 19:13). By all which He makes way for the glory of His final judgment of them (Acts 17:3; Matthew 25:31; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10-15). And all this will He do to the ends
(i) Of His own glory.
(ii) The good exercise and safety of the church.
II. The second part of the heirship and dominion of Christ consisteth in His lordship over all things besides, which, added to the former, comprises the whole creation of God. In the distribution of these premised, the first that occur are spiritual things, which also are of two sorts
1. Temporal, or such as in this life we are made partakers of; and
2. Eternal, the things that are reserved for them that believe in the state of glory. The former may be reduced to two heads, for they are all of them either grace or gifts, and Christ is Lord of them all.
I. All that which comes under the name of grace in Scripture, which, flowing from the free and special love of God tends directly to the spiritual and eternal good of them on whom it is bestowed, may be referred to four heads. Now these are
1. Pardon of sin, and the free acceptance of the persons of sinners, in a way of mercy. This is grace (Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:5; Titus 3:7). And a saving effect and fruit of the covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:12).
2. The regenerating of the person of a dead sinner, with the purifying and sanctifying of his nature in a way of spiritual power. This also is grace, and is promised in the covenant, and there are three parts of it
(1) The infusion of a quickening principle into the soul of a dead sinner Romans 8:2; Titus 3:5; John 3:6; Ephesians 2:1-6).
(2) The habitual furnishing of a spiritually quickened soul, with abiding radical principles of light, love, and power, fitting it for spiritual obedience Galatians 5:17).
(3) Actual assistance in a communication of supplies of strength for every duty and work (Philippians 1:13; John 15:3).
3. Preservation in a condition of acceptance with God, and holy obedience to Him to the end, is also of especial grace. It is the grace of perseverance, and eminently included in the covenant.
4. Adoption as a privilege, with all the privileges that flow from it, is also Ephesians 1:5-6). All these, with all those inexpressible mercies that they branch themselves into, giving deliverance to sinners from evil, temporal and eternal; raising them to communion with God here, and to the enjoyment of Him for ever hereafter, are called grace; and do belong to the lordship of Christ, as He is Heir, Lord, and Possessor of them all. All the stores of this grace and mercy that are in heaven for sinners, are given into His hand, and resigned up to His sovereign disposal, as we shall intimate in general and particular.
1. In general (Colossians 1:19). There is a fourfold fulness in Christ
(1) Of the Deity in His Divine nature (Romans 9:5).
(2) Of union in His person (Colossians 2:9).
(3) Of grace in His human nature (John 1:14; John 3:34; Luke 2:52; Luke 4:1).
(4) An authoritative fulness to communicate of it unto others; that is the fulness here intended.
2. In particular
(1) All pardoning grace for the acceptance of our persons, and forgiveness of our sins, is His: He is the Lord of it (Acts 5:31).
(2) All regenerating, quickening, sanctifying, assisting grace is His John 5:21).
(3) The grace of our preservation in a state of acceptance with God, and obedience unto Him, is solely His (John 10:28). And so also
(4) Are all the gracious privileges whereof we are made partakers in our adoption (John 1:12; Hebrews 3:6). He is so Lord over the whole house and family of God, as to have the whole inheritance in His power, and the absolute disposal of all the good things belonging unto it.
II. All gifts that are bestowed on any of the sons of men, whereby they are differenced from others, or made useful unto others, belong also to the inheritance and kingdom of Christ. Gifts bestowed on men are either natural or spiritual, Natural gifts are special endowments of the persons or minds of men, in relation to things appertaining to this life; as wisdom, learning, skill and cunning in arts and sciences. I design only to show that even they also belong (though more remotely) to the lordship of Jesus Christ, which they do on two accounts
1. In that the very use of men’s reason, and their natural faculties, as to any good end or purpose, is continued to them upon the account of His interposition, bringing the world thereby under a dispensation of patience and forbearance, as was declared (John 1:9).
2. He is endued with power and authority to use them in whose hand soever they lie, whether of His friends or enemies, to the special ends of His glory, in doing good to His Church.
III. Spiritual gifts, which principally come under that denomination, are of two sorts--extraordinary and ordinary. The first are immediate endowments of the minds of men with abilities exceeding the whole system of nature, in the exercise whereof they are mere instruments of Him who bestows those gifts upon them. Such of old were the gifts of miracles, tongues, healing, prediction, and infallible inspiration, given out by the Lord Christ, unto such as He was pleased to use in His gospel service in an extraordinary manner. The ordinary gifts are the furniture of the minds of men, enabling them to comprehend spiritual things, and to manage them for spiritual ends and purposes. The end also why all these gifts are given into His power and disposal is evident.
1. The propagation of His gospel, and consequently the setting up of His kingdom in the world, depends upon them.
2. By these is His Church edified; and to that end doth He continue to bestow them on men, and will do so to the end of the world (1 Corinthians 12:7-14; Ephesians 4:8-13; Romans 12:6-8; 1 Peter 3:10-11; Colossians 2:19).
3. And by these means and ways is God glorified in Him and by Him, which is the great end of His lordship over all the gifts of the Spirit.
IV. To close our consideration of this part of the lordship of Christ, there remains only that we show Him to be the Lord of all spiritual and eternal things, which in one word we call glory. He is Himself the Lord of glory 2 Corinthians 2:4) and the Judge of all (John 5:25). In the discharge of which office He gives out glory as a reward unto His followers (Matthew 25:32; Romans 14:10). Glory is the reward that is with Him, which He will give out at the last day, as a crown (2 Timothy 4:8; John 17:2). And to this end that He might be Lord of it, He hath
1. Purchased it (Hebrews 2:10; Hebrews 9:12; Ephesians 1:14).
2. Taken actual possession of it in His own person (Luke 24:25; John 17:5; John 17:22; John 17:24). And that
3. As the forerunner on whom He will bestow it (Hebrews 9:20). And this is a short view of the lordship of Christ as to things spiritual.
V. Ecclesiastical things, or things that concern Church institutions, rule, and power, belong also unto His rule and dominion. He is the only Head, Lord, Ruler, and Lawgiver of His Church.
1. He was the Lord of the Old Testament Church-state, and He exercised His power and lordship towards it in four ways.
(1) In, and by its institution and erection; He made, framed, set up, and appointed that Church, state, and all the worship of God therein observed.
(2) As its lawgiver, by prescribing to it when erected, a complete rule and form of worship and obedience, to which nothing might be added Deuteronomy 7:4; Deuteronomy 7:12; Deu 7:32).
(3) By way of reformation, when it was collapsed and decayed Zechariah 2:8; Malachi 3:13).
(4) By way of amotion, or taking down what He Himself had set up, because it was so framed and ordered as to continue only for a season Hebrews 9:10; Deuteronomy 18:16-18; Haggai 2:6-7; Isaiah 65:17-18; 2 Peter 3:13).
2. Of the New Testament evangelical Church-state also, He is the only Lord and Ruler; yea, this is His proper kingdom, on which all other parts of His dominion do depend; for He is given to be “Head over all things unto the Church” (Ephesians 1:22).
(1) He is the foundation of this Church-state (1 Corinthians 3:11), the whole design and platform of it being laid in Him, and built upon Him.
(2) He erects this Church-state upon Himself (Matthew 16:18).
(3) He gives laws and rules of worship and obedience unto it, when so built by Himself and upon Himself (Matthew 28:18; Acts 1:2; Hebrews 3:2-6).
(4) Is the everlasting, constant, abiding Head, Ruler, King, and Governor Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 2:19; Hebrews 3:6; Revelation 2:3).
VI. He is Lord also of political things. All the governments of the world that are set up and exercised therein for the good of mankind, and the preservation of society according to rules of equity and righteousness; over all these, and those who in and by them exercise rule and authority amongst men, is He Lord and King. He alone is the absolute potentate; the highest on the earth are in a subordination unto Him. That
1. He was designed unto (Psalms 89:27). And accordingly He is
2. Made Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:16; 1 Timothy 6:15). And
3. He exerciseth dominion answerable unto His title (Revelation 6:16; Revelation 17:14; Revelation 18:16-20; Psalms 2:8-9; Isaiah 60:1-22.; Micah 5:7-9). And
4. Hath hence right to send His gospel into all nations in the world, attended with the worship by Him prescribed (Matthew 28:18; Psalms 2:9-12), which none of the rulers or governors of the world have any right to refuse or oppose, nor can so do, but upon their utmost peril. And
5. All kingdoms shall at length be brought into a professed subjection to Him and His gospel, and have all their rule disposed of unto the interest of His Church and saints (Daniel 7:27; Isaiah 60:12; Revelation 19:16-19).
VII. The last branch of this dominion of Christ consists in the residue of the creation of God; heaven and earth, sea and land, wind, trees, and fruits of the earth, and the creatures of sense, as they are all put under His feet Psalms 8:7-8; Ephesians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 15:27), so the exercise of His power severally over them is known from the story of the gospel. (John Owen, D. D.)
Heir of all
I. THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE POSITION.
II. MADE BY THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE AUTHORITY,
III. A TREMENDOUS CONTRAST WITH CHRIST’S EARTHLY CONDITION.
IV. THE POSSIBLE EXALTATION OF HUMAN NATURE.
V. THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Homilist.)
Of Christ the heir
The apostle here sets out the dignity of Christ under this title heir rather than Lord, as Acts 2:36.
1. To give proof of that relation which he noted before that Christ was truly and properly a Son, for He was the heir.
2. To show the perpetuity thereof; for the heir ever abideth in the house Genesis 21:10; John 8:35).
3. To manifest the right that we have to be adopted sons and heirs John 8:36). “If the Son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed.” In this respect we are styled “Joint-heirs with Christ.” This dignity of Christ to be heir is further amplified by the extent thereof in these words, “of all things.” (W. Gouge.)
Heir of all things
Christ is this moment Lord of all the laws that govern material things; and is cognizant of the most elaborate as well as the most simple movements in the world of matter. His comprehensive vision surveys the whole, from the migrations of an atom to the swift revolutions of the most magnificent celestial planets. And He is Lord of all the principles that govern men and all rational beings; therefore He is heir to all the thoughts of men and angels. He has already received a grand return, in the form of the best thoughts and imaginations of the noblest and most illustrious intellects of the past and the present; and as the influence of the fine and ennobling thoughts of past ages grows and spreads amongst men, there will be an increase in the measure of fruit which Christ, as “heir of all things,” will receive from that source. He is heir to the affections of all men. There is not a heart beating at this instant in any human breast but should be setting its affections on Christ as its greatest, truest, and best friend. And, undoubtedly, the day is known to Him when all rational beings will be actuated by pure gospel principles; when all the thoughts and affections of humanity will be fixed upon Himself as the true heir to them all. The spring is heir to all the wealth of foliage in park, grove, and forest, when “all the trees on the hills open their thousand leaves.” How charming is the product of spring; its fresh inimitable green, so soothing to the eye and refreshing to the senses generally, after the darkness and barrenness of winter. Summer is heir to all the blossoms of the valleys, hills, meadows, and gardens of the world. What riches in bewitching colours, in forms of exquisite beauty, in floating fragrance, belong to the summer; its riches are verily unsearchable, suggestive of inexhaustible wealth in the Giver of them all, and certainly of infinite wisdom. The treasures of the floral world, how extensive they are I Autumn is heir to the vast wealth of fruit that is found in every part of the earth; its splendid thankoffering for the sunshine, rain, and dew which have so unstintingly been given to it during the year; and a noble offering it is. How very poor is the richest of men if compared with a rich autumn. Peter says that when God raised Christ from the dead, He made Him “both Lord and Christ”; and that “He is Lord of all.” He is “ heir of all things”; we understand “all things” to include all persons and things in the most unlimited sense (John 3:35; Matthew 28:18). All the angels of God are subject to Him, and are come to worship Him: the saints whom tie hath redeemed are His special heritage--His peculiar people. He is the heir and the dispenser of all spiritual blessings. (D. Rhys Jenkins.)
Heir of all things
A great king once said to a favourite, “Ask what thou wilt, and I will give it thee.” He thought,” If I ask to be made general of all the army, I shall get it; if for great riches of half the kingdom, I will gain it; but I will ask for what will give me all these.” So he said to the king, “Give me thy daughter to wife.” This made him heir to all the wealth and honours of the kingdom. So he who chooses Christ becomes an heir to all the wealth and glory of the Father’s kingdom.
By whom also He made the worlds
The creation of the ages
“Created the ages”--not the “ worlds,” which gives a false impression of the author’s meaning; for this clause does not describe an original creation of the material world of space (Cosmos), but the Divine exercise of a creative energy in the successive worlds of time (AEons). The term “ages” includes the idea of time and of the action that takes place in time; and the power by which God through the Son has shaped the course of life and action in the successive ages of man’s existence is regarded as a creation. For the Scriptural conception of creation did not consist in bringing matter into existence out of nothing, but in the infusion of life and motion by the moving of the Spirit of God on the face of the waters into matter which had previously existed as a waste void. (F. Rendall, M. A.)
The agency of the Divine Father and Son
The Father is said to do this and that by the Son for these reasons
1. To give proof of the distinction of Persons.
2. To set out the order of the Persons--the Father first, the Son second.
3. To declare their manner of working--the Father by the Son, and the Son from the Father (Genesis 19:24).
4. To show the consent of the distinct Persons, Father and Son.
5. To demonstrate the identity of the essence of Father and Son; that both are one Divine nature and essence, in that the same Divine work is attributed to both. This consequence is inferred upon a like ground John 5:17-18). As the Father is here said to make the worlds by His Son, so of God in reference to the Son indefinitely it is said, “By whom are all things” (Hebrews 2:10). The Son therefore is here declared to be true God. (W. Gouge)
The glory of the Son
And who may be this Son, who in the last days it is declared hath brought us speech of God? Read the Scripture in immediate connection (Hebrews 1:1; Hebrews 1:3). Possession--has He anything? Achievement--has He done anything? Character--is He anything? Position--is He where He can do anything?--these are the four great and universal tests of worth and power. To this Son, by whom, in these last days, God hath spoken to us, our Scripture applies these searching and settling tests of possession, achievement.
I. Behold the glory of this Son in the light of His Possession. “Whom He hath appointed heir of all things.” I spent a very interesting day in rambling through the vast naval station at Portsmouth, England. There were huge ironclads floating in the harbour, of enormous force of engines, and armament of thunderous guns; there were huge skeletons of iron ships upon the stocks in process of construction; there were almost miles of streets of anchors so strong and great it looked as though the nethermost rocks must give before their mighty flukes would break; there were circling piles of iron cables, every link of which seemed massive enough to hold against the stoutest storm; there were pyramids of balls and shells, and long, high armouries bursting with weapons; there were machine shops almost innumerable, and multitudinous piles of cordage, and immensities of things of every sort needed for a naval station of a world-including empire. And on every iron plank, and ball, and tool, and gate-post even, was stamped the broad arrow; and twisted into every bit of cordage there was the red line, marking and betokening the ownership of the sovereign. Everything was hers, and the sign of the sovereign’s ownership was written upon everything. It may not be so plainly seen; it may look dimmed sometimes even to the clearest vision of our faith, but, more really, deeply, indestructibly there is stamped upon the “ all things” which go to make up this universe the sign of their possession by the Son of God. God hath appointed Him heir of all things.
1. All the moneyed wealth of the world is the Son’s. In a real way Jesus Christ is possessor of the money of the world.
2. Of the mighty enterprises of the world Jesus Christ is possessor. They are all seen to hold most real relation to the advance of His kingdom--the invention of printing.
3. To the great natural forces of the world, already discovered and to be discovered, Jesus Christ has title--e.g., railroads, telegraphs, swift communications between continents all these are being laid hold of for the widening of Christ’s kingdom.
4. And on the thinking of the world the grasp of the Son’s possession is also placed. After all, the thought which gets its inspiration from the Bible is the thought that leads.
5. Even upon the wickedness and infidelity of the world Jesus Christ has grasp. Somehow He will compel these to lend ministry to His purpose.
6. And of all the unknown forces in farthest suns, stars, planets, the Son is in possession. God hath appointed Him of all things the heir.
II. Behold the glory of this Son in the light of His ACHIEVEMENT. Three things, the Scripture here declares, this Son, by whom in these lust days God hath spoken unto us, has achieved
1. Creation.
2. Upholding. “And upholding all things by the word of His power.” “In Him all things consist”--stand together.
3. Redemption. “When He had by Himself purged our sins.”
III. Behold the glory of this Son in the light of His CHARACTER. “Who, being the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person.”
IV. Behold the glory of this Son in the light of His POSITION. “Sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High.” In view of the glory of this Son, see
1. The folly of expecting a farther revelation. He is the Father’s utmost revelation.
2. The folly of the thought of any other way of salvation than this Son’s way.
3. The wonder that Christians should not more appreciate the honour of confession and service of this Son.
4. The certainty of this Son’s triumph. He who by faith and self-surrender allies himself with this Son is on the winning side of things.
The world moderately admired as God’s workmanship
1. The world is of God’s making, therefore it is to be highly esteemed of us. The Tabernacle was of Bezaleel’s making, that was furnished with all skill and wisdom, therefore the more regarded by the Israelites; the Temple was of Solomon’s malting, the wisest man that ever was, therefore in that respect more honoured by the Jews. A picture of Apelles’ making would be in great request. The world is the glorious workmanship of God Almighty, therefore to be admired of us all. If a stranger be in a boat on the Thames he cannot but wonder at the brave buildings that be situate on it. Shall we pass through this famous frame, and super-excellent building of this world set up by God Himself, and not wonder at the wisdom, power, and goodness of God that made it? We see what a goodly coat the earth hath; Solomon in all his royalty was not so clothed as it. We see the sun in the firmament, the moon, the stars--God Almighty’s candles--birds of the air, beasts of the field, fishes of the sea, the admirable work of our own bodies, yet they do not make us almost to think of God. The Gentiles had no book but this to look upon, yet it left them without excuse. Let us all behold God, even in the creation of the world.
2. Though the world be a worthy work, and that of God’s making, yet let us not admire it too much; as there was a time when it was set up, so there is a time when it shall be pulled down. The disciples stood gazing on the Temple, wondering at the workmanship of it; but Christ told them that one stone should not be left upon another. This world is but an inn, wherein we take up a night s lodging. If thou comest to an inn, be it never so fair, wilt thou always continue there? Nay, thou wilt leave the inn, and make haste to thy house, though it be nothing so beautiful as the inn. Remember that this world is but an inn, be it never so goodly a piece of work. Hasten to that house that is made without hands, eternal in the heavens. (W. Jones, D. D.)
The brightness of His glory.--
Deity and atonement of Christ
I. Consider what is said of the person of Christ, PREVIOUS TO HIS BECOMING OUR SAVIOUR. He is “the brightness of the Father’s glory, the express image of His person, and He upholds all things by the word of His power.” If this be not descriptive of His being truly God, it is not in the power of language to convey such an idea. The antecedent glory of Christ is a subject on which the Scriptures delight to dwell, as may be seen in various passages (Micah 5:2; John 1:1-3; 1 John 1:1-2).
1. Christ is here called the brightness of the Father’s glory. Christ is not the Father, yet there is such an equality that He is emphatically “ the brightness of His glory.” It is also through Him that the glory of the Divine nature is revealed and made manifest. God made the world by Him, and by Him He saved it; the Lord Jesus is therefore the shining forth of all this glory.
2. He is the express image of His person, the image of the invisible God Colossians 1:15). There is not an attribute or a feature in the character of the Father but what is also in the Son. Here is likewise a personal distinction consisting with a oneness of nature, and without any other subordination than that which is relative, as between a Father and a Son.
3. Christ upholdeth all things by the word of His power. Nothing can be more expressive of His Godhead, for this is claimed as the special prerogative of God alone (Psalms 75:3).
II. Observe what is said of HIS WORK IN UNDERTAKING THE OFFICE OF A PRIEST. “He by Himself purged our sins.”
1. The efficacy of His sacrifice--“He purged our sins.”
The term alludes to the ceremonial cleansings under the law, which were effected by sacrificial blood (Hebrews 9:22). Hence David prayed Psalms 51:7). Our being cleansed by the blood of Christ is the substance of all these typical purifications (1 John 1:7; 1 John 1:9). By His death He removed the penal effects of sin, and through the application of it by faith, the conscience is purified. The gospel therefore connects repentance and remission of sins, and proclaims forgiveness amongst all nations Luke 24:47).
2. The ground or reason of this efficacy--“He by Himself purged our sins.” When the Scriptures speak of Christ’s miracles, they usually ascribe them to the authority of the Father, rather than the divinity of the Son. So also in His sufferings He was succoured by the ministry of angels, and upheld by the power of God, seeing He had taken upon Him the form of a servant, which required that He should act in subordination to Him that sent Him (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 49:8). But the Scriptures as uniformly ascribe the efficacy of His sacrifice to the divinity of His person, as giving value and virtue to His sufferings (1 John 1:7).
III. THE EXALTATION WHICH FOLLOWED UPON HIS OFFERING HIMSELF AS A SACRIFICE FOR US. “He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
1. By “right hand of God” is meant the first place in His favour. In all things He is to have the preeminence, for He is before all things, and by Him all things consist (Colossians 1:17-18).
2. This is mentioned as an honour which became Him. Conscious that He had done the will of God, and finished the work which He had given Him to do, the Lord Jesus took the place which belonged to Him. He sat down on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him (1 Peter 3:22). While all in heaven cry, Thou art worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing (Revelation 5:12).
IMPROVEMENT.
1. Seeing that God hath provided for us an all-sufficient Saviour, let us learn to trust Him, and to call upon His holy name, remembering that there is salvation in no other (John 3:35; Acts 2:21; Acts 4:12).
2. We see the way in which our sires are to be expiated and removed; not by tears or sufferings of our own, but by the precious blood of Christ, and that alone. Nevertheless sin must be confessed, or it cannot be forgiven 1 John 1:9).
3. The exaltation of Christ, as the reward of His humiliation, is to us a source of great encouragement. He is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and the remission of sins; and is able to save all that come unto God by Him.
4. The conduct of Christ in doing and suffering the will of God, and then entering into His glory, is given as an example for our imitation Hebrews 12:2). (Theological Sketch-Book.)
Christ the brightness of God’s glory
No resemblance taken from any other creature can more fully set out the mutual relation between the Father and the Son. For
1. The brightness issuing from the sun is of the same nature that the sun is.
2. It is of as long continuance as the sun; never was the sun without the brightness of it.
3. This brightness cannot be separated from the sun; the sun may as well be made no sun as have the brightness thereof severed from it.:4. This bright-Hess is from the sun, not the sun from it.:5. This brightness cometh naturally and necessarily from the sun, not voluntarily and at pleasure.
6. The sun and the brightness are distinct each from other, the one is not the other.
7. All the glory of the sun is in this brightness.
8. The light which the sun giveth to the world is by this brightness. How distinctly doth this metaphor set out the great mysteries of our Christian faith concerning God the Father and Son.
For they are
1. Of one and the same essence (John 10:30).
2. Co-eternal (John 1:1).
3. Inseparable (Proverbs 8:30).
4. The Son is from the Father; God of God, light of light, very God of very God.
5. The Son is begotten of the Father, by nature, not by will, favour, or good pleasure (Romans 8:7; Romans 8:32).
6. The person of the one is distinct from the other; for the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father (John 5:17).
7. The incomprehensible glory of the Father most brightly shineth forth in the Son (John 17:5).
8. All that the Father doth in relation to creatures He doth by the Son. As in these respects Christ is fitly and justly styled brightness, so in regard of His surpassing excellency He is said to be the brightness of glory. Of the Hebrew and Greek words translated glory. Glory attributed to a thing in the Hebrew dialect importeth the surpassing excellency thereof; as a crown of glory (Proverbs 16:31), a throne of glory (Jeremiah 17:12), a name of glory (Isaiah 63:14), a most excellent and glorious crown, throne, and name. Thus to set out the surpassing excellency, and most glorious majesty of God, He is styled the God of glory (Acts 7:2), the Father of glory (Ephesians 1:17). And His Son, the Lord of glory, the King of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8; Psalms 24:7). Never was any brightness like to the brightness here mentioned; well therefore might it, in regard of the excellency of it, be styled brightness of glory. (W. Gouge.)
The glory of Christ
The apostle hath taught that our Saviour Christ, the Son of God, hath been once sent unto us, an eternal Prophet, to teach us all things which God hath done for our salvation, and through the preaching of the gospel to sanctify us all unto Him; that Him alone we should acknowledge to be our leader unto eternal life. Now the apostle beginneth to prove this singular glory to belong only to Christ, which He doth by setting out a full description of Him, in which, as I said, He proveth Him to be eternal God.
1. By His rule over all creatures (Hebrews 1:2).
2. By the glory of His own person.
3. By His great power.
4. By His benefit bestowed upon us.
5. By His glory purchased to Himself (Hebrews 1:3).
6. By comparison with angels (Hebrews 1:4).
The rule of Christ over all creatures He showeth in this: that He is heir of all, and created all. By heir of all, meaning how in the person of a mediator He hath restored all, as in the person of the Son He was the wisdom of God to make all. And therefore called the heir, because He restored not the world, but by redeeming it, and purchasing it unto Himself, according as God the Father had given it to be a recompense unto His work; in which respect it is said that God appointed Him heir of all things. This our Saviour taught us (Matthew 23:28; John 16:15). The apostle addeth the second note of this authority. That by Him the world was made; by the world meaning all things in heaven, earth, and under the earth. For so St. John addeth to this testimony, “And without Him nothing was made, whatsoever was made.” Then if all creatures were made by Him, Himself was uncreate, and only Creator of all that is, that we might boldly give Him the glory of the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
2. The second thing wherein Christ is here exalted is the glory of His person.
(1) That He is the brightness of His Father’s glory, which title is absolutely given Him, as essential unto the Son of God, not only before us, but even before His Father; that as all the properties of the Godhead have their being in the person of the Father, so the brightness and beauty of them is in the person of the Son, and so this name was proper to Him before the world was made; noting that eternally He was of the Father. In which sense St. John calleth Him the word, not according to the time in which creatures have been, but an essential word before all creatures.
(2) The second thing here attributed to Him is, that He is the ingraven form of the person of His Father; noting hereby the unity of substance, as in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. Even as St. Paul doth also call Him the image of God, distinguishing Him by this name from all shadows and figures, like as this apostle useth the word in the tenth chapter. And here expressly he addeth ingraven, above all the figures in the law, the ephod, the Urim, or the ark itself, showing the excellency that is in Christ.
3. The third title of honour here given unto Christ is of the greatness of His power, and that is that He beareth up all things with His mighty word. In this also it is assured that He is very God, the stay and strength of the world, without whose hand all things would fall into confusion.
4. He extolleth the person of Christ by the greatness of His benefits bestowed upon man, in these words, “By Himself having purged our sins,” put in here as a parenthesis, because it showeth the way how Christ purchased that excellent dignity to sit at the right hand of His Father, whereof after he speaketh. In that he saith purged our sins expressly he warranteth His Godhead, for what creature could have done so excellent a work?
5. The thing wherein Christ is here extolled is the high dignity which He hath gotten, in these words, He sitteth on the right hand of high majesty; noting hereby that God the Father hath taken Him up into His glory, so that He sitteth in power and majesty equal with His Father; and this is plain, in that He calleth it, the right hand of highest majesty. And the Scripture showeth this end of it, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool; showing that this is the power of God in Him, to sit at the right hand of God. Now a little further we will examine the words and apply them more particularly to our instruction. In that it is said first, God made Him heir of all, so that we see how these words of the apostle have every way their weight, to prove that Christ is the Son of God, the King of His people, God and man, mediator between God and us. We must learn of ourselves we have nothing, but being ingrafted in Him we are owners of all things. I may have from man my warrant here in earth that my house is mine, and my land is mine, and he is a thief and a robber that taketh it from me. But all the men in the world cannot give me my possession before the living God, but only His Son Christ, who is heir of all; and I am a thief and a robber if before God I claim any other right in it. Then, that our lands may be our own, our goods our own, our servants, our wives, our children ours, let us be Christ’s, that in Him we may have the good assurance of all our substance. And where it is further said, All things were made by Christ, we may boldly conclude that no man hath power over His creatures, but they must serve their Creator. What have I to do with another man’s work? God hath appointed His creatures a use; in it they are holy. It thou wilt set them another law thou profanest thyself in them. Further, in that it is said, that Christ is the brightness of glory, and ingraven form of the substance of His Father. Let us mark well why the apostle thus magnifieth the person of Christ. For no other cause but to warrant unto us the truth of His word, that He is our prophet and we must believe Him. Again it is said, He beareth up all things with His mighty word. Where, we must mark, he attributeth to God’s mighty power the governance of all things in our sight, either great or small, that we should learn not to measure the power of God by our weak senses. It is His mighty power that upholdeth the earth, that stretcheth out the heavens, that sendeth forth the winds, that raiseth on high the great waves of the sea, and these things we confess are great and mighty; but as it is here, so everywhere the mighty power of God maketh the feather to move, and His strong arm leadeth the fly in her way, and the same force which now shaketh a leaf, if He had sent it against a mountain it would have turned it up from the foundations; and the same strength that bloweth up the dust, if it came against the earth, it would shake the bottoms of it. And this should make us fear before Him, that whatsoever He hath done, whether it seem great or little, we should confess His handiwork, and according to His greatness so we should honour Him, that whatsoever He hath commanded, whether it seem weighty or light, all our obedience should be straight unto it. It followeth, by Himself He hath purged our sins. I do not doubt but you know how Christ hath purged our sins, and the more you know it I am sure you are the more glad to hear it. And because He saith by Himself He purged our sins, in this we see a clear discharge given to the tabernacle, and all the sacrifices at the door of it, not one of them purged sin. Now where it followeth in the apostle’s words, “That He sitteth at the right hand of high majesty,” we must first mark the change of words. Where it is usually said, He sitteth on the right hand of God; here he saith on the right hand of the highest majesty, which is, as it were, an interpretation of the right hand of God, signifying nothing else but the power and glory of God, given unto the person of the Mediator, according to that saying of Paul, “God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above all names.” (E. Doering, B. D.)
The glory of Christ
It is of the incarnate Son of God that the apostle speaks; and showing unto us His glory, he leads us, in the first place, to the end of all history.
1. He is appointed the heir of all things.
2. To the beginning of all history, in Him God made the ages.
3. Before all history, He is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His being.
4. Throughout all history He upholdeth all things by the word of His power.
1. The end of all history. The Father has appointed the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, the heir of all things. Him, the Son of Abraham and the Son of David, the theocratic Son, the Messiah; not in His abstract Deity, but as the Son who became man; as the Word made flesh; as the Son who became the servant to fulfil all Jehovah’s good pleasure. “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands.” According to His deity there is no necessity for any gift, reward, or transfer. According to His deity incarnate, the Messiah, in the everlasting covenant, is appointed heir, and all things are given into His hand. What are these “all things”? It is clear that there is nothing excepted that is not given unto Him. So said the risen Saviour
“All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth.” In His intercessory prayer before His sufferings-He had said, “Thou hast given Him power over all flesh.” This is the first thing. The whole human race is given unto Him. And out of this whole human race, which belongs unto Him by eternal right, and by the right of His perfect and holy humanity, by the right of His unspeakable love, and of His death, God has chosen in Him a people, that the Son should give eternal life to “as many as Thou hast given Him.” And this Church Jesus Christ has obtained as the first and central part of His inheritance. As the material sun is placed in the firmament to be a source of light and heat and joy unto the rest of the creation of God, so God appoints the Church to be the first-fruits of His creatures--the body of Christ, wherewith He influences and blesses, whereby He guides and controls all things. And the material creation which God hath made in Jesus Christ He hath also given unto His Son, that Jesus, through the glorified Church, and by the angels in heavenly places, as well as through Israel and the nations dwelling on earth, should be glorified in the whole realm, which is His portion and His inheritance. How rich is our adorable Jesus!
2. All things are His. And this is so natural; because, in the second place, God has made “all ages,” or “all worlds,” by Him. It is natural that He who is the Alpha should also be the Omega. He is before all things (not merely as before and above time, but) as the idea and cause of all things. He is that eternal wisdom of which we read in the book of Proverbs, which was with God before the foundations of the world were laid. God has made all things by Christ according to Christ, and for Christ. What more natural, then, that He by whom and in whom all things were made should be also the inheritor of all things?
3. But the apostle goes still further. Before all history He is “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His being.” Wherever he looks he sees Christ, the light. Without Christ there is darkness. Think of the end of history, and you are lost in amazement; think of the beginning of the world, and you are lost in ignorance; think of before the beginning, and you are altogether lost in an element transcendent and incomprehensible, because it is not for our finite minds to contemplate such wondrous heights until the heavenly, Divine light of revelation comes to our aid. And who is the light? Christ is the light. The eternal, infinite God reveals Himself in Christ. The Son is the light, which maketh manifest; God is manifest in Him. Christ is “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His being.” In Jesus we behold infinite power, wisdom, goodness, holiness, compassion, truth. All things that are in the Father are in the Son. It is as the Son that the eternal life, which was with the Father, was manifested unto us. He who declares unto us God, whom none hath seen, the Word, is God (John 1:1-51.), He is truth, substance; and the beloved disciple testifies of Him: He is the true God and eternal life.
4. And as the Lord Jesus is the heir, the end and consummation of all things and the beginning of all things, and the eternal Word before all things, the apostle tells us that throughout the course of history, in providence, He beareth all things with the word of His power. He is the inherent energy, truth and beauty of all things. He is as it were the spirit, the symmetry, the logic and substance of all that exists. By Him princes rule and senators decree justice. In Him every truth is rooted. By ‘Him everything that is firm stands. By Him all things are continued; for He is the Word of God--the expression of the eternal thoughts and truths of the Most High. Christ is Lord of all. The whole universe centres in Him. There shall be again wonders and signs in the heavens when the Son of man shall come in power. And both science and revelation teach us to look forward to a new earth. It is the Lord Jesus who shall make all things new. And all developments are borne up and moved by the word of His power. Now, when the apostle has given us this idea of the wonderful glory of the Lord Jesus, he continues by stating something still more marvellous. Why has this glorious being, in whom all things are summed up, and who is before all things the Father’s delight and the Father’s glory, come down to our poor earth? For what purpose? To shine? To show forth the splendour of His majesty? To teach heavenly wisdom? To rule by His just and holy might? No! He came to purge our sins. What height of glory I what depth of abasement! What a glorious Lord I And what an awful sacrifice of unspeakable love, to purge our sins by Himself! The manner and power of this purification form the subject of this whole Epistle. But in this short expression, “By Himself He purged our sins,” all is summed up. By Himself: the Son of God, the eternal Word in humanity. Himself: the priest who is sacrifice, yea, altar, and everything that is needed for full and real expiation and reconciliation. (A. Saphir.)
Christ the sunbeam of the Father’s glory
The sun is presented to us here as the emblem of the Father; the radiation proceeding from it, the emblem of Jesus Christ. Now this is well adapted to meet many a cavil which unbelief may call up against the absolute Godhead of Christ. It is asked, for instance, does not the relationship of Father and Son imply that the Father existed before the Son; and if so, is the Son eternal? Again: was the existence of the Son at all dependent upon the will of the Father? and if so, where is the self-existence, the “I am,” which is a property of Godhead? Now, St. Paul’s words in the text teach us, first, that the expressions, Father and Son, are employed, in consideration of our infirmities, to give us some idea of the relationship between two persons in the Trinity, but that we are to lay aside everything that is gross or earthly in contemplating this heavenly connection, retaining only the idea of the one being identical in existence and proceeding from the other. They the, put before us an image, calculated to enlarge and purify our view of this simple truth. There is the sun m the firmament, no unfitting type of God the Father; the sun of the great system that He has called into being, the author of light and life, both physical and spiritual! But in what way does the sun communicate with the different parts and provinces of his subject system? by his rays--the ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης--the brightness of his glory, the radiation proceeding from the central and substantial mass of light, that travels far and wide into the realms of space, and floods our universe with beauty and brilliance. And what are the rays? Now mark how the particular truths of Christ’s Godhead are all shut up in this emblem. The rays of the sun are of the very same substance with the sun; thus representing to us the perfect unity of substance between Christ and His Father. The rays are generated by the sun, and yet they are coeval with the sun: the first moment of the sun’s existence saw him scattering his rays into space around him. So Christ was the only-begotten of the Father, and yet co-eternal with the Father; the everlasting past, that has never been without the presence of the Father, having never likewise been without the radiated effulgence of Christ. But we have not yet exhausted our emblem. It has helped us to gather at least an idea of the pre-existent relationship of Christ to His heavenly Father. Now we shall see how it holds good in reference to, and illustration of, His present relationship to ourselves. The sun communicates, by its rays, with various other worlds besides our own; but in the case of ours alone, so far as we know, does it experience anything like difficulty or obstruction. Thus God communicates, by His Son, with the different provinces of His intellectual dominions; and everywhere He meets with a welcome worthy of the character He bears and the blessings He bestows. But when He sought to make His way to this earth of ours, there was a cloud to be penetrated, a dark and dense mass of noxious vapour exhaled from the moral corruption below. Yet not for that was the sunbeam of the Divine glory to be thwarted in its course. It had undertaken a mission to earth; it had undertaken to burst through the barrier, make the homes of men bright with a visitation from an hitherto offended and enclouded God. And those among us who have, on some doubtful day, watched the battle between sunshine and storm for the mastery, will surely grant that it affords no unapt emblem of the great spiritual conflict which decided whether our day of gloom were to deepen into everlasting night, or be followed by a morning of “clear shining after rain.” The hosts of darkness marshalled all their strength, and the solitary sunbeam seemed to be struggling, not for power, but for existence among them; nay, for a little season they closed over it, and it was hidden from the view of man, and, to all appearance, obliterated and extinguished. But again it bursts brightly forth; it manifests its indestructible nature; it manifests its prevailing power. And what is the consequence and the result to earth? Is there nothing more than the shedding down of light, thus revealing more clearly the barrenness of the moral landscape? Oh no! The sunbeam of the Father’s glory has a fertilising, as well as an enlightening power. “The wilderness and the solitary place are glad for it; and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose.” Yet, observe, He has not altogether chased the clouds from our sky. He might have done it; blot in our peculiar condition, He knew them to be necessary for the fulfilment of His gracious designs. Sunshine and rain, in due proportions, bring to maturity the natural productions of the soil. And some tears, ay, and some temptations, alternating, with bright intervals of spiritual joy and consolation, give sweetness and ripeness to all those fruits of righteousness, which are, by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God. Again, observe how strikingly the relative condition and office of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is represented by this emblem. The Father’s place, like that of the celestial luminary, is in the highest heavens. Nothing that takes place below affects His condition. He sits in supreme majesty, in the midst of His own uncreated brightness. But it is by Jesus Christ, the ray proceeding from the central glory, that He visits us. Once more. The rays are the only means whereby we obtain an idea of the existence, the form, or the nature of the sun. No man ever saw the sun. We see a picture of the sun, wrought by the rays upon the retina of the eye. Just in the same manner, “no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” It is only in His light that we can see light. The infinitude of God’s power, the purity of His holiness, and inflexibility of His justice, the excellence of His wisdom, the height, and length, and breadth, and depth of His love,--what should we have known of all, or any, of these attributes, but from beholding them embodied and illustrated in the person and character of Christ? And, observe, this knowledge is not purely speculative; for as the ray throws upon the human eye the very image of the sun, so we, “beholding as in a glass (i.e., through the medium of Christ’s humanity)
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory.” (T. E.Hankinson, M. A.)
The outflashing glory of the Son of God
The original word is formed from a word which signifies” to flash out.” It may be interpreted accordingly as an “outflashing:” The glory of God is as light, and the Son is as its flash forth into view. You will get the idea if you conceive an intense light enclosed in a dark lantern; which is suddenly opened so that the rays dart out into the surrounding blackness. The flash is not something different from the light, but the light let out of limits and acting on the darkness. The Son of God is not represented as uncovering the glory of the Father. He is not the mere hand which draws the slide of the lantern so that the light breaks through. He is the light. It is not said of Him, “who” disclosing or showing, but “who being the brightness of His glory.” Expanding the idea, the ancient creed declared Him “light of light,” “very God of very God.” (J. T. Duryea, D. D.)
God as light
1. God is often called Light, because this bodily and visible light is glorious, and in several respects resembles that eternal glorious essence of God.
2. Here God is said to have light or glory, not that glory or light is an accident in God, but because He is said to have that which He is.
3. The similitude here used is taken not from accidental but substantial light, as the same s said to be a light. Purity, beauty, delectability in light teach us something of Him. (G Lawson.)
The dignity of Christ
I. THE DIGNITY OF HIS NATURE.
1. “The brightness of His glory.” The figure that comes to our minds immediately-the sun in firmament. Flood of light that pours down from it. All the dazzling glory of the Father pours down to us in the Son. In Him you may find all that is adorable in the Divine nature.
2. “Express image of His person.” Here we come to a deeper mystery. Just as I know something of light of sun, but nothing of hidden nucleus. So I may know something of the glory of God. But what do I know of God Himself?--substance, essence, being. And this is what the apostle means by the word translated “person.” Substance--essence--being would better convey his idea. Take the words if you will, “The express image of God’s substance.” The apostle teaches--You have that in Christ. Just as when you take your seal, and press it carefully on yielding wax. There on the wax you shall find the express image of your seal. No line, however deep or however faint or graceful, but see its likeness there. So in Christ you have the express image--counterpart of God. No attribute of the Father which does not belong to the Son. None that does not belong to Him in equal measure. His power not less mighty, wisdom not less keen, love not less tender.
II. DIGNITY OF HIS OFFICES.
1. The great Sustainer. “Upholding all things.” Son of God! Thou art the Sustainer! With Thy hand; nay, with Thy breath. Just as at the beginning Thou didst say, “Let light be … and light was.” Just as earth and sea, sun and moon, firmament and stars, appeared at Thy command. So at Thy command they are! Aye, and all the living things upon them. All breathing lungs and beating hearts and burning souls. “Thou upholdest all things.”
2. The great Sacrifice. What! The great Sustainer the great Sacrifice. The transition is so sudden! Contrast so immense! Then I feel nothing more is needed--the work is done! it is finished. “By Himself He has purged our sins.”
III. DIGNITY OF HIS REWARD. “Sat down on right hand of Majesty on high.”
1. What a place for Christ I For Him who sat down a weary traveller on well’s side. Who knelt in anguish under olives of Gethsemane. Who stood a criminal at the bar of Pilate. For Him who hung in blood upon cross, and lay a corpse in sepulchre.
2. What a power for Christ! “At the right hand of the King.” What influence He will have on the royal counsels. How able to befriend the cause of all He loves. And to promote all holy and gracious purposes.
3. How fitting a reward like this! As a Divine Being there was glory He had with the Father before world was. How meet that as Incarnate Deity exalted to equal glory. The work He did on earth was done in obedience to His Father. How meet that the Father should thus show His entire approval. Yet more than all, His work is not yet done. He was here a sacrifice for sin, now High Priest within vail. Here He poured out His soul unto death, there pours forth heart in prayer. (F. Tucker, B. A.)
The dignity of Christ
I. IN HIS RELATION TO THE FATHER. “Brightness in express image.”
1. he is essentially Divine.
2. He is a revelation of the Divine.
II. IN HIS RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE. He sustains and governs all things.
III. IN HIS RELATION TO MAN.
1. He has accomplished an effectual atonement for human guilt.
2. By self-sacrifice.
IV. IN HIS RELATION TO ETERNITY. “Sat down,” &c.
1. The completion of His work.
2. The acceptance of His work.
3. The recompense of His work. (T. Hughes.)
The brightness of His glory
In these remarkable words there are two ideas presented to us, which we will consider in order.
1. The first is that of a luminous body. As a sample of such bodies, let us take the sun. Now the sun, a vast luminous mass, at a great distance from our earth, is made visible to us by the rays of light which stream incessantly from its surface. The rays by which the sun becomes visible are not the sun itself. The two things are distinct; they have, if we may so express it, a distinct personality; but in point of fact they cannot be separated from one another. You cannot have the sun without the rays, and you cannot have the rays without the sun; they are contemporaneous; and if one should happen to be eternal, the other, of necessity, would be eternal also. This imagery then represents, as far as such imagery can do, the relation between the first and second persons of the ever-blessed Trinity. The Father and the Son are co-existent and co-eternal. As with the luminous body, and the rays that flow from it, although the Father and the Son are not the same Being, although there is a distinctness of personality, so that they may be conceived of and spoken of apart, yet they cannot be actually sundered, they must have existed together from all eternity. And yet again
2. As it is the ray which makes the luminous body visible, so it is the Lord Jesus Christ, in His pre-incarnate state, who is the expression of the Father, and brings God within the reach of the finite mind. Scripture tells us that “no one hath seen God at any time”; and it is probably intended that we should understand by the statement, that God in His essence, in His innermost Being, is so withdrawn from the comprehension of a finite mind, that, apart from the Son of God, it would have been impossible for the highest archangel to have understood the character and nature of Deity. It was Jesus in His pre-existent state who enabled the great created intelligences to grasp the conception of the Divine Being; just as it is Jesus, in His incarnate state, who makes God known to us. Thus, as we understand, the Son, in His pre-existent and preincarnate condition, is “ the brightness of God’s glory.” But He is also, we read, the “express image of His substance.” Now the “express image” seems to be the stamp or impression produced by a die. The impression thus produced is, of course, the exact counterpart of the implement that produced it. You stamp your seal upon the melted wax, and the result is a reproduction of every feature and lineament of the seal; nay, of every crack and flaw that may happen to be found in it. The two things exactly correspond. Here, then, is part of the idea. But what is the “substance of God”? The substance of a thing is that which lies under all appearances, and makes the thing to be what it really is. For instance: among many men, taken at random, you will find very great difference and variety. Some are tall, some short; some rich, others poor; some clever, others dull. There will be much diversity, too, of character and disposition. But underneath all these outward appearances there is to be found that which makes each of these a man; and this is their “substance.” Perhaps you may prefer to call it “nature,” or “essence,” or “inner being.” It matters little. It is that which makes the person to be what he really is. And so the “ substance of God” is the nature or inner being of the great Jehovah. Now we are told in the passage that the Lord Jesus Christ, in His pre-incarnate state, is “the express image,” the exact counterpart of the substance of God; that is to say, not of the external attributes of God (if such things there be), but of His very inmost essence,--of that which makes Him to be God. What language can be imagined that would describe a closer relationship, or a more complete identity of nature? Whatever constitutes the nature of God, we must attribute to the pre-existent Son. (G. Calthrop, M. A.)
A royal Mediator
Sometimes there were more kings than one at Sparta, who governed by joint authority. A king was occasionally sent to some neighbouring state in character of a Spartan ambassador. Did he, when so sent, cease to be a king of Sparta, because he was also an ambassador? No, he did not divest himself of his royal dignity, but only added to it that of public deputation. So Christ, in becoming man, did not cease to be God; but though He ever was, and still continued to be, King of the whole creation, acted as the voluntary Servant and Messenger of the Father. (Illustrations of Truth.)
The. Saviour is God
It is sometimes idly said that our belief in our Lord’s divinity rests solely on the teaching of St. John. Centuries ago, Julian, the apostate emperor, exclaimed, “It is John, who with his remark, ‘And the Word became flesh,’ has done all the mischief.” I fear that in these days some at least of the critical attempts to disprove the genuineness of St. John’s Gospel are suggested and stimulated by the desire to overthrow our belief in the divinity of Christ. But should the writings of St. John, to our infinite loss, be obliterated altogether from the canon, there is yet not a single book in the New Testament in which the revelation of God in Christ is not directly asserted, or absolutely implied. Set aside St. John altogether and still on almost every page of revelation the truth stands out that Christ was the only begotten Son of the Father, the effulgence of His glory, the express image of His substance, God of God, Light of light, very God of very God. And in whatever way we hold, or explain, or imagine that we explain the blessed mystery of the atonement, this is certain, that its entire efficacy, as revealed to us in Scripture--in the Old Testament, where alone it is foreshadowed, or by the New Testament, where alone it is fully set forth--rests upon the truth that our Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. No man can redeem his brother, or make atonement unto God for him. It cost more to redeem our souls, therefore he must let that alone for ever. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
Express image of His person
Express image
For the phrase “ express image “ there is a single word in the original, a word transferred and familiar in our own language, viz., character. It is formed from a word signifying to sharpen, then to scratch or furrow with a sharp instrument, to write, to engrave. Our term, therefore, means a writing or engraving, and in this sense we often use it. So, also, as a form is engraven on a seal, and then stamped upon wax, the word indicates a figure enstamped upon wax or soft metal. The figure impressed is precisely like the graving which determines it. The word accordingly signifies likeness. Then, from the notion of likeness, it extends to that of sameness, so that we say of one’s combined qualities, they constitute his character, and more emphatically the character is the man. It is the man revealed and known. The Son of God is, then, the revelation of the person of God. And to this term person, in the language of the New Testament, we do not attach the later metaphysical notion. It is simply equivalent to “self.” We have now the whole thought in this pregnant phrase: Jesus Christ is God’s very Self revealed and known. He could say of Himself truly, as He said, “He that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me.” (J. R.Duryea, D. D.)
Christ the revelation of God
To make religion possible, we must have a revelation from God. There is a science called stellar chemistry, the romance and mystery of science. We are able to estimate the ponderosity of the stars and the elements that compose them. How have we discovered these things? Not by crossing the separating spaces, but because the stars have sent their revelation to us. Abeam of light plays on the spectrum, and reveals the contents of these mysterious bodies. So with religion. We could not cross the illimitable space and find out God for ourselves, but in His Son we have the light that reveals Him. (W. Pierce.)
Definition of God
The god of M. Comte was what he defined as “the continuous resolutant of all the forces capable of voluntarily concurring in the universal perfectioning of the world.” That is not my God. I do not know him. I don’t want to-know him. My God is Jesus Christ, who came to pardon and to save a world. (Joseph Cook.)
Charles Kingsley’s view of Christ
Charles Kingsley is writing to Thomas Cooper, a man sometime Christian, in the stirring time of that agitation Chartist, then captured by the Strauss mythical theory and wandering in the dreary wastes of unbelief, then coming back--and largely through the influence of Charles Kingsley--to the most hearty and joyful acceptance of Jesus as incarnate God and Lord and only Saviour. Charles Kingsley is writing, to this Thomas Cooper, and thus he writes: “But my heart, Cooper, demands the Trinity, as much as my reason. I want to be sure that God cares for us, that God is our Father, that God has interfered, stooped, sacrificed Himself for us. I do not merely want to love Christ--a Christ, some creation or emanation of God’s--whose will and character for aught I know may be different from God’s. I want to love and honour the absolute, abysmal God Himself, and none other will satisfy me--and in the doctrine of Christ being co-equal and co-eternal, sent by, sacrificed by, His Father, that He might do His Father’s will, I find it--and no puzzling texts, like those you quote, shall rob me of that rest for my heart, that Christ is the exact counterpart of Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being. I say boldly, if the doctrine be not in the Bible, it ought to be, for the whole spiritual nature of man cries not for it.” There has arisen a new branch of the science of astronomy called sidereal photography. Until lately only collodion plates could be used in photography. But such plates must be used wet. They could suffer only short exposure. They must be immediately developed. And so when exposed heavenward but a momentary flash from the stars could be caught and kept on their sensitive surfaces. But recently gelatine plates have been introduced. These are capable of long exposure. These can lie beneath the stars for hours. And lying thus, the shyest traits of the most distant stars can fasten themselves in pictures accurate, and gazing into them, fresh wonders are disclosing and a new door is opened into heaven’s depths. Like the gelatine plates, Charles Kingsley held his soul in such steady and long openness towards the incarnate Christ that in unusual measure the Christ revealed Himself to him, was seen by him to be the pre-eminent and luminous focus of the Divine revealing, became for him the object of the most passionate personal love. (Wayland Hoyt, D. D.)
Upholding all things by the word of His power
Christ the universal Upholder
The poets write much of one Atlas that bore up the heavens with his shoulders; but out- Saviour Christ is the true Atlas that beareth up heaven and earth. As He made the world, so He bears up the world, and keepeth it up from falling. If it were not for Him, the sun, moon, stars, and all the host of heaven would fall to the ground; if it were not for Him, the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea, the beasts of the field would drop away in a moment; the earth would sink down under our feet, the sea would overflow its banks and drown us all. Our Saviour Christ bears up all; in regard of their nature He beareth up the devils themselves, and all his instruments in the world; He does not bear them out in their wickedness, but He beareth up their essence. In Him all live, breathe and have their being. But more particularly, in love and mercy He beareth up His children, and the members of Christ; as a father beareth his son and taketh him up into his arms, so doth He those whom He hath adopted in Christ. This may be a singular comfort to us all wheresoever we be, on the water or on the land, in the day or night, though we be among the thickest of our enemies, nay, among devils; yet the Lord Jesus beareth us in His hands, and none can take us out of His hands. This should cause us all to stand in awe of Him, to be afraid to displease Him. Will any be so mad as to make holes in the ship that beareth them? Will any hew down the pillars that bear up the house? Shall a child scratch out the eyes of the nurse that beareth him? Our Saviour Christ bears us up all: therefore let us not like rebels fight against Him by our sins; let us please Him all that we can, by whom we are borne up. They of Tyre and Sidon sought Herod’s favour because their land was nourished by him; all men throughout the wide compass of the world are nourished by our Saviour Christ. The breath would quickly be out of the nostrils of us all if it were not for Him. Kings, princes, noblemen, gentlemen, merchants, clothiers, rich and poor depend upon Him; if He take away His hand we are all gone. Therefore let us serve Him with all our might that beareth us up with His mighty word. (W. Jones, D. D.)
The world’s sustainer
The “word of His power” is the word that expresses and conveys His power. He “upholds all things,” i.e., sustains the organic body of the universe in all its applications, as one who made the world (Hebrews 1:2). In Colossians 1:17 the idea is slightly different; there the Son is the element in which the universe holds together, here He consciously sustains it. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)
Christ upholding the worlds
The other day, on one of the London streets, I saw a contrivance to judge a man’s strength by the power of his breath. You breathe into the machine, and by the weight you lift will be accurately estimated the power of your lungs. And Jesus Christ keeps the stars floating by the power of His breath just as children keep bubbles on a summer eve; He breathes and the planets swim as feathers in a breeze. (J. C. Jones, D. D.)
The word of power
I. THE UNIVERSAL REQUIREMENT. The nature and character of all created things is their inability to sustain themselves.
1. Material things. All are governed by law, and each has its own laws, by which all its actions and purposes are governed.
2. Animal life. “The eyes of all wait upon Thee,” &e.
3. Human existence. Not a breath is drawn but is given by God. Not a thought passes through the mind, nor a throb animates the heart without His Divine direction and supervision.
II. THE ALMIGHTY INSTRUMENT.
1. The Divine power. It is not susceptible of failure. Consider its vastness, different developments, continuity.
2. The method of manifesting this power. No exertion. No manual labour. (Homilist.)
Purged our sins
Expiation in order to reconciliation
The purification here specified is not the sanctification of the sinner’s soul; for the work is said to have been realised before Christ ascended into heaven. Atonement, or propitistion--an end attributed in so many other texts to the death of Christ (Isaiah 53:5-6; Isaiah 53:10-11; Matthew 20:28; Romans 3:24-26; 1Co 1Ti 2:6; 1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 1:5; &c.)--is certainly what is meant. The language by which the idea is here denoted probably refers to the purification by sacrifice under the Levitical economy, as set forth in Leviticus 14:16. The work of expiation is here associated with human” sins”; atonement having an essential reference to sin as what requires expiation to be made in order to reconciliation between God and man. Christ is represented as having made the expiation “by Himself”--a view which both indicates the greatness of His condescending mercy in the matter, and accounts for the fact that, by His one sacrifice, such a mighty multitude of sins are pardoned, and such a mighty multitude of sinners are saved. It is strange, indeed, that “the brightness of God’s glory, the express image of God’s person”--that One who is Himself so glorious and so pure and against whom the sins of men are acts of foul rebellion--should have stooped so low, and suffered so much, and that for the very purpose of securing pardon and salvation for His foes. But the fact that He actually did so--here, and in so many other passages declared--evolves and exhibits magnificent and animating views alike of the transcendent mercy of His heart, and of the transcendent virtue of His work. (A. S. Patterson.)
Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high
The justly awarded remuneration
I. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PERSON SPOKEN OF IN THE TEXT IS DESCRIBED.
1. As “the brightness of the Father’s glory”--the manifestation of all that is essentially excellent in the Divinity.
2. As “the express image of His person.” Not that we are to infer that there either is, or can be, in the universe any image of the Divinity such as there may be of an object that is material; for the Divinity, in His essential character being absolutely invisible, because absolutely spiritual, cannot be materialised; and therefore, to think of Christ the Son of God as being the image of the Divinity in the same way in which one material object may be the image of another, were to degrade Him. But though in this respect He is not “the image” of the Divinity, yet not more exactly does an impression correspond with the seal, or a coin with the die, than Christ the Son of God corresponds with the Divinity. Of Him He is the image, and not merely the image, but the express image;--a resemblance, a likeness in entire conformity to its archetype; a clearly expressed, a complete likeness of the person, of the substance, of the essence of the Divinity;--such a likeness, such a resemblance, as comports with personal distinction; yet such as can originate only in sameness of existence or mode of existence,--as can originate only in perfect identity of nature.
II. THE WORK WHICH HE IS REPRESENTED AS HAVING PERFORMED. “Purged our sins.” That to which reference is here made, evidently proceeds on the principle that the circumstances of universal man by nature, were circumstances of moral degradation; and not only of moral degradation, but of moral danger--the sad consequence of the apostasy of the great earthly progenitor of man. Nay, more: it evidently proceeds on the principle that it lay not within the sphere of human ability to make reparation for the evil, and thus to remedy the one, and rescue him from the other. No agency was adequate but the agency of One who was Divine. For what, according to Scripture, is the expression “purged,” but another phrase for atonement by sacrifice? And what is this but what was required, that the work of “purging our sins” might be performed? But whilst, in order to this, an atonement by sacrifice was required, it was not an atonement by sacrifice of any description, but an atonement by sacrifice, in point of efficiency, unassailable, unquestionable. And is not this what Christ’s sacrificial atonement was, being as it was,
(1) superlative in its value,
(2) vicarous in its nature, and
(3) propitiatory in its result?
III. THE STATE TO WHICH, BY WAY OF REWARD, HE HAS BEEN EXALTED. It is more than probable, from the lessons taught us in this Epistle, that the primary idea intended to be conveyed is the official greatness of Christ as a priest, when contrasted with the priests under the law. Even the high priest, the chief of those priests, when he entered within the veil with the blood of the typical sacrifice which be had offered for the sins of the people, never sat down in the Holy Place, but, having stood for some time before the mercy-seat making intercession, he retired to offer a new sacrifice, that he might return anew to make intercession; and thus never, so to speak, accomplishing or completing the design of his office, he continued to go the round of his sacred duties. And as it was with the high priest, so it was, according to their order, with the other priests who were subordinate to him. “Every priest,” says our apostle, “standeth daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man,” even Christ, “after He had offered one sacrifice for sins,” to intimate the completion of His work, “for ever sat down on the right hand of God.” Although, however, this idea may have been the primary, yet other ideas, doubtless, are conveyed by the expression.
1. It conveys the idea of honour; and if of honour, of glory and felicity. “Nothing was accounted too costly, of an earthly kind, to render the Jewish temple of old in some degree a befitting audience-chamber for Him whose immensity pervades all space; and is there aught, the scope of infinite wisdom to devise, or of infinite power to effect, which we may not imagine to be brought into full operation in elevating, as the reward of His humiliation, the body of Christ--the most holy shrine of the Divinity--to the highest perfection of which that which is material is capable?” But Christ’s having sat down at the right hand of God conveys not merely the idea of honour, and glory, and felicity, but also
2. The idea of power; and if of power, of authority and dominion. (Alex. Jack, D. D.)
The mediatorial work, glory, and claims of Christ
I. THE LORD JESUS HAS PERFORMED A MOMENTOUS MEDIATORIAL WORK. With regard to the intrinsic nature of the work, it arose, as is suggested, by the expression of our text, from the condition of the human race, as being sinners against God, rebels against His authority, and therefore condemned by His law. And this state of sinfulness must be assumed as characterising them without exception and universally. The manner in which He accomplished the office was by descending from the altitude of His primeval dignity to the assumption of human nature by miraculous incarnation, and in that nature which had sinned, though Himself unsullied, and holy, enduring agony and death as a sacrifice to the Divine justice on behalf of the guilty. The sufficiency of His expiation is frequently brought before us in Scripture contrasted with the insufficiency of the Jewish offerings, which were typical of this. No matter how aggravated and complicated sin may be, it at once becomes blotted from the records of condemnation; and the transgressors are made inheritors of full acceptance and everlasting joy. You must recognise its sufficiency also in relation to time. It is permanent and inexhaustible. But then, while we remind you of the sufficiency of the Saviour’s sacrifice we must also remind you of its exclusiveness. For the purpose of expiatory redemption the sacrifice of Christ remains exclusive and alone.
II. THE LORD JESUS IS EXALTED TO A SPLENDID MEDIATORIAL GLORY.
1. Observe the station which He holds--“On the right hand of the Majesty on high.” This expression is intended to denote the revelation of God the Father as He displays the brightest manifestations of His glorious magnificence in heaven. The right hand of the sovereign is always esteemed among men as the place of peculiar honour; and the highest honour is offered to our Lord as the incarnate Mediator.
2. You will also observe, along with the station He holds, the posture He assumes. It is said, “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”--a statement of attitude by no means insignificant.
(1) He bad a season of calm dignity after the tremendous struggles He sustained against the direct adversaries of God and man. He sits at the right band of the Father, as denoting His rest.
(2) Here also is denoted His authority. The ruler sits while those around him stand in token of inferiority and of reverence. The Saviour, we know, possesses authority and sovereignty with the Father, as being one with Him, and all power is given to Him in heaven and in earth. In the emphatic expression of the inspired writer--“He sits and rules upon His throne,” as the sign and token of His authority.
(3) Again, here also is denoted His discontinuance. The attitude before us is the sign of permanence. In heaven, whither the Saviour has gone, is His permanent abode, His home.
3. Observe also the operations He conducts. And here it is delightful to remember that, while in heaven the Lord is glorified and while in heaven He reposes from the toils and labours of His state of humiliation, He still is employed in avocations of incessant and earnest activity in order to secure the application of His sacrifice and to accomplish the results for which it was designed. “At the right hand of the Majesty on high” He intercedes--He is there still as the Priest of His people. There He presents, in some mode we cannot conjecture, the memorials of the sacrifice which once He perfected on the Cross of Calvary, and pleads that blessings may descend upon men, that they may be renewed, that they may be perfected, that through the power of the gracious Spirit which has been secured by His sacrifice they may be made meet for the inheritance of the saints. “He is gone,” and what a world of poetry as well as sublime truth is in the expression--“He is gone to appear in the presence of God for us.” “He ever liveth to make intercession for us.”
4. “At the right hand of the Majesty on high” He governs. The administration of the universe is committed to His hand. According to the expression of the earlier part of the verse, He “upholds all things by the word of His power.” There is not a distant star but is sustained and guided by Him; there is not an intelligent being in all its faculties and passions but is controlled by Him; there is not a material thing vast or minute but is wielded by Him. He has all power. The universe from its utmost limits is His own. In relation to the world in which we live, while the operations of Providence are at His bidding, He works in a special mode: It is His right and He will redeem it to Himself. He employs therefore His gospel, the truth which discloses and explains His attributes and functions, rendering effectual the announcements of truth by the power of the Spirit secured by His death and intercession, and thus accomplishing the recovery and conversion of individual men, overturning the vast combination of evils which have existed for so long a succession of ages and crushed millions in degradation and ruin, and finally accomplishing the triumph of His own dominion of peace, righteousness, purity, and happiness until all things shall be subdued unto Himself; for He shall have dominion and glory and the kingdom, the people of all nations and languages shall serve Him.
III. THE LORD JESUS POSSESSES IMPERATIVE MEDIATORIAL CLAIMS. The announcement in the text is for the purpose of vindicating and enforcing His claims; and men should do homage to His dignity; they should trust to His merits and devote themselves to His cause. (J. Parsons.)
The greatness and glory of the Redeemer
I. EXCELLENCY OF HIS DIVINE MAJESTY: THE OUTBEAMING OF HIS FATHER’S GLORY. By Him, as a medium, it becomes visible, and is brought within the range of our comprehension.
1. He is the Creator of all things: and, therefore, the glory of God, displayed in the creation, is through Him.
2. Displayed in His character as Mediator and Redeemer.
3. In Him the Divine glory essentially resides, and has been manifested by His various appearances since the foundation of the world. It is said of man, indeed, that he was made in the image of God, but Jesus Christ only is the express image of the substance of God, the exact representation of that in which the Divine nature differs from all other being.
II. THE ENERGY OF HIS ALL-CONTROLLING POWER. “He upholds all things by the word of His power.” All things--whole universe--things visible and invisible, small and great. “Upholds,” sustains, preserves, and regulates. “Word of His power,” powerful word! “He speaks, and it is done.”
III. “BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS.” This refers to the Jewish ceremonies. “By Himself”: not by offering the greatest among men or angels. Such would not have been adequate to the occasion. To purge our sins He shed His blood.
IV. “SAT DOWN,” &c. This expresses His exaltation.
1. To the exceeding power of God.
2. To the highest dignity and honour.
3. By means of the right hand gifts are dispensed.
Gifts are the source of happiness. Therefore, the right hand of God is the place of celestial felicity. (Thomas Galland, M. A.)
Christ sitting in heaven
1. If Christ sitteth above in the highest places, then He beholdeth all things here below. A man that is upon the top of some high tower may see far: and Christ being in the high steeple and tower of heaven, can see all things on the earth. He that is upon the top of an high tower, may see men, but he cannot discern who they be: Christ sees them, and discerns them too. If the wicked be laying of plots and snares against His children, Christ being in heaven sees them, and in due time will overthrow them: and He that sitteth in heaven laugheth them to scorn. This is a singular comfort, that our Head, King, and Defender is in heaven, and hath equal power, glory, and majesty with God. If thou hast a friend in the court that sits daily by the king, and is in favour with him, wilt thou care for any in England? We have a friend that sitteth on the right hand of God, and hath all power in heaven and earth; therefore let us fear nothing; He will keep us, none shall do us any harm, but it shall all turn to our good in the end.
2. As Christ sitteth in the heavens, so we shall one day sit there with Him. Let this comfort us against all the calamities of this life: here the children of God are oftentimes made the wicked’s footstools, they sit on them, and tread on them: no reckoning is made of a godly man. A rich man that is a common drunkard and whoremaster shall be more esteemed of by many than a godly poor man. Here they sit weeping and wailing for their sins, for their children, for crosses in goods, in bodies, in good name; the wicked deriding them, jesting at them: but let this comfort us against them all; how contemptible soever we sit here, we shall sit with Christ Jesus, though not in that degree of glory, yet in the same kingdom of glory with Him for ever. (W. Jones, D. D.)