In chapter 10 this principle is applied to the sacrifice. Its repetition
proved that sin was there. That the sacrifice of Christ was only offered
once, was the demonstration of its eternal efficacy. Had the Jewish
sacrifices rendered the worshipers really perfect before God, they would
have ceased to be offered. The apostle is speaking (although the principle
is general) of the yearly sacrifice on the day of atonement. For if,
through the efficacy of the sacrifice, they had been permanently made
perfect, they would have had no more conscience of sins, and could not have
had the thought of renewing the sacrifice.
Observe, here, that which is very important, that the conscience is
cleansed, our sins being expiated, the worshiper drawing nigh by virtue of
the sacrifice. The meaning of theJewish service was that guilt was still
there; that of the Christian, that it is gone. As to the former, precious
as the type is, the reason is evident: the blood of bulls and of goats
could not take away sin. Therefore those sacrifices have been abolished,
and a work of another character (although still a sacrifice) has been
accomplished-a work which excludes all other, and all the repetition of the
same, because it consists of nothing less than the self devotedness of the
Son of God to accomplish the will of God, and the completion of that to
which He was devoted: an act impossible to be repeated, for all His will
cannot be accomplished twice, and, were it possible, it would be a
testimony of the inadequacy of the first, and so of both.
This is what the Son of God says in this most solemn passage (vers. 5-9),
in which we are admitted to know, according to the grace of God, that which
passed between God the Father and Himself when He undertook the fulfillment
of the will of God-that which He said, and the eternal counsels of God
which He carried into execution. He takes the place of submission and of
obedience, of performing the will of another. God would no longer accept
the sacrifices that were ordered under the law (the four classes of which
are here pointed out), He had no pleasure in them. In their stead He had
prepared a body for His Son; vast and important truth! for the place of man
is obedience. Thus, in taking this place, the Son of God put Himself into
the position to obey perfectly. In fact He undertakes the duty of
fulfilling all the will of God, be it what it may-a will which is, ever
"good, acceptable, and perfect."
The psalm says in the Hebrew, " Thou hast digged [see note #26] ears for me,"
translated by the
Septuagint,"Thou hast prepared me a body ;" words which, as they give the
true meaning, are used by the Holy Ghost. For " the ear" is always employed
as a sign of the reception of commandments, and the principle of obligation
to obey or the disposition to do so. " He hath opened mine ear morning by
morning" (Isa. 1), that is, has made me listen to His will, be obedient to
His commands. The ear was bored or fastened with an awl to the door, in
order to express that the Israelite was attached to the house as a slave,
to obey, for ever. Now in taking a body, the Lord took the form of a
servant. (Phil. ii.) Ears were digged for Him. That is to say, He placed
Himself [see note #27] in a position in which He had to obey all His Master's will,
whatever it might be. But it is the Lord Himself* who speaks in the passage
before us: " Thou," He says, " hast prepared me a body."
Entering more into detail, He specifies burnt offerings and offerings for
sin, sacrifices which had less of the character of communion, and thus had
a deeper meaning; but God had no pleasure in them. In a word the Jewish
service was already declared by the Spirit to be unacceptable to God. It
was all to cease, it was fruitless; no offering that formed part of it was
acceptable. No; the counsels of God unfold themselves, but first of all in
the heart of the Word, the Son of God, who offers Himself to accomplish the
will of God. " Then said he, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is
written of me, to do thy will, O God." Nothing can be more solemn than thus
to lift the veil from that which takes place in heaven between God and the
Word who undertook to do His will. Observe that, before He was in the
position of obedience, He offers Himself in order to accomplish the will of
God, that is to say, of free love for the glory of God, of free will; as
One who had the power, He offers Himself, He undertakes obedience, He
undertakes to do whatsoever God wills. This is indeed to sacrifice all His
own will, but freely and as the effect of His own purpose, although on the
occasion of the will of His Father. He must needs be God in order to do
this, and to undertake the fulfillment of all that God could will.
We have here the great mystery of this divine intercourse, which remains
ever surrounded with its solemn majesty, although it is communicated to us
that we may know it. And we ought to know it; for it is thus that we
understand the infinite grace and the glory of this work. Before He became
man, in the place where only divinity is known, and its, eternal counsels
and thoughts are communicated between the divine Persons, the Word-as He
has declared it to us, in time, by the prophetic Spirit- such being the
will of God contained in the book of the eternal counsels, He who was able
to do it, offered Himself freely to accomplish that will. Submissive to
this counsel already arranged for Him, He yet offers Himself in perfect
freedom to fulfill it. But in offering He submits, yet at the same time
undertakes to do all that God, as God, willed. But also in undertaking to
do the will of God, it was in the way of obedience, of submission, and of
devotedness. For I might undertake to do the will of another, as free and
competent, because I willed the thing; but if I say '"to do thy will," this
in itself is absolute and complete submission. And this it is which the
Lord, the Word, did. He did it also, declaring that He came in order to do
it. He took a position of obedience by accepting the body prepared for Him.
He came to do the will of God.
That of which we have been speaking is continually manifested in the life
of Jesus on earth. God shines through His position in the human body; for
He was necessarily God in the act itself of His humiliation; and none but
God could have undertaken and been found in it; yet He was always, and
entirely and perfectly, obedient and dependent on God. That which revealed
itself in His existence on earth was the expression of that which was
accomplished in the eternal abode, in His own nature. That is to say (and
of this Ps.40 speaks), that which He declares, and that which He was here
below, are the same thing; the one in reality in heaven, the other bodily
on earth. That which He was here below was but the expression, the living,
real, bodily manifestation of what is contained in those divine
communications which have been revealed to us, and which were the reality
of the position that He assumed.
And it is very important to see these things in the free offer made by
divine competency, and not only in their fulfillment in death. It gives
quite a different character to the bodily work here below.
In reality, from chapter 1 of this epistle, the Holy Ghost always presents
Christ in this way. But this revelation in the psalm was requisite to
explain how He became a servant, what the Messiah really was; and to us it
opens an immense view of the ways of God, a view, the depths of
which-clearly as it is revealed, and through the very clearness of the
revelation-display to us things so divine and glorious that we bow the head
and veil our faces, as having had part as it were in such communications,
on account of the majesty of the Persons whose acts and whose intimate
relationships are revealed. It is not here the glory that dazzles us. But
even in this poor world there is nothingto which we are greater strangers
than the intimacy of those who are, in their modes of life, much above
ourselves. What then, when it is that of God! Blessed be His name! there is
grace that brings us into it, and that has drawn nigh to us in our
weakness. We are then admitted to know this precious truth, that the Lord
Jesus undertook of His own free will the accomplishment of all the will of
God, and that He was pleased to take the body prepared for Him in order to
accomplish it. The love, the devotedness to the glory of God, and the way
in which He undertook to obey, are fully set forth. And this-the fruit of
God's eternal counsels -displaces (by its very nature) every provisional
sign: and contains, in itself alone, the condition of all relationship with
God, and the means by which He glorifies Himself.[see note #28]
The Word then assumes a body, in order to offer Himself as a sacrifice.
Besides the revelation of this devotedness of the Word to accomplish the
will of God, the effect of His sacrifice according to the will of God is
also set before us.
He came to do the will of Jehovah. Now faith understands that it is by this
will of God (that is, by His will who, according to His eternal wisdom,
prepared a body for His Son) that those whom He has called unto Himself for
salvation are set apart to God, in other words, are sanctified. It is by
the will of God that we are set apart for Him (not by our own will), and
that by means of the sacrifice offered to God.
We shall observe that the epistle does not here speak of the communication
of life, or of a practical sanctification wrought by the Holy Ghost:[see note #29]
the subject is the Person of Christ
ascended on high, and the efficacy of His work. And this is important with
regard to sanctification, because it shews that sanctification is a
complete setting apart to God, as belonging to Him at the price of the
offering of Jesus, a consecration to Him by means of that offering. God
took the unclean Jews from among men and set them apart -consecrated them
to Himself; so now the called ones, from that nation, and, thank God,
ourselves also, by means of the offering of Jesus.
But there is another element, already pointed out in this offering, the
force of which the epistle here applies to believers, namely, that the
offering is "once for all." It admits of no repetition. If we enjoy the
effect of this offering, our sanctification is eternal in its nature. It
does not fail. It is never repeated. We belong to God for ever according to
the efficacy of this offering. Thus our sanctification, our being set apart
to God has-with regard to the work that accomplished it-all the stability
of the will of God and all the grace from which it sprang; it has, too, in
its nature, the perfection of the work itself, by which it was
accomplished, and the duration and the constant force of the efficacy of
that work. But the effect of this offering is not limited to this setting
apart for God. The point already treated contains our consecration by God
Himself through the perfectly efficacious offering of Christ fulfilling His
will. And now the position which Christ has taken, in consequence of His
offering up of Himself, is employed in order clearly to demonstrate the
state it has brought us into before God.
The priests among the Jews-for this contrast is still carried on-stood
before the altar continually to repeat the same sacrifices which could
never take away sins. But this Man, when He had offered one sacrifice for
sins, sat down for ever [see note #30] at the right hand of God.
There-having finished for His own all that regards their presentation
without spot to God-He awaits the moment when His enemies shall be made His
footstool, according to Psalm 110: "Sit thou at my right hand until I make
thine enemies thy footstool." And the Spirit gives us the important reason
so infinitely precious to us: "For he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified."
Here (ver. 14) as in verse 12, on which the latter depends, the word " for
ever " has the force of permanence-uninterrupted continuity. He is ever
seated, we are ever perfected, by virtue of His work and according to the
perfect righteousness in which, and conformably to which, He sits at the
right hand of God upon His throne, according to that which He is personally
there, His acceptance on God's part being proved by His session at His
right hand. And He is there for us.
It is a righteousness suited to the throne of God, yea, the righteousness
of the throne. It neither varies nor fails. He is seated there for ever. If
then we are sanctified-set apart to God-by this offering according to the
will of God Himself, we are also made perfect for God by the same offering,
as presented to Him in the Person of Jesus.
We have seen that this position has its origin in the will, the good-will
of God (a will which combines the grace and the purpose of God), and that
it has its foundation and present certainty in the accomplishment of the
work of Christ, the perfection of which is demonstrated by the session at
the right hand of God of Him who accomplished it. But the testimony-for to
enjoy this grace we must know it with divine certainty, and the greater it
is, the more would our hearts be led to doubt it-the testimony upon which
we believe it must be divine. And this it is. The Holy Ghost bears witness
to us of it. The will of God is the source of the work; Christ, the Son of
God accomplished it; the Holy Ghost bears witness to us of it. And here the
application to the people, called by grace and spared, is in consequence
fully set forth, not merely the fulfillment of the work. The Holy Ghost
bears us witness, " Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
Blessed position! The certainty that God will never remember our sins and
iniquities is founded all the steadfast will of God, on the perfect
offering of Christ, now consequently seated at the right hand of God, and
on the sure testimony of the Holy Ghost. It is a matter of faith that God
will never remember our sins.
We may remark here the way in which the covenant is introduced; for
although, as writing to "the holy brethren, partakers of the heaven]y
calling," he says, "a witness to us," the form of his address is always
that of an epistle to the Hebrews (believers, of course, but Hebrews, still
bearing the character of God's people). He does not speak of the covenant
in a direct way, as a privilege in which Christians had a direct part. The
Holy Ghost, he says, declares, "I will remember no more," & etc. It is this
which he quotes. He only alludes to the new covenant, leaving it aside
consequently as to all present application. For after having said, "This is
the covenant," & etc., the testimony is cited as that of the Holy Ghost, to
prove the capital point which he was treating, that is, that God remembers
our sins no more. But he alludes to the covenant (already known to the Jews
as declared before of God) which gave the authority of the scriptures to
this testimony, that God remembered no more the sins of His people who are
sanctified and admitted into His favour, and which, at the same time,
presented these two thoughts: first, that this complete pardon did not
exist under the first covenant: and, second, that the door is left open for
the blessing of the nation when the new covenant shall be formally
established.
Another practical consequence is drawn: sins being remitted, there is no
more oblation for sin. The one sacrifice having obtained remission, no
others can be offered in order to obtain it. Remembrance of this one
sacrifice there may indeed be, whatever its character; but a sacrifice to
take away the sins which are already taken away, there cannot be. We are
therefore in reality on entirely new ground-on that of the fact, that by
the sacrifice of Christ our sins are altogether put away, and that for us,
who are sanctified and partakers of the heavenly calling, a perfect and
everlasting permanent cleansing has been made, remission granted, eternal
redemption obtained. So that we are, in the eyes of God, without sin, on
the ground of the perfection of the work of Christ, who is seated at His
right hand, who has entered into the true holiest, into heaven itself, to
sit there because His work is accomplished.
Thus all liberty is ours to enter into the holy place (all boldness) by the
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, that is His flesh, to admit us
without spot into the presence of God Himself, who is there revealed. For
us the veil is rent, and that which rent the veil in order to admit us has
likewise put away the sin which shut us out.
We have also a great High Priest over the house of God, as we have seen,
who represents us in the holy place.
On these truths are founded the exhortations that follow. One word before
we enter on them, as to the relation that exists between perfect
righteousness and the priesthood. There are many souls who use the
priesthood as the means of obtaining pardon when they have failed. They go
to Christ as a priest, that He may intercede for them and obtain the pardon
which they desire, but for which they dare not ask God in a direct way.
These souls-sincere as they are-have not liberty to enter into the holy
place.They take refuge with Christ that they may afresh be brought into the
presence of God. Their condition practically is that in which a pious Jew
stood. They have lost, or rather they have never had by faith, the real
consciousness of their position before God in virtue of the sacrifice of
Christ. I do not speak here of all the privileges of the assembly: we have
seen that the epistle does not speak of them. The position it makes for
believers is this: those whom it addresses are not viewed as placed in
heaven, although partakers of the heavenly calling; but a perfect
redemption is accomplished, all guilt entirely put away for the people of
God, who remembers their sins no more. The conscience is made perfect-they
have no more conscience of sins-by virtue of the work accomplished once for
all. There is no more question of sin, that is, of its imputation, of its
being upon them before and, between them and God. There cannot be, because
of the work accomplished upon the cross. The conscience therefore is
perfect; their Representative and High Priest is in heaven, a witness there
to the work already accomplished for them.
Thus, although the epistle does not present them as in the holiest, as
sitting there-like in the Epistle to the Ephesians-they have full liberty,
entire boldness, to enter into it. The question of imputation no longer
exists. Their sins have been imputed to Christ. But He is now in heaven-a
proof that the sins are blotted out for ever. Believers therefore enter
with entire liberty into the presence of God Himself, and that
always-having no more for ever any conscience of sins.
For what purpose then is priesthood? What is to be done with respect to the
sins we commit? They interrupt our communion; but they make no change in
our position before God, nor in the testimony rendered by the presence of
Christ at the right hand of God. Nor do they raise any question as to
imputation. They are sins against that position, or against God, measured
by the relationship we are in to God, as in it. For sin is measured by the
conscience according to our position. The perpetual presence of Christ at
God's right hand has this twofold effect for us: 1st, perfected for ever we
have no more conscience of sins before God, we are accepted; 2nd, as priest
He obtains grace to help in time of need, that we may not sin. But the
present exercise of priesthood by Christ does not refer to sins: we have
through His work no more conscience of sins, are perfected for ever. There
is another truth connected with this, found 1 John 2: we have an Advocate
[see note #31] with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. On this our communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ is founded and secured. Our sins are not imputed, for the
propitiation is in all its value before God. But by sin communion is
interrupted; our righteousness is not altered-for that is Christ Himself at
God's right hand in virtue of His work; nor is grace changed, and " he is
the propitiation for our sins;" but the heart has got away from God,
communion is interrupted. But grace acts in virtue of perfect
righteousness, and by the advocacy of Christ on behalf of him who has
failed: and his soul is restored to communion. Nor is it that we go to
Jesus for this; He goes, even if we sin, to God for us. His presence there
is the witness of an unchangeable righteousness which is ours; His
intercession maintains us in the path we have to walk in, or as our
Advocate He restores the communion which is founded on that righteousness.
Our access to God is always open. Sin interrupts our enjoyment of it, the
heart is not in communion; the advocacy of Jesus is the means of rousing
the conscience by the action of the Spirit and the word, and we return
(humbling ourselves) into the presence of God Himself. The priesthood and
advocacy of Christ refer to the condition of an imperfect and feeble, or
failing, creature upon earth, reconciling it with the perfectness of the
place and glory in which divine righteousness sets us. The soul is
maintained steadfast or restored.
Exhortations follow. Having the right thus to approach God, let us draw
near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. This is the only thing
that honours the efficacy of Christ's work, and the love which has thus
brought us to enjoy God. In the words that follow, allusion is made to the
consecration of the priests-a natural allusion, as drawing near to God in
the holiest is the subject. They were sprinkled with blood and washed with
water, and then they drew nigh to serve God. Still, although I doubt not of
the allusion to the priests, it is quite natural that baptism should have
given rise to it. The anointing is not spoken of here-it is the power or
privilege of the moral right to draw nigh.
Again, we may notice that, as to the foundation of the truth, this is the
ground on which Israel will stay in the last days. In Christ in heaven will
not be their place, nor the possession of the Holy Ghost as uniting the
believer to Christ in heaven; but the blessing will be founded on water and
on blood. God will remember their sins no more; and they will be washed in
the clean water of the word.
The second exhortation is to persevere in the profession of the hope without wavering. He who made the promises is faithful.
Not only should we have this confidence in God for ourselves, but we are
also to consider one another for mutual encouragement; and, at the same
time, not to fail in the public and common profession of faith, pretending
to maintain it, while avoiding the open identification of oneself with the
Lord's people in the difficulties connected with the profession of this
faith before the world. Besides, this public confession had a fresh motive
in that the day drew nigh. We see that it is the judgment which is here
presented as the thing looked for-in order that it may act on the
conscience, and guard christians from turning back to the world, and from
the influence of the fear of man -rather than the Lord's coming to take up
His own people. Verse 26 is connected with the preceding paragraph (23-25)
the last words of which suggest the warning of verse 26; which is founded,
moreover, on the doctrine of these two chapters (9 and 10), with regard to
the sacrifice. He insists on perseverance in a full confession of Christ,
for His one sacrifice once offered was the only one. If any who had
professed to know its value abandoned it, there was no other sacrifice to
which he could have recourse, neither could it be ever repeated. There
remained no more sacrifice for sin. All sins were pardoned by the efficacy
of this sacrifice: but if, after having known the truth, they were to
choose sin instead, there was no other sacrifice by virtue even of the
perfection of that of Christ. Nothing but judgment remained. Such a
professor, having had the knowledge of the truth and having abandoned it,
would assume the character of an adversary.
The case, then, here supposed is the renunciation of the confession of
Christ, deliberately preferring-after having known the truth-to walk
according to one's own will in sin. This is evident, both from that which
precedes and from verse 29.
Thus we have (chaps. 6, 10.) the two great privileges of Christianity, what
distinguishes it from Judaism, presented in order to warn those who made
profession of the former, that the renunciation of the truth, after
enjoying these advantages, was fatal; for if these means of salvation were
renounced, there was no other. These privileges were the manifested
presence and power of the Holy Ghost, and the offering which, by its
intrinsic and absolute value, left no place for any other. Both of these
possessed a mighty efficacy, which, while it gave divine spring and force,
and the manifestation of the presence of God on the one hand, made known on
the other hand the eternal redemption and the perfection of the worshiper;
leaving no means for repentance, if any one abandoned the manifested and
known power of that presence; no place for another sacrifice (which, more
over, would have denied the efficacy of the first), after the perfect work
of God in salvation, perfect whether with regard to redemption or to the
presence of God by the Spirit in the midst of His own. Nothing remained but
judgment.
They who despised the law of Moses died without mercy. What then would not
those deserve at the hand of God, who trod under foot the Son of God,
counted the blood of the covenant, by which they had been sanctified, as a
common thing, and did despite to the Spirit of grace? It was not simple
disobedience, however evil that might be; it was contempt of the grace of
God, and of that which He had done, in the Person of Jesus, in order to
deliver us from the consequences of disobedience. On the one hand, what was
there left, if with the knowledge of what it was, they renounced this? On
the other hand, how could they escape judgment? for they know a God who had
said that vengeance belonged unto Him, and that He would recompense; and,
again, the Lord would judge His people.
Observe here the way in which sanctification is attributed to the blood;
and, also, that professors are treated as belonging to the people. The
blood, received by faith, consecrates the soul to God; but it is here viewed
also as an outward means for setting apart the people as a people. Every
individual who had owned Jesus to be the Messiah, and the blood to be the
seal and foundation of an everlasting covenant available for eternal
cleansing and redemption on the part of God, acknowledging himself to be
set apart for God, by this means, as one of the people-every such
individual would, if he renounced it, renounce it as such; and there was no
other way of sanctifying him. The former system had evidently lost its
power for him, and the true one he had abandoned. This is the reason why it
is said, " having received the knowledge of the truth."
Nevertheless he hopes better things, for fruit, the sign of life, was
there. He reminds them how much they had suffered for the truth, and that
they had even received joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that
they had a better and an abiding portion in heaven. They were not to cast
away this confidence, the reward of which would be great. For in truth they
needed patience, in order that, after having done the will of God, they
might receive the effect of the promise. And He who is to come will come
soon.
It is to this life of patience and perseverance that the chapter applies.
But there is a principle which is the strength of this life, and which
characterises it. In the midst of the difficulties of the christian walk
the just shall live by faith; and if anyone draws back, God will have no
pleasure in him. " But," says the author, placing himself as ever in the
midst of the believers, "we are not of them who draw back, but of them
that believe unto the saving of the soul." Thereupon he describes the
action of this faith, encouraging believers by the example of the elders
who had acquired their renown by walking according to the same principle as
that by which the faithful were now called to walk.
