The first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews presents the Son of God to us in His glory. He is seen as the Son in His essential glory, the One in whom God has been revealed. It was by Him that God made the worlds, and He upholds all things by the word of His own power. Moreover, by Himself the Son has made purification for sins, and in His own right has sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Angels, who are the greatest of God’s creatures, are called upon to worship Him, the great Jehovah who, in the beginning formed the earth and heavens. While able, in His own right to sit down at God’s right hand, He has also taken this place at the invitation of the Father (Heb. 1:13).
In Hebrews 2 Jesus is presented to us as the Son of Man, according to Psalm 8, which looks on to the world to come, where all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon earth, will be found under the feet of Christ as Lord, and where all that is blest will be under His headship. Although this epistle is much concerned with the world to come it also brings out the place that now belongs to the saints of God as anticipating what shall then be ours. We do not yet see all things under Christ, “but we see Jesus…crowned with glory and honour” at God’s right hand. Faith enables us to see Him in His present place of glory, and also to see Him in the place He is about to occupy in the world to come.
God’s rest, which was broken by the entry of sin into the world, will yet be found, and His people will enter into His rest in the world to come. Through faith in Jesus we have even now rest of conscience, and have found rest of soul as being under His yoke, but we cannot find rest in a world that is at enmity with God. Here it is our lot, and our privilege, to labour in the service of the Lord, but “there remains…a rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9) in the world to come, and we go on labouring until the coming of the Lord, when we shall enter with Him into God’s rest.
Christ’s priesthood, which He assumed on ascending on high, is “after the order of Melchisedec” (Heb. 5:6, 10), but now exercised after the character of the Aaronic priesthood (Heb. 8:3). When the Lord Jesus comes again He will be seen as “a Priest upon His throne” (Zech. 6:13) reigning in the world to come as “King of righteousness, and…King of peace” (Heb. 7:2), fulfilling the type seen in Melchisedec. He will reign in this double character for the blessing of His people Israel, maintaining peace in the world by the suppression of all evil.
For the time being the nation of Israel has been set aside, the church being called for heavenly blessing, but Israel will yet be blessed in the world to come under the new covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31–34, and quoted in Hebrews 8:8–12, and of this new covenant Christ is the Mediator (Heb. 9:15). The church at the present time has divine blessing in the spirit of the new covenant (2 Cor. 3:6–18), and the ministry of Christ as God’s high priest, through which we have access into God’s presence on the ground of the precious blood of Christ.
Faith has always looked forward to the world to come, even as “Abraham…looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10). The saints of old were pilgrims and strangers, desiring “a better country, that is, an heavenly,” and God “has prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:13–16). Like the saints of old we wait to have our part with Christ in the world to come, in the better country and the heavenly city, and now “run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus” in heaven as an Object for the heart, and as an Example in the race.
To faith the world to come is more real than the passing world around us, its heavenly character being borne by the saints of God as they pursue the goal before them. We have not come by faith to the legal system that could never bring blessing to men, but rather to the divine system of grace that will soon be brought into display in the world to come that is symbolized by mount Zion.
Mount Zion
Mount Zion is to us the symbol of divine grace because it was chosen of God as the place for His sanctuary, after having forsaken “the tabernacle of Shiloh” because of the sins of the sons of Eli (Ps. 78:60–69). Again, in Psalm 132 we see that Zion is chosen in God’s sovereign grace, where the Psalmist says, “For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation,” then Jehovah replies to this saying, “this is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it” (Ps. 132:13-14). In the world to come “The Lord shall send the rod of His strength out of Zion,” saying, “Rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies” (Ps. 110:2). Both houses of Israel will then be reunited, and the blessing of the Lord shall be there, for in Zion the Lord will command the blessing, “even life for evermore” (Ps. 133). The glory of the Lord shall shine forth from Zion, “the joy of the whole earth…the city of the great King” as also “the city of our God” (Ps. 40:1-2).
“The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”
From mount Zion, where the divine glory will be displayed on earth, and where Israel will be richly blessed of God, we pass into another scene where the divine glory will be displayed from heaven. This is the city for which Abraham waited, and which God has prepared for His saints (Heb. 11:10, 16), the heavenly city of the world to come, which is so blessedly described to us by the Holy Spirit in Revelation 21 and 22. There it is “the bride, the Lamb’s wife…the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal” (Rev. 21:9–11).
This is the city of the living God, where God is livingly displayed in His nature of love, and in the greatness of His kindness and exceeding rich grace (John 17:22-23; Eph. 2:7). All who have part in the heavenly city are individually and collectively the workmanship of God, and this wonderful vessel in which He is displayed in His glory manifests what He is in all the divine traits that were once set forth in Jesus in this world, and in His great wisdom that devised and produced such a vessel to display before the whole universe what was in His heart and mind in eternity.
“An innumerable company of angels – the general assembly”
We have seen the place of Zion on earth in the world to come and the place of glory the church occupies as coming down from God out of heaven; now we pass into heaven itself to see the angels gathered together in a general assembly. In Hebrews 1:14 the angels are shown to us as “sent forth,” here they are in a “general assembly.” As sent forth, they are ministering to the saints, the heirs of salvation, but soon the saints will have been called to heaven when the Lord descends from heaven with His assembling shout. Then the angels' work for us on earth will be completed, and the “voice of the archangel” with which the Lord comes will summon them also to heaven (1 Thess. 4:16-17).
Assembled in heaven, “the voice of many angels round about the throne”, mingling with the myriads there, join in the celebrations of that great day, saying “with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. 5:11-12). What a blessed privilege to join in the praises of the Lamb that was slain. There was delight for the heart of God when the stars sang and the angels shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid (Job 38:7): how great will be the pleasure of God when His angels join with the redeemed to praise the Lamb in heaven because of His having died and brought the redeemed there.
“The church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven”
In heaven there will be many families in the world to come, families of men who have been redeemed, and families of angels. Among the many families there will be that family that God has chosen to be specially associated with His own Son. The church, formed in the present time, is composed of those that are Christ’s companions, His brethren, among whom He is the Firstborn (Rom. 8:29). The Holy Spirit has united them in one body, and united them as such to Christ their Head, and in this favoured relationship to Christ they have a unique place in His affections, as also in the display of His glory as His bride, as we have seen in Revelation 21, 22.
This favoured place in association with Christ gives the church a special place among the families of heaven, even that of firstborn ones. Christ Himself, as we have seen is Firstborn among many brethren, and also Firstborn of all the creation, and Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:15, 18), and the family that has been associated with Him so intimately in life, affection and glory, must of necessity have the place of firstborn ones among the many families of the redeemed.
God the Judge of all
When interceding for Sodom, Abraham said to God, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25). It was faith in Abraham that recognised God as the Judge of all the earth, for then, as now, God was not manifestly the Judge of all the earth, He was acting behind the scenes, yet dealing with evil in His government when He judged it necessary. The day is coming when it will be manifested publicly, in the world to come, that God is the Judge of all, for evil will not be allowed to raise its head as it has done down the centuries, for God, the Judge of all, will deal with evil whenever it shows itself.
God as the Judge of all is the moral Governor of the whole universe, ordering all things for the good of mankind on earth as well as dealing with the evil. His glory will be seen on earth, for there will be in the world to come the fulfilment of what the Lord said to Moses when Israel refused the glad tidings of the promised land, “As I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Num. 14:21). God’s glory too will shine from the church as having come down from Him out of heaven. Men during the past ages have refused to give God His true place in the world, in the world to come all will acknowledge Him as the Judge of all. There will be no atheists or infidels in that day, for God’s will shall be done on earth even as it is in heaven. The Psalmists looked forward to God as the Judge of the earth, to reward the proud (Ps. 94:2), and to judge the people righteously (Ps. 96:10).
The spirits of just men made perfect
The just men of Old Testament times await the coming of the Lord Jesus, when they with us will receive their glorified bodies, and thus be made perfect. Jehovah had this world in mind when He said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Matt. 22:31-32), and it was of this that the Lord said to Daniel, “Go thy way till the end: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Dan. 12:13). David too will have that for which he waited, when he said, “As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness” (Ps. 17:15). Job has waited long for the day when he would be made perfect, but had the faith of it as shown in Job 19.
Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant
How very precious to find the Name of Jesus in relation to the world to come, the same blessed Name in which He was found in Manhood in this world, the Name written upon the cross when rejected by Israel, and His precious blood shed. Here, Jesus is presented as the Mediator of the new covenant which is to be made with both the houses of Israel, but in that day, every knee shall bow at the Name of Jesus, whether heavenly, earthly or infernal (Phil. 2:10), the whole universe being at His blessed feet. The Name of Jesus that has charmed the hearts of myriads of saints in the day of His rejection by Israel, and the world into which He came, is the Name by which He will be known in relation to the new covenant that secures the blessing of His people Israel.
The Blood of Sprinkling
So often in the types of the Old Testament the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled, pointing forward to the great work that was to be done by the Son of God upon the cross, and to all that would be secured by His death. To approach God in worship or for communion, the blood of the burnt offerings, and of the peace offerings, must needs be sprinkled on the altar round about, the testimony universally to the value of the blood. The holiest had to be sprinkled on the day of atonement, both on and before the mercy seat, indicating that God’s claims could only be met by blood, and that man could only be in the immediate presence of God through blood.
The priests and their garments must be sprinkled by blood, and with oil, to consecrate them to serve God in His sanctuary; the leper must be sprinkled by blood if he was to be cleansed, and the whole tabernacle system was sprinkled with blood to show that the world to come would be cleansed from all pollution by the blood of Jesus, so that the glory of the Lord might cover the earth in that day. What has been indicated in all the types will yet find full fulfilment in the world to come. All who are blessed in heaven, or on earth and the whole universal scene, will have come under the efficacy of the blood of sprinkling, the precious blood of Jesus.
The blood speaks better things than of Abel
Abel’s blood cried to God from the ground, and it brought a curse upon Cain, for God said to Cain, “Now thou art cursed from the earth, which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand” (Gen. 4:10-11). In marked contrast the blood of Jesus has secured all the blessings for all who believe in Him, and rest upon His finished work. Abel’s blood cried for cursing: the blood of Jesus cries for blessing.
Though the blood of Jesus has brought rich blessing to believers now, and will bring blessing to Israel in the millennial day God has not forgotten what His enemies have done to His beloved Son, and the cry of those who called for His death, when they said, “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matt. 27:25). Israel has already suffered for the wickedness of those who crucified the Son of God, and will yet suffer in the time of Jacob’s trouble; but in the end the nation will be blessed through the blood of Jesus.
R. 20.1.70