W. J. Hocking.
1915 371 One of the chief features of the Epistle to the Hebrews is the very explicit way in which it shows how the believer benefits through the absence of Christ on high. The Jewish saints were accustomed to expect the fulness of their blessing only in connection with the Messiah's presence upon earth. But, contrary to this expectation, Christ had ascended up to where He was before; and His followers needed to be taught in what manner it was expedient for them that He should go away. It was a puzzle to many how it could be possible for the Lord's absence to be better for them than His presence. They knew that when the Lord reigned in mount Zion He would subdue every foe, and give His people peace and joy in all their borders. But what could He do for them on high, before "that day" of power and glory dawns on the earth? This they had to learn, and the Spirit of God, in this Epistle, introduces the subject of the present work of the Lord on high. Let us glance at the bearing of the early chapters from this point of view.
It was first necessary that the Hebrew Christians should have a clear testimony as to the glories of the Person of the Apostle and High Priest of their confession. Such a testimony is rendered in the first two chapters of the Epistle. Therein they are shown that the One in whom they trusted differed immensely from any and all of the servants of God in past ages. The apostle, however, does not proceed to compare Christ feature by feature with Moses and Aaron; but he demonstrates Him to be God, become Man for the suffering of death. Such a fact concerning the Lord Jesus, without making any formal statement of comparison, proves Him to be immeasurably above and beyond all the Old Testament persons and institutions.
This superiority is displayed in detail throughout Hebrews 1 and 2. So that the saints might learn from thence that the One who had gone into heaven was, in contrast with former leaders and commanders, an ever-living and unchanging Person. Aaron had died on Mount Hur; and Moses, on Mount Pisgah, closed his connection with the people of God. But Jesus was not such a one as they. Received up in glory, He had taken His seat at the right hand Of the Majesty on high, crowned with glory and honour. His interest and relationship with this world had not ceased; on the contrary, He is the appointed Heir of all things, and, though we see it not in actual accomplishment, all things are put into subjection under His feet.
Here, then we discover a supreme reason why the death of Jesus was in no wise a bar to present help and blessing from Him. It was undoubtedly so in the cases of Aaron and Moses. The people of Israel on their decease were taught to look to Eleazar and Joshua. But the glorified Jesus, though He had tasted death, was still the object of faith and the source of blessing for the saints in an enhanced degree, proportionate to His glorification above. This followed necessarily from the intrinsic worth of His person and the efficacy of His work.
As pilgrims through the wilderness, as followers of the despised Nazarene, as sufferers of persecution for Christ's sake, the saints needed continual supplies of grace and strength. Who was their Captain and Guide? Who could rightly understand their peculiar and trying circumstances, and sympathize with them in the sorrows that came upon them because they were the disciples of Christ? Those to whom they had been accustomed to apply for sympathy, and advice and assistance the Jewish priests and elders — turned from them with that scornful and loathing hatred with which they had regarded their Master. Was there no one who cared for them, and could help them in their weakness and trials ) The Epistle answers that there is One, and it bids the holy brethren to consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of their confession (Heb. 3:1). In Him the suffering saints would find an inexhaustible store of compassion and strength for their succour. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted He is able to help those that are tempted."
From this point, the apostle — having introduced the fact that the absent Christ, so far from forgetting them in all their trials and sorrows, is there in heaven to serve them still by such effectual sympathy and succour as none but He can render, at once proceeds to enlarge on their wilderness way and its dangers during their passage to the rest beyond (chapters 3. and 4). The verses in which this is done have caused many a godly soul to shudder in the sense of its Own inherent weakness, and in the dread lest it should after all fail to enter into the rest of God. The scripture is intended to produce such a distrust of self, The province of the word of God is stated in this very connection (Heb. 4:16.) to be for the manifestation of the workings of the heart and what is within. It is good for us to be laid bare in this fashion.
But the error often consists in stopping at the discovery of one's own inability to go forward in one's own strength, in being overcome by the sense of the severity of the trials and the power of the enemies, and, as a consequence, in feeling ready to give up in despair. The truth is, however, as the apostle declares, that there is a divine provision for this infirmity of ours. He points to the Christ no longer on earth, but in heaven. He was there for them. They were not to give up, but, on the contrary, to hold fast. "Having then a great high priest passed, as he is, through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we have not a high priest unable to sympathize with our infirmities, but having been tempted in all things, in like manner apart from sin. Let us then approach with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for seasonable help" (Heb. 4:14-16. New Transl.).
Weakness, however excessive, was therefore no occasion for despair. It was rather an occasion for proving divine sympathy and the fulness there is in Christ to supply suitable grace and strength for every sorrow throughout the pilgrimage. Moreover, He has qualified Himself for such priestly ministration by the trials He endured in the days of His flesh. The Lord suffered by reason of His faithfulness to God amid a sinful world. He met the power of Satan. Hence the compassion of our great High Priest in whatever befalls us by the way. He is still the same as when He wept with the sisters of Bethany before He gave them back their dead brother. He enters into our sorrows ere He delivers us out of them.
Without dwelling further on this point, it is evident that this compassionate regard for the suffering saints and the ministry of effectual aid in the hour of weakness and trial form a special feature of the Lord's priesthood in its present exercise.
The question of our sins is entirely another matter. Here it is one of infirmity. As to sins, the saints were reminded that Christ made purification for them before He took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3). The propitiation once made for sins (Heb. 2:17) is the foundation of His priestly action now going on. But atonement did not strictly fall within the functions of the high priest as such a fact indicated in that Aaron fulfilled his solemn duties not in his high-priestly robes, but attired as an ordinary priest (Lev. 16:3-4). It was in fact a special occasion on which Aaron represented the people in their sins. This Christ did on the cross. And not until His ascension did He enter upon His priestly, work in connection with our encompassing infirmities. It is this work which is the particular subject of the former part of the Epistle to the Hebrews.