01.09. A New And Living Way
A New And Living Way”
BOOK FOUR THE RISEN CHRIST GLORIFIED IN THE BELIEVER
CHAPTER NINE
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . let us draw near . . . let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus” (Heb 10:19; Heb 10:22; Heb 12:1-2).
“Boldness to Enter . . . by the Blood of Jesus” Heb 10:19-22.
The Doctrine Of Hebrews Concluded, We Have Now The practical implications of it, beginning with Heb 10:19, where we are told that, in the light of the abiding results of the one sacrifice offered by our Lord, we have boldness to enter into the Holiest by His blood, and are therefore exhorted to “draw near.” This is the climax to which all the previous chapters lead us. The new and living way brings us beyond the outer court into “the holy place” of “the true tabernacle,” where “the true worshippers,” of whom our Lord spoke to the woman of Samaria, worship “with a true heart” (John 4:23; Heb 10:22). This is heart worship, and not the mere externalia of ritual or man-made liturgies.
The way is both “new and living.” The sacrifice of Christ is ever “new.” It will never grow old, or our adoring view of it become stale, throughout eternity. We shall forever discover new glories and wonders in it.
The amazing word selected by the Holy Spirit for the Greek of this word translated “new” is used only here in the entire New Testament. It literally means “newly slaughtered,” or “freshly slain,” and therefore suggests the astounding fact that God the Father regards the offering of our Lord Jesus of Himself “without spot to God” as having only just now been accomplished. What blessed significance this immediately attaches to 1Jn 1:9; Rev 1:5; and similar passages! The way is also “living.” Christ is the propitiation in the heavenly sanctuary-the Living One who became dead, and behold, is alive for evermore! (Rev 1:17-18). He is as a Lamb newly slain though in the midst of the throne.
Think once more of the Jewish Tabernacle and the outer court, with the six pieces of furniture placed, by the command of God, in the form of a cross. Directly before the brazen altar was the gate, or entrance into the outer court. From there the priests walked, by the way of the cross as it were, through the door into the Holy Place. But the vail closed “the way into the holiest” until Christ died. Then when the vail of the Temple was rent in twain, the way was opened into the very presence of the Shekinah Glory. Do you see the picture? Our Lord Jesus, by the blood of His cross, is the Way into the presence of the Triune God. He is the gate and the door (John 10:7). His flesh, broken on Calvary, is the rent vail. He is the only Way to eternal life, even as He said to the eleven disciples in His farewell discourse,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
“Christ is the gateway whereby a poor sinner comes to God, the doorway whereby a saint enters into the sanctuary, the vail rent whereby we approach the presence of God and have boldness to stand before Him”
- Samuel Ridout The Rent Veil
Heb 10:20 The vail is rent, but it is not removed. The humanity of our Lord on which “the vail, that is to say, his flesh,” speaks, remains, living in the power of an endless life. It is through this holy vail that we enter in. We shall never dispense with Him, though we have been in glory ten thousand years. He is the Man Christ Jesus at the throne of grace.
In Exo 26:31-32 the vail is described. It was made of blue, purple scarlet and fine twined linen, with cherubims woven into it. It was hung with golden hooks upon four pillars of shittim, or acacia, wood overlaid: with gold; and the pillars stood upon four sockets of silver (See Exo 26:31-33; Exo 36:35-36).
- Blue is the color of heaven;
- Purple, the color of royalty;
- Scarlet speaks of suffering;
- Fine linen sets forth purity.
May not the four Gospels where the Holy One was set forth in this fourfold character, be represented by the four pillars, from which the holy vail was suspended? With what reverential awe we should ever contemplate it!
The door of the Tabernacle and the gate of the outer court were also made of blue, purple, scarlet and fine twined linen; for, as we have seen, the gate, the door and the vail foreshadowed the same Lord (See Exo 26:36-37; Exo 36:37-38; Exo 38:18).
The Levitical priests who were ministering in the Holy Place of the Temple, still rejecting Christ, even as He committed His spirit unto the Father as the true Lamb of God-in that moment the Levitical priests must have been struck with awe and fright as they saw the vail of the Temple being rent in twain from the top to the bottom by the hand of God (Mat 27:51). Yet their hearts were so hardened that they refused to accept the truth which this miracle taught-that from henceforth the earthly priesthood was forever done away, and that every believer in Christ has immediate, unbroken access into the true Holy of Holies, even heaven itself, “by the blood of Jesus.”
In their blindness the priests of Judaism continued to offer animal sacrifices and burn incense until God permitted this empty mockery to be swept away by the destruction of the Temple, A. D. 70. But they could not close “the way into the holiest of all.” No man could undo the finished work of Christ! Therefore, to the Hebrew Christians of his day the inspired writer was saying: “Stand back no longer! Come boldly unto the throne of grace! Draw near to your Great High Priest, the Man in the glory, who is waiting to hear your cry and plead your cause. You no longer need an earthly priest. Your Representative at the throne of grace has all power in heaven and on earth (Mat 28:18).”
“Let Us Draw Near . . . Let Us Hold Fast . . . Let Us Consider One Another”
Heb 10:22-25 The threefold exhortation which follows is the logical conclusion of all that the rent vail implies: “Let us draw near . . . let us hold fast the profession of our faith . . . let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” It is an exhortation to faith, hope and love.
1. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and our body washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22).
We may draw near with boldness, not as strangers and slaves, but in the liberty of sons. There is not a quiver of uncertainty, for we may have full assurance of faith. Such is the result of apprehending the infinite value of the sacrifice of Christ, which has made the entire system of the first-covenant sacrifices obsolete and unnecessary.
The heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water, evidently refers to Lev 8:1-36, to the consecration of the sons of Aaron to the priesthood.
Thus we have our title to draw near in the blood, securing our standing. The water sets forth the death of Christ applied to our state, cleansing us morally and making us meet for spiritual worship. The conscience is cleansed by blood; the body, that is, self, is cleansed by water. Both flowed from our Lord’s pierced side after His death.
The Levitical priests were washed by Moses once, at the time of their consecration to their sacred office (Lev 8:6). That act, which was never repeated, speaks of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit by the new birth in the heart of the believer-priest. That transaction is made once for all.
But on the wilderness journey from Egypt to Canaan, as it were, the; believer-priest becomes defiled by sin. Therefore, as Aaron and his sons had to wash their hands and feet at the brazen laver before they could minister in the Tabernacle, even so the believer in Christ must let God cleanse his hands for service and his feet for the pilgrim walk by “the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:26). Thus the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to the defiled believer (John 4:13-14; John 7:37-39 ; Rev 22:17).
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn 1:9).
2. “Let us hold fast the profession of our without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)” (Heb 10:23),
Nothing must be allowed to dim the brightness of our hope, that is, of our outlook, however difficult the present. We are going on to “the day,” with its morning without clouds.
3. “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25).
After the upward look through the opened heavens and the forward look toward the golden morning, we have a third exhortation, to consider one another.
First, in this epistle, we are directed to see our glorious High Priest in heaven, to be taken up with Him, to consider His perfections. And now having done this, as the Holy Spirit has taught us of our blessed Lord, we can rightly consider our fellow believers, not to discover their faults, but to draw forth their love and activities inspired by love.
If there be this love, we shall seek one another’s company, hence the exhortation concerning the gathering together of the people of God. We are not to forsake our brethren in their assembling together, as the manner of some is.
No wonder the two disciples on the way to Emmaus were sad and perplexed when they had turned their backs upon their brethren in Jerusalem! When their hearts had been made to burn within them through the ministry of the Word of Christ, when their eyes had been opened to see Him and know Him, while they were seated with Him at their own table, how quickly they hurried back to their brethren! And what a contribution they made as they related their experience of the restoring grace of the Great Shepherd! Then it was that they found Him again “in the midst” of His beloved disciples (Luk 24:36).
When we see our brethren as Christ’s own (John 13:1), we shall value them as our own also (Acts 4:23). An isolated Christian will wither in his spiritual life; but when Christ fills the horizon of our souls, we cannot help longing to share with our brethren what we have found in Him.
The assembly of the saints, that is, those separated from the world unto God, as the apostle Paul calls the local gatherings of the Lord’s people (1Co 14:1-40), is the nearest thing to heaven on earth. There the Lord is verily in the midst. There He shows us His hands and side and feet, the tokens of His sufferings on the cross. There He breathes on us His own resurrection life in the Spirit. There He commissions us to go forth in His name to carry His peace into a world of trouble and distress (See John 20:1-31). It is indeed a dangerous thing for any believer to forsake the assembly of His brethren. When we are thus gathered together with our spiritual kindred, ministry will flow freely. Knowing that the end of all things is at hand, that the day is approaching when Christ will assert His rights, we shall daily exhort one another to be awake and alert. We shall beseech our fellow Christians to be in detachment from the things which will come into judgment, and to be attached to those things which will be in triumph in that coming day, much as the world may despise or neglect them now. Then our Lord’s return will not take us unawares.
Another Warning About the Danger of Apostasy
Heb 10:26-31 In Heb 10:26-31 we have another searching warning about the danger to which one who forsakes the company of the brethren is exposed. It might end in his becoming an apostate, which in the Epistle to the Hebrews means leaving Christ for Judaism. It is a sinning willfully to reject the perfect sacrifice of Christ for the fulfilled and worn-out types of the first covenant, which God has set aside. For the Hebrew of apostolic days it meant continuing to offer the animal sacrifices; but God says, “There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins” now (Heb 10:26). So there is nothing for the apostate but the “certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Heb 10:27).
Jewish apostates, before being readmitted into the synagogue, had to deny openly that Jesus was the Son of God. They had to say that He deserved to die, and that the miracles which He wrought were not of the Spirit. They had to pronounce “anathema,” that is, a curse, upon His name-not that those who have been laid hold of by grace will go that far, but to forsake the assembly of the saints is the first step in the road that ends in apostasy unless grace intervenes. And how can grace avail where grace is despised?
According to the parable of the dragnet (Mat 13:47-50), all kinds of fish are caught in the net of the kingdom of heaven, both good and bad. Not all in the “net” are accepted for the “vessels.” The good only, the fish that have fins and scales, are thus taken. The rest are thrown away, (Cf. Lev 11:9-12) True believers have “fins” that enable them to go against the current, and “scales” which enable them to be in the world but not of it.
There is a blessed “but” in Heb 10:32, as there is in Heb 6:9, which shows that even then there were two classes who had been enlightened, as there are two classes in professing Christendom today-those who live by faith and those who draw back to perdition.
Remember that the Holy Spirit, in Heb 10:26-31, is writing to Christians about “the adversaries,” enemies of the cross of Christ (Heb 10:27). In the paragraph which follows (Heb 10:32-39); He addresses born-again souls in words of assurance like unto those of Heb 6:9-20. A real child of God cannot tread underfoot the Son of God and count His precious blood of the new covenant “an unholy thing [Greek, ‘a common thing’].” He cannot do “despite unto the Spirit of grace” (Heb 10:29). The apostate who pronounces “anathema” upon our blessed Lord, the unbeliever who will not accept Christ as Saviour, does that!
Since the Israelite who broke the Law of Moses was stoned to death, at the mouth of two or three witnesses (Deu 17:6), how much sorer punishment does the rebellious apostate deserve! He has been enlightened, yet still repudiates the Holy One of God!
The Hebrew Christians were familiar with their Old Testament Scriptures; they knew the meaning of the two quotations from the Word of the Lord, with which this paragraph closes:
“To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense” (Deu 32:35).
“The Lord shall judge his people” (Deu 32:36).
Then to this the Spirit of God adds the further warning,
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31)-unregenerated!
The faithfulness with which the Holy Spirit reveals the danger and the consequence of apostasy may be seen in the following summary: Seven steps in the downward course of evil, according to Hebrews:
1. Neglecting “so great salvation” (Heb 2:3)
If we do not want the heaven-sent fire to go out on the altar, we must day by day put fresh wood and sacrifices on it. Our prayers, intercessions, confessions, adorations and surrender mean nothing less than this-we do not want the fire on the altar of our hearts to go out.
2. Hardening the heart (Heb 3:8)
How soon the heart loses its tenderness; the conscience, its sensitiveness; the spirit, its God-awareness! This process will lead to open sin unless divinely arrested.
3. Corrupting the grace of God (Heb 6:4-8)
The heart that receives grace in vain is like the soil often rained upon! but yielding only thorns and thistles.
4. Doing despite to grace (Heb 10:29)
This means quenching the warnings and rebukes of the Spirit of grace drowning His still, small voice by the noises of this world.
5. Drawing back (Heb 10:38)
“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
6. Selling our birthright (Heb 12:16)
Like profane Esau, many make this fatal choice.
7. Openly rejecting Christ (Heb 12:25)
While one who is truly born again may through unwatchfulness give place to the flesh, stray far away and “become like them that go down into the pit” (Psa 28:1), yet be recovered through mercy; it also remains true that one may for a season appear to have the earmarks of a true disciple, yet in the end give evidence, like Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-24 that the heart has never been right with God, and that he is still “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” Truly, “the Lord knoweth them that are his” (2Ti 2:19; cf. Num 16:5). But we can know that they are His only when they who are called by His name depart from iniquity (2Ti 2:19).
“The Just Shall Live by Faith”
Heb 10:32-39
Comforting and reassuring are the words of encouragement in the closing paragraph of this chapter (Heb 10:32-39). And again the Spirit of God quotes from the Old Testament the famous statement in Hab 2:4, “The just shall live by faith” (cf. Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11). Indeed, this encouragement is continued to the end of the epistle; and the quotation from Habakkuk introduces the great faith chapter of the Bible.
Concerning this passage the Jewish Talmud in the section Gemartt Makkot says that David condenses the six hundred and thirteen commandments of Moses into eleven (Psa 15:1-5); Isaiah, into six (Isa 33:15); Micah, into three (Mic 6:8); and Habakkuk, into one (Hab 2:4). The Hebrews are thus encouraged to walk by faith and not by sight, lest they be lured back to Judaism by the magnificence of the still-standing Temple and its services. There was a deeper satisfaction in the despised upper room where Christians assembled than in the ancient externalia which had found their fulfillment in Christ.
Three powerful reasons for continuance in the life of faith are given here:
1. The memory of the sufferings of the past (Heb 10:32-36)
When they first believed, they were divinely “illuminated.” It was a coming out of the shadows into noonday splendor. Then they had “endured a great fight of afflictions,” taking the spoiling of their goods joyfully. This proved their being truly of the elect of God.
2. The inspiration of the glory of the future (Heb 10:36-39) “The promise” is about to be fulfilled,
“For yet a very little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb 10:37).
In Hab 2:3, from which these words are quoted, we read,
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
The Spirit, who surely knows His own Word, changes the “it” of Habakkuk to “he” in Hebrews; for the vision of Habakkuk speaks of the person of the Coming One, the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. The danger of perdition (Heb 10:38 b)
The choice is either to live by faith and go on with Christ, or to draw back. And “if any man draw back,” God has “no pleasure in him.” The end of that way is “perdition,” but the end of believing is “the saving of the soul.”
“Great Recompense of Reward”
“A great fight of afflictions . . . a gazingstock . . . reproaches and afflictions . . . companions of them that were so used . . . ye had compassion of me in my bonds [for Christ’s sake], and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods”-these verses tell something the persecution which the Hebrew Christians had suffered for their Lord. To them, as to us today, the inspired writer is saying:
What does it matter if we do become a gazingstock before the Christ rejecting world because of our testimony for the Lord who loved and gave Himself for us? He is faithful that promised (Heb 10:23) to lead His sons unto glory (Heb 2:10). What if we do lose all earthly things for His sake? In Him we have “a better and an enduring substance” (Heb 10:34).
“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Heb 10:35-36).
At the judgment seat of Christ the rewards will be bestowed upon those who have been faithful in service for Him (1Co 3:11-14; Rom 14:10; 2Co 5:10).
Meanwhile, there is need of patience, faith, hope and love for the pilgrim walk. The justified sons of God live now by faith, and they shall live eternally because of that God-given faith.
But read further in the record of Habakkuk’s vision, and what do you find? “Great recompense of reward!” For in that coming “day” (Heb 10:25) when “he that shall come will come” (Heb 10:37), God’s suffering, saints will “receive the promise” (Heb 10:36)-above all they could ask or think. These are Habakkuk’s own words describing that day, written by inspiration of the Spirit of God:
“The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14).
Assignment for Exam 9
1. Spend much time before the throne of grace praising God for your Great High Priest and the opened way into His presence. Ask your Father in heaven, in the name of the Son, for an ever increasing measure of faith, hope, love and patience, to which you are exhorted in this chapter.
2. Endeavor to witness before unbelievers of the danger of apostasy: “Yet a little while,” and the opportunity for witnessing will be past.
CHAPTER NINE
NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE MOODY CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL FOR GRADING OF YOUR EXAMS - IF YOU WISH TO COMPLETE THEM, CONSIDER THEM AS AN OPEN BOOK EXAM 1. In the blank space write the letter of the correct answer. (20 points)
1) Heb 1:1-14, Heb 2:1-18, Heb 3:1-19, Heb 4:1-16, Heb 5:1-14, Heb 6:1-20, Heb 7:1-28, Heb 8:1-13, Heb 9:1-28, Heb 10:1-18 has to do principally with 100
(a) Worship (b) Practicec) Warning
(d) Doctrine __________
(2) The climax of Hebrews, beginning with Heb 10:19, introduces the part of the epistle which has to do mainly with
(a) Warning
(b) Worship
(c) Practice
(d) Doctrine __________ (3) By rending the veil of the Temple, God was making known the truth that
(a) He was forever done with Israel (b) The earthly priesthood was done away (c) The nation would be rent asunder for crucifying Christ
(d) The human race had forfeited its last chance of salvation __________ (4) At the judgment seat of Christ
(a) Rewards will be given for those who have worked hardest for the good of humanity (b) Christians who do not have anything worthwhile to offer Christ will be cast out of heaven (c) Rewards will be given to believers in Christ for faithfulness (d) True believers will not have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ
__________ (5) The Hebrew Christians had
(a) Suffered no persecution for their faith (b) Taken joyfully the loss of their possessions (c) Bitterly lamented the spoiling of their goods
(d) Failed to assist others who were persecuted __________
2. In the right-hand margin write “True” or “False” after each of the following statements. (20 points)
a. The Jews were still offering animal sacrifices when the Epistle to the Hebrews was written. __________ b. The glorified Lord is still Man as well as God. __________ c. God permitted the destruction of the Jewish Temple in A.D. 70.__________ d. Heb 10:37 refers to the second coming of Christ. __________ e. Human mediators between God and man still have a definite part in worship. __________ f. The “adversaries” who are to be devoured are enemies of the cross.__________ g. The Old Testament quotation at the close of Hebrews 10 introduces the great faith chapter of the Bible.__________ h. Assembling for fellowship is not important for true Christians.__________ i. God’s grace is too rich and free to allow any to perish.__________ j. Perdition awaits those who do not believe to the saving of the soul. __________ Name the seven steps in the downward course of evil, as set forth in the Epistle to the Hebrews. (21 points)
(a) __________________________________________________________________________ (b) __________________________________________________________________________ (c) __________________________________________________________________________ (d) __________________________________________________________________________ (e) __________________________________________________________________________ (f) __________________________________________________________________________ (g) __________________________________________________________________________
The exhortation “let us” occurs three times in Hebrews 10. In the blank lines write these three exhortations. (9 points) a. An exhortation to faith
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ b. An exhortation to hope
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ c. An exhortation to love
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
a. What colors were in the veil of the Tabernacle and what did they typify? (18 points) (1) __________typified ________________________________________________ (2) __________typified ________________________________________________ (3) __________typified ________________________________________________
(4) Fine linen typified ________________________________________________
b. In what significant form were the various pieces of furniture placed in the Tabernacle ?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. What are we to learn from the rending of the veil of the Temple ?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Give the Scripture references in which these words occur: “The just [or ‘righteous,’] shall live by faith.” (12 points)
(a) __________________________________________________________________________ (b) __________________________________________________________________________ (c) __________________________________________________________________________ (d) __________________________________________________________________________