Hebrews 12

Hebrews 12:1-14

XXX AND SPECIAL The seventh exhortation in this book is as follows: “Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith – let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not – let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, exhorting one another” (Hebrews 10:22-25). The doctrines that underlie this manifold exhortation are, (1) Christ has rent the veil hiding the holy of holies by his death, and dedicated for us a new and living way. (2) We have a great High Priest over the house of God. (3) The day of his final coming is rapidly approaching (Hebrews 10:19-21).

Here a question arises, Does “having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching? It is not clear that it has such reference. But if it does, it strongly supports the Baptist teaching, to wit: Our souls are cleansed by the application of Christ’s blood by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Baptism in water only washes the body, and hence can only externally symbolize the internal cleansing. In this way Paul, internally cleansed, could arise and wash away his sins symbolically in baptism (Acts 22:16), or as Peter puts it: “Water, even baptism, after a true likeness doth now save us, not putting away the filth of the flesh [i.e., the carnal nature] but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). In other words, it is a figurative salvation, and the figure or likeness is that of a resurrection (see Romans 6:4-5). Paul’s reason for the seventh exhortation is expressed in the famous passage (Hebrews 10:26-29), the whole of which is an explanation of the eternal, unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit, very different from the gradual, unconscious sins of “drifting” and “hardening.” Its conditions and characteristics are:

1. There has been great spiritual light and knowledge, thoroughly convincing the judgment of the truth of the gospel, and strongly impressing the mind to accept it.

2. It is a distinct and wilful rejection of the well-known light and monition of the Holy Spirit.

3. It is a culmination of sin against every person of the Trinity. (1) It is a sin against the Father in deliberately trampling under foot the Son of his love. (2) It is a sin against the Son in counting the blood of his expiation an unholy thing. (3) It is the sin against the Holy Spirit in doing despite to his grace who has furnished complete proof to the rejector’s conscience that it is God’s Son who is trampled under foot, and that the blood of his vicarious sacrifice alone can save.

4. Once committed, the soul is there and then forever lost, having never forgiveness in time or eternity, and knows that for him there is no more sacrifice for sin, and expects nothing but judgment and fiery wrath which shall devour the adversaries.

5. Let the reader particularly note that this sin cannot be committed except in an atmosphere, not merely of light and knowledge, but of spiritual light, knowledge and power, and that it is one wilful, malicious act arising from hate – hating the more because of the abundance and power of the light. The eighth exhortation is, “Cast not away your boldness” (Hebrews 10:35). The exhortation is based on appeal to their remembrance of the triumphs of their past experience. They had patiently endured a great conflict of suffering just after their conversion; they had been made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions cast on them and by their sharing in the afflictions of their leaders. This is evident from the history of Paul’s labors among men. There was nothing in their present afflictions severer than those they triumphantly endured in their earlier experience.

The ninth exhortation is, “Therefore, let us also, seeing that we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, 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, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls” (Hebrews 12:1-3). The imagery here is that of a foot race, such as these people had often witnessed in the Isthmian Games at Corinth, or in the great amphitheater at Ephesus. “The race set before us” – the great example upon whom the runner must fix his eye – is Jesus, the author (or captain) and perfecter of our faith.

The force of the example of Jesus in Hebrews 12:2 is this:

He is set before us as the one perfect model or standard. A joy was set before him as a recompense of reward that when attained would make him the gladdest man in the universe. For this he voluntarily became the saddest man in the universe. Thus “the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” was “anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows;” “He saw of the travail of his soul and was satisfied.” Here we are confronted with this double question: Does the phrase, “author and perfecter of our faith,” mean that Jesus first inspires and then completes our individual faith – i.e., what he begins he consummates – or that he is the captain and completer of the faith in the sense that his completed victory is both cause and earnest of our own victory, as in Hebrews 2:10? The latter best accords with the import of the Greek word, archegos, used both here and in Hebrews 2:10, and with the whole context.

The word “witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1 means martyrs whose examples should excite our emulation, and accords with the meaning and usage of the Greek word marturos, which makes them witnesses to the truth and not spectators of what other people may do. Moreover, the biblical evidence is scant, if there be any at all, that departed souls are allowed to sympathetically intervene in the struggle of those left behind. Yet, by rhetorical license, in the exercise of the imagination, a poet, orator or writer may summon the dead to appear before the living for dramatic effect. But we go far when we seek to construct doctrine on rhetorical license. What is the “besetting sin” in Hebrews 12:1? It may not be the same in all cases. It is the sin to which one most easily yields whether pride, lust, covetousness, anger, vanity, or any other.

The tenth exhortation (Hebrews 12:4-13,) is, “Regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, because (1) chastening is an evidence of sonship. (2) If we have borne arbitrary chastening from earthly parents, much more we will bear disciplinary chastening from our Heavenly Father. (3) While grievous at first, it yieldeth afterward peaceable fruit or righteousness, if rightly received.

Here come up the Creationist theory of the origin of human spirits and the Traducian theory. The Creationist theory is that the spirit of every human being born into the world is a direct creation of God, and only the body is derived from the earthly parent. The Traducian theory is that every child, in his entirety, spirit and body, is derived from his earthly parents, begotten in the likeness not only of bodily features but in spiritual state, otherwise man could not propogate his species, and every child would, in his inner nature, be born holy, not subject to inherited depravity and not needing regeneration until he became an actual transgressor hence needing only proper environment and training to grow up in holiness.

The passage in question is not decisive for either theory. God is the Father of spirits in that originally the spirit of man was not a formation from inert matter, but a special creation (see Genesis 2:7). Thus the whole race, body and spirit, was potentially in the first man, died body and spirit in him when he fell, and after his fall he “begat children in his likeness” body and spirit.

In Hebrews 12:12-13, “hands hanging down,” “palsied knees,” and “crooked paths” refer to the physical effects of spiritual depression or terror, the inner man acting on the outer. See case of Belshazzar (Daniel 5:6), and recall cases coming under your own observation in which discouragements or despondency of the spirit enfeeble the body. Some men, morally brave, are physically timid. A famous French marshal always trembled at the beginning of battle. On one occasion his officers rallied him on his shaking legs. He answered, “If my legs only knew into what dangers I will take them today, they would shake more than they do.”

The eleventh exhortation (Hebrews 12:14 ff) is, “Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.” There are two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation, against which there are special cautions, as follows: (1) The springing up of a root of bitterness to defile many. (2) The spirit of profanity, or the despising of sacred things.

In our own experience or observation, cases arise of a single root of bitterness disturbing the peace of communities and retarding the sanctification of hundreds.

Profanity here means, not so much swearing as it does a spirit of irreverence in speaking of sacred things, and, sometimes interested lost souls are completely sidetracked by the levity and foolish jestings, and the questionable anecdotes of preachers in their hours of relaxation.

The author having often, in his early ministry, witnessed the wounding and shocking of sober-minded Christians and the loss of interest in awakened sinners caused by the foolish jestings in the preacher’s tent concerning sacred things, and sometimes by obscene anecdotes, entered into a solemn covenant with Dr. Riddle, the moderator of the Waco Association, never to tell nor willingly hear a doubtful anecdote. This covenant was made while camping out one night on the prairie in the light of the stars.

The twelfth exhortation and its doctrinal basis are found in Hebrews 12:28-29 : “Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire.

I will group in classes the exhortation of Hebrews 13 as follows:

1. Love to brethren, strangers, and those in bonds.

2. Honor the sanctity of marriage.

3. Eschew the covetous spirit.

4. Hold in kind remembrance your leaders that have passed away.

5. Bear the reproach of Christ, even if it ostracises from worldly society.

6. Offer spiritual sacrifices of praise, confession, contribution, and prayer.

In closing this exposition there are two things worthy of note: First, The bearing of Heb 13:8 on the preceding verse, which means that preachers may come and go, but Jesus is ever the same. Second, The controversy arose over Hebrews 13:10, a controversy as to what is the Christian altar. Was it the cross on which Jesus was crucified? Then how can the altar be greater than the gift on the altar, as Christ taught? Was it Christ’s divinity on which his humanity was sacrificed? This controversy was a refinement of foolishness, because the altar under consideration is not supporting the expiating sin offering of which the priests were never allowed to have a part, but the altar to which non-expiatory offerings were brought, such as meat offerings, thank offerings, tithes etc.

Of these the priests and Levites might partake. The meaning is simply this – that Christianity provides in its way for the support of its laborers through the voluntary offerings to Christ’s cause (see 1 Corinthians 9:13-14).

1. What is the exhortation in this book relative to faith, hope, and love?

2. What doctrines underlie this manifold exhortation?

3. Does “having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching?

4. How do you interpret Paul’s reason for this exhortation as expressed in Hebrews 10:26-29, which refers to the eternal sin?

5. What is the exhortation relative to boldness, and on what is it predicated?

6. What is the exhortation relative to weights, sins, etc., what its imagery, and what its elements?

7. What is the force of the example of Jesus in Hebrews 12:2?

8. What does the phrase “author and perfector of our faith” mean?

9. What is the meaning and import of “witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1?

10. What is the “besetting sin” in Hebrews 12:1?

11. What is the exhortation relative to chastening, and what its reasons?

12. What are the theories relative to the origin of human spirits, and what the bearing of this passage on the subject?

13. What is the meaning and force of “hand hanging down,” “palsied knees,” and “crooked paths?”

14. What is the exhortation relative to peace and sanctification?

15. What two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation?

16. Do you know of a case of a single “root of bitterness” disturbing communities and hindering sanctification?

17. What is the meaning of profanity here, and what illustration of the effect of such profanity given?

18. In what did Esau’s profanity consist?

19. What is the meaning of Heb 12:17? So, What the exhortation relative to grace, and what its doctrinal basis?

20. Group in classes the exhortations of Hebrews 13.

21. What is the bearing of Heb 13:8 on the preceding verse?

22. What controversy arose over Hebrews 13:10?

23. Why was this controversy a refinement of foolishness?

Hebrews 12:18-24

XXVII THE OUTCOME OF THE ‘S LIFEHeb_12:18-24. The sixth great promise of the new covenant is the outcome of the Christian life (Hebrews 12:18-24). This paragraph is the climax, but not the end of the argument of this letter. The thought has been touched more than once already, but here is gathered in a correlated group the sum of all detached antecedent teachings. Here is not one star, but a constellation more luminous and alluring than the Pleiades. Indeed, it is a vivid contrast between two opposing constellations – “The sweet influences of Pleiades” vs. “The bands of Orion,” for it presents both negative and positive aspects, to wit: What the Christian is not coming to, and what he is coming to.

Hebrews 12:18-20 tell us that the Christian is not coming to Mount Sinai, i.e., to the old covenant, ministered by angels and mediated by Moses, with its terrors of voice, earthquake, tempest, fire, darkness, and trumpet so awful that even Moses feared exceedingly and trembled – a mountain whose touch was death and whose yoke gendered to bondage and death. Elsewhere Paul has declared that this mountain as an allegory, “answereth to Jerusalem that now is; for she is in bondage with her children” (Galatians 4:21-25). Indeed, Galatians 4:21-31 parallels our paragraph and demonstrates Pauline authorship of this letter. At the giving of the law, the trumpet of heaven which marshaled the angels, waxed louder and louder until its awful peals smote the people with terror – an unearthly trumpet sound that earth never heard before and will not hear again until the final advent, when again it marshals the angels to attend our Lord for gathering the elect and for burning the tares, and not, according to Negro theology, to wake the dead. (See Matthew 13:30; Matthew 13:38-43; Matthew 13:49; Matthew 24:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16 for the meaning of the trumpet.) The outcome of the old covenant is death, to which the Christian never comes, for “Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” and himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life . . Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” .

If we construe the word “come” in “ye are not come” and ‘‘ye are come,” In the present or perfect tense, the meaning is: “Ye are not come unto the old covenant as a regime, but to the new covenant as a regime.” But it is prophetic present, or perfect, and represents the outcome or destiny.

THE OF THE OUTCOME1. To a definite place. “But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” This accords with the statements in Hebrews 11:10 : “For Abraham looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God,” and Hebrews 11:14-16 : “For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own. And if indeed they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.”

On the same line speaks our Lord: “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know the way” (John 14:2-4). And in the Apocalypse of John we have these precious words to the conditions there.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain any more; the first things are passed away. – Revelation 21:1-4.

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof. And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb, And the nations [of the saved] shall walk amidst the light thereof, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for there shall be no night there) and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it: and there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie; but only they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life. – Revelation 21:22-27.

And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, preceding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no curse any more, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be night no more: and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun: for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign forever and ever. – Revelation 22:1-6.

It was this paradise regained that Paul was himself permitted to see: “I must needs glory, though it is not expedient; but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not …: God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven. And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knoweth), how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). And it was concerning this place and condition he also said: “While we look not at the things which are seen, . . . for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens” (2 Cor. 4:18-5:1).

We need to impress our minds with the fact that all finite beings must have a place, whether in the body or out of the body – only the infinite is omnipresent – and that the clearness of our conception of heaven much affects our lives. Many Christians live far from God and are unhappy, and prone to backsliding, because their conception of heaven is so vague and misty. They do not lay hold of the powers of the world to come. Dr. Chalmers, in his greatest sermon, on “The Expulsive Power of New Affections,” says substantially: “Oh, if some island of the blessed could be loosed from its heavenly moorings and float down the tide of time so that we could just once behold the serenity of its skies, the tranquillity of its peace – if just once we could inhale the aroma of its flowers, catch the sheen of the apparel of its inhabitants – just once have our hearts ravished with the melody of its music – then never again would we count this world our home.”

I once heard at a great camp meeting a thousand happy voices singing that old-time Methodist hymn: Have ye heard, have ye heard, of that sunbright clime, Undimmed by sorrow and unhurt by time; Where age hath no power o’er the fadeless frame; Where the eye is afire and the heart is aflame: Have ye heard of that sunbright clime?

The effect was electrical and the impression uneffaceable.

I stood by the bedside of a once gifted, but now brokenhearted woman, from whose life all earthly joy had been cruelly snatched away – and crushed and dying, but with face illumined, she said, “Old-time friend and schoolmate of my happy girlhood, have your people sing to me.” “And what, would you have us sing?” “Sing to me of heaven.” And so we sang, Oh I sing to me of heaven When I am called to die; Sing songs of holy ecstasy To waft my soul on high.

Her face shone as the face of an angel, and in a low, sweet voice she repeated the last stanza, and whispered, Let music cheer me last on earth And greet me first in heaven.

And so her soul passed upward in a gentle sigh. We recall the ecstasy of martyred Stephen: “But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55-56).

THE OF HEAVENOur companions there forever are of the three classes: Angelic, human, and divine. Let us consider them in order:

(1) “To an innumerable company of angels.” All those ministering spirits who, since the throne of grace was established, have served the heirs of salvation. Jacob saw them in his dream at Bethel, descending and ascending the ladder which reached from heaven to earth, which ladder was our Lord himself (John 1:51). Cherubim and seraphim, which constitute the chariot of God, and overlook the mercy seat, and sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.” They hover over our assemblies on earth and are instructed in the manifold wisdom of God as the church unrolls and reveals that wisdom. They gather the elect for glory, and the wicked for destruction.

(2) Human companionship in heaven. The “heaven” of the text must be considered as the place where the disembodied souls of the paints now go, and in the references to the human companionship there are five distinct ideas: (1) The first idea relates to them individually.

(2) The second idea relates to their sanctified state. Both these ideas are in the expression: “The spirits of Just men made perfect.”

(3) The third idea relates to their official character while on earth, “firstborn” – this has been explained as meaning that every regenerate man possesses the right and office of primogeniture constituting him a priest unto God.

(4) The fourth idea relates to them as having been an organized assembly, or the enrolment of the “firstborn” ones into a church – Greek, ekklesia. The third and fourth ideas are in the phrase: “Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” This is a back reference to their church life as a business body on earth.

(5) The fifth idea relates to them collectively in heaven, and is an entirely new one. These churches of the first-born ones on earth, enrolled in heaven, are in their disembodied state, no longer business bodies, but have become a “general assembly” – Greek, panegyris. Here the apostle, following the idea of Greek civic or state bodies, each an independent business body, beholds them gathered in one great assembly, not for business or war, but for joyous festivity. Let not the Spartan ekklesia “come with arms to the panegyris.” “The panegyrisand ekklesia of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” The author utterly repudiates any interpretation of panegyris which makes it a festive assembly of angels. There is not an allusion in the Bible to angels keeping a festival, but the references are abundant to the festival of the saints in heaven, as will be shown when we come to the seventh great promise of the new covenant.

These several ideas restated are as follows:

1. When we die we go at once to heaven and become a companion of every saint whose death preceded ours. We will know then, not in part, but as we are known. We will recognize and enjoy Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and all the prophets and all the apostles, evangelists, and martyrs. We will enjoy the companionship of Spurgeon, Bunyan, and every other faithful preacher or layman. We will, like David, go to our own dead children, our sainted father, mother, brother, or sister.

2. We ourselves, completely sanctified in spirit, will join the spirits of all the justified now made perfect.

3. On earth we were not only a priest unto God, offering spiritual sacrifices, but –

4. Were enrolled in heaven as belonging to an organized business body – an ekklesia.

5. There we will be a member, not of a business body, but of a general assembly – panegyris – an assembly, not for war as on earth, but for a festival of eternal joy.

We now enjoy the companionship of every imperfect saint of our acquaintance. We now enjoy our church relations, offering jointly with our brethren assembled in worship, spiritual praises as priests unto God. We now enjoy our gatherings for co-operation in Christian work and warfare, whether in district associations, state conventions, national conventions, or international assemblies, for the promotion of the cause of our Redeemer, but then and there, when earth’s business is ended and its warfare has ceased, we join the general assembly of all the saints who have crossed the flood and there are ready to welcome those who follow, “till all the ransomed church of God are saved to sin no more.”

Dr. Talmage tore his rhetoric to tatters in a vain attempt to describe the home-coming of the Federal Army – a million men – at the close of the Civil War, as they passed in one grand review, company by company, regiment by regiment, brigade by brigade, division by division, army corps by army corps – infantry, cavalry, artillery – drums beating, bands playing, cannon thundering, flags floating, and cheer after cheer saluting. But how shall all that compare with the grand review of the redeemed, which John saw in vision from Patmos? “After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb. . . . These are they that come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God; and they serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat: for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:9-10; Revelation 7:14-17).

3. Divine companionship. “Ye are come to God, the Judge of all . . . to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.” The desire of the ages to see God has been baffled by the statement: “No man hath seen God at any time, or can see him.” Job cried out: “O that I knew where I might find him and talk to him face to face as with a friend!” Philip prayed: “Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth.” But it is the promise of the new covenant that we shall see God. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The spirits of the just made perfect do see him. They come to him: “Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! That with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock forever I But as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and at last he will stand up upon the earth; and after my skin, even this body, is destroyed, then without my flesh shall I see God, whom I, even I, shall see on my side and mine eyes shall behold and not as a stranger” (Job 19:23-27). Not only so, but in our glorified bodies we shall see him: “And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4).

The spirits of the just made perfect shall see Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. We never saw him in the flesh – that “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” – but when we die we shall see him anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. Then with Paul elsewhere we may say: “Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;” for us “to die is gain, for when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord.”

Not only so, but when absent from the body we come “to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things for us than the blood of Abel.” This does not mean the application of the blood of Christ to our hearts – that is done in regeneration – but it means that we come, when we die, to the holy of holies in heaven and see where Christ’s blood, shed on earth for expiation, was sprinkled on the mercy seat in heaven for atonement, in the interval between his death and resurrection.

We now need to understand the meaning of “which speaketh better things for us than the blood of Abel,” i.e., the blood of Abel’s typical lamb, which could not possibly take away sin. Yet Spurgeon in a great sermon on this text, construes it to mean Abel’s own blood which Cain shed, according to Genesis 4:10-11 : “And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand.” The great preacher draws a vivid picture of the evicted soul of Abel rushing into heaven and crying: “Vengeance! Vengeance, O God, on my murderer I” But our Lord’s blood cries: “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.”

I wish I could close my discussion here, but inexorable duty requires, at least, an outline of the outcome of the impenitent sinner:

1. He, too, when he dies, comes to a place – “a place prepared for the devil and his angels.”

2. The conditions of that place are foreshown by our Lord in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:23-31). A place of intolerable thirst and torment, so far from the water of life. Between this place and the place of the righteous is a deep impassable gulf, a place of unanswered prayers, a place not only unreachable by agents of mercy in heaven or in earth, but a place from which no mission can be sent to earth to warn loved ones not to join him there.

3. It, too, has its human companions – all liars, thieves, gamblers, extortioners, covetous men, adulterers, and idolaters.

4. It has its angelic companions – the devil and his demons, whom the impenitent in life preferred to God and holy angels. Ah! “Wide is the place, and deep as wide, and ruinous as deep, while over head and all around, wind wars with wind, and storms unceasing hurl the lightning bolts of wrath, and remorse, the undying worm forever gnaws.” The outcome – the outcome of the path whose steps take hold of death and hell!

5. What is the climax of the argument in this letter?

6. State the negative outcome of the Christian life.

7. Cite the particulars, without the scriptures, of what the Christian comes to.

8. Give scriptures on the place.

9. Give the scriptures on the conditions of the place.

10. Why do many Christians live so unhappily, so unprofitably, so prone to backsliding?

11. Quote Dr. Chalmers.

12. Quote the great Methodist hymn.

13. Give the scriptures on the angelic companionship.

14. What are the several ideas on the human companionship?

15. What are the scriptures on coming to the Father and seeing him?

16. On coming to the Son? In the passage from Job 19 on seeing the Redeemer, which version is correct, common or revised? In other words, does Job expect to be “without his body” or “in his risen body” when he beholds his Redeemer?

17. Explain “coming to the blood of sprinkling,” and do you agree with Spurgeon?

18. State the particulars of the sinner’s outcome, by way of contrast.

Hebrews 12:28-29

XXX AND SPECIAL The seventh exhortation in this book is as follows: “Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith – let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not – let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, exhorting one another” (Hebrews 10:22-25). The doctrines that underlie this manifold exhortation are, (1) Christ has rent the veil hiding the holy of holies by his death, and dedicated for us a new and living way. (2) We have a great High Priest over the house of God. (3) The day of his final coming is rapidly approaching (Hebrews 10:19-21).

Here a question arises, Does “having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching? It is not clear that it has such reference. But if it does, it strongly supports the Baptist teaching, to wit: Our souls are cleansed by the application of Christ’s blood by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Baptism in water only washes the body, and hence can only externally symbolize the internal cleansing. In this way Paul, internally cleansed, could arise and wash away his sins symbolically in baptism (Acts 22:16), or as Peter puts it: “Water, even baptism, after a true likeness doth now save us, not putting away the filth of the flesh [i.e., the carnal nature] but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21). In other words, it is a figurative salvation, and the figure or likeness is that of a resurrection (see Romans 6:4-5). Paul’s reason for the seventh exhortation is expressed in the famous passage (Hebrews 10:26-29), the whole of which is an explanation of the eternal, unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit, very different from the gradual, unconscious sins of “drifting” and “hardening.” Its conditions and characteristics are:

1. There has been great spiritual light and knowledge, thoroughly convincing the judgment of the truth of the gospel, and strongly impressing the mind to accept it.

2. It is a distinct and wilful rejection of the well-known light and monition of the Holy Spirit.

3. It is a culmination of sin against every person of the Trinity. (1) It is a sin against the Father in deliberately trampling under foot the Son of his love. (2) It is a sin against the Son in counting the blood of his expiation an unholy thing. (3) It is the sin against the Holy Spirit in doing despite to his grace who has furnished complete proof to the rejector’s conscience that it is God’s Son who is trampled under foot, and that the blood of his vicarious sacrifice alone can save.

4. Once committed, the soul is there and then forever lost, having never forgiveness in time or eternity, and knows that for him there is no more sacrifice for sin, and expects nothing but judgment and fiery wrath which shall devour the adversaries.

5. Let the reader particularly note that this sin cannot be committed except in an atmosphere, not merely of light and knowledge, but of spiritual light, knowledge and power, and that it is one wilful, malicious act arising from hate – hating the more because of the abundance and power of the light. The eighth exhortation is, “Cast not away your boldness” (Hebrews 10:35). The exhortation is based on appeal to their remembrance of the triumphs of their past experience. They had patiently endured a great conflict of suffering just after their conversion; they had been made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions cast on them and by their sharing in the afflictions of their leaders. This is evident from the history of Paul’s labors among men. There was nothing in their present afflictions severer than those they triumphantly endured in their earlier experience.

The ninth exhortation is, “Therefore, let us also, seeing that we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, 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, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls” (Hebrews 12:1-3). The imagery here is that of a foot race, such as these people had often witnessed in the Isthmian Games at Corinth, or in the great amphitheater at Ephesus. “The race set before us” – the great example upon whom the runner must fix his eye – is Jesus, the author (or captain) and perfecter of our faith.

The force of the example of Jesus in Hebrews 12:2 is this:

He is set before us as the one perfect model or standard. A joy was set before him as a recompense of reward that when attained would make him the gladdest man in the universe. For this he voluntarily became the saddest man in the universe. Thus “the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” was “anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows;” “He saw of the travail of his soul and was satisfied.” Here we are confronted with this double question: Does the phrase, “author and perfecter of our faith,” mean that Jesus first inspires and then completes our individual faith – i.e., what he begins he consummates – or that he is the captain and completer of the faith in the sense that his completed victory is both cause and earnest of our own victory, as in Hebrews 2:10? The latter best accords with the import of the Greek word, archegos, used both here and in Hebrews 2:10, and with the whole context.

The word “witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1 means martyrs whose examples should excite our emulation, and accords with the meaning and usage of the Greek word marturos, which makes them witnesses to the truth and not spectators of what other people may do. Moreover, the biblical evidence is scant, if there be any at all, that departed souls are allowed to sympathetically intervene in the struggle of those left behind. Yet, by rhetorical license, in the exercise of the imagination, a poet, orator or writer may summon the dead to appear before the living for dramatic effect. But we go far when we seek to construct doctrine on rhetorical license. What is the “besetting sin” in Hebrews 12:1? It may not be the same in all cases. It is the sin to which one most easily yields whether pride, lust, covetousness, anger, vanity, or any other.

The tenth exhortation (Hebrews 12:4-13,) is, “Regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, because (1) chastening is an evidence of sonship. (2) If we have borne arbitrary chastening from earthly parents, much more we will bear disciplinary chastening from our Heavenly Father. (3) While grievous at first, it yieldeth afterward peaceable fruit or righteousness, if rightly received.

Here come up the Creationist theory of the origin of human spirits and the Traducian theory. The Creationist theory is that the spirit of every human being born into the world is a direct creation of God, and only the body is derived from the earthly parent. The Traducian theory is that every child, in his entirety, spirit and body, is derived from his earthly parents, begotten in the likeness not only of bodily features but in spiritual state, otherwise man could not propogate his species, and every child would, in his inner nature, be born holy, not subject to inherited depravity and not needing regeneration until he became an actual transgressor hence needing only proper environment and training to grow up in holiness.

The passage in question is not decisive for either theory. God is the Father of spirits in that originally the spirit of man was not a formation from inert matter, but a special creation (see Genesis 2:7). Thus the whole race, body and spirit, was potentially in the first man, died body and spirit in him when he fell, and after his fall he “begat children in his likeness” body and spirit.

In Hebrews 12:12-13, “hands hanging down,” “palsied knees,” and “crooked paths” refer to the physical effects of spiritual depression or terror, the inner man acting on the outer. See case of Belshazzar (Daniel 5:6), and recall cases coming under your own observation in which discouragements or despondency of the spirit enfeeble the body. Some men, morally brave, are physically timid. A famous French marshal always trembled at the beginning of battle. On one occasion his officers rallied him on his shaking legs. He answered, “If my legs only knew into what dangers I will take them today, they would shake more than they do.”

The eleventh exhortation (Hebrews 12:14 ff) is, “Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.” There are two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation, against which there are special cautions, as follows: (1) The springing up of a root of bitterness to defile many. (2) The spirit of profanity, or the despising of sacred things.

In our own experience or observation, cases arise of a single root of bitterness disturbing the peace of communities and retarding the sanctification of hundreds.

Profanity here means, not so much swearing as it does a spirit of irreverence in speaking of sacred things, and, sometimes interested lost souls are completely sidetracked by the levity and foolish jestings, and the questionable anecdotes of preachers in their hours of relaxation.

The author having often, in his early ministry, witnessed the wounding and shocking of sober-minded Christians and the loss of interest in awakened sinners caused by the foolish jestings in the preacher’s tent concerning sacred things, and sometimes by obscene anecdotes, entered into a solemn covenant with Dr. Riddle, the moderator of the Waco Association, never to tell nor willingly hear a doubtful anecdote. This covenant was made while camping out one night on the prairie in the light of the stars.

The twelfth exhortation and its doctrinal basis are found in Hebrews 12:28-29 : “Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire.

I will group in classes the exhortation of Hebrews 13 as follows:

1. Love to brethren, strangers, and those in bonds.

2. Honor the sanctity of marriage.

3. Eschew the covetous spirit.

4. Hold in kind remembrance your leaders that have passed away.

5. Bear the reproach of Christ, even if it ostracises from worldly society.

6. Offer spiritual sacrifices of praise, confession, contribution, and prayer.

In closing this exposition there are two things worthy of note: First, The bearing of Heb 13:8 on the preceding verse, which means that preachers may come and go, but Jesus is ever the same. Second, The controversy arose over Hebrews 13:10, a controversy as to what is the Christian altar. Was it the cross on which Jesus was crucified? Then how can the altar be greater than the gift on the altar, as Christ taught? Was it Christ’s divinity on which his humanity was sacrificed? This controversy was a refinement of foolishness, because the altar under consideration is not supporting the expiating sin offering of which the priests were never allowed to have a part, but the altar to which non-expiatory offerings were brought, such as meat offerings, thank offerings, tithes etc.

Of these the priests and Levites might partake. The meaning is simply this – that Christianity provides in its way for the support of its laborers through the voluntary offerings to Christ’s cause (see 1 Corinthians 9:13-14).

1. What is the exhortation in this book relative to faith, hope, and love?

2. What doctrines underlie this manifold exhortation?

3. Does “having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22) refer to water baptism, and if so, what the bearing of the teaching?

4. How do you interpret Paul’s reason for this exhortation as expressed in Hebrews 10:26-29, which refers to the eternal sin?

5. What is the exhortation relative to boldness, and on what is it predicated?

6. What is the exhortation relative to weights, sins, etc., what its imagery, and what its elements?

7. What is the force of the example of Jesus in Hebrews 12:2?

8. What does the phrase “author and perfector of our faith” mean?

9. What is the meaning and import of “witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1?

10. What is the “besetting sin” in Hebrews 12:1?

11. What is the exhortation relative to chastening, and what its reasons?

12. What are the theories relative to the origin of human spirits, and what the bearing of this passage on the subject?

13. What is the meaning and force of “hand hanging down,” “palsied knees,” and “crooked paths?”

14. What is the exhortation relative to peace and sanctification?

15. What two hazards attending obedience to this exhortation?

16. Do you know of a case of a single “root of bitterness” disturbing communities and hindering sanctification?

17. What is the meaning of profanity here, and what illustration of the effect of such profanity given?

18. In what did Esau’s profanity consist?

19. What is the meaning of Heb 12:17? So, What the exhortation relative to grace, and what its doctrinal basis?

20. Group in classes the exhortations of Hebrews 13.

21. What is the bearing of Heb 13:8 on the preceding verse?

22. What controversy arose over Hebrews 13:10?

23. Why was this controversy a refinement of foolishness?

Hebrews 13 XXX AND SPECIAL The seventh exhortation in this book is as follows: “Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith – let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not – let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, exhorting one another” (Hebrews 10:22-25). The doctrines that underlie this manifold exhortation are, (1) Christ has rent the veil hiding the holy of holies by his death, and dedicated for us a new and living way. (2) We have a great High Priest over the house of God. (3) The day of his final coming is rapidly approaching (Hebrews 10:19-21).