Continued from God’s Pilgrims – Chapter 1

CHAPTER 2

“The Things which we Have Heard.”

GOD has spoken. This is a tremendous and a solemn fact. Well may the creature tremble before the utterance of God, while counting it a matter of the highest privilege to hear and to comprehend what God has said. But we are called upon to listen, not to a proclamation from the Creator to His universe, or even to mankind in general. God has spoken “unto us.” The same God Who of old spoke in many parts and in many ways to the fathers, has in these last days spoken unto us. He has given a message directly to us, and which vitally concerns us.

It appears at the outset that the Spirit’s object in the Epistle to the Hebrews is to impress us with the weightiness of the message spoken to us, and to this end He shows us that, important as was the message given to the fathers of old, the message spoken to us in these last days is of far greater importance. And this appears from the fact that the Word of old was spoken by (or through) angels (Hebrews 2:2), whereas God has spoken to us in (or as) the SON. (The original reads “in Son,” and its force cannot be rendered in English by mere translation. The idea is that GOD HIMSELF has spoken, the character He has taken for this purpose being that of “Son.”).

Many times it is written in the Old Testament that “the Word of the Lord came” to one and another of the prophets; but generally it is not stated how the Word came to them. It appears, however, from what is said in the Scriptures now before us, that the Word was sent by angels, or messengers. We read that the Word of the Lord was brought in this way to Daniel (Daniel 9:21, etc.) Moreover, in Galatians 3:19 it is said that the law was “ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” Thus it appears that God’s customary way of communicating with the prophets was through angels; though He spoke of old time “in many ways,” as by dreams, or visions, or by directly moving the tongue (Genesis 41:25; Numbers 12:6; Psalm 45:1).

But now God Himself has spoken. He Who is the Effulgence of God’s Glory and the express Image of His Substance, by Whom also He made the worlds, and Who upholds all things by the Word of His Power, has now spoken to us with Human Lips, uttering words of familiar human speech, which words, nevertheless, are Spirit and Life, words such as never man spoke, words of eternal life which shall never pass away.

Attention is directed to this great difference between the Word spoken of old to the fathers and the Word spoken in these last days to us, to the end that we should give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard. The first Chapter of Hebrews is largely occupied with references to the Old Testament Scriptures which set forth the excellence of the Son of God, as compared with the angels who are His “ministering spirits,” and who are bidden to worship Him when He condescends to come into the habitable earth in human form and nature (Hebrews 1:6). This contrast, so carefully and forcibly made, between the Son and the angels, is not merely for the purpose of establishing and guarding the Deity of Christ, but is given also in order to impress upon us the supreme importance of the special message spoken to us by the Son Himself, as distinguished from that spoken to the fathers through angels. The reason why this contrast is given us at the very beginning of the Epistle clearly appears from Chapter 2:2:

“For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord?”

There is, then, unspeakable advantage to be gained by paying heed to the things spoken to us by the Lord; and it necessarily follows that there is a corresponding loss to be incurred through failure to believe and obey His Word.

“Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest at any time we should slip away.”¹

The plain meaning of this is that if the Israelites of old were bound to give earnest heed to the Word of the Lord sent to them, in order to secure their own welfare, we are bound to give the more earnest heed to the Word spoken to us, because that Word was spoken by the Lord Himself, and moreover, it puts before us a reward far greater than that offered to the Israelites. The heed which an Israelite was required to pay to the words spoken to him by the prophets is stated in such passages as Deuteronomy 11:18-19; 28:1-2; and 32:46-47.

What, then, is this “salvation” to which the Spirit of God applies the expression “so great,” and which began to be spoken by the Lord? Surely this is a question of the utmost importance. We cannot afford to be in ignorance, or even in uncertainty, about it; and surely God would not have us to be either ignorant or uncertain as to a matter of so great moment to us. The cause of the confusion that exists upon this subject is the usage among Christians of the word “salvation,” which is commonly taken as meaning justification or the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ, and as being limited to that meaning. But the word “salvation” is seldom used in the New Testament as equivalent to justification, that is to say, the change which takes place in the sinner’s relations with God when he believes on the Son of God. The salvation of God goes far beyond that; and the word “salvation” itself, as used in Scripture, generally refers to something. Thus, in Romans 5:10, “reconciliation” is spoken of as a thing already accomplished for the believer, while is yet future; “For if, when we were enemies we WERE RECONCILED to God by the Death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we SHALL BE SAVED by His life.”

Likewise, in Romans 8 it is declared that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, and believers are spoken of in that Chapter as children of God; but they are said to be “saved in hope,” that is to say, their “salvation” is yet future. See also Romans 13:11-12, “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed,” etc.

So also the apostle Peter speaks of those redeemed, and begotten again, as still awaiting the that is about to be revealed (1 Peter 1:3, 5).

In the Epistle to the Hebrews the word “salvation” is used as signifying the future blessing into which the people of God are to be brought, whereas redemption is regarded as having been already accomplished. Christ has entered into the holy place “having obtained eternal redemption.” On the other hand, those who have been redeemed are addressed as “heirs of salvation,” literally as those “who are to inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14), and as awaiting salvation. (The literal reading of Hebrews 9:28 is “and a second time, apart from sin, shall He appear unto them that await Him for salvation.”) It clearly appears from Chapters 3-4 that the “so great salvation” of Chapter 2 is something of which the land of Canaan, promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and put before the Israelites as the goal of their journey through the wilderness, is the special type. Those chapters plainly teach that we are now in the eve of the fulfillment of this type. God is now leading a people through the wilderness of this present evil age. He has revealed to them, for their encouragement, the glories of the age to come, and has even given them a taste of the works of power of that age (Hebrews 6:5).

Those glories center in Christ as the Priest-King — the High Priest of good things to come. That is the destination and the glorious Rest that awaits them; and it will be theirs if they hold the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end. God has not only given His Word, but He has confirmed it with an oath, saying, “The Lord swore and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”; and He has done so in order that, by two immutable things, the Word and the Oath of God, we might have a strong encouragement to lay holy upon the hope that is set before us (Hebrews 6:17-20).The “so-great salvation” of Hebrews 2:3 is defined in verse 5 as being identified with “the habitable earth to come.” By that passage it is made known to us that God has not put in subjection to angels “the habitable earth to come whereof we speak”; and then the eighth Psalm is cited and quoted to prove that the glorified and perfected works of God’s Hands, delivered from the curse, and rejoicing in the blessing of God, are, in the coming age, to be put under , even under the Son of Man; and Jesus, the blessed One, Who for a little while was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death, but now is crowned with glory and honour, is announced as that “Son of Man” in Whom the prophecy is to have its fulfilment.

The habitable earth to come is thus declared to be the subject “whereof we speak.” That is what the Apostle connects with the so-great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord. It is the glorious Kingdom of the Son, when He shall occupy the place of “Firstborn,” in all that is signified by that great title. The Firstborn is the Father’s might, and the first-fruits of His strength, the Preeminence of dignity and Preeminence of power (Genesis 49:3). He is Head and Ruler of the Father’s House — taking the word “house” in the broadest sense. The same thought occurs in the third Chapter where Christ is spoken of as Son over His Own House (Hebrews 3:6); and the connection is still closer in the original, the word rendered “world” (‘world to come” or “habitable earth to come”) Hebrews 2:5, and that rendered “house” in Hebrews 3:5-6, being of the same derivation.

The Scriptures make it clear that “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4), during which the people of God are strangers and pilgrims in the earth, because the latter is the scene of the dominion of sin and death, is to be succeeded by an age of blessing and glory in which the earth and all created things will be under the rule of the Son of Man, with Whom will be associated all those who shall be accounted worthy to participate with Him in the administration of the affairs of that Kingdom. This is the salvation so great whereof the Lord Himself spoke, as for instance in Matthew 13, where, in announcing what is to happen at “the end of this age,” He said,

“The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:41-43).

Manifestly the same event is referred to in Hebrews 2. The angels are sent forth to minister for them who are about to inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14). The righteous shining forth in the Kingdom of their Father, are the “many sons” whom God is bringing “unto glory” (verse 10). That event will be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 8:18, quoted in verse 12, when Christ will say, “Behold, I and the children which God has given Me.” The “furnace of fire” is the “fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:27). The words of solemn warning, “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,” have their echo in the words “We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard,” things “which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord” (Hebrews 2:1,3).

Again, on the occasion when Simon Peter, by the revelation of the Father, recognized and confessed the Lord Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” the Lord “began” to show unto His disciples that He must fulfill what was written concerning the sufferings of the Christ (Matthew 16:21), and then He went on immediately to speak of the glory that should follow, saying: “For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He reward every man according to his works (Matthew 16:27).

We do not stop to comment now upon this exceedingly important Scripture, expecting to return to it. We wish at this point only to direct the attention of the reader to certain specific Scriptures wherein the Lord Himself began to speak of the glory of the age to come when He, as Son of Man, shall reign in righteousness over the earth. In the foregoing passage the reference to the “Son of Man,” His sufferings, Death and Resurrection, the glory of His Father in which He will return, the angels, and the “reward” of men’s works, show clearly that the subject is the same as that of Hebrews 1-2.

Footnote.

1 It is not, lest the words slip away from us, but lest we through failure to heed the Lord’s words, should ourselves slip and fall.

(To be continued.)