The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews Part 18

The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews Part 18

[329] ?p???? (x. 36).

[330] Chap. xii. 14.

[331] Chap. xiii. 13.

[332] Chap. iv. 3.

[333] Chap. ix. 15.

[334] Chap. x. 19.

[335] ????? (xii. 1).

[336] e?pe??stat??.

[337] ????a.

[338] Chap. xii. 2.

[339] ??????? (ii. 10).

[340] tete?e???e? (x. 14).

[341] p??d???? (vi. 20).

[342] tete?e?????? (vii. 28).

[343] Reading e?? ?a?t??? (xii. 3).

[344] ??a????sas?e (xii. 3).

[345] Chap. ii. 13.

[346] Chap. iii. 2.

[347] e?? pa?de?a? ?p???ete (xii. 7, where the verb is indicative, not imperative).

[348] Num. xvi. 22.

[349] Prov. xvi. 7.

[350] t? ????? (xii. 13).

[351] Chap. ix. 28.

[352] ?p?sp??p???te? (xii. 15).

[353] ?ste??? ?p?.

[354] Deut. xxix. 18.

[355] Chap. xiii. 4. Cf. Rom. i. 18 sqq.

[356] Gen. xxv. 32.

[357] Gen. xxii. 18.

[358] Gen. xxvii. 36.

[359] ?d????? (vi. 8).

[360] Chap. vi. 6.

CHAPTER XV.

_MOUNT ZION._

"For ye are not come unto _a mount_ that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which _voice_ they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them: for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, _that_ Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living G.o.d, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general a.s.sembly and Church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to G.o.d the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than _that of_ Abel.

See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not, when they refused him that warned _them_ on earth, much more _shall not_ we _escape_, who turn away from Him that _warneth_ from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven. And this _word_, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to G.o.d with reverence and awe, for our G.o.d is a consuming fire."-HEB. xii. 1829 (R.V.).

Mutual oversight is the lesson of the foregoing verses. The author urges his readers to look carefully that no member of the Church withdraws from the grace of G.o.d, that no prison of bitterness troubles and defiles the Church as a whole, that sensuality and worldliness are put away. In the paragraph that comes next he still has the idea of Church fellowship in his mind. But his advice to his readers to exercise supervision over one another yields to the still more urgent warning to watch themselves, and especially to shun the most dangerous even of these evils, which is worldliness of spirit. Esau was rejected; see that ye yourselves refuse not Him that speaketh.

That the pa.s.sage is thus closely connected with what immediately precedes may be admitted. But it must be also connected with the entire argument of the Epistle. It is the final exhortation directly based on the general idea that the new covenant excels the former one. As such it may be compared with the earlier exhortation, given before the allegory of Melchizedek introduced the notion that the old covenant had pa.s.sed away, and with the warning in the tenth chapter which precedes the glorious record of faith's heroes from Abel to Jesus. As early as the second chapter he warns the Hebrew Christians not to drift away and neglect a salvation revealed in One Who is greater than the angels, through whom the Law had been given. In the later exhortations he adds the notion of the blood of the covenant, and insists, not merely on the greatness, but also on the finality, of the revelation. But in the concluding pa.s.sage, which now opens before us, he makes the daring announcement that all the blessings of the new covenant have already been fulfilled, and that in perfect completeness and grandeur. We _have_ come unto Mount Zion; we _have_ received a kingdom which cannot be shaken. The pa.s.sage must, therefore, be considered as the practical result of the whole Epistle.

Our author began with the fact of a revelation of G.o.d in a Son. But a thoughtful reader will not fail to have observed that this great subject seldom comes to the front in the course of the argument. Reading the Epistle, we seem for a time to forget the thought of a revelation given in the Son. Our minds are mastered by the author's powerful reasoning.

We think of nothing but the surpa.s.sing excellence of the new covenant and its Mediator. The greatness of Jesus as High-priest makes us oblivious of His greatness as the Revealer of G.o.d. But this is only the glamour cast over us by a master mind. After all, to know G.o.d is the highest glory and perfection of man. Apart from a revelation of G.o.d in His Son, all other truths are negative; and their value to us depends on their connection with this self-manifestation of the Father. Religion, theology, priesthood, covenant, atonement, salvation, and the Incarnation itself, do not attain a worthy and final purpose except as means of revealing G.o.d. It would be a serious misapprehension to suppose that our author had forgotten this fundamental conception. His aim has been to show that the economy of the new covenant _is_ the perfect revelation. G.o.d has spoken, not through, but _in_, the Son. The Divine personality, the human nature, the eternal priesthood, the infinite sacrifice, of the Son are the final revelation of G.o.d.

In the sublime contrast between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion the two thoughts are brought together. We have had frequent occasion to point out that the central fact of the new covenant is direct communion with G.o.d. Access to G.o.d is now open to all men in Christ. We are invited to draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace.[361] Jesus has entered as a Forerunner for us within the veil.[362] We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.[363] Yea, we have already actually entered. We are come unto Mount Zion. Death has been annihilated. We are now where Christ is. The writer of our Epistle has advanced beyond the perplexity that, in his hour of loneliness, troubled St. Paul, who was in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.[364] We are come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. That great city the heavenly Jerusalem has descended out of heaven from G.o.d.[365] The angels pa.s.s to and fro as ministering spirits. The names of the first-born are registered in heaven, as possessing already the privilege of citizenship. We must not say that the spirits of the righteous have departed from us; let us rather say that we, by being made righteous, have come to them. We stand now before the tribunal of G.o.d, the Judge of all. Jesus has fulfilled His promise to come and receive us unto Himself, that where He is, there we may be also.[366]

All these things are contained in access unto G.o.d. The Apostle explains their meaning and unfolds their glory by contrasting them with the revelation of G.o.d on Sinai. We might perhaps have expected him to inst.i.tute a comparison between them and the incidents of the day of atonement, inasmuch as he has described Christ's ascension to the right hand of G.o.d as the entering of the High-priest into the true holiest place. But the day of atonement was not a revelation of G.o.d. The propitiation required antecedently to a revelation was indeed offered.

But, as the propitiation was unreal, the full revelation, to which it was intended to lead, was never given. Nothing is said in the books of Moses concerning the people's state of mind during the time when the high-priest stood in G.o.d's presence. The transaction was so purely ceremonial that the people do not seem to have taken any part in it, beyond gathering perhaps around the tabernacle to witness the ingress and egress of the high-priest. Moreover, no words were spoken either by the high-priest before G.o.d, or by G.o.d to the high-priest or to the people. No prayer was uttered, no revelation vouchsafed. For these reasons the Apostle goes back to the revelation on Sinai, which indeed inst.i.tuted the rites of the covenant. With the revelation that preceded the sacrifices of the Law he compares the revelation that is founded upon the sacrifice of Christ. This is the fundamental difference between Sinai and Zion. The revelation on Sinai precedes the sacrifices of the tabernacle; the revelation on Zion follows the sacrifice of the Cross.

Under the old covenant the revelation demanded sacrifices; under the new covenant the sacrifice demands a revelation.

From this essential difference in the nature of the revelations a twofold contrast is apparent in the phenomena of Sinai and Zion. Sinai revealed the terrible side of G.o.d's character, Zion the peaceful tenderness of His love. The revelation on Sinai was earthly; that on Zion is spiritual.

There can be no question that the Apostle intends to contrast the terrible appearances on Sinai with the calm serenity of Zion. The very rhythm of his language expresses it. But the key to his description of the one and the other is to be found in the distinction already mentioned. On Sinai the unappeased wrath of G.o.d is revealed. Sacrifices are inst.i.tuted, which, however, when established, evoke no response from the offended majesty of Heaven. Of the holiest place of the old covenant the best thing we can say is that the lightning and thunders of Sinai slumbered therein. The author's beautiful description of the sunny steep of Zion is framed, on the other hand, in accordance with his frequent and emphatic declaration that Christ has entered the true holiest place, having obtained for us eternal redemption. All that the Apostle says concerning Sinai and Zion gathers around the two conceptions of sin and forgiveness.

The Lord spake on Sinai out of the midst of the palpable, enkindled fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. All the people heard the voice. They saw "that G.o.d doth talk with man, and he liveth." They begin to hope. But immediately they bethink them that, if they hear the voice of the Lord any more, they will die. Thus does a guilty conscience contradict itself! Again, the people are invited to come up into the mount when the trumpet shall sound long. Yet, when the voice of the trumpet sounds long and waxes louder and louder, they are charged not to come up unto the Lord, lest He break forth upon them. All this appearance of inconsistency is intended to symbolize that the people's desire to come to G.o.d struggled in vain against their sense of guilt, and that G.o.d's purpose of revealing Himself to them was contending in vain with the hindrances that arose from their sins. The whole a.s.sembly heard the voice of the Lord proclaiming the Ten Commandments. Conscience-smitten, they could not endure to hear more.

They gat them into their tents, and Moses alone stood on the mountain with G.o.d, to receive at His mouth all the statutes and judgments which they should do and observe in the land which He would give them to possess. The Apostle singles out for remark the command that, if a beast touched the mountain, it should be stoned to death. The people, he says, could not endure this command. Why not this? It connected the terrors of Sinai with man's guilt. According to the Old Testament idea of Divine retribution, the beasts of the earth fall under the curse due to man.

When G.o.d saw that the wickedness of man was great in the days of Noah, He said, "I will destroy both man and beast."[367] When, again, He blessed Noah after the waters were dried up, He said, "I, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with every living creature that is with you."[368] Similarly, the command to put to death any beast that might haply touch the mountain revealed to the people that G.o.d was dealing with them as sinners. Moses himself, the mediator of the covenant, who aspired to behold the glory of G.o.d, feared exceedingly.

But his fear came upon him when he looked and beheld that the people had sinned against the Lord their G.o.d[369] and made them a molten calf. His fear was not the prostration of nervous terror. Remembering, when he had descended, the awful sights and sounds witnessed on the mountain, he was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure of G.o.d against the people, who had done wickedly in the sight of the Lord. Almost every word the Apostle has here written bears closely upon the moral relation between a guilty people and the angry G.o.d.

If we turn to the other picture, we at once perceive that the thoughts radiate from the holiest place as from a centre. The pa.s.sage is, in fact, an expansion of what is said in the ninth chapter, that Christ has entered in once for all into the holiest place, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle. The holiest has widened its boundaries. The veil has been removed, so that the entire sanctuary now forms part of the holy of holies. It is true that the Apostle begins, in the pa.s.sage under consideration, not with the holiest place, but with Mount Zion. He does so because the immediate contrast is between the two mountains, and he has already stated that Christ entered through a larger tabernacle.