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Scripture Reading: Heb. 1:1-3; 2:3, 5; 3:1-4, 6; 4:8-9, 11-13
As the book of Hebrews speaks about the difference between Christ and Judaism, it tells us who Christ is and what Christ has done; that is, it reveals the person and work of Christ. If we intend to know Christ, we must know His person and His work. The opening verses of this book are a short introduction, giving an all-inclusive description and definition of the person and work of Christ. Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son, whom He appointed Heir of all things, through whom also He made the universe; who, being the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance and upholding and bearing all things by the word of His power, having made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
According to these verses, the person of Christ is first the Son. The Son is a very special and specific term. As we know, God is triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. These are not three different Gods but the three of the one Triune God. Verse 8 of chapter 1 says, “Of the Son, ‘Your throne, O God.’” Here, the Son is called God. Not only is the Father God, but the Son is also God, just as the Spirit is God. All three — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — are God. Therefore, the very opening verses tell us that the person of Christ is the Son in the Trinity. In the ancient times God spoke in the prophets, but at the last of these times God speaks in the Son, the person of Christ, who is God Himself.
Before the foundation of the universe, Christ was appointed Heir of all things, and then at the time of creation Christ was the One through whom all the universe was created (v. 2). The Amplified New Testament renders universe as “the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time.” The universe includes space and time, all the physical, material things, and all the systems, orders, laws, and principles. All these things added together compose the universe, which was created by God through Christ.
Christ is one thing to God, and He is another thing to God’s creation. To God, Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance (v. 3a), and to creation, Christ is the One who bears all things by the word of His power (v. 3b). By this we can see that God and all His creatures are related to Christ. The effulgence of God’s glory is outward to glorify God, whereas the impress of God’s substance is inward. Christ is the very glory of God outwardly and the impress, the image, of God’s substance, God’s being, what God is.
After making purification of sins, the work of redemption, He went to the heavens and sat down (v. 3c). To sit down indicates that everything is finished. If we still have something to do, we cannot sit down. Christ has finished everything of His redemptive work on the earth. After accomplishing this, He went to the third heaven to sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, and that is where He now is. This refers to His work.
This is the very Christ in whom we believe. He is wonderful, yet this is only the introduction to this book. Who can exhaust telling what Christ is, who Christ is, and what Christ has accomplished? He is the inexhaustible One.
After such an introduction, the writer of this book gives us a comparison between Christ and Judaism. The first item in Judaism is God. Here the writer tells the Hebrew believers that this Christ is nothing less than God Himself. If you will not misunderstand me, I would say that Christ is something more than the God of the Old Testament. Christ is not only God; He is the appointed One, the appointed Heir of all things. He is also the means through whom the whole universe was created. Furthermore, He is the effulgence of God’s glory, the impress of God’s substance, and the One who accomplished redemption. Because our Christ is the very essence of God, He is superior to and more excellent than the angels. This is revealed in chapter 1.
Chapter 2 reveals that Christ as man is superior to the angels. The writer of Hebrews argues in this way: “It was not to angels that He subjected the coming inhabited earth, concerning which we speak” (v. 5). However, God did say in Psalm 8 that the time would come when He would subject all creation to man. This man is the very Jesus (Heb. 2:6-9), the One who brought God into man to uplift man’s standard and position. By His incarnation He brought the divine nature into man, and by His resurrection, ascension, and glorification He brought the human nature into God. Therefore, this man is much more excellent than the angels. What then are the angels? The angels are nothing more than servants who minister to all the members of this man, to all those who inherit salvation through this man, that is, who inherit this wonderful man as their salvation.
Such a salvation is the great salvation mentioned in 2:3, which asks, “How shall we escape if we have neglected so great a salvation?” This salvation is not merely the forgiveness of sins, joy, peace, blessing, and a good family, and neither is it to bring us to heaven after we die. It is much greater than this. This salvation is the very Christ in Hebrews 1 and 2. It is the living mingling of God with man. God’s divine nature is in man, and man’s uplifted human nature is in God. By Christ’s incarnation God was brought into man, and through His resurrection, ascension, and glorification man was brought into God. This is the great salvation, a salvation that is nothing less than a living mingling of God with man.
In Hebrews 1 and 2 we see the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God in such a wonderful way and man in such an expansive way. This is our Christ. How can Judaism compare with such a Christ!
After the first two chapters describe and define the person of Christ, chapter 3 begins to tell us what Christ is doing for us now. He is not only the one who accomplished redemption for us in the past; He is also the One who was sent to us by God to work for us. Hebrews 3:1 says, “Holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus.” The Greek word for apostle means a “sent one.” The Apostle here is Christ Himself who was sent by God.
Verse 1 speaks of the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. This Apostle and High Priest is Christ Himself. In Judaism of the ancient times, Moses was the apostle, the one sent by God to help the people. Today, however, Christ is the Apostle, the sent One.
In Judaism there was also a high priest, who was Aaron. What is the difference between the Apostle and the High Priest? The Apostle is the One sent to us from God, representing God to take care of us, as Moses did in the ancient times, whereas the High Priest is the One who goes to God from us as our Representative to take care of our case in the presence of God, in the heavenly court of law. Christ is all-inclusive. He is the sent One and the going One. He is the One who comes from God and the One who goes from us. He is wonderful!
Therefore, there is the need of two more sections of Hebrews. The second section, from 3:1—4:13, tells us that Christ is the sent One, the Apostle, sent from God to us to represent God in taking care of all our needs. Following this, the third section, from 4:14—7:28, tells us how Christ as the High Priest goes from us to God, representing us in the heavenly court to take care of our case.
Verses 2 through 4 of chapter 3 say, “Who was faithful to Him who constituted Him, as also Moses was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by as much as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.” How can Moses compare with Christ? Christ is the Builder, and Moses is only part of the house. Verse 4 says that every house has a builder, but He who built all things is God. This proves that the very Christ who is the Builder is God Himself. This Apostle, the One sent by God, is God Himself. He is the universal Builder, the unique Builder in the entire universe. However, the central building of His ministry is His house. Verse 6 says, “Christ was faithful as a Son over His house, whose house we are.” We are the house that Christ is building.
As we know, this house is the church. Christ is the Builder of the church. In what way does Christ build the church? It is by caring for all the needs of His people, as Moses did, and to bring us to pass through the wilderness into the rest of the good land. The good land typifies Christ Himself, and the wilderness is a type of the soulish life. Christ builds up the church by bringing us through the soulish life into our spirit where He abides as the rest, the good land. Our concept may be that God sent Christ to us as an Apostle greater than Moses in order only to take care of our needs. If we need manna, He gives us manna. If we need living water, He gives it to us. If we need peace and joy, He gives us peace and joy. However, if we think only in this way, we are too shortsighted. In the picture in the Old Testament, Moses did not care for the people’s needs merely for their own enjoyment. It was for something much more. He took care of them so that the tabernacle would be built up among them as God’s dwelling place.
Today Christ is our greater Moses sent from God to take care of our needs. This is not merely for our enjoyment but for the purpose that a house may be built up for God. Christ builds up the house of God by bringing us through the soulish life into our spirit, the very Holy of Holies where He resides today as the good land for us to enjoy rest and all the riches of Christ.
This is the reason that at the end of this section of Hebrews, the writer tells us that the word of God has to divide our soul from our spirit. Verses 8 and 9 of chapter 4 say, “If Joshua had brought them into rest, He would not have spoken concerning another day after these things. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” Verses 11 through 13 continue, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature that is not manifest before Him, but all things are naked and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we are to give our account.” This is the end of the second section of Hebrews, which begins at 3:1.
If we do not learn how to discern our soul from our spirit, then we will remain in the soul; we will continue to wander in the wilderness of the soul. Then there will be no possibility for the house of God to be built up. The house of God is built up in the good land of peace and rest. It was only after the people of Israel entered into the land of rest that the house of God was built up among them. This is a full picture showing us that the building of God’s house can be realized only when we enter into our spirit to live and work no longer in the soulish life. The church can be built up only when we pass through the soulish life and enter into the spirit to enjoy Christ as the good land and rest in Him. It is here that God has a dwelling place, and we have a resting place.
If we do not enter into the spirit, we will remain in the wilderness, always wandering in the soulish life. Hence, there is a great need for us to be brought by the Lord through our soulish life into our spirit to enjoy Christ as the good land. It is here that God has a dwelling place, and it is here that we have a resting place. This very place is the all-inclusive Christ who is residing in our spirit. It is in this Christ that the house of God is built so that God may have a dwelling and that we may have rest.
Again I say, there is the need for us to discern the soul from the spirit. By discerning the soul from the spirit we are transferred from the soul to the spirit to build up God’s house. We must learn not only how to discern our soul from our spirit but also to labor to enter into our spirit. This is to enter into the Holy of Holies today to enjoy Christ as the peace and rest of the good land. As a result, we will be built up in spirit as God’s dwelling place and our resting place. This dwelling is the house built up by the Apostle, the sent One from God. He is the One who builds up the church by helping us to discern the soul from the spirit, pass through the soulish life, and enter into our spirit to enjoy Him. In this way the church is built up in spirit as a dwelling place for God and as a resting place for man.
