In the book of Hebrews all of the basic factors of the New Testament are implied in a deeper and yet very simple way. Apparently it is difficult for anyone to realize that the church is mentioned in the book of Hebrews. Although you might have read Hebrews a number of times, perhaps you have never been impressed with the mention of the church in this book. We are all familiar with the mention of the churches in Acts and in the other Epistles, but we may not have the impression that the church is found in Hebrews. Thirty-eight years ago I conducted a detailed study of this book with two different groups of people. At that time, I thought that I knew this book thoroughly, but I did not see the church in this book.
The church is only mentioned twice in this book, in Heb. 2:12 and Heb. 12:23. In 2:12 it says, “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise unto You.” I do not think that in the past many of us paid attention to the church in this verse. This verse is composed essentially with the matter of the church. In this verse both the brothers and the church are mentioned in a very deep way. The Son says to the Father that He will declare the Father’s name to His brothers and sing hymns of praise to the Father in the church. Do you know the meaning of this? In this verse we must notice three elements: the brothers, the church, and what the Lord is doing today in the church. This verse is a very great revelation of what the church is and of what the Lord is doing in the church. In no other book can we find out something concerning the nature of the church that is revealed so thoroughly, basically, fundamentally, and crucially as it is found here. Do not consider 2:12 as a small verse. It is a great verse. It contains a marvelous revelation. In this message, I hope that we all shall not only have a revelation, but that we all shall see a vision of what the church is and of what the Lord is doing today in the church.
What is the church? The church is a corporate composition of the brothers of the Firstborn Son of God. Do you still remember the difference between the only begotten Son of God and the Firstborn Son of God? The only begotten Son of God had divinity without humanity. Although He had the divine nature, He did not have the human nature. But the Firstborn Son of God has both the divine nature and the human nature. The brothers are not the brothers of the only begotten, but the brothers of the Firstborn Son of God. We are the same as the Firstborn. He is divine and human, and we are human and divine. The Firstborn Son has humanity as well as divinity and all of His brothers are the same as He is. Whether we are brothers or sisters, we are all His brothers, for Christ does not have any sisters. Tell me, are you human or divine? Is the Firstborn Son divine or human? He is both divine and human, and we are both human and divine. He is first divine and then human, and His brothers are first human and then divine. Eventually, He and we, we and He, are the same. We are wonderful people. We are not only human — we are also divine. Do you realize whose son you are? You are God’s son. God is our divine Father, and we all are His divine sons because we all have been born of His divine life with His divine nature. We are the many sons of the Father and the many brothers of the Firstborn Son of the Father. This is not a dream. This is reality.
The church is both human and divine. This is the nature of the church. The church is a composition of the many sons of God. The church is a corporation of the many brothers of the Firstborn Son of God. This is the church. I never saw the church this clearly years ago. More than forty years ago I saw that the church was a group of real believers in Christ meeting together. This definition of the church is not wrong. Approximately one hundred fifty years ago it was revealed to some of the brothers that the church is not a building of brick and stone. They declared strongly to all of Christendom that the church is not a physical building. It is not a cathedral, chapel, or sanctuary. They declared that the church is a gathering of God’s called ones. When true believers in Christ come together, they are the church. We have received much help from this revelation and more than fifty years ago we also began to say that the church is a gathering of God’s called saints. We were thankful for the help that we received from those brothers in the last century. Later on, we began to see that the church is not only a gathering of real believers; it is a body, the Body of Christ. If you gather many chairs together, the chairs cannot become a body. If you gather sheep together, they likewise cannot be a body. As everybody knows, a body is an organism with life. It has life tissues, life cells, life nature, life shape, life ability, and life function. The church is deeper, higher, and more profound than just a gathering.
The Lord has shown us the real significance of the church. Praise Him that He has granted us to see that the church has two natures — the human nature and the divine nature. The church has two lives. These lives are not only combined but are also mingled together. The church is an organism with two natures and with two lives combined and mingled together. This is marvelous! Do you realize that the church has two lives? Do you realize that the church has two natures? Do you realize that the Firstborn Son of God has two lives and two natures, that He is not only the Son of God, but also the Son of Man? The Firstborn has all of the divine attributes as well as all of the human virtues. What we have is not just a little humility or submission. This rich store is much more profound than this. It is unlimited and immeasurable, filled with the divine attributes and the human virtues. The church is such an organism. It is the Body of Christ.
Quite often bad news comes to me about a church in a certain place. Someone may say, “The church there is not good. It has problems.” I do not like to hear things like this, because my concept of the church is based upon my faith. I believe that every church is wonderful. There is not a church that is not good. Although you may think that a certain church is not good, after a period of time that church becomes very different. Why? Because the church is organic. It grows. Your body may be quite tired, but after a while it is invigorated. It changes by life because it is an organism. The churches in the Lord’s recovery are organic. Never believe that the church in a certain locality is not good. The church is wonderful because it is an organism that grows. Never forget that the church is a living corporation of all the brothers of the Firstborn Son of God. The church is neither physical nor organizational; it is altogether of life — the divine life and the uplifted, resurrected human life. Nothing is richer than life. The best life in the universe is the divine life, and the second best life is the human life. The human life that we have today for the church is not the natural human life but the uplifted, resurrected human life. We have such a life! This human life plus the divine life is the life of the church. It is in such a profound way that the church is revealed in this book. The church is a living composition of all the sons of God, a living corporation of all the brothers of the Firstborn Son of God.
The many sons of God of whom the church is composed have all been predestinated unto sonship (Eph. 1:5). We have not become sons of God because of an accident; we were predestinated to be the sons of God before the foundation of the world. In eternity past God decided that we would be His sons. Firstly, God foreknew us (Rom. 8:29). After this, He selected us. Regardless of how you feel about yourself, God selected you before the foundation of the world. After foreknowing and selecting us, God predestinated us. The word predestinate includes the thought of being marked out. In eternity past, before creation, God put a mark upon us. He marked us out beforehand. For what did God predestinate us? For sonship. We have been predestinated unto sonship.
It is difficult to find this concept among many Christians today. The concept commonly found among Christians is that we have been predestinated unto salvation. There is hardly any consideration about sonship. We do not have the concept of sonship because we have been influenced by traditional Christian teachings. Once again, we must be recovered back to the pure Word. The pure Word tells us that we have been predestinated unto sonship. As long as you are a son of God, you have nothing to worry about.
We did not become sons of God by accident. Suppose you repented and believed in the Lord Jesus as the result of an automobile accident. According to your feeling, that was all an accident, but according to God, it was because you had already been marked out. Why did you have that accident? Simply because you were a little stubborn. God, in His sovereignty, permitted that accident in order to bring you into sonship. But sonship is not an accident. It was planned ahead of time. If anyone reading this message has been saved as the result of an automobile accident, it must have been because God used that to cause you to turn to Him. We, God’s chosen ones, are surrounded by angels who know how to arrange our surroundings that we might be brought into sonship. Many of us were forced to believe. Once we found ourselves in a certain situation, and there was no escape. Eventually we had to kneel down and call, “O Lord Jesus.” When we did this, all the angels rejoiced because we obtained sonship. The destiny of angels is to be ministering servants. Our destiny is sonship.
As the chosen ones of God, we have been born of God to be His many sons. At the time when we received the Lord Jesus by believing in Him we were born of God and received the right to be the children of God (John 1:12-13). From that time on, the Spirit of God always bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16). Even at times when we are weak or are backsliding, we still have the deep conviction that we are the children of God because once we have been born of God we shall be His children forever. We have received the eternal sonship through our regeneration.
When we were born of God, we were born of the Spirit in our spirit (John 3:6). In our flesh we were born of our parents. But it is in our spirit that we have been born of the Spirit of God to be His children. God has sent the Spirit of His Son into us that we might be the many sons of God like His Firstborn (Gal. 4:6). To be the many sons of God is a matter in our spirit and with the Spirit of the Son of God.
Since we have been born of the Spirit in our spirit, we have the spirit of sonship (Rom. 8:15). It is difficult to determine whether this spirit refers to the divine Spirit or to the human spirit. It includes both, for the spirit that we have received is a mingled spirit, a spirit that is both divine and human. Romans 8:15 says that we, the sons of God, cry, “Abba, Father,” but a sister verse, Galatians 4:6, says that the Spirit cries, “Abba, Father.” This means that when we cry, Abba, Father, the Spirit also cries and that when the Spirit cries, it is we who cry. We and the Spirit are one.
As yet, we do not have the full sonship, which is the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). We are waiting for full sonship, the redemption or the transfiguration of our physical body. In other words, although we have been born of God in our spirit, we have not yet been born of Him in our body. The day is coming when our body will be transfigured. Then we shall have the full sonship. We are waiting for this.
As the many sons of God, we are the many brothers of Christ who is the Firstborn Son of God. He was born to be the Firstborn Son of God through His resurrection (Acts 13:33), and we have been produced to be His many brothers in His resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3). It was after His resurrection that He called His disciples His brothers (John 20:17). Our new birth was not a physical birth but a birth in resurrection.
We, the many sons of God, have the Firstborn Son as our elder Brother (Heb. 2:11; Rom. 8:29). As our elder Brother, He is our model and our example. Because He is our elder Brother, He takes the lead in everything, and we have to follow in His footsteps.
As the many sons of God, we have the same life and nature as the Firstborn Son of God (2:11). Since we share the same life and nature as He, we are His many brothers. Because we have the life and nature of God, we are God’s many sons. Because we share the same life and nature as the Firstborn does, we are His brothers. To God, we are His many sons; to the Firstborn Son of God, we are His many brothers.
As we have seen, the church is composed of the many brothers of the Firstborn Son of God in resurrection (2:12). Because of this, the church is a corporate partnership with Christ. When we come to 3:14, we shall have much to say about this partnership. For the present, it is sufficient that we keep in mind that the church is a corporate partnership.
In the church, the Firstborn Son of God declares the Father’s name to His brothers. Because the Father is the source of life and nature, to declare the name of the Father is to show the many brothers the source of life and nature. Although the Jewish people in ancient times knew God, they did not know the Father. They knew God as the Creator but not as the Father who begets. They knew God’s creating power, but they did not know the Father’s begetting ability. They knew God’s power, but they did not realize the Father’s life. Before the resurrection, not even the disciples of Jesus knew the Father’s life and begetting ability. Before the day of resurrection, they only knew as much as the Jewish people did. However, on the day of resurrection the Lord came to them to declare the Father to make them know the Father as the source of life.
The Bible only mentions this very briefly, but this brief mention is like a little show window through which we can see a great deal. According to John 20, Jesus visited His disciples in the evening on the day of His resurrection. But John does not say that He declared the Father to the disciples. This is mentioned prophetically in Psalm 22:22. According to that prophecy, after His resurrection Christ came mainly to His disciples to make the Father known to them. The Father’s life and nature have become theirs. The Father’s being has been transferred into their being. This is what it means to declare the Father’s name to the disciples. If we had been there when the Lord did this, we would have realized that that declaration was not just a matter of mentioning the name. No, it was an impartation of all that the Father is — the Father’s life, nature, and being — into the disciples. It was from this that Peter came to realize that he was a partaker of the divine nature. He mentions this in his second Epistle (1:4). We, the sons of God, have all become partakers of the divine nature. To us, God is no longer merely the creating God but also the begetting Father. He has begotten us. He has imparted His life, His nature, and even His being into our being. This is what it means to declare the Father’s name.
After declaring the Father’s name, the Son sings hymns of praise to Him in the midst of the church. I do not believe that this prophecy means that the Firstborn Son of God sang hymns of praise to the Father in the church only once. Rather, I believe that it means throughout all the centuries the Firstborn Son has been continually singing hymns of praise unto the Father in the church. How does He do this? He does it in all of His brothers. I have the full assurance that right now He is inside of us. Since He is in us, He sings praises unto the Father in our singing. His singing is in our singing. When we sing, He sings because He is within our singing. When we sing hymns to the Father from our spirit, He sings with us in our spirit. This is wonderful. The church on earth today is one corporate Body with the Firstborn Son of God. In the meetings of the church, the Firstborn Son of God sings praise to the Father. Whenever we come to the meetings, we must open our mouths to praise the Father. If we do this immediately, we cooperate with the indwelling Firstborn Son of God. Do you want to gain more of the Firstborn Son? If you do, you need to praise the Father. The more we praise the Father, the more we gain the Firstborn Son. The more we sing, the more He sings in our singing. The best way to have Christ work together with us is by singing praises to the Father. According to our experiences, many of us can testify that this is so. In some of the church meetings we did much singing to the Father. That was the time when we enjoyed Christ so much. We even had the sensation that He was singing in our singing.
Christ has made the Father known to us as the source of life. Now in all the church meetings He is waiting for the opportunity to cooperate with us in singing praises to the Father. The best way for us to give Him this cooperation is to open our spirit and sing praise to the Father. The more we sing, the more we shall enjoy His singing. When we praise the Father, we enjoy Christ. We are one with Christ in praising the Father in the church meetings. The more we praise the Father in the church meetings, the more He praises the Father in our praising, and the more we enjoy Him and gain Him.
The church is composed of the many sons of God who are the many brothers of Christ in resurrection. It is a corporate partnership with Christ, the Firstborn Son of God, to participate in the Father’s life, nature, and being. In the church, the Father is praised by His Firstborn Son within His many sons. This is the church. Now we have seen something regarding the many sons, the many brothers, and the church.
