The subject of this message is “so great a salvation” (Heb. 2:3). Many people have preached on this subject about going to heaven. According to their opinion, going to heaven is the “so great a salvation.” This concept is too low. The “so great a salvation” is not that low. Why do people use such a high subject to preach the gospel with such a low concept? Because their experience of salvation is low. Although they have the term “so great a salvation,” they do not realize the depth of this term in Hebrews. In order to get into the depth of “so great a salvation” we need to cross the river from the traditional understanding of God’s salvation to a deeper realization of God’s great salvation.
The basic concept of the book of Hebrews is crossing the river, passing over from one side to the other. It is firstly to pass over from the side of Judaism to the side of “so great a salvation.” The old Jewish religion had become the old country, the other side of the river which we all must leave. Although we are not Jewish believers, in a very real sense we might be in that region called “the other side.” It might be the other side of old Christianity. I am concerned that some of you reading this message are still in the region of old Christianity or are still clinging to the old concepts of Christianity. Perhaps you have come into the church where you have heard something better, but you still think that you have many good things from the past and find yourself unable to forget them. Perhaps even now, at this very moment, you are staggering, asking yourself, “Shall I go forward, or shall I stay here?” You may not be going backwards, but you are considering whether or not to stay where you are. You need the book of Hebrews. You need to be encouraged to cross the river, to cross over from the other side.
We need to cross rivers every day. At the least we must cross a small river. You may need to cross a river after having offended your wife. After you offended her, you found yourself in an old region. You must cross the river. If you are unwilling to pay the price, you will stagger back and forth. You need to cross that small river. Although that river is small, it separates you from the holy of holies, from the enjoyment of “so great a salvation.” Every river you cross becomes a salvation to you, but every river that you do not cross becomes a veil. As long as you are on the other side of the river, you are outside of the veil. You are not in the holy of holies, participating in “so great a salvation.” If you cross the river, you will enter within the veil and share in the great salvation.
In studying the book of Hebrews in the past, I used two slogans. The first, “outside the camp,” is found in 13:13, which says, “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” Although the King James Version says, “without the camp,” the Greek is better translated “outside the camp.” We all must go outside the camp. What is the camp? Originally, the camp was Judaism. Today the camp may be Christianity, Catholicism, or anything, religious or worldly, that separates you from the enjoyment of God’s great salvation. Let us go forth therefore outside the camp. Then where shall we go? This brings us to the second slogan, “within the veil,” that is, within the holy of holies, found in 6:19-20. Jesus, our Forerunner, has entered within the veil. He is there now in the holy of holies. He certainly is not in any camp.
Some Christians are fond of camping in their analytical mind. Their mind becomes their camp. In fact, it might even become their Chaldea, their Mesopotamia, where Abraham was before he entered into the good land. As long as you are not in the good land, you need to cross the river. How much you need to cross the river into the good land! What is your Chaldea? Nearly every Christian has some kind of Chaldea. Some Christians cling to their Bible knowledge. They hold on to the matter of Bible study, thinking that they know the Bible. However, their Bible knowledge becomes their Chaldea. Some brothers among us have had to cross over the river from the side of traditional Bible knowledge, some from the side of their religious background, and some from the side of their past experiences. Oh, how we all must realize that Hebrews is a book of river crossing! Never hold on to anything that is not up to the standard of “so great a salvation.”
Years ago I had a good number of co-workers. At first, they were fine because they were not stuck to anything. However, after a few years some of them got stuck to certain things. Although those things were good, they became their Chaldea. If they had been with Joshua when he led the Israelites across the river Jordan, some of them probably would have stopped him, saying, “Don’t do this. When we came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, no one ever told us that we would have to cross the Jordan.” The old knowledge and experience that those co-workers had became their Chaldea, and they would not cross the river. Nevertheless, day by day the Lord is going on. He is not standing still. None of us should stay with what we have experienced in the past. You must go on. Keep going on. A Hebrew is one who goes on.
Now we need to see what is “so great a salvation.” This salvation is not great in the matter of going to heaven or even in the matters of forgiveness and justification by faith. I treasure both forgiveness and justification by faith, but the book of Hebrews, the book that covers “so great a salvation,” speaks of something higher. Forgiveness and justification by faith are salvation, but they are not “so great a salvation.” The “so great a salvation” is not even great in the matter of regeneration. In what, then, is this salvation so great?
Firstly, it is great in what Christ is. The writer of Hebrews used the term “so great.” This term is difficult to define. How great is “so great”? Although we cannot adequately describe “so great,” this “so great a salvation” is great in what Christ is. Do you know what Christ is? Although you may know Christ according to the four gospels, do you know Christ according to Hebrews?
Do you know Christ as the Son of God? Probably you know Him as the Son of God in a fragmentary way. You may have the subconscious concept that the Father is one God and that the Son is another. You may not have this kind of terminology, but deep within you may hold this concept. This is the reason that I say that the “so great a salvation” is great in what Christ is as the Son of God, as God. When we say that Christ is the Son of God, we mean that He is God. He is none other than God.
This brings us, once again, to the matter of the Trinity. According to the Bible, we may deal with this matter of the Trinity in two ways — in the way of doctrine or in the way of experience. One day Philip, one of the Lord’s disciples, said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us” (John 14:8). This is a doctrinal question. Doctrinally speaking, the Son is the Son and the Father is the Father. Perhaps Philip thought to himself, “The Son is now speaking to us, yet we have not seen the Father. So I will beg the Son to show us the Father.” The Lord Jesus did not answer Philip in the way of doctrine but in the way of experience. “Jesus said to him, Am I so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How is it that you say, Show us the Father?” (John 14:9). As long as Philip had seen the Son, he had seen the Father. As far as doctrine is concerned, the Father and the Son are two, but as far as experience goes, when you see the Son, you see the Father. Many Christians talk about the Trinity in a mental and doctrinal way, neglecting their experience. As I pointed out in a previous message, the Bible reveals that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all in us. Doctrinally speaking, we have the Father in us, the Son in us, and the Spirit in us. Experientially speaking, however, we realize that we have only one in us. Thus, to be doctrinal is one thing and to be experiential is another.
From my youth, because my family was so closely related to the American missionaries, I heard a great deal about the United States. I had a doctrinal understanding of America. I mentally figured out what San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and New York City were like. When I came to this country in 1958, I saw these cities experientially. What a difference! They were vastly different from my doctrine. My experience was altogether different from my doctrine. Do not trust in your doctrine. You need experience.
In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress there is a place called Vanity Fair. Doctrine apart from experience is such a Vanity Fair; it is a vanity bazaar that sells nothing of value. The mental understanding of doctrine without experience is merely a vanity. I was in that kind of vanity bazaar for seven and a half years and obtained hardly anything but doctrines and terms. I gained very little that could be practiced. That vanity bazaar was my Chaldea. One day I crossed the river and entered the good land of the experience of Christ and of the church life.
What is true of the doctrines is also true of the gifts. At a certain time, a number of our co-workers and myself felt that we had to taste and see the so-called Pentecostal things. So I began to speak in tongues. Eventually I learned that that was not a bazaar of vanity but a bazaar of confusion, a market of confusion. If you want to know how confusing that situation is today, you should visit that bazaar. Everything there is confused. Real things and false things, good things and bad things, are all mixed together. No corner of Christendom is as confused as the so-called Pentecostal movement. Thus, the others and I crossed the river once again.
Even those in the church life need to cross the river out of their oldness. What you had fifteen or twenty years ago was good then, but it has become old. At that time you crossed the Red Sea, but now you must cross the Jordan River. Recently I saw a brother who was under my training twenty years ago. When I saw him, I was concerned for him. It seemed that he was still in that old region. Do you not know the principle? Originally, everything established according to the divine oracles in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy was true. However, after a certain length of time it became an old system, Judaism. Those who were in that system had to cross the river. Likewise, what you received twenty years ago was good, but now you must cross the river out of that region. I urge you to cross the river out of your oldness.
Christ is the Son of God. He is also God Himself. If you try to figure out the Trinity according to your mentality, how will you explain verses 1:8 and 9? “But as to the Son, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy above Your partners.” Verse 8 says, “But as to the Son, Your throne, O God,” and verse 9 says, “God, Your God, has anointed You.” The words O God and Your God both refer to the Son. What does this mean? It seems to mean God’s God. “O God,...Your God.” Since the Son is God Himself, He is God; therefore, verse 8 says, “O God.” Since the Son is also man, God is His God; therefore, verse 9 says, “Your God.” Christ is not simple; He has many aspects. He is the Son of God, even God Himself. He is also the Son of Man, a real man. For the unveiling of “so great a salvation,” Hebrews firstly refers us to Christ as the Son of God, even as God Himself. The Son of God, even God Himself, is one of the elements of “so great a salvation.” What God is makes the salvation “so great.” This salvation is great in all the fullness of the Godhead.
Firstly, before 2:3, where “so great a salvation” is mentioned, Hebrews reveals how Christ is the Son of God, even God Himself. Then after 2:3, in order to show us that the salvation we have in Christ is great, this book continues by showing us how He is also the Son of Man, a real man. The salvation we have in Christ is not merely some matters, such as forgiveness of sins, justification, reconciliation, redemption, regeneration, etc., but also a wonderful, unlimited Person who is both God in eternity and man in time. It is such a marvelous Person who makes His salvation “so great.”
Christ is the very God and He is also a real man (2:6). Although I was saved for years, I was not clear that my Savior was both God and man. I only knew that He was the Son of God. I was not even clear that He was God, much less that He was also man. Our Lord Jesus is both God and man.
Some Christians, even some Christian workers, have argued that Christ died as a man, but that after He was resurrected and ascended to the heavens He was no longer a man. They claim that the Jesus in the heavens is no longer a man. According to this concept, when Jesus was resurrected, He stripped off His humanity. Because such arguments were directed against me, I purposely wrote the hymn that contains the lines,
Lo! In heaven Jesus sitting, Christ the Lord is there enthroned;As the man by God exalted, With God’s glory he is crowned.
In reply to these arguments, I asked, “If Jesus in the heavens is no longer the Son of Man, how could Stephen have seen Him as the Son of Man?” (Acts 7:56). Furthermore, Matthew 26:64 shows us that He is the Son of Man now sitting in the heavens and coming back in the future. Moreover, Revelation tells us that He is the Son of Man among the local churches (1:13) and that He will return as the Son of Man (14:14). Hence, 1 Timothy 2:5, written after His ascension, still calls Him “the man Christ Jesus.” Our Savior is a man. Although He is resurrected, Jesus is still a man, a resurrected man, an uplifted man, a man who, in ascension, is on the throne in the heavens. Jesus is qualified to be our Savior because He is both God and man. This is why His salvation is “so great” — great not only in the element of God but also in the element of man. All the divine attributes and all the human virtues are the ingredients of “so great a salvation.” In this “so great a salvation” we enjoy the fullness of the Godhead and the uplifted humanity of the man Jesus. In this “so great a salvation” we possess both the divine nature and the human nature of Christ. With what wonderful elements is this “so great a salvation” composed! No human words can utter it adequately. No wonder that the writer says that it is “so great”!
Now we come to the Captain of salvation (2:10). In order to be saved from hell, we do not need a captain, but if we are to enter into glory, into the good land of rest, we need the Captain. God’s salvation is not merely to rescue us from hell and to put us into heaven. His salvation is to save us from all negative things and to bring us into glory, into a glorious rest. As we shall see shortly, this kind of salvation is not an overnight matter; it is a lifelong process. We need to follow our Captain throughout our entire life.
The children of Israel came out of Egypt in one night. It was truly an overnight matter. However, in order for them to enter the good land of rest, they needed to follow their captain. At the beginning they followed Moses and later they followed Joshua. They had a captain for their salvation. After they crossed the Red Sea, they surely were saved, but they were saved to a very small degree. They had gone only a small part of the way and needed to follow their captain all the rest of the way. They had such a captain of salvation.
A captain not only denotes a leader but also a fighter. A captain is a leader who not only cuts the way and paves the way but who also fights the way. If you read your Bible carefully, you will see that from the time when the children of Israel left Egypt until the time when they entered the good land, they were fighting all the way. This is the reason that they were called the hosts (armies) of the Lord (Exo. 12:41). They fought their way into the good land. They needed a captain to lead them on by fighting on. Their going on was a matter of fighting on. Thus, they were formed and trained as a holy army. Wherever they went, they fought. Since there was no thoroughfare, they had to fight their way through.
Likewise, since the day we were saved, forgiven, justified, and reborn, a fight has been going on. In a sense, we in the Lord’s recovery are an army that is fighting its way through. There is no way for us to take but the way of fighting. We all must fight the battle under the Captain. Jesus our Savior is a fighting Captain. He is fighting and we must follow Him, fighting every inch of the way. Christ is the Captain of salvation. If we did not have such a Captain included in our salvation, our salvation would not be so great. The “so great a salvation” not only includes Christ as the Son of God, as God, and as the Son of Man, as man, but also as the Captain of salvation who takes the lead and fights on that we might follow Him into glory. The Captain of salvation is a factor that makes our salvation “so great.”
While Christ is fighting as our Captain, He is also ministering as our High Priest. Do not be troubled. On the one hand, He is the fighting Captain; on the other hand, He is a ministering High Priest. He ministers whatever you need. Therefore, there is no reason to lack anything. Christ will minister to you.
After Abraham had fought against the enemy and released Lot, Melchisedec, the High Priest, came to him ministering the bread and wine (Gen. 14:14-20). As we continue on in Hebrews, we shall see that our Jesus is Melchisedec. In order to enjoy the ministry of Melchisedec, you must fight. Only when you fight will He come to you and minister to you. If you do not fight, do not expect Christ to come to you as Melchisedec ministering the bread and wine. However, if you are willing to fight, I can assure you that after every bit of fighting Christ will come to you as the ministering Melchisedec and you will enjoy His supply of bread and wine. This is wonderful. It is another factor that makes our salvation so great.
The “so great a salvation” not only has a Redeemer and a Savior but also a Captain fighting for us and a High Priest ministering to us. Be encouraged. If you do not fight, you will be defeated and have no bread and wine to feed on. However, if you fight, you will not only gain the victory but will also receive the bread and wine. Hallelujah for so great a salvation! It is great in what Christ is.
What has Christ done? He has made purification of sins (1:3). Be at peace. Your sin has been purified. Although you must hate your sins, you need not be bothered by them. Christ has purified our sins once for all (7:27).
Christ has tasted death for us (2:9). Since He has tasted death, death has been abolished (2 Tim. 1:10). Death has been terminated. Do not believe in death. Deny it. Do you have death in your church? Deny it. Do you have an illness in your physical body indicating the presence of death? Do not believe it, and do not accept it. It is a lie.
Christ has destroyed Satan. He partook of our nature in order to destroy the devil who has the might of death (2:14-15). He has done this on the cross. Satan is finished. Whenever Satan comes, you should say, “Satan, you have come to the wrong place. Don’t you know that you have been destroyed? Who released you? Go back to your place.” The best way to defeat Satan is to shame him. Say, “Satan, don’t you know that you have been defeated? You have been destroyed. Go back, and keep your position.” Satan will go. By partaking of our nature and destroying Satan, Christ has released us from slavery. Death has been abolished, Satan, who holds the power of death, has been destroyed, and we have been released from slavery.
Christ is now sanctifying us (2:11). He is the Sanctifier and we are the sanctified. He is sanctifying us day by day (1 Thes. 5:23-24). We shall be under His sanctifying work continually until we are fully transformed to His image (2 Cor. 3:18).
Christ is able to help us (2:18). He is able to help us to the uttermost. Do not listen to the lies. Do not listen to your environment, weakness, situation, or your husband or wife. Your wife or husband may be a little liar. Your sickness, weakness, and environment may also be lies. Do not believe the lie. The leading brothers should never listen to lies. Often the brothers and sisters are used by the enemy to lie to the leading brothers. For example, someone may say, “The church meeting is getting very low.” When someone says this, there is no need to argue with him. Just close your eyes and say, “This is a lie. Get away. I believe that the church is living and set on high.” This is faith. Try it and see. Sisters, if you say that your husband is no good, I can assure you that he will be no good simply because you have prophesied in such a way. You must cross the river. Do not believe that your husband is no good, but rather say, “My husband is the best one among all men.” If you say this, the Lord will come in to honor your prophecy and make your husband the best one. He is able to help us in all things. He is able to succor us in any kind of situation.
What Christ has done in the past, is doing in the present, and will do in the future are all included in the “so great a salvation” and all are factors that make His salvation “so great.”
This “so great a salvation” is so great in its extent that it even makes us partners of God’s appointed Heir (1:2, 9). Since we have covered this adequately in message five, we do not need to repeat it here.
This great salvation will bring us into glory (2:10). As we have pointed out on other occasions, glory is God manifested. We, the sons of God, will be brought into that manifestation of glory (Rom. 8:19-21). That will be the climax of the salvation which we share in Christ. So it certainly is a main factor that makes our salvation “so great.”
This great salvation will make us to possess the coming inhabited earth with Christ (2:5). We do not need to run in an election to be mayor, senator, governor, or president. We shall inherit the coming inhabited earth. This is not a dream. The Bible tells us so. You can declare, “I am going to inherit the earth. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
In this great salvation we shall be saved to the uttermost (7:25). This salvation is unlimited, saving us completely, entirely, perfectly for all time and to the end. This is the extent of our “so great a salvation.”
“So great a salvation” is great in what Christ is, in what Christ does, and in its extent. Its most precious part is enjoying Christ as our saving life and rest in this age, and its most glorious part is inheriting Christ’s kingdom with glory in the coming age.
Verse 2:1 says that “we ought to give heed more abundantly to the things which were heard.” You have heard much in these messages and you must give heed to what you have heard. You cannot be discharged of your responsibility and say that you have not heard or seen.
Why must we give heed more abundantly to that which we have heard? Because “lest at any time we drift away.” Give heed that you do not drift away from what you have heard. Do not be a piece of driftwood that has no goal or direction and that merely drifts with the current. In order for there to be a drifting away, there must be a current. There was a current in Judaism for the Hebrew believers. There is now a current in the world and even in Christianity. There are many negative currents today. Be careful or else you will drift away from “so great a salvation.” Do not drift away — cross the river.
Furthermore, we should not neglect “so great a salvation” (2:3). If we neglect it, we will receive a just recompense regarding it (2:2). We will suffer a loss (1 Cor. 3:15). This does not mean, however, that we will be lost. Nevertheless, we may receive a just recompense due to our negligence. That would be a great loss. I hope that none of us will fall into this category. Let us all cross the river and go on with our Captain of salvation into glory.
