PART IV.

ADMONITION, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND WARNING.

LECTURE I.

Hebrews x. 19-22.

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

BEFORE we enter on the consideration of this glorious Scripture, we must look back for a moment to the preceding parts of the epistle, that we may understand the point at which we have now arrived. Those to whom St. Paul addressed it, had been accustomed to a dispensation which had been ordained by angels, of which Moses was the Mediator, under which a regular succession of priests were the appointed channels of intercourse between heaven and earth. The Apostle's object in addressing them was to commend the Christian dispensation to their regard, as one infinitely superior. He has therefore proved to them in the first and second parts of it, as we have seen, that Christ the

Minister and Mediator of the Gospel, is the Lord of angels, and the Divine Master whom their illustrious Moses served. He has also proved to them in the third part which we have just been considering, that Christ is the eternal High-Priest, of whose efficacious sacrifice and prevalent intercession the sacrifices and incense of the sons of Aaron were only feeble types. And having proved these things, he now proceeds to admonish, to encourage, and to warn them. We have finished therefore, in our brief review, the special consideration of apostolic doctrine, and are now, I trust, prepared to receive apostolic exhortation.

The character of the verses which we have read now, is peculiarly admonition and encouragement; they contain not a word of terror. I need not remark that their language is almost wholly typical, and that it would necessarily convey a fulness of meaning to those to whom it was addressed, which it does not convey to us. Let us endeavour in the first place, to discover this; to ascertain the sense in which a Hebrew would understand the words before us. And let us, assisted by this discovery, consider them in the second place, for our own edification and comfort.

I. St. Paul has distinctly declared to the Hebrews in the preceding part of this epistle, that their legal sacrifices and the incense of their legal high-priests, were utterly without power to take away sin and to procure for the guilty access into God's presence. He has referred moreover in proof of this, to the acknowledged fact that during the fifteen hundred years of the continuance of the legal economy, the holiest had remained shut against the entrance of any save of the high-priest alone. He has declared with equal distinctness, that the sacrifice of Christ then recently offered had taken sin away, and that his intercession had procured mercy for the guilty. It followed undeniably from these premises that the holiest was now open, and that all were invited to draw nigh to him who dwelt between the cherubim. The Apostle accordingly acknowledges and glories in this consequence of his previous doctrine; "having therefore" he says, "boldness to enter into the holiest, let us draw near." But that sacred

presence-chamber was for priests alone; and if all who trusted in Christ were invited to enter into it, it followed that all such were priests of God. The Apostle acknowledges this consequence also; he invites the Hebrews to draw near with hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and bodies washed with pure water; the antitypes, I need not say, of Aaron's cleansing for the priestly office. The Hebrews knew full well that if a high-priest under the legal economy had invited any of the children of his people to accompany him into the holiest that he might behold its unseen glories, both priest and intruder would have been struck dead on the instant. But it is not so now, says St. Paul, we who are "the house of God" may follow in the train of that High-Priest who is set "over" us, into the awful presence of the Divine Majesty. The rending of his sacred flesh on the cross has opened a way for us which our fathers knew not; and we need not fear, as we tread that way, that any thunderbolt of wrath shall arrest our further progress. God asks from us only a heart disposed to seck him; let us draw near then with such a heart, fearing no obstruction in our path, but fully persuaded of the deep reality of his fatherly mercy and love.

We often express surprise at the slowness of the early Jewish believers to comprehend and enter into the glorious liberty of the gospel. But if we duly considered their circumstances and entered into their feelings, we should be surprised rather at their early emancipation from the mental bondage of their law. They had been accustomed from infancy, to regard the holiest of all as the inaccessible retreat of the Divine Majesty, opened only on stated, solemn occasions, to the privileged son of Aaron. Great as had been the national provocations of Israel, interference with the sacredness of this retreat had not been one of them; no Jew during the past ages of their history, had ever attempted to force his way within its awful precincts. They had also been accustomed from infancy, to regard the priesthood as the peculiar heritage of Aaron's family; and no Jew could forget that Korah and his

company who had disputed this, had gone down living into the grave. And with these feelings which were to them a second nature, they heard it proclaimed that the santuary above, the true holiest, was now thrown open for all; nay, they were told besides, that every one who trusted in Christ was a priest, and should be accepted in priestly worship. The words of the text could convey to them no other meaning; for they encouraged them to take advantage of these newly bestowed privileges. It is not possible for us Gentiles to conceive what a shock such teaching must have been to the most sacred feelings of a Hebrew; a shock nearly as great as it would be to us to be told of a new Saviour! Nothing then but the teaching of the Holy Ghost enabling them to discern the mind of God from the beginning, reconciled the believing Hebrews to the gospel, and taught them to rejoice in it. Whilst the unbelieving and unenlightened among them concluded, as St. Paul himself once did, that they "ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth," for they regarded his servants as men who spake "blasphemous words against Moses and against God."

II. Let us now in the light of these remarks inquire into the text for our own instruction.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest.

We are apt to suppose that to any but Hebrew readers this typical language is a disadvantage. If we are acquainted however as we ought to be, with the Mosaic law, we shall find that the very reverse is the truth. Typical language expresses the shades of meaning, in a way in which common language has not the power to do it. The words before us are a very striking proof of this. St. Paul evidently means to tell us that we have liberty of approach to God. But if he had expressed his meaning in these words, we should have been left in comparative ignorance of it. For there are very different degrees of nearness of approach to God,

to us.

and we should not have known what degree was permitted But by using tabernacle-language he makes this abundantly plain. There were three compartments in the tabernacle of Moses, and three degrees of nearness of approach to him who dwelt therein. The man who stood within the outer court, approached the God of Israel; the priest who stood within the holy place, the ante-chamber of his presence, approached him a step nearer; whilst the highpriest who once in every year stood within the holiest, confronted the glory of Jehovah throned between the cherubim, and approached him so near that nearer was impossible. This at once explains to us the meaning of the text, and explains it in a manner equally beautiful and satisfactory. "Boldness to enter into the holiest" is not merely liberty to approach the Lord; it is liberty to approach so near, that to come nearer is impossible. And it is not difficult to ascertain what this nearness is; human things in this instance, explain and illustrate Divine. I may approach a man as his domestic servant, going in and out before him and listening to his commands that I may obey them. If however I know him as my friend, if I share with him in his joys, his sorrows, and his pleasures, our intercourse is necessarily of a much more endearing kind. And there is an intercourse between human beings, which is more intimate and endearing still. The friend is sitting at table with his friend; the servant is respectfully standing, waiting on his master and on his master's guest. The door is opened suddenly, the little child runs in, finds his way at once to the father's bosom and puts his arms about the father's neck. This, I need not say, is the nearest approach to a human being; to come nearer is impossible. And it is even so with the Divine Being. God might have permitted us to come to him as servants. Even this would have been kindness far beyond our deserts; the holy angels have no higher standing before him. He might have permitted us to come to him as friends. This would have been condescension unspeakable; the faithful Abraham had no higher standing, no more honoured name. But God's kindness to the angels