Letter to the Hebrews

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 46.

Letter to the Hebrews.

HEBREWS 6:19 to 7:3.

(Lesson 11, December 14, 1889.)

On what does our hope rest?
What does a true hope afford?
What is our hope cal'ed?

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." Heb. 6:19. 4. What is said in the Scriptures of the hope of the hypocrite? "So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish; whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web." Job 8:13, 14. 5. Is there any likeness between an anchor and a spider's web? 6. How many hopes are recognized in the Bible? "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." Eph. 4:4. 7. What is the condition of those who have not obtained an interest in the promises of God? "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Eph. 2:12. "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." 1 Thess. 4:13. 8. What is the nature of a true hope? Heb. 6:19. 9. To where does our hope point us, or reach?—Ib. 10. Who has entered within the veil for us? "Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Verse 20.

11. In what scripture may we learn concerning the veil? "And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen of cunning work; with cherubim shall it be made. And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim-wood overlaid with gold; their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony; and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy." Ex. 26:31-33. 12. Was there more than one veil to the sanctuary? "And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all." Heb. 9:3. 13. Were the two veils alike? Compare Ex. 26:31 and 36. 14. What was their use? "And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony; and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy." "And thou shalt make a hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen, wrought with needlework." Ex. 26:33, 36. 15. To which veil does Heb. 6:19 refer? See note. 16. Whose office was it to go into the sanctuary? Ans.—The priest's. Ex. 28:43; Num. 8:1, 7. 17. Who had a special commission for the work of the sanctuary? Ans.—The high priest. 18. Who was Melchizedek? "For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him." Heb. 7:1. 19. What is said of him in the Scriptures? "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abraham of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all." Gen. 14:18-20. 20. Do we learn anything more of him in the Old Testament? 21. What did Abraham give to him? "To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace." Heb. 7:2. "And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave tithes of all." Gen. 14:20. 22. Can you tell how Abraham learned about the duty to pay tithes? 23. What is the meaning of the name Melchizedek? Heb. 7:2. See note. 24. What is said of his parentage, or descent? "Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." Verse 3, Revised Version. 25. In his priesthood whom was he like in these respects?—Ib. See note.

NOTES.

It is not possible within the space of a Sabbath-school lesson to give a full description of the work of the priest in the sanctuary. Every day in the year the priests ministered in the holy place, or the first room of the sanctuary. Ex. 27:20, 21; 30:1, 7, 8; Heb. 9:6. The tenth day of the seventh month was the day of atonement, on which the high priest went alone into the most holy place, and sprinkled blood upon the mercy-seat, over the ark which contained the law of God. Ex. 16. By this act he cleansed the sanctuary from all the defilement of sin. This was a type of the day of Judgment. Our Lord ascended on high in the year A.D. 31. He said to his disciples, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter." John 14:16. And, "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." John 16:7. Within ten days after his ascension to his Father, his priesthood in the sanctuary in the heavens (Heb. 8:1, 2) begun, for on the day of Pentecost his prayer was answered, and the Comforter came. Acts 2. This was the beginning of his priesthood, and he was then of course officiating in the holy, or the first of the two holy places. It is not until the seventh trumpet sounds, which is near the close of this dispensation, that the temple in heaven is opened where the ark of the testament is seen. Rev. 11:14-19. This is the most holy, within the second veil. Now as Paul wrote the letter to the Hebrews in A.D. 64, but a little more than thirty years after the beginning of Christ's priesthood, the veil within which he then entered must have been the first. PAUL says of the name Melchizedek that it is "by interpretation, king of righteousness." It is compounded of two Hebrew words; melek, king, and tzedek, righteousness. Most Hebrew proper names were thus significant. As Salem means peace, king of Salem is, also, king of peace. In both these names Melchizedek fitly represented the Son of God, who is truly the King of righteousness and the King of peace. It is on the throne of grace that he is our peace. Eph. 2:14; Zech. 6:12, 13. HEB. 7:2, 3 contains some of the most significant and interesting of all the statements of this wonderful argument. All that is known of Melchizedek is contained in Gen. 14:18-20, and in these two verses in Hebrews 7. The truth is, that if we could ascertain his genealogy, all the force of Paul's reasoning would be lost, and he would no longer serve as the type of the priesthood of Christ. For it is the evident intention of the record to give Melchizedek as the type of Christ, in whose priesthood no genealogy or succession can be reckoned. Christ has indeed a genealogy, but that serves solely to prove his heirship to the throne of David, and does not refer at all to his position as a high priest on the throne of his Father in Heaven. This will be seen with more and more clearness through all this chapter. The original Greek says he was agenealogetos, literally, without genealogy. Authorities to almost any extent may be quoted to show that the method of expression used in Heb. 7:3 was common among the Hebrews where no genealogical record was preserved.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

As made plain in the previous lesson, the hope of the Christian rests upon the word and oath of God, "that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." The very idea of hope implies that the present condition is undesirable as contrasted with that hoped for; but a well-grounded hope affords strong consolation for present sorrows, and "is an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast." THE purpose of an anchor is too well known to need explanation, and just as it takes hold of the bottom of the sea and holds the vessel from drifting upon the rocks or into the quicksands, so hope reaches within the veil, that is, into the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ ministers for us, and keeps the soul from drifting away from God. But hope, like faith, must have a firm basis; it is a combination of expectation and desire, and must rest upon the promises of God. A man may believe that which he does not desire, or he may desire that

which he has no warrant for believing that he will obtain; but such faith, or such desire, is not hope; faith and desire must unite to form hope.

BUT what is the Christian's hope? He can only hope for that which God has promised; let us therefore turn to some of the promises of God and see if we can find what is pre-eminently the Christian's hope. When God created man he gave him dominion over the whole earth; but man lost that dominion, and it passed into the hands of Satan. This we have learned in past lessons. But in Micah 4:8 we have a promise that the dominion which Adam lost, the first dominion, shall be given to Christ: "And thou, O Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." And in Gal. 3:29 we read: "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." This shows plainly that if we belong to Christ we shall share with him the dominion of this earth restored to its Eden glory; and with this agree the words of the psalmist: "The meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace" (Ps. 37:11); also the promise of our Lord: "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5. BUT the possession of the earth does not alone constitute the hope of the Christian. Says the apostle John: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 1 John 3:2, 3. Not only is the Christian a joint heir with Christ, but he will be like his divine Lord. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." What could be more desirable than to be like Christ, "holy, harmless, and separate from sinners;" "filled with all the fullness of God." IN his epistle to Titus the apostle Paul says: "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2:11-13. The coming of the Lord is here called the blessed hope, because everything depends upon it; it is then that we shall be clothed with immortality; it is then that our vile bodies shall be "fashioned like unto his glorious body;" it is then that we shall be caught up to meet the Lord, and "so shall we ever be with the Lord." Is it not a "blessed hope"? C. P. B.