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The Sabbath-School

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 25, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 45.

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The Sabbath-School.

By C. P. B.

Letter to the Hebrews.

HEBREWS 6:9-18.

(Lesson 10, December 7, 1889.) 1. WHAT was the condition of the people to whom Paul wrote this letter? 2. In what words did he give them a most solemn warning? "But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." Heb. 6:8.
3. How did he express his hope of them? "But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak." Verse 9.
4. For what did he commend them? "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." Verse 10.
5. How does the Lord regard his erring people? "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent." Verse 10 and Rev. 3:19.
6. Does this give any warrant to presume on his mercy? Ps. 85:5-8; Num. 14:18, 19.
7. What was his desire in regard to them? "And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end." Heb. 6:11.
8. What should the Christian not be? "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Verse 12.
9. Whom should they follow? — Ib.
10. Who was most remarkable for faith and patience? "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself." Verse 13. Compare Rom. 4:16-22.
11. What did God say to Abraham? "Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee." Heb. 6:14.
12. What is the meaning of this form of promise: "Blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee"? — Ib. See note.
13. How greatly was his seed to be multiplied? Gen. 13:16; 15:5; 22:17. "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." Gen. 13:16. "And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them; and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." Gen. 15:5. "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." Gen. 22:17.
14. Did he obtain the promise? "And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise." Heb. 6:15.
15. Did his seed become as numerous as the dust of the earth?
16. How, then, did he obtain the promise? Ans.—After his long and patient waiting, he received the son in whom the promise was to be fulfilled. His faith embraced the promise in its fullness.
17. By whom do men swear? "For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife." Verse 16.
18. Why did God swear by himself? Verse 13.
19. Would an oath by an inferior object be solemn, and expressive of obligation?
20. Of what is God willing that we should have full proof? "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath." Verse 17. Compare Mal. 3:10.
21. Who proved the Lord, and were still unbelieving? "When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years." "So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest." "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Heb. 3:9, 11, 19.
22. Have we not reason to believe that many are doing the same thing even in this day?
23. What two immutable things are referred to in Heb. 6:18? "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."
24. To whom is this intended to give assurance?
25. Who have the privilege of laying hold of it? Verse 18.
26. Of what do we lay hold? — Ib. See note.
27. Where is this hope set? Verse 18.
28. Does hope ever look back to the past? See Rom. 18:24.

NOTES.

HEB. 6:14 is an intensive form of expression not uncommon in the Hebrew. It denotes certainty. Two instances are found in Genesis 2. Verse 16 reads: "Of every tree of the garden eating thou shalt eat." It is translated, "Thou mayest freely eat." Verse 17 reads: "In the day that thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt die." Rendered, "Thou shalt surely die." These translations are literally correct, the words freely and surely representing the certainty contained in the form of the original. Again in Ex. 3:7 the Lord said, "Seeing I have seen the affliction of my people." Stephen, quoting this (Acts 7:34), expressed the intensive of the original by a repetition: "I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people." And indeed duplication is another method of expressing intensiveness in the Hebrew, as "good good," for very good. Our version very correctly translates Ex. 1:7, "I have surely seen."
As faith rests only on the word of God (Rom. 10:17), so hope rests only on the promise of God. Where God has not spoken there can be no faith. There may be opinion, or conjecture, or strong feeling, and even much confidence, but no faith. So where there is no promise of God there may be feeling, and strong self-confidence, but no true hope. And a promise fulfilled is no longer a promise—it is a matter of the past. Hope can no longer rest upon it, "for hope that is seen is not hope." Once received, it is no longer hoped for. Losing sight of this evident truth, many have been led to indulge false hopes. They will profess to hope in God, while there is not a promise within their reach. For all the promises of God rest on conditions, and if we neglect the conditions, we cannot rightfully claim the promises. Claiming God's promises without fulfilling their conditions is not an indication of faith but of presumption. But if indeed we have fled for refuge to Christ, and have laid hold upon the hope set before us, what a strong consolation we have in the sure promise of God confirmed by his oath, brought near by the blood and intercession of our High Priest in the heavens!

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

It is the duty of every Christian to bear fruit to the glory of God. Said the Saviour: "I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." John 15:5,6. The language of the apostle given in verse 8 of our lesson expresses the same truth. It follows that fruit-bearing is one of the conditions of eternal life. But let none conclude from this that heaven can be earned by good works; that does not follow, and the idea is utterly forbidden by other scriptures; but the point is that those who are abiding in Christ will bring forth fruit just as surely and as naturally as will the healthy branch that abides in the vine.
The fruits brought forth by a Christian are of two kinds, or, rather, they are twofold, that is, there is the inward change of character and feeling, and the outward manifestation of this change. Among the fruits of the Spirit, the apostle enumerates love, joy, peace, and faith. These are primarily inward fruits, that is, they are feelings which the Spirit of God implants in the heart; but long-suffering, gentleness, and goodness are outward manifestations of the inward fruits, or of the grace of God dwelling in the heart. If love, joy, and faith are in the heart they will manifest themselves; and "herein," says the Saviour, "is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." And again: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 5:16.
HEB. 6:10 contains a thought that is full of encouragement to everyone who has given himself to God. Says the apostle: "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." Here we have the idea of obligation on the part of God; and it is even so that God has obligated himself to all who enter into covenant with him. True, our failures and short-comings might serve to release God from this voluntary obligation, but he seeks no release. He works in us both to will and to do of his good-pleasure. He is more ready to do for us, we are assured (Luke 11:9-13), than are earthly parents to give good gifts unto their children. Shall we not then embrace his mercy and confidently, though humbly, claim his promises?
The promise to Abraham was twofold, namely, the promise that he should inherit the earth (Gen. 13:14, 15; Rom. 4:13), and that he should have a son (Gen. 13:15, 16 and 18:10), and that his seed should share the inheritance with him, and that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. This promise he obtained, that is, it was fulfilled, so far as regarded the birth of a son, and it is to this which the writer of Hebrews refers in Heb. 6:15. The fulfillment of the other part of the promise is, as we learn from Acts 7:5 and from Heb. 11:13, still future. In his defense Stephen evidently alluded to the unfulfilled promise to Abraham in order to show the absolute necessity of a resurrection, and that that resurrection would be accomplished through Christ. But he was not permitted to conclude his argument. Paul, however, declared (Acts 23:6) that it was for the hope of the resurrection of the dead that he was called in question, and again (Acts 26:6, 7) he said: "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews." This shows conclusively that the resurrection of the dead is inseparably connected with perfect fulfillment of the promise to Abraham.God promised the land to Abraham, and yet he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot upon; but the promise of God cannot fail; it was confirmed by two immutable things, God's word and oath, therefore Abraham will be raised from the dead, and God's promise will be literally fulfilled to him.
If we are Christ's we are Abraham's seed (Gal. 3:29), and the promise is just as sure to us as to him; and in this fact there is strong ground for confidence. Says the apostle: "God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; 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." Heb. 6:17, 18. C. P. B.