HEBREWS 13
1 Let brotherly love continue.
There can be nothing more certain than that the sentiment of love, which is here referred to, is at the very bottom of the whole scheme of the truth in which we rejoice; there can be nothing more certain than that the very object of the truth is to manifest God's love to us, and to develop God's love in us; there can be nothing more certain than that the truth in its ultimate and eternal development, as we might say, will present the very highest form of this impulse of love; and there can be nothing more certain, either, than that those who are not carried along by this prevailing impulse—which originates the truth, and which we may also say is the essence of the truth—will be left behind.
Those who are not of love are not of God. John distinctly says that God is love, and that those who are of God walk in love. And he says "He that sayeth he loveth God and hateth his brother, is a liar, and deceiveth himself." Such a case as this we can conceive to be possible, where a person may know the truth and may console himself with the idea, which so far is legitimate, that knowing the truth and having been immersed, he is a child of God; and yet who, notwithstanding his legal status in the matter, is personally destitute of the principle in which it has its origin, which is here expressed by the word "Love."
We have the distinct assurance of John, of Paul, of Jesus, and of all who in fact have spoken in the name of God, that such individuals are spiritual abortions—out of harmony with the system with which they are connected—excresences upon it, as it were, which will in due time be cut away. Such unfruitful branches will be lopped off. Jesus says
"Every branch in me that beareth not good fruit shall be taken away."
Now if we only look this sentiment in the face, we shall see it to be a very attractive one, and capable of affording the highest happiness—a sentiment which when once it begins to control our mental being, will, without much difficulty, hold the sway. If we only reflect for a moment what the object of existence is, we shall then see that the Scriptures, in presenting the fact that God is love, and that love is the highest object of being, is presenting us with something, both the most sensible and attractive that can possibly be considered.
People live to be happy; as soon as persons cease to be happy, they cease to have any object in life. We see this practically illustrated in the case of the suicide. He has lost every sort of happiness, and the consequence is, that having no object in existence, he deprives himself of it. If that be true (and it is true,) what we have to think about is, the fact that love is the highest source of happiness, whether existing in our own bosoms, or manifested by others toward us. In fact, the longer we live, and the more we study, the more we shall find that the deepest sources of happiness—happiness that will be genuine and enduring—are only to be found in connection with the things of God; for God has associated the highest blessedness with the things which pertain to Himself—with those actions of the mind which he desires.
There is no blessedness apart from these. Love is the highest and the strongest. There is no sentiment capable of giving a man or woman more power for enduring, or for accomplishing an object, or of being really happy, than this one of love. There is nothing can equal the pure delight that springs from the love of another. I do not now mean the love that exists between the sexes; though that might be referred to as an illustration. since it is chosen to represent the relation that exists between Jesus and the ecclesia. I refer to friendship in its purest and most disinterested form; the pleasure it gives surpasses all the gratifications in which men ordinarily indulge.
Unfortunately, we are in a state of society in which the selfish instincts rule, and we very rarely get an opportunity of realising this love. We have endless opportunities of kindness, but few for real, spontaneous, unchecked love. There are two kinds of love; and one is more enjoyable and easy to accomplish than the other. To love a person who is lovely, is delightful and costs no effort. This is perhaps the most perfect form of love, the form which exists in the complete body of Christ prospectively contemplated. When the shattered fragments of that body, (at present mostly hid in the dust,) are united, and the community of the righteous made perfect by resurrection and judgment, love will prevail over all. All will love, for all will be lovely.
Christ will have blown away all the chaff, rejected every unworthy person, and there will remain only those who are truly distinguished by their love to God, to Christ, and to each other.
Bro Roberts - Exhort No1.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
What is this but condemning in a saint that which is a deliberately chosen policy with the world? To make money is the great aim among those who know not God. To "save" is extolled as the very highest virtue. To be rich is to be honoured. It is the old story:
"Men will praise when thou doest well to thyself."—Psalm 49:18.
Hereby are saints in great danger. They are liable to fall in with the general tendency, and to set up Mammon as the god of their lives. Of course it would not be acknowledged to in this form. All evil things are varnished with "good words and fair speeches" which deceive the hearts of the simple; and this treachery to Christ would be glossed over with pleasant phrases.
... The heart is deceitful. The nectar of the golden cup is intoxicating, and quickly finds the head, and makes the poor thing reel in the path of Christ.
Riches may be honourably possessed, if used as Job used them. The picture of his doings is profitable to contemplate, because it is a picture of a man whom God praised.
". . if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep . .
"The stranger did not lodge in the street, but I opened my doors to the traveller" "Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?"
Job is pointed to by James as an example. The excellence of that example is manifest. His was the case of a man "making to himself friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness." He exemplified beforehand the exhortation of Paul:
"Charge them that are rich that they be not high-minded . . . that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying-up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life."
The Christadelphian, Aug 1873
"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
Thus saith God to every faithful brother and sister. The statement is of inestimable worth for God does not exaggerate. What a sense of security does it bring—a peace of mind which the wicked know nothing of.
It is gratifying to have the assistance and protection of mortal man. But to be under the guidance and care of the controller of the Universe!—of Him who can turn a man's heart whithersoever He will (Prov. xxi. 1, —who can make even our enemies to be at peace with us (Prov. xvi. 7, )!
Unfathomable comfort our privilege contains. We should strive to reach a fuller realisation of it. There is much to make us dull and insensible to it. God appears to be far, far away, and we are apt to imagine that He is uninterested in and uncognisant of our puny affairs. Bad trade and unhealthy climate confront us, and the thought arises, are not we and the alien equally effected by these evils, and is not God, therefore, excluded from our affairs?
To grapple with these fleshly, lying suggestions, we require to be of quick, spiritual understanding. This quickness can only be attained by a daily study of the Oracles of God. Such a study will produce that full assurance of faith which will enable us to wield an "it is written" to our own satisfaction, even if not to the conviction of our adversaries.
Bro A Jannaway
The Christadelphian, Nov 1887
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
If this was suitable language for saints of the first century, how is it unsuitable now? It cannot be so. It can only be a saintship having a name to live but dead, that finds such language awkward. Of course, there is such a thing as cant: no righteous man would advocate that; but there is such a thing as the other extreme. There is such a thing as being proud before God; not broken and contrite in heart; not humble under His mighty hand; ashamed to acknowledge our dependence on Him.
This is the natural man, who is strong with us all to start with. But we have put on the new man, if we be Christ's; and the language of the new man is a different thing from that of the old. The language of the new man is to be learnt in the Word. The Spirit of the new man is to be drunk in there. Let this Word dwell richly in us, and we shall soon be at home in those pure, lofty, dignified forms of speech in which it finds expression. If we fail to read the Word continually we shall fail in this matter of salt-seasoned speech.
We always speak like the company we keep. If we are all the while among the foul-mouthed gabblers of the flesh, we cannot expect to be free of their Sodomite brogue. If we read nothing but the literature of Atheistical refinement, we shall never rise above that thin, proper, superficial, cold style of talk, in which a practically godless state of mind expresses itself. Give us the atmosphere of the Spirit and the company of the Spirit's watchmen in the Word, and we are in altogether a healthier land.
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth He meditate day and night."
Bro Growcott - Strangers and Sojourners
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
But how doth a sinner get into the Altar so as to be within it, and to be a worshipper therein? (Apoc. xi. 1). The only way is by his "believing the things concerning the kingdom of the Deity, and of the name of the Anointed Jesus;" and, if he believes these things with a "faith that works by love" and "purifies the heart," by being immersed into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Acts viii. 12; Matt. xxviii. 19).
In passing through this process, the sinner, who is by nature "dead in trespasses and sins," is quickened by the word understood and believed; word-life, or a new spirit, has entered into him, which is the spirit of a ready and willing obedience to all that is commanded; and the first command for such an enlightened sinner is, "be immersed upon (epi) the name of the Anointed Jesus into (eis) remission of sins."
In doing this, his love-working faith is counted to him for repentance and remission of sins, and he is inducted into the Altar. In passing through the water he passes through the Laver to the Altar; and in the passage, he becomes sprinkled in heart by the blood of sprinkling, which is the blood of the Altar-Covenant, through the faith which he has in the doctrine concerning it (Heb. x. 22; xii. 24; 1 Pet. i. 2; ii. 24). Such an one is no longer a sinner because he has touched the Altar; and "whatever toucheth it is holy," or a saint.
Now, to saints within the altar the apostle saith, "all sons of Deity are ye in the Anointed Jesus through the faith; for as many as into Christ have been immersed, have put on Christ ... and if ye be Christ's, then ye are Abraham's Seed, and heirs according to promise (Gal. iii. 26-29). They are in the Altar-Name.
There is a remarkable sentence in one of Ignatius' epistles, indicative of this subject being better understood in the reign of Trajan, A.D. 107, than contemporary with the fifth seal, or now. "Let no one," says he, "mistake; if any man is not within the Altar, he is deprived of the bread of the Deity;" which is equivalent to saying, if any man be not in Christ -- if Christ be not the covering of his nakedness, he cannot obtain eternal life in the kingdom of God.
Eureka 6.5.2.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
The substance is of Christ
The sacrifice of certain victims without the camp, whose blood was brought into the sanctuary, being typical of the Christ (Heb. 13:11 and 12.) how is the latter part of the type fulfilled in Him?
The "sanctuary" in its totality was a divine arrangement for certain objects. The anti-type is another divine arrangement, having elements in it answering to the various parts of the Mosaic type. The vail of the sanctuary, as we have had occasion to see, typified the flesh of Christ. Every other appurtenance of the sanctuary has its parallel in him at one time or other.
...The point of Paul's statement, in Heb. 13:11–12, is that as the bodies of the beasts whose blood was offered in the sanctuary, were burnt without the camp; so Christ (accepted of God) was made a sin-offering outside of the Mosaic ritual, in consequence of which, believers had to (spiritually) "go forth to him without the (Israelitish) camp" (or constitution of things recognised among the Jews) bearing reproach at their hands.
The Christadelphian, Dec 1872
THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST
"The bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary, by the High Priest for sin, are burnt without the camp. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate."—(Heb. 13:11.)
Here is a parallel between the burnt bullocks, as the type, and the slain body of Jesus as the antitype. Now, let us mark the facts connected with "the bodies of those beasts," in their significance with regard to the body of Christ.
"... a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke..."
"... And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet and cast it in the midst of the burning of the heifer. Then the priest shall wash his clothes and shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterwards he shall come into the camp and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
And he that burneth her . . . shall be unclean unto the even. . . . It is a purification for sin. He that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the even."
Everyone who had to do with "the bodies of those beasts burnt without the camp" (for the purification of sins) contracted uncleanness by contact with the bodies. Now, the type being so wholly unclean, what is the uncleanness of the anti-type?
The heifer was without spot and had never been put under yoke, pointing to the sinlessness of Christ and of the fact that he was brought into the world for the service of God alone; but what counterpart had the uncleanness?
The answer is found in the fact that he was "the seed of Abraham," the flesh of David,—the sin-nature of the condemned Adam, for the condemnation of sin in the flesh. The condemnation rested on him, which was the uncleanness, and this antitypical uncleanness of the "one great offering" could only be cleansed after the example of the type—by death and burning: the burning being the change effected by the Spirit on the risen body of the Lord after his death for sin. The new theory contains no parallel to this uncleanness of the typical "bodies of those beasts burnt without the camp."
So with the two goats (Lev. 16:15, 21, 26): the one that was burnt without the camp was unclean, necessitating ablution on the part of the man who carried out the body to be burnt; and the one that was allowed to escape alive into the wilderness, as the sin-bearer of the people, imparted uncleanness to the man who let her go.
The sins were ceremonially put upon the goats before the goats were fit for sin-bearing, testifying before-hand that there is no such thing as substitution, but that death can only come where condemnation is, and that the antitypical sin-bearer must be clothed with the condemned nature before he could suffer the condemnation.
The Christadelphian, Sept 1873
14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
The "city" (polity) of the present world has man for its builder and maker; consequently, it is evil and transitory, and unworthy of the aim and labour of a man's life. But the city that Abraham looked for, and which all his children will inherit with him, will be an institution of divine contrivance and that will not pass away at all. –The God of heaven shall set up a Kingdom." If so, it will bear the stamp of the wisdom reflected in heaven and earth. He has set a kingdom up once already in the history of Adam's race.
Though it was provisional and shadowy, the order of things established in Israel when they came out of Egypt under Moses is the only political constitution the world has ever seen that is perfectly adapted to promote the full well-being of man in a mortal state. If it be thus with a kingdom established in a confessedly imperfect order of things, what may we not look for when the time has come for the full blessedness of all nations covenanted to Abraham?
...A stable system of human life will yet appear on the earth, a system in which the highest ideals will be realized. A government composed of righteous and immortal and omnipotent men, under one responsible King and Head, will be established in the land of promise over all the countries of the world.
It will be composed of men who have gone through life before. Men with a history. Men who have known the world's woes and the world's wickedness and men who have in the days of darkness and despair steadfastly upheld the honour of God and have sought to promote the well-being of man in the only limited way possible to their weakness.
These redeemed from among men, and in the previous generations, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets for their nucleus, and Christ for their Head and Centre, will reign with power, and joy and honour for ever.
Among themselves will prevail the ideal conditions now laughed at as a dream; and among the nations of the earth will grow up under their strong and beneficent rule, all the happy fruits of life that are now cursed, and blighted and killed under every form of government under the sun.
Plenty, and health, and wisdom will give gladness to the new life to which mankind will awake under the government of –
"the city having foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God."
Seasons 2.17.
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
"The sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers."
These are the natural facts in the case. Their spiritual meaning is plain. The shepherd's voice is what Christ has said for the guidance of men, but with this is bound up much more than the precepts that actually came out of his own mouth. What he said himself is only part of the message of God to man. For the rest of the message, he refers us to Moses and the prophets: "Think not," said he, "that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil" (Matt. v. 17). "They have Moses and the prophets: let them hear them. If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" (Luke xvi. 29). "If ye believe not his writings (the writings of Moses), how shall ye believe my words?" (Jno. v. 47). "The Scripture cannot be broken" (Jno. x. 35). "The Scripture must be fulfilled" (Mark xiv. 49).
Such are a few illustrations of the way in which, in so many words, he binds up the message of God in the "Old Testament" with his own personal word in the New. In addition to these, the instances in which he does so by implication, and in which such an association results of necessity from his teaching and his work, are more numerous and weighty than the casual reader of the Bible can be aware.
The conclusion resulting from them all is that the Shepherd's voice is co-extensive with the Bible. The Shepherd's voice is the voice of the Spirit, as especially manifest from the pendant to each of the messages sent by Jesus to the seven ecclesias: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the ecclesias: "concerning all of which messages, he says "I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the ecclesias" (Rev. xxii. 16).
Because, therefore, the Scriptures of Moses and the prophets are given by inspiration of God -- because their authors were "holy men of God who spoke (and wrote)as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" and not as impelled by human will (2 Pet. i. 21), those only truly listen to the voice of the shepherd who listen to those Scriptures, as interpreted and applied by the Spirit in Jesus and the Apostles. The voice of Jesus is not a different voice from the Holy Scriptures which were read in the Jewish synagogues every sabbath day in the days of Jesus, and now placed in the Providence of God in the hands of Christendom.
The voice of the personal Jesus is but a supplementary and explanatory expression of the same Eternal mind. The Old Testament Scriptures, in conjunction with the Apostolic testimony to Jesus as their fulfiller, were able to "make men wise unto salvation" in the days of Paul (2 Tim. iii. 15); and they are still able to work that great result for men if they will allow them. God not only spake by Jesus, but the prophets also, as Paul says: "God, who at sundry times and divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son" (Heb. i. 1). So also Jesus teaches in the parable of the vineyard -- the proprietor of which sent first various messengers, and then his son.
Nazareth Revisited Ch 29.
Shepherd of the Sheep
Apostolic succession, then, especially through such a channel, is a mere figment of the carnal mind. The only succession of which any Scriptural idea can be formed is, the following in the steps of the apostles' faith, which no one, who understands the word of the kingdom, would affirm of the ecclesiastical guides of the people.
The power and the authority of the apostles died with them. Those who succeed to their faith are their successors only in this sense. Their word, which is also the Lord's word, dwells in such richly in all wisdom; and where the word of the Lord is found, there, by the belief of it, He dwells in the hearts of men. When they work according to this word they and their Lord work together. But this is not peculiar to a ministerial class, but is common to all the Lord's people; for He is no respecter of persons.
A successor to the faith of the apostles delights to feel he is a layman, that he is one of the flock, and the best of the sheep it contains, because his sole anxiety is to know and obey the Great Shepherd's voice (Heb. 13:20; John 10:27) He is not a wolf, nor a dog, rending, and devouring, the flock, and investing himself with its wool; but one who would be the servant of the least, that he may be exalted to an unfading crown of glory, when the Good Shepherd shall appear to give life to all His sheep for evermore.
Elpis Israel 2.1.
22 And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
Let THY words be few.
As he [Bro Thomas] quietly walked in and was led forward to a front seat, there was a deep hush of attention. The meeting that followed was of the sort that goes deep into the memory. After hearty singing and preliminary exercises, the Doctor was called upon, and ascending the platform addressed the assembly.
He made no personal allusions of the kind that are common with public speakers. He did not say how pleased he was to be there; how gratifying to his feelings for such interest to be taken in his work, nor how deeply moved he was by the appreciation that had been manifested, etc., etc.
He simply said, in dignified and sonorous voice, "It is written in the prophets" (and proceeded to call our attention to the truth). I was a shorthand writer, but I was too deeply moved by the words of the speaker to take them down, and I am not aware that anyone else took notes of them. They were words of weight and power, such as we probably shall not hear again till we meet in the kingdom of God.
My days and my ways Ch 36
Suffer the word of exhortation
Dr. Thomas had a great aversion to the habit in some sects of preaching at particular persons in the course of a general exhortation; still more to the retailing of actual personal reports, ecclesial or individual.
Dr. Thomas's aversion will be shared by every enlightened mind. Exhortation should be in the spirit of love and dignity, both which will keep a man above the personal level, and inspire him to magnify great general truth, and to hide rather than publish the details of personal life, which on all hands are imperfect and unedifying.
The Christadelphian, Aug 1886