Reflections on Hebrews with Andrew Murray (8)

 

 

“God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…” Hebrews 1:1 -2a.

 

In Murray’s second expositional meditation he wants us to see that it is, “The Son, who is God, [who] brings us into the very presence of God.”

 

“The one object of the Epistle is to set before us the heavenly priesthood of Christ and the heavenly life to which He in His divine power gives us access. It is this [which] gives the Epistle its inestimable value for all time, that it teaches us the way out of the elementary stage of the Christian life to that of full and perfect access to God.”

 

Christ is all, we are nothing outside of Christ. As the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches; Christ is greater than angels, greater than Moses, greater than Joshua, greater than the Levitical Priesthood, greater than our sins.

 

Later in Hebrews the author says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (5:12).

 

The author of Hebrews will warn his readers about a number of things, he will point out areas in which his readers are falling short in their Christian lives, and he will present the same solution to each problem – “Look at Jesus! See Jesus! See Jesus as the Son. See Jesus as the Heir of all things. See Jesus as the Creator. See Jesus as our Apostle and High Priest. See Jesus as the One to Whom the house belongs. See Jesus as our Sabbath. See Jesus as the Author and Perfecter of our faith.”

 

As the sons and daughters of the Living God we are called to live a heavenly life here and now, but we can only live this life as we “see Jesus” in His unfolding beauty and glory. For you see, we cannot actually live this life, only One can live this life – and He desires to live this life, His Life, within us, his sons and daughters, His People (Galatians 2:20; John 15:1ff).

 

Our language and teaching are often, “One day I’ll live in His presence. One day I’ll have eternal life. One day I’ll know His fulness. One day I’ll build on the elementary principles of the oracles of God. One day I’ll know what it is to live in the heavens, to be heavenly – minded.” And yet the Bible teaches us that, in Christ, that Day has come…and is coming….even as Christ Jesus has come…and is coming…and will yet come again.

 

The writer of Hebrews does not intend to leave us with an excuse for not leaving behind the elementary principles of the Word of God and moving forward into growth and maturity in Jesus Christ. The author does not intend to leave us with an excuse for compromising with the world – system, nor with a legitimate reason for us to return to our old way of religious thinking with its perpetual consciousness of sin and guilt.

 

Indeed, the epistle’s author has us on a trajectory that will take us to Hebrews chapters 11, 12, and 13 – a life in the communion of the saints, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever; a life joyfully lived outside the camp, bearing His reproach. In Christ we are called to forget those things which are behind, and reach forward to that which lies ahead, the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12ff).

 

The “one object” of the Epistle, the one object of all Christian preaching and teaching, the one object of our fellowship with one another – is to see Jesus, to behold Jesus, to know Jesus, to worship Jesus, to love Jesus, to belong to Jesus – for God has spoken to us in Jesus Christ, the Word has been made flesh and has lived among us…and is living within us.

 

A few years ago I was a guest speaker at a church in Richmond, VA. As I approached the pulpit to begin my message I looked down at a brass plate on top of the pulpit. The congregation could not see the plate, it was there to be seen by the speaker. Engraved on the plate were these words from John 12:21, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” That was a sobering reminder of what I was there for – that is a reminder of what we are all here for – to see Jesus and to make Jesus known to others.