Studies in Hebrews - Part 2 — Ken Baird

Hebrews as a Book of Contrast and Fulfillment

Open our Bibles, please, to the first chapter of Hebrews. Last night we began the study of the book of Hebrews, the contrast. It's a book of teaching. It's a book of contrast and comparison with Old Testament types and shadows.

Last night we noticed four words. We noticed figures, patterns, shadows, and examples, all mentioned in the book of Hebrews. The book was written for the purpose of making these things real, of giving them substance.

The old, the Jewish believer found difficulty, I believe, in turning from the Jewish religion, of which he was so proud, that temple that even the disciples spoke of in glowing terms to the Lord, behold what manner of buildings are here.

There was a national pride in connection with what they had. And to turn from all of that to just simple faith in Christ and Him absent. You know what happened even with Moses when he had gone 40 days out of the camp of Israel up to Mount Horeb, they said, as to this Moses, we don't know what's become of him.

And even they couldn't take it 40 days. Moses was out of sight, and he was out of their minds, and they wanted something tangible, something real. What of the Lord that had disappeared into the glory?

It was hard for a Jew in his national background, requiring a sign, something visible, something tangible, something miraculous. And then to take a step from that to just faith in Christ. Then we see the necessity of the book of Hebrews.

And Jew and I need it too. We need the book of Hebrews because this is an age of materialism. And this is an age when our minds and our hearts are going to the things that we can see, and we're having a changed sense of values.

We were just mentioning at the dinner table this evening about the fact that in the last stages of the Church's history on earth, the Laodiceans speak. We noticed materialism for those Laodiceans said, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.

And the Lord said of them, you know not that you're wretched and poor, and tall and blind. By their standards, they were doing all right. They had arrived, but by the Lord's standards, they were poor.

They weren't measuring themselves by the right standards. And you know, you and I need today, we need to see in plainer, bolder relief. The things of God, the things of faith, the things that we're not seeing.

We need to get a grip on the things that are not seen. So the book was written for that purpose. The key word is better, and comparisons are made in the book. Comparisons and contrasts. But with persons particularly, and we noticed last night, this is just simply by way of review.

Christ Compared With Prophets, Apostles, and Priests

We won't review every night, we can't. But our Lord Jesus Christ is compared with four groups of persons or personages, as we might refer to the angels. He is compared with the prophets. He is compared with the angels.

He is compared with the apostles. We noticed last night, Moses and Joshua, in a very real sense, as apostles. But apostles who did not give their people rest. And then we noticed that our apostle, who was sent into this world, does give rest.

He said, come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And God wants us to have rest of soul. And thank God our apostle gave us rest. And then he is compared with the priest.

And in connection with the priest, the subjects that are related to him, the new covenant, the sacrifices, and the sanctuary. The comparison between the tabernacle and the true sanctuary, which the Lord pitched and not man.

It's interesting to note, although I'm not going to make a point out of it, that in connection with the prophets, we have two kinds. We have the speaking prophets and the writing prophets. In connection with the angels, we have two kinds.

We have the cherubim and the seraphim. In connection with the apostles, we have two illustrations given, Moses and Joshua. In connection with the priest, we have two. We have Aaron and we have Melchizedek.

And our Lord Jesus Christ is compared with these, and he has shown how much better he is. Now last night we talked a little about the revelation as seen in Christ. We emphasized, we tried to emphasize a little of the apostleship of Christ last night.

We borrowed because it lent itself a little more to the preaching of the gospel. But tonight we will mention the gospel, but mainly we will be concerned with the teaching of the word of God as to the glories of Christ.

And after all, it's as we see him and who he is, that your heart and my heart is weaned away from materialism and drawn to him. Now you would not consider our studies as being practical, and yet I wonder, we refer to these studies, I will refer to them as being devotional, but I think sometimes devotional subjects are really practical, because it's as we are one to the Lord, as we see the beauty of our Lord, as we see his greatness, that our hearts are one toward him, away from the things of this earth.

And so there is, in a very real sense, a practical application to all these things. As a matter of fact, the book of Hebrews, I suppose, could be divided into doctrinal teachings. The first ten chapters would be doctrinal.

I guess you would call the eleventh chapter inspirational, and then you would call the twelfth and thirteenth chapters practical. So we have doctrinal, inspirational, and practical aspects, even, in the book of Hebrews.

The Full Revelation of God in the Son

Now, Hebrews chapter one, by way of review, God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past, unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us, and the margin has it literally, in sum.

Even as though he would speak in person, God spoke to us in sum. Hath in these last days spoken unto us in sum, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sin, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

Now, it just seems that the book of Hebrews opens with a blaze of glory, compared with the testimony of the prophets, which was intermittent at sundry times, and fragmentary in divers manners. We have the full revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. He tabernacled among us, and God who had been speaking in such a fragmentary way in the Old Testament, speaks now out in the full glory of his son.

What a contrast between the Lord Jesus Christ and those prophets that had gone before, because he was indeed a prophet. Now, we notice that in verses two and three, in contrast to the fragmentary way in which God revealed himself through the ministry of the prophets, we have the sevenfold glory of our Lord Jesus.

Some last night didn't see a point or two, but we'll draw on it in detail tonight, and then possibly get over into comparing our Lord Jesus with the angels, which of course would assume a very wonderful, exalted place in the thinking of every Jew.

First of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, one of his glories, his personal glories, is that he is the Son, and then he is Heir, and then he is Creator, and then he is Revealer. God revealed himself through Christ, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, so he is the Revealer, and then he is the Sustainer, upholding all things by the word of his power.

Then he is the Redeemer, when he had by himself purged our sins, and then he is the High Priest in his sittings upon the throne of God. It's wonderful in the book of Hebrews to notice the sittings of our Lord Jesus.

He is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God as a High Priest. We might notice that in chapter eight, if you please, the eighth chapter of Hebrews. Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the story.

We have such a High Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens. He is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens. Now chapter 10, verse 11, And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin.

But this man, this priest, if you please, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God. He sits down never to rise again in regard to the sin question. His work is done.

So we have our Lord Jesus Christ sitting on the right hand of the throne of God, sitting in triumph, and sitting because his work of redemption was completed. It is completed in one sense, and yet in another sense, he is saving us from the power of sin in that ministry of his on the right hand of the throne of God.

The Seven Personal Glories of Jesus Christ

Now going back to those seven personal glories of our Lord Jesus, which are just, you might say, just thirst upon our gaze as we enter the book of Hebrews. Think of it. In the compass of two short verses, we have our Lord introduced to us as the Son, as the Heir, as the Creator, as the Revealer, as the Sustainer, as the Redeemer, as the High Priest.

Can you think of a portion in the scripture that brings so much of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ before us in so short of space as this? Now that is in contrast to the way in which God revealed himself in the Old Testament.

It was here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept, not because he wanted to reveal himself that way, but because they could not take it. And that line upon line is nothing to be proud of.

I've heard some Christians say, yes, I learned so slowly, it seems to me that it's just line upon line, precept upon precept. Well, that isn't the way God wants us to learn. That's the way Israel had to learn.

But if you turn to the 28th chapter of Isaiah sometime and read that portion of scripture, you'll find out that that was really the judicial dealings of God with Israel that he revealed himself in that way.

But here, as far as you and I are concerned, the full blaze of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ is opened up before us, and that's the way God speaks in the book of Hebrews. That's the way he spoke while he was here.

Jesus Christ as the Eternal Son and Heir

Think of our Lord Jesus Christ, first of all, as being the son. And I want to take these glories of our Lord Jesus Christ as being chronological. I mean by that, in sequence, as regard to time. He has, he is the eternal son of the eternal father.

And he's not only son, but he's heir. Now, not all sons are heir, but this son is the heir. But first of all, he was the son before he had anything to be heir to. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal son of the eternal father.

Many people think of the sonship of our Lord Jesus Christ as beginning when he came into this world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Well, that's not quite true. Our Lord Jesus Christ always has been the son, the eternal son of the eternal father. We have in the Godhead, God the father, God the son, and God the spirit, in a descending order.

The father sent the son, the son sent the spirit, and the spirit sends out the apostle and the disciple. That's the descending order of authority. In the book of Acts, the spirit of God says, separate me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto the Lord hath called them?

No, the work whereunto I have called them. Now, the spirit of God is sovereign just as much as the son. And the son is sovereign just as much as the father. They are all equally powerful, equally omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.

There are no inferiorities in the Godhead, but they have assumed a functional order for the purposes of redemption and for the purposes of creation. And that functional order we know as God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit.

But it does not mean that there is one inferior to the other. Our God is a God of equal attributes. He is a God of balance. And our Lord Jesus Christ is the son. Now, through the mutual consent of Godhead, our Lord Jesus Christ is the depository of the glory of God.

He is the channel. He is the visible one through whom God moves out to your heart and to mine. And our Lord Jesus Christ reveals God. God speaks in son, in his son. Now, someone would say, how can you prove?

There's nothing in the Bible that says that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal son of the eternal father. How can you prove it? I would prove it this way. Our Lord Jesus Christ is seen as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

His subjection even before the highest dust of this world, of this creation was formed, our Lord Jesus Christ, he was seen as a lamb slain. Now, that subjection, even before the highest dust of earth or the cosmos of any part of it, before it was created, Christ was seen.

God looked down through the ages and our Lord Jesus was a lamb at that time. Now, that subjection, he had subjected himself to the Father at that time before time ever began in a past eternity. Our minds would reel as we go back, but he was the son.

Oh, how wonderful that he has always been in subjection to the Father. Now, he was the heir as well as the son. I'd like to refer you to Colossians chapter one, if you please, in regard to his being heir.

Colossians 1 and 15, speaking of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him.

All things were created by him and for him because he is the heir. He was the heir of them before they were created. He is the possessor of them all and he is the one for whom they were created. Now, isn't it wonderful when you stop to think of it?

He is going to share that all with you and with me. All of it is to be shared with us because we are co-heirs with him. Now, he is not only that, we see that before the worlds were, he was the heir, he was appointed heir of all things.

Now, isn't that lovely? He was appointed heir. By the mutual consent of the Godhead, in the counsels of the Godhead, it was determined that Christ should be the heir. You see, we haven't even entered end-upon-time yet.

He was the heir before there was anything to be heir to, but he created them. They were created by him and for him, by whom also he made the world. Now, we see the creation coming into existence and we see the wonderful creator, Christ himself, by whom also he made the world.

Christ the Creator and the Wonder of Creation

I don't think our minds are able to take this in, but I'm going to talk about it a little anyway. I like to talk about it. My mind runs in those channels. Our sun is a star and around that sun there are different planets in their rotation.

They revolve, or revolution as you prefer it, they revolve around that sun and we have what we call our universe. Well now, there are other stars, but each star in itself is a sun. Now, you and I only see with the naked eye about 7 ,500 stars and we think there are a lot of them.

Well, with a telescope, the farther out into the universe you go, and using the photographic plate, we find that in those spaces that look dark to us, when pictures are taken of them, that we find more and more stars.

And once in a while you run across the star cluster and in that star cluster will be 50 ,000 stars. 50 ,000 suns grouped so close together that they take on the appearance of just a spot of light. But when magnified, we find out that each one is a sun in its own right.

Now, there's been some real advances made in astronomy since I had a smattering of it, but they say now, the astronomers say, now this should increase your respect for the Lord. That's what I'm trying to do.

That's my desire and that's my aim. I don't mind telling you that. I'm going to, I'm going to betray my hand. I'm trying to increase respect for the Lord. That's why I'm here. If you want to arrive at the number of stars in the universe, you would put down the figure 10 and then you would add 19 zeros.

The number comes off something like this. One hundred billion billion. One billion is big. There are, there are not yet a billion minutes since Christ was crucified. A minute goes by pretty fast. Not yet a billion.

Now, a billion is a big number. 10 billions would be a much bigger number. But when you multiply a billion by a hundred billion, you get a big number. Now, how many universes or how many planets surround these suns, I don't know.

But I like the way this is put here, by whom also he made the world. Oh yes, incidentally, he made the world. I like the way it's put in the first chapter of Genesis, in connection with the light of this world, he made the stars.

They are the work of his finger. Now, the astronomer in his little mind, he thinks he has a big mind. But in his little mind, he thinks of this vast universe in which we are. And he begins to think of God as being so impersonal that he couldn't take note of somebody like you and me.

But he does take note of you and me. And the very hairs of our head are all numbered. Now, why God would keep track of the numbers of the hairs of my head, I wouldn't know that he does. We are, our minds are so small when we think of our Lord Jesus Christ and his creative power, by whom also he made the worlds or the ages.

I don't care whether you say worlds or ages. Ages and all that's connected with them. I know the material universe he spoke into existence by the word of his power. They are all the work of his hands, as we read farther over in the first chapter of Hebrews.

We read that definitely, that they're all the work of his hands. So he is the creator. Now, you know, I think the creation of God is wonderful. I think a Christian is better equipped to enjoy a living than a non-Christian.

I think that a Christian ought to be interested in God's creation. Our Lord made it. It ought to be beautiful. If the beauty of a rose doesn't do something for us, if the beauty of a mountain doesn't do something for us, of a sunset, beauties that are all around us, if they don't reach us, if they don't do something for us, I don't know.

I'm afraid that we're too much carried away with the civilization of today. But creation is beautiful. Our Lord made it. And I think we ought to just appreciate afresh the fact that it came from his wonderful, wonderful hands.

I had a man out in Colorado, and of course we are a little bit proud of our scenery out there, but he came out from the east, and I just thought I was doing him a high favor by saying, wouldn't you like to have me take you around in the mountains?

No, he didn't come out from the east. I'm not going to locate where he came from, because this is not very respectful, and I don't want you to find out who it is. But he came out there, and oh, I said, don't you want to let me take you around and show you some of our beauties out here?

Oh, no, he says, I'd just rather sit here and talk with you about the scripture, not with me, about the scripture. Well, I thought, well, now that sounds fine, but I still think he's missing something.

I'd like to talk about the scriptures, too. But you know, there is such a wonder in God's creation. As a matter of fact, before we have the worship of redemption in the book of Revelation, the fifth chapter, in the fourth chapter we have the worship of creation.

And I don't know whether you had the same experience I had as a child, but I fully believe that I worshipped Almighty God before I ever knew him. As a child, just with a sheer joy of living in the wonderful world that is made.

I think sometimes we get so used to brick and stone and steel and smoke that we don't take time to see what surrounds us. Thank God for eyes. Thank God for ears. Thank God for senses to interpret and to enjoy the wonderful creation that came from the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, he's a creator. And I'll tell you, the morning stars sang for joy in the book of Job. The wonders of God's creation. We ought to appreciate them more. Take time off sometime and look up into the heavens.

And oh, I know there's so many streetlights around and so much haze and fog and much smog that man has kicked up that we can hardly get through to the stars, but I think we're losing something. They all came from the wonderful hand of our Savior.

Christ the Revealer of God

He was the creator. But then he was the revealer. In verse 3, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and he revealed God.

He was the brightness of his glory, the effulgence, the offshooting of the glory of God, and the expression of his substance as the margin has it. Now strictly speaking, our Lord Jesus Christ, the prophets were given a revelation from God, but our Lord Jesus Christ himself was the revelation of God.

Now that's entirely different. Now I would not say that the Lord Jesus Christ didn't have words from his Father to give to his disciples. I wouldn't say that at all. But I do say this, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of God.

Philip on one occasion asked the Lord Jesus, he said, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. You know, I think that's a wonderful request. And it comes from knowing the Lord. Moses had the same request, show me thy glory.

Philip said, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. But the Lord said to Philip, he says, Philip, have I been so long time with you and you have not seen the Father? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.

As a true son, he reflects the Father. And he says, if you've seen me, you have seen the Father. And I know what the Father is like now, because I have seen the Son. He has completely revealed him. And not only that, he has completely revealed the very, the very Godhead.

There are no secrets. In Christ we have seen all. He is the revealer. And then he is the sustainer, upholding all things by the word of his power. He not only created the universe, he maintains it moment by moment.

Christ the Sustainer and the Meaning of His Cross

But someone said, now how can this be consecutive? If we say that his sonship and the fact that he was appointed heir of all things, if that took place in a bygone eternity, creation comes next, and then we see his coming into the world and revealing God in such a wonderful way, how can we say that upholding all things by the word of his power is in its right place here?

Well, I like to think of it in this way, if you'll permit me that luxury, that it was never more clearly demonstrated than when our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross, that he upheld all things by the word of his power.

Now, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he hung on the cross, when the cross held him up, he held up the universe. He still sustained the universe. Now, there was a convulsive shudder that went through this earth when our Lord died.

The sun refused to shine, as the poet has put it. There was darkness over all the land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, far beyond the range of any eclipse or any natural explanation. But our Lord sustained that universe.

It didn't go to pieces, although there was a convulsive shudder. The rocks rent, but it just seemed that nature was, what shall I say, was personified. It shuddered. On one occasion, the Jews came to the Lord, and they told him to hush up his disciples, and he says that if these be still, the very rocks will cry out.

All of God's creation, all of the creation magnifies our Lord Jesus Christ, but he sustained it even on the cross. Our Lord holds this universe together, and there's a real lesson in that for you and for me.

We think of the universe as absolutely self-sustaining. I had a professor once say in my class, he said, my hypothesis is like the hypothesis of Laplace, a great French astronomer. He says, I have no need of a God in my hypothesis.

Matter is, motion is, energy is, and that's all I require. It's self-sustaining, self-perpetuating. It never goes out of existence, and that's all the farther he wanted to go. Well, now that's not true.

The Lord hasn't established the laws of this universe. He hasn't created this universe that it might go on and spin on endlessly in independence. I know that what holds a heavenly body on its course is a combination of two forces, one centripetal force, and the other the power of gravitation, and they're just exactly balanced, and they find the balance as they revolve, as two objects revolve around each other, and they do revolve around each other.

Now, someone says, well, that's it. That's the law of nature. It's self-sustaining, self-perpetuating, just goes on and on and on forever, nothing to stop it. Well, what is the power of gravitation?

The Lord maintains the universe. It's not independent of him. He sustains it. He upholds all things by the word of his power. Well, now, what of you and me? If the universe must be sustained by him, what of you and me, erring as we are, and so subject to error as we are?

Do you think we should be independent? Do you think we should plot our own course? Oh, surely we're so dependent upon the Lord. Moment by moment, day by day, week by week, year after year, we're entirely dependent upon him.

But he upholds all things by the word of his power. But then we come, I think, to the loveliest of all. He is our redeemer. When he had by himself purged our sin, he spoke the world into existence by the word of his power.

Christ the Redeemer and High Priest

But when it came to redeeming a soul from eternal loss, our Lord Jesus Christ had to die. Creation was easy. Creation was simple, in contrast to the redemption of the human soul. And he was our redeemer.

When he had by himself purged our sin. Oh, how wonderful. My redeemer, oh, what beauty. Isn't that lovely name? How wonderful that he is my redeemer. Job could say, I know my redeemer liveth. He redeemed me.

He bought me back. He paid the price. His own precious blood. And then he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high as our high priest. As our redeemer, he saves us from the penalty of sin. As our high priest, he saves us from the power of sin.

And he sits engaged at the right hand of the throne of God tonight. Now in these last two personal glories of our Lord Jesus Christ, having him presented to us as redeemer and high priest, we see later in the apostle, in the epistle rather, the apostle taking up the fact that he is our apostle.

Consider the apostle and high priest of our profession. Well, now we see that in a sense contained right here in a kind of a seed plot form in the third verse of the first chapter of Hebrews. Because he took on himself to be our redeemer as the apostle.

He was sent for that purpose. God sent him into this world to be the propitiation for our sins. He was sent to be the apostle. And that's what the word apostle means. And then he takes us back into the presence of God as our high priest.

Christ as Apostle and High Priest

Now there's a lovely order there that I think I'll mention because I don't believe we mentioned it last night. Time was just too short. But you notice that as the apostle, he moves out from the presence of God toward you and toward me.

As our high priest, he moves back into the presence of God. And he moves into the presence of God for your blessing and for mine. Even as the high priest of the Old Testament moved into the sanctuary.

But the order there is exactly reversed. And the order is reversed in the epistle to Peter. Notice the epistle to Peter. Now this is not, will not be a new thought to some of you. To others of you, it may be a new thought.

1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 5. Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. We are a holy priesthood.

Now in verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Now the one that's connected with going into the presence of God to offer up spiritual sacrifices as a holy priesthood. But the other is concerned with going out from the presence of God. A holy nation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Now as holy priests, you and I move into the presence of God. As royal priests, we move out of the presence of God and spread the name and fame of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the order is exactly the opposite of the apostle and high priest.

Because as apostle, our Lord Jesus Christ moves out from the presence of God, and as high priest, he goes back in to the presence of God. You might like to notice it too from Leviticus chapter 9. And here's a real lesson for you and for me.

Leviticus chapter 9 and verse 23, And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. Notice the order.

They went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people. They went in first, and then they had a blessing when they came out. And that's exactly the order for you and for me.

We go into the presence of God first. And then if we get into the presence of God, perhaps we'll come out with some blessing for others. Even in John chapter 10 we read where the Lord Jesus says, I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go, what's the order, in and out, and find that.

How wonderful that we must go in because that's the source of blessing. When our Lord Jesus Christ came out, he came out from the source of blessing, and then he went back in. You and I must go in, and then we can come out.

Jesus Christ Superior to the Angels

So he is the apostle and high priest of our profession. But he came out from the presence of God. Oh, I'm so glad he did come out. Now, I think probably that it's best not to take up to the comparison of our Lord Jesus Christ with the angels tonight.

But I will say that just before we close, that the angels assumed a very, very important place in the history of the children of Israel. The angels, the thought that this man, this man Jesus of Nazareth, was higher than an angel would have been repulsive to a Jew.

God had used the angels in a remarkable way in the history of the nation of Israel. An angel, the destroying angel, spared the children of Israel on the night when the blood was sprinkled on the doorpost and on the lintel.

Angels were used to deliver them down through their history. On one night, an angel flew 185 ,000 Assyrians and delivered the nation of Israel. Angels were used for the promise of good things to come.