presence of God, they are to avail themselves of it. They are to do so with a true heart or with loyalty to their calling. They are to do so in full assurance that His presence shall be realized. 'This is possible because Christ has cleansed their inner na tures by His blood, and their bodies have been washed with pure water. This latter reference does not mean Christian baptism, but the act of ablu tion on the part of the high priest in connection with the sacrifice. Dr. Mof- fa tt notes that in ancient thought the heart and the body are “a full plastic expression for the entire personality.” In Christ they are wholly clean, which gives them the liberty to en joy the presence of God. “Let us hold fast” (v. 23). They are to retain their profession without wavering. That profession is the ac ceptance of their part of the new cove nant. They are to stick to the job, knowing that God is faithful to keep His promise if they keep theirs. “Let us consider one another” (v. 24). Already they have been urged to consider Jesus (3:1). Now they are to* consider one another. The verb means to fix one’s eye or mind on one another. They are to keep an eye on one another to watch for any tendency toward failure. This is a duty en joined upon all Christians to watch over one another in brotherly love. In so doing we provoke one another to love and to good works. This is to be done in faith, hope, and love, the three Christian graces which .are ex pressed in the three exhortations — faith in the efficacy of Christ (v. 22), hope in the faithfulness of God (v. 23), and love for the brethren who have been hallowed by the Holy Spirit (v. 24). To do this they are to strengthen one another in public worship and uni fied service, both of which are in volved in the assembling of them selves together. Some of them al ready have been weakened by the neglect of their assembling together. The program of Christ is not an iso*- lated matter but a communion of serv ice. Christian people do better that
living way,” new having the idea of freshness. Thus the sacrifice of Jesus is forever regarded as having just been made. It shall never lose its power. This reference (v. 20) has to do with the veil which separated the holy of holies from the outer tabernacle. The author implies that the veil here means the flesh of Jesus. Some see in this the thought that in His flesh Jesus obscured the deity of Christ, while others see in it the revelation of God in the human body of Christ (John 1:18; 14:9). But the natural idea seems to be to connect it with the ac tual temple veil. When Jesus died, Matthew tells us that the veil “was rent in twain from the top to the bot tom,” (Matt. 27:51). This was accom plished by the death of Jesus, who was the Word made flesh (John 1:14). However we take it, the thought is clear that in Jesus, who is God mani fested in the flesh, we have access to God. The separating veil has forever been removed by the blood of Jesus. Jesus has entered into the veil of heaven itself as evidence before God of our redemption, and to remain for ever as our High Priest, holding inter cession for us throughout our con tinuing earthly trials. For this reason, we have the assurance of our own en trance into heaven. However, we must not lose sight of the particular mean ing at this point. The thought of the author is not only of our ultimate sal vation but of our present responsi bility. The covenant includes both. Therefore our liberty to approach God is a guarantee of His continuing pres ence with His people as they pursue their earthly destiny as well as their heavenly goal. Truly the divine condi tion of the promise has been met. The Human C o n d itio n for the Promise (w . 22-25): but it is not yet clear that the Hebrew Christians have met their part of the covenant. Its operation depends upon their faithfulness to a task. For that rea son the author gives to them a three fold exhortation to faithfulness. “Let us draw near” (v. 22). Be cause Christ has given access to the
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