VER. 1, 2.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 509
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was meet to declare it. “He is our peace;” and he “came and preached peace,” Eph. ii. 14,17. And on the account of the dis- charge of this work is he called 6 Aéyos, “ the Word of God,” Rev. xix. 13, John i. 1, as by whom God was declared; and 28 Ned , Isa. Ixiii. 9, “The angel of God’s presence;” and 72 FNP, Job xxxili, 23, “The angel the interpreter,” the great interpreter of the mind of God; and 7’, Isa. ix. 5, ‘The counsellor;” and 133 ND, Mal. ii. 1, “The angel” (or “ messenger”) “of the covenant;” as here, “The apostle of our profession.”
And hence we may sce the great obligation that is upon us to hearken unto this message, not only upon the account of the mes- sage itself, but also on the account of him that brings it. The mes- sage itself is “worthy of all acceptation,” and everlasting woe will be unto them by whom it is rejected. He that refuseth peace with God shall have war and wrath from him to eternity, and that de- servedly. But God expects that great weight should be laid on the consideration of the person that brings it. “Surely,” saith he, “they will reverence my Son.” It may be men may think in their hearts that if they heard Christ himself delivering this message, if they had heard him preaching this peace, they would undoubtedly have received and embraced it. So indeed thought the Jews of old, that if they had lived in the days of the former prophets, they would not have dealt with them as their forefathers did, but would have believed their word and obeyed their commands ;—as the rich man thought that his brethren would repent if one might rise from the dead and preach unto them, All men have pretences for their pre- sent unbelief, and suppose that if it were not for them they should do otherwise. But they are all vain and foolish, as our Lord Jesus manifested in the former instances of the Jews and the rich man in hell. Here there, is no pretence of this nature that can take place; for this great apostle and ambassador of God continueth yet to speak unto us, and to press his message upon us. So saith our apostle, chap. xii. 25, “ See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For how shall we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven?” He did not only speak of old, but he continueth to speak, he speaketh still; he still speaketh in the word of the gospel, and in the administration of it according to his mind and will. When from thence we are pressed to believe, and to accept the terms of peace that God hath prepared for us and proposeth unto us, if we refuse them, we reject this great apostle which God hath sent unto us to treat with us in his name. And what will be the end of such men? what will be the end of us all, if the guilt hereof should be found upon us? Another observation also the words will afford us, according to the foregoing exposition, which shall only be briefly mentioned, namely,—
510 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. III.
IX. Especial privileges will not advantage men without especial
grace. , The Lord Christ was in an especial manner an apostle unto the Jews. ‘To them was he sent immediately. And unto them was his ministry in the flesh confined. Greater ‘privilege could none be made partakers of. And what was the issue? “He came unto his own, and his own received him not,” Johni. 11. Incomparably the greatest part of them rejected him, and the tidings of peace that he came to bring. It is worth your consideration who are intrusted with all gospel privileges. They will not save you, they may ruin you. Look after grace to make them effectual, lest they prove “the savour of death unto death” to any of you. Once more, from the ascribing of both these offices to our Lord Jesus Christ,—
X. The Lord Christ is all in all in and unto his church,—the king, priest, and apostle or prophet of it, all in one.
So our apostle tells us that Christ is r& révra xad gv wéor unto believers,—‘“all things, and in all things,” Col. iii. 11; supplying all wants, answering all privileges, the spring of all grace, effecting all mercy: so that in him alone they are complete, as chap. it. 10 of the same epistle. Here he proposeth it asa privilege and advantage that we have in him above what was enjoyed under the old testa- ment. And this consisteth in two things:—1. That what they had in the type only, that we have in reality and substance. 2. Such was the poverty of the types, that no one of them could so much as shadow out or represent all that advantage which we really enjoy; and therefore they were multiplied, and the work distributed amongst them which they were to represent. This made them a yoke, and that grievous and burdensome. The way of teaching in them and by them was hard and obscure, as well as their observation was difficult. It was a hard thing for them to learn the love, grace, and mind of God by them. God revealed himself in them sodupepiic, by many parts and pieces, according as they were capable to receive impression from and make representation of divine wisdom, good- ness, and grace; whence our apostle says, that the law had but oxéa», “a shadow,” and not airy ray cixdva rpayudrov, Heb. x. 1,—“ the image itself of things.’ It had some scattered shades, which the great limner had laid the foundation of symmetry in, but so as to be discernible only unto his own infinite wisdom. A perfect image, wherein all the parts should exactly answer unto one another, and so plainly represent the thing intended, that it had not. Now, it was a work beyond their wisdom, out of these scattered pieces and parts of revelation, especially being implanted on carnal things, to gather up the whole of the grace and good-will of God. But in Christ Jesus God hath gathered all into one head, Eph. i. 10, wherein both his person and grace are fully and at once represented.