(1.) The “promise” principally intended is that which was given unto Abraham, and confirmed by the oath of God: for the inherit- ance, that is, the eternal inheritance, was of the promise, Gal. iii. 18, namely, that in the seed of Abraham all nations should be blessed. It includes, indeed, the first promise, made unto our first parents, which was the spring and foundation of it, and respects all the following promises concerning the Lord Christ and the benefits of his mediation, with all the grace which is administered by them, which were further declarations and confirmations of it; but that great solemn promise is principally intended: for the apostle designs to convince the Hebrews that neither by the law nor by the sacrifices and ordinances of it they could come unto the inheritance promised unto Abraham and his seed. This was “the promise of eternal in- heritance,” whereof that of the land of Canaan was a type only.
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VER. 15.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 325
(2.) We must inquire how and why this inheritance is conveyed by promise. And God made this settlement by promise for these ends :—
[1.] To evince the absolute freedom of the preparation and grant of it. ‘The promise is everywhere opposed unto every thing of works or desert in ourselves. It hath no respect unto what we were or did deserve. The land of Canaan was given to the posterity of Abraham by promise. And therefore doth God so often mind them of the freedom of it,—that it was an act of mere love and sovereign grace, which in themselves they were so far from deserving, as that they were altogether unworthy of it, Deut. ix. 4, 5, vil. 7, 8. Much less hath the promise of the eternal inheritance respect unto any thing of works in ourselves.
[2.] To give security unto all the heirs of it unto whom it was designed. Hence in this promise and the confirmation of it, there was the highest engagement of the faithfulness and veracity of God. There was so, ‘‘to the end that the promise might be sure unto all the seed,” Rom: iv. 16. Wherefore God doth not only declare the re- lation of it unto his essential truth,—‘God, who cannot lie, hath given this promise of eternal life, Tit. i. 2,—but hath ‘confirmed it with his oath; that by two immutable things, wherein it was impossible that God should lie, it might be established.’ The reasons of the use and necessity hereof have been declared on chap. vi. 17, 18.
[3.] It was thus conveyed, and is communicated by promise unto all the heirs of it in their successive generations, that the way of
‘obtaining this inheritance on our part might be by faith, and no
otherwise; for what God hath only promised doth necessarily re- quire faith unto its reception, and faith only. There is nothing can contribute aught unto an interest in the promise, but the mixing of it with faith, Heb/iv. 2. And “it is of faith, that it may be by grace,” Rom. iv. 16; namely, that it may be evidenced to be of the mere grace of God, in opposition unto all worth, works and endea- yours of our own. And if all grace and glory, all benefits of the mediation of Christ, our sanctification, justification, and glorification,
_ be an inheritance prepared in grace, conveyed by promise, and re-
ceived by faith, there is no place left for our own works, with refer- ence unto the procurement of an interest in them. Freely it was provided, freely it is proposed, and freely it is received.
(3.) We may inquire what it is to “receive” the promise. And it hath a double sense: [1.] As the promise may be considered for- mally or materially. To receive the promise formally as a promise, is to have it declared unto us, and to mix it with faith, or to believe it. This it is to receive the promise, in opposition unto them by whom it is rejected through unbelief. So Abraham is said to “re-
ceive the promises,” Heb, xi. 17, in that when they were given unto
326 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [ CHAP. Ix.
him, “he staggered not through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God,” Rom. iv. 20. [2.] As the promise is mate- rially considered, so to receive it is to receive the thing promised. Sé it is said of the saints under the old testament, that “ they ob- tained a good report through faith,” but “received not the promise,” Heb. xi. 39. They received the promises by faith in them as pro- posed; but the principal thing promised, which was the coming of Christ in the flesh, they received not. The receiving of the promise here mentioned is of both kinds, according to the distinct parts of this inheritance. As unto the future state of glory, we receive the promise in the first way; that is, we believe it, rest upon it, trust unto the truth of God in it, and live in the expectation of it. And the benefit we receive hereby, as unto our spiritual life and conso- lation, is inexpressible. As unto the foundation of the whole inherit- ance, in the oblation and sacrifice of Christ, and all the grace, merey, and love, with the fruits of them, whereof in this life we are made partakers, and all the privileges of the gospel, believers under the new testament receive the promise in the second sense; namely, the things promised. And so did they also under the old testament, according to the measure of the divine dispensation towards them. And we may observe,—