The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 43

find Gc>d; ~ the utmost ear~hly wisdom he is unknown. God is a God of goodness and love; his works declare 1t; then God must reveal himself to man. 1. Scripture declares itself to be God's voice. Christ and the apostles affirm this of the Old 'l'esta- ~l<'nt.: You ca.n_not believe in Christ without accepting the Old Testament as an mfalhble declaration of the Divine will; for so he accepted it. They also affirm this of t~eir own teaching in the New Testament: ",ve speak not in the words which man's wisdom teac½eth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." 2. The effects of Scripture pr~ve that this witness it bears to itself £s tl'lle. As the apostles proved thP-ir mission by "signs, and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost," so does the Dible; that it is a divinely inspired utterance is proved by Divine results. It meets the cornrilicaLcd needs of human nature, satisfies the heart, opens blind eyes, casts out evil i,pirits, transforms the character, regenerates the world, turns the wilderness into paradise. It does what only God can do; then God is in it. II. THEY TEACH THAT IN THE Lor.o JESUS CHRIST WE HAVE Goo's PERFECT UTTE_RANCE TO_MAN. "God . . . bath in_ these last days spoken unto us by his Son." I. Smee God is the .Author ef both revelations, we may expect to find the new in the old. "God spake to the fathers . . . God bath spoken to us." And God is One; then we must expect to find the revelation one. Scripture is not two books, but a unity. See this in its outline; it begins with," In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; " it ends with the creation of the new heavens and earth. It beains with the i;tory of man's expulsion from the garden-paradise lost; it ends with the vision of redeemed man dwelling under the tree of life, on the banks of the river of the water of life-paradise regained; and between the beginning and the end we have the steps by which that develops into this. Th1.11 the New Testament and the Old throw mutual light on each other; we cannot sever them without hurt. He who only reads one knows neither. 2. Since Christ is the Bubstance of the Rew Testament, the new revela- tion will be a distinct advance on the old. The text contrasts as well as compares them. There is a sense in which Christ may be said to be the Substance of the Old Testament -" To him give all the prophets witness;" and we do not understand it unless we read it with Christ as the key. But in a far higher sense is he the Substance of the New. " God spake to the fathers in =ny parts," i.e. in fragments. One aspect of truth was seen in one type, another in another; they needed to be combined if the full truth was to be known. ".And in divers ways," by types, prophecies, requirements, providences, angelic ministry, human teaehers, etc.; thus the old revelation had great disadvantages. Mark the contrast: "He hath spoken unto us by his Son." No longer in fragments or by many voices, but by one living Person, the embodiment of the Father's thoughts concerning us; "the Word" made flesh. Christ not only the Messenger, but the Message. 3. SiT1ce Christ is God the Son, there can be no revelation beyond what is given in liim. As long as God spoke by human teachers a greater and better might arise; but when he spake by his Son the climax was reached. The Son knows the Father perfectly, and ca.n make no mistake as to the mind of the Father. To know how God feels about men, learn of Christ. "This is my beloved Son: hear him." To know what God is, look at Christ. "He that hath seen me bath seen the Father." To know what God would give, study Christ. He is God's " unspeakable Gift;" "in him are hid all the treasures," etc. All that God has to say to us we hear in Jesus, and there can be nothing beyond that. III. TREY TEACH THAT, IN llAVING SPOKEN TO MAN, Goo HAS PLACED HIM UNDER SOLEMN BESPONSillILITY. " God bath spoken! " What then? 1. If God has spoken, it leaves man's ignorance without excuse. No one with this Book need be in ignorance on Di vine things. If God has spoken it is to teach us something; then he cannot have spoken so unintelligibly that we cannot understand him. If he has spoken here, we may rely on this Book as on a rock. Distinguish between human interpretation of truth and the truth itself; but when you havo discovered the truth, hold it and assert it positively. What is truth? What God bath said. 2. 1/ God has spolcen, his Word mu,t be man's ultimate authority. ,ve must have infallibility or we can have no rest. Where is it? The Church in her history has proved that she is not infallible. Man's moral consciousness proves that it is not infallible, for the " inner light " in different men points in different directions, is perverted by sin, bribed into silence, educated into error. There is no infallibility if it be not in the Bible, But i\ is hero, for here OB. L 1-14.] THE EPISTLE TO 'l'HE HEBREWS. 33