Vers. 20, 21.-0oncluding prayer for the Hebrews. The apostle, having earnestly reqnested the prayers of the Christian Jews for himself, proceeds to plead for them at the throne of the heavenly grace. He virtually says, " Pray for me, brethren ; I pray for you." And what a wonderful prayer is this l How brief, yet how comprehe11 ·.ve; how exquisitely simple, yet how deeply sublime! It is a benediction as well as a petition. .A.nd it is so richly coloured with the doctrine which the writer has been discussing that it reads almost like a summary of the Epistle. Consider- !. THE TITLE m'DEB WHICH GoD IS ADDRESSED. " The God of peace." This is a Pauline expression. Outside of this book it occurs only in the writings of Paul. The appellation is profoundly suggestive. God is "the God of peace" (1) in his own being and character-he loves peace, and it dwells within him; (2) in his moral adminis- tration, the end of which is to work peace in the world, and within the hearts of men. These Hebrews lived during a time of political turmoil and of religious persecution; but the apostle directs their thoughts to the Lord that "sitteth upon the flood," who .. will bless his people with peace." There are some very solemn and terrible passages in this Epistle about the sin and doom of apostates ; but the writer points us once more t-0 the rainbow of irrace shining in front of the gloom, and tells us how the hands of "the God of peace" have bended it. II. THE SPECU.L REDEMPTIVE ACT HEBE CELEBRATED. It is that of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus-an event not referred to elsewhere in the Epistle. The God who works peace bad sent his Son to obey and suffer and die for man's sin; and the same God had brouo-ht him again from the dead, and confirmed him in his high dignity as "the great Sh";;pherd of the sheep." 'l'hroughout this prayer of benediction the writer seems to have in view Isa. !:xiii. 11-14, and to think of the Lord Jesus by contrast with Moses, and the other shepherds of ancient Israel. Jacob and Joseph, Moses and Aaron, Samuel and David, had all been true" shepherds of his flock;" but the Lord Jesus is "the great Shepherd." The Hebrews were to cherish the memory of their own former pastors (ver. 7), and they had other pastors set over them now (ver. 17); but the Lord Jesus, the crucified and risen One, was ever their chief Pastor. He had laid down bis life as " the good Shepherd," but in rising from the dead and ascending to heaven he had shown himself to be" the great Shepherd." On every account he is entitled to be called " great ; " e.g. because all the prophets spoke of him, because all former true orr. xm. 1-26. j THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 40G
shepherds wore types of him, because he is himself mighty to save, and beca,.1Rc f)r the vastness of the flock over which he shall preside. Here in particular, however, the apostle calls him" great" because he has sealed the new and "eternal covenant" with his "blood." That blood was the blood of God himself (Acts xx. 28); and so the covenant confirmed wHh such a costly sacrifice cannot but be everlnstin.,., Not only so, but the Lord Jesus died, not merely as a federal offering; he died a".5 a Sin Offering. His death completed the fulfilment of the covenant stipulations on his and our part; and, as we know that God also will be faithful to the treaty on his side, we are sure it shall stand for ever. Christ is "the Mediator of the new covenant" and " the great Shepherd of the sheep," through virtue of the merit of his blood. III. THE SPIRITUAL BLESSING PRAYED FOB. (Ver. 21.) It is the gift of perfect sanctification, a blessing that had been expressly promised and guaranteed in connection with the new covenant (Jer. xxxi. 33, 34). The God who ha.s elevated the Lord Jesus to be the Head of the final dispensation is both a.hie and willing to perform his own covenant promise. "Make you perfect;" i.e. put you into order, restore you, equip you. Natura.Uy, every ma.n needs to have his soul reorganized before he can learn to do God's will. And sometimes a good ma.n requires, a.s ma.ny of these Hebrew believers did, a second conversion. The apostle prays tha.t their equipment ma.y be thorough ; tha.t it may be a deep and comprehensive work within the soul, wrought there by the power of the Holy Ghost, and which shall bear fruit outwardly in a career of perfect holiness that shall be "well-pleasing in God's sight." It is not enough to practise only some of the virtues of the Christian character; we must be "perfect in every good thing"-in worship and work, in thought and feeling, in body and spirit. The rule of our perfect equipment is "his will "-the mind of God a.s made known to us in Holy Scripture. And the medium by which it is accomplished is "through Jesus Christ" -by means of his gracious operations upon the heart by his Spirit. Perfect holiness in ma.n is all of his creation : not by his doctrine merely, or by faith in him; but through himself, and by virtue of the believer's union to him. IV. THE DOXOLOGY WITH wmoH THE PRAYER CLOSES. "To whom "-i.e. as we take it, to "the God of peace" who is addressed in the prayer. And yet, when "the glory" is ascribed to him, it is given to all the three Divine Persons-to God the ]father, who "brought a.gain our Lord Jesus from the dead;" to God the Son, " the great Shepherd of the sheep" and Mediator of "the eternal covenant;" and to God the Spirit, the executive of the Deity, who personally "worketh in us" and "makes us perfect." This doxology is the language of spiritual instinct; and, being such, it is irrepressible. So soon as any human heart really apprehends that Jehovah is "the God of peace," and feels grateful for his unspeakable gift of "the great Shepherd," and accepts the blessings of "the eternal covenant," and becomes conscious of the transforming influence of grace within itself,-how is that heart to be restrained from breaking forth into adoring praise, ancl from uttering the desire that the Divine glory should be universal and eternal? May our souls be in such full sympathy with this prayer of benediction as to join with emphasis in the apostle's rapturous and fervent " Amen" I