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"THE
WILDERNESS-SUFFERERS |
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I. INTRODUCTION:
PARANESIS AND EXHORTATION BUILT UPON THE THEOLOGY OF THE AUTHOR The
Apostle Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy that those who want to
live a life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12).
Jesus told his disciples in the context of speaking of the Holy
Spirit in the Book of John, that in this world you will have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
For the people of God of any time and place, the Book of Hebrews
is eminently practical for the comforting of those who suffer. In
fact, the way the author of the Book of Hebrews addresses his concerns
to the congregation is with a view to real suffering, and to promote
an identity--a wilderness-suffering identity in the people. This
is so that when they suffer they might think on their present circumstances
in light of the eschatological suffering and work of Christ in these
last days (Heb. 9:26b-28). In the same way that the Book of Revelation
teaches the people of God to raise their eyes by faith upward to
see God upon the throne in these last days (cf. Rev. 4-5), so the
Book of Hebrews teaches us to think eschatologically about the Person
and Work of Christ. The author of the Hebrews teaches the people
of God a theology of suffering in his parenesis, or his exhortations,
and the kind of mindset the believer ought to have in the midst
of their sufferings in the last days. Dr. R. B. Gaffin, Jr. wrote,
"…Hebrews is an exceptionally instructive example of the
integration of doctrine and exhortation (life) that in various ways
characterizes the entire New Testament." The theology of Hebrews
(doctrine) is to exhort the people of God living in the last days
to steadfast endurance and to exercise and eschatological faith
(life). The
author is concerned about the people to whom he writes and we can
learn a great deal about our own sufferings in light of this book.
One way of understanding the purpose of the author of Hebrews is
to see how he gets us to think eschatologically on a horizontal
plane, while gazing vertically to the superior Person and Work of
Christ as our High Priest (Heb. 1:1-4; 2:10-18). Christ is greater
than the angels (Heb. 2:5-13); greater than Moses (Heb. 3:1-6);
he performed a better sacrifice because he is a greater High Priest
(Heb. 5:10; 6:19-7:28; cf. 9:11ff). Those who suffer in manifold
ways, can be confident that not only is their faith in the one who
is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8), but in their
suffering, they can be encouraged that he who was greater in his
Person and Work was identified with them, and went before them as
archegon (Heb. 2:10-18; 12:1-11; cf. Acts 3:15; 5:31). The
Christian life is a race run, according to the author of the Hebrews
(Heb. 12:1ff). Believers are not to be "over-realized"
in their eschatology. That is, the race believers in Christ run
in these last days in the wilderness, as "people on the way"
is fraught with difficulties, challenges and pain. The author of
Hebrews teaches us to understand our lives as a pilgrim people in
the wilderness of suffering and to remember that Christ our High
Priest himself served in the wilderness and overcame (Heb. 2:14-18;
4:15). In the same way, as believers who run the race with our eyes
fixed on the Pioneer (archegon) and Perfector of our faith, so we
too can persevere during perilous times and overcome. Although the
pain and suffering is real and comes to us in manifold ways, God
has spoken his sure and precious promises to us through Christ (Heb.
1:1,2). Christ in his High Priestly work has accomplished our salvation
and has been offered up as a propitiation for our sins (Heb. 7:27;
9:14,15). Those who would have an "over-realized" eschatology
desire for all the fullness of heaven now: fame, riches, absence
of pain, rather than understanding that the author to the Hebrews
is teaching the people that as Christ identified with us, so we
must identify with him; that is, in his suffering (cf. Heb. 2:1-11).
Hebrews 2:10 says, "For it was fitting that he, for whom and
by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should
make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering"
(RSV). Hebrews chapter 2, ends with this hopeful verse in v. 18:
"For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is
able to help those who are tempted" (RSV). The
beginning of the book of Hebrews is in the form of a homily that
helps us to better understand the author's word of exhortation (Heb.
13:22) as from the heart of a pastor who has suffered in Christ
himself. The book has the elements of an epistle, but overall it
is a pastoral theology of suffering. A theology that encourages
perseverance in the face of trial, pain, and even apostasy, in light
of the superiority of Christ's Person and Work as our High Priest.
We should remember that even Christ asked the question concerning
faith and apostasy: "When the Son of Man returns will he find
faith on the earth" (Luke 18:8; cf. Heb. 6:4-6). This is to
teach us in light of the Book of Hebrews that apostasy is a real
and ever-present threat to the Church. Believers must persevere
with an eschatological faith that can move mountains, but that acknowledges
itself as a faith pioneered, championed and perfected by Christ
alone (Heb. 11:1,6; cf. 12:2-4). The
believers to whom the author wrote were greatly disheartened or
"sluggish" and losing faith because of the persecution
and suffering that they were undergoing (Heb. 5:11; 6:12; 12:3).
According to Hebrews 10:32ff, the Christians had "endured a
hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed
to abuse and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those
so treated" (RSV). They had joyfully accepted the plundering
of their property, since they knew that they had a better possession
and an abiding one. However, they were ready to "throw away
their confidence, which has a great reward" (Heb. 10:35) (RSV).
They needed endurance just as all believers living in the last days:
an endurance which fixes its eschatological focus upon the promises
of God (Heb. 10:36). The author is trying to encourage them with
the real hope they have in the present by considering the Person
and Work as High Priest on their behalf. William Lane wrote concerning
the Person and Work of Christ: "…the readers lethargy
derives from their failure to grasp the full significance of Christ…Like
the changing configurations of a kaleidoscope as it is turned, the
writer sees the eternal Son, the incarnate Son, the exalted Son."
Just
as the Christians addressed in the Book of Hebrews had real hope
in what Christ has accomplished in his superior work on behalf of
his people, so the same hope is real for the suffering believer
who is tempted to give up and to return to an unbelieving way of
life. Therefore, we can finish the race as we look to him and his
incarnation, better sacrifice, and better priesthood in the context
of a better covenant. Christ is our all in all; and he is the end,
the eschatological goal of our salvation and faith. As we journey
as believers through this life in the Age of the Spirit, may we
look to the Book of Hebrews for comfort knowing that he who triumphed
on our behalf is able to keep us from falling and will bring us
into his Kingdom presence through our faith in him (Heb. 13:20,21;
cf. Jude 24). We will consider the theology of suffering in the Book of Hebrews by reflecting upon the following theological themes and aspects of our hope in the Person and Work of Christ revealed to us in these last days. The theological themes of the Book of Hebrews will exhort us as a pilgrim people, living in the last days while pointing us forward through an eschatological faith to the Last Day when all things will be renewed. First, we will look at how the author of Hebrews describes a "last days people" as wilderness-sufferers so that the people of God may have a correct understanding of our identity in the midst of suffering (Heb. 3:7-4:10); second, we will consider the hope of Christ's superiority to Angels (Heb. 1:5-14); third, we will consider Christ's incarnation and work on behalf of his people in his suffering, temptation, sympathy, and being made perfect (Heb. 2:10-18; 4:14-16; 5:7-10) ; fourth, we will consider our hope as a wilderness people in Christ's superior offering of himself (8:1-10:18); and finally, we will conclude with the promises and punishments in the Book of Hebrews. II.
A SUFFERING WILDERNESS COMMUNITY (3:7-4:13) As
the people of God who live in these last days, we should remember
that we are a wilderness people who have yet to enter our rest.
For the author of Hebrews, suffering is a last days wilderness reality,
and this reality should not cause Christ's people to stumble or
be surprised (cf. 1 Pet. 4:12ff). We should understand that in this
world of pain and suffering we are only being identified with Christ
our Head. This means that we are a pilgrim people on the way to
the full inheritance in the Kingdom of God. Just like the saints
in the Old Covenant who did not see all the promises of God fulfilled,
yet they still believed God by faith, and knew he was able to fulfill
his promises and to give them their full inheritance (Heb. 11:6ff;
cf. Heb. 4:1-13; Ps. 95:7b-11). Although
we await our rest now according to Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, we
persevere by faith, as those who persevered by faith before us (Heb.
12:1). We continue the race in the wilderness because of those witnesses
in Christ who have preceded us; knowing that because they have made
it, we also shall make it. We persevere to enter the rest and understand
that although we do not fully see the Kingdom of God in all its
fullness, we can be assured that He who promised is faithful. We
must walk by faith and not by sight was we suffer in this world
(2 Cor. 4:16-5:9). Our response and attitude as a people of God
in the wilderness is that we are on the outskirts of Canaan but
we have yet to enter into the land of promise. Dr. Gaffin wrote
concerning the true character of the church in the last days described
in the Book of Hebrews: "…the situation of the church
is characterized by 'holding fast' (3:6,14; 4:14; 10:23) and 'pressing
on' (6:1); all in all a key ingredient is the need for endurance
and perseverance (10:36; 12:1; cf. 10:32)." In other words,
as a wilderness people there is no time for rest "today"
in these last days, for this is our time of "works" by
faith in Christ's superior work (Heb. 4:10; 6:10). As a pilgrim
people in the wilderness of suffering, we should focus with an eschatological
faith upon the hope to be revealed (cf. 1 Pet. 1:13). As the author
of the Hebrews teaches, we must hope in Christ's accomplished work
as a guarantee of our inheritance. Christ was the true wilderness community, the archegon or Pioneer who went before his people into the wilderness and suffered through trials and temptations, but did not sin and ultimately overcame (Heb. 4:15). Christ persevered in the wilderness and overcame sin, death and the devil on behalf of his people (Heb. 2:14ff; cf. Luke 4:1ff). Christ has entered the rest, passed through the heavens and has been seated at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven (Heb. 4:14-16; 9:24). When we suffer as a church in these last days, we must always keep in mind Christ's example of suffering and his work as our sure guarantee for our persevering, because we can approach the throne of grace with confidence and receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb. 4:16). He who raised Christ from the dead is faithful to make us like him and to perfect us with him (Heb. 13:20,21). We must understand that although we may want to give up the race and quit at times, we should heed the warnings of Hebrews chapter 6. We must understand that in the New Covenant context, covenantal privileges because of Christ's Person and completed work, requires covenantal responsibility. Apostasy is a real threat to the people of God who suffer and desire to give up or to return to their old ways of living because Christ has delayed his return. We should remember that our hope is in the eschatological triumph of Christ! Because of this eschatological triumph, we his people, must in these last days bear the eschatological testing in order to be conformed to his likeness. As wilderness people, we must set our eyes on Jesus and persevere, not expecting all the fruits of the Promised Land in the wilderness. We must remember that we are indeed pilgrim people in the wilderness who have yet to arrive in the Promised Land of rest, but we are already heirs of this rest now! This is the present wilderness-suffering identity of the people of God now. III.
CHRIST'S SUPERIORITY TO ANGELS (1:5-14) The
author to the Hebrews begins his homily by immediately focusing
the eyes and faith of the people to the fact that God has spoken:
in the past to our fathers through prophets, and now to us in a
Son. These words are words of comfort because many to whom the author
of Hebrews wrote thought the words delivered by angels were comforting
and wanted to return to an Old Covenant way of living. However,
the author teaches them that these words have been spoken by the
one who would fulfill all the commandments and the law, the words
the angels had mediated on Mt. Sinai according to Jewish tradition.
These words of Christ are eternal and even though the grass withers
and fades, the words of Christ endure forever (1 Pet. 1:23-25). The
hope for all those in the church who suffer is to realize that God
has spoken to us in our present condition as wilderness-sufferers,
revealing himself in Christ, and he has spoken the better word to
us in the context of a better covenant. The words of Christ to us
are better because as the God-Man, Christ was able to accomplish
and fulfill all the promises made to believers in the Old Covenant
which was only anticipatory or proleptic (Heb. 10:1). These words
are those that are spoken by the Spirit of God, who because of the
humiliation and exaltation of Christ now dwells within us in the
last days (Acts 2:16-21; Heb. 1:1-4; cf. Joel 2:28ff). These are
the words of the Spirit that Christ himself told his disciples would
remind them of who they were, and what they should say when persecuted
and when they experienced suffering in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 (cf.
John 14:25-31; 16:1-33). The words that Christ has spoken to us
in these last days, are words to encourage us by faith to persevere
to the Last Day. Christ has overcome and been identified with his
people, so that we may be a true people of God and learn to be true
disciples. God is treating his people who look by faith in their
suffering as children (cf. Heb. 12:5ff); we should rejoice in this! Christ's superiority to Angels as representatives of the Old Covenant is helpful to those who suffer. Now, in these last days, Christ has spoken to us, and also fulfilled the words of the Law mediated by the Angels on Mt. Sinai (Acts 7:37,38; cf. Mt. 5:17-20). In these last days, God has spoken to us by a Son (Heb. 1:2), the Creator and Sustainer of Heaven and Earth. We live in the context of a better covenant, that is the New Covenant when Christ has completed his work on behalf of his people and we can be sure that our only hope is in Christ alone. Those who would be tempted to return to the Old Covenant way of life, those who do not understand their present sufferings in light of the New Covenant, must further understand their identification with Christ in his sufferings, in his humiliation or incarnation. The revelation that was spoken by God in "many times and various ways" (Heb. 1:1) (NIV), has now been spoken finally in a Son who suffered, to encourage his wilderness people to persevere in the midst of their sufferings. IV.
CHRIST'S INCARNATION AND WORK ON BEHALF OF HIS PEOPLE (2:10,17,18;
4:14-16; 5:7-10) A.
The Suffering of Christ This
teaching of the Book of Hebrews may be better understood in what
Calvin calls the duplex mortificatio. John Calvin says that we have
a two-fold mortification: an inner dying to our sins and fleshly
way of life and an outer suffering that God brings upon us in order
to conform us to Christ's glory. Because Christ was made perfect
or complete through suffering, so his brothers are identified with
him are made complete and like him through the same kind of suffering
(cf. Heb. 2:10ff; 5:7-10; 12:3ff). While unbelievers harden their
hearts in anger against God when they suffer, the righteous who
are identified with Christ look to him by faith and are gloriously
conformed to his image through their sufferings (cf. 1 Pet. 1:6-9).
We should remember what the author says concerning Christ's own
suffering: "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from
what he suffered, and, once made perfect, he became the source of
eternal salvation for all who obey him…" (Heb. 5:8-9).
As Hebrews 12 teaches us, God chastises the sons that he loves so
that we may share in the holiness of Christ, and the peaceful fruit
of righteousness (12:7-11). B.
The Temptation of Christ As
a people who live in the wilderness of sin, tasting now some of
the benefits of the Eternal or Heavenly by the abiding and indwelling
Spirit of God, because of the arrabon or down-payment of the Spirit
which has been poured out in our hearts (Rom. 5:5; Eph. 1:3-14),
we can understand the tension in which we now live. We are no longer
under the reign and lordship of sin, but we do still struggle (Rom.
6:14; cf. Rom. 7:13-25). What we want to do, we do not do; but what
we do not want to do, that we keep doing- -who shall save us from
this body of flesh? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord-
-our Great Substitute, who has been tempted as we are (Rom. 7:14ff;
cf. Heb. 2:17,18)! Those to whom the author of the Hebrews wrote
could not understand why they were presently suffering if Christ
was indeed the Victor over sin and death. They desired to turn away
because he had not returned for them as quickly as they had imagined
(Heb. 2:1-4; 4:1-3; 6:10-12; 12:25ff). In
our temptation, we remember according to the Book of Hebrews that
Jesus himself when he began his ministry was taken immediately into
the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for forty days and forty nights
(Luke 4:1ff). He overcame however by the Word of God and he did
all this on our behalf. We should not be surprised that although
we do live in the Age of the Spirit, we too will be tempted, but
not beyond that which we can bear according to the Apostle Paul
(1 Cor. 10:13; cf. 1 Pet. 9,10). The author of the Book of Hebrews
is teaching the Church that we should persevere, stand firm, and
hold on, knowing that in the same way God was faithful to Christ
and rescued him from sin, death, and the Devil, and he has triumphed
over them…so he will do this for us as well (Heb. 3:1,2; 12:1,2;
13:20,21). Hebrews 2:18 says, "Because he himself suffered
when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."
Our hope now is because Jesus has a permanent priesthood and is
able to save completely (forever) those who come to God through
him, because he always lives to intercede for them" (Heb. 7:24-25). Our
hope as wilderness-sufferers in the last days comes from the complete
and perfect work of Christ on our behalf. As the Apostle Paul teaches
us about union with Christ, so the author to the Hebrews explains
the benefits of identification with Christ in our union. His work
was completed and accepted before God, therefore we know we can
boldly come into the throne room and find grace to help us in our
time of need (Heb. 4:14-16). We must persevere by faith, mortifying
our sinful nature and laying aside the sins that easily beset us
and run the race with perseverance looking upon Christ, the One
who was tempted just as we are (Heb. 12:1,2). Hebrews
chapter 2 teaches us that although the devil has been defeated,
we still contend with him (2:14-18). God still allows him to persecute
us in this world, but now it is for God's glory and our good (cf.
Rom. 8:28-39). We should remember that Christ's Kingdom was inaugurated
when he came the first time, and the gates of hell will never prevail
against Christ's Kingdom. However, as Christ's Kingdom is progressing,
so evil is escalating and progressing at an ever-increasing rate.
The sons of the devil will persecute the sons of Christ's Kingdom,
but we are not alone, Christ has been tempted and undergone the
same persecution, pain, and suffering on our behalf. The author
to the Hebrews is exhorting those who have heard the words of Christ,
who have a saving knowledge of his Person and Work, to heed his
words and do not forget. If they do, they only have a fearful judgment
to expect. As wilderness-suffering believers in the last days, we
must heed chapter 10, verses 37-39: " 'For yet a little while,
and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry; but my righteous
one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no
pleasure in him.' But we are not of those who shrink back and are
destroyed, but of those who have faith and keep their souls." C.
The Sympathy of Christ Christ's
sympathy is that he forgives us our sins because of the work he
has accomplished on our behalf; he ever intercedes at the right
hand of God upon the throne on behalf of his people. This means
that Christ does not only save his people effectively, but his prayers
and his sympathizing with our weaknesses guarantees that he will
not lose one sheep the Father has given to him. As High Priest of
a better covenant and of the things to come, he is able during our
trials, temptations and sufferings to sympathize with our weaknesses
and present his blood as our Priest, as an efficacious and once-and-for-all
offering before the throne of God (Heb. 9:11-28). Therefore, the
author of Hebrews teaches us that we can boldly enter the throne
room of God because Christ has sympathized and gone before us (Heb.
4:16). We can present our requests unto God and know by faith that
he will answer all of our requests. Endurance by prayer, watchfulness,
and perseverance is the way into the Kingdom of everlasting rest
(cf. Acts 14:22). This should be the expectation of this present
life for believers as we look forward to being in the presence of
our Maker (cf. Rev. 21:3ff). Knowing that there is a heavenly city,
the New Jerusalem, with foundations that cannot be shaken, although
we have not arrived as of yet (Heb. 12:18ff; cf. 4:1ff). We are
still on the outskirts of the city, in the wilderness of sin and
temptation and suffering, where Christ by his Spirit ministers effectively
unto us (cf. Romans 8:18-27). D.
The Perfecting of the High Priest of the New Covenant Christ
on the other hand, being of an eternal order, that is the High Priesthood
of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:1ff), did not purify his people by types
and shadows, but by his real and true suffering and humiliation.
He was identified with his people as the True High Priest of Melchizedek,
therefore he was without sin and did not need to make atonement
for his own sins. In fact, he appeared once and for all with his
own sacrifice to take away the sins that the blood of bulls and
goats could not take away (Heb. 2:17,18; cf. 10:1-4). As the True
Priest, Christ was identified with his people, but by offering himself,
he offered up his own blood that had eternal efficacy (Heb. 7:26-28;
9:25ff). Those
who suffer in the wilderness and are tempted to turn away from Christ
with a non-eschatological and apostate faith, should remember that
Christ himself learned obedience and was perfected as a man in order
to serve God on our behalf as a Perfect and Eternal High Priest.
This means that he fulfilled the Father's work that he had been
given to accomplish (Heb. 10:5-10); he did this work willingly,
but he took upon himself the curse of the Law for the transgressions
that had been committed by his people. In the same way as our Great
High Priest, so God chooses to perfect his sons through pain and
suffering. God chastises his children so that they may be ever more
increasingly be conformed to the image of Christ the High Priest
(Heb. 12:5ff). You see, according to the author of Hebrews, there
is no real theodicy, only an eternal plan and wise discipline of
truly making his people to be like Christ in every way. In this
pilgrim walk, our walk is a walk of wilderness-suffering, awaiting
our Great High Priest to come out of the Most Holy Place in Heaven
and to appear a second time not for judgment, but for the salvation
of all those who are longing for his appearing (Heb. 9:28). Because there is no real theodicy, those who suffer can be confident to know that Christ our High Priest suffered on our behalf in his humiliation and so he has called us to a life of suffering in his discipleship program. It is in this context that we better understand the words in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." To redeem from evil and sin was the reason for Christ's ministry as High Priest and as pilgrims in the wilderness who have yet to enter our rest, we should expect nothing less (Heb. 3:7-4:13). If God should grant times of peace, it is peace by the Spirit that passes understanding, but our Kingdom membership has no rights in this world because Christ's Kingdom is not of this world. If they persecuted him, they will persecute us; if Christ suffered, so will his people; if they disown him, so they will disown us…but he is faithful who has called us (Mt. 5:10-12; 2 Tim. 2:11-13)! V.
CHRIST'S SUPERIOR OFFERING OF HIMSELF (8:1-10:18) We who suffer could not have redeemed ourselves, we could never as dead in trespasses in sins, offered ourselves up to God. Our sinful transgressions of the covenant disqualified us from any real and efficacious offering. Even if hypothetically possible for one to live the Law perfectly (though it is not possible), man could never have endured the wrath of God. Christ as human and divine High Priest not only fulfilled the law positively, keeping all its commands, and negatively, without sin, but endured the pains of death and hell, the wrath of God as he descended into hell on our behalf. This was the Great High Priest of whom the Father was well pleased and raised him up for our justification, pouring out his Spirit upon all flesh so that we might be like Christ, conformed to his image and be with Christ, in his presence. VI.
PROMISE AND PUNISHMENT IN HEBREWS The
promise of understanding the word of exhortation which the author
of the Hebrews writes is for those who look by faith to better and
heavenly promises (Heb. 13:22). The promises are for those whose
faith is like those in the Old Covenant who trusted God with an
eschatological faith that looked forward and enlightened their present
wilderness circumstances in this world. It is those who look by
faith and not by sight to the work of Christ, and to understand
that the Christ of the Covenant has fulfilled the Law of God and
propitiated their sins. For those who suffer in every age in the
wilderness, there is hope of one who suffered outside the city gates
on their behalf so that they might enter the Eternal and Blessed
Holy New Jerusalem, to be in the presence of God forever (Heb. 13:12ff;
cf. 2 Cor. 4:13-14). This can only be accomplished by an eschatological
faith that informs present sufferings and circumstances with the
knowledge that what God has said he will do and that all the promises
of God are "yes" and "amen" in Christ Jesus
(2 Cor. 1:20). An
eschatological faith in the midst of trials and sufferings has been
displayed for us by a great cloud of witnesses, fathers and mothers
who have persevered to the end without actually seeing what God
had promised. However, in these Last Days, in real time and history,
Christ has appeared on our behalf to take away our sins; he has
spoken to us the words of God in the New Covenant; he has shown
us by his own suffering what we should expect and yet he has also
gloriously poured out his Spirit in our hearts so that we can call
God "Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:14-17; cf. Gal. 4:6-7). The
Holy Spirit has been shed abroad in our hearts, we have been justified
by faith and now have peace with God (Rom. 5:1ff). We are in union
with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection and we have word-pictures,
or sacraments of the things which have been accomplished for us
(Rom. 6:3ff). We
live in a new and better age, an age that we should not take for
granted. Rather, one in which we should look back to the Person
and Work of our High Priest, and forward with an eschatological
faith to the place where God has promised to bring us- -in his very
presence in the garden, in paradise, in the New Jerusalem (Rev.
21:1ff). Those who suffer should rejoice because their eternal reward
and inheritance, although given to us now as a foretaste, is in
heaven and we wait patiently by faith on Christ to return a second
time. We cry "Come, Lord Jesus" because we long to be
taken out of this world of sin and flesh and into his glorious presence.
In
this new and better covenant, we have hope in eschatological realities
that should fix our eyes by faith upon Jesus our High Priest. These
eschatological realities are given to us as a foretaste of what
is to come when Christ will be revealed a second time (Heb. 9:28).
In the preaching of sermons on the Lord's Day, we hear the words
of Christ and we are pointed back to his work and forward to his
reward. We have eschatological realities given to us in the Lord's
Supper as we sup by faith with Jesus our High Priest which points
us back to his blood and body sacrificed on our behalf, but forward
as we look to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in the New Jerusalem.
In worship we have eschatological hope now. We worship God in Spirit
in Truth, although the Temple in Jerusalem has been destroyed, we
are the Temple of God's Spirit which now indwells us. In our worship
we thank God in our gratitude for his gift in Christ and we look
forward to when we will praise God both day and night in his very
presence. Why should we rejoice in our wilderness-sufferings? All
these realities are the eschatological benefits of living in this
new and better covenant. Although we are pilgrim people; although
we are living in the wilderness prior to when our King Joshua will
return to lead us across the Jordan to enter the land; although
we do not see him now, we love him with a joy inexpressible and
full of glory. All these things the author of the Book of Hebrews
teaches us that we have now because of this new and better covenant
and therefore we should live and have an eschatological and expectant
faith because God is faithful! We do not live in the time of the
Old Covenant with shadows and types, but in the New Covenant displayed
in the True Christ, our Great and Glorious High Priest, how much
more ought we to offer our bodies living sacrifices, holy and pleasing
unto him, because he who called us is holy, so ought we to be holy
as well (Rom. 12:1,2; 1 Pet. 1:13ff). The
Apostle Paul can further help us understand the theology of suffering
in the Book of Hebrews for the last days. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-11,
the Apostle Paul describes the God of all comfort in the midst of
our trials and sufferings. In verse 5, he says that we share abundantly
in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in
comfort too. For Paul, as for the author of Hebrews, suffering is
a last days reality; but it has a purpose: the strengthening of
the brethren as they are conformed to the image of Christ (cf. 1
Pet. 5:10), and ultimately, for the glory of God. God works in us
suffering to develop perseverance, character and hope, according
to Romans 5:3-5. In Romans 5:2, Paul calls this the "hope of
sharing the glory of God." In
his letter to the Philippians, the apostle says, "I count everything
as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found
in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but
that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God
that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his
resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him
in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from
the dead" (Phil. 3:8b-11). The interesting thing here in this
portion of Paul's writings is that he describes our present life
now in union with Christ as our "death union". That is,
to truly know Christ, as the author of the Hebrews writes, is to
be conformed to Christ's likeness, through his sufferings. If we
as a people of God in the last days want to truly know Christ, we
cannot experience his "resurrection" without first going
through his "cross-bearing" and "death" daily
in order to be like him. It is a glorious hope for the people who
suffer to know that they are being made like Jesus in his sufferings.
Christ is our brother and we in his family will suffer along with
him (Heb. 2:10ff). This reminds us of Calvin's duplex mortificatio,
or double mortification occurring in the believer's life in order
to kill all remaining remnants of our old man and putting on the
new man, who is being conformed to the likeness of Christ Jesus!
This "putting on of the new man" is accomplished in part
by true and real sufferings. Therefore, we should not turn back
or away from Christ and His Kingdom, but look to him with an eschatological
faith in order that we may overcome and persevere. This is the great
hope in the word of exhortation to the Hebrews! There
will be suffering now because we are in the wilderness, but we have
the promises and possess the Spirit of God now to help us to endure
through our struggles. We have a champion, a pioneer who went before
us and now we look to him, knowing that we can endure. In fact,
Christ promises to those who overcome that we will sit with him
on his throne in the New Jerusalem; we will be given a new name;
we will eat from the Tree of Life; we will be in God's presence
eternally (Rev. 2-3). We should be able to realize ourselves now,
in the midst of our sufferings, taking part in these heavenly activities
under the preaching of the word, the sacraments, and in worship
of our God. We should realize that in this foretaste that we graciously
have been given, that we are indeed now seated upon the throne with
Christ, raised with him in the heavenlies and our lives are hidden
in him (Col. 3:1-4). We should understand our new name as identified
in Christ's Person and Work and the hope we have because our names
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We should understand ourselves
now to have begun to partake of the Heavenly Tree of Life, the life
lived by the Eternal Spirit who indwells us! This is our great hope!
This is our eschatological faith! This is the reason for the word
of exhortation written to the recipients of the Book of Hebrews,
and the word of encouragement written for us today in the midst
of our wilderness-sufferings. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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