Chapter
Six We were introduced to the Melchisedec order for the first time in the New
Testament back in chapter 5. He then said that he could not speak of the many
things that needed to be said concerning this ministry because of the dullness
of hearing. He told of those who ought to be teachers, but who had become such
as have need of the milk of the Word, and did not even know the first principles
of righteousness. How strange it is that those who have studied the Word
of God for years can reject the deeper things of God until they become dull of
hearing and are not even aware of the basic truths they once knew so well.
Then
in the last verse of chapter 5 he speaks of those who are of full age, mature,
grown up in God. He says they can eat "strong meat". He is speaking of the deep
truths of perfection, coming to maturity, defeating every enemy. They have been
exercising their spiritual senses, so that they are able to know the difference
between good and evil. The problem with so many of God's people is that they are
so busy trying to satisfy the natural man, and exercising the five senses of the
natural body, that they lose their ability to discern that which is of God and
that which is not. So when God begins to move in the supernatural, they cry "false
doctrine" and "false prophets" as though they were experts in the things of God.
Thus they miss out on the great and glorious truths and operations of the Holy
Spirit for their day.
"Therefore Leaving."
And now we go to chapter
6, where we are told to leave the first principles and go on to perfection. Notice
that it does not say to destroy these first principles, or to throw them away.
Just leave them and go on. Everything God has given us on this present plane of
life has been as stepping stones to bring us to that permanent more excellent
order of Melchisedec. In Hebrews 13:14 we are told that "here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come". Too many preachers build their walls about a certain
doctrine, good or otherwise, and settle down to defend that "city". It may be
on the salvation level, such as the doctrine of eternal security, or predestination,
or personal holiness. It may be about baptisms, such as immersion or sprinkling,
Jesus name or trinity, water or spirit. But they establish what they believe is
a strong position, and fight to the death to defend it. Years later, when God
has moved His people on to greater truth and experiences, you find these little
cities still scattered about, somewhat in disrepair, the wills higher and stronger
than ever, and the inhabitants trapped behind them starving to death.
In
the restoration of the last days, we find certain men whose names are linked with
the principles that were being revealed in their day, such as Martin Luther and
the repentance from dead works, and John Wesley and faith towards God. Then in
the Pentecostal revival and the Holy Spirit baptism we find pioneers such as Charles
Parham, Frank Bartlman, Henry Seymour, Stanley Frodsham and many others. When
we come to the time of the so-called "Latter Rain" revival of 1948-49 and the
early 50's, the doctrine of "laying on of hands" (with prophecy) springs up, and
we see ministries emerging into the national limelight as George and Ernie Hawtin,
Myrtle Beal, Winston Nunes, Omar Johnson and many others. Some of those who were
greatly used in that revival have gone on to be with the Lord, others have gone
into gross error or gone back to the doctrine of baptisms, while some have built
their "Latter Rain" cities and built strong exclusive and sectarian walls about
them thinking that this is the ultimate of God until the "rapture".
Resurrection
Life
But as in every revival, there are those who hear the trumpet sound
for the next move, and they pull up their tent stakes, get their eyes on the forward
moving cloud of His presence and glory, and move on out into new truths. And this
is where the life is, the resurrection life of the Son. And verse 2 tells us that
this next revival or move (following "laying on of hands") involves resurrection,
and then finally judgment. Jesus said the judgment was committed to the Son, but
that many-membered son who is to judge this world as well as angels, just first
die completely to the Adam life and carnal mind, and be filled with that resurrection
life of the Christ. Then, and then only, is he able to properly and righteously
be used of God in the eternal judgment of this present age.
"Judge not
that ye be not judged", the scripture says. Yet it also tells us that there must
be a people who shall judge this world. It is those who have died in Adam (completely),
and been made alive in Christ (in the fulness of His life). When there is nothing
left in them to be judged, then they can judge the world, and angels. "Do ye not
know that the saints shall judge the world? Know ye not that we shall judge angels?"
(1 Corinthians 6:2-3). So in the period of historical restoration, we have moved
past the first four steps, and have now come to the time for the preaching and
experiencing power of His resurrection, on our way to perfection. Which means
the full maturity or completeness of God's purpose in His body on this earth.
And in verse 3 we have that positive statement of faith. "And this will we do.."
(In the will of God).
Once Enlightened
We now come to a much misunderstood
scripture, which some think make it impossible for anyone to be saved who has
ever backslid. They hold it up as an example of the unpardonable sin, which it
is not. It is not dealing with the problem of Christians who fall into sin. It
is not saying that Spirit-filled believers who "backslide" are forever lost with
no hope of forgiveness.
There is a principle of salvation dealt with there
which is applicable even to our day. We must remember that this is a letter to
the Hebrews. He had just told them in the previous chapter that they ought to
be teachers (since the Holy Spirit had been first poured out upon them in Jerusalem
30 years before), but that they had fallen to the place they were forgetting the
first principles of the gospel. Many of them which had believed on Jesus Christ
for salvation, had turned away from the Law of Moses and circumcision for their
righteousness, had been filled with the Holy Ghost and seen and tasted of the
miracles prevalent in the early church, were now going back under the law. They
were submitting to circumcision. In fact many Spirit-filled, tongue-talking Jewish
preachers were following Paul everywhere convincing the churches that they had
to be circumcised. Some of them were still observing laws, feast days, ordinances,
and offering bulls and goats for deliverance from sin. Many Hebrew Christians
were engaged in these very things, thinking that if they had both Jesus and Moses,
they would be safer than ever. This was the reason for the writing of this letter
to the Hebrews. The whole content of the book deals with "better things". It shows
the end of the law in Christ, the absolute death of all Jewish laws and ordinances
and offerings, and the "once for all" offering made by Jesus.
Now we see
that God is saying there is no salvation in going back to those laws. Once you
have been enlightened, tasted the good word of God, been made partakers of the
Holy Ghost, if you fall away and reject this, there is no other way of repentance
for you. You can't find peace in the old order of the law. Some were trying to
do this, and continued to look to the temple rituals and ceremonies, until God
sent the Roman army to destroy it and burn it to the ground about 6 years after
this book of Hebrews was written. Jesus had prophesied that it would happen, and
it did.
Better Things
After this solemn warning, he now tells them
that "we are persuaded better things of you." This was a people who had tasted
the powers and miracles of the age to come. The miracle working power in the early
church was a taste, a foretaste, of that which would be entered into in abundance
by the last day church. The word "world" in verse 5 does not mean another planet
or ball of clay to replace the earth we live on. It is a word which means "age".
It is speaking of the age to come.
The coming age, at which time Satan
is cast down and the government of this world is taken over by the sons of God
(the kings and priests of Revelation 5), will see the greatest display of God's
power in the history of mankind. The "greater works" shall be done, and the power
of God manifested to the fullest extent. Glory to God! Already, through the glorious
baptism in the Holy Ghost, we have a taste of that power. No one who falls away
from that realm of the Spirit can find the fulness of God elsewhere.
Through
Faith and Patience
A wonderful truth is brought out in verse 10. We are
told here that when we minister to the saints, we are actually showing a labor
of love toward the name of the Lord. There are many ways in which we can minister
to the saints. A word of encouragement, a prophecy, a prayer for healing, or financial
help in the time of need. Simple things like shoveling the snow off the widow's
walk, or helping a neighbor hunt a lost cow can be done in the name of the Lord.
We tell them we are doing it in His name, because it is what He would do for them
in the same case. That way, He gets the glory for it instead of us being praised
for our "good and kind nature." A home that is open to a weary traveler, and a
table that shows hospitality to his hunger, can be a ministry to the Lord. In
chapter 13:2 we learn that sometimes we may entertain angels unawares. I know
that of the many hundreds who have passed through our home here in Springfield,
there have been many who were angels of blessing to us. There have been those
who received our hospitality, and then tried to do us harm, but God never let
it turn out to hurt us. I do not know if we have ever entertained a real angel
in the sense of a heavenly being, but some of the saints who have stayed with
us have blessed us as much as an angel could. Praise God!
"Be not slothful".
On the one hand, we preach that you must cease from your own labors, and rest
in God. Then we say that you must not be slothful, but work diligently to bless
the body of Christ. How does this harmonize? It means that we stay busy for God,
but that we don't work in our own strength or in the wisdom of the carnal mind.
Our "work and labor of love" must be done in the Spirit, by His direction, resting
in Him.
"Be followers of them who inherit the promises". I can hear someone
say, "I'll never follow anyone but Jesus." Well, if you follow Jesus, you will
be following those who followed Him ahead of you. Most people are following the
example of someone else. A generation of youth began to follow the Beatles and
other bugs. Out of that grew a hippy culture, rock music, unrestrained sex, and
narcotics to dull the pain. A lost generation, following blindly down the road
to death, until they began to discover that the path they were on led to nowhere.
And many of them began to find Jesus.
The Apostle Paul said: "follow me
as I follow Christ." He was one of those who were out to inherit the promises.
And it takes faith. And patience. In chapter 11 we read of some of those who obtained
a good report through faith. But they did not yet obtain the promise. They must
have patience until the full purposes of God are fulfilled in this earth and this
age.
There is a time element. In the fulness of time God will unveil His
many-membered Son to this world. No one can hold it back, and no one can rush
it. There is a "self-projection" theory by which some feel they can come into
perfection and immortality simply by believing it strong enough and declaring
it to be so. This is a false and frustrating doctrine. Many who claimed for years
that they could not die because they believed and preached that they had already
received "life", have gone on to the grave, leaving disappointed and confused
people behind. We have been infected in our own church with those who preached
that it was all a matter of our faith, that none of the apostles would have had
to die if they had just believed strong enough. They tell us that it is all up
to us to bring this Kingdom in by faith. The truth is it is up to us to have faith
and patience. And we shall surely inherit the promises.
The Promise to
Abraham
Verse 15 says that Abraham patiently endured and obtained the promise.
What was it that God promised him? A seed. A son. And we see in Galatians 3 that
the promised seed was not the natural Jew that came through Isaac. It was Christ,
the many-membered body of Christ, including you and me. Praise be to God! "Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, and to thy seed, which is Christ.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise (Galatians 3:16, 29)."
The rest of the chapter shows how sure and
steadfast the promise is to us. God sware by Himself that He would fulfill the
promise to us. It is impossible for God to lie. What a consolation! What a refuge
from the confusion and trouble about us in this present age. God want the heirs
of promise to rest assured that there is no doubt as to the outcome of this battle.
There is a hope set before us, and this hope is a refuge for the weary soul. This
hope is an anchor of the soul.
Within the Veil
"Let us go on to
perfection". That is how we started out this chapter, and now we come to the climax
of this journey in these last two verses. It says that our hope enters into that
within the veil. We are not there in person yet, but because He is there, we are
there in Him. By faith my anchor is already hooked into that glorious realm of
God, and my "ship" is gradually but surely being pulled into His presence. Jesus
has already entered. And verse 20 says that He is a "forerunner." That means that
someone else is to follow. He is our pattern, that we should follow in His steps.
Right through the veil, into the Holy of Holies. Into that realm of God where
there is life (hidden manna), divine authority (rod), and perfect righteousness
(tables of stone). When these things are ours, then we can begin our Melchisedec
priesthood with Him. For it says that Jesus is a priest forever after the order
of Melchisedec. A priest forever. That means there will forever be a need for
priesthood of the Melchisedec order.
Melchisedec is mentioned 1 time in
Genesis, once in Psalms, 3 times in chapters 5 and 6 of Hebrews, and 6 times in
chapter 7. The next chapter of Hebrews has more to say about this mysterious priesthood
than all the rest of the Bible put together. So in our next chapter we are going
to make a detailed study of this subject. So far the scriptures have already established
this much: that Melchisedec is greater than Abraham, is of a higher order than
the Aaronic priesthood, is an eternal priesthood, and is fulfilled in the person
of Christ, that is, Jesus and His body. And we see plainly that this priesthood
operates beyond the veil, meaning that while we are still in this Adamic nature
and likeness we are not in the Melchisedec order. The five-fold ministry of Ephesians
4:11 (apostles, prophets, etc.) are not the Melchisedec order. They are limited
by time. They are only until. This higher order is forever. They operate while
still on this earth realm, in this Adam life. Melchisedec operates only after
we pass through the veil to where Jesus is, when all sin is removed and the divine
authority of the King-Priest is given to us! Oh glory to God!
Bill
Britton Hebrews the book of better things