Every careful student of the sacred Scriptures soon becomes aware that, from ancient times, God has made use of men to convey His will to humanity. In His revelation to Isaiah God said, "Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen" (8:1). The revelation was to be recorded in the language used by men in preparing human documents. It was to be preserved in a scroll according to the custom of the day. Of the gospel Paul declares that we "have this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Corinthians 4:7).
So unvarying was the practice that the prophet Amos affirms, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (3:7). Amos was tending a herd of livestock when he was called to go to a foreign province and cry out against sin.
The Hebrew word generally translated "prophet" is nabi. It means "to bubble up." The divine message became effervescent in the heart of the prophet. He had to declare it, regardless of personal consequences. Sometimes the word nataph was employed. This means "to drop." In our generation, we are aware of the power of radio stations to direct their signals and to channel their broadcasts to certain points of the compass. God also employed such controlled broadcasting, using the prophets as His antennae. Ezekiel said the word of the Lord came to him, and his "program instructions" were, "Set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south" (20:46).
Spoken through the prophets, the word of God was authoritative. It demanded the attention and compliance, not because of its transmitters, but because of its Originator. The heavens were summoned to hear, and the earth to listen, because the Lord had spoken (Isaiah 1:2). Jeremiah uses the word "hearken" about forty times. Most of these are in condemnation of those who were stubborn and rebellious, refusing the counsel of the Lord. While Isaiah uses the word "obey" only once, Jeremiah uses it twenty-nine times. More than half of these are negative, such as, "Ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord."
The writer to the Hebrews affirms that the word conveyed by messengers before the coming of Christ was stedfast. He uses the word three times in his letter, and every time it refers to something firm, sure, or solid. It is used to describe the revelation of God (2:2), the nature of our faith (3:14), and the hope we have as an anchor (6:19). The revelation given through angels and prophets was not [to] be taken lightly by those to whom it was addressed: "Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward." To transgress was to go beyond the revelation. To disobey was to fall short because of inattention or unconcern. Either type of failure was punished by just retribution.
The Lord "saved" Israel out of the hand of the Egyptians (Exodus 14:30). When the soul of David was depressed and frustrated, he praised God for His "help" (Psalm 42:5). The Lord "preserved" David wherever he went (2 Samuel 8:6). All these are renderings of the same word, which is also translated "rescue" one time, and "deliver" eleven times. In spite of all the great deeds done for God's people in the past, they were taught that a greater salvation would be theirs with the coming of the Messiah, the great emancipator.
In a particularly beautiful passage, Isaiah describes it from the standpoint of a city preparing for the coming of a king. The inhabitants issue from the gates to prepare the road leading to the city. They grade and smooth the highway, gathering out the stones that might prove to be impediments, and elevating banners as rallying points. "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him" (Isaiah 62:11). It is noteworthy that the "salvation" coming is a person. It is He who will reward, and He who will achieve God's mission in the earth.
The writer to the Hebrews affirms that the long-awaited and expected Salvation has arrived. It is identified with the Son of God. Heaven's great "rescue mission" is in operation. The "preservation project" is proceeding on schedule. The "deliverance drive" is going forward. It would be a terrible tragedy for a world to wait centuries for salvation, only to ignore its arrival and "fall away" (Hebrews 6:6).
The gravest danger is neglect. This sin is especially frightening, because it requires no effort, no study, no calculation. In every realm of creation, it corrupts, corrodes, and decays. Neglect to paint a house, and eventually rot sets in, and the building sags down to the ground. Neglect to place expensive machinery in a shed, and rust will someday render it useless. Neglect to service an automobile, and you have unintentionally begun ruining a beautiful piece of equipment.
In the domestic realm, neglect to express love and concern and you will destroy the tie that binds. In the intellectual realm, neglect of study and assignments will produce failure. In the physical realm, neglect of the eyes may cause blindness, neglect of the teeth causes their decay. One need not deliberately commit suicide to die. He can simply neglect taking the medicine prescribed by his doctor. He need not jump from the top ledge of a skyscraper. He can neglect to watch the flow of traffic while crossing a busy street. The man who neglects repairing the gas heater in his home may kill his family as surely as the berserk intruder.
In the moral realm, neglect to reinforce the character by resolution and determination, and the result will be dissolution and degeneration. The word for "neglect" is ameleo, which means "careless." It signifies a state in which one is indifferent or unconcerned. To neglect the great salvation provided for us is to slam the door on our only avenue of escape from destruction. It is to cut off our last hope, and to guarantee our utter loss. One is not being neutral by such neglect, for neglect is a deliberate choice to ignore God's offer of amnesty and deliverance. It is like refusing to sign the document that would make one eligible for pardon and a new life.
The great salvation was first announced by the Lord. John the Baptist was the forerunner who prepared the way of the Lord, but it was the Lord who first made known that the time of deliverance had come. Once when He visited the town of Nazareth, where He lived and worked as a boy, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, as was His custom. He stood up to participate in the prophetic reading, and the attendant handed Him the scroll of Isaiah. He unrolled it until He came to the lesson for the day, and read: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18, 19).
Having read the designated portion, He handed the scroll back to the congregational servant who returned it to the ark where the sacred writings were kept. He sat down, and all eyes were turned toward Him as the people waited for any comment upon the reading. He began by saying, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:21). It will be noted that "preach" occurs three times in this one passage. The gospel was to be preached to the poor, deliverance was to be preached to the captives, and the time of acceptance was to be preached to all. Jesus first announced the deliverance that was made possible through His sacrifice. The very fact that the Good News was first released by the Son himself is an argument in favor of the greatness of the deliverance it offered.
The apostles continued announcing the message after the Son returned to glory. They were called and commissioned for this very thing. He told them while He was yet with them, "Ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning" (John 15:27). One of the qualifications of an apostle was to be a constant companion of Jesus from the time of His baptism by John until He was received up into glory (Acts 1:22). During the interval between His resurrection and ascension, He gave them full instructions. They were to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the outer bounds of the known world. Certainly the Hebrews to whom this letter was addressed were exposed to this testimony, and had accepted it as valid.
That there might be no question as to the divine nature of the revelation, God personally intervened by signs and wonders of an undeniably supernatural origin. These were intended to establish the fact that the message carried by these men was not a mere human invention. The Hebrews were aware that, from the time of Moses, God had revealed that by the mouth of two or three witnesses all testimony would be established (Deuteronomy 19:15). Accordingly, the great salvation had a threefold attestation. The Son proclaimed it during His earthly sojourn. The chosen envoys continued to preach it after His return to Heaven. To remove all doubt as to the origin of the message, God confirmed it through miraculous phenomena.
The purpose of the writer in introducing the matter is not at all to discuss the relationship of miracles to the ongoing proclamation of the gospel. He writes of the matter almost casually, and with his one brief statement drops it. His purpose is simply to prove that the great salvation was proclaimed in a way superior to the messages brought previously by prophets and angels. Because of this it should be given more diligent heed. It must be that the Hebrew believers were aware of the signs, wonders, and varied miracles accompanying the apostolic proclamation, because the writer makes no attempt to convince them that they transpired. If they knew nothing about them they would hardly have been introduced as confirmatory lengthy apology for their reality would have been necessary, which would have amounted to "proving the proof."
Because of this, I could drop the matter here and say no more about it without doing injustice to my purpose. Because of the present universal excitement about miracles and spiritual gifts, however, if I were to do that, you would feel I had cheated you. You would be left wondering what I thought about them. It is gracious of you to permit me to extend this session at length in order to express my views on a subject that is only peripherally related to my theme. I realize that whatever I say will not merit the approval or agreement of all of you, because you share a number of different ideas about the matter. I shall content myself with expressing my thoughts without sitting in judgment upon you, for I love you all.
The gospel is simply the announcement to the world of what God did for man in an historical breakthrough of the flesh curtain. The faith that culminates in a restoration of the divine-human relationship is simply the assent to these facts and the commitment to Jesus as a result of that faith. Man is so constituted by the Creator that he believes only what is rendered credible to him. He cannot believe what appears to be incredible. In order to produce faith, testimony must be confirmed. The fact about which testimony is given is one thing, the testimony about the fact is another, and the confirmation of the testimony is still another. Confirming testimony means to make it believable, that is, to provide the mind with the necessary power or proof to believe.
There are two realms in which intellectual beings or personalities exist. For want of better terms to describe them, we refer to them as the natural and supernatural. The natural mind may receive testimony about facts that originate in either of these realms, but in order to believe them, it must have confirmation to render them credible.
Facts related to ordinary occurrences in the natural realm require only ordinary or natural confirmation. It is judged sufficient to have two or three witnesses, who have had proper access to the facts, to testify concerning them. If their testimony is corroborative and not contradictory, it is considered that the fact is substantiated to the degree that belief is warranted. Even discrepancies are not considered as invalidating, if all of the witnesses agree on the point at issue. We need to distinguish between discrepancies and contradictions.
In developing laws by which testimony is rendered credible, men through the ages have concluded that an oath for confirmation should be the end of all contention or strife. Such an oath binds a witness to disclose the truth under the sanction of an outside power greater than himself. Even a court, vested with full authority, can make no greater demand than a solemn oath administered by a proper official, to assure veracity of testimony.
While natural facts require natural confirmation, supernatural facts require supernatural confirmation. Mere human testimony is not enough to confirm a supernatural fact. Such a fact never can be made credible by a subjective experience, emotion, or feeling. None of these can be tested by the law of valid testimony. They cannot be subjected to cross-examination to determine the authenticity of the construction placed upon them by one who would obviously be prejudiced in making an assessment.
The supernatural proof must be furnished by the Holy Spirit who is the divine agent of revelation and confirmation. We must look to the Spirit for those acts that render believable the facts related to the incarnation. When Paul writes to the called-out saints of the heathen city of Corinth, he mentions that they were enriched by Christ "in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: so that ye come behind in no gift" (I Corinthians 1:5-7). Later, Paul referred to both utterance and knowledge as specific gifts of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12:8-10). They existed as assurances that the testimony of Jesus was true.
The fact that the saints lacked no gift in confirmation of the testimony was not a matter for pride or boasting. While the apostle thanked God for the grace that was given them, he remembered that greater confirmation is required only when more skepticism is manifested. God never wastes His power, nor does He ever employ more divine energy than is required to accomplish His purpose. The abundance of confirmatory gifts at Corinth may speak eloquently of the hardness of their hearts, rather than of their worthiness.
The relationship of the apostle to the congregation at Corinth is very revealing. Paul declares that, even if it could be proven that he was not an apostle to others, it was abundantly evident that he was an apostle to them. He said, "The seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord" (I Corinthians 9:2). The word translated "seal" is sphragis. It refers to an impression made in wax by a die, or by a seal. The impression would prove that the seal existed. Many congregations were planted by men who were not apostles, but there was something about Corinth that left no room for doubt.
Paul asserted that he needed no letter of commendation from them. Instead, the congregation itself was his letter, and all men could read and know this. What was so important about Corinth? I suspect the answer may be found in 2 Corinthians 12:12: "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." The word translated "mighty deeds" in the King James Version is dunamis, the very term as the one found In Hebrews 2:4 and translated "miracles." The signs of an apostle that were patiently demonstrated in Corinth are here described and designated as "signs, and wonders, and miracles."
In view of the strong intimation that an apostle had to be personally present to impart a spiritual gift (Romans 1:11), it is conceivable that wherever spiritual gifts were found, the proof of apostolic labor was at once evident. To this it will be objected that others besides the apostles exhibited spiritual endowments and gifts. Indeed this is true, and no place is a better example of it than Corinth, which came behind in no gift. Yet, the very profusion of gifts was proof that an apostle had been there. If such gifts had been received at Corinth without an apostle having been present, they could hardly be said to be "signs of an apostle."
If, on the other hand, the chosen of God were granted the validating power to render their testimony credible, such supernatural gifts and miracles would be clear evidence, wherever they were seen, than an apostle had been present. If these supernatural gifts were channeled through the apostles, any other person who manifested such gifts or powers would at once be recognized as having been in contact with an apostle.
Jesus has no such ambassadors upon earth today. An ambassador is a minister with special powers sent forth by a sovereign ruler to act for the authority that commissioned him. He is an accredited diplomatic agent of the highest rank, endowed with the authority to announce terms of peace to alien powers. As the inherent sovereign of the universe, Jesus called and qualified twelve men to act as His ambassadors, and when all authority had been given Him in Heaven and on earth, He committed to them the ministry of reconciliation. He commissioned them to go to all nations and take the good news of reconciliation, wherewith He made men free. They were appointed ambassadors-at-large.
Their position was unique. They had no successors to office, for the simple reason that they fulfilled their mission during their lifetime. Now the King exercises authority over those subjects who submit to Him upon the basis of the gospel, that is, "the faith once for all delivered to the saints."
Just as any ambassador must carry credentials to assure the validity of his claims, so the ambassadors of Jesus had to demonstrate their credentials to gain credence for their message. Theirs was a message of supernatural intervention in human affairs. Since the King who appointed them as His personal representatives occupied the throne room of Heaven, their credentials had to be extraordinary and supernatural. So we read that, after they had received their appointment, "they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (Mark 16:20).
In view of the fact that this is a disputed passage, I leave it to you to determine how you will regard it. As I have explained it, it makes little difference if Mark penned it or not. It is exactly what one would expect to find as the result of the ambassadorial commission. The "signs following" are the credentials, the only kind of credentials that would serve the purpose. One who bears a supernatural message needs supernatural confirmation of his claims.
BACK TO HEBREWS
With this having been said, we are now ready
to return to our study of the letter to the Hebrews.
The "great salvation" was first spoken by the Lord. It was then
proclaimed by those who heard
Him from the beginning of His public ministry to its conclusion,
when He returned to the Father.
They were not alone in their proclamation, because the Holy
Spirit was sent in the name of the
Son to teach them all things, and to bring to their remembrance
whatever Christ had said to them
while He was with them (John 14:26). The Spirit guided them into
all truth, and showed them things yet in the future. In order to
render their testimony credible, confirmatory evidence was
provided in the form of signs, wonders, miracles, and diverse
gifts of the Spirit.
It was in this fashion that God bore witness to the truth of their declaration. There was no other way to do so, since supernatural facts must be made credible by supernatural evidence. Signs, wonders, and miracles are not necessarily three types of evidence. In the first place, there is no special word for "miracles" in the original. The term is translated from the word dunamis, which means "power." A miracle is a demonstration of power above and beyond the natural. It is supernatural only as man regards it. Nothing is supernatural to God. Nothing is a miracle to one who is omnipotent.
A miracle may be a sign from the standpoint of design. It is designed to act as a miraculous testimony in behalf of truth. At the same time, it may be a "wonder" because of its effect, since it excites wonder and amazement in the heart of the beholder. It is a miracle because of its origin, being a demonstration of supernatural or extraordinary power. Gifts of the Holy Spirit relate to the Christian aspect of the manifestation of power.
In the passage under consideration, the word for "gifts" is not charismata. This word is used elsewhere, and refers to "gifts of grace," as the word itself indicates. But here it is merismos, literally meaning "parting" or "divining." It is used only twice in the New Covenant Scriptures, both times in the letter to the Hebrews. Instead of the expression "gifts of the Spirit," probably we should follow the marginal rendering "distributions of the Spirit." Since the gifts of the Spirit are all distributed by the Spirit, there need be no great excitement over which expression is used.
The signs, wonders, gifts, and miracles were the divine attestation to the veracity of those who were companions of Jesus. They were the ones who heard Him while He was on earth. The signs were God's way of assuring that the message of the witnesses was the same as the message Jesus had personally declared. Once their message was made a matter of historical record, and properly established as accurate by supernatural means, no further signs or miracles were required for rendering it credible. Truth once confirmed never need be confirmed again.
Accordingly, the "signs of an apostle" were never given to any but the apostles. To accredit every citizen as an ambassador would mean that no one was really an ambassador. I think the Spirit selected, and made a matter of record, a sufficient number of miracles, and the very kind of miracles essential to rendering the apostolic testimony capable of belief by an honest heart. To demand additional signs is not to manifest belief, but doubt. It is to walk by sight and not by faith. It is to impeach the apostolic credentials as being insufficient to accomplish the purpose for which God designed them. As far as I am concerned, the gospel was complete, the validation adequate, the credibility established. On that basis I believe it.