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| 1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; |
Holy brethren – The Royal Priesthood. T27, T22; A222; R1101:1; NS598:3; PD68/81
The consecrated Gospel Church. SM139:2; R399:4
The saints. SM359:1
Justified. R714:1
All of the Lord's true people, begotten of the holy Spirit, are beautiful characters as new creatures. R5958:2
Partakers – With Christ Jesus. R964:6
Heavenly calling – The high calling; (Phil. 3:14) to share with Jesus in his glory, honor and immortality. R5459:1, 5926:4, 5023:2, 965:1, 361:5; F67; CR34:5
These are called to heavenly conditions; therefore they are cut off from their earthly rights as men. R5023:2; Q436:1
The heavenly nature, or body, is promised to the overcomers. R454:1; PD8/15
The promises to the saints of the Gospel age are heavenly. R1881:4; HG333:5
After we have accepted the call upon the Lord's terms, there is a great work to be done in us. And God is doing the work. R5759:4
While the Old Testament says nothing about any invitation for anybody to go to heaven, the New Testament assures the Church of this. R5772:2
Requiring that our justified human nature shall be presented to God a living sacrifice. R659:5*, 447:5*
The call is not the decision in the matter; it is merely an invitation with certain definite conditions. We are called, not only to righteousness, but to suffering and self-sacrifice. R5459:1
The true footstep followers of Jesus are running for the office of joint-heirship with Christ. The chief duty of the Christian is to avoid entangling alliance with worldly, political systems. Q850:1
God at the present time does not desire the entire world to hear and understanding respecting his plan. He is choosing a special class for the Royal Priesthood. NS340:6
Consider – Think of, notice carefully. Consider the necessity of Jesus being tested before being so highly exalted and you will not wonder that you should be severely tried that you may be worthy to share his glory. R964:6, 4553:3
Let his faithfulness encourage our hearts in all our weary work, and his success be the assurance of our rich reward. R31:4*
From the standpoint of his being the Church's Apostle and High Priest. R3313:4
Had more consideration been given by the Lord's people to these matters, a larger number would undoubtedly be much farther advanced than they are today, in the knowledge and love of God. R3313:4
As our example, that, as members, we may present our sacrifice as he, our Forerunner, presented his. R4553:3
Apostle – Special teacher sent of God to specially guide and instruct the Church. R3313:4
High Priest – The Chief Priest of our kind or order of priests. R4553:3, 2309:5; A222; T27
The Head. R600:2, 5341:6; T26
Typified by Aaron. R4352:3, 714:4; NS598:3
Consecration as a priest preceded Kingship and its Mediatorial work for men. R4537:4
If Christ is a High Priest and the Church his underpriests, there must be some future greater blessing all the families of the earth. R3313:4
Melchisedec being the type of The Christ. T26; R714:4
Our profession – Order. R4397:3, 4537:4; CR434:3
Our order of priesthood. T22
Christ Jesus – To be Christ Jesus. T27
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The Apostle and Hight Priest – "The Apostle Paul calls our attention in this [spiritual - site Editor] direction saying, "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." (Heb. 3:1.) But how few of those who read the Scriptures have ever followed the Apostle's suggestion? how few have ever considered Jesus from the standpoint suggested, --as the Church's Apostle or special teacher sent of God to specially guide and instruct the Church, and as the church's High Priest to whom the faithful occupy the relationship of under priests? Had more consideration been given by the Lord's people to these matters, a larger number would undoubtedly be much farther advanced than they are today, in the knowledge and love of God. They would have seen that if Christ is a special teacher, a special High Priest of the Church, and the Church his special pupils, brethren and under priests, then there must be, according to the Scriptures, at some future time, a still greater blessing in which both High Priests and under priests will be the agents of God in blessing all the families of the earth." - R3313:6 |
| 2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. |
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| 3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. |
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| 4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. |
Is God – In dealing with the house of sons, God has set up a new law, the law of love. R5405:2, 5663:6
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| 5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
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Moses – The head. R224:2, 3268:3, 3476:2, 2542:1
A prophet. R435:3
The Mediator of the typical or Law Covenant. F432
Represents the human element of the Kingdom. R559:4
Israel was in Moses except as they had neglected the Law Covenant, which he established. R3712:4
Was faithful – Not a fraud. R3177:5
The faithful servant carried the Lord's message as it was laid upon him. R370:5
The prophets and patriarchs laid hold of the earthly promises. R361:5, 5170:3
"Faithful servant" and "Friend of God" was the dearest name then possible, because fallen from the likeness of sons of God and not yet redeemed. R1005:2; NS662:6
God considered Abraham and all the faithful of past ages as the servant class. R5207:3
The Hagar Covenant brought forth some noble servants. R1389:2
In all his house – The house of servants. R5859:1, 5838:1, 5250:2, 2071:3, 1389:2, 435:3; A145; F177; NS626:6
Fleshly Israel; a family of servants. B204
Natural Israel. R2405:3, 3476:2, 505:4*, 175:2
The Jewish house. R1457:1, 600:1
The typical house, the servant house. HG114:4
The Levitical tribe. R4537:2
From Moses down to John the Baptist, there was a house of servants under Moses. R5682:4, 5613:1, 5582:6, 5405:2, 1389:2, 219:1
Faithful overcomers who preceded the Christian dispensation. A145
Moses delivered to this "house" the divine Law, by the keeping of which they might be blessed and used in the divine service. R5003:3
Aaron and the underpriests and Levites all assisted Moses--were his servants and under his direction in the mediating in the various services incidental to the satisfaction of justice. R4537:2, 714:4
The prophets belong to the preceding house of servants. R4958:2, 5775:2, 1389:2
Every Jew was counted as a member of the house of Moses, bound to him unto death, and merely needing repentance to be transferred to Christ, whom Moses typified. F432; R3712:4; NS662:3
The very elect of natural Israel at the close of the Jewish age, were permitted to enter the higher dispensation--passing out of the house of servants into the house of sons. F177; NS626:5; PD58/70
As a servant – We never find Israelites referred to as sons of God. There is no direct statement that he was their father, or they were his children. R5219:1, 5663:6
The Jews never thought of speaking of themselves as sons of God. When Jesus declared himself to be the Son of God they were indignant, said that he blasphemed, and took up stones to stone him. R5663:6, 3476:2
The servants belong to the house; but not in the very special sense as do the children. R5424:5
It is proper to give servants commandments. R1543:3, 3030:1, 1729:2
Commands were given to servants without explanation, why or wherefore. R5405:2
The Jews were promised temporal blessings as a reward for faithfulness; while Christians are promised spiritual blessings, with temporal adversities. R5613:2
The Ancient Worthies' loyalty to God and to righteousness is to be abundantly rewarded, but theirs is to be an earthly blessing in the paradise to be established in the earth. R5772:3
The terms of the high calling are not in the Old Testament. F86
The Jews who were not faithful were not even servants. R5310:3; A145
For a testimony – The fleshly house were the honored servants of the spiritual house, chiefly in that they unconsciously furnished pantomime illustrations of spiritual things, to greatly bless and enlighten the house of sons. B205
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| 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. |
But – In all things Jesus has the preeminence. Moses is brought forward, but only to set him aside in the presence of Jesus. R174:2*
Christ as a son – Christ was faithful as a son. R1729:1
The Head of the house. R5405:2, 5838:1, 5170:3, 3476:2, 3268:3, 224:2
Chief. R3223:5
The antitypical Moses, the Messiah. F432
The Sarah Covenant began to bear. R1389:2
From Adam's fall no other human son was recognized. R5831:2, 5859:1, 1005:1; NS662:6
Over his own house – The house of sons. R5859:2, 5663:6, 5250:2, 3539:2, 2071:3, 1389:2, 435:3; A145; F177; NS626:6
The Gospel house. R600:1
Spiritual Israel. R175:2, 3476:2, 505:4*; B205
The elect Church. R2405:4, 831:4, 600:1; A145
Those overcomers tried and found faithful during the Christian dispensation. A145
During the Gospel Age there is a house of sons, begotten of the holy Spirit, under the Lord Jesus Christ. R5682:4, 179:6*
The privilege of becoming sons of God was given first in Jesus' day. All who had previously exercised faith were friends or servants. R5775:3, 5170:3; HG114:5
A remnant of Israel had the privilege of passing from servants to sons. R3476:2, 5817:5, 4108:1; PD58/70
The Pentecostal blessing was the beginning of the recognition of the followers of Jesus as sons of God. R5831:2; PD58/70
At Pentecost the holy Spirit of adoption and begetting was first given; without that none could occupy the plane of sons. R5069:6, 5817:5, 5207:3, 4939:6; NS662:3
None could be of the house of sons until Jesus sacrifice had been presented to the Father and accepted by him. NS662:6
The harvest of the Jewish age and preparatory work for the Gospel age, opened the new dispensation; and all Jews or Gentiles who received Christ, were accepted as members of the new house of sons, which took the place of the old house of servants. NS626:5
The twelve apostles, the seventy, the "500 brethren" (1 Cor. 15:6) and those Jews subsequently reached on the Day of Pentecost and afterward during the entire harvest of their age, became sons of God. R4108:1, 3476:2
The fact that God has received Jesus and the Church as sons, signifies that they are in covenant relationship with him. R5163:5
From the time that sin entered the world, God recognized none of the human family as his sons--all were sinners--until Jesus died, to bring us back to God, and open the door of sonship. R5859:1, 5831:2
During the Jewish age there was an election or selection of a "house of servants"; during the present Christian age a "house of sons" is in progress, yet neither of these selections was arbitrary on individuals. R1457:1, 831:4
Whose house are we – We belong to the house of sons--spiritual, not the natural seed. CR215:5
The house of God; the Church (1 Pet. 4:17). R569:2, 1915:2, 179:6*
A house of sons, under Christ. R5405:2, 2071:3
The Kingdom of heaven class. R4958:2
"The mountain of the Lord's house." (Isa. 2:2) R269:2
Whose house are we to be. R175:2
God deals with us as with sons. R5405:2
As sons, it is all the more necessary that we learn the lessons of obedience to the Father. More is to be expected of a son in his father's service. He requires more training and discipline. R2405:4
Sons need not be commanded or threatened. No self-denial is too great, and no act of respect and obedience too small. R1543:3, 3030:1
Jesus tells us of our special privileges over the prophets and others in Matt. 13:11, 17. R435:3
Each, to be a member of the house of sons, must be joined to the Lord, to Christ, and through him to the Father. R5614:6
When the typical house of servants was left desolate it furnished the opportunity for the installation of the antitypical house of sons. R3539:2, 3712:4
If it was a favor to natural Israel to be adopted as the Lord's peculiar people, as the house of servants, how much greater is the blessing to spiritual Israel, adopted of the Lord. R3223:5
This includes propitiation offerings, and later the blessing and teaching of the world, for a renewal of covenant relations with God as before the fall. R4537:5
The Lord has placed no restrictions in regard to tithing. Whoever has become a partaker of the spirit of the Lord, has a mind not merely to give a tenth, but to consecrate all. R2542:1
During this age of trial and development, all professors are reckoned as part of the nominal house of sons, and the distinctions between the true and false are not to be manifested until the end of this age. R175:2
Since the two houses of Israel--the Jewish and the Gospel houses--stand in relation to each other as type and anti-type, there are some parallels. R600:1, 245:2*
The Church is not better intentioned or less sinful by nature than were the patriarchs and prophets; but the opportunity of sonship came to us and not them because their day was not God's "due time." R5775:2
If we hold fast – If we pass the trial successfully. HG40:5
The present state of our membership is not final, but a probationary one. R1698:5
Of the hope – Not in our own righteousness but in Christ and his redemptive work. R2532:4
Firm unto the end – Those who overcome the temptations of the world, dying daily; shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. R1915:2
Let us remember the importance of patient endurance, constancy, that we may take joyfully every trial, every persecution, every difficulty, which God may permit for testing and ripening of character. R5497:6, 5170:3; CR215:5
To the end of the Gospel age, when the house will be finished. R297:4
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| 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Spirit saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, |
The Holy Spirit saith – God, who spake unto the fathers by the prophets--hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. (Heb. 1:1,2) R810:6*
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| 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: |
Day of temptation – Not a 24-hour day any more than is the judgment day. A139; R568:6, 268:1
Forty years (verse 9). R5139:3, 568:6, 299:4, 268:1, 34:3*; A47, A139; Q758:2
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| 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. |
Your fathers – Israel represented God's chosen people of the Gospel Age, and their journey from the bondage of sin into the blessed Canaan rest of justification by faith in Christ, a foretaste of the heavenly Canaan. R1841:3
Forty years – The period in the wilderness. B48
Typifying the nineteen centuries of the Gospel Age, the period of Jewish disfavor. R3079:3, 3064:4
We are now living in this "Day of the Lord," beginning in 1874, a day of forty years duration, as was "the day of temptation in the wilderness." R410:4, 26:6
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| 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. |
That generation – Greek, genea, people living contemporaneously, as in "This generation shall not pass." (Matt. 24:34) D603
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I – Jehovah God.
Was grieved – Because of their unbelief. Even after seeing all his wonders in their release from the slavery of Egypt.
With that generation – Those living at the time they reached the promised land - because they did not exercise enough faith in God to enter into the land. |
| 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) |
Shall not enter – Not because God did not perform his part, but because they murmured and failed to exercise the proper faith in the Lord. R5388:1
This was a prophecy of the end of the Jewish Age; as a nation they would fail. R5388:5
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| 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. |
Heart of unbelief – In unbelief, Israel murmured against the divine leading and their carcasses fell in the wilderness. R1841:3
They failed to exercise the proper faith in the Lord. R5388:2
For one who has known the doctrines of Christ, to lose them, the heart must first have been separated from the Lord. R5948:3,5
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| 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. |
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Today – In one sense this refers to the Gospel Age, the age of sacrifice. More particularly though it refers to RIGHT NOW! Consider what Paul is saying in this context. He is comparing typical Israel, those who had already come into covenant relationship with God, and their opportunity to come into the land of promise, with us in our covenant relationship with God and our opportunity to enter into rest. If Israel had obeyed immediately, God would have driven out the inhabitants for them, little by little. But since they did not obey but instead listened to the evil report of the 10 spies, when they did come to the promised land, they had to do the battle and drive out the inhabitants themselves (though it was still with God's help.) |
| 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; |
We are made partakers of Christ – "We have become associates of the Anointed." (Diaglott) R3952:4, 714:1
Stedfast unto the end – "Firm unto the end." (Diaglott) R714:1, 3952:4, 3476:2
"Stand fast in the Lord." (Phil. 4:1) R90:1
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| 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. |
It is said, To day – The present limited time beginning with our Lord Jesus, in which any may obtain the heavenly salvation. F94
Harden not your hearts – The Church is warned against failure to enter into the heavenly Canaan, by the example of fleshly Israel in its wayward course from Egypt to Canaan. R1841:3
Both individuals and the great nominal church systems who despise God's word and cast it from them shall feel his hot displeasure, while those who humbly hear and heed shall be blessed. R1372:1
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| 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. |
Did provoke – Those who accept God as their guide and leader, should never murmur, nor complain. To do so is to dispute the divine wisdom and promises, and to that extent to break their covenant of faith, obedience and loyalty. R5306:2
The Lord's dealings with the Israelites show us that justice, love, mercy, loyalty to God and to principle are in the divine estimation the highest qualities, and violations of these the most serious crimes. R5306:2
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| 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? |
That had sinned – A whole generation. R1841:3
Whose carcases fell – They forfeited the privilege of entering Canaan , and died in the wilderness, because of unbelief and departing from the ways of God. R1841:3
At various intervals the nation of Israel was shaken and sifted by captives and otherwise, that only the loyal and true might remain. R3052:6
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| 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? |
They should not enter – Not that no Jew will enter into the true rest of God, but rather, this was a prophecy of the end of the Jewish age--as a nation, Israel would not be ready to enter into the rest of faith which was then offered. R5388:5
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| 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. |
Because of unbelief – The Jew saw only the letter, and nothing to which the Law pointed. He saw nothing that, in and of itself, was of any value. HG58:4
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