Jonathan Edwards · 360 of 409

Hebrews to Revelation · Part 2

Hence we may gather the meaning of the word wilfully in that place, That the apostle means by it in the same sense as the man in Numbers is said to sin presumptuously; the phrase in the original is with an high hand, or rather, a lifted up hand, as of one that is going to strike another. The same word is used of Jeroboam, 1 Kings xii. 26. “He lift his hand against the king.”

[135] Heb. xii. 21. “And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.” The place referred to seems to me to be, Deut. ix. 18,19. “I fell down, for I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure,” &c. God at that time manifested his displeasure by the extraordinary burning in the mount. See verse 15.

[289] Heb. xiii. 12, 13, 14. “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” Christ suffered as one that was not fit to live among men, nor to die in a place where men dwelt; and therefore was carried forth as execrable without the gate to suffer there: such reproach did Christ suffer, and such were the circumstances of the Christian church in those days, that those that would be the faithful followers of Christ must suffer like reproach: they were cast off by the generality of men; they were looked upon as not fit for human society, worthy to be shut out from dwelling with men. Matt. x. 22. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” If they would cleave to Christ, they must even go forth with him without the camp, and be reputed as unclean as he was: they must be shut without the gates of the city as execrable too, and must bear his reproach, or the same reproach that he bore. So the apostle advises them to be willing to go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

But by going forth to Christ without the camp, or the gate of the city, the apostle here seems especially to mean exposing themselves to be shut out as unclean, from the congregation of the Jews, and from the temple and city of Jerusalem, and from the religious society of the Jews in their synagogues, by their forsaking the ancient legal sacrifices and other legal observances for Christ, ver. 9.

[52] James ii. 19. “The devils also believe and tremble.” They believe that Jesus is the Christ, &c. And tremble al the thoughts of the overthrow he will give them.

[264] 1 Pet. i. 3. with the context The apostle directing his epistle to the Christians in Pontus, &c. takes notice, in the foregoing verse, of the hand that each of the persons of the Trinity had in their being so distinguished from the rest of the world, as to be Christians, or saints, “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” And having mentioned the blood of Christ and referred to his death; which is, in itself considered, without what followed, a melancholy subject, as Christ says, Matt. ix. 15. “The days come when the bridegroom shall betaken from them, and then shall they fast; he therefore in this verse leads their thoughts to the resurrection, a more joyful subject. The death of Christ, without a resurrection following, might justly have damped and killed the hope of all his disciples; but his resurrection revives their hearts, and renews and everlastingly establishes their hopes, no more to be thus damped. It is probable that the apostle, when he wrote this, remembered how it was with him and the rest of the apostles, when Christ was dead. Before they were full of hope of being advanced with Christ in his kingdom; but when he was dead, their hopes seemed to be quashed, and dead as it were with him; but when Christ was raised to life again, so were their hopes renewed, and abundantly established, and their hearts were filled with joy. Christ, by his resurrection, is said to be begotten, Acts xiii. 33. “God hath raised up Jesus again, as it is written, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” When the Father raised Christ from the dead, he was, as it were, begotten again of the Father; and so his disciples were with him begotten again to a lively hope, or as it probably might have been better rendered, a living hope. The expression, a living hope, seems to denote three things:

1. That as Christ since his death is alive again, so their hope was alive, and not dead, as the hope of the disciples was, while Christ was dead, though Christians suffered persecution, verses 6, 7.

2. That their hope by Christ’s resurrection is exceedingly established, and made strong and lively; so that they greatly rejoiced, (verse 6.) yea, rejoiced with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.

3. Which seems more especially to be intended, their hope that is begotten and established by Christ’s resurrection, is an immortal and never dying hope, as the Spirit of grace in the saints is called living water, because it springs up into everlasting life. John iv. And Christ is called the bread of life, because he that eateth thereof shall not die, but live for ever. John vi. The hope that the disciples had before Christ’s death, was in a great measure dead when he was dead. But now Christ is risen, and is alive for evermore; Rev. i. 18. so the hope that is begotten and established by the resurrection of Christ, is a living, never dying hope. It is now too much established by that glorious resurrection of Christ, ever to die again, to that degree, that the hope of the disciples died, when Christ died. God the Father raised Christ incorruptible, never to die more, and thereby begot them to an inheritance incorruptible. A rich father begets a child to an inheritance; so God, the Father of their Lord Jesus Christ, and their Father here spoken of, has begotten them to an inheritance, and this inheritance is incorruptible, and that fadeth not away. And as their inheritance that they are begotten to, is immortal and unfading, so is their hope a living and unfading hope. Verse 4. The same power of God, that raised Christ immortal, will keep their faith alive, that it shall never die; as verse 5. “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” So that their faith and hope live still, though they be subject to great trials; even as refined pure gold will bear the fire, verses 6, 7.; and therefore the apostle exhorts them to hope to the end, verse 13. or to hope with a living and never-dying hope.

[480] 1 Peter ii. 7, 8. “Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is become the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence,” &c. There are several ways and respects, that stones or rocks are valuable and of benefit to men, in each of which Christ in Scripture is compared to a stone or rock with regard to believers.

1. Some stones are highly valued for the preciousness of their nature and substance, and beauty of their form, and so are valued as a great treasure, and that which is prized because it enriches and adorns. So Christ is said to be a stone that is precious to believers. He is spoken of as a pearl of great price. So he was typified by the precious or costly stones that were brought for the foundation of the temple.

2. Stones or rocks are a great benefit to mankind, as a sure foundation of a building; so is Christ to believers.

3. Rocks were commonly made use of for defence from enemies; their fortresses were ordinarily built on high rocks, or rocky mountains; so is Christ often spoken of in Scripture as the strong rock, high tower, refuge, and sure defence of believers.

4. Rocks were of great benefit to travellers in the hot parched deserts of Arabia, near to Canaan, by their cool shadows. The benefit believers have by Christ, is compared to this, Isa. xxxii. at the beginning.

5. In a time of inundation, mountains or rocks would be the places to resort to for safety, to keep from being overwhelmed. The benefit believers have by Christ is compared to this, Ps. lxi. 2. “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

On the contrary, there are several ways that stones, or rocks, are disesteemed among men, and hurtful to them; wherein Christ is compared to a stone or rock with regard to unbelievers:

1. Nothing is ordinarily looked upon and treated by men as more worthless than common stones; so is Christ disesteemed and rejected by unbelievers: as builders throw away misshapen stones as not for their purpose, and of no value.

2. Stones are offensive to travellers, and an occasion of their stumbling and falling; so is Christ to unbelievers, “a stone of stumbling.”

3. Rocks are very often fatal to sailors, and the occasion of their suffering shipwreck; so those that enjoy the gospel, and have the means of grace, but fail through unbelief, are in Scripture compared to them who suffer shipwreck at sea; 1 Tim. i. 19. “Concerning faith have made shipwreck.”

4. Those high rocks that were most fit for places of defence, had dreadful precipices, which if men fell over, they would be broken in pieces: Isa. viii. 14. “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, &c. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and taken.”

[150] 1 Peter iv. 6. “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and live according to God in the spirit; that is, that they might be judged according to what they did when they were alive amongst men in the flesh, as other mortal men, and live according to God in the spirit; that is, that their spirit might live, might continue to exist before God, and as God doth separate from fleshly bodies, and according as God pleases, to fix their state.

[140] 2 Peter i. 10. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for he that doeth these things shall never fall.” The apostle had exhorted to give diligence to add to our faith, virtue, &c. and tells us that if we do these things we shall not be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge, &c. Now he offers another argument; he tells us that to neglect those things, is the way to doubtfulness about our condition, “He that lacketh those things has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins;” therefore the meaning of this verse is, the rather give diligence in those things, that you may make your calling and election sure; as is evident by the following clause, “for he that doeth these things shall never fall;” “Wherefore the rather,” is as much as to say, the rather for this, viz. “that you may make your,” &c.

[265] 2 Peter i. 11., to the end. Ver. 11. ”So an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” By the kingdom seems to have been intended by the apostle, and to be understood by the Christians in those days, the kingdom that Christ would set up and establish at his second coming, spoken of in the 16th verse. That was the principal accomplishment of that prophecy of the kingdom of the Son of God in the 2nd and 7th chapters of Daniel, and was the greatest thing intended by Christ when he spake of his coming in his kingdom.

Ver. 12. ”Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” By the present truth seems to be intended the doctrine of Christ’s second coming, because there were some apostates and false teachers among them lately risen up, spoken of, chap. ii. 3. that denied it, and opposed it. They denied the Lord that bought them, chap. ii. 1.; and of consequence denied the second coming of Christ, as appears by chap. iii. They were scoffers, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of his coming, for the apostle in that chapter does not only speak of such a sort of men as future, but as what was then present, as having been foretold by the apostles of the Lord Jesus, ver. 2. The apostles had foretold of scoffers that should come before the coming of Christ, as they knew, and the apostle speaks of that sort of men he had described in the second chapter as being in part a fulfilment of their prediction, as the apostle John says, 1 John ii. 18. “Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.” So here, chap. ii. 3. the apostle Peter puts them in mind, how the apostles of the Lord Jesus had told them, and they knew by their word, that in the last days scoffers should come. Therefore the apostle would not have them shocked by them, now they were come. It is evident that the apostle speaks of them as present, and not merely future, by the following part of that chapter, particularly verses 5, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17. So that it is the doctrine of the second coming of Christ that was the doctrine that was especially opposed by apostates among them at that day, and therefore that doctrine is what the apostle calls the present truth. The apostle, in this verse, signifies to them that he writes this epistle to establish them, and put them in remembrance in what he calls the present truth; but it is that truth of Christ’s second coming that he writes this epistle to establish them in, as appears by the beginning of the 3rd chapter, where he uses the same expression of putting them in remembrance. This second epistle I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour;” and that word and commandment was what they told them of Christ’s second coming, as appears by what there follows.

Verse 16. ”For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We, i. e. the apostles, have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we taught you this present truth of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he speaks of this as a doctrine that the apostles had taught them before, chap. iii. 2. These apostates gave out that what Jesus had said about his second coming, was only a fable cunningly devised by him, perhaps to maintain the credit of his former pretences of being the Messiah prophesied of, that was to set up the kingdom of heaven, when otherwise he would have lost it all by his sufferings and disgrace that he met with while he lived, and to keep up the zeal of his followers, and so his name and honour, after his death.

Verses 16, 17, 18. “But were eye-witnesses of his majesty,” &c. They, the apostles, had not only heard him say, that he would come in his kingdom in power and great glory, but they were in a sort eye-witnesses of it, in that they were eye-witnesses of something in Christ that was a remarkable and wonderful earnest and prelibation of it, viz. the glory of his transfiguration. The glory of the transfiguration was manifested to Peter, that wrote this epistle, and two other disciples, to that very end, that it might be an earnest of what he had been telling them of his coming in his kingdom, and a specimen of the glory of his second coming. For in each of the three evangelists the account of Christ’s transfiguration follows next after Christ’s foretelling them of his coming in his kingdom. What they saw of the glory of Christ’s transfiguration was an evidence of two things that were dependent one on another, both which these apostates denied.

First, It was an evidence that he was the Son of God, the same that was declared by the voice which said, “This is my beloved Son.” This these apostates denied, chap ii. ver. 1. “denying the Lord that bought them.” This was evident by that glory they saw: as,

1. The glory that Christ there appeared in was so divine and admirably excellent, and had such a bright and evident appearance of divinity, such an admirable and ineffable semblance of the infinitely glorious perfection of God, his awful majesty, his purity, and infinitely sweet grace and love, as evidently denoted him to be a divine person. The apostle says, “He received from the Father, honour and glory:” the term is doubled and varied thus to signify the exceeding excellency of the glory.

There was doubtless an inward sight, or lively sense of heart, of Christ’s spiritual glory that accompanied Peter’s sight of the visible glory of Christ. There was an ineffable beauty, majesty, and brightness in his countenance, that held forth and naturally represented the excellencies of his mind, his holiness, his heavenly meekness, and grace, and love, and that majesty that spake his union with the Deity, and by the influence of the Spirit of God accompanying, excited in Peter, and the other two that were with him, a great sense of those perfections, and their immense excellency, adorableness, and sweetness. And the Spirit of God doubtless accompanied the word of God, that Peter and the other then heard, so that that word was spiritually understood, and believed; so that Christ’s glory then was manifested to the disciples three ways: by the rays of light, it was exhibited to their eyes; by the voice, it was declared to their ears; and by the Spirit, to their souls. The last was the most convincing and certain evidence to them of Christ’s divinity.

This glory of Christ, that the apostles then saw, both the outward glory and the spiritual glory, that the outward glory had a semblance of, did most remarkably appear to be such as exceedingly became the only-begotten, dearly beloved, and infinitely lovely Son of God. Therefore, the apostle John, who was another eye-witness of it, speaking probably with special reference to this, John i. 14. says, “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” It exhibited not only the divine greatness in the majesty of which the apostle Peter in this place especially speaks, but the divine grace and love in the sweetness of it.

2. This glory that appeared in the person of Christ, did exactly resemble that excellent glory that the apostle speaks of, out of which the voice came, ver. 17. For there was there in the mount an external glory, as a visible symbol of the presence of God the Father, and by which he was represented; as well as an external glory in God the Son, viz. that bright cloud that overshadowed them. There was a glory in that cloud that the apostle calls an excellent glory. When it is said in the evangelists that a bright cloud overshadowed them, it is not meant such a light or white cloud as shines by a cast of light upon it from some shining body, such as are some clouds by the bright reflection of the sun’s light; but a cloud bright by an internal light shining out of it, which light the apostle calls an excellent glory. It probably was an ineffably sweet, excellent sort of light, perfectly differing from and far exceeding the light of the sun. All light is sweet, but this seems to have been immensely more sweet than any other that ever they had; impressing some idea which we cannot conceive, having never seen it, as we can conceive of nothing of light more than we have seen; we could have conceived of no such light as the light of the sun, had not we seen it, nor of any colour, blue, red, green, purple, nor any other. God doubtless can excite other ideas of light in our minds besides any of those that we have had, and far exceeding them; a light affording sweetness and pleasure to the sight, far exceeding all pleasure of the grosser and inferior senses. Therefore, Peter the apostle, that writes this epistle, was exceedingly delighted with it in the time of it, which made him say, “It is good for us to be here;” and made him talk of building tabernacles, and thinking of spending the rest of his days there; and he still (though now old and near his end, verses 13, 14.) retains a lively sense of the exquisite gloriousness and pleasantness of that light, when he expresses himself as he does here, calling it the excellent glory. And there probably was an exact resemblance between the glory that the disciples saw in Christ’s face, and that which they saw in this cloud, which declared him to be the Son of God; for they saw him to be his express image.

The apostle John, who saw this, probably afterwards in his visions, saw the very same sort of light and glory as an emanation of the glory of God, filling the new Jerusalem, which he now saw filling the mount of transfiguration, the type of that which he gives an account of in “Having the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper-stone, clear as crystal.” The light he then saw seems to be perfectly differing in nature from any that is to be seen in this world, and immensely more sweet and excellent. He evidently wants words and similitudes to convey his own impression of it to our minds; he wants something excellent, and sweet, and precious enough to set it forth. He says, “It was like a stone most precious;” he knew none precious, or bright, or excellent enough to the sight; but he says it was “like a jasper-stone,” more resembling that than any other; but that is not sufficient, and therefore he adds, “clear as crystal;” and from the whole we may gather, it was something he could not express, and that there was nothing like it. (Vide Note on the verse.) So it was the same kind of light that this beloved disciple had the glory of God represented by, Rev. iv. 3. “He that sat on it was like a jasper and a sardine stone;” a jasper and a sardine stone were of different colours, one green and the other red. How then could the light appear like both? By this it is plain, that indeed it was like neither, and that the apostle could find nothing to represent it by; there was all that was excellent in both. This is something like his seeing that the street of the new Jerusalem was like pure gold, and yet like transparent glass, Rev. xxi. 18.

3. This glory that they saw in Christ, appeared to them as communicated from that glory in the cloud, for the apostle says he received from the Father honour and glory. The light in Christ’s person appeared to them to be as it were lighted up, or begotten, as it were, by that in the cloud; or the glory in the cloud appeared shining on Christ, and so communicating the same excellent brightness. This again declared him to be the Son of God, for it showed him to be the express image of the Father, and to be from the Father, as begotten of him. Thus the glory of Christ’s transfiguration was an evidence that he was the Son of God.

Secondly. It was also a special and direct evidence that what he had said a little before of his second coming, was true. By it was given a specimen of that glory that he should then appear in, and showed that this was the person that the prophet Daniel foretold would come in so glorious a kingdom, that the Jews called it the kingdom of heaven, by the agreement there was between this glory they saw in Christ, and that which Daniel describes to be in that person that should set up that kingdom, whose garment is said to be white as snow. Dan. vii. 9. As Christ’s garments were said to be white as the light, and so as no fuller on earth can white them.

And nextly, besides the visible glory, the apostle mentions the voice that issued from the excellent glory in the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him” (though the last clause, “Hear him,” is not here mentioned). It is observable that it is the very same, which the glory that was in the cloud declared to the eyes of the apostles, which the voice in the cloud declared to their ears. The visible communication from this glory to Christ, one glory as it were begetting another, and the exact resemblance of the glory begotten, declared him to be God’s Son; and the sweet and exact agreement between one and the other, and the union that appeared by communication, denoted the love between the Father and Son, as that he was well pleased in him. And this glory, being given as a specimen of the glory of his second coming, declared the truth of what he had so lately told them of his second coming: the same that the voice implicitly declared, when it bid them hear him, or believe what he said, which the disciples that heard it, must especially apply to the things he had most lately told them, and instructed them in.

Verse 19. ”We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” By the word of prophecy is here meant, the standing written revelation that God had given to his church, as appears by the two next verses. This is spoken of as surer than a voice from heaven. But the apostle has a special respect to the prophetical part of this written revelation, and most of all those parts that speak of the glory of Christ’s kingdom, which is the principal subject of scripture prophecy, particularly that prophecy in the 7th chap. of Daniel, that speaks of the kingdom of heaven. This word of prophecy is as a light that shines in a dark place. The time of Christ’s coming is here spoken of as the morning, when Christ, who is the Sun, shall arise and appear; and his happy kingdom that he shall then set up, is represented as the day time. But the time that goes before that, is here represented as night time, or a time of darkness, and we that live in that time, as being in a dark place. The word of prophecy is as a light shining in a dark place, or as the light of a bright star in this night, a light preceding the day of Christ’s coming, like the morning-star that is a forerunner of the day. The prophecies of that day foretell it, as the day-star foretells the approaching day. The prophets were harbingers of that blessed season, as the morning-star is the harbinger of the day. By the prophecies of that day that go before it, something of the light of that day is manifested beforehand, and so is reflected to it, so that some of the light of the fire is anticipated, as by the day-star while it is yet night. If we give heed to those prophecies, we shall enjoy this foregoing light in our hearts, and so this day-star will arise; then our faith in these prophecies will be the evidence of that glorious Sun that is now not seen, and will render his light that is hoped for in some measure present in this dark world, and in our dark hearts. We snail in a measure have the joy of the morning of Christ’s coming beforehand; we shall have a light in our hearts that will be an earnest and forerunner of the glorious light of that day, as the dawning of the day before sun-rise.

This world is a dark place without Christ, and therefore is dark till he comes, and until his kingdom of glory is set up. It appeared to be so now, especially in the circumstances of the Christians that the apostle now writes to, a world of heresies, grand delusions, and dreadful wickedness. They were in a dark place; they were not only surrounded with heathens, and subject to persecution, as appears by Peter’s first epistle, that was written to the same Christians, as is evident by chap. iii. 1. but were in the midst of vile heretics and apostacies, as has been said already, and Christ delayed his coming, and they had many temptations to deny the present truth, and lose their hopes of the sun’s rising. When a man is in a dark place, and is in danger of stumbling and falling, and being lost, and has a light held forth to him, to guide him in, it behoves him to take heed to it, and keep his eye upon it, lest he get out of the way and fall into mischief.