William Burkitt Notes and Observations - Hebrews 12:22 - 12:22

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William Burkitt Notes and Observations - Hebrews 12:22 - 12:22


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Our apostle having given an account, in the foregoing verses, of the state of the Jewish church under the law, comes now to declare that most excellent state whereinto believers are called in and by the gospel. The privileges here summed up partly respect the church militant, and and partly the church triumphant.

Observe then, The glorious privilege of the gospel-state, and what believers are said to come to, whilst militant here on earth.

1. They are said to come unto Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the new Jerusalem; not to mount Sinai, which was full of terror and discomfort, but to mount Sion, full of all spiritual blessings.

Where note, The gospel church is called the city of the living God. A city is a place of safety and a place of honour, a place of peace and rest. The souls of sinners can find no place of rest or safety under the law, but we have all these things by the gospel; rest in Christ, peace with God, safety in divine protection, &. And as a king dwells in his city, so God dwells in the church of believers; "This as my rest for ever, here will I dwell says God, for I have a delight therein."

O what manner of persons ought they to be, who are the denizens of the city of God! Alas! the great number who pretend highly to the church, and its privileges, are citizens of this world only, and altogether unfit for this holy society.

2. Believers are next said to come to an innumerable company of angels. To come to these, is to be of their society; they and we are one in Christ; the angels above, and believers below, make up but one corporation or family; they are our fellow-citizens, and our fellow-subjects. True, they are above us, and at a mighty distance from us, yet upon occasion very near us; and though we do not see them, nor speak unto them, nor familiarly converse with them, yet they love us, have a special care of us, and are ministering to us, as heirs of the same salvation with themselves.

3. They are come to the general assembly or church of the first-born; that is, they are of the number of God's regenerated and adopted ones, those that are born again, whose names are registered in heaven. As the first-born under the law had a right to the inheritance, to a double part of the inheritance; so they who are interested really in the gospel-church, have a right to all that God has provided, and Christ hath purchased, even to the whole inheritance of grace and glory. O glorious privilege, to be brought unto this blessed society, this general assembly of the first-born; especially if we consider what company, what society, what assembly we belong unto, without it, which is no other than that of devils, and the seed of the wicked serpent.

4. They are come to God the judge of all; that is, they have access to God by Jesus Christ, access to his favour by justification, and access into his presence by prayer and supplication, yea, access to him as a judge, without terror or consternation.

Blessed privilege! believers have a comfortable access to God as the judge of all; with all their causes and complaints, he will hear them, plead their cause, and judge for them, and make their oppressions unsafe to the greatest of the sons of men.

5. Believers are said to come to the spirits of just men made perfect. Come to them, though not in the same place with them, though not in the same place with them till death; yet we and they have the same God and Sovereign, the same Head and Saviour, the same expectation of a glorious resurrection.

Note here, 1. There are spirits of men in a seperate state and condition, capable of communion with God and the church.

2. That all the spirits of just men departed, are made perfect: their race is consummated, perfect deliverance from all sin and sorrow is completed, and a full reward enjoyed; their faith is heightened into sight, and all their graces elevated into glory.

3. That yet are they spirits still, and no more but spirits; and though perfected spirits, yet there is wanting the last finishing stroke from the hand of God to render the bodies as well as the spirits of just men for ever perfect in the morning of the resurrecton.

4. Believers are here said to come to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant; as if the apostle had said, "Your fathers came to a mount of fire and smoke, of darkness, terror, and death, where there was no Mediator to make their peace with God, no blood to cry for mercy, and to cleanse them from sin, but you, by forsaking Judaism, and coming over to Christianity fully, are come into that society where Christ is Mediator and Priest; where the blood of Christ sprinkled upon your souls, cries aloud for mercy, and cleanses from all sin.

And to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. Intimating, that Christ's blood solicits God with stronger cries for mercy, than did ever Abel's for revenge.

Question. But what are those better things which the blood of Christ speaks above and beyond that blood of Abel!?

Answer. 1. It speaks better things from God unto us, namely, that his justice is satisfied, his wrath appeased, the condemning guilt of sin expiated, and the majesty of God fully reconciled to all believers.

2. It speaks better things to God for us, namely, to be at peace with us, to rest in his love toward us, to furnish us with all grace here, and to fit us for glory here after.

O blessed Jesus! Thy blood never cried as Abel's did, for vengeance on them by whom it was shed, but pleaded for pardon, and obtained pardon on the behalf of many of them. Happy they who by faith are made partakers of this typical blood of sprinkling, which speaks better things than the blood of Abel.