Hebrews 3:1 Why, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; I. We have here ONE GREAT COMPREHENSIVE COMMAND. The word "consider" implies in the original an earnest, fixed, prolonged attention of mind. 1. The first remark that I would make is that a Christian man's thoughts should be occupied with his Saviour. How do you Christian people expect to get any blessing from Jesus Christ? Does He not work by His truth? And can that truth which sanctifies and saves produce effects if it is not appropriated by the meditative occupation of our minds with it? What is all the gospel to you unless it is consciously present to your understanding, and through your understanding is ruling your affections, and moulding your will, and shaping the outgoings of your life? 2. Then, that being premised, note how much practical direction as to the manner of that occupation of mind and spirit with Christ lies in that single emphatic word " consider."(1) There is surely implied, to begin with, that such occupation must be the result of conscious effort. Why, you cannot even make money until, as you say, "you give your minds to business." A man sitting at a desk cannot even add up a column of figures correctly if he is thinking about a hundred other things. And do you think that the Divine glories of Christ are to flow into a man's soul on condition of less concentration and attention? (2) But, still further, our gaze on Him must be the look of eager interest; it must be intense as well as fixed. I do not wonder at so many people thinking that there is nothing to interest them in the gospel. There is nothing — and that because they do not come to it with awakened eagerness, and so because they have no hunger it is tasteless. If we would hear Christ, we must keep our ear attent unto His voice. To superficial investigation no treasures are disclosed, we must dig deep if we would find the vein where the gold lies. Still further, another requisite of this occupation of mind with Christ and His work may be suggested as included in the word. (3) Our consideration must be resolute, eager, and, also, steady or continuous. A hurried glance is as profitless as a careless one. You do not see much on first going into a dark room out of the light; nor do you see much on first going into the light out of the dark. It was Newton, I think, who, when asked as to his method of working in attacking complicated problems, had only the simple answer to give, "I keep it before me." Yes, that is the way to master any subject of thought. The steady gaze will, by slow degrees, see order where the random glance saw only chaos. And we shall never see the glory of that light which dwells between the Cherubim if our visits to the shrine arc brief and interrupted, and the bulk of our time is spent outside the tabernacle amidst the glaring sand and the blazing sunshine. Let us fix our eyes on Him, our Lord. Surely there is enough there to draw and satisfy the most prolonged eager gaze. He is our Example, our Redeemer, our Prophet. In Him we see all of God that man can apprehend, and all of man. In Him we behold our wisdom, our strength, our righteousness. II. THE GREAT ASPECTS OF CHRIST'S WORK WHICH SHOULD FIX OUR GAZE. We have Himself proposed as the object of our thoughts. 1. He is the Apostle of our profession. No declaration was more common on our Lord's lips when on earth than that He was " sent of God." He is the sent of God. And our loving thoughts are to lay hold upon this aspect of His nature avid work, not to tarry in the simple manhood, fair and blessed as that is, but to discern in Him the complete expression of the Divine Will, the complete fulfilment of the slow marching revelations of God, the perfect, final, eternal word spoken of God among men. 2. Then we are to think of Him as our High Priest. "As Apostle," it has been well said, "He pleads God's cause with us: as High Priest He pleads our cause with God. The Apostolate and the Priesthood of Christ are both included in the one word — Mediator." III. THE GREAT REASONS FOR THIS OCCUPATION OF MIND AND HEART WITH CHRIST, OUR MEDITATOR. These are to be found in the remaining portion of this verse. 1. Our relation to Christ and the benefit we derive from it should impel us to loving meditation on Him. "Holy brethren." 2. The calling of which we are partakers should impel us to loving meditation. God in Christ calls us to His service, to His love, to His heaven. Of this call all Christian souls are recipients. Therefore it becomes them to set their thoughts and love on that Saviour, through whom they receive it at the first, and continue to feel its quickening impulse and its immortal hopes. 3. Further, the avowal which we have made concerning Him should impel us to loving, steadfast contemplation. He is "the Apostle and High Priest of our profession," or, perhaps, more accurately "of our confession." Our creed avows that Christ is everything to us. Alas! alas! how many of us proclaim in our lives that He is nothing. If these tremendous sentences are believed at all by us, what means this languid, occasional half-hearted gaze upon Him? Surely, if we believe them, we should never turn away from beholding that face, so gentle and so Divine, radiant with the brightness of God, and soft with the dewy pity of a brother and a priest! Is your life in accordance with your confession? If not, what is the confession but a blasphemy or a hypocrisy? And what does it avail except to make the life more criminal in its forgetfulness of your Saviour? (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; |
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