The epistle to the Hebrews demonstrates that Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the Old Testament, surpassing prophets, angels, and Moses. The sermon highlights how Christ's person and work fulfill Old Testament ceremonies, covenants, and promises, establishing a new and better covenant. It emphasizes that Christ is a priest of a higher order than Aaron, after the order of Melchizedek, and that believers enter into God's rest through Him. The message concludes by urging listeners to read the Old Testament through the lens of Christ's fulfillment, recognizing the superiority of the new covenant over the old.
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This is the eighth and the last message of God's purpose fulfilled. And we want to look at the purpose of God fulfilled concerning the person of Christ as outlined in the epistle to the Hebrews. However, I'd like to take up a sequel to this on the themes of fulfillment in order that we learn how God has fulfilled His Word and the various things fulfilled in His Word that we can lay hold of truth and learn to study the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament.
For, as Luther put it, the new is in the old concealed and the old is in the new revealed. and to be able to take the Old Testament scriptures and find the person of Christ and see their fulfillment in the New Testament, it was one of the greatest joys that ever came to me as a young believer because it gave me a bar of steel down my back that I wasn't afraid to talk to anybody about the scriptures, no matter where I met them, because I knew that I had a solid foundation in the Old Testament. When I moved to North Carolina, I moved, as you know, into the Bible Belt.
And starting Bible classes, there's one thing I learned, and I learned very quickly, and it was told to me, we never studied the Old Testament. We never studied the Old Testament. And one of the reasons that people don't understand the New Testament, is because they never really studied the Old Testament. And the Old Testament is first. The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible. Now, we all knew that. But to go through the book of Genesis and to study it and to see the book of Genesis, how it dovetails with the last book of the Bible, the book of the Revelation, is a thrill to a young believer.
It was to me. And it really enabled me to grow in the Lord. And therefore, I'm going to take up a number of themes of fulfillment. One of the series of messages I started with in the Bible classes was Christ in all the Scriptures. Had an outline that we used and followed, Christ in all the Scriptures. I don't know if any of you who attended those classes or You still have them or not, but nevertheless, they were a blessing to me. My father enjoyed a Bible teacher by the name of Roo, R-O-U-G-H, W-W-R-U.
He had a series of books by W.W. Roo. You won't find them on my bookshelf. You'll have to search for these. They're hidden. They're called Christ in all the scriptures. David Morris was in my study, and I pulled out the drawer. He said, oh, if you have some things hidden. I said, yes, some things are hidden. And there's some good things in those books by W.W. Rue. He was the dean, I think, of Pennsylvania School of the Bible. which joined Philadelphia School of the Bible and became the Philadelphia School of the Bible, which is today.
I think it's Philadelphia Bible College today. But nevertheless, we're reading from Hebrews chapter one. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
For unto which of the angels said he at any time thou art my son? This day have I begotten thee, and again I will be unto thee a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith, who maketh these angels' spirits, and his ministers, a flame of fire. But unto the son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness, is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou remainest. And they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture thou shalt fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. But the witch of the angel said, He at any time, sit on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. May the Lord bless the reading of His words. Let us pray together. Our Father, we thank you for this epistle to the Hebrews. We thank you for its unique position among the books of the Bible and for the unique way in which it presents thy son.
as heir of all things greater than Moses, greater than angels, greater than the prophets, and yet a great high priest after the order of Melchizedek. O Father, bless our souls together tonight as thy word goes forth and cause our hearts to rejoice in that great inheritance that we have in Christ Jesus the Lord. We give you thanks in His worthy name. Amen. My friend, Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, who writes in Reformation and Revival, he quotes E.F.
Scott, the noted commentator on the New Testament concerning the epistle to the Hebrews. And this is what E. F. Scott wrote. He said the epistle to the Hebrews is in many respects the riddle of the New Testament. Among early Christian writings, it stands solitary and mysterious, without father and without mother, without genealogy, like that of Melchizedek, on whom. When I saw that, I thought I must incorporate that. I must write that so that I never forget.
How true that is. Now, what we want to do tonight is examine the epistle to the Hebrews as it points to Christ as a fulfillment of the great promises of the Old Testament. Now, men have argued over the epistle to the Hebrews as to its human authorship. Now, many believe that the Apostle Paul is responsible for writing the book of Hebrews. And, of course, I'm in that camp. I believe that the Apostle Paul wrote Hebrews, but most modern writers disagree with me. Of course, they're wrong, you see, but I have a lot of fun with men like David Morris.
He doesn't totally disagree with me, but he doesn't totally agree either. But nevertheless, you see, I believe that the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. And about a year before Brother David moved north, in the theological journal, the archaeologists dug up a series of old manuscripts that had been hidden for years containing the books of the Apostle Paul. And guess what book was included among them in those early manuscripts? Evers. And of course, when I read that, I called David immediately and told him about it.
We had a good chuckle over it. It's a great thing to have fellowship with other believers and to be able to go back and forth with them over the scriptures and to love one another even if you don't see eye to eye on some of these things wherein both of us could be wrong. But when you... Really come to the epistle to the Hebrews. The point to remember is this. This book begins with God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past under the fathers by the prophets. God is the author. And in a most unique way, he lets us know that.
And all the Old Testament ceremonies and covenants find their fulfillment in Christ. And I like the work of Dr. Barnhouse, who said, the epistle to the Hebrews was written to the Hebrews to tell the Hebrews that they must stop being Hebrews. Now, that sounds like a play on words, but it is not. That is total truth. You think it through in the light of the revelation that is given in the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews is written to the Hebrews. to tell the Hebrews, they must stop being Hebrews, because the substance has replaced the shadows.
As I've told the Bible class many, many times, Judaism is the most bankrupt religion in the world. See, no other religion ever had anything. So they can't go bankrupt. How can a broke person go bankrupt? They can't. But a religion that had something. Judaism was a God-ordained religion of the Old Testament. But the book of Hebrews teaches us that the new covenant has come. And that which was shadow pointing forward to the person of Christ now has become substance.
And we don't need Judaism. We have something far better, and it's one of the themes of the book of Hebrews, better promises, better this, and better not. Why? Well, because of the way in which Christ has fulfilled the Old Testament ceremonies and the Old Covenant. Again and again in the book of Hebrews, Christ is presented as a fulfillment of that which was anticipated under the Old Testament. So let us notice from the verses that we read tonight. Verses one through four of chapter one, we find that Christ is superior to the Old Testament prophets.
God, who at sundry times, at various times, and in diverse manners, and in various manners, in many ways spoke unto us by his, or as spake in time passed unto the fathers by the prophets, happened these last days. spoken unto us in His Son. In other words, we find that while God spoke through the prophets and what the prophets wrote is certainly the Word of God. But it was given in various places under various conditions by various men. But God has finally spoken in the person of our Word Jesus Christ.
In other words, His Word is final. This is the fullness of the revelation of God. And the fullness of the revelation of God is a person, the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. A.T. Pearson, I think my favorite writer, he said this. He said, if there were a large canvas and the various men who wrote the Old Testament Scriptures as human authors took up a brush dabbed it in the paint and added their portion to the canvas.
When Malachi laid down his brush, the portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ, his person and his work was complete. And when Christ came, He came as a final fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophets who wrote. God have spoken in His Son. So we find that Christ is superior to the Old Testament prophets. But second, when you get over to chapter three, Christ is superior to Moses. And Moses was a great man. Moses was the leader that God chose on the backside of the desert.
Moses was the leader who took a group of slaves living in Egypt, and formed them into a nation, and entered into a covenant with God at Mount Sinai. Exodus nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, and the covenant is ratified in chapter twenty-four. And Moses was a man who was a mediator between the nation of Israel and a holy God. For the nation of Israel said to Moses, You go speak to God for us. Don't let him speak to us anymore. And Moses was a mediator.
But God and the person of Christ is far greater than Moses. Notice verse one of chapter three. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. for this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more honor than the house. And every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God.
And he goes on to show in the third chapter that Moses being a great man, here he's one who is far greater. He is a prophet greater than Moses. That Moses in Deuteronomy eighteen said would come. He's greater than the prophets and he's greater than Moses. But more than that, Christ is superior to the angels. In that portion that we read in chapter one from verse five on, he shows how great Christ is in relation to the angels. Now, when you think of angelic ministry, and when you think of angelic ministry in relation to Judaism, the God-ordained religion of the Old Testament, the angels played a very important part in the giving of the law.
Stephen, you'll remember in his great address in Acts chapter seven, when he defends himself in the presence of the apostle Paul before he's martyred. In verse fifty-three, he says to them, you... who have received the law at the disposition of angels and haven't kept it. And they couldn't take any more. That's what he told them. And Christ is greater than the angels. And I want you to notice chapter two and verse one. And to us from verse five on in chapter one, down through chapter two, we read in verse one, therefore...
We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, do you know one word of an angel that fell to the ground? Not a one. It was steadfast. Remember when the father of John the Baptist, in Luke chapter one, he argued with the angel. He argued with the angel, and the angel smote him with dumbness. He couldn't speak for nine months. I attended a Thanksgiving Bible conference years ago, and my friend Richard Barlow was there as well, and was in Harrisburg.
In those days, we'd hear seven messages on Thanksgiving Day. Two in the morning, three in the afternoon, and two at night. It was a great day of Bible study. a great day of Thanksgiving. I look forward to this feast every year. And that afternoon, there was a man speaking there who had been a missionary to Persia. And Richard Barlow asked the question. He said to him, do you believe that we have a guardian angel? Now, that's a very common question, because I've often heard other people say that. And his answer was the strangest answer I ever got in my life.
to a question that ever heard. He said, yes, I do, but I don't want to have anything to do with him. And I tell you, the way he answered that question, I knew that he meant business. And of course, I kept quiet. I was listening. I was all ears. And the question naturally came, why don't you want to have anything to do with him? He said, angels only know one thing, complete, obedience. That's what that verse means. We ought to give the more earnest heed if Christ is greater than Moses and if Christ is greater than angels.
And every transgression received a due recompensive reward. Angels don't know anything but complete obedience. For the first time they disobeyed, they fell. They fail. And the question comes back to us, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And the idea there is, if we just let the Word of God pass in front of our eyes, oh, God doesn't mean what he says in that passage. You know, I studied at a certain school and they said that doesn't mean anything, so it doesn't mean anything.
Have I really studied it for myself? can I give a good answer to what the word of God says? If the word spoken by angels was steadfast and then our brother said he said remember when Moses when Israel sinned at the golden calf Exodus chapter thirty two and he said in Exodus chapter thirty three you have Moses arguing with the Lord. He's telling the Lord says to Moses, They're your people. And Moses said, No, they're your people.
You remember that? And the scripture there says Moses spoke to God face to face as a man speaketh with his friends. And he said, Remember God told Moses, Go on up. You lead him into the promised land. I'll send my angel with you. And Moses said to him, Lord, I don't want your angel, I want you. When you study the truth revealed in the Word of God concerning angels, and then you study the truth revealed concerning the person of the Lord Jesus, how long-suffering, how gracious, how kind, how he puts up with us, It makes you want to worship in his presence all the more.
All how he loves us and how he puts up with us. And when God told Moses that he'll go with him, Moses said, then I'll go up. Then I'll go up. And every time in the Word of God that you find angels, you have complete obedience. So let's read those first two verses again. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompensive reward, how shall we escape?
we neglect so great salvation which was at the first which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us for them that heard him but look at verse five for unto which of the angels hath he not have he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak but one in a certain place testified what is man that thou art mindful of him. In other words, this passage is teaching us that the angels are higher than we are.
And the world to come was not put into the hands of angels. It was given to us. God did not provide salvation for angels as sin. The Word of God says God spared not the angels that sinned, but God made salvation available to rebels of Adam's family. And he's made us heirs and joint heirs with Christ. And the world to come is in the hands of God's people. The kingdoms of this world we read in the book of Revelation are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
And in Daniel chapter seven, Daniel says, I beheld until the saints of the Most High took the kingdom and possessed it. Or we sing occasionally at the Lord's Supper. I think it's number ninety-eight in our hymn book. No blood, no altar, now the sacrifices are. But the last stanza ends with a word. And it speaks to us of what is ours in Christ, the kingdom of our God and his incarnate Son. It's ours because of our relationship to him. Christ is greater than the angels.
But we've got to hurry on. Our word brought in a new law to replace the old. And I want you to turn over to chapter seven and verse twelve. Hebrews chapter seven and verse twelve, where we read, For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. Why was it necessary? Because the old covenant, its fulfillment rested upon the people. Exodus chapter twenty four and verse seven. They were expected to keep it, but they never could.
But all when we come to chapter seven, there is a new law because there is a new covenant. And the new covenant is not in the hands of men. It is in the hands of the incarnate Son of God. You see, the new law rejoices and exalts the power of an endless life. And in verse eighteen it says, For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before, for the weakness and profitableness thereof. And when you think of that, we read in verse twenty-two, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant, a better testament.
And when you read this passage, we find in verse sixteen that Christ is made. Not after the law of a carnal commandment, but in the power of an endless life. The blessing of the new covenant, a new law, a change also in the law. Now, in the book of Hebrews, the writer speaks about entering into rest. Chapter four. Chapter four, verses one through ten. Where we read in verse one, Let us therefore fear, lest they promise being left us, of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest. Now when I read these first ten verses of Hebrews chapter four, I understand that the writer to the Hebrews means that the promise of rest in the Old Testament is fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew eleven verse twenty eight our Lord said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
And therefore, this epistle that focuses upon one person, he's greater than the prophets, he is greater than Moses, he is greater than angels, he has brought in a new law, and he gives his people rest. The rest of the Old Testament is focused upon the rest that's found in our Lord Jesus Christ. And this rest is fully realized in our enjoyment of Christ now and forever. Are you enjoying the rest of the Lord? Oh, I tell you, the more I know of salvation by grace, as I said in the Sunday school this morning, the more the pressure is off.
Because I realize that God has provided all things for life and godliness in the person of his son. I don't know if you get excited about these truths, but I do. So, follow me, if you will. We go to point number six from the book of Hebrews. Christ is a priest of a higher order than that of Aaron. He's a priest after the order of Melchizedek. We're going back to chapter seven. And we're going to be... begin our reading at verse one where we have Melchizedek the great king that is brought on the scene in the days of Abraham in Genesis chapter fourteen where you have the first recorded war in scripture and there are five kings fighting with four and It always reminds me whenever I think of that.
When I was director of the Youth Congress at Greenwood Hills, we had a quiz every night. And our quiz this particular year was on the Book of Genesis. And we'd make up questions in the afternoon. And Carl Armarding and myself and this particular year, Brother Stacey Woods, who was the originator of inter varsity Christian fellowship was our speaker. And we had a lot of fun together. But he said, for a bonus question, he said, why don't you say, and name the nine kings of Genesis fourteen.
It came up, and the question was, name the nine kings of Genesis fourteen. And there's a little girl who attended an assembly north of Pittsburgh. Her name was Martin, her last name. I don't remember her first name, but I remember her last name. She stood up, and she quoted the nine kings. She was the only young person in her assembly. You know, people get an idea that if you don't have a lot of people... to associate with, you're just missing it. I'd like to know what that girl missed.
That should be an encouragement to everybody else. Why she encouraged my soul that night. Everybody cheered when she got all nine of them. And I tell you, they're not easy. And Raphael said Omar and all the others to remember. What a difficult job she had. But you see... Melchizedek in that chapter comes out and he meets Abraham. And we read about him here in chapter seven, verse one, and it says, For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation, king of righteousness, And after that also King of Salem, which is King of Peace, without father, without mother, without descent, or without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made light unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually.
In other words, in contrast to the Aaronic priesthood, in the Old Testament, under Judaism, Here's this other priesthood of Melchizedek. And Hebrews seven teaches us that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. We just read that. And because Aaron and Levi, the father of the Levites, of whom Aaron was a descendant, actually paid tithes, for he was in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him. So the priesthood of Melchizedek is far greater than not of Aaron.
And our Lord could not be a priest after the order of Aaron because he was of a different tribe. Our Lord came from Judah. But because God with an oath said to him, You're a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Our Lord is our great high priest. And that is the central theme of the epistle to the Hebrews. Christ is our great high priest by the oath of God in fulfillment of the hundred and tenth psalm. But we have to move on.
Christ is the realization of all that was prefigured under the order of Moses. No matter where you look in the old covenant, Christ is the fulfillment of it all. And I ask you now to turn to chapter nine. Chapter nine. Verse one. Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made. The first wherein was the candlestick and the table and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid roundabout with gold, wherein was a golden pot that had manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant.
I'm just going to say something about that last verse, verse four, about the contents of the ark of the covenant. There are three things in the ark of the covenant. They all speak of Christ. But they all three speak of man's rebellion. The three of them speak of man's rebellion for Christ's ability to meet man's need. There are the tables of the law. What did man do when Moses received the tables of the law? He made a golden calf and rebelled against God and ascribed to the golden calf. The attributes that belong to God alone.
But where did God hide the, put the ark? Where did he put the law? He put the law in the ark. And the ark speaks of Christ. And the Lord Jesus could say, according to chapter ten of Hebrews, when he came into the world, he said, Thy law is within my heart. And the law speaks of the perfection of Christ. But then there was a golden pot of manna. How does that speak of man's rebellion? Man rebelled against God in the wilderness of sin when they said, Who will give us bread and flesh to eat?
We wish we were back in the land of Egypt, where we had onions, leeks, and garlic, and cucumbers. And God gave them manna every morning. Six days a week. And it was a miracle each sixth day, but the other miracle was he didn't give them any on the seventh. And he gave them twice as much on the sixth day so that they wouldn't have to go out on the seventh day. Arthur Pitts figured out how much manna it took every day to feed about two and a half million people in the wilderness. He said it took about twelve railroad cars full of manna.
God provided it every day for forty years. It was there. And he told them to take a golden pot and fill it the manna and put it in the ark. Now, just as a law, the commandments speak of the perfection of Christ, the manna speaks of the provision of Christ. He said, I am the bread of life. He that believeth on me shall never hunger. He that cometh to me shall never thirst. The provision of Christ. But then there was Aaron's rod that budded. How does that speak of rebellion?
There were three men, Korah, David, and Abiram, Numbers chapter sixteen, who rebelled against the priesthood. And of course, God told them to take dead sticks and put them up. And write the name of every tribe of Israel on the stick. But on the tribe of Levi, you write the name of Aaron. And the dead stick that buds the next morning, that's the tribe. And when Moses went in, Aaron's rod not only budded, but it blossomed and it brought forth almonds. In other words, resurrection life.
And that through the resurrection of our blessed Lord, he has made a great high priest, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but in the power of an endless life. So if the law speaks of the perfection of Christ, and the golden pot of menna speaks of the provision of Christ, Aaron's rod that budded speaks of the power of Christ in resurrection glory. Oh, no matter where you look for fulfillment, you find the book of Hebrews is filled with how Christ has filled the old covenant to the full. But when you come to chapter ten and verse twelve, to me chapter ten and verse twelve almost is the apex of it all.
When you put it in contrast with verse eleven, verse eleven says, And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, but this man, speaking of the person of Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God. There's nothing else for him to do. Let me ask you a question. When will he stand up? When he stands up, it's when he returns to take his people home. Our Lord says, Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.
And when God the Father says to God the Son, Stand up. It's all over. He's seated there now. So Christ is the realization of all that was prefigured in the old order of Moses. But number eight, and it is this. Hebrews sees all the Old Testament promises filled to the full in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let us apply the truths concerning fulfillment out of the book of Hebrews.
As we examine the New Testament writers and how they relate to our Lord Jesus Christ, we must ask ourselves a question. May we look back into the Old Testament and see Christ as quickly as they did? What about the places in the Old Testament where we see Christ, but the New Testament writers don't even mention it. May we talk about Christ there? The answer is, yes, we may. But we must read the Old Testament with our New Testament glasses on.
That's how you read the Old Testament. You read the Old Testament with your New Testament glasses on. If you read the Old Testament without seeing Christ, it's empty readings. And you know that's one of the biggest problems that people have today with the Old Testament. They have never learned that Christ is a fulfillment and he's in the old, as Martin Luther said, he is in the old concealed. You know there's a little proverb in the book of Proverbs that says this, it is a glory of God to conceal a matter.
It is the honor of kings to search it out. This morning at the Lord's Supper, Brother Sutton read that God has made us a kingdom of priests. We're kings. It's the honor of kings to search it out. Oh, the blessing of it. Oh, to take the Old Testament. and to find Christ there. But application number two, the relation of the Old Testament to the new is not a good, bad relation. It is a good, better relation.
You see, the fact is, the book of Hebrews teaches us what they had under the Old Testament economy was good. But something far better is given. You see, I don't want to go for that which is good. If I can have something that's far better. If I could drive a caledonic, why should I drive a Ford? You see, think it through. And the Old Testament was good. But, oh, we have something far better. Something far better. You see, in Second Corinthians chapter three, we're told that the giving of the law by Moses is glorious, but the new covenant is exceeds in glory.
And that's what the epistle to the Hebrews is all about. Application number three. It's found in Luke chapter twenty-four and verse thirty-seven, and I'd like you to turn to it. and we'll just read it together. The last chapter of Luke, the thirty-seventh verse.