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PERFECTION
PERDITION
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Enoch for the `better resurrection', and while these Hebrews may indeed die in faith, not having received the
promise, they may nevertheless be able to entertain a better hope, founded upon better promises, embracing a better
country, that is a heavenly.
The closing down, for the time being, of the earthly section of the purpose of the ages, opened for the believing
Hebrew the prospect of a transfer to a heavenly country or city more fully detailed in Hebrews 12:22-29, and being
in some degree a secret. This, while being by no means the same either in sphere, calling, or character as the
dispensation of the Mystery, did hold out to those who believed the added revelation, a prize connected with this
heavenly calling, which could be attained only by `going on unto perfection'. The subject will not be dropped until
we reach the end of chapter 12. It may be helpful as a sidelight upon this theme to note what the wisest King of
Israel is alleged to have said:
`For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor is it measured by number of years. But wisdom is
the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. He pleased God, and was beloved of Him: so that living
among sinners he was translated. Yea speedily was he caught away, lest the wickedness should alter his
understanding, or deceit beguile his soul ... He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time'
(Wisdom of Solomon 4:8-13).
The reader may have missed the familiar comment which sees in Enoch's translation the rapture of the church,
but we trust he will have gained by having attention drawn both to the difficulties of the case, and of its fitness with
the theme of the Hebrews:
`Let us go unto perfection ... leaving ... a resurrection of dead ones ... for a better resurrection ... and the spirits of just
men made perfect'.
That the prize of Philippians 3 may be considered parallel, the reference to `reward' in Hebrews 11:6 will show,
and that `to walk and please God' is the high goal of faith, Hebrews 11 and the bulk of the epistles testify.
Noah and Abraham Inheritors (Heb. 11:7,8).
However personally we may feel the application of this or any other Scripture, we deprive ourselves of much
that is helpful in its interpretation when we lose sight of the original purpose of its writing, and the conditions under
which it was written. Hebrews 11 is so full of teaching that we are apt to isolate it from its context in the
appreciation of its present application. The aspect of faith that we are to consider under the names of Noah and
Abraham, while containing much that has a direct personal application to ourselves, was nevertheless written in the
first place to the Hebrews, and written to them in circumstances that make the examples cited of supreme
importance in the process of the apostle's instruction to them.
The faith that inherits
Among the items of prominence in the message to the Hebrews is that which deals with the relation of faith to
inheritance. Chapters 3 and 4 are devoted to the idea of the necessity of faith in connection with inheriting. `So we
see that they could not enter in because of unbelief' (3:19). It is time, however, that we saw for ourselves that
inheritance is the connecting theme of this second pair of examples:
`By faith Noah ... became HEIR of the righteousness which is by faith' (11:7).
`By faith Abraham ... went out ... to the place he should afterwards receive for an INHERITANCE' (11:8 not AV
JP).
Without the Scripture before us, we should doubtless assign the position of `heir of the righteousness by faith' to
Abraham, rather than to Noah, as so much is said of him in that connection in Romans and Galatians as well as in
Genesis 15. The fact that Noah is also associated with righteousness by faith, shows that from earliest days this
principle has been in operation, and but the more emphasizes that unpalatable fact, that `the law made nothing
perfect'; that Sinai is a transition, not a goal (Heb. 12:18-24), and that the gospel committed to Paul, which reaches
back as far as Adam, and as wide as the ends of the earth, is the gospel that carries with it age-lasting issues. It
operated in Eden, and was believed by Abel.