PERFECTION

PERDITION

OR

instance where Hebrews 11 says `Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for' (Heb. 11:1), Hebrews 3 says `For we

are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our CONFIDENCE stedfast unto the end' (Heb. 3:14); in each

case `substance' and `confidence' translate the one Greek word hupostasis. In Hebrews 3:6 this truth is expressed

by using a synonymous word:

`Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end'.

This brings into prominence the figure of a house. Noah is said to have saved his `house', and Genesis 7 opens

with the words `Come thou and all thy house'. The nation of Israel is repeatedly spoken of as `the house of Israel',

in a sense that is unique, for no such term is applied to any company of redeemed Gentiles. It is with the `house of

Israel' that the Lord will make the New Covenant (Heb. 8:10), and Paul has a particular reason to stress the saving

of the `house' in Hebrews 11, because he has used a special word in both Hebrews 3 and 11 to enforce his teaching.

That word is the Greek kataskeuazo, prepare.

`For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded (kataskeuazo) the house

hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded (kataskeuazo) by some man; but He that built

(kataskeuazo) all things is God' (3:3,4).

Now the point of the example in Hebrews 11:7 seems to be that Moses after all was a servant, it is Christ Who is

the Son. Moses `prepared' the house, but could do no more. Noah PREPARED AN ARK, and saved `the house'. So,

said the apostle, will you not be prepared to `leave' the work of Moses the servant, who can do nothing more than

condemn you, and enter into the provision made by Christ, whose one Offering is typified by the use of the Hebrew

word kopher `pitch' which later in the law is translated `atonement':

`Christ as a Son (is) over His own house; Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the

hope firm unto the end' (3:6).

Noah's faith moved him to prepare an ark `to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world'.

While from one point of view Christian charity knows no bounds, from another point of view Christianity is very

drastic and provoking. This is not limited to the Christian faith. It belongs to all propositions and to all issues. The

man who is convinced that the teetotaller is right cannot avoid the alternative that the drinker is wrong. The man

who sees in Socialism the panacea for all evil cannot avoid condemning Conservatism and Capitalism by his very

conviction. The church by its very constitution condemns the world. There is no justification for bitterness, for

wrangling, for strife, but even among professing Christians it is not possible to hold certain vital doctrines without

condemning those who deny them. Christian charity is a lovely thing, but it does not enable us to run with the hare

and hunt with the hounds.

All that we have seen concerning Noah has been leading to this last clause, `He became the HEIR of the

righteousness which is by faith'. The warning, the preparing, the saving of his house had one thing in view - the

inheritance. Noah was not moved to construct an ark either to demonstrate his own prowess, or even his faith, but as

a means to an end. Redemption is for a purpose, it is not an end in itself. So marvellous is that redemption, that we

often speak of it as though it were the end itself of the purpose of God. Ephesians 1:1-14 shows as clearly as any

passage the intermediate position of redemption, with the will of God stated first, the inheritance reached at the last,

and the `mystery of His will' which involves redemption coming in between.

The blessing of God upon Noah, when he stood upon the restored earth with his saved house, was practically a

repetition of the dominion given to Adam, modified by the changed circumstances (Gen. 9:1-7).

`In the six hundredth and FIRST year, in the FIRST month, the FIRST day of the month, the waters were dried up from off

the earth' (Gen. 8:13).

Thus Noah and his inheritance anticipates that day when He that sits upon the throne shall say, `Behold, I make

all things new', faintly suggested also by the `no more curse' of Genesis 8:21.