The distinction between dia hou and dihon is made for us in the very epistle we are

considering. Heb. 2: 10, "For whom (accusative) are all things and by whom (genitive)

are all things." While we believe it to be true that the ages were made for or on account

of Christ, yet that is not the truth of the verse before us. Just as John 1: 3 declares that all

things were made by him (dia autou), and Col. 1: 16 that all thing were created by Him

(dia autou), so Heb. 1: teaches us that the ages are a part of His work. He made them.

They form a part of the great purpose that necessitated them. The quotation from

Heb. 11: 3 is more difficult to apprehend, and a few helps to its understanding may be

The word translated "framed" (katartizo) is used elsewhere in Hebrews, namely,

Heb. 10: 5, "A body hast Thou prepared Me," and Heb. 13: 21, "make you perfect."

The word occurs thirteen times in the N.T., and the first occurrence, Matt. 4: 21,

"mending their nets," conveys one of the principal ideas of the word, namely the

restoration, mending, or readjustment of parts; the idea of "fitted" seems best in

Rom. 9: 22, "fitted to destruction."

We shall probably obtain most help by a more careful study of the use of the word in

Hebrews itself. In Heb. 10: 5, "a body hast Thou prepared Me," cannot convey the

meaning of restoration, sometimes attaching to the word katartizo.  The verse is a

quotation from Ps. 40: 6, yet when we turn to that passage we read, "mine ears hast Thou

opened" (margin, Heb. "digged") instead of "a body hast Thou prepared me." "Opened"

is misleading; the passage does not refer to the "hearing," but to the custom of Ex. 21: 6.

It was the sign of willing submission. This is carried out in the parallelism, "I come to do

Thy will, O Lord." Hence, while Heb. 10: 5 is not a literal quotation, it is an inspired

commentary, and the "prepared" body of the Lord is referred to in Phil. 2: 7, "made

Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant," in contrast to the

glorious "form" of God. The same sense will apply to Heb. 13: 21, and it would seem

that we must keep to that aspect of its meaning in Heb. 11: 3, "By faith therefore we

understand that the ages were prepared and adjusted by the word of God."

We must not confuse the expression "by the word of God," with the Logos ("The

Word") of John 1: 1. The word here is rhema, and occurs in Hebrews four times, the first

passage being 1: 3, "Upholding all things by the word of His power." He who can thus

uphold all things, also perfectly adjusted the ages by the same word. This perfect

adjustment, among other reasons, had the one in view which is written here, "that the

things which are seen have not come to pass out of things which are apparent." The

succeeding verses contain illustrations of this truth. Noah prepared an ark when warned

of things "not seen as yet"; Abraham, going out "not knowing whither he went"; Moses

endured "as seeing Him Who is invisible." The secret of their faith was that they did not

judge by outward circumstances. They understood that the ages were perfectly fitted

together, knew they were all prepared by God, and they relied upon His unalterable word.

Even the dispensations which are within the ages have somewhat the same character.

The dispensation of the mystery certainly would never have been anticipated by any

before its revelation. The purpose of the ages, and the making of the ages are both in His

hands, and we rest content that it is so.