come under the dispensation of the Mystery; they find all, and more, in their ascended

Head than Israel can find in their King-Priest.

Having seen that the office of the high priest is limited to the calling and profession

set forth in this epistle to the Hebrews, and having seen that in Christ our Head, the One

Mediator, we have all and more than all the priests of Israel or the Melchisedec

priesthood can provide, we turn to the epistle to the Hebrews to learn the precious lesson,

realizing that, while all Scripture may not be ABOUT US or written TO us, all Scripture

is profitable and written for our learning. Those who were holy brethren and partakers of

the heavenly calling are here called upon "to consider Him".

First the "heavenly calling" must be considered, epouranios "heavenly". This word is

found but twice in the LXX, once in Psa. 68: 14, where it stands as a title for the

"Almighty", and once in some MSS of the LXX in Dan. 4: 23, where we read "The

heavens do rule" (26 A.V.). In the Apocrypha the word occurs but once, in 2Macc. 3:39,

where it speaks of "Him Who has His dwelling in the heavens". When we turn to the

New Testament we find the word in the Gospels and the epistles some twenty times, of

which number of occurrences Hebrews uses six. There we find:

This word epouranios provides an opportunity which we must not miss. Those who

use a concordance use a most helpful instrument, but at the same time we should be

warned, that an indiscriminate or mechanical use of a concordance can mislead. Here is a

case which bears very closely upon our calling. We have from time to time affirmed that

the phrase en tois epouraniois occurs five times in Ephesians and that it occurs nowhere

else. The reader who consults his concordance, turns up the word epouranios, sees the

five occurrences in Ephesians listed side by side with those in I Corinthians & Hebrews

and decides that we are untrustworthy teachers, and without more ado sets aside the claim

of Ephesians to be that of a unique calling, and yields to those who assure him that such

are the claims of ultra-dispensationalism (an intentionally frightening term calculated to

deter the timid or untaught), and so another believer is turned aside in his quest for truth.

We have never said that the adjective epouranios "heavenly" occurs only in Ephesians;

rather the phrase translated "in heavenly places" occurs only in that epistle, a very

different statement. In spite of what has been said elsewhere, en tois epouraniois does

not occur in the 70: If we would understand the heavenly calling of Heb. 3: 1, the

remaining occurrences of the word "heavenly" must be examined. "The heavenly gift"

is associated with "holy spirit" (the gifts) and "the powers of the age about to be"

(Heb. 6: 4, 5). The Levitical priests "serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly

things, as Moses was admonished by God when he was about to make the tabernacle:

for, see, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed thee in the

mount" (Heb. 8: 5). This argument continues throughout chapters 8: & 9: and

reaches its conclusion in chapter 9: 23, 24: