The experience of the saints is the treasure of the Church. Every child of God who has tried and proved the promises of God, when he bears his testimony to their truth, does as it were hang up his sword and spear on the temple walls; and thus the house of the Lord becomes “like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.” “The footsteps of the flock” encourage others who are following their track to the pastures above. Every preceding generation of saints has lived and suffered to enrich us with its experience. One great reason why the experience of saints in olden time is of such use to us, is this,-they were men of like passions with ourselves. Had they been otherwise, we could not have been instructed by what they suffered. They endured the same trials, and pleaded the same promises before the selfsame God, who changes not in any measure or degree; so that we may safely infer that what they gained by pleading may also be obtained by us when surrounded by the same circumstances. If men were different, or if the promises were changed, or if the Lord had varied, all ancient experience would be but an idle tale to us; but now, whenever we read in Scripture of what happened to a man of faith in the day of trial, we conclude that the like will happen to us; and when we find God helping and delivering his people, we know that he will even now show himself strong on our behalf, since all the promises are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus unto the glory of God by us. The covenant has not changed, it abideth firm as the eternal hills. The preacher, therefore, feels quite safe in directing you to the experience of Jonah, and in inviting you to make its lessons a practical guide to yourselves.

We shall use the lesson of the text, first, for the child of God; and, secondly, for the sinner awakened and aroused.

Our text has an evident bearing upon those who fear the Lord, for such was Jonah. With all his mistakes, he was a man of God; and though he sought to flee from the service of his Master, yet his Master never cast him off; he brought back again his petulant messenger to his work, and honoured him in it, and he sleeps amongst the faithful, waiting for a glorious reward.

Think, then, of the saints’ condition. In Jonah’s case, as set forth before us, the child of God sees what a plight he may be brought into,-his soul may faint in him.

Jonah was certainly in a very terrible condition in the belly of the fish, but the position itself was probably not so dark as his own reflections, for conscience would say to him, “Alas, Jonah! you came here by your own fault, you must needs flee from the presence of God, because in your pride and self-love you refused to go to Nineveh, that great city, and deliver your Master’s message.” It gives a sting to misery when a man feels that he himself is alone responsible for it. If it were unavoidable that I should suffer, then I could not repine; but if I have brought all this upon myself, by my own folly, then there is a double bitterness in the gall. Jonah would reflect that now he could not help himself in any way. It would answer no purpose to be self-willed now; he was in a place where petulance and obstinacy had no liberty. If he had tried to stretch out his arm, he could not; he was immured in a dungeon which imprisoned every sense as well as every limb, and the bolts of his cell his hand could not draw; he was cast into the deep in the midst of the seas, the waters compassed him about even to the soul, the weeds were wrapped about his head. His state was helpless, and, apart from God, it was hopeless.

Children of God may be brought into a similar condition, and yet be dear to his unchanging heart. They may be poor and needy, and have no helper. No voice may speak a word of sympathy to them, and no arm may be stretched out to succour them. The best of men may be brought into the worst of positions. You must never judge of character by circumstances. Diamonds may be worried upon the wheel, and common pebbles may bathe at ease in the brook. The most wicked are permitted to clamber to the high places of the earth, while the most righteous pine at the rich man’s gate, with dogs for their companions. Choice flowers full often grow amid tangled briars. Who has not heard of the lily among thorns? Where dwell the pearls? Do not the dark depths of the ocean conceal them, amid mire and wreck? Judge not by appearances, for heirs of light may walk in darkness, and princes of the celestial line may sit upon dung-hills. Men accepted, of God may be brought very, very low, as Jonah was.

Let me remark that the hearts of God’s servants may sometimes faint within them; yes, absolutely faint in them, and that, first, through a renewed sense of sin. In this matter, my tongue will not outrun my experience: Some of us have enjoyed for years a full assurance of our pardon and justification. We have walked in the light as God is in the light, and we have had fellowship with the Father and with the Son, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son hath cleansed us from all sin. We have often felt our hearts dance at the assurance that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ.” We have stood at the foot of the cross, and seen the records of our sins nailed to the tree, as the token of their full discharge. Yet, at this time, we may be suffering an interval of anxious questioning, and unbelief may be lowering over us. It is possible that our faith is staggered, and, therefore, our old sins have risen up against us, and are threatening our peace. At such times, conscience will remind us of our shortcomings, which we cannot deny, and Satan will howl over the top of these shortcomings, “How can you be a child of God? If you were born from above, how could you have acted as you have done?” Then, if for a moment we look away from the cross, if we look within for marks of evidences, the horrible bog of our inward corruptions will be stirred, and there will pour into the soul such dark memories and black forebodings that we shall cry, “I am utterly lost, my hope is hypocrisy; what can I do? What shall I do?” Let me assure you that, under such exercises, it is no wonder if the soul of the Christian faints within him. Be it remembered, also, that soul-fainting is the worst form of fainting. Though Jonah in the whale’s belly could not use his eyes, he did not need them; and if he could not use his arms or his feet, he did not require to do so. It mattered not if they all failed him; but for his soul to faint,-this was horror indeed! So is it with us. Our other faculties may go to sleep if they will, but when our faith swoons, and our confidence staggers, things go very hard with us. Do not, however, my brother, when in such a state, write yourself down as a hypocrite, for many of the most valiant soldiers of the cross know by personal experience what this dark sensation means.

“What though Satan’s strong temptations

Vex and tease thee day by day?

And thy sinful inclinations

Often fill thee with dismay?

Thou shalt conquer,

Through the Lamb’s redeeming blood.

“Though ten thousand ills beset thee,

From without and from within;

Jesus saith he’ll ne’er forget thee,

But will save from hell and sin;

He is faithful

To perform his gracious word.

“Though distresses now attend thee,

And thou tread’st the thorny road,

His right hand shall still defend thee,

Soon he’ll bring thee home to God:

Therefore praise him,

Praise the great Redeemer’s name.”

The came faintness will come over us, at times, through the prospect of prolonged pain or severe trial. You have not yet felt the cruel smart, but you are well aware that it must come, and you shudder at the prospect. As it is true that “we feel a thousand deaths in fearing one,” so do we feel a thousand trials in the dread of one single affliction. The soldier is often braver in the midst of the battle than before the conflict begins. Waiting for the assault is trying work; even the crash of the onslaught is not so great a test of endurance. I confess that I feel an inward faintness in the prospect of bodily pain; it creates a swooning sickness of heart within me to consider it for a moment; and, beloved friend, it is no strange thing that is happening to you if your soul also faints because of difficulties or adversities that lie before you. May you have wisdom to do what Jonah did-to remember the Lord,-for there and only there your great strength lieth.

Faintness will also come upon true Christians in connection with the pressure of actual sorrow. Hearts may bear up long, but they are very apt to yield if the pressure be continuous from month to month. A constant drip is felt even by a stone. A long day of drizzling rain is more wetting than a passing shower of heavy drops. A man cannot always be poor, or always be sick, or always be slandered, or always be friendless, without sometimes being tempted to say, “My heart is faint and weary; when will the day break and the shadows flee away?” I say again, the very choicest of God’s elect may, through the long abiding of bitter sorrow and heavy distress, be ready to faint in the day of adversity.

The like has happened to earnest Christians engaged in diligent service, when they have seen no present success. To go on tilling a thankless soil, to continue to cast bread upon the waters, and to find no return, has caused many a true heart to faint with inward bleeding. Yet this is full often the test of our fidelity. It is a noble thing to continue preaching, like Noah, throughout a life-time, amid ridicule, reproach, and unbelief; but it is not every man who can do so. The most of us need success to sustain our courage, and we serve our Master with most spirit when we see immediate results. Faint hearts of that kind there may be among my fellow-soldiers, ready to lay down the weapons of their warfare because they win no victory at this present; my brethren, I pray you do not desert the field of battle, but, like Jonah, remember the Lord, and abide by the royal standard stall.

It may be that enquiries will be made as to why and wherefore we should thus enlarge upon the different ways in which Christians faint. Our reply is, we have been thus particular in order to meet the temptation, so common among young Christians, to fancy that they are singular in their trials. “Surely no one has felt as I feel,” says many a young Christian; “I don’t suppose another person ever hung down his head and his hands, and became so utterly overcome as I am.” Do not listen to that suggestion, for it is devoid of truth. Faintness is very common in the Lord’s hosts, and some of his mightiest men have been the victims of it. Even David himself, that hero of Judah, in the day of battle waxed faint, and had been slain if a warrior had not come to the rescue. Do not give way to faintness; strive against it vehemently; but, at the same time, should it overcome thee, cast not away thy confidence, nor write thyself down as rejected of God or one fatally fallen.

And now, brethren, we will notice the saints’ resort. Jonah, when he was in sore trouble, tells us, “I remembered the Lord.” What is there for a faint heart to remember in the Lord? Is there not everything? There is, first, his nature. Think of that. When I am faint with sorrow, let me remember that he is very pitiful, and full of compassion; he will not strike too heavily, nor will he forget to sustain. I will, therefore, look up to him, and say, “My Father, break me not in pieces. I am a poor weather-beaten barque which can scarcely escape the hungry waves; send not thy rough wind against me, but give me a little calm that I may reach the desired haven.” By remembering that the Lord’s mercies are great, we shall be saved from a fainting heart.

Then I will remember his power. If I am in such a strait that I cannot help myself, he can help me. I have exigences and sharp pinches, but there are no such things with him. There are no emergencies and times of severe pressure with God. With him all things are possible, therefore, will I remember the Lord. If the difficulty be one which arises out of my ignorance, though I know not which way to take, I will remember his wisdom. I know that he will guide me; I will remember that he cannot mistake, and committing my way unto him my soul shall take courage. Beloved, all the attributes of God sparkle with consolation to the eye of faith. There is nothing in the Most High to discourage the man who can say, “My Father, my God, in thee do I put my trust.” None who have trusted in him have ever been confounded; therefore, if thy soul sink within thee, remember the nature, and character, and attributes of God.

When you have remembered his nature, then remember his promises. What has he said concerning souls that faint? Think of these texts if you think of no other:-“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” “Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” When we get upon this strain, and begin to talk of the promises, we need hours in which to enlarge upon the exceeding great and precious words, but we mention only these, we let fall this handful for some poor Ruth to glean. When your soul is faint, catch at a promise, believe it, and say unto the Lord, “Do as thou hast said,” and your spirit shall speedily revive.

Remember, next, his covenant. What a grand word that word “covenant” is to the man who understands it! God has entered into covenant with his Son, who represents us, his people. He has said, “As I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed.” Truly, we may say with good old David, “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.” When everything else gives way, cling in the power of the Holy Spirit to covenant mercies and covenant engagements, and your spirit shall be at peace.

“With David’s Lord, and ours,

A covenant once was made,

Whose bonds are firm and sure,

Whose glories ne’er shall fade;

Signed by the Sacred Three in One,

In mutual love ere time begun.

“Firm as the lasting hills,

This covenant shall endure,

Whose potent shalls and wills

Make every blessing sure:

When ruin shakes all nature’s frame,

Its jots and tittles stand the same.”

Again, when we remember the Lord, we should remember what he has been to us in past times. When any of us fall to doubting and fearing, we are indeed blameworthy, for the Lord has never given us any occasion for doubting him. He has helped us in sorer troubles than we are passing through at this time. We have tested his faithfulness, his power, and his goodness at a heavier rate than now, and though hardly tried, they have never failed us yet; they have borne the strain of many years, and show no signs of giving way; wherefore, then, are we distrustful? Many saints have proved the Lord’s faithfulness for fifty, sixty, or even seventy years; how can they be of doubtful mind after this? What! has your God been true for seventy years, and cannot you trust him a few more days? Has he brought you to seventy-five, and cannot you trust him the few months more that you are to remain in the wilderness? Call to remembrance the days of old, the love of his heart, and the might of his arm, when he came to your rescue, and took you out of the deep waters, and set your feet upon a rock, and established your goings. He is the same God still; therefore, when your soul fainteth within you, remember the Lord, and you will be comforted.

Thus I have shown you the saint’s plight and the saint’s resort; now observe the success of his prayer. Jonah was so comforted with the thoughts of God that he began to pray, and his prayer was not drowned in the water, nor choked in the fish’s belly, neither was it held captive by the weeds that were about his head, but up it went like an electric flash, through waves, through clouds, beyond the stars, up to the throne of God, and down came the answer like a return message. Nothing can destroy or detain a real prayer; its flight to the throne is swift and certain. God the Holy Ghost writes our prayers, God the Son presents our prayers, and God the Father accepts our prayers, and with the whole Trinity to help us in it, what cannot prayer perform? I may be speaking to some who are under very severe trials,-I feel persuaded that I am,-let me beg them to take this promise to themselves as their own; and I pray God the Holy Ghost to lay it home to their hearts, and make it theirs, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” God will not fail you though you fail yourself. Though you faint, he fainteth not, neither is weary. Lift up your cry, and he will lift up his hand. Go to your knees, you are strongest there; resort to your chamber, and it shall be to you none other than the gate of heaven. Tell your God your grief; heavy to you, it will be light enough to him. Dilemmas will all be plain to his wisdom, and difficulties will vanish before his strength. Oh, tell it not in Gath that Israel cannot trust in God; publish it not in the streets of Askelon that trouble can dismay those who lean upon the eternal arm. With Jehovah in the van, O hosts of Israel, dare ye fear? “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” What man’s heart shall quail, or what soul shall faint? “Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.” Say unto the feeble in heart, “Be strong; fear not God is with you; he will help you, and that right early.”

Now we must change the subject altogether. Having addressed the people of God, we feel very anxious to speak to those concerning whom the Lord has designs of love, but who are not yet made manifest. The sinner, when God comes to deal with him, is brought into the same plight as Jonah. His soul faints in him. What does that show?

It shows very much which we are glad to see. When a man’s soul faints within him, it is clear that his carelessness is gone. He used to take things very easily, and as long as he could make merry from day to day, what cared he about heaven or hell? The preacher’s warnings were to him so much rant, and his earnestness fanaticism; but now the man feels an arrow sticking in his own loins, and he knows that there is a reality in sin, it is to him in very deed an evil and a bitter thing. Now the cup of gall is put to his own lips, and he feels the poison in his own veins. His heart faints within him, and he remains careless no longer; which is no small gain in the preacher’s estimation.

His faintness also shows that he will be self-righteous no longer. Once he hoped he was as good as other people, and perhaps a little better; and for all that he could see, he was every whit as excellent as the saints themselves. They might speak about their trusting in Jesus Christ, but he was working for himself, and expected by his regular habits to win as good as place in the world to come as the best of believers. Ah! but now God has dealt with him, and let the daylight into his soul, and he sees that his gold and silver are cankered, and that his fair linen is filthy and worm-eaten; he discovers that his righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and that he must have something better than the works of the law to trust in, or he must perish. So far so good. Things are hopeful when there is no more self-reliance left in the sinner. The worst of human nature is that, though it cannot lift a finger for its own salvation, it thinks it can do it all; and though its only place is the place of death, and it is a mercy when it comes to burial, yet that same human nature is so proud that it would, if it could, be its own redeemer. When God make man’s conscience a target for his fiery arrows, then straightway he feels that his life is no longer in him, and that he can do nothing, and he cries out, “God be merciful to me.” Oh, that the two-edged sword of the gospel would slay all our spiritual self-reliance, and lay us in the dust at the feet of the crucified Saviour.

Perhaps I speak to some who faint because, though they have given up all self-righteousness now, and relinquished all self-dependence, they yet have not laid hold upon Christ and his salvation. “I have been trying to believe,” says one, “but I cannot succeed.” Well do I remember the time when I laboured to believe. It is a strange way of putting it, yet so it was. When I wished to believe, and longed to trust, I found I could not. It seemed to me that the way to heaven by Christ’s righteousness was as difficult as the way to heaven by my own, and that I could as soon get to heaven by Sinai as by Calvary. I could do nothing, I could neither repent nor believe. I fainted with despair, feeling as if I must be lost despite the gospel, and for ever driven from Jehovah’s presence, even though Christ had died. Ah! I am not sorry if you also have come to this condition. The way to the door of faith is through the gate of self-despair. Till thou hast seen thy last hope destroyed, thou wilt never look to Christ for all things, and yet thou wilt never be saved until thou dost; for God has laid no help on you, he has laid help upon One that is mighty, even Jesus only, who is the sole Saviour of sinners. Here, then, we have before us the sinner’s plight; and I will venture to call it, though it is a very wretched one, a very blessed one; and I heartily wish that every unconverted man were brought into such a condition that his soul fainted within him.

Now, hear ye the gospel, incline your ear to it, and ye shall live. The way of salvation to you is the way which Jonah took. When his soul fainted, he remembered the Lord. I beseech you, by the living God, now to remember the Lord; and if you ask me what it is you should remember, I will tell you in a few words. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of sinners; remember him who suffered in the room of the guilty. Know, assuredly, that God has visited upon him the transgressions of his people. Now, the sufferings of such an one as Jesus must have power to cleanse away sins. He is God, and if he deigns to die, there must be such merit in his death that he is able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto God by him. You are bidden, at this moment, in God’s name, to trust your soul in those hands that were nailed to the cross, and rest your life with him who poured out his soul unto death that you might live. In yourself, you may well despair; but remembering his name, coupled with the names of Gethsemane and Golgotha, remembering all his pains, and griefs, and woes unutterable,-remembering these by faith, there shall be salvation for you at this moment. Do I hear you sigh, “Oh! but I have nothing good within me”? Know, then, that all good is in him for thee; and go to him for it. “But I am unworthy.” He is worthy; go to him for worthiness. “But I do not feel as I should.” He felt as he should; go to him for all that thou shouldst feel. If thou bringest a rusty farthing of thine own, God will not have it; it would only insult the precious gold of Ophir, which Jesus freely gives thee, if he should allow thy cankered counterfeits to be mixed therewith. Away with thy filthy rags! Wouldst thou add them to the spotless garment which Christ has woven? Dross and dung, the apostle says our best works are, if we venture to put them side by side with the merits of our Redeemer. None but Jesus can save; remember him, and live!

“But,” says one, “I have tried to remember the Lord; but I find that, while I can trust him to pardon my sins, yet I have such a hard heart, and so many temptations, and I am so weak for all that is good, that I still despair.” Hearken, then, yet again: remember the Lord. At this time remember the Holy Ghost. When Jesus ascended on high, the Holy Ghost was given, and he has never been recalled. The Holy Ghost is here in this assembly now, and in the Holy Ghost is your hope against indwelling sin. You complain that you cannot pray, but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. You mourn that you cannot believe, but faith is the gift of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. A tender heart, a penitential frame of mind, a right spirit,-these are the work of the Holy Ghost in you. You can do nothing, but the Holy Ghost can work everything in you. Give yourself up to those dear hands that were pierced, and the power of the Holy Spirit shall come upon you. A new heart will he give you, and a right spirit will he put within you; you shall learn his statutes, and walk in his ways. Everything is provided for the believer that he can possibly want. O young man, anxious to be saved, the salvation of Jesus Christ precisely suits your case! O seeking soul, whatever it is thou cravest to make thee fit to dwell where God is for ever, it is all to be had, and to be had for the asking, for it is all provided in the covenant of grace; and if thou wilt remember Jesus the Lord, and the Holy Ghost,-the Indweller who renews the mind,-thou wilt be cheered and comforted!

Yet let me not forget another Person of the sacred Majesty of heaven,-remember the Father as well as the Son and the Spirit; and let me help thee to remember him. Thou, trembling sinner, must not think of God as severe or stern, for he is love. Wouldst thou be glad to be saved? He will be gladder still to save thee. Dost thou wish to return to thy God to-night? Thy God already meets thee, and bids thee come. Wouldst thou be pardoned? The absolution is on his lips. Wouldst thou be cleansed? The fountain of atoning blood was filled by his mercy, and filled for all who believe in his Son. Come and welcome, come and welcome! The child is glad to be forgiven, but the Father is gladder still to forgive. Jehovah’s melting bowels yearn to clasp his Ephraim to his breast. Seek him at once, poor souls, and ye shall not find him hard and cold, but waiting to be gracious, ready to forgive, a God delighting in mercy. If you can thus remember God, the Son, the Spirit, and the Father, though your soul faint within you, you may be encouraged.

And so I close by bidding you, if such be the case, to imitate Jonah’s example, and send up a prayer to heaven, for it will come up even to God’s holy temple. Jonah had no prayer-book, and you need none. God the Holy Ghost can put more living prayer into half-a-dozen words of your own than you could get out of a ton weight of paper prayers. Jonah’s prayer was not notable for its words. The fish’s belly was not the place for picked phrases, nor for long-winded orations. We do not believe that he offered a long prayer either, but it came right up from his heart, and flew straight up to heaven. It was shot by the strong bow of intense desire and agony of soul, and, therefore, it speeded its way to the throne of the Most High. If you would now pray, never mind your words, it is the soul of prayer that God accepts. If you would be saved, go to your chamber, and rise not from your knees till the Lord has heard you. Ay, where you now are, let your souls pour out themselves before God, and faith in Jesus will give you immediate salvation.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

JONAH 2

Verse 1. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly.

What a strange place for prayer! Surely this is the only prayer that ever went up to God out of a fish’s belly. Jonah found himself alive;-that was the surprising thing, that he was alive in the belly of a fish;-and because he was alive, he began to pray. It is such a wonder that some people here should continue to live that they ought to begin to pray. If you live with death so near, and in so great peril, and yet you do not pray, what is to become of you?

This prayer of Jonah is very remarkable because it is not a prayer at all, in the sense in which we usually apply the word to petition and supplication. If you read the prayer through, you will see that it is almost all thanksgiving; and the best prayer in all the world is a prayer that is full of thankfulness. We praise the Lord for what he has done for us, and thus we do, in effect, ask him to perfect the work which he has begun. He has delivered us; so we bless his holy name, and by implication we beseech him still to deliver us.

Notice that it says here, “Then Jonah prayed untother Lord his God.”

He was a runaway; he had tried to escape from the presence of God; yet the Lord was still his God. God will not lose any of his people; even if, like Jonah, they are in the belly of a fish, Jehovah is still their God “Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly,”-

2. And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me;-

You see that this is not praying, it is telling the Lord what he had done for his disobedient servant. Jonah had prayed, and the Lord had heard him, yet he was still in the fish’s belly. Unbelief would have said, “You have lived so long, Jonah; but you cannot expect to live to get out of this dreary, damp, fetid prison.” Ah, but faith is out of prison even while she is in it. Faith begins to tell what God has done before the great work is actually accomplished; so Jonah said, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me;”-

2. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

He was like a man in the unseen world among the dead. He felt that he was condemned and cast away; yet God had heard him, and now he sings about it in the belly of the fish. No other fish that ever lived had a live man inside him singing praises unto God.

3. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas;

The word Jonah used implies that God had violently cast him away into the deep. “Cast me not off,” prayed David; but here is a man who says that God did cast him out like a thing flung overboard into the vasty deep: “Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas;”-

3. And the floods compassed me about:

“They rolled all over me, beneath me, above me, around me: ‘The floods compassed me about:’ ”-

3. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

Jonah had evidently read his Bible; at least, he had read the 42nd Psalm, for he quotes it here. It is a blessed thing to have the Bible in your mind and heart so that, wherever you may be, you do not need to turn to the Book because you have the Book inside you. Here is a man inside a fish with a Book inside of him; and it was the Book inside of him that brought him out from the fish again.

4. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

What grand faith Job displayed when he said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him;” and here is another splendid manifestation of faith, “ ‘I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.’ If God does not look at me, I will still look towards the place where he dwells. As I am being flung away from him, I will give one more look towards his holy temple.”

5. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul:-

They seemed to get right into his spirit; his heart became waterlogged: “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul:”-

5. The depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

Like his winding-sheet,-as if the cerements of the grave were wrapped about his mouth, and ears, and eyes, and he was consigned to a living tomb. This narrative is a graphic description of the natural motion of the great fish which had swallowed Jonah. When the fish found this strange being inside him, the first thing that he did was to plunge as deep as ever he could into the waters. You will see that Jonal did go down very deep indeed. The next thing was for the fish to make for the weeds; as certain creatures eat weeds to cure them when they feel very ill, this fish went off to the weedy places to see if he could get a cure for this new complaint of a man inside him.

6. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains;-

To the very roots and foundations of the mountains, where the big jagged rocks made huge buttresses for the hills above: “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains;”-

6. The earth with her bars was about me for ever:

Down went the fish, as deep as he could go: and, of course, down went Jonah too, and he might well imagine that he was in a vast prison from which there was no way of escape.

6. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

And, dear friend, God can bring you up, however low you may have gone. Though, in your own feelings, you feel as if you had gone so low that you could not go any lower, God can, in answer to prayer, bring you up again. O despairing one, take heart, and be comforted by this story of Jonah! God is dealing with you as he was with him. There may be a great fish, but there is a great God as well. There may be a deep sea, but there is an almighty God to bring you up out of it.

7. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord:

It is a blessed memory that serves us faithfully in a fainting fit. Mostly, when the heart faints, the memory fails; but Jonah remembered the Lord when his soul fainted within him.

7. And my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

Think of Jonah’s prayer going right within the veil, and reaching the ear and heart of God in his holy temple. He said that he was cast out of God’s sight, yet his prayer went into God’s temple. Oh, the prevalence of a bold believing prayer! “My prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.”

8. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

If you trust anywhere but in God, you will run away from your own mercy. God is the only really merciful One who can always help you; but if you trust in your own righteousness, if you trust in priestcraft, if you trust in any superstition, you are observing lying vanities, and forsaking your own mercy. God is the source of your mercy; do not run away from him to anyone or anything else.

9. But I will sacrifice unto thee-

“I long to do so. I cannot do it just now, but I would if I could; and I will do it when thou shalt grant me deliverance from my present peril.”

9. With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.

That is one of the grandest utterances that any man ever made: “SALVATION!” Write it in capital letters. It is a very emphatic word in the Hebrew, and I might read it, “Mighty salvation is of Jehovah.” This is real, old-fashioned Calvinistic doctrine spoken centuries before John Calvin was born. The whale could not endure it, and he turned Jonah out directly he said, “Salvation is of the Lord.” The world does not like that doctrine, and there are many professing Christians who do not like it. They say, “Salvation is of man’s free will; salvation is of the works of the law; salvation is of rites and ceremonies;” and so on. But we say, with Jonah, “Salvation is of the Lord.” He works it from beginning to end, and therefore he must have all the praise for it for ever and ever.

10. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

God has only to speak, and even sea-monsters obey him. I know not how he spoke to the fish; I do not know how to talk to a fish, but God does; and as the Lord could speak to that fish, he can speak to any sinner here. However far you may have gone from all that is good, he who spoke to that great fish, and made it disgorge the prophet Jonah, can speak to you, and then you will give up your sins as the whale gave up Jonah. God grant that it may be so this very hour!

That is the prayer of an ancient mariner; may it be ours, as far as it is suited to our circumstances, and may we be brought by God’s grace to cry, with Jonah, “Salvation is of the Lord”!

THE FORERUNNER

A Sermon

Published on Thursday, July 23rd, 1908,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington,

On Thursday Evening, July 16th, 1874.

“Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.”-Hebrews 6:20.

The Jewish high priest went within the veil once a year, and represented the people there, but he was never their forerunner, for no one followed him into the most holy place. His entrance within the veil did not admit another human being; and when he came forth, the veil again concealed even from him for another year, and from all others at all times, the secret glories of the most holy place, so that neither Aaron, nor any other high priest of his line, could ever be called a forerunner within the veil. This is one of the many instances in which our Lord Jesus Christ, as the great Anti-type, far excels all the types. They do, as it were, represent the hem of his garment, but the glorious majesty and fulness of his high-priestly office, they are not able to set forth.

Moreover, this title of Forerunner is peculiar to the passage before us. The fact that Christ is the Forerunner of his people may be found, in other words, in the Scriptures, and again and again in this Epistle; but it is only here that we have the exact expression that Jesus Christ within the veil has gone to be the Forerunner of his people.

Now, what is peculiar and unique usually excites curiosity and attention; and if it be something peculiar and unique with regard to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself peculiar and unique, we should look at it as closely as we can, and bend our whole minds and hearts to the consideration of it.

I am going to speak, first, upon the name which is used concerning Jesus Christ as the Forerunner. Out Lord is sometimes spoken of as the Master, the Messiah, the Son of man, and so on; but here he is simply called Jesus. “Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.”

I do not pretend to know why this title was selected, but at least it may be suggested that Jesus is the name which his enemies despise;-Jesus of Nazareth, “the Nazarene,” as his fiercest foes cry to this day. About the name Christ there is always a measure of respect, for even those who do not believe him to be the Christ, yet look for a Christ, a divinely-anointed One, a Messiah sent from God. But “Jesus” is the personal name of him who was born at Bethlehem, the Son of Mary, to whom the angel said before his birth, “Thou shalt call his name JESUS.” It is “the Nazarene” who is “the Forerunner, even Jesus,” and it is that name of Jesus that has caused his enemies to gnash their teeth, and speak and act against him, even as Paul confessed to king Agrippa, “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” It is by that name which his enemies abhor that he is known within the veil. They speak of him there as the Saviour, the Joshua, the Jehovah-Jesus of his people; and by that name we know him as our Forerunner.

Moreover, Jesus is not only the name which is hated by his foes, but it is the name which is dearest to his friends. How charming is its very sound! You know how our hymn-writers have delighted to dwell upon it Dr. Doddridge wrote,-

“Jesus, I love thy charming name,

’Tis music to mine ear;

Fain would I sound it out so loud

That earth and heaven should hear”

And Charles Wesley sang,-

“Jesus, the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrows cease;

’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,

’Tis life, and health, and peace.

“Jesus, the name high over all,

In hell, or earth, or sky,

Angels and men before it fall;

And devils fear, and fly.”

Out of all our Saviour’s names,-and they are all precious to us, and at certain times each one has its own peculiar charm,-there is not one which rings with such sweet music as this blessed name “Jesus.” I suppose the reason of this is that it answers to our own name, the name of sinner. That name needs, to cover it, the name of him who saves his people from their sins. The sound of this confession, “I have sinned,” is like that of a funeral knell; but the music of the sentence, “Jesus saves me,” is like that of a marriage peal; and, as long as I am a sinner, the name of Jesus will always be full of melody to my soul. To the Old Testament saints, it was comforting to read of him who was to be born, “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,” and we still delight to repeat those majestic sounds; but in our quiet and calm moments, and especially in times of despondency and depression of spirit, the music of the harp sounds most sweetly when this is the note which the minstrel evokes from it, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus;” and it is very pleasant to me to think that this is the name that we shall remember best even in heaven. He has gone there, as Jesus, to be our Forerunner, so Dr. Watts was right when he sang,-

“Jesus, the Lord, their harps employs:-

Jesus, my Love, they sing!

Jesus, the life of both our joys,

Sounds sweet from every string.”

Now I want to show you in what sense Jesus is our Forerunner.

The word used here means a person running before, an outrunner, a herald, a guide, one who precedes. Such terms would correctly interpret the Greek word used here; so it means, first, one who goes before to proclaim, or to declare. A battle has been fought, and the victory won. A swift young man, out of the ranks of the victors, runs with all speed to the city, rushes through the gate, into the market-place, and proclaims to the assembled people the welcome news, “Our country is victorious; our commander is crowned with laurels.” That young man is the forerunner of the victorious host; the whole army will be back by-and-by, the conquering legions will come marching through the streets, and all eyes will gaze with admiration upon the returning heroes; but this is the first man to arrive from the field of conflict, to report the victory. In that sense Jesus Christ was the Forerunner to report in heaven his own great victory. He did much more than that, as you well know, for he fought the fight alone, and of the people there were none with him; but he was the first to report in heaven his own victory. On the cross he had met Satan and all the powers of darkness, and there had he fought and overcome them, and shouted the victor’s cry, “It is finished.” Who shall report that victory in heaven? Shall some swift-winged angel, one of the many that had hovered round the cross, and wondered what it all could mean, fly like a flame of fire, and pass through the gates of pearl, and say, “He has done it”? No, Jesus must himself be the first to proclaim his own victory, and the eternal safety of all for whom he died. They tell out this good news through the streets of heaven to this day, but he it was who first certified it. When he ascended up on high leading captivity captive, when he entered within the veil, and stood before his Father, the First-begotten from the dead, when he declared by his majestic presence that all was finished, when he proclaimed the justification of all his elect, in that proclamation, he was our Forerunner, the first to proclaim that glorious truth, “It is finished.”

A second meaning of the word forerunner will be found in the sense of possessing, for Christ has gone to heaven not merely to proclaim that his people are saved, but to possess heaven on their behalf. Representatively, he has taken possession of the heavenly places in the name of those for whom he died. Christ had paid the purchase-price of our eternal inheritance; we as yet have not entered upon possession of it, but he has, and he has taken possession of it in our names. All the elect are summed up in him who is their Covenant Head; and he being there, they are all there in him. As the burgesses of a town sit in the House of Commons represented by their member, so we sit in the heavenly places represented by our Leader, who sits there in our name. He as taken seizin, as they used to say of old, taken possession of all the glory of heaven in the name of his people. Why is heaven mine to-night? Because it is his, and all that is his is mine. Why is eternal life yours, beloved? Why, because “your life is hid with Christ in God,” and he has in heaven for you eternal life, and all its accompaniments of joy and blessedness, and he is sitting there enjoying them because they are his and yours. You are one with him, so he is your Forerunner in that sense.

Christ is also our Forerunner in the sense of preceding us. The Forerunner goes first, and others must come afterwards; he is not a forerunner if there are not some to run behind him. When John the Baptist came, he was the forerunner of Christ; if Christ had not come after him, John the Baptist would have come for nothing. As Jesus is the Forerunner to heaven, rest assured that those for whom he is the Forerunner will in due time follow him there. The best pledge of the glories of the saints in heaven is the glory of Christ there. The surest proof that they shall be there is that He is there, for where he is there must also his people be. I delight to think of Jesus Christ as our Forerunner, because I feel sure that the mighty grace, which wrought so effectually in him, and made him run before, will also work in all his people, and make them run behind till they enter into the selfsame rest that he now enjoys.

And once again, Christ is our Forerunner within the veil in the sense that he has gone there to prepare a place for us. I do not know what was needed to make heaven ready for us; but whatever was needed once is not needed now, for heaven has been ready for us ever since Christ went to prepare it. We have sometimes arrived at a house when we were not expected; our friends have been glad to see us, but we could hear the bustle of preparations, and we almost wished that we had not gone to put them into such a flutter in getting ready for us. But no unexpected guest shall ever arrive at heaven’s gate. They are watching and waiting for us; they know just when we shall get there, and Christ has gone to make everything ready for his long-expected and greatly-loved ones. “I go to prepare a place for you,” said Christ to his disciples; and that place he has prepared. We have not to go into an undiscovered country; for, however glorious the new world might be, the first man to enter it would tread its soil with trembling feet, for he would not know what he might find there. It was a brave thing to be a Columbus to discover a new world, but it is a happier thing to go to a country that has been discovered many hundreds of years, where civilization has provided for the supply of all our needs. Christ was the Columbus of heaven, and he has made it ready for us who are to follow him there when our turn shall come to emigrate to the better land.

Now I want to answer this question,-Into what is Christ our Forerunner? He is our Forerunner within the veil; where is that?

Well, first, it is where all our hope is fixed. Our hope is fixed on things invisible, mysterious, spiritual, sublime, immutable, divine, which are where Christ is. Paul tells us that the anchor of our soul is “within the veil; whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.”

Within the veil is, also, the place of the greatest possible nearness to God. Under the old dispensation, it was an awfully solemn thing for a man to be allowed to enter within the veil; anyone who ventured in there uncalled would have been instantly destroyed. To stand within the veil was a joyous, blissful privilege, yet it involved enormous responsibility; but you and I, beloved, stand there in the closest possible nearness to God because Christ has gone there as our Forerunner; he is not merely our Forerunner so that we may enter there in twenty or thirty years’ time, or whenever we die, but that we may now boldly enter into the heavenlies where he has gone. Where he is, we are bound to go. Well then, as Christ is there, at his Father’s side,-

“The Man of love, the Crucified,”-

let us not fear to enter where we have the right to go. It is very sad that, when some of us pray, we do not dare to enter within the veil; even the outer court seems to be too holy a place for us; if we do venture into the court of the priest, we are all in a tremble. But, brethren, we are permitted to enter into that which is within the veil, for Jesus is there, and he bids us come to him; therefore let us come boldly. There is a measure of holy familiarity which the devout man may enjoy in the presence of God. It is a blessed privilege to know God as your Father, and to be as bold with him as a child is with a father, with the boldness of a love which does not dare because it deserves but dares because God loves; and which, while it humbles itself into the very dust, yet grasps the feet of God even there, and clings to him, and delights in its nearness to him. Is it not a cause of untold joy to us that Jesus Christ is within the veil now as our Forerunner, that we may daily go where he always is? This is the right position for a child of God in prayer; he must not stand at the foot of Sinai, he must not stand in any unclean place, but he must go where the blood has been sprinkled on the mercy-seat,-brought nigh by the precious blood of Jesus.

Let us also remember that this place of nearness to God, into which Christ has gone, will mean nearness to God in a higher sense by-and-by. You cannot conceive of anybody being nearer to God than Christ is “within the veil.” In that nearness he is our Forerunner if we are truly in him by faith; is not that a wonderful thought? We might have thought that, in that wondrous nearness to God which the Mediator enjoys, he would be alone, for he is so very near, but it is not so. He has himself said, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” It is not only true that we are to behold Christ’s glory, but even while on earth he said, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory;”-as if they would never fully see that glory till they were with him where he is. To whatever heights of glory he has gone, to whatever raptures of joy he has ascended, he has gone there as the Forerunner of his people.

I may seem to be uttering truisms, but I cannot help it; these are the sort of truths upon which one cannot give allegories, illustrations, or fine sentences. The truths themselves are so glorious that it would be like painting the lily, and gilding pure gold, to try to adorn them. We must not attempt it, but just leave the truths as they are for the Spirit of God to apply them to your souls; and so I mean to do after I have mentioned a few practical inferences from the truth which I have been trying to set before you.

The first is, beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, this,-let us each one endeavour by faith to realize our nearness with Christ. He has entered within the veil, but he has entered as our Forerunner. Remember that, although you are imperfect, feeble, sorrowing, yet you are one with Jesus Christ. You believe that as a doctrine, but I want you to realize it now as a fact. If you had a rich friend who had given you an equal share with himself of all that he possessed, even if you had not entered upon the possession of it, you would think, “I have not to depend upon charity for my daily bread, for my rich friend has made me as rich as he is himself.” Now, whatever joy that might give you, it ought to give you far more to think that you are one with Christ, and that Christ is one with you. When you suffer, Christ is suffering in one of the members of his mystical body; and when he rejoices, it is his desire that his joy may be in you, that your joy may be full. He has married you, and he means you to take his riches as well as himself, and to reckon that all he is and all he has is yours. If the Holy Ghost would cause you to realize this, it would make your soul leap within you, and bless the Lord, and magnify his holy name. “I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine;” nay, more, I am a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Our interests are one, for we are one; and Christ up there, in the heavenlies, is but myself there, for I am in him, and I shall soon be actually and literally where he is, as I now am in the person of him who is there as my Representative and Forerunner.

That is the first practical thought, and the second is this,-is he your Forerunner, beloved? Then, run after him. There can be no forerunner, as I have said before, unless somebody follows. Jesus is our Forerunner, so let us be his after-runners. “Ah!” says one, “but he is so different from us.” The beauty of it is that he is not different from us, for he was a man like ourselves. “Forasmuch then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” Though in him was no sin, yet in all other respects he was just such as we are; and it cost him as much to run as it will cost us to run; yea, more, for his race was more arduous than ours is. “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin;” therefore “consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” Your road may be full of crosses, but they are not such crosses as the one he carried. You have suffered bereavements; yes, and “Jesus wept.” You have to endure poverty; and he had not where to lay his head. You are often despised, and he is still “despised and rejected of men.” You are slandered; but as they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, what wonder is it that they speak ill of those who are the members of his household? Jesus Christ ran the very race that you have to run, and he ran it perfectly; and that same power which wrought in him to run until he entered within the veil, and so passed the goal, will help you to run till you reach the same spot. If he is your Forerunner, and he has run the race, it is essential that you should run it too, and should also win the prize. Courage, brethren; nothing is too hard for our poor manhood to accomplish through the power of the ever-blessed Spirit. As Christ has conquered, so can we. Sin’s assaults can be repelled, for Christ repelled them. The Holy Ghost can lift up “poor human nature”-as we call it,-into something nobler and better, transforming it into the likeness of the human nature of the Christ of God, till in that human nature purity and holiness even to perfection shall dwell. Follow, brethren and sisters, the mighty Runner who has gone before you within the veil, and the best way to follow him is to put your feet into his footprints. It may seem as if you might get to the goal either this way or that, but the best Christian is he who does not wish for any other path than that which his Master trod. I would like-oh, that I might realize it!-to “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth;” not to say, “This is not essential, and that might be dispensed with,” but, like the Master himself, to say, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” Good writing, I think, depends very much upon the little letters. If you want to read a man’s letter easily at the first glance, he must write legibly, and mind his Ps and Qs, and all the other letters of the alphabet, especially those that are nearly alike, such as c and e, or i and l. O Christian, there may be very little difference, to the eye of man, between this letter and that of the believer’s alphabet, but you will do best if you follow your Master exactly in all points! No hurt comes of doing that, but great hurt comes of even the least laxity. Follow closely your great Forerunner; follow at his heels, as a dog follows his master. Just as Christ ran, so may the Holy Ghost help you to run with endurance the race set before you, “looking unto Jesus.”

The next thing I have to say is this, let us love our Lord intensely. He has gone to heaven, but he has not gone there for himself alone. He has got so into the habit of sharing with his people all that he has that he has not left off that habit now that he has got into the glory; he says, “I am here for my people; I was on the cross for them, and I am on the throne for them. It is marvellous that even the reward that is given to him he shares with his own beloved ones, for there is nothing that he has that he keeps to himself. It was a blessed marriage day for us, his people, when he took us to be his; for with all his heavenly gifts he did us endow, and now he has nothing but what he holds in common with his people. We are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Then, must we not love much him who has loved us so much that he has given us himself and all he has? Come, my cold heart, if there is anything that can warm thee, surely it is the thought of such true, fond, constant, faithful love as this. Indulge a moment’s thought now; indulge it quietly; let your soul picture him. Come to his feet, and kiss them; and if you have an alabaster box of precious ointment, break it open, and anoint him, and fill the house with the perfume of your offering of love and gratitude.

Last of all, since Christ has gone to heaven to be our Forerunner, let us trust him. We could have trusted him, I hope, while he was running his race; so, surely, we can trust him now that he has won it. The saints of God, who lived before Christ came to dwell upon the earth, trusted him before he started to run; his apostles and other disciples in their poor feeble way trusted him while he was running; so shall not we trust him now that the race is finished, and he has gone into the glory on our behalf? If a man says, “I will do a thing,” if he is a truthful man, and he can do what he says, we depend upon him; but when he has done it, it would be a shame not to depend upon him. If Christ came here to-night, never having died, and he said to us, “Ye poor lost ones, I mean to save you,” ought we not to believe him? If he said, “Dear children of mine, I mean to come and run a race, and win it for you,” would we not say, “Lord Jesus, we trust thee”? Well, he is not here in bodily presence; he is up yonder. Do you not see him with the crown upon his head? There he sits in glory; innumerable angels are bowing before him, and cherubim and seraphim are praising him day without night, and the redeemed from among men are singing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us.” Can you not trust him, sinner? “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them;” can you not trust him? He is within the veil, pleading for us, and pleading for all who come unto God by him, and setting his people the example of coming there to plead too. As he is there, can we not all trust him? The dying thief trusted him when his hands were nailed to the cross; can we not trust him now that his hand grasps the sceptre of sovereignty? The dying thief trusted him when men ridiculed him, and thrust out their tongues, and railed at him, can we not trust him now that heaven and earth are full of the majesty of his glory? Surely we must. Jesus, Master, if we never have relied upon thee before, grant us the grace to do so now; and as for those of us who have depended on thee, these many years, thou dear, tried, precious, faithful Lover of our souls, surely we have done with doubting. We are in thy bosom; nay, more, we are inside thy very heart, and therefore we must be safe. Who can harm us there? Thou didst say, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.” With this assurance let us go our way, resolving to follow our Forerunner till we get where he is, “within the veil,” and then for ever to follow him “whithersoever he goeth.” Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

HEBREWS 9:24-28; and 10

Chapter 9. Verse 24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

He has gone within the veil;-not the veil of “blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work;” but within the veil that hides “heaven itself” from our eyes, and there he is “in the presence of God for us.”

25, 26. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The high priest brought the blood of the animals that were slain for a sin-offering, and hence he came often. He could not bring his own blood, or he would only have come once; but our Saviour has come only once, “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”*

27, 28. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

He had to suffer because of sin once, but he will never again have to do that; his sacrifice will never need to be repeated, and never can be repeated.

Chapter 10. Verses 1, 2. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered?

If the sacrifice had really put away sin, surely it would never have needed to be offered again. If one sacrifice had put away the guilt of Israel, there would have been no need to bring another.

2. Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

Once cleansed from sin, we are cleansed from sin; the great deed is done once for all.

3-5. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world,

You know who that is; there is but one great “HE” to us,-our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the true High Priest.

5. He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

By the work of the Holy Ghost within the Virgin Mary, the blessed body of Christ was “prepared” so that he might be God and man in one person, and so might bring an offering acceptable unto God.

6-9. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.*

That he may bring in the real sacrifice of which the others were but types and prefigurations.

10. By the which will-

The will which Christ fulfilled in life and in death: “By the which will”-

10. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once.†

Only one sacrifice was required. The key-word here is that little word “once.” Let it not only sound in your ears, but be written in your hearts. Jesus Christ died once, he brought his sacrifice once, he put away our sins once.

11, 12. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Christ stands no longer to minister as a sacrificing priest, he is sitting down on the right hand of God. That is the posture of one whose work is done, and who is taking his rest: “He sat down on the right hand of God;”‡

13-18. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us; for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Sin itself being no longer imputed to any believer in Christ, there is neither the occasion nor the need for the offering of another sacrifice for sin. Christ’s one sacrifice has for ever put away the sins of all who believe in him.

19-22. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The Jew could not personally go up to the mercy-seat; he had to go there through his representative, the high priest; and we have Christ as our “high priest over the house of God,” so we come to God through him. The Israelite could not pass through the veil which hid from public gaze the glory of the Shekinah, and Jesus Christ’s humanity was a veil which somewhat concealed the glory of his Deity; but the flesh of Christ having been crucified, the veil has been rent, and now we may come right up to the throne of God without trembling; nay, we may come even with holy boldness and familiarity, and speak to God without alarm. Having such a privilege as this, let us not neglect it. It was denied to prophets and kings in the olden time; but now that it is vouchsafed to us, let us avail ourselves of it, and constantly “let us draw near” unto God “with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”

23. Let us hold fast the profession* of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

As he is faithful, let us also be faithful, and hold, as with a death grip, the faith which has been revealed to us and wrought within us by the Holy Spirit; ay, and the profession of that faith too, never being ashamed to own that we are followers of the Nazarene. And let us, while we are thus faithful ourselves, endeavour to strengthen others.

24. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

The Greek is, to stir each other up to a paroxysm of love. There is no fear that we shall ever go too far in our love to God; though it should cast us into a state of blessed excitement, yet would it be healthy for us so to live and so to work.

25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;

For Christian fellowship is helpful to us, and we are helpful to others by it. A Christian is not meant to be a solitary being. Sheep are gregarious, and so are the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not be solitary pilgrims along the road to heaven, but join that glorious host of God’s elect who march beneath the guidance of our great Master.

25. But exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Does not every day bring us nearer to the coming of the Lord? Are there not many signs that these are the last days? Well then, so much the more let us stir each other up to love and to good works.

26, 27. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

Here the truth taught is that, if a Christian apostatizes, if he renounces his faith, and goes back to the world, it is impossible to reclaim him. A backslider may be restored, but anyone who should wilfully, after receiving the truth, reject it, has rejected the only Saviour; he has rejected the only regeneration; and, consequently, he is without the pale of the possibilities of restoration. The question is, “Will any true child of God so apostatize?” That question is answered in this very chapter; but the truth here taught is that, if he does, he goes into a state of absolute hopelessness.

28, 29. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment,-

Can there be any sorer punishment than to die without mercy? Yes, there is, for there is eternal punishment: “of how much sorer punishment,”-

29-31. Suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.*

With what terrible sentences does Paul hedge up the way of the believer! Leave that way, and there is nothing for you but destruction. Reject your Saviour, give up your hope in him, and there cannot be another name by which you can be saved, or another sacrifice by which you can be cleansed from sin.

32, 33. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions;-

Made a spectacle to be mocked at in the theatre of the world;-

33-35. And partly, whilst ye became companions of them, that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence,† which hath great recompense of reward.

You must push on; you have already defied the foe, to turn back is certain destruction, for you have no armour for your back.

36. For ye have need of patience,-

Or, endurance,-

36. That, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

To hold on, to continue to do God’s will,-this is the task. To start, and to make a spurt now and then, is easy enough; but to keep on, is trying to every spiritual muscle; and only God can enable you to do so.

37, 38. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

If there be a drawing back from faith, God can have no pleasure in us; but shall we draw back? That is the question, and here is the answer:-

39. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition;-

We who have believed in Jesus, we who have sincerely committed ourselves to his care, we who have been born again of the Holy Spirit, we in whom there is the real work of grace which God has pledged to carry on,-“we are not of them who draw back unto perdition:”-

39. But of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

What a blessed truth is this! O Christian, as you see the danger that lies before you if you did prove to be an apostate, bless that sovereign grace which will not suffer you so to do, even as Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”