The Christadelphian 1935, John Carter

“The Letter to the Hebrews” 

An Analysis and Exposition

(l) Prayer For Readers (verses 20, 21)

The writer makes a petition for them, that God who raised up Christ would fit them to be Christ’s associates; but it is so phrased that it gathers up much that has gone before. “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Isaiah, looking back at the Exodus, said: “Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock?” (68:11). That deliverance foreshadowed another, the two being often coupled together, and nowhere more definitely than in the song of Moses and the Lamb. Now God had brought up from death the Great Shepherd: great in contrast to Moses; great in work accomplished. He is the good shepherd in the care of his sheep (John 10.); and the Chief Shepherd compared with his brethren whom he has made shepherds over the sheep in his absence (1 Peter 5:3).

It is by the blood of the everlasting covenant that he has been raised from death. Paul has spoken of everlasting salvation (5:9); everlasting redemption (9:12); everlasting inheritance (9:15); and now he describes a covenant as everlasting. This is the new covenant, the Abrahamic.

The Lord himself established the connection between his work and the Abrahamic covenant when he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” He was the seed of Abraham and shares the blessing of the covenant through the ratification made in his own blood. We cannot separate Christ from his own sacrifice; neither can we separate his brethren from him in the need for it. Whether the reason for it is perceived or not, the fact here stated must be accepted: God brought Jesus up from the dead, “through the blood of the everlasting covenant.”

Then, “make you perfect to do his will” links, as we have already seen, with the description of the preparation of the Lord for his work in 10:5–10. Equipment for obedience, God working in us that which is pleasing to Him, for Christ’s sake, is the idea; a perfect co-operation between God and His children in the plan of reconciliation in His son, for the very good reason of the glory of God for ever.

John Carter.