Are they not all, etc.? A final expression, adduced in contrast, of the position and office of the angels, as seen above. The A.V. suggests the idea, not conveyed by the Greek, of guardian angels. The more correct translation is, Are they not all ministering ( λειτουργικὰ) spirits, for service ( εἰς διακονίαν) sent forth, on account of those who are to ( διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας) inherit salvation? The allusion is generally to their office of subordinate ministration in furtherance of the Divine purposes of human salvation; the continuance of such office being denoted by the present participle, αποστελλόμενα.
HOMILETICS
The two revelations
In this sublime exordium, which strikes the keynote of his doctrinal teaching, the writer takes for granted:
1. The inspiration of the Scriptures. "God hath spoken." How awful this truth, yet how blessed! With what a clear ringing note of certainty the author assumes it! The Scriptures put forth no theory of inspiration, but they everywhere claim to declare the mind and will of God.
2. The interdependence of the two revelations. It is the same God who has "spoken" in both. The new does not ignore or contradict the old; it rests upon it, develops it, and completes it. The Old Testament, no less than the New, will bear every trial to which it may be subjected by either the lower or the higher criticism.
I. THE OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION CHARACTERIZED. It is:
1. Ancient. "Of old time unto the fathers." "Since the world began" (Acts 3:21). For nearly four hundred years now God had ceased speaking; it was more than fifteen hundred since the first part of the Old Testament had been written; and it was over four thousand years at the very least since God had begun to speak.
2. Given "in the prophets." A prophet is a forth-speaker—a spokesman—one who speaks for another. The prophetic formula was, "Thus saith Jehovah." God's prophets were men; he conveyed his message to his people through human minds and hearts. No prophet wrote as an automaton; his own faculties wrought, and his ink-horn was dashed with his heart's blood. It is very beautiful to see the prophets rising up, one after another, in these far-past days. Together they form a "goodly fellowship;" each was the noblest spirit of his time.
3. Fragmentary. "By divers portions." God had given the former revelation part by part. He delivered it in connection with temporary dispensations—the Adamic, the Abrahamic, and the Mosaic. He gave it first by oral communication, and latterly by Scripture. The Old Testament grew slowly; it took more than a millennium to complete it, and at least twenty-seven different writers contributed to it. The revelation, though of priceless value, was always fragmentary and imperfect; it was meant to be progressive and preparatory. God gave one truth to one age, and another to a succeeding age. The promises of redemption became the longer the more definite.
4. Multiform. "In diverse manners"—in manifold fashion. Now God spoke by dreams, now by visions, now by voices, now by angels, now by similitudes, now by Urim, now by sacrifices and lustrations, now by putting a burning word into the prophet's soul. How various too, is the literature of the Old Testament Scriptures! Now it is historical, now biographical, now legislative, now prophetic, now philosophic, now poetical; as varied as the fresh mind of every contributor, and yet revealing all through the one eternal Mind.
II. THE NEW TESTAMENT REVELATION CONTRASTED WITH THE OLD. The writer merely suggests this contrast, leaving its details to be wrought out in the meditation of his readers. Unlike the Old, the New Testament revelation is:
1. Recent and final "At the end of these days unto us." This refers to the close of the Mosaic economy. Judaism, like the older dispensations which preceded it, had got worn out, and in its turn had passed away; but the Christian dispensation is the final one, to be consummated only at the second advent. So, the new economy shall be ever present and always new, because not to be superseded so long as the world lasts.
2. Given "in his Son." What an element of stupendous contrast! The prophets were only inspired men; this is a Divine Person. The prophets were only servants; this is the Son. The prophets were only God's spokesmen; this is God himself speaking. The Son is the Logos—the" Word," the manifested God. What a view is presented in the following clauses of his Divine dignity and his mediatorial majesty! This first grand sentence of the Epistle reminds us of the scene on the holy mount. It points us away from Moses and Elijah, as did the voice from the excellent glory, saying to our souls, "This is my beloved Son: hear ye him."
3. Complete and perfect. The New Testament presents the truth, not fragmentarily, as the Old Testament did, but in finished form and in undivided fullness. It was entirely written by eight or nine men belonging to one generation. It contains a richer revelation of more developed truth than that which is found in the Hebrew Scriptures. In the Son of God, speaking to us through his apostles and evangelists, we see revelation full-orbed at last. For eighteen centuries now the canon has been complete; and, thus, progress in theology can be made only as the result of better understanding of what God has already given us. The laureate's "Ring in the Christ that is to be," cannot refer with propriety to any Christ that is unrevealed.
4. Simple and clear. The Old Testament revelation was multiform—like a painted window, covered over with many-colored and beautiful emblems; that of the New Testament is like a window of pure clear glass, through which we gaze upon the unveiled glory of heaven. The water of life trickled through the Old Testament in a variety of tiny streamlets; it runs in the New Testament with the flow of a broad pellucid river. Christ and his apostles "use great plainness of speech." The New Testament is much shorter than the Old, but it is more inward, evangelical, and spiritual. It is a better revelation as well as a later one; for it contains the substance rather than the shadows—the heavenly things rather than only their patterns. Preaching is a very simple ordinance. The two sacraments constitute the entire Christian ritual. The Old Testament "veil is done away in Christ."
In conclusion:
1. Great as were the privileges of the ancient Hebrews (Romans 9:4, Romans 9:5), how much higher are ours (Matthew 13:16, Matthew 13:17)!
2. How much heavier, accordingly, are our responsibilities (Hebrews 12:25)! What base ingratitude in any one not to listen to the Son of God, and to refuse to shape his life in accordance with the complete and glorious circle of Christian truth!