Hebrews 13:8 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Hebrews 13:8

Comments

We may link verse 8 with verse 7. ‘Consider them which have the rule over you’; what was the purpose of their way of life, their work for the Lord. What was it all about? Well, Christ was at the heart of it. He was all in all to them. So remember them because they did everything for him, but chiefly, remember Jesus Christ. Think of the people in olden times when they were persecuted. They turned to Jesus Christ; they suffered and kept going for his sake. They remembered his promise on the Sermon on the Mount that if people persecuted them then they were greatly blessed, because God would be with them. He would use even their persecutions for good and compensate them wonderfully in eternity. They turned to him, and so they endured. They did not abandon their work or the faith, when cast down. They proved him by prayer and received his strength and his blessing.‘Yesterday’ – it is tempting to say this means forever in eternity past, but very likely it is from the first promise in Genesis 3. It refers to the life of Christ, what he did on earth, his wonderful works recorded in the Gospels, his suffering and death on Calvary, his resurrection and ascension. ‘Today’ – when he writes until the coming of the Lord, and then ‘for ever’ – in the eternal future. It is an affirmation of the unchanging faithfulness and dependability of the Lord in relating to his people, though we may also apply it to his eternally unchanging divine essence. Always Jesus Christ is the one who will never forsake us. The same Christ who made promises to the saints of old is with us today, and his character and power is not changed in any degree. Therefore we can rely on him just as fully as they did. Scripture’s record of his faithfulness to the cloud of witnesses has undiminished value, because it is the same Jesus Christ that we have with us today. His faithfulness to his people can be relied upon still today. If we are inclined to worry about the future which is hidden from us, and over which we have so little control, then we remember that it is his future, and he knows it perfectly. We can safely project what we know of him now into eternity.

Application

Here is stability; here is true comfort, and peace in the soul. We know we have life and we know that we face constant future needs. We cannot see how those needs will be met, but one thing we are sure of: the Lord is with us. He is not weak as we are; he is not limited in knowledge as we are. He is above and beyond time and not subject to its limitations, indeed he created time. The future is the perfect opportunity to trust him, to rely on his knowledge and control of all events which infinitely exceed our own. This is our way of handling the future, of coming to terms with it. We trust him moment by moment as we face each new experience, and our trust is directed towards the largely unknown future for it is there that we are most ineffectual and Christ is sovereign. The future is not totally unknown for we have been given sight of the great landmarks of the future, which are sufficient to assure us that he will never leave us or forsake us, but we do not know the detail of how it will come about.

He is still full of love. This is seen in the resurrection appearances of Christ. He is risen, he is appearing to his disciples he is not yet ascended into heaven, but now he has suffered and died, and purchased his people, and conquered death and hell. Satan is just now waiting until his second coming to be judged. But notice in those resurrection appearances how familiar he is with the disciples, how kind he is. He goes and meets them and moves among them just as he always did before his death on Calvary when he was with them on earth because he doesn't change. You might think, now he has conquered and he is King of kings and Lord of lords, he would be remote and distant and authoritative, but no. One of the great purposes of those resurrection appearances is to show his continuing personal affection for each one and his kindness and friendship. He is still dealing with each one of his children as though we were the only one. How can we fear things when you have such a Saviour? How can we compromise? He is the same yesterday today and forever and he’ll take us to glory and we will see him in his amazing glory.

If it were possible to be embarrassed in heaven, then surely we would be embarrassed at the sight of Christ. We would be amazed at him, but we would be so ashamed that we never grasped on earth just how great and glorious he is. But when we see him as we shall in glorified form somehow we will see all the Godhead in him and all the power of the Godhead in him. We will want to fall at his feet as dead, but we will be lifted out of this world, the place of shame and embarrassment, and we won't be able to feel quite as badly as that; we shall just marvel at him.

Questions

This verse should not be used to teach that nothing ever changes. The Old Testament priests are now gone; the Lord no longer requires the offering up of animal sacrifices in the temple; indeed, the earthly temple has been destroyed. God has a purpose and a plan and we see that plan unfolding before our eyes, and that necessarily means change from our finite perspective.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Hebrews 13:8 Commentary and Bible Study