Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus

The way we pray tells us a lot about our understanding of Scripture. And we see that clearly as we look at the prayer found in the final verses of Hebrews chapter 13. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg concludes our series titled Fix Our Eyes on Jesus by unpacking this powerful prayer that reminds us of everything God has accomplished through Jesus.

Now, I want to pick up from where we left off in our previous study, where we noted that the leadership was both pastoral and accountable. When you look at verses 18 and 19, you're able to add a third word to that description. It wasn't simply pastoral and accountable, but it was humble leadership. And we never express the humility of our hearts better than when we bow our knees in prayer. Nor do we make it clear to others our dependence upon God to any greater degree than when we seek to solicit from them the promise and assurance of their prayers. I find it particularly striking that the author's first personal reference doesn't come until the thirteenth chapter, and when it comes, it comes as a prayer request. The first time the writer, as it were, personalizes things in this particular way, he does so to acknowledge his dependence upon the prayers of God's people in order that he might better serve them.

And in so doing, he provides for as a further example of the nature of leadership within the Christian church. The writer recognized that all the blessing that he ever needed could be obtained from God alone, and that prayer was the means of obtaining the blessings and encouragements that he required. Pray for us, he says.

I particularly urge you to pray. Christian leadership should never be above the need of the prayers of God's people. And to the degree that leaders ever give the notion that we are, then we do a disservice to our people, to ourselves, and indeed to the whole testimony of God. His concern here about a clear conscience I think probably has something to do with the great freedom that he was exercising in relationship to the Jewish practices. Because you will remember, as we've gone through the letter, many of his readers would have been scrupulous in relationship to some of the old practices of Judaism, and they were having great difficulty in feeling that they were free from some of the stuff that had marked them before their encounter with Christ. And the writer had clearly been able to release himself from much of that old system, and he wanted them to know that he had a clear conscience in relationship to that, and that he did desire to live honorably in every way. That is a wonderful reminder to us, incidentally, that the clarity of our conscience and the desire for honorable living are to be hallmarks, again, of Christian leadership. The nineteenth verse is simply a reminder to us that while letters are okay, being face to face is the best. And that is his concern there. I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.

I want to see you, he says. And this reference at the end of this letter is akin to what we find with frequency throughout the rest of the New Testament letters. Now, having expressed his humility by means of this prayer request, he then, in verse 20, moves with ease from requesting that they might pray for him to offering what is essentially, on his part, a prayer of benediction. Because here, in this little prayer, he gathers up a number of themes which have run throughout the letter, if you'll notice—for example, the nature of the blood of the Lord Jesus and what it has meant for it to be shed, this notion of covenant, and particularly an eternal covenant, the lordship of Jesus Christ, the importance of doing his will—all of this and more is gathered up in this prayer that he offers on their behalf. And he directs his prayer, you will notice, in this wonderful opening phrase, to the God of peace. May he says the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought bank from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep equip you with everything good for the doing of his will.

Incidentally, the way in which we pray does not simply reveal our hearts, it reveals something of our heads. How is it that God is the God of peace? How is it that God can reconcile sinful man to himself, a holy God? How can there be peace where, by the very definition of our lives, we are at enmity with God, we are under his wrath, and we face only his judgment? How could he be the God of peace?

The answer is, through the blood of the eternal covenant. And presumably, the writer has in his mind a number of passages. Doubtless Isaiah 53, speaking of the suffering servant, as the prophet Isaiah pointed to one who was to come, not realizing that he would be the one who would be the fulfillment of all of his prophecies and would be the apex of the revelation in the letter of the Hebrews—this one who had no beauty or majesty, nothing in his appearance that we would desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. And yet he was the one who took up our infirmities. He was the one who carried our sorrows, and we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

What wondrous love is this! But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Notice, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. And all of these Hebrew Christians, and Isaiah and the prophets, when they stand around the throne of God, and when we join hands with them, and as we proclaim the wonder of God's grace, and when we declare the amazing wonder of the fact that he is the God of all peace, upon what will we reflect?

Upon the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. I wonder if the penny has dropped for some who began these studies in Hebrews, having no grasp of things at all, feeling that some external religion, some embracing of rules, some attempt at cleaning up and dressing up and appearing our best and doing our best and seeking to earn our acceptance with God, would be sufficient for welcome into his presence?

Has God by his Spirit opened your eyes to the wonder of this? That all your righteousnesses are as filthy rags? That there is not one thing that I or you could do to commend ourselves in the presence of God, and therefore we are without hope in the world, unless another should take our place? For not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain, but Christ the heavenly Lamb bears all our sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name than they.

That's the significance of the phrase. By raising Jesus from the dead, God gave proof that he had accepted the sacrifice of Jesus, that the atonement for sin had been accomplished. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, then there would be no salvation for sin. If Jesus had simply died as a natural man and been raised from the dead, then there would be no sacrifice for sin. But because of the death that he died and because of the resurrection that he experienced, there is for us the atonement for our sin. And indeed, that's why the writer has pointed out in chapter 10 and verse 18 that because in his death Jesus Christ accomplished this atonement, there is no more sacrifice for sin that can be offered or needs to be offered. Now, I could take a long time trying to expound this, but let me give you a quote.

It's a little prosaic, but it is a wonderful quote. It is from John Owen, the death of Christ, if he had not risen, would not have completed our redemption. We should have been still in our sins. For evidence would have been given that atonement was not made.

The bare resurrection of Christ, or the bringing of him from the dead, would not have saved us. For so other men may be raised by the power of God. But the bringing again of Christ from the dead, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, is that which gives assurance of the complete redemption and salvation of the church.

The writer is making it clear that Christ has performed an act which could be repeated by no other, and he has received a position which could be held by no other. Now, he has used this descriptive phraseology in order that he might then make statement of his request. All of this theology underpins what he's asking for.

He hasn't asked for anything yet. He has just heaped up these wonderful truths, made a God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead, who our Lord Jesus Christ—and who is he? He is the great Shepherd of the sheep. Now he says, This is my request. May he equip you with everything good for doing his will. What a wonderful and essential prayer.

The word here for equip means, may he put you in a proper condition. May he make you complete. May he restore you. May he mend you. May he repair you. It is the word that is used, for example, in Matthew 4, when Jesus comes and the disciples are at the shore, and they are mending their nets. And the word that is used there is from the same verb, ketertasthai.

And they were repairing that which was broken. And so he says, looking upon these believers in his day, writing out of the fullness of God's heart to them, he says, It is my great prayer. And I'm not just praying into the air, he says.

I'm praying that this God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead, the Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, this is the one to whom I go in prayer. And I'm asking him that he will give you everything that you require. Because, he says, I know that God is able not only to supply what is necessary but to repair what is broken. What a wonderful truth that is! It would be one thing if God could only supply what was necessary. He gave us one shot at it, and as soon as we violated it or messed it up or fooled around with it and put it on the side, he said, That's you, you're done.

I'll move you aside now, and I'll find another to use. No, the God to whom we come is the God who understands that, yes, we have compromised our testimonies. Yes, we have lived dislocated from one another. We are not perfect.

We haven't been, and we're not about to be. And it is this God who equips us with everything good for doing his will. What is his will? That we would be holy.

What is his will? That we would show hospitality. That we would minister to those who are in prison. That we would live true to our marriage vows.

And so on. It's no mystery. It's not some magic box kept under the tree somewhere that only a few select people can go and find. The will of God is on the surface of the pages of Scripture, and he supplies us with everything good for the doing of his will. To make us holy, not ultimately happy, he gives us the resources not as toys to be played with but as tools to be employed in order that we might become useful to the Master. And he says, May he work in us what is pleasing to him.

This great paradox of Philippians 2, that all that we ever work out for good is what God has worked in for his pleasure. We do it, he does it. Who does it? I do it. He does it. And in that paradox, as we depend upon him and as we are equipped with all of this, then he'll work in us what is pleasing to him. And notice, Through the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen. In other words, he said, I started with Jesus, I talked about Jesus all through the middle, and I'm finishing with Jesus too. Because he is the one who is greater than Moses, he is the one who is more significant than the angels, he is the name above every name, he is the one who is crowned with glory and honor, he is the one who is seated at the right hand of the Father on high. Let us praise him. Indeed, if these studies in Hebrews have not made Jesus more precious to us, then we have failed in our studies.

What about the little P.S. verses 22, 23, 24, and 25? Let me summarize it for you. Verse 22, heed the instructions. That's what he's saying.

I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation. I only wrote you a short letter. It would take about an hour to read out loud. He could have developed these themes a lot more. From his perspective, this was quite short.

Imagine how long it might have been. Heed the instruction, verse 22. Verses 23 and 24, cherish the fellowship. I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released.

If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you. That ought to fill your hearts with expectation, because you love to be with God's people. Cherish the fellowship. Greet your leaders. And verse 25, stand in grace.

Well, there it is. The great themes of revelation and redemption. The wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus, turning our eyes to him as the one who is the Savior for our sin, the one who is the Lord and Master of our lives. Throughout my studies in Hebrews—our studies in Hebrews—I made a new and ancient friend, an individual with whom, in one respect, I have very little in common, certainly when I consider his intellectual capacity and his piety. But I gained some encouragement from recognizing that we were both born in Scotland, that we both shared the privilege of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we both were called to the ministry of the Word of God, and that I hope, to some degree, we both… that I would share his passion to teach the truth which is actually in the verses that we're trying to study, rather than to teach a truth that we want to teach, and we look for a few verses to try and teach it. That there would be some sense of affinity with this individual, of whom Murray M'Cheyne, preaching an inordination sermon, said, John Brown of Haddington used to preach as if he had read no other book than the Bible.

But the one thing that intrigued me most was this. The biographical introduction to the commentary begins like this. Early one morning in the year 1738, a shepherd boy with homespun clothes and bare feet stood at the counter of Alexander McCulloch's bookshop in the university city of St. Andrews. The startled shopkeeper was yet more surprised when he heard the youth's request. It was for a Greek New Testament. "'Boy,' exclaimed the professor of Greek, who happened to be in the shop at that moment, "'if you can read that book, you shall have it for nothing.'

Soon a rather thick letter volume was in the lad's hands, and to the astonishment of all present he read a passage and won his prize. By the afternoon, sixteen-year-old John Brown was back among his flock on the hills of Abernathy, having walked some forty-eight miles since the previous evening to obtain his treasure." A sixteen-year-old shepherd boy, forty-eight miles on foot to buy a Greek New Testament? Well, this was John Brown's grandfather. Oh, I said, That's nice.

My grandfather was a shepherd too, but I don't know if he ever read the Greek New Testament. And as I read through his biography and found my heart stirred by it, I came to the way in which he concluded his studies—and I want to use his conclusion as my conclusion, because I don't think this can be improved upon. And with these words, I draw this to a close. He says, And now I close these illustrations of the epistle to the Hebrews. Happier hours than those which I have spent in composing these expository discourses, I can scarcely expect to spend on this side of the grave. I trust the study of the epistle has not been without some improvement, as well as much enjoyment to myself. I shall rejoice if at last it shall be found that others also have been made better and happier by it. All is now over with the author and his readers as to his illustrating the epistle and their listening to these illustrations.

But there remains the improvement to be made and the account to be given. God requireth the things which are past, and so should we. Let me request those who have accompanied me thus far seriously to review the whole epistle and ask themselves, Do we understand it better, and do we feel more strongly the sanctifying and consoling influences of the doctrines which it unfolds? Can we say with greater conviction of the truth than formerly, We need a high priest, we have a high priest, we are well pleased with our high priest, we have acknowledged Jesus as our high priest, we will hold fast our acknowledgment, he died for us, we will live for him, and if he calls us, we will die for him, we will trace his steps on the earth, we will wait his coming in the clouds. If this be the case, even in one individual, I shall not have labored in vain.

If it has been the case with a number of individuals, I shall have received a full reward. It's because we understand that Jesus is our high priest that we both live and die for him. That's a key lesson from our study in the book of Hebrews. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg.

Stay with us. Alistair will be right back to close with prayer. But first I want to tell you a little bit more about a book I've mentioned throughout the week, a book called God's Bible Timeline, the big book of biblical history. This is a colorful picture book that presents a series of 18 biblical timelines. It traces biblical history from the Garden of Eden in Genesis to Jesus' fulfillment of his promise in the New Testament and then on to the expansion of the early church. The bright illustrations and maps and diagrams make God's Bible Timeline a great resource for your Bible study or Sunday school class.

You can request your copy today by giving through our mobile app or at truthforlife.org slash donate or give us a call at 888-588-7884. Now let's join Alistair as he closes in prayer. Our God and our Father, we thank you for the immense privilege of being able to study the Bible, and we thank you that in these studies, in this epistle to the Hebrews, our gaze has been turned again to these wonderful truths—that you are God and you have made yourself known to us in the world in which we live, in the Word which we read, and in the person of your Son upon whom we turn our gaze. And we thank you for what you have done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ—that in him there is forgiveness of sins, the cleansing of a guilty conscience, the removal of the fear of death, the anticipation of the hope of glory. How, then, we should praise you for the love of our Redeemer. Grant that we might do so. To the glory of his great Name we ask it. Amen. I'm Bob Lapeen. Have a great weekend as you worship with your local church. Be sure to join us again Monday as we begin a two-day special on how to foster a Christ-shaped ministry. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.