Hebrews 13:20

As the apostle desires the church’s prayers for himself, so he poureth out his for them; with the which he introduceth the conclusion of this Epistle, Heb 13:20,21. Now God the Father, the God and Author of peace and reconciliation of sinners to himself, the propagator and lover of peace among all the subjects of his kingdom, the dispenser of the fulness of good, blessing, and happiness, Rom 15:3; Phi 4:9; 1Th 5:23, who gloriously manifested his power by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the dead, Eph 1:19,20; Ro 1:4, who is the great Shepherd of his sheep, exalted to this office, because he poured out his blood a sacrifice for sins, to purchase them, justify and sanctify them, a peculiar flock for himself, according to the covenant of grace that God made with them, and in him with and for sinners, who should repent and believe in him, Joh 10:9-30; 1Co 6:11; Phi 2:7,10; Tit 2:14; 1Pe 1:18,19, and to perfect them with himself above, 1Pe 5:4, by the same power wherewith he was raised, perfect you, &c. Eph 1:19.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Heb_13:20-21

The God of peace

The God of peace and our sanctification

I.

I call your attention to THE PECULIAR TITLE UNDER WHICH GOD IS ADDRESSED IN THIS PRAYER: NOW, the God of peace. The names of God employed in prayer in holy Scripture are always significant. Why, then, did the apostle here call God the God of peace? He had a reason; what was it? Iris a Pauline expression. You find that title only in the writings of Paul. It is a name of Pauls own coinage by the teaching of the Holy Ghost. There were reasons in Pauls experience which led him to dwell upon this peculiar trait of the Divine character. Just as in our text he prays, Perfect you in every good work to do His will, so in Thessalonians he says, And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is evident, not only that the apostle delighted in the expression peculiar to himself, but that he saw a close connection between the peace of God and the sanctifying of believers, and for this reason, both in the Thessalonians and in the Hebrews, his prayer for their sanctification is addressed to the God of peace. The title is a gospel one. God is not spoken of as the God of peace in the Old Testament; but there He is a man of war, the Lord is His name; He shall cut off the spirit of princes; He is terrible to the kings of the earth.

1. The appropriateness of the title to the particular prayer will readily strike you, for holiness is peace. May the God of peace make you holy, for He Himself is peace and holiness.

2. The God of peace has also graciously restored peace and reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, but it has been by the putting away of sin, for while sin remained peace was impossible. He died for our sins, but He rose again for our justification, which is none other than the replacing of us in a condition of reconciliation with God. He went into heaven to take possession of our inheritance; and what better evidence could there be that we are reconciled to God?

3. If you pursue the subject you will see more and more clearly the significance of the title, the God of peace; for, to make us perfect in every good work to do His will is to give us peace. Sin is our enemy, and the new life within us is heartily at enmity with evil, and therefore peace can never be proclaimed in the triple kingdom of our nature until we always do that which is well pleasing in the sight of the Lord, through Jesus Christ. Nor is this all.

4. When the apostle, praying for our sanctification, prays to the God of peace, it is as much as to say to us that we must view God as the God of peace if we are to be led to do His will. O man, is God your enemy? Then you will never serve Him, nor do that which is well pleasing in His sight. You must first of all know that there is peace between you and your God, and then you can please Him. This knowledge can only come to you through Christ Jesus, for peace is made only by the blood of the everlasting covenant.

5. I will call to your notice the fact that the title, the God of peace, sheds a light over the whole passage, and is beautifully in harmony with every word of the prayer. Let us read it line by line. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. War brings down to death; but the God of peace brings back from the dead. The restoration of the Lord Jesus from the grave was a peaceful act, and was meant to be the guarantee of peace accomplished for ever. Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The very word covenant is also full of peace: and especially is it so when we remember that it is a covenant of peace which eternal love has established between God and man. The apostle goes on to pray, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will. If Gods will is done by us, then there must be peace, for no ground of difference can exist. Working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight. When all in us is well pleasing to God, then, indeed, is He the God of peace to us. The final doxology is also very significant, for in effect it proclaims the universal and eternal reign of peace: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. What can there be to disturb the universe when the Lord God omnipotent shall reign, and all nations shall glorify the Ever Blessed, world without end? Not without reason, therefore, did our apostle select the title, The God of peace.

II. We have now to consider THE SPECIAL ACT DWELT UPON IN THIS PRAYER. That brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The bringing back of the Lord Jesus from the dead was the seal of His perfected work, and consequently of our peace and ultimate perfection in holiness. Because He had wrought all righteousness, therefore did tie stand amongst living men; and because He had merited a crown of glory, therefore did He rise even to the throne of Jehovah, to sit there till His enemies are made His footstool. We go further yet. The bringing again of Christ from the dead was in effect the leading back of all His people. Not without the sheep did the Shepherd come, for that were to return defeated. The text speaks of Our Lord Jesus. Did you notice that? Ours in His offices of Shepherd and Saviour, altogether ours as brought again from the dead. What He did was for us. He is the great Shepherd of the sheep, and therefore what He did was for the sheep. Because I live, saith He, ye shall live also and because He lives to intercede, therefore His people are preserved from evil: Satan desires to have us, that he may sift us as wheat; but the great Shepherd, who was brought again from the dead, is daily watching over us, and the power of His life, and of His kingdom, and of His plea, are manifested in us, so that we conquer temptation, and advance from strength to strength in our pilgrimage to heaven.

III. Thirdly, let us notice THE VERY REMARKABLE MANNER IN WHICH THE HOLINESS PRAYED FOR IS DESCRIBED in the text: Make you perfect in every good work to do His will. That is the first clause, but the translation is not strictly accurate. The passage would be better rendered, make you fit in every good work to do His will, and the original Greek word properly means to reset a bone that is dislocated. The meaning of the text is this: by the fall all our bones are out of joint for the doing of the Lords will, and the desire of the apostle is that the Lord will set the bones in their places, and thus make us able with every faculty and in every good work to do His will. The first part of the prayer, then, is for fitness for holiness. The next is for actual service: Working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight. And here I ask you to notice how all things are of God. Even he who is best adapted for the performance of virtue and holiness, yet does not perform these things till the Lord worketh in him to will and to do of His own good pleasure. Over and above this mode of securing all the glory to God notice the next clause--through Jesus Christ. That which we do even when the Lord works in us we only do through Jesus Christ. We are nothing without our Lord, and though we do what is acceptable in the Lords sight, yet it is only acceptable through Jesus Christ.

IV. Our fourth point drops into its place very naturally, for we have already seen that THE WHOLE OF IT COMES TO A MOST APPROPRIATE CONCLUSION OF PRAISE: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. To glorify God is the object of it all. Praise is the flower for which the stalk of prayer exists. It would be a very difficult question to decide to whom the last clause alludes, whether to the God of peace, or to Our Lord Jesus, and, therefore, I think, the safer way is to take them both together, for they are one. To whom, that is to God; To whom, that is to the Lord Jesus, be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Let it be so; it ought to be so, it must be so, it shall be so. Amen. Amen. Tarry just a minute while we give glory unto the Three-One-God. He is the God of peace; approach Him with holy delight; adore Him; glorify His name evermore. Then magnify Him next, because He found for us a Shepherd. Glorify ]=lDDint next for the covenant. And then adore Him because the power which He exerted upon Christ He is now exerting upon you. Bless Him for every grace received, for faith however little, for love, even though it burn not as you would desire; bless Him for every conquered sin, bless Him for every implanted grace, bless Him evermore. Bless Him that He deals with you through Jesus Christ. Through the Mediator all good has come to us, and through the Mediator it will still come, until that day when He shall deliver up the throne to God, even the Father, and God shall be all in all. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The work of God

I. LOOK AT THE ASPECT IN WHICH GOD IS HERE PRESENTED.

1. A God of peace. Were we hastily to form our opinion of the character of God from the aspects and condition of this world, we might come to a different conclusion. God of peace! Where is peace? Read the worlds past history, or survey its present condition! Has not every age been filled with wars? and what soil, from the sands of Africa to Polar snows, has not been drenched with human blood? Unconverted man is at peace--neither with himself, nor with others, nor with God. Shall we therefore conclude from this view of the world that He who is at once its Maker and Monarch is not a God of peace? Assuredly not. He had nothing to do with this miserable condition of affairs; and is neither to be judged by it, nor blamed for it. In a fatal hour, sin was admitted into our world; and the ship that takes a Jonah aboard parts with peace. She has nothing to look for but thunders and lightnings, and storms and tempests. But let God have His way, only let His will be done in earth as it is done in heaven, and such a change were wrought on this world, as would recall the change that night saw on Galilee, when Jesus woke, and, rising in the boat, looked out on the tumbling sea, to say, Peace, be still--and in a moment there was a great calm.

2. God has made peace. Fury is not in Me, saith the Lord. He has turned from the fierceness of His anger, and made peace between Himself and man by the blood of the Cross; but not peace at any price--at the expense of His honour, holiness, justice, law, or truth. No. God has not overlooked the guilt of sin; He pardons, but does not palliate it. Peace, as has often been done between man and man, may be established on a!also basis. Take for example the States of America. Before they were actually rent asunder, they might have established a peace on the foundations of iniquity. Had they given ear to preachers who perverted the Word of God, and, regarding slavery as the white mans right, and not the black mans wrong, had they joined hand to hand to sacrifice the interests of humanity to those of commerce, they might have had peace instead of war. They might have cemented their union with the blood of slaves. But such a peace as that would have offered a complete contrast to the peace of the gospel. This preserves Gods honour. Not peace at any price, it is peace at such a price as satisfied the utmost demands of His law, and fully vindicated His holiness in the sight of the universe.

II. HE BROUGHT CHRIST FROM THE HEAD.

1. In one sense the glory of His resurrection belongs to Christ Himself. The only thing else I have now to give, Jesus might say, is My life; and there it is. Of My own will, by My own, free, spontaneous act, I lay it down. All your wretched tools and cruel tortures, your crown of thorns and bloody Cross, cannot deprive Me of life. It is not you that take away My life; nor is it God. It is not taken away--but given; for I have power to lay it down, as I have power to take it up again. Hence our Lords claim on our love and gratitude. But He who said, I have power to lay down My life, also said, I have power to take it up again--as He had before intimated, when, the Jews having asked a sign of Hint, He said, referring to His body, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

2. Here our Lords resurrection is attributed to God. Here unquestionably; but not here only. Paul says, He hath raised up Jesus again.

In conclusion

1. Look at this aspect of Christ as the Great Shepherd of the sheep. How many are the elements of His greatness! He is a Divine Shepherd. And unlike other shepherds, who in the East dwell in tents, and here in the lowly cottages, His home is a palace, and His servants are the angels of heaven. How many are the shepherds He has under Him. Indeed, those who bear the greatest names in His Church are, though leaders, but part of the flock; He Himself being the only Shepherd, Bishop, and Overseer of souls. Nor here, as sometimes happens among men, is greatness separated from that goodness which is the best property of the two. But both properties, infinite in measure, meet in Christ. Paul calls Him the Great, but He calls Himself the Good Shepherd.

2. Glance at Pauls prayer. Make you perfect. Could I express for you a better wish, or could you aim at a better object? I know that we are not perfect yet; far from it! In our imitation of Christ, how unlike is the fairest copy to the great original I Still there is no ground for despair. Perfect freedom from the power of sin, perfect obedience to the precepts and spirit of the law, perfect harmony to the mind and perfect conformity to the image of God, are within the bond, sealed with blood; and also in the prayer, I will that those whom thou has given Me be with Me where I am. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The great pleas of a great prayer

I. THE NAME OF GOD IS THE WARRANT FOR OUR LARGEST HOPE. God is the God of peace, and, therefore, He will, if we will let Him, make us perfect unto every good work. That, of course, must imply that the peace which is here ascribed to Him, as its source and fontal possessor, is that deep and changeless calm of an infinite and perfectly harmonious being which is broken by no work, perturbed by no agitations, and yet is no more stagnant than the calm depths of the ocean, being penetrated for ever by warmth and majestic motion in which there is rest. The God of peace wills to give to men something not altogether unlike the tranquillity which He Himself possesses. The hope seems altogether beyond the conditions of creatural life, which is tossed to and fro amidst change and agitations. How can the finite whose very law of life is change, whose nature is open to the disturbances of external solicitations, and the agitations of inward emotions--how can he ever, in this respect, approximate to the repose of God?And yet, analogous, if not similar, tranquillity may fill our hearts. When our wills are made pliable and flexible, no longer stiff and obstinate, like a bar of iron, to His touch, but bendable like a piece of dressed leather; when our hankering desires no longer go after forbidden dainties, but keep themselves within the limits of the Divine will; when we are ready for all that He commands or appoints, meeting the one with unmurmuring resignation, and the other with unquestioning obedience--then nothing that is at enmity with joy can utterly abolish or destroy the peace that we have in God.

II. THE RAISING OF THE SHEPHERD IS THE PROPHECY FOR THE SHEEP. I ask myself, Is it possible that I shall be delivered from this burden of corruption; that I shall ever, in any state, be able, with unhesitating and total surrender of myself, to make the will of God the very life of my spirit and the bread on which I live? And all the unbelieving and cowardly suggestions of my own heart as to the folly of trying after an unreachable perfection, and the wisdom of acquiescence in the partial condition to which I have already attained, are swept out of view by this one thing--the sight of a man throned by the side of God, perfect in holiness and serene in untroubled beauty. That is a prophecy for us all. We look out upon the world, or into this cage of evils in our own hearts, and are tempted to fold our hands and acquiesce in the inevitable. Alas! it is too true that we see not yet all things put under man. Courage! Nothing less than the likeness of Jesus Christ corresponds to Gods will concerning us. In Him there is power to make each of us as pure, as sinless, as the Lord Himself in whom we trust.

III. THE EVERLASTING COVENANT IS THE TEACHER AND THE PLEDGE OF OUR LARGEST DESIRES. Is it not a grand thought, and a profoundly true one, that God, like some great monarch who deigns to grant a constitution to his people, has condescended to lay down conditions by which He will be bound, and on which we may reckon? Out of the illimitable possibilities of action, limited only by His own nature, and all incapable of being foretold by us, He has marked a track on which he will go. If I may so say, across the great ocean of possible action He has buoyed out His course, and we may prick it down upon our charts, and be quite sure that we shall find Him there. Be sure of this, that within the four corners of Gods articulate and unmistakable assurance lies all that heart can wish or spirit receive from Him. You cannot expect or ask more from Him than He has bound Himself to impart. You desires can never be outstretched as to go beyond the efficacy of the blood of Jesus Christ; and through the ages of time or eternity the everlasting Covenant remains, to which it shall be our wisdom and our blessedness to widen our hopes, expand our desires, conform our wishes, and adapt our work. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Peace from God through Christ

I. THE AUTHOR OF PEACE. From all eternity God purposed in Himself the counsel of peace; and when by reason of sin, discord and misery came into the world, the Lord always comforted His people by the promise of redemption. In the fulness of time came Jesus, the Peace-maker; and when the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, the Father made peace through the blood of His Cross. Jesus Himself is our peace; but it is the God of peace who gave Jesus, and who by His atonement made peace, and reconciled all things to Himself. Peace means not merely calmness and rest of conscience and heart, based on the righteousness of God, but it means also restoration to health and well-being; or rather, since in Christ God makes all things new, not a restoration to Adams state of innocence, but the creating us anew after His image.

II. JESUS THE CHANNEL OF PEACE. Our Lord Jesus was the Paschal Lamb on Calvary. From that moment our peace was purchased, and we were identified with the substitute. Now the Lamb that was slain is also the good Shepherd, that laid down His life for the sheep; He is not merely the good, true, genuine Shepherd; He is also the great Shepherd, the mighty, sublime, the only one, who leads the flock out of the grave to the heavenly glory.

III. GOD WORKS IN US. Have we thus risen to the thought of the God of peace, the Redeemer, the Restorer, who through the sufferings of Jesus, and by His blood, delivered us from all evil, and has raised us together with Christ, unto a new, spiritual, and endless life, then we can understand the benediction, that God should work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. We are humbled by the sense of our transgressions, and above all of the sinfulness of our old nature. Let us be exalted by the grace of God. True, we groan in this tabernacle, being burdened, but we rejoice in God. The Lord works in us. He gives good desires, true petitions, living words and works. He prepares us for the work in time, as He prepared the work for us in eternity. He works in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, for what is born of the Spirit is Spirit. And all is wrought through Jesus Christ. For He is our life and strength. Only abiding in Him can the branches live and bear fruit. The Spirit in us is not a substitute for Christ, but the connecting-link between the Lord and us. Thus the Divine energy within us acts simply through our faith in Jesus. Lean then on Jesus, and you will conquer sin. (A. Saphir.)

Our Lord Jesus

The names of the Saviour:

To most of us, I suppose, the various names by which our Saviour is designated in Scripture are just like so many aliases, indiscriminately used, and all conveying the same impression. But, in truth, they each suggest some distinctive aspect of His nature or relations to us, and in Scripture are never used without at least a sidelong glance to their special significance. The writers thought is always tinted, as it were, even if it is not deeply coloured, by the name which he selects. I have chosen the words which I have read as our starting-point, because they very strikingly bring together the extreme names; that which expresses lowly manhood and that which expresses sovereign authority, Jesus our Lord, in the union whereof lie the mystery of His being, and the foundation of our hopes, and by which union He becomes that great Shepherd of the sheep.

I. So, then, in the pursuit of this design, I have to ask you to notice, first, THE SIMPLE, HUMAN NAME JESUS.

1. Let us ever keep distinctly before us that suffering and dying manhood as the only ground for acceptable sacrifice and of full access and approach to God. Then, further, let us ever keep before our minds clear and plain that true manhood of Jesus as being the type and pattern of the devout life,

3. Then, again, let us set clearly before us that exalted manhood as the pattern and pledge of the glory of the race.

II. Then we have THE NAME OF OFFICE--JESUS IS CHRIST. IS your Jesus merely the man who by the meek gentleness of His nature, the winning attractiveness of His persuasive speech, draws and conquers, and stands manifested as the perfect example of the highest form of manhood, or is He the Christ, in whom the hopes of a thousand generations are realised; and the promises of God fulfilled, and the smoking altars and the sacrificing priests of that ancient system, and of heathenism everywhere, find their answer, their meaning, their satisfaction, their abrogation? Is Jesus to you the Christ of God?

III. We have THE NAME OF DIVINITY--JESUS THE CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD. NOW that designation, either in its briefer form, the Son, or in its fuller form, the Son of God, is, we may say, a characteristic of this letter. The keynote is struck in the very first words. And then the writer goes on in a glorious flow of profound truth and lofty eloquence to set forth the majesty of this Sons nature, and the wonderfulness of His relations to the whole world. Jesus is this Son. Once, and once only, in the letter does the writer buckle together these two ideas which might seem to be antithetic, and at the utmost possible poles of opposition from each other: the lowly manhood and the wondrous Divinity. But they are united in Him who, by the union of them both, becomes the High Priest of our profession--Jesus, the Son of God. Further, the name is employed in its contracted form to enhance the mystery and the mercy of His sharp sufferings and of His lowly endurance. Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. The fuller form is employed to enhance the depth of the guilt and the dreadfulness of the consequences of apostasy, as in the solemn words about crucifying the Son of God afresh, and in the awful appeal to our own judgments to estimate of how sore punishment they are worthy who trample under foot the Son of God. In like manner once or twice our letter speaks of Jesus as Lord, declaring thereby His Sovereignty, and setting forth our relation of dependence and submission. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Christ brought from the dead:

Which words carry with them the form and purpose of a devout prayer. And prayer is the usual conclusion of St. Pauls Epistles. This prayer of Paul is a mutual prayer. In the two former verses he craves their prayers for himself, Brethren, pray for us (Heb_13:18). He desires the assistance of their prayers. And see how he requites that fruit of their love. What he requires of them he performs for them; he prays for them again. Such strong combinations of mutual prayers are prevailing means to bring down blessings. The prayer he makes is most seasonable and pertinent. This prayer is a full and sweet comprehension of his former doctrine, and a great confirmation of the piety and holiness of it. It is a good character of truth when we can pray that which we preach. The text, then, you see, is St. Pauls charitable and devout prayer, his apostolical and fatherly benediction, and blessing of the Hebrews.

I. The first thing observable is THE PERSON AND AUTHOR FROM WHOM HE SEEKS AND CRAVES THIS BLESSING OF GRACE AND HOLINESS FOR THEM. It is from the God of peace. Why doth he insist in that attribute of God, above all others, when he prays to Him for grace for his people? Many other excellencies God hath ascribed to him in Scripture, and the interposing of them in our prayers would seem very useful for the obtaining this great blessing of grace and sanctity.

1. The Scripture terms Him the God of power; and the blessing He sues for is a work of great power, to sanctify, and fit such sinful creatures as we are, to every good work (2Pe_1:3).

2. The Scripture terms Him the God of grace; and this work is a gracious work. This prayer is a petition for grace, and so St. Peter frames it accordingly (1Pe_5:10).

3. The Scripture terms Him the God of glory; and this work we are about, the work of sanctification, is a glorious work. St. Peter calls it the spirit of 1Pe_4:14). Yet we see the apostle passes by these attributes, and insists upon this, the God of peace, as most proper to what he aims at. In general

(1) The aim and drift of the apostle in this epistle is to compose all jarrs and differences of opinion in the Church of the Hebrews.

(2) He prays for grace from the God of peace, because, in truth, all grace flows from this, that God is become a God of peace to us. While He is an offended God there is no hope to receive from Him any gift of grace. Sue for pardon and peace first, and then His grace and Spirit, all that belongs to life and godliness, shall be made good unto thee.

(3) This title of the God of peace carries with it a third intimation, and that is of a necessary qualification, that is requisite in us for the receiving of this grace St. Paul prays for. He is the God of peace, and bestows His grace where He finds His peace. Such as follow peace the grace of God follows them and enters into them. If there be a Son of peace the blessing of grace shall rest upon him. A peaceable spirit invites the Holy Ghost to enter into us and to abide with us. It makes our hearts a fit soil for the feed of grace. But besides these more general considerations

2. This title of the God of peace hath a more close reference to the text, to the purpose of it, and to all the parts of it.

(1) It hath a reference to the blood here mentioned, and to the great Shepherds death. And it refers to that as to the main ground, and foundation, and purchase of this peace.

(2) A second reference to this title of the God of peace is to another passage in the text. It refers to the bringing of Christ back from the dead again as the proper effect and fruit of this peace. God, being now at peace with us, He brings Christ back from the dead. When Christ was brought under the dominion of death, that was the bitter fruit of Gods fierce anger, but the restoring back again to life, that is the sweet and blessed truth of His peace.

(3) There is a third reference of this title of God, the God of peace, and that is to the Shepherd of the sheep. It refers to that as to a great evidence and token that now He is indeed at peace with us. For He hath not only restored Christ to life, but restored Him to his office too, committed to Him the care of His flock again.

(4) There is yet a fourth reference of this title of the God of peace, and that is to the everlasting covenant that the text speaks of. God is now become a God of peace to us, because He is become a God in covenant with us. Nay, it is not only a lasting, but an everlasting peace. He hath bound Himself to maintain this peace by an everlasting covenant. He hath established a peace that shall never be broken. Nay, it is not only the peace of a covenant, though that be strong, but the peace of a Testament. We read of the quarrel of Gods covenant (Lev_26:25), that may meet with jars; but when peace becomes a legacy, a firm deed, and bequeathment that is unalterable, we shall inherit peace. Peace and safety is the heritage of the Lords servants (Isa_54:17). And for our greater assurance He hath erected a public office in His Church, where we may view and exemplify this covenant, take out a true and perfect copy of His last will and testament; and that is in the institution of the sacrament. We have done with the first particular, the Person, of whom he craves the blessing; that is the God of peace. Now

II. follows the MOTIVE THAT HE USES, AND BY WHICH HE STRENGTHENS AND ENFORCES HIS PRAYER. And that is the consideration of our Saviours resurrection. And it is the Divine art and holy rhetoric of prayer, not only to present our suits, but to press them by the interposition of such prevailing arguments. The motive, I say, which he uses is our Saviours resurrection. And of it take a double view. See the description of it; and that consists of three particulars.

1. Here is the Person raised. And He made known

(1) By His personal title, the Lord Jesus. And this title is very pertinent to His resurrection. For, however this glorious title was due to Him, even from His birth, yet it is observable it is never completely given to Him till after His resurrection. By His resurrection He was declared to be the Son of God; then made known to be Lord and Christ.

(2) The title of His office. The former, indeed, is more honourable for Him; but this other, that great Shepherd of the sheep, is more comfortable to us, as implying thus much, that whatsoever betided Him in the whole carriage of this business befell Him not as a private person for His own cause, but in the behalf of those that were committed to His charge. Whatsoever He did or suffered, it was all for His sheep.

1. His first mission and coming into the world was for His sheep Mat_15:24).

2. His death and passion was not in His own behalf, but for His sheep Joh_10:15).

3. His resurrection, that was for His sheep to resume that office, to take care over His flock (Act_3:26). All for us men, and for our salvation. For better understanding of this title let us take it asunder into these three particulars. First, We see the Church, the body of Christians, they are called sheep. And this resemblance is exceeding frequent in Scripture. The Church of God is called a flock of sheep (Luk_12:32; 1Pe_5:5; Eze_36:38).

It is fitly so termed in these resemblances.

1. Sheep are such kind of creatures as naturally gather themselves together, unite into a flock. Such are Christians; such is the Church, combined in a holy society and communion. If we belong not to the flock we belong not to the Shepherd, we make ourselves a prey to the wolf.

2. Sheep are of a very harmless and inoffensive nature. And such must Christians be, endued with dove-like simplicity, with lamb-like innocency. The most cruel dispositions shall be tamed and sweetened when they come once to be of this flock of Christ. 3, Sheep are creatures exceedingly subject to stray, if not tended and kept in the better; unable to keep out of error; and, having erred, unable to return. Such are Christians, the best of them, if left to themselves. How soon out of the right way are we if God takes off His guidance and leaves us unto ourselves? Into what mazes and thickets of errors do we run ourselves (Psa_119:176).

4. Sheep are weak and shiftless creatures, unable to make resistance. And such is the Church, if considered in itself, and from under Christs protection. The enemies of Gods Church are like the fat bulls of Bashan, whereas Gods people are like a few helpless sheep.

5. Sheep are not, as many other creatures, wild and of no mans owning, creatures at large, but they are the property and possession of an owner. So Gods Church is not a loose, scattered people; they are His proper possession, His chosen people, the sheep of His pasture, His peculiar people, the people of His purchase, His choice inheritance. Secondly, Here is His office. Christ is a Shepherd. He vouchsafes to be called and known by that name (Psa_80:1). Our Saviour assumes this name to Himself Joh_10:11).

All that is requisite in a Shepherd is fully in Christ.

1. A Shepherd is an employment of much diligence and attention. It requires a constant, continual inspection over the flock. Such is the watchful care that Christ hath over His Church (Mat_28:20).

2. A shepherd is an employment of tenderness, and mildness, and of much compassion. If the sheep stray he seeks them carefully, brings them home gently, lays them on his shoulders. And such a Shepherd is Christ, not like a lion over His flock, but meek and merciful (Isa_40:11).

3. A shepherds is an employment of skill; he must be able to know the state of his flock (Pro_27:23). What diseases they are subject to, and how to prevent or cure them: what food is wholesome for them, and how to supply them. Sure, in this also, Christ is a perfect Shepherd. He hath not the instruments of a foolish shepherd, as Zechariah speaks Zec_11:15), but is completely furnished with all abilities for the good of His flock. He knows their diseases, and can cure them; their dangers, and can prevent them; their necessities, and can supply them; their enemies, and can disappoint them (Psa_23:1).

4. A shepherds is an employment that requires stoutness and courage. He that will keep his flock from mischief must not fear the wolf or flee from him, but withstand and resist him.

5. As shepherds is an employment of much patience and hardship. He must bear many a storm, and blast, heat, and cold, undergo all weathers. He must endure much tediousness in seeking and reducing his poor stray sheep. It was Jacobs lot, and much more our Saviours. He served a hard service; storms and tempests fell upon Him in tending His flock. He was a man of afflictions, patiently undergoing all the toil of His laborious employment. Thirdly, Take notice of the dignity and eminency of this office. He is called that great Shepherd. Great Shepherd! Surely in the worlds account there is scarce good congruity between these two words. If a Shepherd, then we conclude Him to be a mean man. Kings and priests joined together in the Scripture. Nay, peasants and priests, that is the worlds heraldry; so they rank them, set them wish the dogs of the flock, as Job speaks (Job_30:1), that place is good enough for them. Shepherd, Priest, Minister, all words of contempt, not to be found amongst the titles of honour; nay, what saith Moses (Gen_46:34)? Every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. So is a Church shepherd to profane worldlings. Well, let the ministry be the scorn of the world; let them stumble at it in their folly, or spurn at it in their pride, yet it is the wisdom of God and the power of God. A shepherds is the office of our Saviour and the glory of Christ. So then, with or without their leaves, Christ is the great Shepherd. Every way great.

1. Great in His person. If the Son of God become a Shepherd, surely then a great Shepherd. How wonderful is it to see the Lord Jesus Christ, with His shepherds crook, tending His flock! This humiliation of His Person in a great exaltation of the office makes Him a great Shepherd.

2. Christ is the great Shepherd, because He is the supreme Shepherd, the Prince of Shepherds. All other pastors, of what title soever, are inferior to Him. All hold their employment in dependence from Him.

3. He is a great Shepherd, for His flock is great; great, I mean, in the value. His flock is a flock of souls, and that is a precious flock.

4. He is great in prerogatives. All the flock of Christians is under His inspection. He is the only true OEcumenical pastor. All other shepherds are but petty shepherds, of a portion only of His flock. But to be the universal Shepherd of the whole Church is Christs prerogative.

5. He is great in possession. The flock is His own, He is the rightful Owner and Possessor of it. We, the best of us, are but servants to Him, to tend His flock. He sets us on work, to Him we owe our accounts. He will pay us our wages, or reckon with them that shall any ways defraud us.

6. He is great in His abilities to tend His flock.

1. A great Shepherd in knowing His flock. He hath a special knowledge of every poor sheep. He hath all their names engraven on His breast (Joh_10:3).

2. Great He is in His love and affection to His flock. He lays down His life for them.

3. He is of great power to save and preserve them (Isa_63:1). (Bp. Brownrigg.)

That great Shepherd

The great Shepherd of the sheep

I. WHY GODS RELIEVING PEOPLE ARE COMPARED TO SHEEP.

1. Sheep are harmless creatures (Php_2:15).

2. Meek and patient (1Pe_3:4).

3. Clean (Psa_73:1).

4. Simple and guileless (Psa_32:2).

5. Tractable (Joh_10:27).

6. God made them His sheep by free grace (Psalm c. 3).

II. JESUS CHRIST IS THE GREAT SHEPHERD OF HIS SHEEP.

1. He carefully feeds His flock (Isa_40:11).

2. He feeds them in providing ordinances for them (Psa_23:2).

3. In providing shepherds to dispense ordinances (Eph_4:11-12).

4. He spiritually blesses the feeding of His flock (Eze_34:14).

5. Christ knows all His sheep (Jer_33:13).

6. He knows them as given to Him by His Father (Joh_17:6).

7. He knows them as bearing His image (Rom_8:29).

8. He knows them by the sprinkling of His blood (Rev_7:14).

9. He preserves them from danger (Joh_10:28).

He preserves them

(1) By His death.

(2) His intercession.

(3) His presence.

(4) His union to them.

(5) His promise.

(6) And His Holy Spirit.

III. WHY CHRIST IS CALLED THE GREAT SHEPHERD.

1. In regard to the dignity of His character (Zec_13:7).

2. In regard to His great ability to save (Joh_3:34-35).

3. In regard to His property in the sheep (Joh_10:11; compared 1Pe_1:18-19).

4. Other shepherds are sheep as well as shepherds (Act_14:15).

5. In regard to His dominion over the shepherds (Ecc_12:11).

6. In regard to the success that He can give to His pastoral care 1Co_3:7).

7. In regard to the jurisdiction He has over them (1Co

6:20).

8. In regard to the extent of His jurisdiction (Psa_72:8).

Improvement. To ministers:

1. To teach ministers to act for Christ.

2. To feed their hearers with gospel truths.

3. To show believers their daily mercies.

4. To remind them of their security in Christ.

5. And their final salvation and glory.

Instruction. To believers:

1. Be ruled and governed by Jesus Christ.

2. Submit to the shepherds that He has appointed.

3. Pray to love the goodly pastures of Christs providing.

4. Bring forth fruits unto the glory of His grace.

5. And expect to live with Him hereafter, where all sorrow and sin will he for ever done away, and the whole Church will rejoice in God eternally. (T. B. Baker.)

The blood of the everlasting covenant

The blood of the everlasting covenant:

All Gods dealings with men have had a covenant character. It hath so pleased Him to arrange it, that He will not deal with us except through a covenant, nor can we deal with Him except in the same manner. It is important, then, since the covenant is the only ladder which reaches from earth to heaven, that we should know how to discriminate between covenant and covenant; and should not be in any darkness or error with regard to what is the covenant of grace, and what is not.

I. First of all, then, I have to speak of THE COVENANT mentioned in the text; and I observe that we can readily discover at first sight what the covenant is not. We see at once that this is not the covenant of works, for the simple reason that this is an everlasting covenant. Again, I may remark that the covenant here meant is not the covenant of gratitude which is made between the loving child of God and his Saviour. Such a covenant is very right and proper. But that covenant is not the one in the text, for the simple reason that the covenant in our text is an everlasting one. Now ours was only written out some few years ago. It would have been despised by us in the earlier parts of our life, and cannot at the very utmost be so old as ourselves. Having thus readily shown what this covenant is not, I may observe what this covenant is.

1. Now, in this covenant of grace, we must first of all observe the high contracting parties between whom it was made. The covenant of grace was made before the foundation of the world between God the Father, and God the Son; or to put it in a yet more Scriptural light, it was made mutually between the three Divine persons of the adorable Trinity. This covenant was not made directly between God and man.

2. And now, what were the stipulations of this covenant? They were somewhat in this wise. God had foreseen that man after creation would break the covenant of works; that however gentle the tenure upon which Adam had possession of Paradise, yet that tenure would be too severe for him, and he would be sure to kick against it, and ruin himself. God had also foreseen that His elect ones, whom He had chosen out of the rest of mankind, would fall by the sin of Adam, since they, as well as the rest of mankind, were represented in Adam. The covenant therefore had for its end the restoration of the chosen people.

3. And now having seen who were the high contracting parties, and what were the terms of the covenant made between them, let us see what were the objects of this covenant. Was this covenant made for every man of the race of Adam? Assuredly not; we discover the secret by the visible. As many as shall believe, as many as shall persevere unto the end, so many and no more are interested in the covenant of Divine grace.

4. Furthermore, we have to consider what were the motives of this covenant. Why was the covenant made at all? There was no compulsion or constraint on God. As yet there was no creature. Even could the creature have an influence on the Creator, there was none existing in the period when the covenant was made. We can look nowhere for Gods motive in the covenant except it be in Himself, for of God it could be said literally in that day, I am, and there is none beside Me. Why then did He make the covenant? I answer, absolute sovereignty dictated it. But why were certain men the objects of it and why not others? I answer, sovereign grace guided the pen.

II. But now, in the second place, we come to notice ITS EVERLASTING CHARACTER. It is called an everlasting covenant.

1. And here you observe at once its antiquity. The covenant of grace is the oldest of all things.

2. Then, again, it is an everlasting covenant from its sureness. Nothing is everlasting which is not secure.

3. Furthermore, it is not only sure, but it is immutable. If it were not immutable, it could not be everlasting. That which changest passes away. But in the covenant everything is immutable. Whatever God has established must come to pass, and not word, or line, or letter, can be altered.

4. The covenant is everlasting, because it will never run itself out. It will be fulfilled, but it will stand firm.

III. Having thus noticed the everlasting character of the covenant, I conclude by the most precious portion of the doctrine--the relation which the blood bears to it--THE BLOOD OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT. The blood of Christ stands in a fourfold relationship to the covenant.

1. With regard to Christ, His precious blood shed in Gethsemane, in Gabbatha and Galgotha, is the fulfilment of the covenant.

2. With regard to the blood in another respect, it is to God the Father the bond of the covenant.

3. Then, again, the blood of the covenant has relation to us as the objects of the covenant, and that is its third light; it is not only a fulfilment as regards Christ, and a bond as regards His Father, but it is an evidence as regards ourselves. Are you relying wholly upon the blood?

4. The blood stands in a relationship to all three, and here I may add that the blood is the glory of all. To the Son it is the fulfilment, to the Father the bond, to the sinner the evidence, and to all--to Father, Son, and sinner--it is the common glory and the common boast. In this the Father is well pleased; in this the Son also, with joy, looks down and sees the purchase of His agonies; and in this must the sinner ever find his comfort and his everlasting song, Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness are my glory, my song, for ever and ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The blood of the everlasting covenant:

This everlasting covenant is the covenant of grace, or the gospel, made with Christ, as the Head and Representative of all His believing people. It is called everlasting, in contradistinction to some transient outward forms of it that had already vanished or were vanishing away. God had made legal, ceremonial, national covenants, which were temporary--which had not the elements of permanency. But this covenant touches, embraces everything: reaches up to Gods highest attributes, and down to mans deepest needs--over all the breadth of law, and along all the line of existence. Nothing can happen to shake it. Nothing can alter the disposition of Him who makes it. He foresees all changes. He overrules all events. He provides for all circumstances. We read of everlasting love; of the eternal purpose; of predestination unto the adoption of children; of being chosen before the foundation of the world; of the mercy of God unto eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; and here we have the everlasting covenant. Everlasting! I cannot fix a beginning, any more than an end. I can only think there never was beginning. Oh I it is a wonderful thought that God never began to love the world, that He never began to love you. And He will never cease to love. We go on now to the other term, the blood of the everlasting covenant. That is the virtue of the death of Christ. It is that grand act of atonement and self-sacrifice by which He bore the penalty of sin for us, and secured the gospel as Gods method in this world for ever.

I. GOD IS THE GOD OF PEACE, WHO MAKES PEACE WHERE IT HAS BEEN BROKEN, AND GIVES IT WHERE IT IS LOST. The God who makes peace between heaven and earth, between law and conscience, between Himself and sinful men. How does He make it? Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. If there is a way between heaven and earth, an open way for hopes and prayers, for departing souls and descending angels; if troubled consciences are pacified and cleansed; if thunders of broken law are hushed into silence, it is because this blood was shed, because Christ died, the lust for the unjust.

II. HE BROUGHT AGAIN FROM THE DEAD OUR LORD JESUS. He wrought that mightiest work that has ever been wrought in this world, the resurrection of Christ. How? Again, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The power of the death sprang into resurrection. The corn of wheat fell into the ground and died, and then, with a mighty vegetative force, produced this harvest of resurrection--this splendid flower-fact, which towers and shines above all others.

III. It is through the same act of self-sacrifice is death that He becomes THE GREAT SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP. What kind of shepherd is needed by this wandering widespread flock of men, scattered over all the hills of earth and time? Is it one who will come and pipe to them while they pasture? Is it one who will speak to them, and call them all by name? Is it one who will lead them out and drive them home? Nay, the first and foremost requisite in the good Shepherd is, that He shall die for the sheep.

IV. Now, passing over the ridge of the passage, we come down upon the human side of it, AND WE HAVE THIS BLOOD OF THE COVENANT FULL OF EFFICIENCIES ON THIS SIDE ALSO. Here the first term that meets us is the term perfect; given us at once this high idea, the idea of perfection as a thing attainable now, by means of the blood and death of the Son of God. And this perfection is not merely a thing ideal and distant, not only a thing to be hoped for beyond earth and time, in heaven and glory. It is a thing to be striven for and realised in measure in daily life and service, as here--The God of peace make you perfect in every good work.

V. Finally; in this illustration of the power of the Cross, we have the inworking of the Spirit of God in the heart of the man who is thus seeking perfection, WORKING IN YOU THAT WHICH IS WELL PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT. This secures simplicity and spirituality--God working within by the Spirit--then all is right and good. The water is cleansed at the fountain, thoughtis touched as it springs, feeling purified as it begins to flow, affection lifted to its object, will bent to the will of God. Lessons:

1. Let us come to this blood of the covenant, or to the death, or to the Cross of Christ for cleansing. This alone cleanseth us from all sin. Here, on Calvary, is the open fountain.

2. Let us come to this blood for motive. Nothing will stir us so purely, nothing will stir us so much. Here is nobleness without a shadow, unselfishness without reserve, self-sacrifice without regret. Here is the love of God all in motion! The purpose of God in and for man, beginning to shine! Here is the everlasting model and example for new obedience!

3. Let us come to this blood for speech. The blood of sprinkling speaketh; and if we hear the utterances, we shall speak too, and tell out what we hear. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

The blood of the covenant

I. The subject is the covenant of grace, as it is here spoken of, and I shall begin by noticing, first, THE COVENANT NAMES which the apostle uses. He calls the ever-blessed Father the God of peace; and to the Redeemer who has taken the other side of the covenant, he gives the title, Our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. As many of us as have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ are in Christ, and He is our Head and Representative, our Shepherd and Sponsor. Jesus has, according to His promise, shed His blood, and now the covenant stands only to be fulfilled on the side of the eternal Father, and under that aspect of the covenant the apostle calls the Father, the God of peace. He is not the God of a hollow truce, not the God of a patched-up forgetfulness of unforgiven injuries, but the God of peace in the very deepest sense; He is Himself at peace, for there is a peace of God that passeth all understanding; and, moreover, by reason of His mercy His people are made to enjoy peace of conscience within themselves, for you feel that God is reconciled to you, your hearts rest in Him, your sins which separated you have been removed, and perfect love has cast out the fear which hath torment. While the Lord is at peace with Himself, and you are made to enjoy inward peace through Him, He is also at peace with you, for He loves you with a love unsearchable; He sees nothing in you but that which He delights in, for in the covenant He does not look at you as you are in yourself, but in your Head, Christ Jesus, and to the eye of God there is no sight in the universe so lovely as His own dear Son, and His people in His Son. Henceforth be it ours in every troubled hour to look to the Lord under this cheering name, the God of peace, for as such the covenant reveals Him. The apostle had a view of the other great party to the covenant, and he names Him Our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. We must view our Redeemer in the covenant first as Jesus the Saviour who leads us into the Canaan which has been given to us by a covenant of salt, even the rest which remaineth to the people of God; He is also the Lord Jesus, in all the dignity of His nature, exalted far above all principalities and powers, to be obeyed and worshipped by us, and our Lord Jesus--ours because He has given Himself to us, and we have accepted and received Him with holy delight to be the Lord whom we cheerfully serve. Further, our Lord is called the great Shepherd of the sheep. In the covenant we are the sheep, the Lord Jesus in the Shepherd. You cannot make a covenant with sheep, they have not the ability to covenant; but you can make a covenant with the Shepherd for them, and so, glory be to God, though we had gone astray like lost sheep, we belonged to Jesus, and He made a covenant on our behalf, and stood for us before the living God. This is a great subject, and I can only hint at it. Let us rejoice that our Shepherd is great, because He with His great flock will be able to preserve them all from the great dangers into which they are brought, and to perform for them the great transactions with the great God which are demanded of a Shepherd of such a flock as that which Jesus calls His own. While we rest in the covenant of grace we should view our Lord as our Shepherd, and find solace in the fact that sheep have nothing to do with their own feeding, guidance, or protection; they have only to follow their Shepherd unto the pastures which He prepares, and all will be well with them. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters.

II. Secondly, the apostle mentions THE COVENANT SEAL. The God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The seal of the covenant is the blood of Jesus. Think how impossible it is that the Lord should ever break that covenant of grace, which He spontaneously made with His own Son, and with us in Him, now that it has been sprinkled with blood from the veins of His own well-beloved Son. Remember, too, that in our case that blood not only confirmed the covenant; but actually fulfilled it; because the covenant stipulation was on this wise: Christ must suffer for our sins and honour the Divine law. It is not only ratified with that bloody signature, but by that blood it is actually carried out on Christs part, and it cannot be that the eternal Father should start back from His side of the compact since our side of it has been carried out to the letter by that great Shepherd of the sheep who laid down His life for us. By the shedding of the blood the covenant is turned into a testament. Dwell with pleasure upon that word everlasting covenant. The covenant of works is gone; it was based on human strength, and it dissolved as a dream; in the nature of things it could not be everlasting. Man could not keep the condition of it, and it fell to the ground. But the covenant of grace depended only upon the power and love and faithfulness of Christ, who has kept His part of the covenant, and therefore the covenant now rests only upon God, the faithful and true, whose word cannot fail.

III. We have now to notice THE COVENANT FULFILMENT, for the Lord has commenced to fulfil it. The God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that good Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. See, then, Jesus Christ has been brought back again from the dead through the blood of the covenant. See how He climbs aloft, and sits upon the Fathers throne, for God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Now note by what means our Lord returned from the dead to all this glory. It was because He had presented the blood of the everlasting covenant. When the Father saw that Jesus had kept all His part of the covenant even to death, that He began to fulfil His portion of the contract by bringing back His Son from the grave to life, from shame to honour, from humiliation to glory, from death to immortality. See where He now sits expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. Now, what has been done to Jesus has been virtually done to all His people, because, you observe, the Lord brought again from the dead, not the Lord Jesus as a private person only, but our Lord Jesus, as that great Shepherd of the sheep. The sheep are with the Shepherd.

IV. Fourthly, we will view THE COVENANT BLESSING. What is one of the greatest of all the covenant blessings? The writer of this Epistle here pleads for it. Now, saith he, the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, 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. Notice that one of the chief blessings of the covenant is power and will to serve God.

1. Taking the text word by word, I perceive that the first blessing asked for by the apostle is meetness for the Divine service, for the Greek word is not Make you perfect, but meet, fit, prepared, able for.

2. But the apostle asked for an inward work of grace, not merely meetness for service, but an operation felt--Working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight. Do not be satisfied with a little, weak, almost inperceptible, pulse of religion, of which you can hardly judge whether it is there or not; but ask to feel the Divine energies working within you, the eternal omnipotence of God, struggling and striving mightily in your spirit until sin shall be conquered, and grace shall gloriously triumph. This is a covenant blessing. Seek ye for it.

3. But we need outward as well as inward work. Working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight--no small matter when you remember that nothing but perfect holiness can please God. We must know the power of our Lords resurrection, and exhibit it in every action of our lives.

4. Observe, once more, the completeness of this covenant blessing. Just as Jesus is fully restored to the place from which He came, and has lost no dignity nor power by having shed His blood; but rather is exalted higher than ever, so Gods design is to make us pure and holy as Adam was at the first, and to add to our characters a force of love which never would have been there if we had not sinned and been forgiven, an energy of intense devotion, an enthusiasm of perfect self-sacrifice, which we never could have learned if it had not been for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. God means to make us the princes of the blood royal of the universe, or, if you will, the body guards of the Lord of Hosts.

IV. We conclude with THE COVENANT DOXOLOGY, TO whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. If anything in the world can make a man praise his God it is the covenant, and the knowledge that He is in it.

1. Our God deserves exclusive glory. Covenant theology glorifies God alone.

2. He also has endless glory. To whom be glory for ever and ever. Have you glorified God a little, because of His covenant mercy? Go on glorifying Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Make you perfect

Apostolic prayer for the Hebrews

I. He prays that the God of peace would MAKE THEM PERFECT IN EVERY GOOD WORK TO DO HIS WILL. The word here translated perfect occurs in various other texts, and properly signifies to adjust, to dispose or prepare with great wisdom and propriety. The apostle obviously means that God would fit and dispose the minds of His brethren for every good work to do His will. The doing of the will of God, whether this relate to active obedience, or to suffering, forms the grand end of the gospel, considered in its practical design on the heart and life.

II. He also prays, in connection with this, that God would would WORK IN THEM THAT WHICH IS WELL-PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT, THROUGH JESUS

CHRIST. That which is well-pleasing in the sight of the all-perfect Jehovah, must be supremely excellent in itself, and adapted to promote the true, the eternal happiness of His people. It consists of the various dispositions and desires and practices which are comprehended in His good and perfect and acceptable will. A very great and unspeakably important part of the great salvation, consists in being delivered from the dominion of the old man--in being renewed in the spirit of our minds, and having infused into the heart those gracious dispositions which are the fruit of the Spirit, and the produce of faith in that Saviour of whom He testifies. Lessons:

1. Let us be exhorted to contemplate the blessed character of our God as the God of peace, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and who is the author of that holy tranquillity and sweet serenity of soul which is the happy portion of those who know and love His name. It is this which calms the troubles of the breast, and fills us with that peace which, in the language of our Lord, the world can neither give nor take away.

2. We are reminded of the inseparable connection between our enjoyment of the blessings of the everlasting covenant, and of the God of peace as our God, and our being fitted for every good work to do His will.

3. Let us imitate the example of the apostle Paul, in commending one another to the God of peace.

4. Let us ascribe the glory of all to Him who is the author of our salvation. (Andrew Arthur.)

The closing prayer

I. THE BURDEN OF THE PRAYER is that these Hebrew Christians may be made perfect to do Gods will. There is no higher aim in life than to do the will of God. It was the supreme object for which our Saviour lived. This brought Him from heaven. This determined His every action. And human lives climb up from the lowlands to the upland heights just in proportion as they do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven. God is love; to do His will is to scatter love in handfuls of blessing on a weary world. God is light; to do His will is to tread a path that shines more and more to the perfect day. God is life; to do His will is to eat of the Tree of Life, and live for ever, and to drink deep draughts of the more abundant life, which Jesus gives. God is the God of hope; to do His will is to be full of all joy and peace, and to abound in hope.

II. MARK THE GUARANTEES THAT THIS PRAYER SHALL BE REALISED.

1. The appeal is made to the God of peace. He, whose nature is never swept by the storms of desire or unrest; whose one aim is to introduce peace into the heart and life; whose Dove to us will not brook disappointment in achieving our highest blessed-ness--He must undertake this office; He will do it most tenderly and delicately; nor will He rest until the obstruction to the inflow of His nature is removed, and there is perfect harmony between the promptings His will and our immediate and joyous response.

2. He brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep. To have given us a Shepherd was much; but to have given us so great a Shepherd is marvellous. He is the great Shepherd who died, just as He is the good Shepherd who knows His flock, and the chief Shepherd who is coming again, He is great, because of the intrinsic dignity of His nature, because of His personal qualifications to save and bless us, because of the greatness of His unknown sufferings, and because of the height of glory to which the Father hath exalted Him. And, surely, if our God has given us such a Shepherd, and raised Him to such a glory, that He may help us the more efficiently, there is every reason why we should confidently count on His aid.

III. THE DIVINE METHOD will be to work in us.

1. It is necessary first that we should be adjusted so that there may be no waste or diversion of the Divine energy.

2. When that is done, then it will begin to pass into and through us in mighty tides of power. God working in you. It is a marvellous expression I We know how steam works mightily within the cylinder, forcing up and down the ponderous piston. We know how sap works mightly within the branches, forcing itself out in bud, and leaf, and blossom. We read of a time when men and women were so possessed of devils that they spoke and acted as the inward promptings led them. These are approximations to the conception of the text, which towers infinitely beyond. On His doing all that may be needed in us, as He has done all that was needed for us.

3. He will certainly respect the everlasting covenant, which has been sealed with blood.

IV. THE RESULT will be that we shall be well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

The great prayer based on great pleas:

This prayer is the parting highest wish of the writer for his friends. Do our desires for ourselves, and for those whom we would seek to bless, run in the same mould?

I. CONSIDER THE PRAYER WHICH THE NAME EXCITES. Make you perfect in every good work. Now, I need only observe here, in regard to the language of the petition, that the word translated make perfect is not the ordinary one employed for that idea; but a somewhat remarkable one, with a very rich and pregnant variety of significance. The general idea of the word, is to make sound, or fit, or complete, by restoring, by mending, by filling up what is lacking, and by adapting all together in harmonious co-operation. And so this is what Christians ought to look for, and to desire as being the will of God concerning them. The writer goes on to still further deepen the idea when he says, make you perfect in every good work; where the word work is a supplement, and unnecessarily limits the idea of the text. For that applies much rather to character than to work, and the make you perfect in every good refers rather to an inward process than to any outward manifestation. And this character, thus harmonised, corrected, restored, filled up where it is lacking, and that in regard of all manner of good--whatsoever things are fair, and lovely, and of good report--that character is well-pleasing to God. So you see the width of the hopes--ay! of the confidence--that you and I ought to cherish. We should expect that all the discord of our nature shall be changed into a harmonious co-operation of all its parts towards one great end. It is possible that our hearts may be united to fear His name; and that one unbroken temper of whole-spirited submission may be ours. Again, we shall expect, and desire, and strive towards the correction of all that is wrong, the mending of the nets, the restoring of the havoc wrought in legitimate occupations and by any other cause. Again, we may strive with hope and confidence towards the supply of all that is lacking. In every good--and all-round completeness of excellence ought to be the hope, and the aim, as well as the prayer of every Christian.

II. NOTE THE DIVINE WORK WHICH FULFILS THE PRAYER. Working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. Creation, Providence, and all Gods works in the world are also through Jesus Christ. But the work which is spoken of here is yet greater and more wonderful than the general operations of the creating and preserving God, which also are produced and ministered through that eternal Word by whom the heavens were of old, and by whom the heavens are still sustained and administered. There is, says my text, an actual Divine operation in the inmost spirit of every believing man. Expect that operation! You Christian men and women, do you believe that God will work in your hearts? Some of you do not live as if you did. Do you want Him to come and clear out that stable of filth that you carry about with you? Do you wish Him to come and sift and search, and bring the candle of the Lord into the dusty corners? Do you want to get rid of what is not pleasing in His sight? Expect it! desire it! pray for it! And when you have got it, see that you profit by it! God does not work by magic. The Spirit of God which cleanses mens hearts cleanses them on condition, first, of their faith; second, of their submission; and third, of their use of His gift.

III. NOTICE THE VISIBLE MANIFESTATION OF THIS INWARD WORK. NOW the writer of our text employs the same word in the two clauses, in order to bring out the idea of a correspondence between the human and the Divine Worker. To work His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight. God works in order that you and I may work. Our action is to follow His. Practical obedience is the issue, and it is the test, of our having the Divine operation in our hearts. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Importance of service:

The soul into which privilege is over running without any outflow of service will become a stagnant and acrid Dead Sea in which no spiritual thing lives. (J. Alison, D. D.)

Perfect in every good work through the Holy Spirit

As we ascend from stage to stage in the animal world we find the structures becoming ever more complex, consisting of innumerable parts, articulated or adjusted to each other. That word articulated comes from the same root as the word here translated perfect. It means every organ, faculty, feeling in the fulness of its appropriate energy, discharging its proper work; every power disciplined to the height of its capacity and in ceaseless performance of its functions, in due relation and harmony with all the other powers, thus working with them to a common end, so that we are fit not merely for one kind of service, nor two kinds, nor ten, but for every good work. The juice of earth and the carbonic acid of the air passing into the tree, minister to every part of its structure, carrying on all the operations involved in its common life. The stream Of chyle or digested food, drawn up into the blood, serves a thousand distinct ends, restores the energy of nerve and muscle, renews every tissue in the frame, freshens every power of nature, keeps the whole machine at work. And so the Divine Spirit, passing into the consecrated soul, worlds there not merely to the development of one kind of energy. He aims to breathe the mind of Christ through and through the man, so that Christ being present more and more in the man, may recover to His service, dominate, impregnate, and use every power of the nature, intellect, imagination, emotion, memory, will, with all specific talents, aptitudes, qualities. (John Smith.)

Conscientious discharge of duty:

I notice, said the stream to the mill, that you grind beans as well and as cheerfully as fine wheat. Certainly, clacked the mill; what am I for but to grind? And so long as I work, What does it signify to me what the work is? My business is to serve my master, and I am not a whit more useful when I turn out fine flour than when I make the coarsest meal. My honour is not in doing fine work, but in performing any that comes as well as I can. (Baxendales Anecdotes.)

God the originator of good work:

In a mill where the machinery is all driven by water, the working of the whole machinery depends upon the supply el water. Cut off that supply, and the machinery becomes useless; let on the water, and life and activity is given to all. The whole dependence is placed upon the outward supply of water; still, it is obvious that we do not throw away the machinery through which the power of the water is brought to bear upon the work. Just so it is with the Christians labour for God. All is naught without the Divine blessing. The living stream must be poured out from on high, or the machinery, however beautiful to the eye, and however carefully constructed, will be useless. For the will to work; for the power to work; for success to work, man is altogether and always dependent upon the Spirit of God. (Christian Armour.)

Only a chisel

Im only a chisel Which cuts the wood, while the Great Carpenter directs it. (General Gordon.)

God working in His people:

Human nature is sordid and mean and base; and human nature is grand and heroic and sublime. And the history of the mean men of the world shows how bad you and I can be, without trying very hard either. And the history of the great, and the heroic, and the Divine men shows what you and I might become if we would let God have His way with us. Put a violin in the hands of a poor player, and you will put your fingers in your ears to keep out the dissonance. Put the same instrument in the hands of a skilful player, and you will feel the soul breathing through the instrument. It is the player that makes the difference. Look all along the line of human history, and you may see what kind of figures God can make out of clay like yours; you may hear what kind of music He can play on instruments such as you are. The great and good men of the world are witnesses to the power, not ourselves and yet that is in ourselves, to the power that makes men great. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)

Man Divinely equipped

Just as a machine which has got out of order must be set right before it can work easily and well; just as a ship must be equipped and fitted up before it can safely commence its voyage; so it was necessary that these Jewish Christians should have their whole nature re-organised before their Christian life could be vigorous or happy. The prayer is, that the re-organisation should be such as would make them ready for every good work--for the courageous confession of Christ, for the patient endurance of suffering, for worship, for all moral excellence, for brotherly love, for submission to their church rulers, for whatever duty the law of Christ, and the perilous times in which they lived, might impose on them. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Workers needed:

You sit here and sing yourselves away to everlasting bliss, said a certain true witness, but I tell you that you are wanted a great deal more out in Illinois than you are in heaven. (Proctors Gems of Thought.)

Grace be with you all

Grace:

This is the most comprehensive, the best, the sweetest wish. Grace bringeth salvation. Grace contains all things pertaining to life and godliness. By grace we have been saved; by grace we stand; in grace we rejoice, and grace will end in glory. May the free, unmerited, boundless, all-suf-ficient love of the Father in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of the everlasting covenant, shed for the redemption of guilty and helpless sinners, be with us through the power of the Holy Ghost. By Jesus, and in Jesus,we say Amen. For He is the Amen, in whom all the promises of God are sealed. (A. Saphir.)

Amen

I had been talking to a little ignorant, neglected boy about the good God and His love for children. I should like to live along o Him! said the poor little man with a wistful sigh. It was all such a new revelation in his hurried, loveless existence. Shall I pray to God to make you a good boy, clean and good, fit to live with Him? I asked. Yes, do, missus. But you must pray too, I urged. I dunno how. Then you must listen to me and say Amen at the end of my prayer. That will mean Yes, I want all that, and God will understand you. The child nodded, and I began a very simple, short prayer for the Holy Spirits help to make my little friend pure and true and obedient, for Jesus Christs sake,--I paused for the Amen. A soft, hushed Yes fluttered up to heaven from the young lips. I couldnt remember the other word, the child whispered, but wont God know about it? And he went away quite satisfied. He had made the prayer his own in his own way. If all Amens could have the force of that gentle Yes, I thought, as I watched the last flutter of the poor little mans rags, surely prayer would meet with a fuller and quicker answer. But we are too apt to think that the prayer is everything, the Amen nothing, and so we listeners do not do our part; we remain mere listeners, no prayers.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 13:20-21. Now, &c. — Having desired them to pray for him, he now addresses a prayer to God for them, and therewith gives a solemn close to the whole epistle. And a glorious prayer it is, including the whole mystery of divine grace, and that both with respect to its original, and the way of its communication; and therefore including the whole of this epistle, especially as far as it is doctrinal, and applying the benefit of all that he had instructed them in to themselves. The prayer includes, 1st, A title given to God suited to the request made. 2d, The work ascribed to him suitable to that title. 3d, The blessings prayed for. 4th, A doxology, with a solemn close of the whole. The title assigned to God, or the name by which he calls upon him is, the God of peace — All things being brought by sin into a state of disorder, confusion, and enmity, there was no source left from whence peace could be derived, but in the nature and will of God. Hence the apostle, when about to represent God in this character, begins by observing, All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, 2Co 5:18. God alone is the Author of all peace to fallen man, whether the peace which we have with himself, or that in our own souls; whether peace between angels and men, or between Jews and Gentiles: it is all from him, the God of pardoning mercy and renewing grace. That brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus — On whom the iniquities of us all, and the chastisement necessary to procure our peace, were laid; and who was raised from the dead to manifest that the atonement which he had made was accepted, and that God was now in him reconciling us to himself; and as a further proof of this, bringing him from the dead to be the great Shepherd of the sheep — To gather, defend, feed, and save them; yea, and to give unto them eternal life, Joh 10:28. This title, the great Shepherd of the sheep, is given to Christ here, because he was foretold under that character, (Eze 34:23,) because he took to himself the title of the good Shepherd, (Joh 10:11,) and because all who are employed in feeding the flock are but inferior shepherds under him. Through the blood of the everlasting covenant — Namely, the covenant of grace, in its last dispensation, termed everlasting, both in opposition to the covenant made at Sinai, which was but for a time, and accordingly was now removed, and because the effects of it are not temporary benefits, but everlasting mercies of grace and glory. It is not quite certain whether this clause should be connected with what goes before, or what follows. If it is connected with what goes before, the meaning is, either that God brought back our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, on account of his having shed his blood to procure the everlasting covenant: or that the Lord Jesus became the great Shepherd and Saviour of the sheep, by shedding his blood to procure and ratify the everlasting covenant. This latter sense seems to be supported by Act 20:28, where Christ is said to have purchased the church with his own blood. But if the clause is connected with what follows, the meaning is, May God make you perfect in every good work, through the assistance of his Spirit, promised in the everlasting covenant, procured and ratified by his blood.

Make you perfect — Καταρτισαι υμας, an expression similar to that used Eph 4:12: for the perfecting of the saints, or the rendering them complete in the various branches of true Christianity, namely, (as is there observed,) in the knowledge of all the doctrines, the possession of all the graces, the enjoyment of all the privileges, the performance of all the duties belonging to true Christianity. But the last particular is what is here chiefly intended, the expression being, May he make you perfect in every good work, implying the apostle’s desire that they might omit no good work which it was in their power to perform, and that they should do every one in the most perfect manner; namely, according to God’s will as their rule, from love to him as their principle, with an eye to his glory as their end. Working in you that — Internal holiness and conformity to the divine image; which is well pleasing in his sight — Which he approves of, and takes complacency in; through the doctrine, the merits, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. To whom be glory for ever and ever — Here eternal glory is ascribed to Christ, as it is likewise 2Pe 3:18, and Rev 5:13, in terms exactly similar to those in which it is ascribed to God, even the Father, Php 4:20; 1Ti 1:17; 2Ti 4:18; a manifest proof of Christ’s Deity, divine adoration and worship being due to God alone.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrews

GREAT HOPES A GREAT DUTY

Heb 13:20.

A GREAT building needs a deep foundation; a leaping fountain needs a full spring. A very large and lofty prayer follows the words of my text, and these are the foundations on which it rests, the abundant source from which it soars heavenward. The writer asks for his readers nothing less than a complete, all-round, and thorough-going conformity to the will of God; and that should be our deepest desire and our conscious aim, that God may see His own image in us, for nothing less can be ‘well-pleasing in His sight.’ But does not such a dream of what we may be seem far too audacious, when we pursue the stained volume of our own lives, and remember what we are? Should we not be content with very much more modest hopes for ourselves, and with a vary partial attainment o them? Yes, if we look at ourselves; but to look at ourselves is not the way to pray, or the way to hope, or the way to grow, or the way to dare. The logic of Christian petitions and Christian expectations starts with God as the premiss, and thence argues the possibility of the impossible. It was because of all this great accumulation of truths, piled up in my text, that the .writer found it in his heart to ask such great things for the humble people to whom he was writing, although he well knew that they were far from perfect, and were even in danger of making shipwreck of the faith altogether. My purpose now is to let him lead us along the great array of reasons for his great prayer, that we too may learn to desire and to expect, and to work for nothing short of this aim - the entire purging of ourselves from all evil and sin and the complete assimilation to our Lord. There are three points here: the warrant for our highest expectations in the name of God; the warrant for our highest expectations in the risen Shepherd; the warrant for our highest expectations in the everlasting covenant.

I. The warrant for our highest expectations in the name of God.

‘The God of peace’ - the name comes like a benedict ion into our restless lives and distracted hearts, and carries us away up into lofty regions, above the mutations of circumstances and the perturbations and agitations of our earthly life. No doubt, there may be some allusion here to the special circumstances of the recipients of this letter, for it is clear from the rest of the Epistle that they had much need for the peace of God to calm their agitations in the prospect of the collapse of the venerable system in which they had lived so long. It is obvious also that there were divisions of opinion amongst themselves, so that the invocation of the God of peace may have had a special sanctity and sweetness to them, considering the circumstances in which they were placed. But the designation has a bearing not so much on the condition of those to whom the words are spoken, as upon the substance of the grand prayer that follows it. It is because He is know, to us as being ‘the God of peace’ that we may be quite sure that He will ‘make us perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight.’

And how does that great name, sweet and strong as it is, bear with it the weight of such an inference as that? Plainly enough because it speaks, first of all, of that which I may call an immanent characteristic of the divine nature. He is the tranquil God, dwelling above all disturbance which comes from variableness and all ‘the shadows east by turning’; dwelling above all possibilities of irritation or agitation. And yet that great ocean is not stagnant, but through all its depths flow currents of love, and in all its repose is intensest energy. The highest activity coincides with the supremest rest. The wheel revolves so swiftly that it stands as if motionless.

Then, just because of that profound divine, repose, we may expect Him, by His very nature, to impart His own peace to the soul that seeks Him. Of course, it can be but the faintest shadow of that divine indisturbance which can ever fall, like a dove’s wing, upon our restless lives. Bat still in the tranquillity of a quiet heart, in the harmonies of a spirit all .concentrated on one purpose, in the independence of externals possible to a man who grasps God, in the victory over change which is granted to them who have pierced through the fleeting clouds and have their home in the calm blue beyond, there may be a quiet of heart which does not altogether put to shame that wondrous promise: ‘My peace I give unto you.’ It is possible that they ‘which have believed’ should ‘enter into the rest’ of God.

But if the impartation of some faint but real echo of His own great repose is the delight of the divine heart, how can it be done? There is only one way by which a man can be made peaceful, and that is by his being made good. Nothing else secures the true tranquillity of a human spirit without its conformity to the divine will. It is submission to the divine commandments and appointments, it is the casting-off of self with all its agitations and troubles, that secures our entering into rest. What a man needs for pease is, that his relations with God should be set right, that his own nature should be drawn into one and harmonised with itself, and that his relations with men should also be rectified.

For the first of these, we know that it is ‘the Christ that died,’ who is the means by which the alienation and enmity of heart between us and God can be swept away. For the second of them, we know that the only way by which this anarchic commonwealth within can be brought into harmony and order, and its elements prevented from drawing apart from one another, is that the whole man shall be bowed before God in submission to His will. The heart is like some stormy sea, tossed and running mountains high, and there is only one voice that can say to it, ‘Peace: be still,’ and that is the voice of God in Christ. There is only one power that, like the white moon in the nightly sky, can draw the heaped waters round the whole world after itself, and that is the power of Christ in His Cross and Spirit, which brings the disobedient heart into submissions, and unites the discordant powers in the liberty of a common service: so, brethren, if we are ever to have quiet hearts, they must come, not from favourable circumstances, nor from anything external They can only come from the prayer being answered, ‘Unite my heart to fear Thy name,’ and then our inner lives will no longer be torn by contending passions - conscience pulling this way and desire that; a great voice saying within, ‘you ought!’ and an insistent voice answering, ‘I will not’; but all within will be at one, and then there will be peace. ‘The God of peace sanctify you wholly,’ says one of the apostles, bringing out in the expression the same thought, that inasmuch as He who Himself is supreme repose must be infinitely desirous that we, His children, should share in His rest, He will, as the only way by which that rest can ever be attained, sanctify us wholly. When - and not till, and as soon as - we are thus made holy are we made at rest.

Nor let us forget that, on the other hand, the divine peace, which is ‘shed abroad in our hearts’ by the love of God, does itself largely contribute to perfect the holiness of a Christian soul. We read that ‘the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,’ and also that ‘the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds,’ and again that the peace of God will sit as umpire in our hearts, detecting evil, judging actions, awarding the prizes. For, indeed, when that peace lies like a summer morning’s light upon our quiet hearts there will be little in evil that will so attract us as to make us think it worth our while to break the blessed and charmed silence for the sake of any earthly influences or joys. They that dwell in the peace of God have little temptation to buy trouble, remorse perhaps, or agitation, by venturing out into the forbidden ground. So, brethren, the great name of the God of peace is itself a promise, and entitles us to expect the completeness of character which alone brings peace.

Then, further, we have here

II. The warrant for our highest expectations in the risen Shepherd.

‘The God of peace who brought again’ - or, perhaps, brought up - ‘from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep.’ Now, it is remarkable that this is the only reference in this Epistle to the Hebrews to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The book is full of references to that which presupposes the Resurrection, namely, the ascended life of Jesus as .the great High Priest within the veil, and the fact that only this once is the act of resurrection referred to, confirms the idea, that in the New Testament there is no division of thought between the point at which the line begins and the line itself, that the Ascension is but the prolongation of the Resurrection, and the Resurrection is but the beginning of the Ascension, But here the act, rather than the state into which it led, is dwelt upon as being more appropriate to the purpose in hand.

Then we may notice further, that in that phrase, ‘the great Shepherd of the sheep;’ there is a quotation from one of the prophets, where the words refer to Moses bringing up the people from the Red Sea. The writer of the Epistle adds to Isaiah’s phrase one significant word, and speaks of ‘that great Shepherd,’ to remind us of the comparison which he had been running in an earlier part of the letter, between the leader of Israel and Christ.

So, then, we have here brought before us Jesus who is risen and ascended, as the great Shepherd of the sheep. Looking to Him, what are we heartened to believe are the possibilities and the divine purposes for each of those that put their trust in Him? Gazing in thought for a moment on that Lord risen from the grave, with the old love in His heart, and the old greetings upon His lips, we see there, of course, as everybody knows, the demonstration of the persistence of a human life through death, like some stream of fresh water holding on its course through a salt and stagnant sea, or plunging underground for a short space, to come up again flashing into the sunshine. But we see more than that. We see the measure of the power, as the Apostle has it, that works in us, ‘according to the energy of the might of the power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.’ As we gaze, we see what may be called a type, but what is a great deal more than a type, of the possibilities of the risen life, as it may be lived even here and now, by every poor and humble soul that puts its trust in Him. The Resurrection of Jesus gives us the measure of the power that worketh in us.

But more than that, the risen Shepherd has risen as Shepherd, for the very purpose of imparting, to every soul that trusts in Him, His own life. And unless we grasp that truth, we shall not understand the place of the Resurrection in the Christian scheme, nor the ground on which the loftiest anticipations are not audacious for the poorest soul, and on which anything beneath the loftiest is, for the poorest, beneath what it might and should aspire to. When the alabaster box was broken, the ointment was poured forth and the house was filled with the odour. The risen Christ imparts His life to His people. And nothing short of their entire perfecting in all which is within the possibilities of human beauty and nobleness and purity, will be the adequate issue of that great death and triumphant Resurrection, and of the mighty, quickening power of a new life, which He thereby breathed into the dying world. On His Cross, and from His Tomb, and from His Throne, He has set aging processes which never can reach their goal - and, blessed be God! never will stop their beneficent working - until every soul of man, however stained and evil, that puts the humblest trust in Him, and lives after His commandment, is become radiant with beauty, complete in holiness, victorious over self and sin, and is set for ever more at the right hand of God. Every anticipation that falls short of that, and all effort that lags behind that anticipation, is an insult to the Christ, and a trampling under foot of the blood of ‘the covenant wherewith ye are sanctified.’

So, brother, open your mouth wide, and it will be filled. Expect great things; believe that what Jesus Christ came into the world and died to do, what Jesus Christ left the world and lives to carry on, will be done in you, and that you too will be made complete in Him. For the Shepherd leads and the sheep follow - here afar off, often straying, and getting lost or torn by the brambles, and worried by the wolves. But He leads and they do follow, and the time comes when ‘they shall follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,’ and be close behind Him in all the good pastures of the mountains of Israel ‘We see not yet all things put under Him,’ but we see Jesus and that is enough.

III. The warrant for our highest expectations in the everlasting covenant.

Space will not allow of my entering upon the question as to the precise relation of these final words to the rest of the verse, but their relation to the great purpose of the whole verse is plain enough. It has come to be very unfashionable nowadays to talk about the covenant. People think that it is archaic, technically theological, far away from daily life, and so on and so on. I believe that Christian people would be a great deal stronger, if there were a more prominent place given in Christian meditations to the great idea that underlies that metaphor,. And it is just this, that God is under obligations, takes on Him by Himself, to fulfil to a poor, trusting soul the great promises to which that soul has been drawn to cleave. He has, if I might use such a metaphor, like some monarch, given a constitution to His people, He has not left us to grope as to what His mind and purpose may be. Across the infinite ocean of possibilities, He has marked out on the chart, so to speak, the line which He will pursue. We have His word, and His word is this: ‘After those days, saith the Lord, I will make a new covenant. I will write My law on their inward parts. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ So the definite, distinct promise, in black and white, so to speak, to every man and woman on the face of the earth, is ‘Come into the bends of the covenant, by trusting Me, and you will get all that I have promised.’

And that covenant is, as my text says, sealed by ‘the blood.’ Which, being turned into less metaphorical English, is just this, that God’s infinite pro- pension of beneficence towards each of us, and desire to clothe us in garments of radiant purity, are, by Christ’s death, guaranteed as extending to, and working their effects on, every soul that trusts Him. What does that death mean if it does not mean that? Why should He have died on the Cross, unless it were to take away sin?

But the blood of the covenant does not mean only the death by which the covenant is ratified. We shall much misapprehend and narrow New Testament teaching, if we suppose that. The ‘blood is the life.’ There is further suggested, then, by the expression, that the vital energy, with which Jesus Christ came from the dead as the Shepherd of the sheep, is the power by which God makes us ‘perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight.’

So, two practical counsels may close my words. See that you aspire as high as God’s purpose concerning you, and do not be content with anything short of the, at least, incipient and progressive accomplishment in your characters and lives, of that great prayer. Again, see that you use the forces which, by the Cross and the Resurrection and the Ascension, are set in motion to make that wondrous possibility a matter-of-fact reality for each of us; and whoever you are, and whatever you have been, be sure of this, that He can lift you from the mud and cleanse you from its stains, and set you at His own right hand in the heavenly places. For the name, and the risen Shepherd, and the blood of the everlasting covenant, make a threefold cord, not to be quickly broken, and able to bear the weight of the loftiest hopes and firmest confidence that we can hang upon it.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 20

EXEGETICAL BENEDICTION.

20, 21. “And the God of peace, who raised up from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, make you perfect through the blood of the everlasting Covenant in every good thing to do His will, doing among us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” This grand, glorious and beautiful benediction, which ought frequently to ring out from our pulpits, has been so marred in the English translation as to be almost unintelligible, reading as if God raised up Christ through His own blood. The blood had been shed and left on Mount Calvary. God raised Him up by His own omnipotence, by which He created all worlds and holds up the Universe. The transcendent climax of this wonderful Hebrew letter from beginning to end is Christian perfection. Apollos proves it by twenty unanswerable arguments. Infinitely alien from Babylonian theologians, who everywhere teach that we reach this perfection by growth, Apollos does not so much as use the word in the entire book. Hence the ridiculous preposterosity in the advocacy of the growth theory. This wonderful benediction furnishes us the key to unlock the mystery and solve the problem. “The God of peace who raised up from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ make you perfect through the blood of the everlasting Covenant.” Hence we see this perfection is the work of Christ, wrought in the heart by His own blood. Human depravity is a blood trouble, hence hereditary and incurable, save by divine intervention. Since it is a blood trouble, like all hereditary diseases nothing but blood can heal it. If the leper could get rid of all of his blood, every drop of which is full of leprosy, and receive a new supply of pure blood, his leprosy would forever depart. This is the wonderful gracious economy. Salvation is purely the work of God. Jesus alone can make you perfect. His blood is the only elixir competent to expurgate your blood from the malady of original sin. The Greek “katartisai,” make perfect, is in the aorist tense, which means “instantaneity,” forever sweeping away the possible conception of gradualism. Hence you see in this wonderful benediction the clear and unequivocal exegesis of the great perfection problem, constituting the climax of this wonderful book. God makes you perfect through the blood of the everlasting Covenant. This perfection eliminates all sin out of you, forever removing every hindrance to your joyful obedience to His blessed and holy will, preparing you to live in the Lord’s prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”

22. Apollos exhorts his Palestinian brethren to see that this letter receives a general reading circulation and exposition among all the saints of his beloved consanguinity.

23. The faithful Timothy is the honored bearer of this valuable message, with whose eyes Apollos actually feels that he will be permitted to see his kindred once more in the flesh.

24. This verse simply contains their mutual Christian salutations from Italy to Palestine et visa versa.

25. “Grace be with you all.” While the benediction in Heb 13:20-21 is grand for its prolixity and glorious for its wonderful concentration of vital saving truth, this final benediction is beautiful and convenient for its brevity. The benedictory monotony in the popular churches is much to be regretted. We seldom have a benediction but that of Paul at the conclusion of his second Corinthian letter. There is no apology for this injudicious and unedifying monotony in the benedictory service of our pulpits, since the Holy Ghost has supplied us with a beautiful variety in the different letters through His inspired writers. The Hebrew epistle gives us these two, the one pre-eminent for its prolixity and epitome of truth, and the other for its brevity.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:20-21 Benedictions were an important element of letters, speeches, and sermons. The author of Hebrews weaves a number of important themes from the book into his benediction. • The image of our Lord Jesus as the great Shepherd of the sheep (cp. Ps 23) communicates God’s provision for and protection of his people (see also John 10:11-18; 1 Pet 2:25) and is specifically tied here to an eternal covenant.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 13:20. Ὁ δέ Θεὸς, now the God) He desired the brethren to pray for him, Heb 13:18; he now prays for them.—τῆς εἰρήνης, of peace) Paul often calls Him the God of peace, Rom 15:33. Here the verb καταρτίσαι, join you together in perfect harmony, accords with it, Heb 13:21.—ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν, who brought again from the dead) God brought the Shepherd; the Shepherd brings the flock. He brought Him from the depths, and set Him on high, where He may be seen by all. The apostle does not conclude, before he made mention of the resurrection of Christ.—τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν, the great Shepherd of the sheep) An appropriate appellation. You have, says he, many ministers, Heb 13:17; but He is the Minister of all. I am absent from you, Heb 13:19; but GOD is not absent, nor will He be wanting to you. The allusion is to Isa 53:11 [whence a various reading, ἐκ τῆς γῆς for ἐκ νεκρῶν, has started up in this passage.—Not. Crit.], and by this allusion, the apostle at the very end of the epistle again and again prefers Christ to Moses, of whom Isaiah is speaking in the passage quoted above.—ἐν) in, significantly. It is construed with ὁ ἀναγαγὼν, who brought again; comp. ch. Heb 2:9, διὰ, for, on account of; likewise Joh 10:17-18; Php 2:9.—αἰωνίου, everlasting) An august epithet. This eternity of the covenant infers the necessity of a resurrection: Act 13:34, note, from Isaiah.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_13:20-21. A wish of blessing. Chrysostom: Πρῶτον παρʼ αὐτῶν αἰτήσας τὰς εὐχάς, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτοῖς ἐπεύχεται πάντα τὰ ἀγαθά.

ὁ Θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης] A designation of God very usual with Paul also. Its import may either be, as 1Th_5:23 (see at that place): the God of salvation, i.e. God, who bestows the Christian salvation; or, as Rom_15:33; Rom_16:20, Php_4:9, 2Co_13:11 : the God of peace, i.e. God, who produces peace. In favour of the first acceptation, which is defended by Schlichting, may be urged the tenor of the benediction itself. In favour of the latter acceptation decides, however, the connection of thought with Heb_13:18 f. For, since the closing half of Heb_13:18 betrayed the presupposition that the receivers of the epistle were biassed by prejudice against the person of the writer, there lies indicated in the fact, that in the following wish of blessing God is designated as the God who creates peace, the further idea, that He will also make peace between the readers and the writer, i.e. will bring the Christian convictions of the readers into harmony with that of the writer. So in substance Chrysostom (τοῦτο εἶπε διὰ τὸ στασιάζειν αὐτούς. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ θεὸς εἰρήνης θεός ἐστι, μὴ διαστασιάζετε πρὸς ἡμᾶς), Oecumenius, Theophylact, Jac. Cappellus, and others. Wrongly do Grotius, Böhme, de Wette, Bisping, and others derive the appellation the God of peace from the supposition that reference is made to the contentions which prevailed amongst the members of the congregation itself. For the assumption of a state in which the congregation was rent by internal dissensions, is one warranted neither by Heb_12:14 nor by anything else in the epistle.

ὁ ἀναγαγὼν κ.τ.λ.] Further characterizing of God as the God who, by the raising of Christ from the dead, has sanctioned and attested the redeeming work of the same.

ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν] He who has brought up from the dead, i.e. who has raised from death. Wrongly do Bleek, de Wette, Bisping, Maier, Kluge, and Kurtz suppose that in ὁ ἀναγαγών is contained at the same time the exaltation into heaven. For, since ὁ ἀναγαγών does not stand absolutely, but has with it the addition ἐκ νεκρῶν, so must that idea also have been made evident by a special addition. There would thus have been written ὁ ἐκ νεκρῶν εἰς ὕψος ἀναγαγών, or something similar. Compare, too, Rom_10:7, where in like manner, as is shown by Heb_13:9, by the Χριστὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναγαγεῖν is denoted exclusively the resurrection of Christ, and not likewise His ascension.

τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν] the exalted (comp. Heb_4:14) Shepherd of the sheep. For the figure, comp. Joh_10:11 ff.; Mat_26:31; 1Pe_2:25; 1Pe_5:4 (ὁ ἀρχιποιμήν). According to Theophylact, Bengel, Bleek, de Wette, Delitzsch, Alford, Kurtz, Hofmann, and others, the author had in connection with this expression present to his mind LXX. Isa_63:10, where it is said in regard to Moses: ποῦ ὁ ἀναβιβάσας ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων,a supposition which, considering the currency of the figure in the N. T., may certainly be dispensed with.

ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου] in virtue of the blood of an everlasting covenant, i.e. in virtue of the shed blood of Christ, by which the New Covenant was sealed; comp. Heb_9:15 ff., Heb_10:29. Oecumenius, Theophylact, Clarius, Calvin, Bengel, Bleek, Bisping, Delitzsch, Alford, Kluge, Kurtz, Hofmann, Woerner, and others conjoin these words with ὁ ἀναγαγών, but then again differ from each other in the determining of the sense. According to Bleek and Kurtz (similarly Bisping), the author intends to say: God brought up Christ from the dead in the blood of the everlasting covenant; in such wise that He took, as it were, the shed blood with Him, in that He opened up to Himself by the same the entrance into the heavenly sanctuary, and it retained continually its power for the sealing of an everlasting covenant. But this interpretation falls with the erroneous presupposition that ὁ ἀναγαγών includes in itself likewise the idea of the exaltation to heaven. According to Oecumenius 2, Theophylact 2, and Calvin, ἐν, on the other hand, stands as the equivalent in signification to σύν: who has raised Christ from the dead with the blood of the everlasting covenant, so that this blood retains everlasting virtue; while Clarius (comp. the first interpretation in Oecumenius and Theophylact) understands the words as though εἰς τὸ εἶναι τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἡμῖν εἰς διαθήκην αἰώνιον had been written, and Bengel, as likewise Hofmann, makes ἐν αἵματι the same as διὰ τὸ αἷμα (for the bloods sake). But all these acceptations are linguistically untenable. Equally inadmissible is it to take ἐν, in this combination, instrumentally (Delitzsch, Kluge: by means of, by the power of, by virtue of; Alford: through the blood). For if one insists on the strict signification of the instrumental explanation, there arises a false thought, since the means by the application of which the miraculous act of the resurrection was accomplished is not the blood of Christ, but the omnipotence of God. If, however, we mingle the notion of mediately effecting with that of the meritorious cause, as is done by Delitzsch and Alford, inasmuch as the former dilutes the kraft (by virtue of) into virtute ac merito sanguinis ipsius in morte effusi, the latter the through into in virtue of the blood, we come back to Bengels ungrammatical equalizing of ἐν αἵματι with διὰ τὸ αἷμα. Another class of expositors combine ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου with the μέγαν immediately foregoing; either, as Sykes and Baumgarten, in taking τὸν μέγαν as a notion per se; or, as Starck, Wolf, and Heinrichs, prolonging in connection with it the idea of the shepherd. Nevertheless, it is most natural, with Beza, Estius, Grotius, Limborch, Schulz, Böhme, Kuinoel, Stuart, Stengel, Ebrard, Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 601), Maier, Moll, and others, to regard ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου as instrumental nearer definition to the total idea τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν; in such wise that by the addition is indicated the means by which Christ became the exalted Shepherd, with whom no other shepherd may be placed upon a parallel. Comp. Act_20:28 : προσέχετε … παντὶ τῷ ποιμνίῳ, ἐν ᾧ ὑμᾶς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἔθετο ἐπισκόπους, ποιμαίνειν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ κυρίου, ἣν περιεποιήσατο διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου.

διαθήκης αἰωνίου] Comp. Jer_32:40; Jer_50:5; Isa_55:3; Isa_61:8. Theodoret: Αἰώνιον δὲ τὴν καινὴν κέκληκε διαθήκην, ὡς ἑτέρας μετὰ ταύτην οὐκ ἐσομένης· ἵνα γὰρ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ, καὶ ταύτην διʼ ἄλλης διαθήκης παυθήσεσθαι, εἰκότως αὐτῆς τὸ ἀτελεύτητον ἔδειξεν.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Concluding prayer.

God of peace--So Paul, Rom 15:33; Rom 16:20; Co2 13:11; Phi 4:9; Th1 5:23; Th2 3:16. The Judaizing of the Hebrews was calculated to sow seeds of discord among them, of disobedience to their pastors (Heb 13:17), and of alienation towards Paul. The God of peace by giving unity of true doctrine, will unite them in mutual love.

brought again from the dead--Greek, "brought up," &c.: God brought the Shepherd; the Shepherd shall bring the flock. Here only in the Epistle he mentions the resurrection. He would not conclude without mentioning 'the connecting link between the two truths mainly discussed; the one perfect sacrifice and the continual priestly intercession--the depth of His humiliation and the height of His glory--the "altar" of the cross and the ascension to the heavenly Holy of Holies.

Lord Jesus--the title marking His person and His Lordship over us. But Heb 13:21, "through Jesus Christ." His office, as the Anointed of the Spirit, making Him the medium of communicating the Spirit to us, the holy unction flowing down from the Head on the members (compare Act 2:36).

great-- (Heb 4:14).

shepherd of the sheep--A title familiar to his Hebrew readers, from their Old Testament (Isa 63:11; Septuagint): primarily Moses, antitypically Christ: already compared together, Heb 3:2-7. The transition is natural from their earthly pastors (Heb 13:17), to the Chief Pastor, as in Pe1 5:1-4. Compare Eze 34:23 and Jesus' own words, Joh 10:2, Joh 10:11, Joh 10:14.

through the blood--Greek, "in," in virtue of the blood (Heb 2:9); it was because of His bloody death for us, that the Father raised and crowned Him with glory. The "blood" was the seal of the everlasting covenant entered into between the Father and Son; in virtue of the Son's blood, first Christ was raised, then Christ's people shall be so (Zac 9:11, seemingly referred to here; Act 20:28).

everlasting--The everlastingness of the covenant necessitated the resurrection. This clause, "the blood of the everlasting covenant," is a summary retrospect of the Epistle (compare Heb 9:12).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. Now the God of peace] We have often seen that peace among the Hebrews signifies prosperity of every kind. The God of peace is the same as the God of all blessedness, who has at his disposal all temporal and eternal good; who loves mankind, and has provided them a complete salvation.

Brought again from the dead our Lord] As our Lord's sacrificial death is considered as an atonement offered to the Divine justice, God's acceptance of it as an atonement is signified by his raising the human nature of Christ from the dead; and hence this raising of Christ is, with the utmost propriety, attributed to God the Father, as this proves his acceptance of the sacrificial offering.

That great Shepherd of the sheep] This is a title of our blessed Lord, given to him by the prophets; so Isa 40:11; He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those which are with young: and Eze 34:23; I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them; even my servant David, (i.e. the beloved, viz. Jesus,) and he shall feed them, and be their shepherd: and Zec 13:7; Awake, O sword, against my shepherd - smite the shepherd, and the flock shall be scattered. In all these places the term shepherd is allowed to belong to our blessed Lord; and he appropriates it to himself, Joh 10:11, by calling himself the good Shepherd, who, lays down his life for the sheep.

Through the blood of the everlasting covenant] Some understand this in the following way, that "God brought back our Lord from the dead on account of his having shed his blood to procure the everlasting covenant." Others, that the Lord Jesus became the great Shepherd and Saviour of the sheep by shedding his blood to procure and ratify the everlasting covenant." The sense, however, will appear much plainer if we connect this with the following verse: "Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, make you, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, perfect in every good work to do his will." The Christian system is termed the everlasting covenant, to distinguish it from the temporary covenant made with the Israelites at Mount Sinai; and to show that it is the last dispensation of grace to the world, and shall endure to the end of time.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. Now the God of peace, etc. To render mutual what he desired them to do, he ends his Epistle with prayer; and he asks of God to confirm, or to fit, or to perfect them in every good work; for such is the meaning of καταρτίσαι. We hence conclude, that we are by no means fit to do good until we are made or formed for the purpose by God, and that we shall not continue long in doing good unless he strengthens us; for perseverance is his peculiar gift. Nor is there a doubt but that as no common gifts of the Spirit had already, as it seems, appeared in them, the first impression with which they began, is not what is prayed for, but the polishing, which they were to be made perfect.

That brought again from the dead, etc. This clause was added for the sake of confirmation; for he intimates that God is then only prayed to aright by us, to lead us on to perfection, when we acknowledge his power in the resurrection of Christ, and acknowledge Christ himself as our pastor. He, in short, would have us to look to Christ, in order that we may rightly trust in God for help; for Christ was raised from death for this end, that we might be renewed unto eternal life, by the same power of God; and he is the great pastor of all, in order that we may protect the sheep committed to him by the Father.

Through the blood, etc. I have rendered it, “In the blood;” for as ב “in,” is often taken in the sense of with, so I prefer to regard it here. For it seems to me, that the Apostle means, that Christ so arose from the dead, that his death was not yet abolished, but that it retains its efficacy forever, as though he had said, “God raised up his own son, but in such a way that the blood he shed once for all in his death is efficacious after his resurrection for the ratification of the everlasting covenant, and brings forth fruit the same as though it were flowing always.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(20) Now the God of peace.—See Rom_15:33; Rom_16:20; 2Co_13:11; Php_4:9; 1Th_5:23; 2Th_3:16. In almost all these places there is something in the context suggestive of strife or turmoil to be brought to rest by “the God of peace.” Hence we may well believe that the writer here has in thought those divisions of thought and feeling which have been hinted at in Heb_13:17-19, and which in truth were the expression of the deep-seated mental unrest which it is the object of the Epistle to remove.

Our Lord Jesus.—As in Heb_2:9; Heb_3:1; Heb_12:2, the name is introduced after the description, according to the order of the Greek: “Now the God of peace that brought up from the dead (Rom_10:7) the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus . . .” Two passages of the prophets have contributed to the language of this remarkable verse: (1) Isa_63:11, ““Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock?” Here the shepherds are no doubt Moses and Aaron (Psa_77:20); the Greek translation, however, has, “Where is he that raised up out of the sea the shepherd of the sheep?” Moses, who led Israel through the sea, was brought up therefrom in safety to be the “shepherd” of his people Israel; by the same Almighty hand the great Shepherd of the sheep has been brought up from among the dead. (2) Zec_9:11, “As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.” In other words, “because of the blood which ratified thy covenant (Exo_24:8) I have released thy prisoners.” As in the former case, the resemblance between the words in the LXX. and those here used is sufficient to convince us that the passage was in the writer’s thought. In (i.e., in virtue of) the blood of an eternal covenant (Heb_9:15-18) God has raised up the Lord Jesus. The covenant was ratified by His blood; the first of the blessings of the covenant, and that in which all blessing lay included, was this, that God raised Him up from the dead to be “the great Shepherd of the sheep.” If these prophetic words respecting Him who brings peace to the world (Zec_9:10, et al), were in the writer’s mind, how natural is his appeal to the God of peace. It has been often observed that this is the only passage in the Epistle in which we read of the resurrection of our Lord apart from His ascension; elsewhere His exaltation is contemplated as one act (Heb_2:9, et al.). It is not certain that we have an exception even here, for though the meaning of Rom_10:7 is beyond doubt, the words may in this place be used with a wider meaning.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. the God of peace. The phrase is frequent in St Paul (1Th_5:23 : 2Th_3:16; Rom_15:33; Rom_16:20; Php_4:9).

that brought again from the dead] Among many allusions to the Ascension and Glorification of Christ this is the only direct allusion in the Epistle to His Resurrection (but comp. Heb_6:2, Heb_11:35). The verb ἀνήγαγεν may be “raised again” rather than “brought up,” though there may be a reminiscence of “the shepherd” (Moses) who “brought up” his people from the sea in Isa_63:11.

through the blood of the everlasting covenant] Rather, “by virtue of (lit. “in”) the blood of an eternal covenant.” The expression finds its full explanation in Heb_9:15-18. Others connect it with “the Great Shepherd.” He became the Great Shepherd by means of His blood. So in Act_20:28 we have “to shepherd the Church of God, which He purchased for Himself by means of His own blood.” A similar phrase occurs in Zec_9:11, “By (or “because of”) the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now the God of peace,.... This is the concluding part of the epistle, which is ended with a prayer, made up of very suitable petitions for the Hebrews; and as the apostle desires them to pray for him and other ministers, he, in turn, and by way of example, prays for them: and he addresses God, as "the God of peace"; who is so called, because of his concern in the peace and reconciliation of his people; because he is the giver of conscience peace to them; because he is the author of all felicity and prosperity, temporal and spiritual; the promoter of peace and concord among saints, and at last brings them to eternal peace; See Gill on Rom 15:33, a consideration of this gives boldness at the throne of grace; furnishes out a reason why blessings asked for may be expected; has a tendency to promote peace among brethren; may bear up saints under a sense of infirmity and imperfection, in prayer and other duties; and be an encouragement to them under Satan's temptations, and all afflictions. The Arabic version makes the God of peace to be Christ himself; whereas Christ is manifestly distinguished from him in the next verse; and even in that version, reading the words thus, "now; the God of peace raised from the dead Jesus the Shepherd of the sheep, magnified by the blood of the everlasting covenant; Jesus, I say, our Lord confirm you, &c. through Jesus Christ"; for which version there is no foundation in the original text. The God of peace is manifestly God the Father, who is distinguished from Christ his Son:

that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus; who died for the sins of his people; was buried, and lay under the power of death for some time; but was raised from the dead by his Father; though not exclusive of himself, and the Spirit of holiness; in the same body in which he suffered and died; as the firstfruits of his people, and as their Lord and Saviour, head and surety, for their justification, and as a pledge of their resurrection. The apostle addresses the God and Father of Christ in prayer, under this consideration, to observe his power and ability to help in the greatest distress, and in the most difficult and desperate case; to encourage faith and hope in him, when things are at the worst, and most discouraging; to comfort the saints under afflictions, in a view of their resurrection; to engage them to regard a risen Christ, and things above, and to expect life and immortality by him:

that great Shepherd of the sheep: the people of God, whom the Father has chosen, and given to Christ; for whom he has laid down his life; and whom the Spirit calls by his grace, and sanctifies; to whom Christ has a right, by his Father's gift, his own purchase, and the power of grace: these being partakers of his grace, are called "sheep", because they are harmless and inoffensive in their lives and conversations; and yet are exposed to danger; but meek and patient under sufferings; are weak and timorous of themselves; are clean, being washed in the blood of Christ; are sociable in their communion with one another; are profitable, though not to God, yet to men; are apt to go astray, and are liable to diseases: they are also called sheep, and are Christ's sheep before conversion; see Joh 10:16 and Christ, he is the Shepherd of them, who in all respects discharges the office of a shepherd to them, diligently and faithfully; See Gill on Joh 10:16, here he is called, "that great Shepherd"; being the man, God's fellow, equal to him, the great God and our Saviour; and having a flock which, though comparatively is a little one, is a flock of souls, of immortal souls, and is such a flock as no other shepherd has; hence he is called the Shepherd and Bishop of souls: and his abilities to feed them are exceeding great; he has a perfect knowledge of them; all power to protect and defend them; a fulness of grace to supply them; and he takes a diligent care of them: and this great Person so described was raised from the dead,

through the blood of the everlasting covenant: for the sense is not, that God is the God of peace, through that blood, though it is true that peace is made by it; nor that Christ becomes the Shepherd of the sheep by it, though he has with it purchased the flock of God; nor that the chosen people become his sheep through it, though they are redeemed by it, and are delivered out of a pit wherein is no water, by the blood of this covenant; but that Christ was brought again from the dead through it; and it denotes the particular influence that it had upon his resurrection, and the continued virtue of it since. The "covenant" spoken of is not the covenant of works made with Adam, as the federal head of his natural seed; there was no mediator or shepherd of the sheep that had any concern therein; there was no blood in that covenant; nor was it an everlasting one: nor the covenant of circumcision given to Abraham; though possibly there may be some reference to it; or this may be opposed to that, since the blood of circumcision is often called by the Jews , "the blood of the covenant" (d): nor the covenant on Mount Sinai, though there may be an allusion to it; since the blood which was then shed, and sprinkled on the people, is called the blood of the covenant, Exo 24:8 but that was not an everlasting covenant, that has waxed old, and vanished away; but the covenant of grace is meant, before called the new and better covenant, of which Christ is the surety and Mediator; see Heb 7:22. This is an "everlasting one"; it commenced from everlasting, as appears from the everlasting love of God, which is the rise and foundation of it; from the counsels of God of old, which issued in it; from Christ's being set up from everlasting, as the Mediator of it; from the promises of it which were made before the world began; and from the spiritual blessings of grace in it, which were given to God's elect in Christ before the foundation of it: moreover, it will endure for ever; nor will it be succeeded by any other covenant: and the blood of Christ may be called the blood of it, because the shedding of it is a principal article in it; by it the covenant is ratified and confirmed; and all the blessings of it come through it, as redemption, peace, pardon, justification, and even admission into heaven itself; and Christ, through it, was brought again from the dead, because by it he fulfilled his covenant engagements, satisfied divine justice, and abolished sin, yea, death itself.

(d) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 135. 1. & T. Hieros. Yebamot, fol. 9. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

Ver. 20. Now the God of peace] He that would reap prayers must sow them. What could the Hebrews do less than pray for him that prayed so heartily for them?

Our Lord Jesus] Here is his kingly office. God hath made him both Lord and Christ, Act 2:36.

That great Shepherd] That feedeth his people daily and daintily with divine doctrine. Here is his prophetical office.

Through the blood] Here is his priestly office. And here we must begin, if we will reckon them right.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now the God of peace - God who is the Author, or the source of peace; notes, 1Th 5:23. The word “peace” in the New Testament is used to denote every kind of blessing or happiness. It is opposed to all that would disturb or trouble the mind, and may refer, therefore, to reconciliation with God; to a quiet conscience; to the evidence of pardoned sin; to health and prosperity, and to the hope of heaven; see the notes on Joh 14:27.

That brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus - Act 2:32 note; 1Co 15:15 note. It is only by the fact of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus that we have peace, for it is only by him that we have the prospect of an admission into heaven.

That great Shepherd of the sheep - notes, Joh 10:1, Joh 10:14. The idea here is, that it is through the tender care of that great Shepherd that true happiness is bestowed on the people of God.

Through the blood of the everlasting covenant - The blood shed to ratify the everlasting covenant that God makes with his people; notes, Heb 9:14-23. This phrase, in the original, is not connected, as it is in our translation, with his being raised from the dead, nor should it be so rendered, for what can be the sense of “raising Christ from the dead by the blood of the covenant?” In the Greek it is, “the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the shepherd of the sheep, great by the blood of the everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus,” etc. The meaning is, that he was made or constituted the great Shepherd of the sheep - the great Lord and ruler of his people, by that blood. That which makes him so eminently distinguished; that by which he was made superior to all others who ever ruled over the people of God, was the fact that he offered the blood by which the eternal covenant was ratified. It is called everlasting or eternal, because:

(1)It was formed in the councils of eternity, or has been an eternal plan in the divine mind; and,

(2)Because it is to continue forever. Through such a covenant God can bestow permanent and solid “peace” on his people, for it lays the foundation of the assurance of eternal happiness.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Who brought, or raised from the dead, the great pastor of the sheep, of all the faithful, Jesus Christ, in the blood of the everlasting testament: in the testament that is to last for ever, not for a time, like the former testament made to the people of Israel. These words, in the blood, may either be joined with brought from the dead his son, as man, by the merits of his blood, which he had shed on the cross, as it is said Philippians ii. 8. Or they may be joined with the great pastor, and then the sense will be, that God raised Jesus Christ, who, by his blood shed on the cross, became the great shepherd of all the faithful. Working in you by his grace every good work, &c. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

20. In the coming two verses the epistle proper closes, after the Pauline manner, with a benedictory prayer. It is offered with a glance of retrospect over the whole epistle.

God of peace—The formula of Paul alone. See Rom_15:33; 1Co_14:23; 2Co_13:11; Php_4:9; 1Th_5:23; 2Th_3:16. The whole of this chapter has, beginning with brotherly love, churchly peace, unity, stability, and obedience to pastoral rule, as its key-note. And the whole epistle has Christian stability and unity under the atoning Christ as its object.

Shepherd of the sheep—Under whom it should be one peaceful fold.

Blood of the everlasting covenant—Whose import our epistle has so richly unfolded. It is through (or, rather, Greek, in) the blood of the covenant that the risen Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep. In that character, and in possession of the power of that atoning blood, he was raised from the dead.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 20, 21. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through (literally, in) the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, 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 (i.e. to God, the subject of the sentence) be glory forever and ever. Amen. It is St. Paul"s way also to introduce, in the end of his Epistles, a solemn prayer or benediction, couched in terms suitable to the subjects that have been dwelt on. (see e.g. Rom_16:25, etc.) The term, "God of peace," is also usual with him; and it is appropriate here after so many warnings against disturbing the Church"s peace; as is, with reference also to what has gone before, "make you perfect" (katartisai), and what follows. On "the great Shepherd," etc., Bengel says, "Habemus, inquit, antistites multos, ver. 17, sed hic omniam est Antistes. Ego sum absens, ver. 19, sed DEUS non abest, neque deerit." The expression is taken from Isa_63:11, "Where is he that brought them out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? ( Pou o anabibasav ek thv yalasshv tona twn probatwn ; LXX)." The reference in Isaiah is to Moses and the Red Sea, the well-known types of Christ and his resurrection, and of ours to a new life, leading to eternal life, through him. He is called "the great Shepherd," as in Heb_4:14 the "great High Priest," as being the true fulfillment of the ancient types. "In i.e. "in virtue of" the blood of the covenant" seems to be suggested by Zec_9:11, Kai su en aimati diayhkhv sou exapesteilav desmiouv sou ek lakkou ouk econtov udwr: aiwniou being added (as aegan before) to distinguish the new covenant from the old. The suitableness of the words to the contents of the Epistle is obvious. It is observed that the above is the only distinct allusion in the Epistle to Christ"s resurrection, the writer"s treatment of his subject having led him to pass at once from the sacrifice to the heavenly intercession. But "non concludit apostolus, autequam menti-onem fecerit resurrectionis Christi" (Bengel).

Vers. 20, 21. Concluding prayer for the Hebrews.

The apostle, having earnestly requested the prayers of the Christian Jews for himself, proceeds to plead for them at the throne of the heavenly grace. He virtually says, "Pray for me, brethren; I pray for you." And what a wonderful prayer is this! How brief, yet how comprehensive; how exquisitely simple, yet how deeply sublime! It is a benediction as well as a petition. And it is so richly colored with the doctrine which the writer has been discussing that it reads almost like a summary of the Epistle. Consider

I THE TITLE UNDER WHICH GOD IS ADDRESSED. "The God of peace." This is a Pauline expression. Outside of this book it occurs only in the writings of Paul. The appellation is profoundly suggestive. God is "the God of peace

(1) in his own being and character he loves peace, and it dwells within him;

(2) in his moral administration, the end of which is to work peace in the world, and within the hearts of men. These Hebrews lived during a time of political turmoil and of religious persecution; but the apostle directs their thoughts to the Lord that "sitteth upon the flood," who "will bless his people with peace." There are some very solemn and terrible passages in this Epistle about the sin and doom of apostates; but the writer points us once more to the rainbow of grace shining in front of the gloom, and tells us how the hands of "the God of peace" have bonded it.

II THE SPECIAL REDEMPTIVE ACT HERE CELEBRATED. It is that of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus an event not referred to elsewhere in the Epistle. The God who works peace had sent his Son to obey and suffer and die for man"s sin; and the same God had brought him again from the dead, and confirmed him in his high dignity as "the great Shepherd of the sheep." Throughout this prayer of benediction the writer seems to have in view Isa_63:11-14, and to think of the Lord Jesus by contrast with Moses, and the other shepherds of ancient Israel. Jacob and Joseph, Moses and Aaron, Samuel and David, had all been true" shepherds of his flock;" but the Lord Jesus is "the great Shepherd." The Hebrews were to cherish the memory of their own former pastors (ver. 7), and they had other pastors set over them now (ver. 17); but the Lord Jesus, the crucified and risen One, was ever their chief Pastor. He had laid down his life as "the good Shepherd," but in rising from the dead and ascending to heaven he had shown himself to be "the great Shepherd." On every account he is entitled to be called "great;" e.g. because all the prophets spoke of him, because all former true shepherds were types of him, because he is himself mighty to save, and because of the vastness of the flock over which he shall preside. Here in particular, however, the apostle calls him "great" because he has sealed the new and "eternal covenant" with his "blood." That blood was the blood of God" himself; (Act_20:28) and so the covenant confirmed with such a costly sacrifice cannot but be everlasting. Not only so, but the Lord Jesus died, not merely as a federal offering; he died as a Sin Offering. His death completed the fulfillment of the covenant stipulations on his and our part; and, as we know that God also will be faithful to the treaty on his side, we are sure it shall stand forever. Christ is "the Mediator of the new covenant" and "the great Shepherd of the sheep," through virtue of the merit of his blood.

III THE SPIRITUAL BLESSING PRAYED FOR. (Ver. 21) It is the gift of perfect sanctification, a blessing that had been expressly promised and guaranteed in connection with the new covenant. (Jer_31:33, Jer_31:34) The God who has elevated the Lord Jesus to be the Head of the final dispensation is both able and willing to perform his own covenant promise. "Make you perfect;" i.e. put you into order, restore you, equip you. Naturally, every man needs to have his soul reorganized before he can learn to do God"s will. And sometimes a good man requires, as many of these Hebrew believers did, a second conversion. The apostle prays that their equipment may be thorough; that it may be a deep and comprehensive work within the soul, wrought there by the power of the Holy Ghost, and which shall bear fruit outwardly in a career of perfect holiness that shall be "well-pleasing in God"s sight." It is not enough to practice only some of the virtues of the Christian character; we must be "perfect in every good thing in worship and work, in thought and feeling, in body and spirit. The rule of our perfect equipment is "his will the mind of God as made known to us in Holy Scripture. And the medium by which it is accomplished is "through Jesus Christ by means of his gracious operations upon the heart by his Spirit. Perfect holiness in man is all of his creation: not by his doctrine merely, or by faith in him; but through himself, and by virtue of the believer"s union to him.

IV THE DOXOLOGY WITH WHICH THE PRAYER CLOSES. "To whomi.e. as we take it, to "the God of peace" who is addressed in the prayer. And yet, when "the glory" is ascribed to him, it is given to all the three Divine Persons to God the Father, who "brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead;" to God the Son, "the great Shepherd of the sheep" and Mediator of "the eternal covenant;" and to God the Spirit, the executive of the Deity, who personally "worketh in us" and "makes us perfect." This doxology is the language of spiritual instinct; and, being such, it is irrepressible. So soon as any human heart really apprehends that Jehovah is "the God of peace," and feels grateful for his unspeakable gift of "the great Shepherd," and accepts the blessings of "the eternal covenant," and becomes conscious of the transforming influence of grace within itself, how is that heart to be restrained from breaking forth into adoring praise, and from uttering the desire that the Divine glory should be universal and eternal? May our souls be in such full sympathy with this prayer of benediction as to join with emphasis in the apostle"s rapturous and fervent "Amen"!

Vers. 20, 21. Concluding prayer and doxology. "Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead, etc. (vers. 20, 21). Let us notice

I THE GREAT BEING WHO IS HERE ADDRESSED. "The God of peace." This title is fitly applied to the Most High.

1. He is infinitely peaceful in himself. All those elements which disturb and distress souls are entirely absent from his nature. Pride, anger, jealousy, remorse, fear, foreboding, these are the things which agitate and alarm us; but they have no existence in him. He is infinitely pure and perfect, and, therefore, he is infinitely peaceful.

2. He is the Giver of peace to others. He gives peace in the conscience by means of the forgiveness of sin. "Thy sins are forgiven; ... thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace". (Luk_7:48, Luk_7:50; cf. Rom_5:1) He gives peace in the heart by the expulsion of evil passions there from and the inspiration therein of holy affections. Anger, revenge, jealousy, he expels from the heart, and he awakens in it supreme love to himself and love to our fellow-men. He quickens within us confidence in himself, and so gives us peace as we contemplate the possibilities of our future. A calm trust in his fatherhood is an unfailing antidote to our anxieties and forebodings. "Be not anxious for your life," etc. (Mat_6:25-34) He gives peace in the Church. There is, perhaps, an allusion to this fact in the present application of the title to him. The nineteenth verse suggests that there was danger of disobedience and insubordination amongst those who are addressed. And it was appropriate to remind them that God is the God of peace and the Giver of peace, and to wish for them the enjoyment of this blessing.

II THE GREAT WORK ATTRIBUTED TO HIM. "Who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus?" We must notice here what is said of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. The relation which he sustains to his people. "The great Shepherd of the sheep." This relationship implies

(1) provision for the wants of his people. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want," etc.. (Ps 23)

(2) Direction of their way. "The sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out," etc. (Joh_10:3, Joh_10:4)

(3) Protection of them from dangers and enemies. I will save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey." "I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep," etc.. (Joh_10:11-14; cf. Eze_34:11-31)

2. The means by which he entered into his relationship. "Through the blood of the eternal covenant." Jesus Christ became the great Shepherd of the sheep through the great sacrifice of himself which he offered. Ebrard: "Christ is the great, true, chief, and superior Shepherd, inasmuch as he has made an everlasting covenant by his blood. (cf. Heb_10:11, etc.) The best commentary on these words is found in John 10. He is the good Shepherd because he has given his life for the sheep." This great Shepherd of the sheep was brought again from the dead by the God of peace. In the New Testament the resurrection of our Savior is almost invariably attributed to God the Father. "God raised him from the dead, and gave him glory". (1Pe_1:21) Thus his resurrection was an evidence that the work which was given him to do upon earth was perfectly completed, and was accepted by the Divine Father.

III THE BLESSING SOLICITED FROM HIM. "Make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ." Perfection is the blessing prayed for.

1. The nature of this perfection. "Make you perfect in every good thing to do his will." Absolute perfection is not solicited here; but that they may be enabled fully and heartily to accomplish the holy will of God. Cf. Heb_10:36, "That having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.

2. The means of this perfection. "Working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight." To the same effect St. Paul writes, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure." The inspiration and strength for our out-working of his wilt must come from his in-working with us.

3. The medium of this perfection. Through Jesus Christ." God works within us through the Savior, through his mediation and by his Spirit. Through him alone can man attain unto perfection of being.

IV THE HONOUR ASCRIBED TO HIM. To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

1. Glory is ascribed to God the Father. Some hold that the glory is attributed to Jesus Christ. But it seems to us that it is ascribed to God the Father, the chief Subject of the whole sentence," as Alford says; God, who is the God of peace, who brought up the Lord Jesus from the dead, who can perfect us in every good work, to accomplish his will, and works in us that which is well-pleasing to him through Jesus Christ. The whole majesty of the sentence requires this reverting to its main Agent, and speaks against the referring "to whom be the glory" to our blessed Lord, who is only incidentally mentioned." To the God of all grace the highest, fullest, divinest honors are due.

2. Glory is ascribed to God perpetually. "Forever and ever." "Unto the ages of the ages. Amen." His own essential glory is eternal, and the honors attributed to him will not only continue, but increase throughout endless ages. W.J.

Vers. 20, 21. A most comprehensive wish.

This is both a wish and a prayer, None the less a prayer because referring to God in the third person. The writer both prays that God may prosecute a course of operations in the hearts of these Christians, and indirectly solicits them at the same time to make this course possible by their submission and co-operation. This prayer-wish, it will be noted, was peculiarly correspondent with the position of Hebrew Christians.

I THE REFERENCE TO THE COVENANT. There had been a covenant, not everlasting, seeing there was no possibility of everlastingness in it. But now there is a new covenant, stable and consecrated by the blood of Jesus himself. The very Lord"s Supper, in which these Hebrew Christians must repeatedly have taken part, made it impossible for them to forget the blood of the new covenant. This new covenant was really established in the raising of Jesus from the dead. And well might God be called a God of peace in connection with it. As God of the old covenant he had too frequently to be a God of wrath and of hostility to those transgressing the terms of the covenant.

II THE COMFORTING REFERENCE TO GOD"S POWER AND DISPOSITION. Great as the troubles through which these people were passing seemed, yet they were not as the troubles of ancient Israel, idolatrous and apostate from the living God. It is a matter of the greatest importance to be assured that one is not contending with the Divine wrath. If God be against us, all comforts and hopes, however promising, are only delusions. But here is the proof that God is for us, in raising Jesus from the dead. Jesus had been the great Benefactor of men, a true Shepherd. Had he not compassion on the crowd, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd? And when he died, how many lost their hope and comfort then But God raises him from the dead, brings him back from among the corpses, and so constitutes him in a higher sense than ever the great Shepherd of the sheep.

III THE GREAT THINGS YET TO BE EXPECTED AND PREPARED FOR. A risen Savior is not only to secure us immortality, but to confirm us in a new life in every way. Things are prayed for that belong to the very essence of the Christian life, whatever its external circumstances may be. We need to be properly placed and endowed for every good work; we need to be fitted to carry out the will of God. The Divine intent is that we should in all ways be strong for usefulness as well as strong to bear trial. The God of the resurrection can work in us all that is acceptable to himself, and he will do it through Jesus Christ.

IV THE DOXOLOGY. How fittingly it comes in after this recital of the Divine power and ability! All true praise must be based upon a real and deep apprehension of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The everlasting covenant - The Christian covenant, which is not temporary, like the Jewish, but designed to remain for ever. By the application of that blood, by which this covenant was established, may he make you, in every respect, inwardly and outwardly holy!

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Our apostle having in the former verse desired their prayers for him, in this verse he adds thereunto his own prayer for them, a most glorious and excellent prayer, inclosing the whole mystery of divine grace in its original, and the way of its communication by Jesus Christ, a prayer, inclosing the whole mystery of divine grace in its original, and the way of its communication by Jesus Christ, a prayer evidently proceeding from a spirit full of faith and love.

Observe here, 1. The title assigned and given to God, The God of peace.

But why the God of peace, rather than the God of power, or the God of grace, or the God of glory?

Because the divine power was not put forth in raising Christ from the dead till God was pacified. Justice incensed exposed him to death; but justice appeased freed him from the dead.

Observe, 2. The titles assigned and given to Christ, and they seem to express his threefold office:

of a Prophet, in that he styles him the great Shepherd of the sheep; of a Priest, that he is said to be brought again from the dead, by the blood of the everlasting covenant; and of a King, in that he is styled our Lord Jesus Christ.

Note, Christ is a shepherd, that great shepherd of the sheep; a shepherd, because as a shepherd, he feeds them with his word, yea, with his precious body and blood; he is styled not the, but that Shepherd, namely, that was promised of old, the object and the hope of the church from the beginning; and person, great in his power, great in his undertaking, great in his glory and exaltation, above the whole creation; and the great Shepherd of the sheep, because they are his own, a little flock in the midst of wolves, which could never be preserved, were it not by the power and care of this great Shepherd.

Observe, 3. The work assigned to God as a God of peace, he brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is said to raise himself in regard of immediate efficiency, but God the Father is said to raise him in regard of sovereign authroity. God the Father, to whose justice the debt was due, by letting Christ out of the prison of the grave, acknowledged himself satisfied; the God of peace, to evidence that peace was now perfectly made, brought Christ again from the dead.

But how did he do this?

It is answered, By the blood of the everlasting covenant, that is, by the blood of Christ himself, which ratified and confirmed the covenant.

Observe, 4. The things prayed for:

1. Perfection in ever good work, to do the will of God! it is not an absolute perfection that is here intended, but a readiness to every good work, or duty of obedience.

2. To work in them that which is well pleasing in his sight; by this understand the actual, gracious performance of every known duty.

Note, That the efficacy and actual efficiency of divine grace, in and unto every act of obedience and duty, is here prayed for, and relied upon.

Observe, lastly, A doxology, or ascription of all glory to Christ, To whom be glory, &c. All grace is from him, and therefore all glory to be ascribed to him. The whole dispensation of grace will issue in the eternal glory of Jesus Christ.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. The God of peace, who gives us peace. That great Shepherd. Christ, “the Good Shepherd.” Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The blood of Christ on the cross sealed the everlasting covenant of the Gospel of which the resurrection of Christ from the dead was the surety.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Now

This marks a new section of the letter. Here the author praises God and gives a final prayer for his readers.

brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus

"raised the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, to life"

from the dead

From among all those who have died. This expression describes all dead people together in the underworld. To raise someone from among them speaks of causing that person to become alive again.

the great shepherd of the sheep

Christ in his role of leader and protector of those who believe in him is spoken of as if he were a shepherd of sheep. (See: Metaphor)

by the blood of the eternal covenant

Here "blood" stands for the death of Jesus, which is the basis for the covenant that will last forever between God and all believers in Christ. (See: Metonymy)

equip you with everything good to do his will

"give you every good thing you need in order to do his will "make you capable of doing every good thing according to his will"

working in us

The word "us" refers to the author and the readers. (See: Inclusive "We")

to whom be the glory forever

"whom all people will praise forever"

translationWords

God

peace

shepherd

ewe

lord

Jesus

blood

eternity

covenant

will of God

glory

eternity

amen

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

20. θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης. The phrase is frequent in St Paul (1Th 5:23; 2Th 3:16; Rom 15:33; Rom 16:20; Php 4:9).

ὁ ἀναγαγών. Among many allusions to the Ascension and Glorification of Christ this is the only direct allusion in the Epistle to His Resurrection (but comp. Heb 6:2, Heb 11:35). The verb ἀνήγαγεν may be “raised again” rather than “brought up,” though there may be a reminiscence of “the shepherd” (Moses) who “brought up” his people from the sea in Isa 63:11.

ἐν αἵματι κ.τ.λ. “By virtue of (lit. “in”) the blood of an eternal covenant.” The expression finds its full explanation in Heb 9:15-18. Others connect it with “the Great Shepherd.” He became the Great Shepherd by means of His blood. So in Act 20:28 we have “to shepherd the Church of God, which He purchased for Himself by means of His own blood.” A similar phrase occurs in Zec 9:11, “By (or “because of”) the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit.”

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20.] But (δέ often introduces a concluding sentence, breaking off, as we use but: see again ver. 22, and passim at the end of St. Paul’s Epistles) the God of peace (so, often, at the end of St. Paul’s Epistles: see reff., and 2Th 3:16. In the presence of so many instances of the expression under different circumstances, it would perhaps be hardly safe to infer from it here any reference to danger of strife within the church addressed. Still the words are not a mere formula, and in all the above places, some reference is made, doubtless, to circumstances either of internal dissension or external tribulation. And certainly both the exhortations in vv. 17-19 point to a state in which there was danger of disobedience within and suspicion towards the Writer and those who were on his part. So that ‘peace’ was a natural wish for them, even without taking into account those troubles which harassed and threatened them from without, in regard of which it would be also a haven, where they would be), who brought up from the dead (περὶ ἀναστάσεως εἴρηται τοῦτο, Chrys. But perhaps not of the Resurrection only, but of the Ascension also. Delitzsch well remarks that ἀνά is not only rursum, but sursum: and Bl. refers to Plato, Rep. vii. p. 521 c, πῶς τις ἀνάξει αὐτοὺς εἰς φῶς, ὥσπερ ἐξ ᾅδου λέγονται δή τινες εἰς θεοὺς ἀνελθεῖν; “This is the only place where our Writer mentions the Resurrection. Every where else he lifts his eyes from the depth of our Lord’s humiliation, passing over all that is intermediate, to the highest point of His exaltation. The connexion here suggests to him once at least to make mention of that which lay between Golgotha and the throne of God, between the altar of the Cross and the heavenly sanctuary, the resurrection of Him who died as our sin-offering.” Delitzsch) the great shepherd of the sheep (the passage before the Writer’s mind has been that in the prophetic chapter of Isaiah (ref.), where speaking of Moses, it is said, ποῦ ὁ ἀναβιβάσας ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων, where A and the Codex Marchalianus read ἐκ τῆς γῆς, as 46 Chrys. read here, and the Complutensian having ἐκ γῆς. In Isa. the shepherd is Moses; and the comparison between Moses and Christ is familiar to our Writer, ch. 3:2-6. The addition of τὸν μέγαν as applied to Christ, is correspondent to His title ἱερεὺς μέγας, ch. 10:21. To deny this reference, with Lünemann, seems impossible, with the remarkable conjunction of τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων. The connexion here in which this title of our Lord is brought in, may be, that οἱ ἡγούμενοι having been just mentioned, and himself also, and his labours and theirs for the settlement of the Church in peace being before his mind, he is led to speak of Him who is the Chief Shepherd (1Pe 5:4), who was brought again from the dead by the God of Peace), in the blood of the everlasting covenant (but in what sense? First διαθήκη αἰώνιος is as Thdrt., αἰώνιον δὲ τὴν καινὴν κέκληκε διαθήκην, ὡς ἑτέρας μετὰ ταύτην οὐκ ἐσομένης· ἵνα γὰρ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ, καὶ ταύτην διʼ ἄλλης διαθήκης παυθήσεσθαι, εἰκότως αὐτῆς τὸ ἀτελεύτητον ἔδειξε. Then, the expression itself can hardly but be a reminiscence of Zec 9:11, καὶ σὺ ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης σου ἐξαπέστειλας δεσμίους σου ἐκ λάκκου οὐκ ἔχοντος ὕδωρ: and if so, the import of the preposition here will be at least indicated by its import there. And there it is, by virtue of, in the power of, the blood of thy covenant, i. e. of that blood which was the seal of the covenant entered into with thee. So also we must understand it here. Did the sentence apply only to the exaltation of Christ, the ἐν might be taken as by Bleek after Calv., ‘with the blood,’ so that Christ took the blood with Him. So Œc. and Thl., ἤγειρεν αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν σὺν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου, τουτέστι σὺν τῇ ἐγέρσει αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ κεχάρισται ἡμῖν εἰς διαθήκην αἰώνιον: and Calvin, “Videtur mihi apostolus hoc velle, Christum ita resurrexisse a mortuis, ut mors tamen ejus non sit abolita, sed æternum vigorem retineat: ac si dixisset, Deus Filium suum excitavit, sed ita ut sanguis, quem semel in morte fudit, ad sanctionem fœderis æterni post resurrectionem vigeat, fructumque suum proferat perinde ac si semper flueret.” But here it is joined to the exaltation only by means of the resurrection. And thus, as Del. maintains, the instrumental, conditioning-element force of ἐν seems to predominate: through, or in virtue of, the blood (Act 20:28). It is surely hardly allowable to join the words ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου with τὸν ποιμένα τὸν μέγαν. Yet this is done by Beza, Estius, Grot., Limborch, Schulz, Böhme, Kuinoel, Lünem., Ebr., al., some of them joining it with μέγαν. It seems to me that τόν would in this case be repeated after μέγαν. The idea however is no less true, and is indeed involved in the connexion with ἀναγαγών, and thus with the whole sentence. The Lord Jesus did become, in His mediatorial work, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by virtue of that covenant which was brought in by His blood (Acts, ubi sup.): and by virtue of that blood also He was raised up as the great Shepherd, out of the dead, and to God’s right hand. Cf. on the whole, reff.; and Isa 55:3; Isa 61:8: Joh 10:11-18), even our Lord Jesus (here the personal name, Jesus, is joined with the assertion of His lordship over us: below, where the inworking of the Spirit through Him is spoken of, it is διὰ Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ, His office as Christ at God’s right hand having made Him the channel of the Spirit to us: the anointing on Him, the Head, flowing down to the skirts of the raiment. Cf. Act 2:36, ἀσφαλῶς οὖν γινωσκέτω πᾶς οἶκος Ἰσραήλ, ὅτι καὶ κύριον αὐτὸν καὶ χριστὸν ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησεν, τοῦτον τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὃν ὑμεῖς ἐσταυρώσατε),

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The God of peace. Not an O. T. phrase, and found only in Paul and Hebrews. See Rom 14:33; Rom 16:20; 1Co 14:33; Phi 4:9, 1Th 5:23; 2Th 3:16. The phrase signifies God who is the author and giver of peace.

Who brought again from the dead [ο αναγαγων εκ νεκρων] . The only direct reference in the epistle to the resurrection of Christ. ch. 6 2 refers to the resurrection of the dead generally. Anagein of raising the dead, only Rom 10:7. Rend. "brought up," and comp. Wisd. 16 13. Ana in this compound, never in N. T. in the sense of again. See on Luk 8:22; Act 12:4; Act 16:34; Act 27:3. The verb often as a nautical termt to bring a vessel up from the land to the deep water; to put to sea.

That great shepherd of the sheep [τον ποιμενα των προβατων τον μεγαν] . The Greek order is, "the shepherd of the sheep the great (shepherd)." Comp. Joh 10:2, 11, 14; 1Pe 2:25, and see Isa 63:11. Of God, Ezekiel 34.

Through the blood of the everlasting covenant [εν αιματι διαθηκης αιωνιου] . Rend. "in the blood of an eternal covenant." See Zec 9:11. The phrase eternal covenant N. T. o. Common in LXX; see Gen 9:16; Gen 17:19; Lev 24:8; 2Sa 23:5; Jer 39:40; Eze 16:60. Const. with the great shepherd of the sheep. It may be granted that the raising of Christ from the dead, viewed as the consummation of the plan of salvation, was in the sphere of the blood of the covenant; nevertheless, the covenant is nowhere in the N. T. associated with the resurrection, but frequently with death, especially in this epistle. See Mt 26:28; Luk 22:20; Heb 9:15, 16, 17, 20. The connection of the blood of the covenant with Christ 's pastoral office gives a thoroughly scriptural sense, and one which exactly fits into the context. Christ becomes the great shepherd solely through the blood of the covenant. Comp. Act 20:28. Through this is brought about the new relation of the church with God described in ch. 8 10 ff. This tallies perfectly with the conception of "the God of peace "; and the great Shepherd will assert the power of the eternal covenant of reconciliation and peace by perfecting his flock in every good work to do his will, working in them that which is well pleasing in his sight. With this agree Jer 50:5, 19; Eze 34:25, and the entire chapter, see especially vers. 12 - 15, 23, 31. In these verses the Shepherd of the Covenant appears as guiding, tending his flock, and leading them into fair and safe pastures. Comp. Isa 63:11 - 14, and Rev 7:17, see note on poimanei shall shepherd. En aimati" in the blood, " is in virtue of, or in the power of the blood.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.