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Scott's Reference Library
Hebrews 4:12 through Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it
judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is
hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes
of him to whom we must give account.
14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time
of need.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 11-16
Observe the end proposed: rest spiritual and eternal; the rest of grace here,
and glory hereafter; in Christ on earth, with Christ in heaven. After due and
diligent labour, sweet and satisfying rest shall follow; and labour now, will
make that rest more pleasant when it comes. Let us labour, and quicken each
other to be diligent in duty. The Holy Scriptures are the word of God. When God
sets it home by his Spirit, it convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and
comforts powerfully. It makes a soul that has long been proud, to be humble; and
a perverse spirit, to be meek and obedient. Sinful habits, that are become as it
were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, are separated and cut off by
this sword. It will discover to men their thoughts and purposes, the vileness of
many, the bad principles they are moved by, the sinful ends they act to. The
word will show the sinner all that is in his heart. Let us hold fast the
doctrines of Christian faith in our heads, its enlivening principles in our
hearts, the open profession of it in our lips, and be subject to it in our
lives. Christ executed one part of his priesthood on earth, in dying for us; the
other he executes in heaven, pleading the cause, and presenting the offerings of
his people. In the sight of Infinite Wisdom, it was needful that the Saviour of
men should be one who has the fellow-feeling which no being but a
fellow-creature could possibly have; and therefore it was necessary he should
actual experience of all the effects of sin that could be separated from its
actual guilt. God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, Romans 8:3;
but the more holy and pure he was, the more he must have been unwilling in his
nature to sin, and must have had deeper impression of its evil; consequently the
more must he be concerned to deliver his people from its guilt and power. We
should encourage ourselves by the excellence of our High Priest, to come boldly
to the throne of grace. Mercy and grace are the things we want; mercy to pardon
all our sins, and grace to purify our souls. Besides our daily dependence upon
God for present supplies, there are seasons for which we should provide in our
prayers; times of temptation, either by adversity or prosperity, and especially
our dying time. We are to come with reverence and godly fear, yet not as if
dragged to the seat of justice, but as kindly invited to the mercy-seat, where
grace reigns. We have boldness to enter into the holiest only by the blood of
Jesus; he is our Advocate, and has purchased all our souls want or can desire.