Hebrews 1: 6-9; 2: 13-15
I have a thought as to companionship. It came into my mind in the service of God that we were suited companions for the Son of God. This scripture refers to the bringing in of Christ “into the habitable world”. It is strictly speaking of the Jewish remnant in the future that will be attracted to the Lord Jesus and become His companions. At this time the writer is addressing Jewish Christians from Judea and Jerusalem, who had to flee because of the impending destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, around AD 70. The Lord is brought into the habitable world as the Firstborn. He is named as Son, but He is brought in and the remnant recognise Him, and they have a link with Him In companionship.
Companionship is not kindredship. Kindredship, in one sense, is something that exists; from one point of view you can do nothing about it. I just mean that, in a general sense, kindredship is that. As believers that which we derive from Christ, it belongs to us. But companionship is another thing. Companionship springs out of attraction. The Lord is “anointed ... with oil of gladness above” His “companions”. This passage brings out the greatness of His Person. It says in verse 12 of Hebrews 1 “as a covering shalt thou roll them up,” - that is the creation - “and they shall be changed; but thou art the Same, and thy years shall not fail”. The title “the Same” is His eternal personality. But I understand that “thy years shall not fail” in this setting here is the endless character of His humanity. That is something to grasp hold of, the enduring character of the Lord’s humanity.
The passage brings out the greatness of the Person in His own distinctiveness, but it also brings out that He has companions. That must be in His humanity. It must be persons that are attracted to Him, that want to be in His company. Do you want to be in the company of Christ? You cannot enjoy eternal life apart from the company of Christ. It is bound up with Him: “and this life is in his Son”, 1 John 5: 11. It is bound up with Him. As we were remarking on Lord’s day, the beauties of Jesus, His lowliness, His purity, His devotedness, His love, His kindness, His grace, attract you because you belong to Him. They attract you to that blessed Man. You have a desire to be His companion, be in His company. When He was here there were those who gathered around Him and became His companions. It says in Acts 4 they recognised Peter and John that they were companions of Jesus (v 13); that is, that they had been in His company. I wonder if we are recognised by others as the companions of the Lord Jesus, those who frequent His company. To be a Christian you have to be in Christ’s company. It says, “and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch”, Acts 11: 26. That is because they were Christlike. It may have been a term of reproach, but it was reproach attached to the name of the Lord Jesus. Barnabas when he arrived there saw “the grace of God”, Acts 11: 23. He saw that in persons who were desirous of being companions of the Christ.
What a blessed privilege it is to think that you are a believer and I am a believer in the Lord Jesus, but “saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God’s gift: not on the principle of works, that no one might boast”, Eph 2: 8, 9. And we are desirous of His company, to be in the company of that blessed Man. What attracts you here tonight, dear young brethren, if it is not to be a companion of the Christ? There is no obligation on you, in one sense. You come here freely. You come here because you desire to be in a company of persons that are like Christ. What an environment to be in! What a safe environment to be in, with persons who are self-judged, who, by the Spirit, express the features of the Lord Jesus! We have not seen Him yet. When we see Him “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3: 2), but we have the privilege now of enjoying companionship, companionship of the Christ. Mr Darby says in the Synopsis in Ephesians chapter 2, ‘A Mary Magdalene, a crucified thief, companions in glory with the Son of God’ (JND Synopsis of the Books of the Bible Acts-Philippians p398). What a thing, dear brethren. ‘A Mary Magdalene’, that kind of woman, what she was, and ‘a crucified thief, companions in glory with the Son of God’. We are going to be companions of the Son of God in glory. We touched something of the blessedness of it in the service of God in this place earlier in the week, on Lord’s day, suited companions of the Son of God. That is why the Lord comes to us, because we are suited companions to Him, persons to whom He can make known His mind, His thoughts. A companion is one who shares in your thoughts. Kindredship is not necessarily that, but it should normally include it, but companionship involves that you share in the thoughts. There is a link there in affection where persons exchange thoughts. It is a shared life; you enjoy it in the presence of the Son of God, in the presence of the Son, in the presence of Jesus. You receive from Him and you impart something to Him that He finds delight in. Not only is it for us, the blessedness of His company, but something for Himself. He desires companions. He has found companions in the saints and He desires their company because they are Christlike; they are like Him; they think like Him; they love like Him; they act like Him; they move like Him; their testimony is that of the Lord Jesus. These are wonderful things, dear brethren. What an attraction to us!
Well, the second scripture brings out how He made us His companions. Have you ever thought of it? It says, “he also, in like manner, took part in the same”. He came into a condition of flesh and blood from His side; it was His own matter. The body was prepared for Him, the body of flesh and blood. It is a wonderful statement, “Since therefore the children partake of blood and flesh, he also, in like manner, took part in the same”. He came into the condition we are in. He had never been in that condition before. He had never been in a toilsome life before. He had never been in that kind of life. He had observed it in men as being in the form of God, but He had never partaken of it, but He comes into a body, takes part in the flesh and blood condition, sin apart, but He takes part in it. He knows what it is to go through the temptations, dear brethren. As soon as He came into His public service, the devil was there, right away, but He is anointed by the Spirit going forward to “plunder the goods of the strong man”, Mark 3: 27. He knew what reproach was. He knew what enmity was. He knew what it was to be hated. He knew what it was to be spit upon. He never knew that when He was in Deity, but he “took part in the same”, came into the condition of flesh and blood and all that attaches to it, everything that attaches to it, “sin apart”, Heb 4: 15. But everything else that attaches to it, He came into that condition. He can feel for you in all you go through, the struggles in life; He understands that because He has been here as a Man in flesh and blood. He had struggles in the sense that He was up against the power of Satan. It comes out in Gethsemane, His feelings, the depth of His feelings, what He went through, the pressure on Him. He was a Man who would pray. The Lord Jesus was a praying Man. He prayed all night several times in His life that we are told of. That is the kind of Man he was in the flesh and blood condition. He knew what weariness was. He sat by the well at Sychar, a Man “wearied with the way He had come”, John 4: 6. He did not use His divine power to overcome the weakness of the flesh, physically. He knew what weakness was; He knew that. He came into flesh and blood conditions and bore that, went through with that, accepted the limitations of it. He needed sleep. When He was in the boat and free from His labours, He lay down and slept on a pillow, Mark 4: 38. The storm did not bother Him. He trusted in His God. That is the Lord Jesus, the One who “took part in the same”. It was not His by common lot; He came into it. Flesh and blood is ours by common lot. We did not come into it in that sense; we belong to it; but He came into it; and He came into conditions in which fallen man was. He came into the world in which fallen man was expressed, the same world that we are in. He came into that world and He went through that world. Even His own brethren despised Him. They did not believe in Him until after His crucifixion. The first time you find them amongst the brethren is in Acts 1. His mother was there and His own brethren. They were there. That is the environment the Lord Jesus came into. He knew all these things.
He “took part in the same”, but He set us free through dying. He set us free from the power of death: “that through death he might annul him who has the might of death, that is, the devil; and might set free all those who through fear of death through the whole of their life were subject to bondage”. He set us free. He brought us into an environment where we taste life. There is life outside the realm of death. Eternal life is the kind of life that lifts your spirit up because it is enjoyed on the other side of death. Our links together are beyond death. They will go through to eternity. But what a thing it is to be attracted to be a companion of that Man! That is, you have a desire to be amongst His people. You have a desire to be there because you are attracted to the features of the Lord Jesus there, and so you are set free, set free from the whole world and all its system. You have to work here; you have to earn your living here; you have to endure the toilsome life; but your eye is on the goal. But when you are on the way to the goal, you have companionship, and that companionship is linked up with the Lord Jesus.
May your heart be attracted into it for His Name’s sake!
Edinburgh
16th August 2011