Message One

An Epistle to River Crossers

Scripture Reading: Gen. 14:13; Exo. 3:18; 9:1, 13;
Heb. 1:1-2a; 11:8-16; 6:19; 13:13

1. The Epistle to the Hebrews is an epistle to river crossers:
   1. The root of the word Hebrew means “to pass over”—Gen. 14:13:
      1. Specifically, it can mean “to pass over a river,” that is, to pass over from one side of the river to another.
      2. A Hebrew is one who crosses a river, a person from the other side of the river.
      3. River crossers are a people separated from the world.
   2. Abraham was the first Hebrew, the first river crosser—Gen. 14:13; Heb. 11:8-16:
      1. Abraham left Chaldea, crossed the flood, and came into Canaan, the good land of blessing—Josh. 24:2-3.
      2. Abraham’s crossing the river and entering into the new land signified his entering into an uplifted, new mankind, which would be used by God to be His expression.
   3. Our God is the God of the Hebrews—Exo. 3:18; 9:1, 13:
      1. He is the God of the river crossers, the God of the separated people.
      2. The God of the Hebrews is the God of the people who have crossed the river for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
   4. The God of the Hebrews has written the book of Hebrews to us—Heb. 1:1-2a; 12:25a:
      1. The basic concept of the book of Hebrews is that of crossing the river, of passing over from one side to another.
      2. The Epistle to the Hebrews is only for river crossers.
      3. If we have crossed the river, we can understand this wonderful book—Heb. 5:12; 6:1.
2. The purpose of God’s speaking in the Epistle to the Hebrews is that all who contact God by faith would be river crossers—Heb. 11:1, 6:
   1. In suffering death, the Lord Jesus crossed the river and entered into the region of God’s expression, the region of God’s glory—Heb. 2:9; 6:19-20:
      1. The death through which the Lord Jesus passed was a baptism—Mark 10:38; Luke 12:50.
      2. As the real Joshua, the Lord Jesus took the lead to cross the Jordan River and enter into glory—the reality of the expression of the Divine Being—Luke 24:26; 1 Pet. 1:11.
      3. As the Captain of our salvation, Christ has gone ahead of us that He might help us pass through the waters of suffering and enter into glory—Heb. 2:10.
   2. Baptism has made us river crossers, and now we are true, genuine Hebrews, following the Pioneer, “the Forerunner, Jesus,” into glory— Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27; Matt. 28:19; Heb. 6:20:
      1. To cross the river is to wash ourselves from anything old, anything ruined, and anything that does not match God’s glory—Rev. 15:2-3.
      2. Every time we desire to enter into the temple we need to cross a standing river— the laver—Exo. 30:18; 40:30-32; 1 Kings 7:23, 38.
      3. The crossing of all the rivers brings us into glory, which is God Himself expressed.
   3. If we would enter into the New Jerusalem as the full expression of the glorious God (Heb. 11:10, 16; 12:22; Rev. 21:2, 10-11), we need to cross over many rivers:
      1. We need to leave the law and cross over to grace—Heb. 4:16; 7:18-19; 12:28; 13:9.
      2. We need to leave the old covenant and cross over to the new covenant—Heb. 8:6-7, 13.
      3. We need to leave the ritualistic service of the Old Testament and cross over to the spiritual reality of the New Testament— Heb. 8:5; 9:9-14.
      4. We need to leave Judaism and cross over to the church—Heb. 13:13; 10:25.
      5. We need to leave the earthly things and cross over to the heavenly things—Heb. 12:18-24.
      6. We need to leave the outer court and cross over to the Holiest of all—Heb. 13:9-10; 10:19-20.
      7. We need to leave the soul and cross over to the spirit—Heb. 4:12.
      8. We need to leave the beginning of truth and life and cross over to the maturity of life in the truth—Heb. 5:11—6:1.
3. As today’s Hebrews, river crossers, we need to see God’s economy (1 Tim. 1:4) and experience the dispensational transfer revealed in the book of Acts—Acts 1:4-8:
   1. The matter of the change of dispensation—the divine arrangement in God’s eternal economy— is a strong point in Acts:
      1. To speak of a dispensational change in Acts means that in Acts we see the need of a great transfer, a great turn.
      2. This change, this transfer, is from the old dispensation to the new.
   2. We need to be transferred economically from the Old Testament to the New Testament:
      1. Although we are New Testament people, we may still have an Old Testament concept.
      2. We need a transfer out of the law and into Christ, a transfer from being law-keepers to being Jesus-witnesses.
   3. “In the book of Hebrews Paul presents a clear picture showing us that the Old Testament things are over. What remains now in God’s New Testament economy is Jesus Christ, the all-inclusive One. Having seen such a view, Paul could not tolerate a mixture of such an all-inclusive Christ with the inferior things of the out-of-date, Old Testament economy” (Life-study of Acts, p. 518).