The book of Hebrews tells us that Christ is superior to Judaism and everything related to it. However, if we read this book carefully in the spirit, we will realize that it also deals with the indwelling Spirit. It is not a book of doctrinal teaching; rather, it is a book of experience in our spirit through the Holy Spirit.
Verse 14 of chapter 9 reveals a special title of the Holy Spirit. This verse says, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” This is the only place in the Bible that mentions the eternal Spirit. Verse 12 says that Christ entered into the Holy of Holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us, and verse 15 says that those who have been called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Similarly, 5:9 says, “Having been perfected, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” These eternal items—eternal redemption, the eternal inheritance, and eternal salvation—all take the eternal Spirit as the center.
Judaism is a religion with rituals and regulations in letters, but Christ is a living person with eternal life in the Spirit. The things of Judaism are simply shadows and figures of things to come, but Christ is the reality and the fulfillment of all the shadows and figures in the Old Testament. All these shadows and figures were only temporary and transitory, but Christ as the reality is eternal, perpetual forever. Moreover, the things in Judaism were only in letter, but Christ, the living One, offered Himself to God for eternal redemption by the eternal Spirit so that we may partake of the eternal inheritance. This eternal inheritance is all the riches of the Godhead. By the eternal redemption of Christ, we have the right to the eternal inheritance. By the eternal Spirit, Christ is the Author, the source, and the cause of eternal salvation to us, and we enjoy Him as our eternal salvation. Therefore, in this book the Holy Spirit is the eternal Spirit. In order to experience all that is revealed in this book, we must know how to touch this eternal Spirit.
For something to be eternal does not only mean that it is everlasting. To be eternal spans all time and space and surpasses all time and space. Therefore, eternal redemption is a redemption that is perpetual and eternally effective to meet and surpass all needs throughout all time and space. In the same principle, eternal salvation is not a temporary or transitory salvation. Rather, it meets and surpasses all the needs of all time and space. Likewise, the Spirit is not only the all-inclusive Spirit with all the riches of Christ; He is also the eternal Spirit, who meets all our needs for all time and throughout allspace, and His supply surpasses all time and space. This means that there is no need at any time or in any place that He cannot meet.
We have already considered several titles of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament: the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the life-giving Spirit. Now we see that the Spirit is also the eternal Spirit. These are not seven different Spirits but one Spirit in different stages with different aspects. Please refer once again to the diagram on page 80. In eternity past He was the Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2). Then in order to bring God into man, to bring the holy One into humanity, He was the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:20). Through the human living and death of Jesus, He became the Spirit of Jesus for doing the will of God through suffering and endurance (Acts 16:7). In Christ’s designation in resurrection, He became the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 1:4; 8:9). Through all this inclusively, He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit for suffering in resurrection (Phil. 1:19). For coming into man to impart life to him, He isthe life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Moreover, He is the eternal Spirit, spanning and surpassing all space and time. Through this Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as an eternal sacrifice to accomplish an eternal redemption that we may enjoy the eternal inheritance. Therefore, He is the source of salvation to us, not a salvation that is temporary, partial, or limited, but one that is eternal to meet all the needs for all time in all space. This is the Spirit unveiled in the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 3:7-8 says, “Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of trial in the wilderness.’” According to verses 12 to 15, the Holy Spirit says that we need to take heed, be careful, and be on the alert that we do not have an evil heart of unbelief, but rather that we exhort one another. The good land is a type of Christ as our rest, and Joshua as the companion to Caleb is a type of Christ as the One who brings us into the rest. Therefore, we must exhort one another to enter into Christ as our good land and to know Him as our Partner, our Companion (1:9; 3:14). To consider that entering into the rest is too difficult is to have an evil heart of unbelief as the people of Israel had. We must realize that today, as the all-inclusive and eternal Spirit, Christ is available to us. He is our good land, and He is our rest. Moreover, He is also our Joshua. If we would simply be the “Calebs” who have faith, we will enjoy Christ as our Companion to bring us into the rest. Therefore, there is no excuse for us not to enter into the rest.
The Spirit today is speaking in us to assure us that Christ is available as the good land and the rest into which we enter. It is not difficult to enter into the rest because by the eternal Spirit we are Christ’s companions and He is our Companion to bring us into the rest. In this way we partake of Him and enjoy Him to the extent that it is easy to enter in. The Spirit speaks that Christ is so available. To enter into Him is not difficult, because He is not only the land but also the real Joshua. He is not only the rest but also the Companion to bring us into the rest. The Spirit—the holy One and the eternal One—is constantly speaking this within us.