Chapter 1: Christ and His Righteousness

In the first verse of the third chapter of Hebrews we have an exhortation, which comprehends all the injunctions given to the Christian.  It is this: "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus."  To do this as the Bible enjoins, to consider Christ continually and intelligently, just as He is, will transform one into a perfect Christian, for "by beholding we become changed."

Ministers of the gospel have an inspired warrant for keeping the theme, Christ, continually before the people and directing the attention of the people to Him alone.  Paul said to the Corinthians, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2), and there is no reason to suppose that his preaching to the Corinthians was different in any respect from his preaching elsewhere. Indeed, he tells us that when God revealed His Son in him, it was that he might preach Him among the heathen (Galatians 1:15, 16), and his joy was that to him grace had been given to "preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."  Ephesians 3:8   

But the fact that the apostles made Christ the burden of all their preaching is not our sole warrant for magnifying Him.  His name is the only name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved.  Acts 4:12.  Christ Himself declared that no man could come unto the Father but by Him.  John 14:6. To Nicodemus He said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."  John 3:14, 15.  This "lifting up" of Jesus, while it has primary reference to His crucifixion, embraces more than the mere historical fact; it means that Christ must be "lifted up" by all who believe in Him, as the crucified Redeemer, whose grace and glory are sufficient to supply the world's greatest need; it means that He should be "lifted up" in all His exceeding loveliness and power as "God with us," that His Divine attractiveness may thus draw all unto Him.  See John 12:32.