HEBREWS 9:14
Hebrews 9:14 also reveals the Divine Trinity in His divine move. In this verse there is the blood of Christ [the Son]. There is also Christ, the Son, through the eternal Spirit offering Himself without blemish to God [God the Father]. Finally, this verse says that the blood of Christ purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God [the Triune God]. The blood of Christ is the blood of the Son. First John 1:7 refers to the blood of Jesus, the Son of God.
Christ offered Himself as one sacrifice to be the reality of all the various offerings to God in the Old Testament. He is the reality of the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the wave offering, the heave offering, the freewill offering, and the drink offering. He is the aggregate reality of all the offerings in the Old Testament as the unique offering to God in the New Testament.
Christ offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit. In Matthew 12 the Lord cast out demons by the Spirit of God. Hebrews 9:14 says He offered Himself through the eternal Spirit. Again we need to ask why the Lord did not offer Himself to God by Himself. Was He not qualified to do it? He was qualified, and He could if He would, but He would not. He offered Himself through a channel, through a means, that is, through the eternal Spirit.
Now we need to ask whether the Spirit through which the Lord offered Himself was the essential Spirit or the economical Spirit. Whether the eternal Spirit here is essential or economical depends upon our definition of what the Lord is doing here. He offered Himself. Was this a work? If this was a work, surely the Spirit through whom Christ offered Himself was economical. Christ did this work through the eternal Spirit for God’s economy. The economical Spirit is related to His doing, not His being. On the other hand, His offering of Himself as the unique offering may refer to His being. In relation to His being, the eternal Spirit is the essential Spirit. When the Lord cast out demons, the Spirit by whom He did this was economical. This Spirit was the power, the means, by which the Lord Jesus cast out demons.
In Hebrews 9:14 we need to see that the Offerer is also the offering. We cannot separate the offering from the Offerer. Both are one. He Himself as the Offerer offered Himself as the offering, not through Himself but through the eternal Spirit. The Spirit was the channel through whom Christ performed this excellent thing. The Spirit here is related to both His being and His doing. The act of offering is a doing, but the sacrifice itself is related to His being. The Spirit being eternal means that He is perfect, complete, short of nothing. "Eternal" implies everything. The eternal Spirit in Hebrews 9:14 includes both the essential and economical aspects of the Spirit.
Even in accomplishing redemption by offering Himself on the cross, the Lord Jesus did not act by Himself. He did it through the eternal Spirit, offering Himself without blemish to God the Father. Furthermore, He did not offer anything to Himself. Whatever He offered was to God, and whatever He did was to God. The issue of His offering is that His blood purifies our conscience from dead works that we may serve the living God, the Triune God. The Lord did nothing by Himself, nothing to Himself, and nothing for Himself. Whatever He did was to God and for God.
Here again we can see the humility and the selflessness of the Son. We can also see the harmony in the Divine Trinity. The Son is the center of the Divine Trinity. We should not forget that the very central point of the Divine Trinity behaved Himself in such a way. He did not trust in Himself but in another One. Whatever He did was not for Himself but for the Father, and whatever issued out of Him went to the Father. He was altogether not by Himself, for Himself, or to Himself.
This is a good pattern our Head has set up for His Body, of which we all are members. As members of Him, we should behave, act, and live according to what He did and was. When we do things, we should learn to do them not by ourselves. We are the doers, but we should not be the channel. We need someone else to be our channel through which we do things. Furthermore, we should not be the beneficiary of what we do. Someone else should be our beneficiary to receive the very benefit of our doing and of our being.
The move of the Divine Trinity as seen in Hebrews 9:14 and Matthew 12:28 is an excellent and beautiful example for us to follow. In saving us, He did not act individualistically. He did not do things to Himself and for Himself, nor did He trust in Himself. The New Testament record shows us such excellencies, beauties, and virtues in the Divine Trinity. There are so many beautiful items in this dear One. He humbled Himself to become a lowly man, even a slave. While He was on this earth as a slave, He acted in a way of not trusting Himself and not doing anything by Himself, to Himself, or for Himself. Eventually, God the Father highly exalted Him.
(Living In and With the Divine Trinity, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
