Benedictions and doxologies are some of my favorite portions
of Scripture. Often coming at turning points in epistles or at the end of them,
these passages are usually transcendent in tone, leading us to lift our eyes to
gaze upon the greatness of our God. Lately, I’ve been meditating on the
benediction in Hebrews, found in Hebrew 13:20-21. At first glance, it seems
like merely a long, drawn-out sentence, but a closer look shows that each
phrase is packed with powerful truth. Here’s the passage in full:
“Now may the God of
peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the
sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything
good that you may do his will, working
in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen” (ESV).
Sometimes in the New Testament, it’s easy to get lost in the
lengthy sentences and lose track of the main point, i.e. the subject and verb,
so finding those is always a good place to start. If we strip away all of the
phrases and clauses in Hebrews 13:20-21, we’re left with “may God equip.” In
other words, the first thing to notice about these verses is that the subject
of the sentence is God. This is most fitting, because God is the subject of the
whole Bible and of the whole of reality. As we’re reading Scripture, it’s
always good to remind ourselves of that truth. It’s not about us; it’s about
Him. That’s why when we read, we primarily should be looking for what the Bible
tells us about God. So what do these two verses tell us about Him?
First of all, we see that God is “the God of peace.”
Definitions of peace include concepts such as calm, security, tranquility,
harmony, and freedom from war or disturbance.[1]
As the God of peace, He is One who can provide all of those things, who can
give us that settled-ness of soul even when the world around us is anything but
peaceful. But He’s not just a God of peace; He’s also a God of power. He’s the
God “who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus.” That’s about as powerful
as it gets. And it’s this power that is being directed toward us in
regenerating our souls and in equipping us to live the resulting transformed
life.
Next, the spotlight shifts from the first person of the
Trinity (God the Father) to the second (God the Son) as Jesus is described as “the
great shepherd of the sheep.” The combination of the description of God as "the
God of peace" and the reference to Jesus as the “great shepherd” should call our
attention back to Psalm 23, where God is our Shepherd who leads us beside quiet
waters and restores our souls. Also, it’s significant that Jesus is the one
being called shepherd in this passage. In Psalm 23, God the Father is the
shepherd, so here the writer of Hebrews is saying that Jesus is God, affirming
what He said about Himself in John 10.
For the next phrase, it’s hard to know without digging into
the original Greek whether it is referring to how Jesus is the great shepherd
or to how God equips us, but either way, “by the blood of the eternal covenant,”
reminds us that what took place at Calvary was a once-and-for-all sacrifice
with eternal efficacy. The agreement between God and His children is not a
contract; it’s a covenant that is secure and eternal, because it is initiated
by the eternal God and is sealed by His own blood. That’s why in the same conversation where
Jesus says He is the good shepherd, he is also able to say that “no one is able
to snatch [us] out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29b). God is the one who has
secured us, and He is “greater than all” (John 10:29a). So again we see a tie
between God’s power and the peace and security that He gives.
After all of that, we finally reach the verb—equip. Take all
that we just mentioned and bring it to bear on the idea that we are equipped by
God. He doesn’t just save us and then leave us to figure things out on our own.
He doesn’t call us to live holy lives and then hang us out to dry with no
ability to do so. And it is precisely because of His power and His shepherd
heart that He is both able and willing to give us what we need to live for Him.
But wait—there’s more! The sentence doesn’t stop with the
verb. What exactly are we being equipped with?—“with
everything good.” Not just with some things good, but with everything good. Again, we are called back to the Psalms—“The young
lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” and “For the Lord God is
a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Ps.
34:10, 84:11, ESV, emphasis added). But we don’t just receive “everything good”
from God for the purpose of having good things. No, if we keep reading, we see why we are being equipped with
everything good—“that you may do his will.” Remember, it’s not about us; it’s
about Him. The goodness we receive from God is intended to help us glorify Him by
doing His will.
The writer of Hebrews still isn’t done, though. He continues
with a phrase that ties us back to the subject and verb. God’s equipping us
means He is “working in us that which is pleasing in His sight.” He sets the
bar and then does the work to get us there. Of course, this does not mean that
we have no responsibility or no volition in living lives that are pleasing to Him.
Taking the entirety of Scripture into account, we see that we are agents in the
process as well. But the power with which we operate ultimately doesn’t come
from us. It comes from Him. Our salvation and our sanctification are made
possible by God, and there is peace in knowing that the One who knows what is
pleasing to Himself is the One who works in us to achieve that.
How does He do it? That’s where the next prepositional
phrase comes in. He does it “through Jesus Christ.” Jesus, the Savior, the
Messiah, the Anointed One, is the means by which God works in our lives,
empowering us to live for Him after we are saved. This is grace upon grace upon
grace, because it is when we live for Him, fulfilling the purpose for which we
were created, that we are able to be most fulfilled, most content, most
satisfied. As our Creator, God intimately knows our weaknesses, and He endured
the world’s greatest pain so that we might have the power to be at peace.
That is why we cannot help but give praise to Jesus, “to
whom be glory forever and ever,” and exclaim with the writer, “Amen.”
