Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Hebrews 3:1
How much do we know about the repentant thief who was crucified beside Jesus at Golgotha? Much of what we know we have to surmise. We are not certain that he was a murderer, although he was certainly guilty of violent crimes. This was a man whose disregard for the rights and property of others had led him into a deeply criminal lifestyle, and we have his own admission that he deserved exactly what he received when the Romans nailed him to a cross. Certainly, he was not the type of person any of us would have chosen for a house guest or business partner or school teacher. Until the moment of his repentance, he was one of the worst members of society. Within the space of no more than a couple of minutes, he had two short conversations, first a rebuke to his wicked partner, and then a brief but poignant plea to the One Who he recognized as Lord. That’s it. That brief period revealed his repentance and his faith in Christ. But he was never baptized. He never sang in a church choir, nor taught a Sunday School class, nor distributed aid to the needy or Gospel tracts to sinners. Bu the time he encountered the Lord Jesus, he had run out of time and opportunity to be a faithful Christian. But by the words of Jesus Christ Himself, this man is in Heaven. He rests in that place where no sin can ever penetrate, the very presence of God. Regardless of his past life, that man once called a malefactor became a saint. He became one of whom our text identifies as holy brethren.
Of course, none of us were as evil as the thief on the cross. But we were all at one time just as far away from God as he was. And just like that thief, we all had to come to a time and place of repentance and faith in Christ. It was that glorious transaction that transformed us into ‘holy brethren’. The writer of the Hebrews epistle is not addressing anyone else but saved sinners. The term does not apply to people who have cloistered themselves in some isolated monastery, or to people who have risen to the highest ranks of a religious organization. No, we are holy because we are saved. And we are brethren because our salvation has brought us into the family of God along with every other believer. But this is not a minor title, even if it is referring to a group of people whose only righteousness is that which is conferred on us by God. As God looks down on planet earth today, there is one class of people that is the apple of His eye, the focus of His attention, the delight of His heart: those who He calls holy brethren.
We are not only holy brethren, our text says, but we are also partakers of the heavenly calling. What does that mean? It means far more than I can relate in this brief account. But firstly, it means that God has called us to a heavenly purpose, to a higher purpose than we could ever have before He saved us. Secondly, it means that every one of us who are saved are partakers of a life of service and devotion, whether we do so in some great public capacity or whether we do so in the quiet faithful honouring of God in our own little corner.
We weren’t much before God saved us. But now we are holy brethren. And we have a heavenly calling. That is very humbling, and very thrilling. -Jim MacIntosh