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The Holiest of All
These pages present an intimate and revealing study of a very important epistle. Truly an easy-to-read book of inspiration and instruction, The Holiest of All has been an aid to readers for an entire century.
564 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1924
191 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Murray
1,279 books556 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Murray was Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Murray became a noted missionary leader. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian serving the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, and his mother had connections with both French Huguenots and German Lutherans. This background to some extent explains his ecumenical spirit. He was educated at Aberdeen University, Scotland, and at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. After ordination in 1848 he served pastorates at Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town, and Wellington. He helped to found what are now the University College of the Orange Free State and the Stellenbosch Seminary. He served as Moderator of the Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church and was president of both the YMCA (1865) and the South Africa General Mission (1888-1917), now the Africa Evangelical Fellowship.
He was one of the chief promoters of the call to missions in South Africa. This led to the Dutch Reformed Church missions to blacks in the Transvaal and Malawi. Apart from his evangelistic tours in South Africa, he spoke at the Keswick and Northfield Conventions in 1895, making a great impression. upon his British and American audiences. For his contribution to world missions he was given an honorary doctorate by the universities of Aberdeen (1898) and Cape of Good Hope(1907).
Murray is best known today for his devotional writings, which place great emphasis on the need for a rich, personal devotional life. Many of his 240 publications explain in how he saw this devotion and its outworking in the life of the Christian. Several of his books have become devotional classics. Among these are Abide in Christ, Absolute Surrender, With Christ in the School of Prayer, The Spirit of Christ and Waiting on God.
Murray was Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Murray became a noted missionary leader. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian serving the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, and his mother had connections with both French Huguenots and German Lutherans. This background to some extent explains his ecumenical spirit. He was educated at Aberdeen University, Scotland, and at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. After ordination in 1848 he served pastorates at Bloemfontein, Worcester, Cape Town, and Wellington. He helped to found what are now the University College of the Orange Free State and the Stellenbosch Seminary. He served as Moderator of the Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church and was president of both the YMCA (1865) and the South Africa General Mission (1888-1917), now the Africa Evangelical Fellowship.
He was one of the chief promoters of the call to missions in South Africa. This led to the Dutch Reformed Church missions to blacks in the Transvaal and Malawi. Apart from his evangelistic tours in South Africa, he spoke at the Keswick and Northfield Conventions in 1895, making a great impression. upon his British and American audiences. For his contribution to world missions he was given an honorary doctorate by the universities of Aberdeen (1898) and Cape of Good Hope(1907).
Murray is best known today for his devotional writings, which place great emphasis on the need for a rich, personal devotional life. Many of his 240 publications explain in how he saw this devotion and its outworking in the life of the Christian. Several of his books have become devotional classics. Among these are Abide in Christ, Absolute Surrender, With Christ in the School of Prayer, The Spirit of Christ and Waiting on God.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 21, 2016
As wonderful a person as Andrew Murray was, I struggled a lot to read this book. The language and tone employed felt very charismatic which is very difficult for me to follow. I was often left wondering what he meant or how I was supposed to implement what he said. He seemed to have been very excited when he wrote the book but I can't say that I was very excited when I read it. The only chapter I will probably remember is the last one, because it infers that Paul might be the author of Hebrews. I know a lot of people will probably love this book, but everyone is not the same.
January 28, 2026
The Holiest of All is a devotional gem for anyone preaching or teaching through the Book of Hebrews. Murray is a Dutch Reformed minister with a “deeper/higher life” perspective. This perspective shows up in the taint of perfectionism at times and the error of a two-stage view of sanctification.
The reader can see both his deeper life bent and his devotional warmth in his Preface to the English translation:
“When first I undertook the preparation of this exposition in Dutch for the Christian people among whom I labour, it was under a deep conviction that the Epistle just contained the instruction they needed. In reproducing it in English, this impression has been confirmed, and it is as if nothing could be written more exactly suited to the state of the whole Church of Christ in the present day. The great complaint of all who have the care of souls is the lack of whole-heartedness, of stedfast-ness, of perseverance and progress in the Christian life. Many, of whom one cannot but hope that they are true Christians, come to a standstill, and do not advance beyond the rudiments of Christian life and practice. And many more do not even remain stationary, but turn back to a life of worldliness, of formality, of indifference. And the question is continually being asked, What is the want in our religion that, in so many cases, it gives no power to stand, to advance, to press on unto perfection? And what is the teaching that is needed to give that health and vigour to the Christian life that, through all adverse circumstances, it may be able to hold fast the beginning firm to the end.
The teaching of the Epistle is the divine answer to these questions. In every possible way it sets before us the truth that it is only the full and perfect knowledge of what Christ is and does for us that can bring us to a full and perfect Christian life. The knowledge of Christ Jesus that we need for conversion does not suffice for growth, for progress, for sanctification, for maturity. Just as there are two dispensations, the Old Testa. ment and the New, and the saints of the Old, with all their faith and fear of God, could not obtain the more perfect life of the New, so with the two stages in the Christian life of which the Epistle speaks. Those who, through sloth, remain babes in Christ, and do not press on to maturity, are ever in danger of hardening their heart, of coming short and falling away. Only those who hold fast the beginning firm to the end, who give diligence to enter the rest, who press on unto perfection, do in very deed inherit and enjoy the wonderful new covenant blessings secured to us in Christ. And the great object of the Epistle is to show us that if we will but follow the Lord fully, and yield ourselves wholly to what God in Christ is ready to do, we shall find in the gospel and in Christ everything that we need for a life of joy and strength and final victory.
The cure the Epistle has for all our failures and feebleness, the one preservative from all danger and disease, is—the knowledge of the higher truth concerning Jesus, the knowledge of Him in His heavenly priesthood. In connection with this truth,
the writer has three great mysteries he seeks to unfold. The one is that the heavenly sanctuary has been opened to us, so that we may now come and take our place there, with Jesus in the very presence of God. The second, that the new and living way by which Jesus has entered, the way of self-sacrifice and perfect obedience to God, is the way in which we now may and must draw nigh. The third, that Jesus, as our heavenly High Priest, is the minister of the heavenly sanctuary, and dispenses to us its blessings, the spirit and the power of the heavenly life, in such a way that we can live in the world as those who are come to the heavenly Jerusalem, and in whom the spirit of heaven is the spirit of all their life and conduct; the heavenly priesthood of Jesus, heaven opened to us day by day, our entering it by the new and living way, and heaven entering us by the Holy Spirit, Such is the gospel to the Hebrews the Epistle brings, such is the life to which it reveals the way and the strength. The knowledge of the heavenly character of Christ's person and work is what alone can make heavenly Christians, who, amid all the difficulties and temptations of life on earth, can live as those whom the superior power of the upper world has possessed, and in whom it can always give the victory.
In offering these meditations now to a wider circle of readers, I do so with the prayer that it may please God to use them to inspire some of His children with new confidence in their blessed Lord, as they learn to know Him better and give themselves up to expect and experience all that He is able to do for them. I have not been afraid of continually repeating the one thought: Our one need is, to know Jesus better; the one cure for all our feebleness, to look to Him on the throne of heaven, and really claim the heavenly life He waits to impart.
Just as I was about to write the Preface to the Dutch issue, in the first week of last year, I received from my beloved colleague as a New Year's text, with the wish that it might be my experience, the words: " Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and bringeth them into a high mountain, apart AyER by themselves, and He was transfigured before them." I at once passed the word on to my readers, and I do so again. May the blessed Master take us with Himself into the high mountain, even the Mount Sion, where He sits as Priest-King upon the throne in power, each of us apart by himself, and prepare us for the blessed vision of seeing Him transfigured before us, seeing Him in His heavenly glory. He will then still be to us the same Jesus we know now.. And yet not the same; but His whole Being, bright with the glory and the power of the heavenly life which He holds for us, and waits to impart day by day to them who forsake all to follow Him.
In humble trust and prayer that it may be so, I commend all my readers to His blessed teaching and guidance. ANDREW MURRAY.”
But Murray should not be quickly dismissed by the discerning reader. It was a joy to find the Reformed pastor, Richard Phillips, quoting him several times in his own comment commentary.
Murray’s book is not one you sit down and read straight through as much as dip into for devotional warmth as you make your way through the profound truths of the Book of Hebrews.
Keep coming to the well, and you will be refreshed in the glories of Christ as the Son who became Son in the Book of Hebrews!
Quotes
“There is such an entire absence of material for forming a decision that we are compelled to rest in the certainty that the name of the author cannot be known. All the more we praise God that we know for certain that the Holy Spirit spake in him who wrote, and that it is He who has given us in the Epistle one of the deepest and fullest revelations which the Bible contains of the counsel of redemption, and the glory of the Son who makes us partakers of it.” (20)
“It is of great consequence that the student of God's word should not only seek his edification from individual texts or passages, but that each book should be to him a living and connected organism, all alive with the Spirit that dwells in it. The more we thus take time and trouble to accept the great thoughts of God, the more will our life be brought to that unity and breadth, in which the purpose of God will be perfectly fulfilled.” (24)
“So many rest contented with the thought that their sins are par. doned, and that they are in the path of life, but know nothing of a personal attachment to Christ as their Leader, or of a faith that lives in the invisible and walks with God. With many this is the consequence of the hopelessness that came from the failure of their utmost efforts to live as they desired, They struggled in their own strength; they knew not Christ as the secret of strength; they lost heart, and went back. The profession of faith is not cast away; religious habits are kept up; but there is nothing to show that they have entered or are seeking to enter the Holiest to dwell there. The power of the world, the spirit of its literature, the temptations of business and pleasure, all unite to make up a religion in which it is sought to combine a comfortable hope for the future with the least possible amount of sacrifice in the present. The Epistle, with its warnings, is indeed a glass in which the Church of the present day may see itself.
But it is a glass too, thank God, in which we can also see the glory of Jesus on the throne of heaven, in the power that can make our heart and life heavenly too. What the Hebrews needed is what we need. Not in ourselves or our efforts is salvation, but in Christ Jesus. To see Him, to consider Him, to look to Him, as He lives in heaven, that will bring the healing…The knowledge of Jesus in His heavenly glory and His saving power; it is this our Churches and our Christians need. It is this the Epistle will bring us, if we yield to that Spirit who speaks in it, to reveal it in us.
It is, therefore, with great confidence that I invite all who long for the rest of God, for a life in the holiest of God's love, for the fulness of faith and hope and love, to take up the study of the Epistle, with the confident assurance of finding in its revelation of what Christ and His salvation are, the deliverance from sin and sloth, the joy and the strength of a new life.” (26-27)
“We know what the double meaning was of Abel's sacrifice. It was, on the one hand, his offering to God of a life to be given - up to death, and so in his stead to bear the death which is in its very nature the punishment of sin. It was an acknowledgment of the righteous judgment of God against sin; the confession that without blood-shedding there could be no remission of sins. It was an act of faith; he counted that the sacrifice would be acceptable, and that with it he would be accepted too. On the other hand, the sacrifice was the offering and yielding up himself to God and His service.” (425-26)
“The first great work of faith is to appropriate the sacrifice and obedience and righteousness of Christ as accepted for us, to hold it up before God, and by the Holy Spirit to have the witness given, and to experience how acceptable we are.” (426)
“And Abel, the first of the men of faith, teaches us just what the Epistle, what Christ our High Priest has taught—that the way to God, that the way of faith, is the way of sacrifice, of death. Christ entered in to God in the way of self-sacrifice; in faith I accept of Him, and His entrance into God's presence is mine; in union with Him, once and for ever mine. His self-sacrifice becomes the spirit and the power of my life, and the life of faith in me becomes the union of the two-His and my self-sacrifice.” (427-28)
“The believer is blessed by God, to be made a blessing. The faith of Noah, made perfect by works, saved his family; and with the family he saved the race, and became the father of us all. His (preaching appeared like thre beli the to have little fruit, and yet the whole Church of God, since his day, owes its life to his faith. (434)
“God grant that the life of his believing children may be so clear and bright, that the world may feel itself condemned by them!” (435)
“The faith that Noah manifested with regard to the ark, the salvation it was to bring, we must show in relation to Christ and His salvation. The opened sanctuary is an ark of refuge: Christ has completed and perfected all. But what work there is for us to do, in gathering into it all that can be saved! Let us, like Noah, give our lives to this. Let us listen to God's awful threatenings on a sinful world, and be moved with fear. Let us believe in the infinite power of the great salvation provided, with the love that waits to dispense and apply it. Let us believe in the call of God, that invites and enjoins each one of His redeemed children to be a messenger of mercy to the perishing, and that assures us that He will abundantly use everyone that trusts Him.” (435-36)
“1. Abel, Enoch, Noah: all types of Jesus. Abel; the righteous one, hated and slain by his brethren, coming to God with sacrifice. Enoch; the beloved son, in whom God is well pleased, walking with Him on earth, and taken up into heaven. Noah: preparing salvation, saving His people, condemning the world.
2. The one thing God gives me is, Jesus the dying One, the living One, the redeeming One. The one thing He asks of me Is faith. Falth will make me like Him. Beginning with the Abel-blessing drawing nigh to God through death, I come to the Enoch-blessing, the life of unbroken fellowship. And so I learn the secret of the Noah-blessing, and become a savior of others. And all, By faith.” (436)
The reader can see both his deeper life bent and his devotional warmth in his Preface to the English translation:
“When first I undertook the preparation of this exposition in Dutch for the Christian people among whom I labour, it was under a deep conviction that the Epistle just contained the instruction they needed. In reproducing it in English, this impression has been confirmed, and it is as if nothing could be written more exactly suited to the state of the whole Church of Christ in the present day. The great complaint of all who have the care of souls is the lack of whole-heartedness, of stedfast-ness, of perseverance and progress in the Christian life. Many, of whom one cannot but hope that they are true Christians, come to a standstill, and do not advance beyond the rudiments of Christian life and practice. And many more do not even remain stationary, but turn back to a life of worldliness, of formality, of indifference. And the question is continually being asked, What is the want in our religion that, in so many cases, it gives no power to stand, to advance, to press on unto perfection? And what is the teaching that is needed to give that health and vigour to the Christian life that, through all adverse circumstances, it may be able to hold fast the beginning firm to the end.
The teaching of the Epistle is the divine answer to these questions. In every possible way it sets before us the truth that it is only the full and perfect knowledge of what Christ is and does for us that can bring us to a full and perfect Christian life. The knowledge of Christ Jesus that we need for conversion does not suffice for growth, for progress, for sanctification, for maturity. Just as there are two dispensations, the Old Testa. ment and the New, and the saints of the Old, with all their faith and fear of God, could not obtain the more perfect life of the New, so with the two stages in the Christian life of which the Epistle speaks. Those who, through sloth, remain babes in Christ, and do not press on to maturity, are ever in danger of hardening their heart, of coming short and falling away. Only those who hold fast the beginning firm to the end, who give diligence to enter the rest, who press on unto perfection, do in very deed inherit and enjoy the wonderful new covenant blessings secured to us in Christ. And the great object of the Epistle is to show us that if we will but follow the Lord fully, and yield ourselves wholly to what God in Christ is ready to do, we shall find in the gospel and in Christ everything that we need for a life of joy and strength and final victory.
The cure the Epistle has for all our failures and feebleness, the one preservative from all danger and disease, is—the knowledge of the higher truth concerning Jesus, the knowledge of Him in His heavenly priesthood. In connection with this truth,
the writer has three great mysteries he seeks to unfold. The one is that the heavenly sanctuary has been opened to us, so that we may now come and take our place there, with Jesus in the very presence of God. The second, that the new and living way by which Jesus has entered, the way of self-sacrifice and perfect obedience to God, is the way in which we now may and must draw nigh. The third, that Jesus, as our heavenly High Priest, is the minister of the heavenly sanctuary, and dispenses to us its blessings, the spirit and the power of the heavenly life, in such a way that we can live in the world as those who are come to the heavenly Jerusalem, and in whom the spirit of heaven is the spirit of all their life and conduct; the heavenly priesthood of Jesus, heaven opened to us day by day, our entering it by the new and living way, and heaven entering us by the Holy Spirit, Such is the gospel to the Hebrews the Epistle brings, such is the life to which it reveals the way and the strength. The knowledge of the heavenly character of Christ's person and work is what alone can make heavenly Christians, who, amid all the difficulties and temptations of life on earth, can live as those whom the superior power of the upper world has possessed, and in whom it can always give the victory.
In offering these meditations now to a wider circle of readers, I do so with the prayer that it may please God to use them to inspire some of His children with new confidence in their blessed Lord, as they learn to know Him better and give themselves up to expect and experience all that He is able to do for them. I have not been afraid of continually repeating the one thought: Our one need is, to know Jesus better; the one cure for all our feebleness, to look to Him on the throne of heaven, and really claim the heavenly life He waits to impart.
Just as I was about to write the Preface to the Dutch issue, in the first week of last year, I received from my beloved colleague as a New Year's text, with the wish that it might be my experience, the words: " Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and bringeth them into a high mountain, apart AyER by themselves, and He was transfigured before them." I at once passed the word on to my readers, and I do so again. May the blessed Master take us with Himself into the high mountain, even the Mount Sion, where He sits as Priest-King upon the throne in power, each of us apart by himself, and prepare us for the blessed vision of seeing Him transfigured before us, seeing Him in His heavenly glory. He will then still be to us the same Jesus we know now.. And yet not the same; but His whole Being, bright with the glory and the power of the heavenly life which He holds for us, and waits to impart day by day to them who forsake all to follow Him.
In humble trust and prayer that it may be so, I commend all my readers to His blessed teaching and guidance. ANDREW MURRAY.”
But Murray should not be quickly dismissed by the discerning reader. It was a joy to find the Reformed pastor, Richard Phillips, quoting him several times in his own comment commentary.
Murray’s book is not one you sit down and read straight through as much as dip into for devotional warmth as you make your way through the profound truths of the Book of Hebrews.
Keep coming to the well, and you will be refreshed in the glories of Christ as the Son who became Son in the Book of Hebrews!
Quotes
“There is such an entire absence of material for forming a decision that we are compelled to rest in the certainty that the name of the author cannot be known. All the more we praise God that we know for certain that the Holy Spirit spake in him who wrote, and that it is He who has given us in the Epistle one of the deepest and fullest revelations which the Bible contains of the counsel of redemption, and the glory of the Son who makes us partakers of it.” (20)
“It is of great consequence that the student of God's word should not only seek his edification from individual texts or passages, but that each book should be to him a living and connected organism, all alive with the Spirit that dwells in it. The more we thus take time and trouble to accept the great thoughts of God, the more will our life be brought to that unity and breadth, in which the purpose of God will be perfectly fulfilled.” (24)
“So many rest contented with the thought that their sins are par. doned, and that they are in the path of life, but know nothing of a personal attachment to Christ as their Leader, or of a faith that lives in the invisible and walks with God. With many this is the consequence of the hopelessness that came from the failure of their utmost efforts to live as they desired, They struggled in their own strength; they knew not Christ as the secret of strength; they lost heart, and went back. The profession of faith is not cast away; religious habits are kept up; but there is nothing to show that they have entered or are seeking to enter the Holiest to dwell there. The power of the world, the spirit of its literature, the temptations of business and pleasure, all unite to make up a religion in which it is sought to combine a comfortable hope for the future with the least possible amount of sacrifice in the present. The Epistle, with its warnings, is indeed a glass in which the Church of the present day may see itself.
But it is a glass too, thank God, in which we can also see the glory of Jesus on the throne of heaven, in the power that can make our heart and life heavenly too. What the Hebrews needed is what we need. Not in ourselves or our efforts is salvation, but in Christ Jesus. To see Him, to consider Him, to look to Him, as He lives in heaven, that will bring the healing…The knowledge of Jesus in His heavenly glory and His saving power; it is this our Churches and our Christians need. It is this the Epistle will bring us, if we yield to that Spirit who speaks in it, to reveal it in us.
It is, therefore, with great confidence that I invite all who long for the rest of God, for a life in the holiest of God's love, for the fulness of faith and hope and love, to take up the study of the Epistle, with the confident assurance of finding in its revelation of what Christ and His salvation are, the deliverance from sin and sloth, the joy and the strength of a new life.” (26-27)
“We know what the double meaning was of Abel's sacrifice. It was, on the one hand, his offering to God of a life to be given - up to death, and so in his stead to bear the death which is in its very nature the punishment of sin. It was an acknowledgment of the righteous judgment of God against sin; the confession that without blood-shedding there could be no remission of sins. It was an act of faith; he counted that the sacrifice would be acceptable, and that with it he would be accepted too. On the other hand, the sacrifice was the offering and yielding up himself to God and His service.” (425-26)
“The first great work of faith is to appropriate the sacrifice and obedience and righteousness of Christ as accepted for us, to hold it up before God, and by the Holy Spirit to have the witness given, and to experience how acceptable we are.” (426)
“And Abel, the first of the men of faith, teaches us just what the Epistle, what Christ our High Priest has taught—that the way to God, that the way of faith, is the way of sacrifice, of death. Christ entered in to God in the way of self-sacrifice; in faith I accept of Him, and His entrance into God's presence is mine; in union with Him, once and for ever mine. His self-sacrifice becomes the spirit and the power of my life, and the life of faith in me becomes the union of the two-His and my self-sacrifice.” (427-28)
“The believer is blessed by God, to be made a blessing. The faith of Noah, made perfect by works, saved his family; and with the family he saved the race, and became the father of us all. His (preaching appeared like thre beli the to have little fruit, and yet the whole Church of God, since his day, owes its life to his faith. (434)
“God grant that the life of his believing children may be so clear and bright, that the world may feel itself condemned by them!” (435)
“The faith that Noah manifested with regard to the ark, the salvation it was to bring, we must show in relation to Christ and His salvation. The opened sanctuary is an ark of refuge: Christ has completed and perfected all. But what work there is for us to do, in gathering into it all that can be saved! Let us, like Noah, give our lives to this. Let us listen to God's awful threatenings on a sinful world, and be moved with fear. Let us believe in the infinite power of the great salvation provided, with the love that waits to dispense and apply it. Let us believe in the call of God, that invites and enjoins each one of His redeemed children to be a messenger of mercy to the perishing, and that assures us that He will abundantly use everyone that trusts Him.” (435-36)
“1. Abel, Enoch, Noah: all types of Jesus. Abel; the righteous one, hated and slain by his brethren, coming to God with sacrifice. Enoch; the beloved son, in whom God is well pleased, walking with Him on earth, and taken up into heaven. Noah: preparing salvation, saving His people, condemning the world.
2. The one thing God gives me is, Jesus the dying One, the living One, the redeeming One. The one thing He asks of me Is faith. Falth will make me like Him. Beginning with the Abel-blessing drawing nigh to God through death, I come to the Enoch-blessing, the life of unbroken fellowship. And so I learn the secret of the Noah-blessing, and become a savior of others. And all, By faith.” (436)
February 8, 2018
I really struggled with the rating for this book. The tome (552 pages) has a whole lot of gems, but you have to dig a mine to get to them. For some reason the author felt that each couple of verses from the book of Hebrews deserved four pages of commentary. At times that made for very tough and dry reading. There are lots of other excellent books by Andrew Murray where the gem content is much denser. I suggest attempting this one only after reading at least With Christ in the School of Prayer, Absolute Surrender, Humility, the Master's Indwelling, the True Vine, and Confession and Forgiveness, if you have run out of things to read.
June 22, 2018
Andrew Murray was way ahead of his time. What a prolific, heartfelt writer that loves scripture, Jesus and Jesus followers. In this book, he carries the reader through verse by verse of the book of Hebrews. He breaks down each and every verse and virtually leaves the reader both without excuse for carrying out its tenets as well as encouraging the reader to move forward on their journey of faith. If you read Murray's book, and you choose to remain hard hearted about your own spiritual journey, it is not in any way because he hasn't fully given you the tools and equipped you to do so. Take steps forward in your life with the words of "Holiest of All."
One of my favorite passages in this book is Murray's eloquence in explaining how as Christians we see and view Christ as only our Aaron (earthly and finite priest who intercedes for us) but not as our Melchizedek (eternal priesthood who intercedes for us and brings us into eternity with Him). I see this as a transactional faith in Jesus (Aaron-you saved me now I get to go to heaven. The End.) versus a relational faith with Jesus (Melchizedek-As I trust in and lean into Jesus daily, I become more like Him and not only will I spend eternity with Him, but He is in my daily life, walking ahead of me and beside me each and every day and each and every moment that I take a breath.)
Here is an excerpt of that section of Murray's book. Read and learn. Read and rest. Read and move forward on your faith journey.
"There are too many Christians who see in Christ only the fulfilment of what Aaron typified. Christ's death and blood are very precious to them; they do seek to rest their faith upon them. And yet they wonder that they have so little of the peace and joy, of the purity and power which the Saviour gives, and which faith in Him ought to bring. The reason is simple, because Christ is only their Aaron, not their Melchizedek. They do indeed believe that He is ascended to heaven, and sits upon the throne of God ; but they have not seen the direct connection of this with their daily spiritual life. They do not count upon Jesus working in them in the power of the heavenly life, and imparting it to them. They do not know their heavenly calling, with the all-sufficient provision for its fulfilment in them secured in the heavenly life of their Priest-King. And, as a consequence of this, they do not see the need for giving up the world, to have their life and walk in heaven.....
The work of redemption was accomplished on earth in weakness (2 Cor. 4); it is communicated from heaven in resurrection and ascension power. The cross proclaims the pardon of sin; the throne gives the power over sin. The cross, with its blood-sprinkling, is the deliverance from Egypt; the throne, with its living Priest-King, brings into the rest of God and its victory. With Aaron there is nothing beyond atonement and acceptance; nothing of kingly rule and power; it is with Melchizedek that the fulness of power and blessing comes, the blessing that abideth continually. lt is as the soul no longer ever again seeks the foundation, but resting on it and it...... The more we consider and adore our blessed King-Priest, our Melchizedek, the stronger will our confidence become that from His throne in heaven He will, in divine power, Himself apply to us all the blessed fruits of His atonement, and make a life in God's presence and nearness our daily experience.”
Amen!
One of my favorite passages in this book is Murray's eloquence in explaining how as Christians we see and view Christ as only our Aaron (earthly and finite priest who intercedes for us) but not as our Melchizedek (eternal priesthood who intercedes for us and brings us into eternity with Him). I see this as a transactional faith in Jesus (Aaron-you saved me now I get to go to heaven. The End.) versus a relational faith with Jesus (Melchizedek-As I trust in and lean into Jesus daily, I become more like Him and not only will I spend eternity with Him, but He is in my daily life, walking ahead of me and beside me each and every day and each and every moment that I take a breath.)
Here is an excerpt of that section of Murray's book. Read and learn. Read and rest. Read and move forward on your faith journey.
"There are too many Christians who see in Christ only the fulfilment of what Aaron typified. Christ's death and blood are very precious to them; they do seek to rest their faith upon them. And yet they wonder that they have so little of the peace and joy, of the purity and power which the Saviour gives, and which faith in Him ought to bring. The reason is simple, because Christ is only their Aaron, not their Melchizedek. They do indeed believe that He is ascended to heaven, and sits upon the throne of God ; but they have not seen the direct connection of this with their daily spiritual life. They do not count upon Jesus working in them in the power of the heavenly life, and imparting it to them. They do not know their heavenly calling, with the all-sufficient provision for its fulfilment in them secured in the heavenly life of their Priest-King. And, as a consequence of this, they do not see the need for giving up the world, to have their life and walk in heaven.....
The work of redemption was accomplished on earth in weakness (2 Cor. 4); it is communicated from heaven in resurrection and ascension power. The cross proclaims the pardon of sin; the throne gives the power over sin. The cross, with its blood-sprinkling, is the deliverance from Egypt; the throne, with its living Priest-King, brings into the rest of God and its victory. With Aaron there is nothing beyond atonement and acceptance; nothing of kingly rule and power; it is with Melchizedek that the fulness of power and blessing comes, the blessing that abideth continually. lt is as the soul no longer ever again seeks the foundation, but resting on it and it...... The more we consider and adore our blessed King-Priest, our Melchizedek, the stronger will our confidence become that from His throne in heaven He will, in divine power, Himself apply to us all the blessed fruits of His atonement, and make a life in God's presence and nearness our daily experience.”
Amen!
April 20, 2022
I was really excited to dive into this. Hebrews is one of those epistles that has a lot to say, and I was looking forward to an in depth view of it. This book does not disappoint in that respect. At almost 600 pages it covers a lot of ground. The first part is the epistle itself in its entirety. Then the book breaks it down verse by verse in 4 page sections. I was reading this at work, so the short sections were really a help. Giving me time to digest what Murray was saying in his exposition. Some of the sections cover more than one verse, and others reiterate the verse in the previous section. Some may say Murray is belaboring some points, and at times it seems like he is. However, those points were obviously something that he felt were more important.
I really enjoyed my time with this. Though I will say, the language used was at times difficult to follow. The book was originally written in the early 20th century and does not flow the same as books written in more modern times. None the less, it is certainly worth taking the time to go through. I am glad I did.
I really enjoyed my time with this. Though I will say, the language used was at times difficult to follow. The book was originally written in the early 20th century and does not flow the same as books written in more modern times. None the less, it is certainly worth taking the time to go through. I am glad I did.
July 28, 2020
A Life Changing Expository Revelation
This book has had a profound effect on my faith in Christ. It is written with such thoughtful devotional care that you cannot help but feel an attachment to the epistle he is expositing. Finishing it feels somewhat bittersweet. It’s not your typical commentary. It is more like a biblical revelation. I highly recommend it to any person who wants to go deeper in their faith in Christ; any person who is also not afraid to be challenged in every nuance of their faith.
This book has had a profound effect on my faith in Christ. It is written with such thoughtful devotional care that you cannot help but feel an attachment to the epistle he is expositing. Finishing it feels somewhat bittersweet. It’s not your typical commentary. It is more like a biblical revelation. I highly recommend it to any person who wants to go deeper in their faith in Christ; any person who is also not afraid to be challenged in every nuance of their faith.
June 1, 2023
Fantastic commentary, going through Hebrews verse by verse. Full of gems.
‘There are two places appointed for the believer in the power of Christ’s redemption- within the veil, to worship; without the gate, to witness. In both places he can count upon Christ to keep him. The deeper he enters into the spirit of the one, the more will he realise of the other… In both places the boldness (of Hebrews) will be found: the boldness in God’s presence to claim Christ and be one with Him; the boldness in presence of the world to witness for Christ as one with Him.’
‘There are two places appointed for the believer in the power of Christ’s redemption- within the veil, to worship; without the gate, to witness. In both places he can count upon Christ to keep him. The deeper he enters into the spirit of the one, the more will he realise of the other… In both places the boldness (of Hebrews) will be found: the boldness in God’s presence to claim Christ and be one with Him; the boldness in presence of the world to witness for Christ as one with Him.’
December 19, 2024
I’m Speechless!
Just now, at this second, finished the book. My head is spinning. Now at 63 years of age, I have seen and experienced a great deal in the church. I’ve heard many teachings, sermons and exegesis on Scripture. Never before have I read anything close to this. Finishing the Kindle version, I’m ordering the hard copy for my library. I will go through this teaching again and again, the Lord willing. Next to the Bible, this will be the #1 book in your library, I can assure you.
Just now, at this second, finished the book. My head is spinning. Now at 63 years of age, I have seen and experienced a great deal in the church. I’ve heard many teachings, sermons and exegesis on Scripture. Never before have I read anything close to this. Finishing the Kindle version, I’m ordering the hard copy for my library. I will go through this teaching again and again, the Lord willing. Next to the Bible, this will be the #1 book in your library, I can assure you.
July 1, 2023
To say this book is meaty is an understatement. I couldn't read it through: I stopped, conducted some study, and meditated on portions for a considerable time before reading on. I will have to read it again start to finish.
This would be a good devotional as the chapters are short and there is plenty to think on in each one.
This would be a good devotional as the chapters are short and there is plenty to think on in each one.
April 3, 2025
This book is not just another exposition of the book of Hebrews. When he calls it Holiest of All, it reflects more the individuals relationship with Jesus Christ than an in-depth exegesis. You will pray and you will cry out while reading this book. In the end, your personal relationship with Jesus will be greatly enhanced and challenged.
November 1, 2020
A Classic of Devotional
Whether you work through it daily, or take a year and a half (like I did), this is probably one of the best and eye-opening devotional in walking with Jesus ever written.
Whether you work through it daily, or take a year and a half (like I did), this is probably one of the best and eye-opening devotional in walking with Jesus ever written.
June 7, 2022
One of the longest read from the author, an exposition on Hebrew. This edition was good for the language already modernized. The author was view Hebrew from a rather different perspective and quite unique in its exposition.
March 17, 2025
This a very thorough examination on the book of Hebrews. I highly recommend this book to mature Christians who want to grow deeper in their relationship with Christ.
January 17, 2019
This is a commentary for the book of Hebrews. No one knows the spirit and context of Hebrews like Murray. Most American Theologians are stuck in the formula of translation without any real consideration for the heart of God or Christ in the text, nor the culture. Murray is very insightful and a wonderful resource.
December 28, 2013
Another excellent book by Andrew Murray. In my opinion this is one of his best. It is a devotional journey through the book of Hebrews. Murray plumbs the depths of the book and never fails to draw out deep lessons from this deep book. It is well worth the time using it as a devotion and allowing God to take you deeper in relationship with Him in the process. I will read this book again and again.
January 12, 2008
An amazing commentary through the book of Hebrews. I read it first at Bible College and was enlightened.
February 21, 2010
A must have when studying the book of Hebrews!
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November 2, 2012Deep and insightful, Murray has written a devotional commentary on the book of Hebrews. Inspirational and profound at times, this is a book to be read and reread.
October 25, 2011
In Andrew Murray style this is a spiritual and devotional reading of Hebrews. Not exegetically sophisticated but useful for embracing the message of the book.
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August 16, 2012Awesome insight into the book of Hebrews! I would have loved to hear Andrew preach!
August 21, 2012
Good Hebrews commentary if you are looking for a more applicational approach. Heck, you don't even have to be studying Hebrews to benefit from it!
November 12, 2023
Profound teaching
A great absorbing read, worth rereading to fully comprehend however somewhat spoiled by frequent spelling mistakes and the need to report them.
A great absorbing read, worth rereading to fully comprehend however somewhat spoiled by frequent spelling mistakes and the need to report them.
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