Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 13:20

"Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, [even] our Lord Jesus," — Hebrews 13:20 (ASV)

Now the God of peace. This refers to God who is the Author, or the Source, of peace (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

The word peace in the New Testament is used to denote every kind of blessing or happiness. It is opposed to all that would disturb or trouble the mind and may, therefore, refer to reconciliation with God, a quiet conscience, the evidence of pardoned sin, health, prosperity, and the hope of heaven (John 14:27).

That brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus (Acts 2:32; 1 Corinthians 15:15).

It is only by the fact of the Lord Jesus' resurrection that we have peace, for it is only through Him that we have the prospect of admission into heaven.

That great shepherd of the sheep (John 10:1, 14).

The idea here is that true happiness is bestowed on God's people through the tender care of that great Shepherd.

Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. This refers to the blood shed to ratify the everlasting covenant that God makes with His people (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:15–23).

This phrase, in the original Greek, is not connected with Christ's being raised from the dead, as it is in our common translation. Nor should it be rendered that way, for what sense would there be in "raising Christ from the dead by the blood of the covenant"? In the Greek, the passage reads: The God of peace, who brought again from the dead the shepherd of the sheep, great by the blood of the everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus, etc.

The meaning is that Christ was made or constituted the great Shepherd of the sheep—the great Lord and Ruler of His people—by that blood. What makes Him so eminently distinguished, and by what He was made superior to all others who ever ruled over God's people, was the fact that He offered the blood by which the eternal covenant was ratified.

This covenant is called everlasting or eternal because:

1. It was formed in the councils of eternity or has been an eternal plan in the Divine Mind.
2. It is to continue forever.

Through such a covenant, God can bestow permanent and solid "peace" on His people, for it lays the foundation for the assurance of eternal happiness.