Hebrews 9:1-28
There was no
beauty or majesty to attract someone to it.
It was humble and natural. It was
a reminder of their transitory nature.
And, yet, there was something special about it. In the midst of humbleness, there was
holiness. In the midst of death, forgiveness
was found. It was a shadow of things to
come…the reality, in which, was a person yet to arrive. This person would be the perfect sacrifice
that none of the earthly sacrifices could be.
A promise, a will, had been given.
All the death that was witnessed on the altar was a picture of the death
of someone yet to come. A last will and
testament would come into effect once the death of this Savior had
occurred.
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and
also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the
lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.
Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the
golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark
contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone
tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory,
overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail
now.
When everything had been arranged like this, the priests
entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the
high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never
without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had
committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into
the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle
was still standing. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating
that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience
of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various
ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new
order. – Hebrews 9:1-10
The tabernacle
is a good picture of Jesus Christ. In
the tabernacle there was an outer court.
In that outer court were three things: the bronze altar, the basin, and
the courtyard, along with the gate. The
bronze altar is where the animals were sacrificed. This is a picture of Jesus being our
sacrifice. The basin was filled with
water. The priests would use this water to wash their hands and feet after the
sacrifices. This is symbolic of the Christian
who needs to be washed, not for salvation, but for renewal of fellowship with
God. Jesus told Peter that he was clean,
but he only needed to wash his feet. The
courtyard and the gate are symbolic of Jesus being the way and the door. Anyone can enter the courtyard, just like
anyone can come to Christ.
Further in you
would find the Holy Place. This is not
to be confused with the Holy of Holies.
In this Holy Place there were three pieces of furniture: the gold
lampstand, the table which holds the sacred bread, and the altar of
incense. This area was cut off from the
everyday Israelite. Only the priests
could enter. After Jesus ascended into
heaven He was no longer physically present with his people. But He still lights our path as a lampstand
would. He still feeds us as the bread
would. He still prays for us just as the
incense rises to heaven.
The innermost
part was the Holy of Holies. The only
thing in this place was the Ark of the Covenant. This contained a jar of manna, Aaron’s rod
that budded and the two tablets in which were the 10 Commandments. Only the High Priest was allowed to enter the
Holy of Holies and only once per year.
For those of you who hate spiders, this would probably not be the place
for you. This is where the presence of
God was. If the High Priest didn’t do
everything correctly, he would die. This
is a representation of how holy and pure God is. We can talk about His holiness and purity,
and we can study the meaning of the Holy of Holies; but we don’t really
understand how dangerously and wonderfully holy and pure He really is.
The priests are continually entering the outer
tabernacle… -- Hebrews 9:6
Jesus
continually feeds, intercedes and guides us.
The Day of Atonement would be the one day a year that the priest entered
the Holy of Holies. Sacrifices were made
for the people, thus covering any sins that hadn’t been covered from previous
sacrifices. At the beginning of the day,
the High Priest would do cleansing rituals for himself. He wore ornate robes along with a breastplate
and an ephod. He would have performed
twenty-two animal sacrifices before he got to the atonement. This preparation would have included
sacrifices for his own personal sins.
After he performed all these rituals, he took off all the beautiful
robes of adornment and bathed himself.
After this is when he would then put on a plain white garment which did
not have any decoration at all. This is
when he would have performed the atonement.
All of this is a picture of Jesus taking off His glory to come down from
heaven to us. He humbled himself by
being obedient to the point of death on a cross. The High Priest would then put the ornate
robes back on, this being a picture of Jesus ascending to heaven, and thus
returning to His previous glory.
The High Priest
entered into the Holy of Holies just like Jesus did for us. He came before God the Father as our
mediator. The priest would sacrifice a
bullock for his own sin. Another priest
would assist him in catching the blood as it ran off the altar. The High Priest would take the blood, which
was mixed with water, into the Holy of Holies.
He would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat. He came back out; then he and the other
priests would draw lots for two goats.
One goat was to be chosen for the Lord as a sacrifice. He would take the blood of the goat, which
was mixed with water, into the Holy of Holies.
This blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat as well for the sins of the
people. The other goat, the scapegoat,
had the sins of the people symbolically placed upon it as the High Priest laid
his hands on its head. The goat was
taken out to the wilderness to be set free, never to return. This is the same way that God removes our
sins, never to come back. The first goat
was for the propitiation which means the “atoning sacrifice.” It was the sacrifice that was pleasing to the
Lord. Jesus was the propitiation for
us. His sacrifice, unlike everything
else that could be offered, was acceptable to the Father. It had to be without blemish, just like Jesus
was. The scapegoat symbolized
pardon. The people’s conscience could be
clear.
When Christ came as high priest of the good things that
are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that
is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter
by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place
once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of
goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are
ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much
more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so
that we may serve the living God!
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant,
that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that
He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first
covenant.
In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death
of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died;
it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the
first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed
every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves,
together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the
scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which
God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood
both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law
requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly
things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made
sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; He entered heaven itself, now
to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself
again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year
with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times
since the creation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the
end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as man
is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was
sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a
second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting
for Him. – Hebrews 9:11-28
Why do we need a
mediator?
The sacrifices
made in the tabernacle made it a very bloody experience. There were dead animals everywhere. If you walked into the tabernacle you would
inhale the aroma of death. It permeated
the place and the experience.
Jesus willingly
laid His life down and took the punishment we deserve. When we look at how Jesus suffered for us
then we can realize just how fallen we really are. If the solution is extraordinary, then the
problem must be extraordinary. Imagine
you find out that a friend is sick. They
tell you that they are going to have surgery to remove a brain tumor. The surgeon must cut their skull open. He will carefully and precisely remove the
tumor. The risk of the surgery includes
neurological injury or even death. If
the instrument is placed a little too far to the left or right, then your
friend could face irreversible and severe damage. He would need someone to take care of him for
the rest of his life. He might not be
able to communicate with his family ever again.
He could suffer blood clots or a stroke.
He could potentially turn into a vegetative state. If your friend, and the surgeon, are willing
to take such extraordinary risks then the tumor must be extraordinarily
dangerous. The problem must be more
severe than you ever imagined. Then your
friend continues to tell you that the tumor is a glioblastoma. It’s the most aggressive and dangerous brain
tumor. Now it makes sense. You understand how bad the problem is because
you heard about the solution. You didn’t
see the tumor for yourself. But hearing
about the solution made you convinced that the tumor was leading your friend to
an excruciating death. If Jesus was only
insulted for our sins then our sins must not be too bad. If He was only beaten and flogged for our
sins, then our sins would carry a little more weight, but still not too
bad. If He was insulted, beaten,
flogged, pierced with nails, humiliated, drowned in his own pleural effusion,
then our sinful state must be something dreadful and unholy.
There was a time
in my life when I felt like I didn’t need a mediator. I felt like I hadn’t sinned enough or had
done a sin bad enough in order to deserve God’s judgment. I felt like hell probably existed, but I
didn’t think that I deserved to go there.
There were people in the Old Testament that needed a mediator as
well. In Genesis 18, there’s a story of
Abraham and the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah.
There were very wicked people in this town, even wicked by today’s
standards. God was going to destroy
these towns. Abraham prayed to the
Lord. He was concerned about the
righteous people who may have been living there. The account of his prayer is this:
Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away
the righteous with the wicked?” – Genesis 18:23
He prayed to the
Lord five other times hoping that the righteous wouldn’t be judged with the
wicked. The Lord had mercy on Lot and
his family letting them leave. I’m
assuming that the Lord counted him as righteous. Then God reigned down judgment, killing the
people. These people didn’t think they
needed a mediator. I’m assuming that a
huge majority of them felt like a God didn’t exist or that he would never judge
them. They needed someone to stand in
the gap for them even though they saw no need for it. That was true for all of us at one time. Paul said,
God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we
were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8
Even though we
didn’t care about God, and even though our hearts were turned against Him in
rebellion, He died for us. Is it
possible that you, or the people around you, have been blinded by sin so that
they can’t see their need for a mediator?
Just because our friends aren’t into Jesus doesn’t mean that they don’t need
a mediator. Go to God and ask mercy for
people by name everyday. Don’t give up
until something happens.
The people of
Israel needed a mediator between Pharaoh and themselves. Moses became that mediator. It seems as if they didn’t believe that it was
even possible to have a mediator. If I
was one of these Israelite slaves, I don’t think I would have been able to
believe the solution to their perilous situation. “Wait a minute,” I would ask, “Let me get
this straight. You do realize that all
of us have been slaves for a really long time?
And you do realize that Pharaoh has only gotten more strict on us as the
days have passed? We have asked for
mercy and he only has increased the workload and decreased the resources we
need to complete the task. Pharaoh
hasn’t let us lift our eyes from our work.
Why would he let one of our own lift their eyes to look into his? So, you’re telling me that one of us, a
fellow Hebrew, is supposed to go stand before Pharaoh? And what else did you say? The guy that is going to mediate for us is
the same one who fled from the last Pharaoh because he murdered one of his own
slave masters? Oh, this story is getting
better and better by the minute.” Some
people have given up on a mediator. They
think they, or their situation is just too difficult. Maybe they don’t understand that there really
is a God. Maybe they don’t understand
reasons to believe that the Bible is telling us the truth about God. Maybe they need someone like you to step in
and share a story of freedom that sounds too good to be true.
In 1 Kings 1 we
read of a story about Adonijah, one of King David’s sons. He was the son of Haggith, one of David’s
wives. Solomon, a son of King David by
Bathsheba, was supposed to be king after David.
David had made a promise that Solomon would take his place. But Adonijah had other plans. He decided that he would declare himself the
king. The prophet Nathan heard about
this and talked with Bathsheba. She went
before King David to tell him about Adonijah’s devious scheme. She reminded the king about his promise. In some sense, you could say that she was a
mediator between King David and Solomon.
Solomon wasn’t in trouble but he needed someone to speak on his behalf,
reminding the king about his promise.
In our passage
in Hebrews we read,
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant,
that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance… -- Hebrews
9:15
Solomon was
given a promise. He was supposed to inherit
the kingdom. God, the Father, the King,
made us a promise. In Hebrews, the
author talks about this promise numerous times.
He pleads with the Hebrew people,
Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still
stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
– Hebrews 4:1
He reminded them of God’s promise by saying,
When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no
one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely
bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently,
Abraham received what was promised. – Hebrews 6:13-15
He exhorts them,
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will
of God, you will receive what he has promised. – Hebrews 10:36
Speaking of
Abraham he says,
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a
stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who
were heirs with him of the same promise. -- Hebrews 11:9
Lastly, states,
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah
herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him
faithful who had made the promise. -- Hebrews 11:11
The preaching of
the gospel is the manner in which a person can receive this eternal
inheritance. The gospel was even
preached in the Old Testament. It’s not
a New Testament thing. Listen to what
Paul says in Galatians 3:8.
The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles
by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be
blessed through you.” – Galatians 3:8
In the Old
Testament, God made a promise of salvation.
This promise was fulfilled in Christ.
The people in the Old Testament were saved in the same way that we are,
through faith in God. Paul speaks to
this in Romans 4:13 when he said,
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring
received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness
that comes by faith. – Romans 4:13
They looked
forward to the finished work of Christ.
We look back on the finished work of Christ. The people in the Old Testament were not
saved by works at all. They didn’t know
the name of the Messiah, but they knew he was coming. This promise of salvation is throughout the
Old Testament and the writer of Hebrews reminds the Hebrew people of this. This agreement, or covenant, which had been
around for thousands of years, was finally ratified through the death of
Christ. The author of Hebrews uses the
idea of a will which would have been familiar in their Greek saturated
culture. Even though the Hebrews were
not Gentiles, they lived in a culture of the Gentiles, the Greeks. He used the picture of a will, which also can
be called a covenant. Imagine that you
hire a lawyer to create a will. In that
will, upon your death, you will pass on certain things to your children. You give specific directions for what will
happen to your house, your money, your pet Chihuahua named Zeus, etc. That will doesn’t come into effect until you
die. God, the Father, promised salvation
to Abraham, but it didn’t take effect until Jesus died. Abraham’s salvation was based on credit. This is the same language that Paul uses in
his letter to the Romans.
Jesus is our
mediator. In humility He came down to us.
He took off his glory and put on humanity. John the Baptist was no longer looking at the
shadow. He was looking at the
person. He said,
Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world! – John 1:29b
In the midst of
humbleness, there was holiness. In the
midst of death, forgiveness was found.
Footnote:
https://beyond.life/blog/15-of-the-weirdest-wills-ever-written/
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