The Letter to the Hebrews

Chapter 9Jan-Apr 2014 FXCC

Hebrews 8 and before

• Jesus is greater than– Angels– Moses– Prophets– Levitical Priesthood– Jewish High Priest

Hebrews 8 and before

• The readers are close to losing faith in Jesus• Ready to go back to the Law of Moses and its

sacrificial system• The way of Jesus was proving to be a hard

road (persecution)– Rome didn’t like them– Jews didn’t like them

Hebrews 9

• 2 covenants • 2 sanctuaries/tabernacles (tents)– One on earth– One in heaven

Hebrews 9:1-5

• 1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2

For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of Presense. It is called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,

Hebrews 9:1-5

• 4 having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

Hebrews 9:1-5

• The earthly tabernacle– A tent w/2 sections or rooms inside it (Ex 26)– God’s dwelling place (Lev 26:11-12)– The Holy Place (first room) was a rectangle– The inner/second room was a square, the Most

Holy Place

Holy Place

• Lampstand– The light of God in the tabernacle (Ex 25:31-40)

• Table of “the bread of the Presence”– Symbolizing fellowship with God thru eating with

Him (Ex 25:23-30)– 12 loaves, one for each tribe

Holy Place/Most Holy Place

• Altar of incense (Ex 30:1-10)– Symbolizes prayers going up to God – Also fills the Most Holy Place with smoke as a

symbol of God’s presence– Noted as being in 2 different places• Holy Place per Ex 30:6 and 40:26, in front of the

curtain, used daily (Ex 30:7)• Most Holy Place per I Kings 6:20, 22 (Solomon’s

Temple) and here in Hebrews• Thus it seems it was moved around

Most Holy Place

• Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:10-22)– Is the presence of God among His people (Ex

25:22)– God’s “resting place” (I Chron 28:2, II Chron 6:40-

42)– The cherubs represent the angels surrounding

God’s throne in Heaven– The “atonement cover” of the ark is the “mercy

seat” (Ex 25:17-22, Lev 16:14-15)

Hebrews 9:6-8

• 6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing

Hebrews 9:6-8

• The worship or services performed in the earthly tabernacle

• Holy Place– Daily activity/service/worship by the priests– Replaced the bread (once a week. Lev 24:8-9)– Twice daily (morning and evening; Ex 27:20-21,

30:7-8)• Added new oil to the lamps• Offered incense

Hebrews 9:6-8

• The worship or services performed in the earthly tabernacle

• Most Holy Place– Only the High Priest– Only once a year• On the day of Atonement• Sacrifice for sins of the priest and the people• Sprinkled blood on the ark

Hebrews 9:9-10

• …as long as the first section is still standing, 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Hebrews 9:9-10

• The limitations of the earthly tabernacle and its worship– The atoning/cleansing was only external – Only a temporary solution– Consciences were not cleansed/not perfected– The tabernacle and its worship was only a copy/a

symbol of the real thing that would be in heaven

Hebrews 9:9-10

• None of this is a “put down” of the Jewish tabernacle

• That was God’s gracious presence among His people

• The whole ritual showed the holiness of God• We do not understand holiness– The holy has become mundane for us, i.e. OMG

Hebrews 9:9-10

• Israelites/Jews understood holy– Awe, reverence

• But even as wonderful as it was, it was only a copy, a shadow, temporary

• The tabernacle pointed to something better, MUCH better and eternal

• We now have access to the original, the pattern, the real thing

Hebrews 9:11-28

• 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:11-28

• 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 9:11-28

• 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

Hebrews 9:11-28

• 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.”

Hebrews 9:11-28

• 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Hebrews 9:11-28

• 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,

Hebrews 9:11-28

• 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:11-28

• The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)– Sep/Oct on our calendar– The 10th day of the 7th month (Tishrei) on the

Jewish calendar (Lev 16:29, 23:27)– Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) is on the 1st

and 2nd days of the month (Tishrei), Lev 23:24

• A day of fasting, prayer and rest (Lev 23:32)

Day of Atonement

• The High Priest would immerse himself (washed his whole body, Lev 16:4, Ex 30:19-21)– On other feast days he only washed his hands and

feet)– Put on his sacred garments

Day of Atonement

• The High Priest offered 2 sets of sacrifices– First for the sins of his own house, a young bull as

sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering (Lev 16:3,5)

– Then for the sins of the people, 2 goats

Day of Atonement

• After the sacrifices for himself the High Priest took a censer of burning coals into the Most Holy Place– There he placed incense on the coals, creating smoke

(Lev 16:13)

• When the room was full of smoke (preventing him from seeing the mercy seat, the Presence of God, Lev 16:2) he would bring in the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the mercy seat (Lev 16:4)

Day of Atonement

• After the bull’s blood was sprinkled, he would go out and sacrifice one of the goats as a sin offering– The blood of the first goat was taken into the Most

Holy Place to sprinkle it on the mercy seat• This purified the Tent of Meeting (Lev 16:16)

• The second goat was released into the wilderness with the sins of the people placed on it after laying on of the priest’s hands (Lev 16:21-22)

Day of Atonement

• Then the Priest would immerse himself again and put on a new set of clothes, the elaborate ceremonial robes (Lev 16:24)

• Next the High Priest offered burnt offerings to dedicate the priesthood and the people to God once again (Lev 16:27)

Hebrews 9:11-28

• Jesus is now our High Priest– He entered the Most Holy Place in Heaven– With his own blood, not that of animals– One time only, no need to do it again and again,

etc– Eternal forgiveness, redemption, vice an annual

cleansing– Cleanses our consciences not just an external

cleansing

Hebrews 9:11-28

• Clean consciences allow us to worship and serve the Living God– We can approach God w/out fear/guilt– We can approach God w/confidence

Hebrews 9:11-28

• Eternal redemption means our eternal inheritance is secure

• The writer declares that Israel was forgiven of their sins (also see Ps 32 and 51)– But that forgiveness was due to/based on the

reality of the work of Christ– Jesus’ blood forgave sins under the old covenant

(Rom 3:25-26)

Hebrews 9:11-28

• Vss 16-22 the writer explains why Jesus had to die– One, the blood ritual is required (there is NO

forgiveness w/out the shedding of blood)– Two, a covenant (will) only goes into effect after

death

Hebrews 9:11-28

• The Mosaic Covenant was enacted with blood, so was this new Covenant– The Mosaic priesthood/tabernacle/etc were a

copy, a shadow, a pattern– The reality also had to involve blood

Hebrews 9:11-28

• Christ is now in the real tabernacle/sanctuary• Jesus is now in Heaven, with God, in His

Presence– He is there all the time– He is there on our behalf!

Hebrews 9:11-28

• We will all die and face judgment– Two things are certain– Death, and– Judgment (not taxes )

• Jesus will come again – WHY?• To save those who eagerly wait for Him!• Don’t give up!

Hebrews 9

• Are we eagerly awaiting, or are we ….?

References

• F.F. Bruce, “The Epistle to the Hebrews”, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Eerdmans, 1967

• Edward Fudge, “Our Man in Heaven: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews”,, Baker, 1974– Available on-line for free– http://www.edwardfudge.com/written/

omihtext.html

References

• Edward Fudge, “Hebrews: Ancient Encouragement for Believers Today”, Leafwood Publishers, 2009

• John Mark Hicks, Hebrews, Word Doc– http://johnmarkhicks.com/wp-content/uploads/

sites/10/2009/03/hebrews-edited.doc

References

• Referenced in John Mark Hicks, Hebrews, Word Doc are the sites for a sermon series (Strength for the Journey) by Rubel Shelly and John York on Hebrews– http://www.rubelshelly.com/content.asp?

lShow=20&ListSG=316&Start=121&SortAlpha=– http://www.rubelshelly.com/content.asp?

lShow=20&ListSG=316&Start=101&SortAlpha=– http://www.johnyork.org/content.asp?

lShow=20&ListSG=260&Start=161– http://www.johnyork.org/content.asp?

lShow=20&ListSG=260&Start=141

References

• Bobby Valentine’s “Stoned-Campbell Disciple” blog – http://stonedcampbelldisciple.com/2013/08/20/

paul-and-the-unquestioned-authority-of-the-old-testament/