Deeper Commentary
CHAPTER 9
9:1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for Divine service and
an earthly sanctuary- The implication is that the second or new
covenant also has a sanctuary and a structure for service. But that is all
ongoing in Heaven, thus declaring the attempt at "Divine service" through
the temple system to be redundant. The same word is used of how each
believer is to do "service" to God in the new order, by presenting their
own bodies as sacrifices, acting as both priest and offering (Rom. 12:1).
The priests did God's "service" in the first tabernacle, i.e. the holy
place (:6); we in Christ do His service in the most holy place, associated
with heaven itself.
9:2 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the first section, wherein was
the candlestick, the table and the bread of the Presence, which is called
the Holy Place- The presentation of the Most Holy as being sectioned
off by the Holy place is to emphasize how the tabernacle system did not
give entrance into God's presence, but rather created barriers. It was the
priests who served in the Holy Place who effectively stood between God and
man, rather than enabling ordinary worshippers to come into the Most Holy
place. However, it could be argued that the candlestick speaks of the
church (as in Revelation), and the table and bread refer to the breaking
of bread; as if after the laver [cp. baptism and the regeneration of the
Spirit], we must pass through the experience of church life before we
enter the direct fellowship with God in the Most Holy. This raises serious
questions over the attitude that we can be 'out of church Christians',
walking with the Lord in splendid isolation because of various crotchets
of interpretation or past hurts. Perhaps the term "bread of the presence"
is used to suggest a connection between the holy place (church life now)
and the presence of God in the Most Holy place.
9:3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holy
of Holies- The Holy and Most Holy places are presented as two distinct
tabernacles or tents. The old and new covenants are presented in :1 as the
first and second covenants [although the promises to Abraham forming the
new covenant were in fact given before the Mosaic legislation, although
that new covenant was only ratified and brought into operation for men
through the Lord's death]. The flow of thought is presumably that the new
or second covenant is to be associated with the second tabernacle, the
Most Holy place, in which believers in Christ are now located. We are
therefore described often in Paul's thought as "the heavenlies", sitting
in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3; 2:6). The rending of the veil into
the Most Holy at the Lord's death made the same point- the way into the
Holiest was now opened.
9:4 This had the golden altar of incense- This could be translated
"censer" [as AV]. The censer was only in the most holy place on the Day of
Atonement (Lev. 16:12), so perhaps that is the situation Paul is
presenting here (see on :5). The incense altar was in the holy place, not
the holy of holies (Ex. 31); and so "censer" is likely the correct
translation option, although that was only in the most holy on the Day of
Atonement. The argument will develop that we are now with the Lord Jesus
in the Most Holy, for we are "in Christ"; and so Paul takes a picture, as
it were, of the situation as it was on the Day of Atonement, the only time
when the high priest entered the Most Holy.
And the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was a
golden pot holding the manna and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables
of the covenant- It has been complained
that the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod were not within the ark, but
"before the testimony" (Ex. 16:34; Num. 17:10). I suggest that "the
testimony" referred to the tables of the covenant, which were within the
ark (Ex. 25:16). However, Israel were not obedient to this, for in
Solomon's temple "there was nothing in the ark save the two tables of
stone" (1 Kings 8:9). The actual temple system never matched up to what it
was supposed to be anyway, and Paul appears to be making this point. That
manna symbolized the Lord Jesus, as did the budding rod, with its message
of resurrection of the Messianic "rod". But Judaism was without the
awareness of these things.
9:5 And above it were cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat-
The reference may be to the shining forth of the shekinah glory
from between those cherubim on the Day of Atonement, which is the
situation being described here; see on :4.
Of which things we cannot now speak in detail- This sounds similar to the comment on 5:11 that
Paul could not speak as he could have done about some things because of
the immaturity of the audience. But the Greek could also imply that he was
running out of time and so had to skip talking about the cherubim- which
would be appropriate to a spoken address (see on 13:22).
9:6 Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests went in
continually into the first tabernacle, performing the services- The
'continual' entry is in contrast with the way the Lord Jesus entered once-
and not into the Holy but the Most Holy place, and remains there. The Holy
Place is called the "first" tabernacle, associating it with the first or
old covenant (:1; see on :3).
9:7- see on Jn. 12:24.
But into the second only the high priest went, and he but once a year, and
not without taking blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins of
the people- As noted on :6 and so
often in Hebrews, Paul is comparing and also contrasting the Lord's
priesthood with that of the Levitical priests. Indeed, most of the points
of contact are in terms of dissimilarity rather than identity. And the
difference here is that the High Priests were sinners and needed to atone
for their own sins as well as the peoples; whereas the clear emphasis of
Scripture is that "Christ died for our sins", and His work was and
continues to be for our forgiveness and salvation rather than His own.
Likewise the Lord did not enter once / year, but once for all- and
remained there. So the points of contact with the Levitical High Priests
are in the dissimilarity rather than similarities. See on 7:27,28.
9:8 The Holy Spirit indicating that the way into the Holy Place was not
yet made manifest whilst the first tabernacle remained- As noted on
:3, the Holy place is associated with the "first" covenant and the Most
Holy with the new or second covenant (:1). The Holy Place is therefore
presented here as a barrier to entry into the Most Holy; and the
priesthood are therefore framed as standing between God and man rather
than as a conduit whereby men could come to God's presence. That first
tabernacle no longer "remained", according to Paul's logic; the Mosaic
system was over. The tearing of the veil at the Lord's death showed in
visual terms what is being explained here- the way into the Holiest was
made open to all.
9:9 (Which is symbolic for the present age)- The idea may be that
the present age, that of the Christian dispensation, was symbolized or
pointed forward to by the arrangements of the tabernacle. It was all a
parabole ("symbolic"), a parable to be interpreted. But now that age
had come, they are of no practical value apart from as symbols of the
reality we are now in.
According to this system, both gifts and sacrifices were offered which
could not make the worshiper perfect as relates to the conscience- This is parallel with
the thought of :8, that the tabernacle system was actually a barrier
between God and man, stopping men coming into the Most Holy, the presence
of God. No worshipper could come into the Most Holy, the presence of God,
because all within him would cry out that he was imperfect; his conscience
wouldn't allow him to seek to enter, even if it were legally possible. The
"system" in Christ enables our complete forgiveness and cleansing; we are
counted as "in Christ", as righteous as He, thereby cleansing the
conscience and allowing our entry into the very presence of God. The
Lord's teaching about the Comforter speaks of similar things; through the
sanctifying work of the Spirit in our hearts, we can come directly to God
without mediation (Jn. 14:16; 16:26), to the extent that the Lord's
physical absence is not felt and we live as in His very personal presence.
9:10 Being merely foods, drinks and various washings, earthly
ordinances imposed until a time of reformation- The inadequacy of the
rituals in allowing man to come into the Most Holy place of itself implies
that there had to be a "time of reformation". The word for "reformation"
is found again in 12:13: "Make straight ['reformed'] paths for your feet",
lest any stumble. The idea is of making a path straight and direct (LXX
Jer. 7:3,5). The way of Judaism caused men to stumble; there was no direct
path into the Most Holy. No amount of ritual could cleanse the conscience;
a radical reformation was required, a straightening out of the path
between God and man.
9:11 But Christ having become a high priest of the good things to come,
through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that
is to say, not of this creation- The "good things to come" may be from
the perspective of the old covenant; the tabernacle system was parabolic
of the good things to come (:9). And they had now come, Paul is saying;
the Greek can be rendered "the good things realized", or "come to pass".
It was as if the good news was too good to believe; the Hebrews preferred
to shrink back from the good things because the goodness of them was too
demanding. And that is the attraction of legalism; it allows us to feel
still connected to God, but the reality of the good news, of salvation by
pure grace, has passed us by. As the High Priest passed into the Most
Holy, the Lord Jesus has passed into Heaven itself (4:14). This greater
tabernacle was pitched by God and not man (8:2), not of "this creation",
made with the material things of this world.
9:12 Nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own
blood, he entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained
eternal redemption- The Lord not only entered once and then left, as
the priests did; He entered and remained, "once for all". And the Most
Holy is Heaven itself. As noted earlier, the scene here is the Day of
Atonement, when goats were offered for the sins of the people and a bull
calf for the sins of the High Priest (Lev. 16:6,15). The plural is because
these animals were offered each year. The redemption achieved by the Lord
was "eternal", not temporary. Paul appears to be quoting here from the
midrash of Jonathan ben Uzziel on Gen. 49:18; ben Uzziel would have been
contemporary with Paul: "Jacob said, when he saw Gideon the son of Joash,
and Samson the son of Manoah, who should be redeemers; not for the
redemption of Gideon am I waiting, nor for the redemption of Samson am I
looking, for their redemption is a temporal redemption; but for thy
redemption am I waiting and looking, O Lord, because thy redemption is "an
everlasting redemption"". The redemption in view is clearly of others
rather than of Himself; for the Lord was the redeemer of God's Israel (Lk.
1:68; 2:38). He gave His life as a redemption for many (Mt. 20:28); He
gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from our sins (Tit. 2:14).
That redemption worked out in redeeming us from the curse of the law (Gal.
3:13). The AV defines the eternal redemption as "for us"; and the
Cambridge Bible comments: "The “for us” is rightly supplied; but the
middle voice of the verb shows that Christ in His love to us also regarded
the redemption as dear to Himself". So the inference that the Lord
'obtained for Himself' our eternal redemption doesn't mean that He
obtained redemption for Himself plus for us; rather does the Greek mean
that He obtained our redemption for Himself, He wanted it to be His. The
allusion may be to the language of a man 'redeeming' a wife for himself,
just as God redeemed His people for Himself. But this does not mean that
He redeemed Himself.
9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkling them that have been defiled, could sanctify to the cleansing of
the flesh- The ashes of the heifer were sprinkled in the water of the
laver to create water used for cleansing (Num. 19:1-10). The laver speaks
of the baptism into Christ which leads to the regeneration of the Spirit
(Tit. 3:5). The Lord's blood makes our baptism into Him have meaning far
beyond the cleansing rituals of the tabernacle system. Our very conscience
can be cleansed (:14). "The cleansing of the flesh" refers to some surface
level 'cleansing' which did not touch the conscience; the contrast is
between the flesh and the heart or conscience. They experienced
forgiveness on a technical level, but remained with a bad conscience,
knowing they were likely to sin again, and with no means of feeling that
sin had not only been removed but that they would surely be saved and
washed in their inward parts. The individuals such as David who came to
such a realization in Old Testament times did so through their faith in
God's grace rather than through the legal processes of the law of Moses.
The sanctification was not a sham, however ("how much more...", :14). But
there was internal cleansing of the spirit, even though forgiveness was
granted on one level. The defilement that was cleansed or sanctified was
ritual defilement; but the defilement of the spirit and conscience was not
addressed by the sacrificial system. But the Lord's priesthood enables
that too to be addressed, through the ministry of the Spirit in human
hearts. Those who deny the work of the Spirit are in effect in the
position of those who were technically forgiven and cleansed from
legalistic defilements by the Mosaic sacrifices.
9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without blemish to God-
"Without blemish" seems to be saying that the Lord had no sin to personally atone for, unlike the human priests who were blemished.
As noted on :13, ritual
defilement and legalistic infringements could be cleansed by the Mosaic
sacrifices, but the sacrificial system did not address the spirit or
conscience. The work of the Lord is on the conscience, on the spirit
through His Spirit. His sacrifice is therefore described here as having
been one of the Spirit; His Spirit or mind was and is eternal, in that the
mind He achieved by the end of His mortal life has been eternally
preserved (see on 5:7-9), and is given to His people eternally. The Mosaic
sacrifices had to be repeated, and related to the flesh ("the cleansing of
the flesh", :13). The Lord's sacrifice pertained to the Spirit, and was
eternal rather than of only temporary consequence. He did not offer an
animal, but Himself; as the animal was to be "without blemish" in the
flesh (Lev. 1:10), the Lord was "without blemish" morally, in His Spirit.
The animal had no choice in being offered; the Lord "offered Himself" as
an act of conscious volition. He was spiritually without blemish
whereas the animal sacrifices were only unblemished in the flesh.
His cleansing of our spirit / conscience was dia or on account of
His spirit. And His spirit is eternal; for He is now immortalized, His
personality, mind, spirit, character lives on eternally, both in Himself
and ultimately in us to whom He gives His Spirit. He is a priest who
operates now according to the power / spirit of an endless life (7:16).
The Lord offered Himself on the cross "through the eternal spirit" in that
it was the Spirit of God, understanding from His word what God really
wanted, what He is really like and thereby demands of us, which led the
Lord Jesus to the cross. And why the odd phrase "the eternal spirit"?
Surely to show that this same Spirit operates today, and if we follow it,
will lead us likewise to the same death of the cross. These things are
challenging to the very core of our being, the very fabric of our
self-understanding. We who cower in the dentist's chair, who fear and
avoid pain, who would sooner die than have a surgery without anesthetic...
are called to die with Jesus, the death of the cross. God was manifested
in the flesh of Christ, but now Christ is living "in the Spirit", thus
justifying God's righteousness (1 Tim. 3:16). He was "put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by (on account of) the Spirit", the Spirit-man within
Him (1 Pet. 3:18). Thus Christ's sacrifice was acceptable by reason of his
"eternal Spirit" (Heb. 9:14); his perfect spiritual character was what
enabled his physical blood and death to win our salvation. His
resurrection was due to his "spirit of holiness" (Rom. 1:4). We can only
relate to Him now as a spiritual being. We can not now know Him after the
flesh. Now his mortal flesh has been destroyed, He is "the Lord the
Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18 R.V.); He is called "the Spirit" in Revelation
because the spiritual character He developed in his mortal life is now
what He is.
Cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?- The "dead works" are
those which can be turned away from by baptism into Christ and forgiven
(6:1). The contrast is with how the sprinkling of blood and water cleansed
the flesh, getting technical forgiveness for legal infringements, but
could not cleanse the conscience or spirit of the offerer. 1 Pet. 1:2
states that the sprinkling of the blood of Christ is to be associated with
our sanctification by the Spirit, referring to the internal cleansing of
the heart by the gift and operation of the Spirit there. As explained in
Romans 1-8, we are "in Christ", counted as Him, with His righteousness
imputed to us; and therefore we can be confident that if He returns today
or we die, we shall surely be saved. The bad conscience regarding our
previous "dead works" is totally removed; and on this basis we can do
priestly service in the Most Holy place. We are not to simply rejoice in
our own redemption, but to realize that our cleansing is so that we may
serve. The mention of "the living God" would suggest again the function of
the Spirit; He is alive and interactive with us, and we are to therefore
serve the God who is Spirit in spirit (Jn. 4:24).
The Greek word translated “conscience”, sun-eidesis, means
literally a co-perception. It implies that there are two types of
perception within the believer- human perception, and spiritual self
perception. The conscience that is cleansed in Christ, that is at peace,
will be a conscience that keeps those two perceptions, of the real self
and of the persona, in harmony. What we know and perceive humanly, is in
harmony with we spiritually perceive. Our conscience, our co-perception,
our real self, makes sense of the human perceptions and interprets them in
a spiritual way. So, a young man sees an attractive girl. His human
perception signals certain things to his brain- to lust, covet, etc. But
his co-perception, his conscience, his real self, handles all that, and
sees the girl’s beauty for just simply what it is- beauty. Job before his
‘conversion’ paralleled his eye and his ear: “My eye has seen all this, my
ear has heard and understood it” (Job 13:1). He was so sure that what he
heard was what he saw; he was sure that his perceptions were operating
correctly. But later, he comes to see a difference between his eye and his
ear. He says that he had only heard of God by the ear; but only now, he
says, “my eye sees You” (Job 42:5). He had heard words, but, he realized,
he’d not properly ‘seen’ or perceived. Finally, he had a properly
functioning ‘conscience’, a co-perception. What he saw, was what he really
heard.
Our conscience is not going to jump out of us and stand and judge us at
the day of judgment. There is one thing that will judge us, the word of
the Lord (Jn. 12:48), not how far we have lived according to our
conscience. It’s therefore unreliable (1 Cor. 4:4). And yet there is Bible
teaching concerning the need to live in accordance with our 'conscience',
and the joy which is possible for the believer who has a clear conscience
(e.g. Acts 24:16; Rom. 14:18-22; 2 Cor. 1:12; 1 Jn. 3:21). This must mean,
in the context, the conscience which God's word has developed in us- it
cannot refer to 'conscience' in the sense of our natural, inbuilt sense of
right and wrong; because according to the Bible, this is hopelessly
flawed. The fact the "conscience" is "cleansed" by Christ's sacrifice
(Heb. 9:14; 10:22) proves that the Biblical 'conscience' is not the
natural sense of right and wrong within our nature; for our nature can
never be 'purged' or 'cleansed', the believer will always have those
promptings within him to do wrong. The cleansed, purged conscience refers
to the new man that is created within the believer at baptism. This new
'conscience' is not just a sense of guilt which is invoked on account of
not living an obedient life; it is also a conscience which positively
compels us to do something, not just threatens us with a pang of
guilt if we commit a sin.
We have a conscience which in God's eyes is cleansed of sin, knowing that
our sin has been overcome once and for all, and that we have access to
this through baptism. Our hearts were purified by that faith (Acts 15:9);
we were cleansed from the conscience of sins (Heb. 9:14); all things
became pure to us (Tit. 1:15; Rom. 14:20). This is a good conscience,
Biblically defined. When Paul said he had a pure conscience before God,
they smote him for blasphemy (Acts 23:1,2); there is an association
between a clear conscience and perfection (Heb. 9:9; 10:14). A clear
conscience therefore means an awareness that in God's eyes, we have no
sin. Thus Paul's conscience could tell him that he was living a life which
was a response to his experience of God's grace / forgiveness (2 Cor.
1:12). The conscience works not only negatively; it insists that we do
certain things. It may even be that the goads against which Paul was
kicking before his conversion were not the pricks of bad conscience, but
rather the positive directions from God that he ought to be
giving his life to the service of His Son. Whilst we may still have
twinges of guilt, and sins to confess, from God's viewpoint the slate is
clean, and has been since our baptism. It is impossible to believe this
without some kind of response. We are purged in our conscience so that we
might serve the living God (Heb. 9:14).
9:15 And because of this, he is the mediator of a new covenant; that a
death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that
were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the
promise of the eternal inheritance- The Lord's ability to cleanse even
the conscience of believers through His total eradication of sin is what
makes Him the mediator of the new covenant, even though that new covenant
was comprised of the promises made to Abraham and his seed [the Lord
Jesus] of eternal inheritance of the earth. By association with the
representative sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, we can become "in Him", we
become the seed, and thereby the promises to Abraham and Jesus are made to
us. His sacrifice thereby enabled us to receive the promise of eternal
inheritance- the promise made to Abraham. His death was also the basis for
the salvation of those who sought forgiveness under the old covenant; for
the blood of animals of itself could not take away sin. It was only
effective insofar as it pointed forward to the Lord's future sacrifice.
It must be remembered that the High Priest of the Old Covenant did not
offer up the prayers of the people. Yahweh's ears were ever open to the
cry of the individual Israelite, without an intercessor. Moses mediated
the Old Covenant in the sense that he obtained it and relayed it to
Israel; his mediation was a one-off act. This is the basis of the NT
passages concerning the mediation of the New Covenant through Christ; He
did this through His death and resurrection (Gal. 3:19,20; Heb. 8:6; 9:15;
12:24). Christ was the mediator of the new covenant so that the sins
committed under the old covenant could be forgiven; thus His mediation is
not in the relaying of our words to God, but in the sealing of the new
covenant through His own blood. The mediation between God and man by the
Lord is paralleled with His giving Himself as a ransom on the cross (1
Tim. 2:5,6). This is the sense in which He is the mediator of the new
covenant; He mediated it once, not in an ongoing sense.
9:16 For where a will is of power, there must of necessity be the death
of him that made it- Paul is playing on the meaning of the word
translated "testament" or "covenant"; it also means a will, a set of
promises which become actual after the death of the one who made the
promises. I have commented elsewhere that whilst Paul's reasoning is true
enough as it stands for us as Christians, viewing it retrospectively from
our position, there are times when it would appear that he is rather
forcing a point. For the obvious objection would be that it was God who
made the new covenant, not Jesus; His death is not to be seen as the death
of God, leaving us without Him to receive what He has left behind for us.
But this kind of apparently forced logic would have been acceptable within
the paradigm of Rabbinic midrash. The point becomes more logical however
when we consider the argument that the old covenant or "will" was ordained
with the shedding of blood, as if it would only come into true effect when
someone died. And as explained in :15, the forgiveness offered under the
old covenant was only finally effective when the Lord died. For the blood
of animals of itself could not take away sin.
The death of the covenant victim was to act as a warning for what would
happen to those who broke the covenant. Thus "The men who transgressed my
covenant… I will make like the calf which they cut in two" (Jer. 34:18
RSV). In the account of a Babylonian covenant it was written: "This head
is not just the head of the goat… it is the head of Mati'ilu… If Mati'ilu
breaks the oath, then as the head of this goat is cut off… so shall the
head of Mati'ilu be cut off". Thus the dead animal was seen as a
representative of the person who entered the covenant. The death of our
Lord, therefore, serves as a reminder to us of the end for sin. We either
put sin to death, or we must be put to death for it. Gal. 3:15; Heb. 9:16
and other passages liken the blood of Christ to a covenant; and yet the
Greek word used means definitely the last will and testament of a dead
man. His blood is therefore an imperative to us to do something; it is His
will to us, which we must execute. Thus His death, His blood, which is
also a symbol of His life, becomes the imperative to us for our lives and
living in this world. Note how blood is a symbol of both life and also
death (Gen. 37:26; Num. 35:19,33; Lev. 20:9). Both His death and His life
form a covenant / testament / will for us to obey- in both baptism and
then in living out the death and life in our daily experience. We cannot
be passive to it.
9:17 For a will is of force where there has been death; it does not
have power while he that made it lives- The new covenant as given in
Genesis 15 also required the shedding of animal blood to ratify it; but it
only came into force in the death of the Lord Jesus, thereby enabling all
men to become part of Abraham's seed and share in the promise of eternal
inheritance made to him (:15). Now the Lord has died, the promises to
Abraham of eternal inheritance, the new covenant, is "of force". Paul uses
the same word about the solidity of this hope in Rom. 4:16: "It is of
faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure
[s.w. "of force"] to all the seed". If it were not of grace through
faith, it would have to be on the basis of works. And our human weakness
would leave us with no sure hope, knowing we would never be perfectly
obedient or do enough in order to make the promise of salvation "of force"
or "sure". The same idea is carried in the word elpis, "hope"; not
a hope for the best at judgment day, but a solid, certain knowledge of the
future. Paul connects the ideas in 3:6 and 6:19, saying that we are to
hold fast the confidence of the hope "firm", "of force" (s.w.), unto the
end. This solidity of hope, this confident sense that our salvation is
sure, "of force", is lacking in many who name the name of Christ today.
They still sense that they must attain the new covenant by some form of
works. But if we are focused upon the meaning of the Lord's death, then we
can feel the "force", the sureness, of the promise of future salvation and
inheritance of the earth. The prophetic word which has been made "more
sure" (s.w. "of force") is surely a reference to this same wonderful
truth- that the prophetic word to Abraham of salvation for his seed has
been made "more sure", "of force", by the Lord's death (2 Pet. 1:19). The
idea is not that predictions of future events were proven true; but rather
that the word of salvation has been made sure, and we ought to thereby
make our calling and election "sure" (s.w.; 2 Pet. 1:10).
9:18 Therefore even the first covenant has not been dedicated without
blood- Salvation and forgiveness was possible for those who lived
under the old covenant on the basis that the covenant was of power in
these ways on account of the Lord's blood, to which the blood of animals
pointed forward.
9:19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the
people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the
goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book
itself and all the people- This brings out the link between blood and
law-giving; the people were sprinkled with blood as they heard the Law
read to them. The new covenant in Christ’s blood results in the laws of
God being written on our hearts, in our consciences (Heb. 8:10). Then Heb.
10:14-16 goes on to say the placing of the laws on our hearts in this way
is in fact a “witness" to how His blood sanctifies us. We can’t be passive
to His sacrifice; the conscience elicited by it, the writing on our
hearts, is what propels us forward to live a sanctified life. The language
of blood, water, scarlet and hyssop is full of reference to the
circumstances surrounding the Lord's death on the cross. It was to this
that the Mosaic dedication and cleansing rituals pointed forward, and it
only had power on that basis.
9:20 Saying: This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded for
you- At the breaking of bread, it's as if Christ is sprinkling us with
His blood, it's as if we are Israel assembled together, re-entering the
covenant each time we break bread. No wonder we are asked to assemble
ourselves together (as far as possible) to remember Christ (Mt. 26:28 =
Heb. 9:20). We have elsewhere made the point that Hebrews is full of
appropriate material for a breaking of bread exhortation (see on Heb. 13:22),
which we believe it to have originally been.
Far back in Mosaic ritual, the voice of command was associated with the
blood sprinkled on the mercy seat; the blood of the lamb was a command to
respond (Ex. 25:22), and God's presence and voice came from over the blood
sprinkled mercy seat. Hence instead of reading of the laws which
were commanded, we read of “the blood of the covenant which God
commanded"; the book of the law was sprinkled with that blood to show the
connection between the blood and the book. To eat His flesh and blood (in
evident anticipation of His coming sacrifice and the memorial meeting) was
to eat Him and His words (Jn. 6:53,54,63). His words were all
epitomized in His offered flesh and blood. In His death and sacrifice
(which "the blood of Jesus" represent), we see His very essence: He
Himself. On the stake He poured out His soul unto death (Is. 53:12), and
yet in His life He poured out His soul too (Ps. 42:4). The cross was an
epitome of who He really had been for those 33 years. To know Christ is to
know His cross (Is. 53:11). See on Heb. 12:25.
9:21 Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he
sprinkled in like manner with the blood- The vessels of the ministry
which were used to achieve some level of sanctification were only of power
by reason of the blood sprinkled upon them; and that blood of itself was
just red liquid. It was only meaningful in that it pointed forward to the
Lord's sacrifice. The point was that even if the Hebrews wished to
continue participating in the temple rituals, they were to realize that
they had only ever had any meaning on account of the blood of Christ.
9:22 And according to the law, I may almost say- This is again
language appropriate to a verbal exhortation rather than a letter; see on
13:22. The "almost" is because there were allowances for the very poor to
not offer blood sacrifices.
All things are cleansed with blood; and apart from shedding of blood there
is no remission of sin-
The cleansing and remission was not therefore through ritual of itself,
but on the basis that the rituals were as it were smothered in the blood
which pointed forward to that of the Lord Jesus. This may seem a fine
difference, but it is significant. People with all their dysfunctions and
conscious and unconscious sense of sin come to perform various rituals,
and then emerge from the rituals feeling better and somehow cleansed. But
this is mere religion, the psychology of religious ritual. The cleansing
and remission offered under the old covenant was for real, but it was only
for real in that the blood looked forward to the future sacrifice of the
Messiah.
9:23 It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the
heavens should be cleansed with these things- Because ritual of itself
could not sanctify sin, the whole ritualistic framework had to be doused,
as it were, in the blood which pointed forward to the Lord's sacrifice.
But the heavenly things themselves had better sacrifices than these- "Sacrifices" may be an
example of Paul thinking in Hebrew whilst writing in Greek. We may have
here an intensive plural, whereby the plural is used to refer to one great
singular item- in this case, the one great sacrifice, that of the Lord on
the cross. The tabernacle was a copy, a shadow, of something greater. It
was a shadow of us. God dwells in the tabernacle of human hearts, rather
than in any physical structure. That point was made within the Old
Testament, and in the New Testament we are repeatedly portrayed as the
tabernacle / temple / dwelling place of God. The better sacrifice which
cleansed us, even our conscience, was the Lord's. Thus there is a
parallelism between verses 23 and 24:
|
v. 23
|
v. 24 |
|
The patterns of things in |
The holy places made with hands |
|
the Heavens |
the tabernacle |
|
The Heavenly things themselves |
Heaven itself... us |
9:24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which
are only copies of the true ones; but into Heaven itself- See on :23;
the things in Heaven are us who are cleansed in Christ. It is stressed in
Heb. 9:24; 8:2 that this Heavenly temple was made by God not by human
hands. The Kingdom of Christ [which is essentially His people, those over
whom He has Kingly dominion] is symbolized as a stone cut without hands
(Dan. 2:44). We are the ones in heavenly places now (Eph. 1:3) who are
cleansed by the Lord's sacrifice. Likewise Abraham looked forward to the
Kingdom in terms of a city "whose builder and maker is God"; and God, we
are told, has prepared that city for Abraham and his seed (Heb.
11:10,16). The coming down of that city/temple from Heaven in Rev. 21:3 is
the fulfilment of Abraham's hope. The city/temple from Heaven has
foundations (Rev. 21:14), just as Abraham expected (Heb. 11:10). The Lord
has entered into God's actual presence, Heaven; and we are with Him there,
cleansed, confident and unashamed before the presence of His glory. And
this shall come to a literal fulfilment when at the last day we are
presented "faultless before the presence of His glory" (Jude 24).
Now to appear in the actual presence of God for us- The language of Romans 8 about His intercession
with groanings which cannot be uttered is to be connected with Hebrews 5
speaking of the Lord groaning with strong crying and tears on the cross.
The point being that the intensity of His prayer there, struggling for
every breath, is the same essential intensity with which He mediates for
us now. He died “for us”, and yet right now He appears “before the
face of God for us” (Heb. 9:24 RV). Thus there is a connection
between His death and His ongoing mediation “for us”. We must struggle
with Him, framing and offering our words in the full realization of the
agonizing effort He is willing to make to intercede. The Greek translated
"appear" meaning to exhibit openly. We are openly exhibited to God by the
Lord Jesus, he reveals our inner spirit, our essential desires, to the
Father; for we are "in Him". His appearance in God's actual presence is
our appearance there.
Romans is full of legal language, of interceding, pleading, finding a
favourable verdict etc., and refers this to the judgment and also to the
cross. But Romans 8 uses these very ideas in relation to prayer, for in
coming before the throne of grace now on account of the Lord's sacrifice,
we come in essence before judgment. Coming before the throne of God in
prayer (Heb. 9:24; Ps. 17:1,2) is the language of the judgment seat. If we
become before His throne and are accepted, it follows that this is a
foretaste of the outcome of the judgment for us, were we to be judged at
that time. Our boldness before the Father in prayer will be the same
attitude we have to Him at the judgment throne (1 Jn. 2:28; 3:21; 4:17;
5:14 all use the same Greek word).
9:25 Nor must he offer himself often, as the high priest enters into
the Holy Place year by year with blood not his own- The Lord entered
once, into Heaven itself, with His own blood; and remained there, rather
than nervously slipping in and out once / year as the High Priest did.
9:26 Or else he must often have suffered since the foundation of the
world; but now once at the end of the ages has he been manifested to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself- "The foundation of the world"
surely refers to the beginning of the Mosaic system; the "end" of that
world is the end of the Mosaic system at the Lord's death. He sacrificed
not animals, but "Himself".
On the cross, the Lord Jesus was ‘manifested’, shown as He really and
essentially is (Heb. 9:26; 1 Pet. 1:19,20; 1 Jn. 3:5,8; 1 Tim. 3:16). But
the same word is also used about the final manifesting of the Lord Jesus
at His return (Col. 3:4; 1 Pet. 5:4; 1 Jn. 2:28; 3:2). This explains the
link between the cross and His return; who He was then will be who He will
be when He comes in judgment. There He endured the spitting and hatred of
men in order to save them. And the same gracious spirit will be extended
to all His true people, whatever their inadequacies.
The Lord's sacrifice "put away sin"; the same word has been used in 7:18
about the "disannulling" of the law. The whole concept of sin has been
disannulled in that the law has been disannulled. In this sense His death
"made an end of sins" (Dan. 9:24- perhaps Paul has this passage in mind
here). For those in Him, sin is no longer a barrier between God and man;
we stand "in Him" before God's very face / presence, counted as the
sinless Lord Jesus.
9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed to men once to die and after this
comes judgment- The contrast and parallel to this statement is in :28,
speaking of the Lord Jesus appearing at His second coming to reveal
salvation rather than judgment. Throughout this section, Paul has in view
the Day of Atonement (see on :4). Judaism spoke of the annual entry of the
High Priest into the Holiest as his 'death', and his return to the people
as his resurrection and judgment. Verse 28 will explain that the Lord
Jesus actually died, to bear our sins Himself rather than them being
figuratively placed upon a scapegoat to bear them, and the equivalent to
His emergence from the Most Holy is His return from Heaven to earth with
the good news of our salvation. The allusion to the High Priest would
account for the otherwise odd usage of the word "appointed", which is
appropriate for the High Priest and also for the Lord Jesus (s.w. 1:2;
3:2).
9:28 So Christ also, having once been offered to bear the sins of many,
shall appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to bring salvation to
those who are eagerly waiting for him- As explained on :27, this is an
allusion to the second coming of Christ with the good news of our
salvation, which paralleled the emergence of the High Priest on the Day of
Atonement from the Holiest, with the news of God's pardon. The High Priest
emerged to a humbled, repentant Israel on the Day of Atonement, having
confessed their sins and afflicted their souls through fasting, waiting
for their High Priest to appear and pronounce upon them the blessing of
forgiveness. The Spirit is using this as a type of us expecting the second
coming of our Lord; the motivation for our enthusiasm should be our
earnest need of ultimate forgiveness and reconciliation with God. David
likewise speaks of waiting and watching for the Lord in the context of
asking for forgiveness (Ps. 130:5,6). And we could possibly infer that the
Lord's second coming is dependent upon Israel's humbling and repentance.
The focus of the Lord at His return will not be to "deal with sin". He did
this in His death. Any necessary judgments upon a sinful world will not be
His prime interest; rather does He return in order to give us salvation.
This was and is His focus, like His Father, taking no pleasure in
punishing sin. But the AV is literally correct here: "Without sin unto
salvation". The phrase "without sin" is exactly that used in 4:15 of how
the Lord had all our temptations but was morally "without sin". The High
Priest emerged from the Holiest on the Day of Atonement and pronouned the
forgiveness. The Lord Jesus will emerge from Heaven and as it were just
stand there, "without sin". His moral perfection achieved in mortal flesh
is of itself the guarantee and statement of our own forgiveness and
salvation.
If we understand something of the ‘mechanics’ of the atonement, and grasp
something of the fact that they were outworked in a real, historical man,
we will see that the final realization of the redemption achieved at the
cross will be when Christ comes back. If we understand something of the
atonement, we will earnestly look for the second coming, when the
redemption achieved on the cross will be brought unto us (cp. 1 Pet.
1:13). An enthusiasm for the second coming, spurred by a realization that
the bringing of salvation then is an outworking of the cross, will lead to
a loose hold on the things of this life.
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