Hebrews Study – Lesson 10
We begin our study today by taking a look at Hebrews 9:1-7. As we saw last week the writer of the Hebrews made much plainer the truths of the OT law, its observances and its practices. Again, we saw in chapter 7 & 8 that Christ came not according to works and rituals through Aaron’s line…something we constantly need to be reminded of today inside and outside the Church, but through a whole different line, through a whole different tribe, symbolizing God’s line, i.e. Melchizedek…Judah…the virgin Mary…not of the seed of sinful man. As we remember, we took a look at the OT Tabernacle, and began to look at some of the rituals and the sacrificial system. We saw that the Tabernacle had essentially 2 rooms. There were a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings concerning these practices in their day and there are a lot of misconception and misunderstanding concerning these practices today. Our understanding of the purpose and function of the OT Tabernacle is essential in understanding our relationship with God. Getting this right and applying its meaning is essential if we are to enter into God’s REST. It is also important to understand these practices as it gives us insight as to who God is personally. The writer of the Hebrews gives us some insight into what it all meant and its practical application not only then, but also for us today. Remember, the MAIN PURPOSE of him writing this letter was to convince his readers, and us, that Christ is the fulfillment of the OT Law and greater than anything else that we put our trust in..
As we looked at the OT Tabernacle we saw that the first room of the Tabernacle was called the holy place or the sanctuary. This is where the daily rituals and duties were performed by various priests. The second smaller room was called the “Holiest of all” or the “Holy of Holies”. This was where only the High Priest was allowed and/or required to go in, and that ONCE a year taking with him the blood of the sacrificed bull and goat. He also took the censer full of coals and sweet incense which was beaten small or fine, so that it would burn quickly while performing his duties.
READ 9:1-10 V. 9 Sums up the OUTCOME of this practice…it could not make him that did this service perfect and as we saw in Rom. 4:1-8 that it never made anyone just before God, not even those that were required to live by the law. V. 10 reminding of the daily round of works of the OT Law and the heavy burden man carried trying to earn merit or favor with God concerning his attempt to fulfill its requirements. We talked last week about the fact that although this covenant was good and accurate, but that it was not functional in that there was a flaw in the arrangement in the ability to fulfill its requirements. What was that flaw? The flaw came in the inability of man to keep his end of the deal.
Even with man’s best intensions he could not keep his end of the deal. The Covenant of the Law was “If you do this, I will do that.”, a common arrangement in a covenant. Almost all covenants are set up this way. The OT example we saw man continually breaking this covenant with God. The Israelites agreed to this covenant initially and rebelled continually during their 40 years in the wilderness. It was like a lot of agreements today. You make an agreement with another person or company and then you end up chasing them to get them to fulfill their end of the deal.
However, this was not always the case in every instance. We see in the book of Nehemiah in chapter 9 an instance where man approached God in an attempt to reestablish the original covenant deal. He, man, admitted his failure. He recounted his mistakes and shortcomings throughout the years that the covenant was enacted. READ Neh. 9:26-31 This is an instance of man willingly admitting it and wanting to repair the damage and reestablish the original agreement. They had the best of intentions. The desire was sincere. Neh. 9:31-4 sums it up. They admitted PUBLICALLYALL of their shortcomings. WOW! If this would happen today where would we be! This passage also recounts God being more than faithful fulfilling His end of the deal. Neh. 9:38 gives us insight as to their SINCERE intentions. It says that “they make a SURE COVENANT…they write it down..and even have their princes, Levites and their priests seal it”. It doesn’t get any better for man than this. And, it is not to say that this isn’t admirable. I would like to see our country to take such a step. But, from history we know that the step was temporary. Man repeated the process. He ended up not keeping his end of the deal.
It is also important to note that this was an example of an instance of corporate return to an agreement. Even though all of the individuals had to agree to a certain arrangements, the individuals involved also had a ONE ON ONE accountability to God. We know the difficulty in keeping all the rules in our society, but most of us do a pretty good job at that. But, keeping our personal agreement/commitment to God is more difficult. This gets down to the nitty gritty. We know the difficulty in keeping the letter of the Law. The Apostle Paul summed it up best (READ Rom. 7:14-8:1). The first room of the Tabernacle is represented here…The daily sacrifices, the rituals of the Law and Aaron’s line.
THERE HAD TO BE A BETTER WAY. Was there a COVENANT that would WORK? The SECOND ROOM is the room that we are CALLED into to break down the barrier between God and man.
· What was in the SECOND room?
· What did the priest take into the second room?
· What did he do there?
· These points are ESSENTIAL if we are to find the REST the author of Hebrews is talking about! REST/peace with God and REST in our lifestyle and our living walking in relationship with God.
Leviticus 16:12-9 (READ) gives us the blow by blow of the actual enactment of this procedure. Notice what was taken into the Holies of Holy. The elements are simple. Basic…not many parts to get us confused. He was required to carry in no more and no less than what was required. The priest’s life depended on getting this right. Ours does to. Understanding this message is also vital concerning the message that we relay to the world around us. Many inside and outside the Church eventually give up on so called Christianity because they figure out that what we are asking them to do is impossible for them to do. At least they are honest. But, Paul in Rom. 7 was being honest to! I am soooo glad and Thankful for Paul’s honesty.
In the description we see in Leviticus 16 atonement, so to speak, was made for both Aaron and his line and the people. But, what does this actually mean? Did the blood of bulls and goats actually cleanse the people of their sin(s)? Heb. 9:9 and 10:1-4 tells us that that is not so. The Scofield reference bible makes an interesting observation concerning the use of the word “atonement”. It says
· Atonement
The Biblical use and meaning of the word must be sharply distinguished from its use in theology. In theology, it is a term which covers the whole sacrificial and redemptive work of Christ. In the OT, atonement is the English word used to translate the Hebrew words which mean cover, coverings, or to cover. Atonement is, therefore, not a translation of the Hebrew but a purely theological concept. The Levitical offerings “covered” the sins of Israel until and in anticipation of the cross, but did not “take away” those sins. These were the sins done in OT times, which God “passed over” for which passing over God’s righteousness was never vindicated until, in the cross, Jesus Christ was “set forth a propitiation.” It was the cross, not the Levtical sacrifices, which made full and complete redemption. The OT sacrifices enabled God to go on with a guilty people because those sacrifices typified the cross. To the offerer they were the confession of his desert of death and the expression of his faith; to God they were the “shadows” of good things that were to come, of which Christ was the reality.
If this is true the OT sacrifice in the Holies of Holy was a covering of OT age transgressions which were stored up and passed over until actual payment by Christ occurred. This concept in and of itself is fascinating. But, this being the case, it gives us some more fascinating insights about our God.
The first is that God not only is able to cover over the sins of the people, but that He is able to store them up at all, in complete terms and details, …every act, every detail awaiting judgment. The Bible makes it clear that EVERY offense will be dealt with, judged and no sin will be overlooked or missed. God is complete on this. He does not judge some sins and not others, most sins. He HAD/HAS TO judge ALL sins. Rev. 20:11-15 tells us that God can and does keep a record and an account of trespasses until settled. The OT trespasses had to be stored up until payment was made and God was able to do just that. GOD COULD NOT FORGET ONE, NOT ONE TRESPASS!
The second point is related to the first and makes the important point that God Himself is TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY JUST and NOT ONE THING will pass by His attention or will be lost concerning our trespasses. The first point speaks to His ability, the second HIS NATURE of being TOTALLY and COMPLETELY JUST. God is FAIR. He has NEVER overlooked or ignored anyone’s sin. EVERY act is dealt with. And, every act will receive FULL JUDGEMENT and bring the FULL consequences/punishment according God’s Law. The Bible tells us that He is NOT a respecter of persons. We will be judged for our acts, every one of them. If God overlooked ONE sin He would lose His standing of being Just If He does not deal with each sin completely and fully He would not qualify as being Just. Judgment had/has to be executed. Judgment and FULL PUNISHMENT was LITERALLY AND ACTUALLY served and executed on Christ. FULL and COMPLETE payment for our sins occurred on the cross. This is why the observation that Dr. Scofield makes sense to me. The sins prior to Christ’s coming had to be held in the balance awaiting judgment. THIS ALSO MAKES SENSE WHEN CORROLATING this thought with Heb. 9:26. It tells us that He entered ONCE in the end of the ages to put away sin, having the tone of COMPLETENESS! What did He say at the end on the cross…”It is FINISHED”. READ Heb. 9:24-9
Think about this. All of the sins, by ALL of the people/mankind, intent as well as act, THROUGHOUT ALL OF THE AGES! GOD WOULD HAVE TO BE COMPLETE ON THIS MATTER in order to be JUST! It is also important to remember that connected with a transgression is not only the act of that transgression, but also the intent and the details of how it was carried out. In other words, each transgression actually had its own details and therefore made it unique unto itself. Many transgressions are similar, but no two identical. Each transgression had to be paid for in FULL, the act, details and the intent. The understanding here is that Christ paid of each one of our sins specifically. This is an important point. He did not pay for sins in general. He pain for your sins and my sins fully and completely, including ALL the details. In doing so, in coming to Christ, our sins really are taken away. He really has made us completely free.
Heb. 9:15-22 (READ) tells us that He, Christ, is the mediator of the New Testament. The New Testament is also referred to as the New Covenant. However, the word testament also has the meaning of a will, as in last will and testament. If this is a record of the will left to us for a description of our inheritance, do we know what is left to us/you? Do we know what we have inherited?? We see this in his explanation of his use of the term New Testament in 9:15-18 (READ). IN ESSENCE, this IS HIS WILL TO US! Are we claiming our inheritance? Think about it…
READ Heb. 10:1-18
We usually make a covenant with God when we first come to Him. We make a Covenant with Him saying, “I am sorry, NOW I am going to live my life for you.”. How many have broken that covenant? So we again make a new covenant with Him…Now I really mean it, I mean it, I won’t do that again. The effort and commitment to change with God’s help is good and appropriate. But, the commitment that now I will make my life right is weak being based on our/my ability and is probably doomed to fail. This causes us extreme frustration in OUR attempt to be a Christian and often because of our inability to establish the Christian life many give up in frustration being honest with ourselves saying this way of life is too hard for me. “I give up, it didn’t work, I can’t do it.” Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever thought this?
It is important to work at getting a handle on doing right or doing the right things, but none of these commitments have any bearing on your salvation. Salvation is a change of heart, but we are TOTALLY DEPENDANT UPON GOD to give us the POWER to establish the Christian life. Rom. 8:1-17 This change comes with relationship. And, He has promised to help us. It is the RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ONE who has paid the price for our sin that establishes the Christian lifestyle. This is why the writer of the Hebrews calls us into the PRESENCE of God. This is the ONLY thing that will make a lasting difference.
Others also outside the Church realize that they couldn’t make the grade of the Christian life so they have no interest in even coming our way. They are being honest with themselves. This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! Souls hang in the balance here. They get the impression that BEING A GOOD CHRISTIAN is what it takes to be a Christian, thinking as long as they can keep a certain standard they will make it. Many live in bondage and frustration trying to make the Christian life happen by their own self effort and eventually fail because they did not depend on God’s power, resting in the work that Christ has already done.
The message in the book of Hebrews is clear. We cannot satisfy the payment of our sin debt by self effort. The Old Testament Law proved this point. After coming to Christ the message is the same. We do not earn favor and standing with God by being a better than average Christian. God is completely pleased with us because of Christ. His message after salvation is still Christ and His work on the Cross. It is “the simple Gospel” that works. It works in coming to Christ. And, it is completely functional after coming to Christ. The “Simple Gospel” continues to allow us FULL and COMPLETE access into the Presence of God AT ALL TIMES. “The Simple Gospel” works like nothing else. As a matter of fact it was/is the only thing that will work. Our service to Christ truly should be an act of worship and not the keeping of a requirement of a certain religious belief or standard. These Hebrew Christians were making the mistake of going back under the bondage of the Law attempting to succeed using a failed system. The Writer of the Hebrews tells them not to give up the freedom that they began with. Their standing with Christ was already secure and will not change. It is permanent and unshakable. A relationship with God on this basis will last throughout ETERNITY.
Part of the purpose of the OT law and rituals was that they would not miss Christ when it arrived.
Heb. 10:17-8 (READ) sums up the work of GRACE vs. LAW as seen in the lifestyle of Able vs. Cain. IT IS COMPLETELY FINISHED! We end up in 10:19 right where the writer of the Hebrews brought us to at the end of chapter 4. He is inviting us to live a BOLD life, living free from bondage in the PRESENCE of God. Our freedom will be a BOLD statement to those around us. We can stand in the presence of God because Christ has made us fit to be there. For the believer, that will NEVER change.
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