Hebrews 9 - Jesus Is The Better Sacrifice

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Hope that you're having a good week.

This is actually my second time recording this particular episode, because the first time I did it, the file didn't quite save correctly. And so I'm back at it again. The Lord knew that previous attempt.

It was terrible. I was spitting heresy. I might not even be saved after the last one.

But for this one, I'm back in the ministry. All joking aside, we've been going through the Book of Hebrews, and without going into all of the background, this is the author writing to some people that are wondering, is jesus like it?

Is He worth us undergoing persecution and alienation and not having like all of the same family and friends and people that we used to worship with back in Judaism? And is He worth leaving all of that behind?

And the author has been emphatically saying, absolutely. And he's been going through kind of chapters.

He touched on it a little bit in Chapter 4, and then intermittently all the way through, been looking at the Old testament sacrificial system with its priests and sacrifices and places of worship and saying how jesus is the greatest fulfillment of

all of those things. And how even looking at the earthly ministry that is encompassed in all of the sacrifices going to the temple or way back in the day going back to the tabernacle, how it was all a picture of the heavenly tabernacle, the heavenly

presence in court of God, and how jesus when he died on the cross for our sins, he actually took his sacrifice to the father himself in the actual heavenly temple. And so, why would we be satisfied with the shadow, with the picture of what jesus did

in full for us? So, that's what we've been looking at.

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Earthly Tabernacle

Let's dive back in to Hebrews 9 and verse number one.

Now, the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary, just like the heavenly one did and that God had told moses, hey, I'm showing you like what this heavenly tabernacle, what this heavenly court looks like.

I want you to make a copy of it with some earthly things. Verse number two, for a tabernacle was set up and in the first room, which is called the holy place where the lamp stand, the table and the presentation loaves.

And we've talked about those things before when we went through the Book of Leviticus. It's talked about in a little more detail as well in Exodus, and I'm sure rehashed a little bit in Deuteronomy as well.

We talked about those presentation loaves a good bit and how that was like a reminder that the children of Israel were always like in front of God, in front of his presence, and how David, when he had come through with some of his men, he was on the

run and he needed something to eat, that he was given some of those presentation loaves. And we looked at jesus' interaction.

I believe that was in Mark Chapter 2, might have been the beginning of Mark Chapter 3, where jesus was interacting with the pharisees and talking about that. So we know kind of some of these things.

these are the items that are in the earthly sanctuary, in the earthly tabernacle or at this point, the temple. Verse number 3, behind the second curtain was a tent called the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of holies, you might also hear it called.

It had the gold altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered with gold on all sides and which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron's staff that budded, that was a miracle that took place, and the tablets of the Covenant, what we would

know as the Ten Commandments. The cherubim of glory were above the Ark, overshadowing the mercy scene. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now.

Those cherubim, I want you to get out of your head, chubby babies with bows and arrows because that's what I always think of.

I know the cherubim were, I preached on this in either my sermon on genesis 1 and 2 or my sermon on genesis 3, and I can't recall right off hand which one it was.

When you think about in Daniel and Ezekiel, the creatures and in the Book of Revelation, the creatures that are like multi-faceted amalgamations.

So it's got like face of a lion, hair of a woman, wings like an eagle, body of an ox, like that kind of thing. That was what people back in the Ancient Near East, that's kind of how they described the cherubim.

It was their best whatever at describing these spiritual beings that were so much, they were so different than any sort of earthly thing.

And so they use like descriptions to talk about, you know, the strength and boldness that you would have from a lion, the beauty that you would have from a woman, and even her hair.

You would have the strength of an ox, and the, for lack of a better term, like teleports ability of the flying ability of an eagle.

And so they would just say like, hey, here's our like best way of being able to describe with limited vocabulary what these creatures are like.

And so there were cherubim that were stationed over the mercy seat, which as in God's own actual presence in the heavenly court, you do have those angels that are circling him night and day, singing, you know, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God

Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory, all that kind of stuff. So verse number six, with these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly performing their ministry.

So that's where they go in, they sacrifice on the altar, they put the new presentation loaves, the showbread, the loaves of the presence in the presence of that first room, not the Holy of holies, but the first one.

Verse number seven, but the high priest alone enters the second room, not just anyone can enter it, just the high priest.

And he does that only once a year and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

So here, what's being stated is God's presence, like where God was that glory cloud that what's called the Shekinah Glory hovering over the mercy seat.

It was such a holy place that the high priest could only come in once a year, and he had to come in like holy and pure, having sacrificed for his own sins and for the sins of the people.

He could never come in without life having been given to pay for the sins of the people.

So verse number 8, the Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing. That is, there is not free and open access to the Lord at this time.

Verse number 9, this is a symbol for the present time. During which, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshipper's conscience.

He's saying, the people right now, so we know this is like pre-80s, 70s when the temple was destroyed.

He says, the people that are entering in and they're giving, you know, their thanks offering, they're giving their grain offering, they're bringing a sin offering or a burnt offering or a guilt offering.

As they're doing these things, it can't like cleanse them from the inside, because if it could completely cleanse them, then they could enter into God's presence. But he says, there's something different.

There's something that is not yet complete with the old covenant, with the Old testament way of interacting with God. And it's because it was pointing to something better.

Verse number 10, they are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

So I don't remember if I mentioned this the past two days, but I'll mention it now because it's directly tied to verse 10.

sometimes Christians have been accused of like, okay, well, you guys say that like we need to follow this one verse in Leviticus that has to do with like our sexual interactions with others.

But yet you're ignoring like, you know, all of these things around it of do you eat shellfish? Okay, well, then why can you say that there is this standard that is set for our behavior when you don't go by all of the rules set in the Old testament?

The answer is because the New testament gives us the metric by which we determine, okay, what was Old testament law and what is New testament, if you will, law, that law of love or law of grace that Paul sometimes mentions.

And the answer is whatever is restated in the New testament for the church, for the people of God during this time is something that we do bring over.

And the things that had to do with food and ritual washing and all of the things that we learned about in Leviticus, those were things that we no longer have to perform.

Those are things that we no longer have to worry about because it was in a sense like God's way of taking care of His people, of setting them apart, of marking them as different to the world around them in every possible way.

And that He would bring Christ through that group of people.

But because we are now in this new order, we don't have to worry about all of those things that the Jewish people once upon a time did have to worry about and many of them that still do that have not accepted Christ.

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Christ Our High Priest

Verse number 11, But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come.

In the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered the most holy place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

So here, jesus entered into not the earthly tabernacle, not the earthly holy of holies.

He entered the real tabernacle, the heavenly one, the actual place where God's presence fully dwelled, not just where part of the Lord was manifested in that shekinah glory, but jesus actually entered into God's full presence, and he didn't come

bearing like, hey, God, here's the day of atonement, and I'm bringing the blood of this goat. Will you forgive people? No, no, no.

God himself, jesus Christ, brought his own blood, blood that poured from his hands and his feet and his side and his back and his head, and he brought that precious blood into the tabernacle of God.

And just as God told the children of Israel, hey, when you bring that life blood, that life essence into the earthly tabernacle, that your sins will be atoned for, they will be covered over.

And if that was true for the blood of goats and bulls, that with those sacrifice, the high priest could enter into the Holy of holies, how much more if we have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, if the blood of Christ has been sprinkled on our

souls, how much more do we have access to God? But if the blood of a goat could get the high priest into the Holy of holies, what do you think the blood of Christ can do for you to get you into the presence of God both now and forever?

No wonder the author told us in chapter 4 that we can enter and we can come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in time of need because of what jesus has done. I also want to note verse number 12. Contrast some groups.

He entered the most holy place once for all time. jesus is not continually being sacrificed every time that we observe the Lord's Supper. That's not what scripture says.

He says it is once for all time. His sacrifice was one and done. We don't have to re-crucify him instead what he has accomplished is one and done.

And I'm so grateful for that. That I don't have to worry about like having to make sure that I apply some more of jesus' payment every single time in my life.

But if I am truly a child of God and I have been bought by his blood and I've been adopted into his family, that is a once and for all thing that has been done. It has been accomplished.

And even as we would read in ephesians 1 and Revelation chapter, oh, what is it, 11 or 12, we would read that that work of God has been intentioned and established from the foundation of the world.

That that's when our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life and that he died to save us and that that cannot be undone. And I'm so grateful for that.

Verse number 13, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkling those who are defiled sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself

without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God? But here, there's the Trinity mentioned again that the Son gave his life, he shed his blood, and the eternal Spirit brought that sacrifice to the

Heavenly Father. And in that, all three members of the Trinity are at work in our salvation.

That the Father planned it, the Son accomplished it, and the Spirit applied it to our lives, that the Son shed his blood, the Spirit brought that offering to the Father, and the Father accepted it in full.

And I love that here it mentions that the Spirit is eternal. The Spirit wasn't created either, but just as the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Spirit is eternal.

And we always want to make sure that we think about the Godhead, the Trinity in the correct way. And we do that through looking at how Scripture describes each of these members of our one God, our triune God, as the phrases.

jesus offered himself without blemish to God. Some people today have tried to phrase, frame jesus as a racist, or have tried to frame jesus as being like mistaken, or sometimes, you know, having lost his temper.

But in everything jesus did, he was right and he was good. He doesn't always play by our rules, but he always plays by the absolute moral law of God. And we ought to recognize that jesus is perfect and he never sinned.

And that is why he was our sinless substitute, that just as the bulls and goats and all of those things had to be without blemish and perfect. So jesus was morally without blemish and perfect in every way.

And I love that it says he will cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God.

What the Old testament sacrifices couldn't do, they couldn't cleanse your heart, they couldn't cleanse your soul, your conscience, the inside of you was still fallen.

And through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are not just like, it's not just that our slate is clean, but it is that our heart, our inside is now positioned toward God to serve him.

And that it has been cleansed from dead works, that we're no longer relying on our own righteousness to give us a relationship with God, we're relying on the righteousness of Christ.

It is not that we are slaves to our old sinful desires and doing the dead works of the flesh, but now we can focus on, as Paul would tell us in Romans 6, now we can yield our instruments as servants to righteousness and not to unrighteousness

anymore. I need to hasten on a little bit, but Christ has appeared, verse, oh, no, no, no, I'm down at verse 15.

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New Covenant Inheritance

Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

That is, we committed the sins in the first covenant, the redemption price has been paid, and now jesus not only satisfied the commands of the first covenant and satisfied the demands for a death, that a life would be given in place of our lives.

Not only did that happen, but now jesus made a new covenant, one that wasn't transactional, one that wasn't, okay, Israel, you do this and God will do this.

Now, it is God has accomplished it all, and we are the ones that are called, we who have accepted Christ, and we received the promise of an eternal inheritance.

And what a joy that that is, that it's not the promise of an eternal inheritance, if we are good enough, or if we do enough good works. Instead, it is his promise that gives us that eternal life and eternal inheritance.

Verse number 16, Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established. That is, you can't get any money, you can't get any of the benefits of someone from a will, unless they have died.

And so because jesus died, then we reap all the benefits of his will, which when you think back to his words on the cross, Father, forgive them, because they don't know what they're doing.

You think about his words, to telestai, it is finished, it is paid in full, the work of redemption is completed. All of that is true. Verse 17, for a will is valid only when people die, since it's never in effect while the one who made it is living.

That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.

And we read about that in the dedication of the temple, where moses sprinkled all of the different things, all of the different items and the rooms and the priests and the levites, and they had to stay there for seven days.

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Blood for Forgiveness

Verse 19, for when every command had been proclaimed by moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people saying, this is

the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you. In the same way, he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the articles of worship with blood.

According to the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. There has to be life given for sin because sin is death. The wages of sin is death.

And for justice to happen, where there was sin, there needs to be death completely. Not just partial, it's not that jesus could give us like an IV drip of his blood, but he had to die. And it couldn't just be by like disease.

It would be that he gave his life as a sacrifice, that it was taken from him, if you will. And I say that not in the sense we know that jesus said, I laid down my life, no man takes it from me.

That's, I don't mean it as in it was robbed from him, but as in people took his life versus just an animal killing him. That would not have sufficed. It had to be justice.

All of those types of things would definitely encourage. Man, there's a great book by David Allen, who's a professor at midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

I want to say his book's titled like The Extent of the Atonement or something like that, and would encourage you to read that book. Verse number 23.

Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices. So, because all of the earthly tabernacle, temple, sanctuary things, because those were all imperfect, they had to be sanctified.

He says, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. He says, you could put, you know, goat's blood or whatever on an earthly tabernacle, but what do you put in the heavenly tabernacle?

And it's the blood of Christ, obviously. Verse 24, for Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands, only a model of the true one, but into heaven itself so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us.

I love, I'm not going to spend much time on it. I think I did mention this in the last episode, that God was the maker of the heavenly sanctuary. And what a cool thought that it was a sanctuary not made with hands.

Verse 25, he did not do this to offer himself many times as the High priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another, otherwise he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world.

But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. I love that. It's not just the covering over of sin now, now it's the complete removal of sin.

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Christʼs Second Coming

Verse 27, And just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this judgment, so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for

him. I want to mention first number 27, just as it is appointed for people to die once and after this judgment. I heard some people occasionally make some weird statements about that. This is A for like 99.99999% of situations true.

We know that Elijah and Enoch are both mentioned as having not died because God took them up to heaven. So for those people, they did not die once.

And you think of the different people that were raised, the widow's son that Elisha raised from the dead. You can think about Eutychus that Paul raised from the dead after he had preached a long sermon. Eutychus fell out of a window, died.

Paul went and raised him up again from the dead. Those that jesus raised from the dead like Jairus' daughter, Lazarus, some of those that they died twice. But as a general statement, definitely true.

We die one time. This is contra karma or reincarnation or different beliefs like that, that we just die once. You don't come back as a butterfly.

You're not born into a new human body. You die once. And after that, God judges you based on what you have done with Christ.

And then verse 28. So Christ, he died one time. And when he comes again, he's not coming to die for our sins again.

Instead, he's bringing the salvation to those that are left on earth at that time. And I love that he brings salvation to those who are waiting for him.

May we be those that are waiting for our high priest to return from the heavenly temple, that we may rejoice and reign with him serving in his priesthood, even as we would read about in Revelation 4 and 5. Well, thank you for tuning in today.

Today was honestly really rich. This is one of those just doctrinally meaty sections of scripture. But I hope it's been an encouragement to you just to think about like who jesus is and what he has accomplished for us.

Because I don't want to leave off of a great song. I actually don't remember if I mentioned like a couple days ago, the song Before the Throne of God Above, I have a strong and perfect plea.

A great high priest whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands. My name is written on his heart.

I know that while in heavenly stands, no tongue can bend me thence to part. And love that. And if I think of any other songs, I'll throw those in the show notes for you.

But thanks for tuning in today. Rejoice in the fact that you have an everlasting high priest who gives a perfect sacrifice once and for all time, that you are forgiven once and for all through the blood of Christ. And may we wait for him.

May we wait patiently for him. May we wait worshipfully for him to return from heaven. Thanks for tuning in.

Have a great day.