Heb 9:15-22 Certainty and Hope
Notes
Transcript
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.
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.”
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.
Benjamin Franklin said that “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” When I thought about this quote I didn’t realize that this Tuesday is the final day to file for federal taxes. Even though there are places in this world where there is no income tax, there is no place in this world where you can escape from death.
Death is certain and unavoidable. Ecclesiastes 7:15 (NET) says “During the days of my fleeting life I have seen both of these things: Sometimes a righteous person dies prematurely in spite of his righteousness, and sometimes a wicked person lives long in spite of his evil deeds.”
Then Ecclesiastes 9:1-3 (NET) says “So I reflected on all this, attempting to clear it all up. I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God; whether a person will be loved or hated— no one knows what lies ahead. 9:2 Everyone shares the same fate— the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, … What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; …. the same fate awaits everyone… they die.”
Furthermore, we don’t know when we will face death, it could be at an older age or at a young age, and it could be somewhat expected or unexpected. I remember when I was young something happened in my hometown. There was a young woman, about my age now, who was riding slowly her bike when suddenly something broke in her bike and she fell headfirst, the way she fell caused her to break her neck and she died instantly.
We might die young or old, but it is certain we will face death one day or another. If you know and trust in Jesus, there is no fear of death. Furthermore, there is not only certainty in death but there is also hope in Christ.
The verses we are going to study today give us both hope and certainty of God’s promises, which are grounded in the death of Jesus, so if we are attached, and trusting in Jesus, we can face death with hope and certainty of an inheritance promised by God.
The author of Hebrews starts this section by telling us that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant. However, the author had already told us several times in chapters 7 and 8 that Jesus is the guarantor and mediator of the New Covenant. At the beginning of chapter 9, the author described the Old Covenant and its rules and regulations of worship. Then in the previous 4 verses that we studied last week, we saw four amazing promises of the New Covenant. First, Jesus is our High Priest. Second, the New Covenant has better promises. Third, Jesus entered once in the perfect tent. Fourth, Jesus’ blood is so powerful it provides eternal redemption and purifies our conscience.
Then in V15-22, the author continues in this description of amazing truths about the New Covenant. But here in these verses, instead of discussing the New Covenant's better promises, the author compares the Covenant's amazing realities with “last will or testament”.
Just a quick disclaimer, the words “will” and “covenant” while two different words and meanings in English, in Greek are the same word "diatheke". It is only by its context that one will be able to distinguish the meaning. Not all New Testament scholars will agree with the take that I am taking in these verses, however, most English translations translate diathekein verses 16 and 17 as “will” and not covenant, but some translate it as a covenant. However, it is difficult to understand, and it requires an elaborate construction to interpret v16,17 if they are not translated as will or testament. Because of all that I agree with the majority of English translations of v16 and 17 of the word “diatheke"as a reference to “will” or testament rather than covenant.
I’m sure that you all know what a last will is, but just as a reminder, and so there is no doubt of what we are talking about, let’s define it. A dictionary defines it as “A last will and testament, a legal document that communicates a person's final wishes pertaining to their assets. It provides specific instructions about what to do with their possessions after death.”
If you take your pen and circle every time you find the word death or blood in these verses you will find that every verse makes at least one reference to blood or death. It makes sense because “an inheritance” will only be in effect when the person dies. However, we are not talking here about earthly inheritance, but eternal inheritance. This idea of eternal inheritance is what the author starts in v 15.
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.
Here the author starts by concluding the previous section by saying that because of all the greater promises and advantages of the New Covenant, Jesus is the mediator of a New Covenant. It is because Jesus is our High Priest that we may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Also, this verse, qualifies those that will receive the eternal inheritance, it is not those that reject and refuse Christ, but those who are called. Those that hear Jesus’ voice and follow Him.
This reminds me of this passage in John 10:22-30
24 the Jews gathered around him [Jesus] and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
Many today don’t like these words from Jesus, but even when Jesus said these words the Jews pick up stones to kill Him. With Jesus there is no middle ground. You are either for Him or against Him. You will love Him and want to spend eternity with Him, or you will hate Him and will want Jesus far away from your life. In which camp are you? What is in your heart? love for Jesus or love for your own life and self?
Those that love Jesus are those who are called, those that hear his voice and follow him. This is much more than just one time saying the sinner’s prayer, or one time coming forward to the altar. It is much more than coming to church once in a while. It is following Jesus for the rest of your life. It is seeing how great a sinner you are, and how great a Savior He is. It is a willingness to lay your life down in order to follow Jesus. It is a love for Jesus that is greater than everything else in your life. It is a desire to just be with Jesus for eternity.
If this describes you, then you are the ones who will receive the promised eternal inheritance. Before we consider the amazing truth of this eternal inheritance, here God makes it clear in the rest of verse 15 why we can receive this eternal inheritance.
15b since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
The second part of v15 tells us again a truth that most of us are very used to. There is redemption because when Jesus died He took our sins upon the cross; He paid the price that we deserve and gave us His righteousness.
Again this is the most basic truth for the Christian faith, but if we miss this we will miss everything. It is like creating a beautiful car and forgetting to put in the engine. It is thinking that you are married while having no spouse. It is building a house on the sand with no foundation.
This truth is so simple that a small child can understand and at the same time, it is so deep that we could spend our whole lives meditating upon it without exhausting the understanding of it. However, has this truth become so familiar that you have lost your first love for Jesus? The business of life and worries, troubles of each day are they in your life like thorns that are choking up your faith? Are you in your Christian walk where you would like to be? Do you need to recommit your life to follow Jesus? It is no shame to admit the need to redirect your life and walk with Jesus. It is better to repent than to continue lukewarm, because you know what will happen to those who are lukewarm, they will be spit out.
If you are in this place, here is what I encourage you to do this week. Watch again the movie The Passion of the Christ and as you watch remember each blow that Jesus took is because of you, because of our sin. The tremendous pain, suffering, and death, all of it was because of you, not someone else, it was your sin that held Him on the cross.
This should cause all of us to be sorrowful… … … and at the same time joyous… … … because of Easter… …. … because He rose from the dead…. …. …. because He is Alive… … … because all our sin was forgiven…. … … Because of His death… … … there is redemption… … … forgiveness… … … and adoption.
But there is even more, because of Jesus' death we will receive an eternal inheritance. Beyond what we already have today, God living within us, His word implanted in our hearts, the forgiveness of sin. We have an eternal inheritance. We may pause here and ask what is this eternal inheritance?
First, let’s look at the other times in the Bible eternal inheritance is mentioned. Ephesians 1:11
“11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”
Colossians 3:23-24 “23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
1 Peter is a passage that gives us a little more description of our eternal inheritance, it says that our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. There is a whole sermon just on these words, but let me try to give a very brief overview of this description of our inheritance.
First, it says that it is imperishable. What we have in Christ is not subject to corruption or decay. Everything on earth is in the process of perishing, decaying, rusting, or falling apart. Our treasure in heaven will never perish away, but will last forever.
Second, it is undefiled. What we have in Christ is free from anything that would deform, debase, or degrade. Nothing on earth is perfect. Even the most beautiful things in this world are flawed; if we look closely enough, we can always find an imperfection. But Christ is truly perfect. He is "holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26), and our inheritance in Him is also holy, blameless, exalted, and pure. No earthly corruption or weakness can touch the eternal inheritance that God has given and will grant us.
Third, it is unfading. Everything in this creation seems to fade away, the brightest colors eventually fade, and valuable things might depreciate. But our inheritance will never depreciate, its glorious intensity will never diminish.
Last, our inheritance is reserved. What we have in Christ is being "kept" in heaven for us. Your crown of glory has your name on it. Although we enjoy many blessings as children of God here on earth, our true inheritance—our true home—is reserved for us in heaven. Like Abraham, we are "looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). The Holy Spirit guarantees that we will receive eternal life in the world to come (2 Corinthians 1:22). In fact, "when you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance" (Ephesians 1:13–14).
All of these glorious truths are realities that we will experience because of Christ. Jesus also said in John 10:32 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”
We could summarize the eternal inheritance as the sum total of all God has promised us in salvation. We could say it is the Kingdom of God, the new heavens and new earth, dwelling with God forever and ever, enjoying Him and His renewed creation, perfectly obeying and loving God.
These are amazing promises, this truth should encourage us to have the energy and strength, and hope we need to live these short years we have on this earth. Of all peoples, we should be the most hopeful ones, because of our hope to receive this eternal inheritance.
As the author of Hebrews just made reference to this amazing eternal inheritance, he then makes this comparison of the old and new covenant in relation to a last will.
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.
V16-17 states that a last will or testament will only be in effect after death. If you have made your own will, you know that it will only be in effect once you die, after you die it is certain that your testament will be established. What is interesting is that all of the plans must be made while you are alive.
While God made the plans even before the world was created. Eph 1:3-4 says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Notice here it says “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” Before the world was created God in a sense wrote His will.
Then when Jesus became a man, He live the life we could not live and died in our place, He executed and establish the New Covenant. After three days He rose from the dead as the executor of His will. The New Covenant is dependent on the death of Jesus, or we could say they are dependent on the blood of Jesus.
Therefore, the new covenant was inaugurated with Jesus’ blood. The author says so by implication in v18, as he turns to compare it to the Old Covenant.
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.”
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.
From v 18-22, the author turns back to the Old Covenant, because this was a matter of great importance to the first readers. The author here is pointing out that in the same manner, the Old Covenant was also inaugurated by blood, or by death. Everything, Tabernacle and everything in it and the people had to be consecrated, covered by the blood.
This description should have caused the first readers to recognize that the earthly replica, the Tabernacle, was inferior because it was built by man and had to be purified by an imperfect and insufficient blood of animals and that all the blood in the Old Covenant was pointing forward to the perfect blood of the lamb of God, Jesus.
Here the author is making reference to Exodus 24 and Numbers 19. In Exodus 24:8 says 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Now note how similar this is to the words of Jesus when He instituted the Lord’s Supper.
Matt 26:26-29 26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Moses said “Behold the blood of the covenant” and Jesus said “this is my blood of the covenant” The Old Covenant was pointing forward to the blood that could forgive sins. It says “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
We know that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Heb 10:4) Thus anyone from the beginning of time to the end of time will be forgiven only through the blood of Jesus. The believers from before Christ came were saved by Jesus’ blood by faith that God was going to provide a way to forgive them, while we look back in time when Jesus did take our sins upon the cross.
It is because of Jesus’ death that those who are called, the sheep that hear His voice and follow Him, will receive an eternal inheritance. However, as we look at these verses and the amazing truth in v15, these final verses might seem pointless to us.
After talking about the great promises of eternal inheritance in v 15 it might seem counter-intuitive for the author of Hebrews to go on from v 16-22 comparing the New Covenant with the Old in relation to a last will. We might ask, why is God bringing this comparison?
As I was pondering this question, I saw something that I haven’t seen before. Let’s imagine for a second that you have a rich cousin. You are visiting him. The two of you are out walking around his property when he tells you that you are the closest thing he has to a brother/sister because he has no children. Because of that, he says that after he dies, he is going to leave you a substantial portion of his possessions.
You are surprised and you continue your talk with him about some of this, but the conversation moves to other topics before returning to his home. Upon entering the house, he asks you to come to his office. As you entered the office you are very surprised to see his lawyer and a copy of his will on your cousin’s desk. He then asks if you would be the witness for him as he signs his will for his lawyer. You are shocked after this interaction, because now you know for certainty that he was not just talking, he was being serious.
Later on, in future conversations with your cousin, he tells you that he has a terminal illness. Sadly, after a short year he passes away. You are devastated because your cousin was really close to you. Because of his death you have certainty of receiving the inheritance. However, you have no hope because you miss him dearly and there is nothing you can do to bring him back.
These two “certainty and hope” is what we see in these verses that we were studying today. There is the certainty of receiving the eternal inheritance that God has promised. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”
But there is something even greater. If your eyes were on the possessions of your cousin you didn’t really love him, you loved the gifts, not the giver. But if you truly loved him you would give it all just to have your cousin back.
As true followers of Christ, the eternal inheritance that we will receive with certainty is going to be so amazing, nothing in this world will compare. However, even though this inheritance is so amazing it will not compare with the joy, love, peace, and fulfillment is going to be to just be with Jesus, to see Him as He is.
There is certainty in the promises, but the hope of eternal dwelling in God’s presence is far greater. We will be more than willing to give up everything, even the new heavens and new earth, if it means just being in His presence for eternity.
As we will close by singing the song Only a Holy God take the time to ponder how amazing, righteous and holy is our God.