Hebrews Lesson 5

Today’s Passages: Heb. 8-10:18.

I would think it would be safe to say that for most Christians today - as glorious and mysterious as the gospel is, taking it at face value is sufficient. God sent his Son, Jesus, to become a man, live a perfect life, teach us about the Kingdom of God, and then he was crucified, died and was buried. This happened according to God’s plan. On the third day, he rose from the grave, having defeated death, and after a period of time appearing to his disciples, he ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father. Through faith in Jesus, believers have their sins forgiven, are filled with Holy Spirit to instruct, protect and guide us, and we now live to please God by following His commands.

The gospel, the Good News, is simple in its message of salvation through faith, and at the same time difficult to fully understand and grasp. But I would venture to say that most Christians today are ok with the questions - “as long as I believe and my sins are forgiven - how this all works can remain fuzzy.”

I know I am making a vast generalization - probably an unfair one - but the perception I get is that quiet a few Christians are content with their understanding of their faith being limited to John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Of course, this creates uncertainty and confusion when unbelievers ask tough questions - when the simple response of “you just have to have faith” is not sufficient. This may be why it is difficult for your average Christian today to engage in faith discussions with unbelievers - what if I don’t have an answer to their questions?

The Book of Hebrews is challenging for us modern, gentile believers - as we acknowledged last week. But for a first Century Jew, a descendant of Abraham, raised in the Mosaic Law, instructed in Torah, whose religious life had been centered around Temple worship - fuzzy details would not do. The gospel had to somehow fit into the overall narrative of their people. Jesus as Lord appeared to be a radical departure from the Shema, the daily morning and evening prayer which every Jew recited: “"Hear, O Israel: YHVH is our God, YHVH is one.”

Had the God of Israel changed His mind? Has He done away with everything they knew and now introduced a whole new “will of God”?

The writer of Hebrews is determined to reconcile the new with the old so that these Hebrew Christians can confidentially continue to persevere in the the way of Christ.

So I want to start our lesson with 8:5. The writer is referring to what the Jews were very familiar with, the priests who served in Tabernacle (or Tent) in the earliest part of Israel’s history, and the Temple, which replaced the Tabernacle during the reign of King Solomon.

Hebrews 8:5 ESV

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”

From BibleRef.com

A major point made in the book of Hebrews is that God's plan to save mankind through Jesus Christ is not a "change" in His will. Rather, this has been the intent of God all along. As support for that idea, the writer has already pointed out places in the Old Testament where God made promises which foretell the replacement of the Levitical law with a better covenant. Prior verses hinted at the idea of God using the laws given to Moses as symbols of what was to come. This verse (8:5) makes that claim directly. The writer cites…

Exodus 25:40 “And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.”

which is similar to Exodus 25:9 “Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.”

where Moses is told that he is to follow the "pattern" given to him by God. This is a theme often explored in the Bible, that God will use events and objects in order to symbolize His plan of salvation. Those patterns, often called "types," become useful as explanations of God's will. Two potent examples come from Israel's own history. One is the events of the first Passover, which symbolized mankind's salvation through faith in the sacrifice of Christ (Exodus 12:1–28). Another is the incident with the bronze serpent, which again symbolized salvation rooted in faith, as well as providing a shadowy reference to Jesus' crucifixion Numbers 21:4–9. In the book of Hebrews, the writer argues that all of the Old Covenant rituals and objects are meant to be shadows of the "real" plan of God. That plan is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

This got me thinking to how we raise our children and teach what is necessary for them to hopefully grow into full adulthood. We don’t sit them down at a young age and say “this is what it means to be a fully functioning, responsible, healthy adult. Take notes, we are going to cover bill paying, good work ethic, healthy eating, importance of telling the truth and then we will take a lunch break before we reconvene this afternoon.

No, we use patterns, or types, to teach life lessons that will one day, hopefully, be fully realized in their skills, knowledge and character. Whether it is letting them play with a toy kitchen with plastic food, or a Bob the Builder toolbelt, or reading to them a nursery rhyme, or certain expectations we try to instill in them - we do so with purpose greater than the pattern or type we employ. I remember trying to instill in my children the importance of being responsible and working with others. When they joined a sports team (peewee soccer or baseball) - and it turned out to be something they did not particularly enjoy - I would tell them, “you are part of a team, you have a responsibility, you can’t quit.” Not saying that it worked particularly well with my kids, but it was not about the sport they were playing. I was just using a pattern or type of scenario that would teach them a valuable lesson. You could say “this sport you are playing is a shadow of things to come.”

None of us have been to heaven, but I wonder how much of this world is a shadow of things to come. With the fall of humankind following the entrance of sin, the spiritual and natural were separated. We do not the see the full picture. How much of life here is patterned after a greater reality yet to be realized?

Moses was shown a pattern, or type, of tabernacle to follow - based on a heavenly tabernacle not made by human hands. Moses was given detailed instructions on how the Tabernacle was to be constructed. Artisans and skilled workers were to follow the instructions to a T. This was not the Pastor Pettit Remodel project - where you do the best you can and fill the rest in with caulk. No - the construction of the Tabernacle was to be precise, orderly, fashioned with excellence. This was where God’s presence would abide with his people.

For Hebrews 8 to make sense, we should probably look at a diagram of the Tabernacle and how it operated.

The Tabernacle

The tabernacle of Moses was the temporary place of worship that the Israelites built according to God’s specifications while wandering the desert and used until King Solomon built a temple. The word tabernacle is a translation of the Hebrew mishkan, which means “dwelling-place.” The overall shape of the tabernacle of Moses followed traditional structures of the time. It consisted of an outer court, approximately seventy-five feet wide by one hundred and fifty feet long, with a fifteen-foot by forty-five-foot structure in the back (Exodus 27:9–19). The court walls consisted of linen curtains attached by bronze hooks to a series of pillars. The pillars were supported on the bottom by bronze sockets and possibly held in place with rope that attached to bronze rings. The gate, always facing east, was about thirty feet of blue, purple, and scarlet woven into a curtain of linen. The altar of burnt offering and the bronze laver that the priests purified themselves in sat in the courtyard. The actual tabernacle of Moses sat in the back of the courtyard (Exodus 26). The sides and back were made of gold-covered acacia boards, about twenty-eight inches wide and fifteen feet high. Each board had two tenons, projections, which fit into silver sockets. Gold rings held five bars that ran the length of the boards, holding them tight. The east side was comprised of five pillars covered with a screen similar to that for the courtyard. The tent was divided into two rooms: the Holy Place, where the table of showbread, the golden lampstand, and the altar of incense sat; and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. The rooms were separated by a veil, similar to the entry screen, embroidered with cherubim and hung from four gold-covered acacia posts by gold clasps. The exact shape of the tabernacle of Moses is unclear. It may have been a room with a slant-sided cover, somewhat like a rain fly. We do know it was covered in layers: fine linen, a fabric made of goat’s hair, a covering of rams’ skins, and a final layer of an undetermined, waterproof hide. The linen covered the entire tent, the panels connected by latching loops into gold clasps. The curtain of goat’s hair was connected with bronze clasps and hung over the sides and back of the structure. Although the tabernacle was heavy and had many parts, it was surprisingly portable. Priests carried the Ark and the altars on their shoulders, but the rest fit in ox-drawn carts. The purpose of the tabernacle of Moses was to provide a place where the people could properly worship God. Priests sacrificed animals on the altar in the outer court. The bread of the presence, the continually burning lampstand, and the offering of incense were all in the Holy Place. And once a year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies as part of the ceremony of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). At no other time was anyone to enter the Holy of Holies, as the presence of God dwelt with the Ark of the Covenant. (GotQuestions.org)

How do you think the layout and design of the Tabernacle served as a shadow or pattern of what was fulfilled by Christ?

What was required to approach the Holy of Holies?

Purification - Sacrifice - Priesthood

What is the meaning of the various artifacts?

Golden Lampstand?

In the tabernacle, the lampstand was to be placed in the first section, called the Holy Place (Hebrews 9:2). The lamp was to be tended by Aaron and his sons so that its light never went out. The lampstand was to give forth light day and night (Exodus 27:20–21). The lampstand’s being the only source of light points directly to Christ as being the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). Jesus is the “true light that gives light to everyone” (John 1:9) and the only way anyone can come to the Father (John 14:6).

There is other symbolism in the lampstand: it was made of one piece, as Christ is one with His church (Colossians 1:8); the six branches (6 being the number of man) plus the main shaft equals seven lights (7 being the number of completion)—man is only complete in Christ (John 15:5).

Table of Showbread?

This bread of the Presence was 1) made of fine flour, 2) baked in 12 loaves, 3) arranged in two piles of six loaves each on a table of pure gold, 4) covered with frankincense, and 5) served as a memorial food offering to the Lord. The bread could only be eaten by Aaron and his sons in a holy place and was set out every Sabbath day (Leviticus 24:8–9).

The Old Testament showbread placed on the table in the tabernacle provides a wonderful picture of Jesus, the Bread of Life. Jesus is holy before God, He provides true sustenance, and He is always present. “Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry’” (John 6:35).

Altar of Incense?

Aaron was instructed to burn incense on the altar each morning and at twilight, every day, as a regular offering to the Lord (Exodus 30:7–8). God gave the recipe for making the incense and stipulated that no other incense ever be burned on the altar (verses 34–38). The fire used to burn the incense was always taken from the altar of burnt offering outside the sanctuary (Leviticus 16:12). Never was the altar of incense to be used for a burnt offering, a grain offering, or a drink offering (Exodus 30:9). Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest was to put blood on the horns of the altar of incense to cleanse it. The altar of incense was called “most holy to the Lord” (verse 10).

The altar of incense, then, can be seen as a symbol of the prayers of God’s people. Our prayers ascend to God as the smoke of the incense ascended in the sanctuary. As the incense was burned with fire from the altar of burnt offering, our prayers must be kindled with heaven’s grace. The fact that the incense was always burning means that we should always pray (Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). The altar of incense was holy to the Lord and was atoned for with the blood of the sacrifice; it is the blood of Christ applied to our hearts that makes our prayers acceptable. Our prayers are holy because of Jesus’ sacrifice, and therefore they are pleasing to God. The altar of incense can also be seen as a picture of the intercession of Christ. Just as the altar of sacrifice in the courtyard was a type of Christ’s death on our behalf, the altar of incense in the Holy Place was a type of Christ’s mediation on our behalf—Christ’s work on earth and in heaven. The altar of incense was situated before the mercy-seat of the Ark—a picture of our Advocate’s standing in the presence of the Father (Hebrews 7:25; 9:24). The incense was to be burning continually on the altar of incense, which shows the perpetual nature of Christ’s mediation. Christ’s intercession on our behalf is a sweet-smelling savor to God.

What visual are we given in the crucifixion story to show that we have full access to the Holy of Holies?

When Jesus was crucified, the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in the temple ripped from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). Just as He fulfilled for all time the sacrificial requirements, He ushered us into the presence of God.

A Better Covenant

Hopefully we see how the Tabernacle, Temple and Priesthood were but a shadow and sign of what would be accomplished through our High Priest, Jesus. And Jesus did not come to take over the administration of the Old Covenant God had made with His people, but to mediate a new and greater covenant.

Read Hebrews 8:6-13

Hebrews 8:6–13 ESV

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The Old Covenant was a conditional or bilateral agreement that God made with the Israelites. The Old Covenant required repeated, daily sacrifices of animals as a reminder of the people’s sin. Under the Old Covenant, only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place where God’s presence dwelt—and that only once a year. One purpose of the Old Covenant was to make it absolutely clear that no man is righteous before God and that no one can save himself (Romans 3:10–11 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” Romans 3:20 “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” The Old Covenant required people to please God, but no one can measure up to perfection, and the Old Covenant resulted in a string of failures. The Old Covenant established our guilt before God and our need for a Savior.

Galatians 3:24–25 ESV

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

How would you describe the New Covenant?

The Old Covenant showed our need - the New Covenant filled our need.

The New Covenant is the promise that God will forgive sin and restore fellowship with those whose hearts are turned toward Him.

How does Jesus enact the New Covenant?

His death on the cross is the sacrifice that enacted the New Covenant.

According to Ralph Wilson - “In the Bible, “sacrifice” (“thisia”) refers to an offering made to God. Under Mosaic Law, sacrifices typically involved the sacrifice of animals as burnt offerings at the tabernacle.”

Read Hebrews 9:13-14

Hebrews 9:13–14 ESV

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

Question: In what way does Christ’s sacrifice of himself cleanse the conscience in a way that the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant could not?

“The Old Covenant was about ceremonial cleansing of the outward person before God. The New Covenant is about cleansing the heart, the inner person, the conscience so that we can leave behind the “acts that lead to death,” which are essentially inner sins, and go on free of them to serve God.” (Wilson)

Read Hebrews 9:15-22

Hebrews 9:15–22 ESV

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. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 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, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

In what sense does Jesus serve as a mediator? In what sense is he a ransom for sin? (see also 1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” )

What sacrament reminds us of the price paid on our behalf?

Read Hebrews 9:23-28

Hebrews 9:23–28 ESV

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Question: Notice when he comes back, he comes “to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Jesus prepared his disciples for his death by sharing parables that instructed them to be anticipating his return - rather than being lulled into complacency. What parables can you think of that illustrate this message?

(check out Matt 24-25)

Question: How did the purpose of Christ’s First Coming differ from his Second Coming?

Christ’s Sacrifice Once For All

Read Hebrews 10:11-14

Hebrews 10:11–14 ESV

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

The Sacrifice of Christ has done 2 things:

“Made Perfect Forever” - we have been perfected by Christ

“Being Made Holy” - we are in the process of being sanctified.

Our Salvation has been completed - signed, sealed and delivered.

Next Week:

Hebrews 10:19-11:40