Hebrews 9:1-14 - Once for All - Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
We live in a world full of repetition. If you want to get fit, you have to continually exercise to maintain your stamina and muscle strength. If you want to have energy, you have to regularly ingest calories to keep your body moving. If you want your boss to give you a paycheck - well you have to be sure to keep showing up and putting in the work!
The Jews also faced repetition. They faced a repetition of sacrifices. Yet, no matter how often they offered sacrifices, they never had a clear conscience.
Unfortunately, the old cartoon character Jiminy Cricket didn’t give the whole story when telling people to “Always let your conscience be your guide.”
No matter how often they offered sacrifices, their conscience always seemed to know something wasn’t right. Despite the efforts they were taking in following the Law and offering sacrifices, their conscience was unable to be appeased.
They were constantly reminded that there was a chasm between God and man. Their sinfulness would not allow them to approach God intimately - even with sacrifices.
But today, we are going to be reminded of a beautiful aspect of the New Covenant through Jesus Christ.
He offered His life as a sacrifice - once for all. This will be the prevailing theme over the next two weeks. Christ’s sacrifice only required one act of mercy and grace. And because of this beautiful free gift offered to us - we can now live with a clear conscience as we approach our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ.
With that in mind, let’s read our Scripture for today…
Read Full Scripture:
Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.
For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.
Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,
having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,
but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing
(which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,
but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
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.
Prayer
Today we are going to learn three things about God and His relationship with man before and after the cross. The first is…
I. God Desires Us to Be in His Presence (1-5)
I. God Desires Us to Be in His Presence (1-5)
Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.
As we go through these requirements for the Jews in the following verses, we must not miss something very important. God desires His people to be in His presence.
He has gone to great lengths to relate to mankind. We see in the Scriptures that He made man in His own image (Genesis 1:27). As the late Voddie Baucham often used to say, we are the crowning glory of His creation. And He desires to know us and express His love for us. We see this even in the Old Testament as He encourages man to seek after Him…
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
We see God express this to Moses as well…
And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
The problem is God is holy and perfect and we are stained by sin. We are told in verse 1 that even the first covenant had regulations for worship - meaning that the New Covenant does as well (namely through Christ’s work on the cross).
But under the Old Covenant, we see that because of God’s holiness, there were many regulations that took place in order to allow God to be close to His people.
Listen as the author breaks down some of these regulations as he reflects on the Tabernacle of Moses…
For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
If you have not studied the book of Exodus in much detail, these verses might be overwhelming and daunting to you. There is a lot here.
Interestingly, for those of us who are going through the 52 Weeks Through the Bible with John MacArthur book we are doing Wednesday nights, we are right there in the book of Exodus this week!
In order to give you have a better grasp on what we are studying, I have given you a handout with a diagram of the Tabernacle to help you see a rough sketch of what the author is speaking about.
The Tabernacle was a 150 ft x75 ft large tent structure that was set up and moved throughout the Wilderness as the Lord led them along. The presence of the Lord was shown by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). This beautiful showing of God’s presence with His people showed His love for them. He provided guidance to them as well as being a light for them by night.
There were groups of Levites who were responsible for moving and setting up the Tabernacle as the Israelites moved from place to place in the wilderness.
It is important to note that the author of Hebrews does not provide an exhaustive list of all that was in the Tabernacle. He is using a discussion about the Tabernacle and the works of the priests to compare and contrast these to the work of Jesus Christ.
Yet, one of the most beautiful aspects of the Tabernacle was that it pointed to Christ. Each part of the Tabernacle shows us something about Jesus. So as we go through each of these parts, we are going to take a little time and reflect on how it relates to Jesus Christ.
Let’s start by looking at the entrance and working our way in through the Courtyard, then into the Holy Place, and finally into the Most Holy Place.
The first thing we should recognize in this diagram is that there is only one door.
God only provides one way of accessing Him in the Old Testament. This one door pointed to Jesus Christ Who would be the only way to God as shown in John 14:6 as well as John 10:9.
The second thing we should recognize is that there is a sacrifice required to approach God. (Altar of Burnt Offering/Brazen Altar)
We will talk some more in the next section about this. But the first thing in the Courtyard of the Tabernacle was the Altar of Burnt Offering also called the Brazen Altar. All animal sacrifices were presented and consumed here.
This was a reminder that a sacrifice was necessary for man to approach God. Man needed blood to cover his sins before approaching a holy God.
Approaching God required a sacrifice then, and it requires a sacrifice even today.
This points to the fact that we are now able to approach God because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The third thing we should recognize is that man must be cleansed and pure before approaching God. (Bronze Wash Basin/Laver)
We see this represented by the Bronze Wash Basin also called the Laver (pronounced Lay-ver). The priests were to cleanse themselves before approaching the Lord.
This part of the Tabernacle reminds us how Jesus cleansed us by His blood allowing us access to God the Father. Listen to 1 John 1:7 tell us this…
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Continuing onward, we now come to the Holy Place as seen in our diagram.
Interestingly, only the priests could go into the Holy Place. None of the Israelites other than the priests could even go into this area. This reminds us of the distance between God and man.
The author mentions two things found in the Holy Place.
1 - The Golden Lampstand
This was a large lampstand made of pure gold that weighed more than 100 pounds. It burned continually and was never allowed to burn out. It provided all of the light to the Holy Place as there were no windows present.
This lampstand pointed to the fact that Christ would be our light. He is the Light of the World (John 8:12). He illuminates the way to God the Father. Whoever walks with Him will not walk in darkness.
And next we see…
2 - The Table with the Bread of the Presence
This was a small table that had 12 loaves of bread organized as two rows of 6. These were replaced every week on the Sabbath and the old loaves would be eaten by the priests or burned as a special offering to God.
If you recall, Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6:48). He provides us the spiritual nourishment that we need in order to follow God.
Looking back at our diagram, we see that our next item addressed here has somewhat of a hybrid location.
The Golden Altar of Incense
The author includes this in the Most Holy Place, yet it actually was within the Holy Place - just outside of the entrance to the Most Holy Place as seen in Exodus 30:1-10.
The most clear explanation for this confusion is found in the fact that the Greek word used for this is not the typical Greek word used in the Septuagint (or Greek Old Testament) for the actual Altar of Incense. The Greek word used by the author of Hebrews was actually used to describe the censer and firepan that was used to carry incense into the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement.
This incense symbolized the prayers of the saints in the Old Testament and now reminds us that Christ continually intercedes for His people.
Looking back at our diagram one final time, we are now moving into the Most Holy Place - also called the Holy of Holies...
In it we find…
1 - The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant was a portable chest that represented the very presence of God. It was the only piece of furniture in the Most Holy Place. It was around 4 feet long by 2 feet wide by 2 feet high and featured a mercy seat on top. This mercy seat would have the blood of sacrifices sprinkled upon it each Day of Atonement.
Jesus Christ poured out His blood as a merciful sacrifice for each of us as well.
This Ark is mentioned to have contained three things here:
A - Golden Urn Holding Manna
This was a sample of the manna that fell from heaven feeding the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16:33-34). It was to remind Israel of the provision of the Lord. Jesus provides all that we need as well.
In it was also…
B - Aaron’s Staff That Budded
This is seen in Numbers 17:10-11 and was a miracle of God to prove to some of Israel who were rebelling and arguing about who the true priest of God was. God miraculously allowed life to be given to a dead stick!
Just as this miracle proved the authenticity and acceptance of Aaron as priest, the resurrection of Jesus Christ provided proof of His true priesthood. And we also see that God can give life to a dead man as well. He can take a person dead to sin and give him or her eternal life!
And finally we find…
C - The Two Tablets
Exodus 34 tells us of the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The Law was to be followed and cherished by Israel. Jesus fulfilled every dot and iota of the Law so that we can be considered righteous. Praise be to God!
Lastly, we are told that…
This Ark of the Covenant had two cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat of the Ark.
All of this pointed to the holiness and glory of God and the difficulty in approaching God which required purity and substitutionary sacrifice. There was a veil or curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
As we have mentioned before, this veil was torn from top to bottom when Christ died on the cross. The dividing wall between man and God was forever removed through Christ.
We now are able to confidently approach the throne of grace and find mercy (Hebrews 4:16).
As we have seen - God desires us to be in His presence. Yet, unfortunately, the Old Covenant reminded us that because of our sinfulness, there is a chasm between God and man. But we have seen how Christ provided a bridge between that chasm through His perfect sacrifice. The following section of Scripture continues to remind us of how much Christ was needed as we see that…
Scripture References: Genesis 1:27, Jeremiah 29:13, Exodus 33:14, Exodus 13:21, John 14:6, John 10:9, 1 John 1:7, John 8:12, John 6:48, Exodus 30:1-10, Exodus 16:33-34, Numbers 17:10-11, Exodus 34, Hebrews 4:16
II. God Requires Us to Approach with Preparation (6-10)
II. God Requires Us to Approach with Preparation (6-10)
These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,
The first section, or the Holy Place, required work every single day by the priests. Sacrifices would be made for themselves and for the people. They also maintained the golden lampstand, offered incense on the Golden Altar, changed out the bread of the presence every week, performed ritual washings, and more.
There was great preparation that went into approaching God.
Yet, as they busied themselves with this work, none dared to enter into the second place. The second place, or the Most Holy Place, was only entered once a year by one special and chosen high priest… listen to verse 7…
but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
We have mentioned the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, in the past. This was a special day where the high priest was allowed to minister in the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place (Leviticus 16).
This day was a wonderful day for the Israelites as it gave them a brief reprieve for their consciences. All of their unintentional sins would be covered.
Have you ever been praying and made a request for God to forgive all of your sins? I hope you do that regularly. Although we should specifically ask for forgiveness for sins that we do that we are aware of, we should take a step back and try to realize just how sinful we are.
Our flesh is so sinful that there are many sins that we perform daily without even having an awareness or remembrance. A lack of thankfulness, a bad attitude, gossip, a moment of lust or coveting, among others.
Paul, struggling through his own sinfulness made the following statement:
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
The only good thing in you, if you are a believer, is the Holy Spirit!
Our regenerated soul desires to please the Father, but our sinful flesh does not.
But praise be to God that Jesus provided us a beautiful sacrifice on the cross that allows us to be saved and washed clean.
Let’s read these next three verses as we see the inadequacy of the Old Covenant even moreso…
By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
The author is using these verses to transition from discussing the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.
As long as this first section stands - namely a metaphor standing for the Old Covenant - there is no true approaching the presence of God. And because of this, there is no appeasing of the conscience possible and no true lasting reconciliation with God possible.
When he speaks of this present time - he is referring to those who under the Old Covenant who are continuing to seek righteousness and peace with God through continual sacrifices and religious rituals. Yet we see here that these cannot perfect the conscience.
We have mentioned the conscience a few times already.
What exactly is the conscience?
The Greek word for conscience is syneidēsis (pronounced sue-nee-they-seese) and is found some 28 times in the NT. According to the ISBE, it means:
An inner witness that testifies on the rightness or wrongness of one’s actions or motives…
In essence, the conscience is our moral compass to help us understand what is wrong or right.
And we have learned so far that the conscience of the Jews was unable to be at peace. It could not be cleansed or perfected through the Old Covenant. No matter how hard they tried, they knew that they were never truly pure. This led to a continual state of turbulence within their hearts. Because, like our last point states…
Scripture References: Leviticus 16, Romans 7:18
III. God Requires Us to Have Complete Purification (11-14)
III. God Requires Us to Have Complete Purification (11-14)
God requires perfect purity. Yet, we know that man is far from that. But Praise be to God - He overcame this by the work of Christ - the perfect and pure and spotless Lamb of God. Listen to verses 11-12 again…
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
Here we see that Christ fulfills two amazingly important roles on our behalf.
1 - He is our Great High Priest
We discussed last week about the heavenly sanctuary being the true tent. We talked about how the Tabernacle and even Temple were only shadows of what is true in heaven. Now we see that Christ has entered into the Holy Places.
But there is an important distinction made here that we will see this week and next week. In fact, it is where I got the title of our sermon.
Jesus entered once for all.
He doesn’t have to continue making purification or sacrifices. The work has been finished. His work is now all about interceding on our behalf.
We know that the work is finished because…
2- He is our Sacrifice
Jesus Christ is our once for all sacrifice. His death on the cross paid for all of our sins and secured eternal redemption.
Redemption refers to paying off a ransom - buying back someone. It can also refer to restoration or a recovery of people or things.
There is a beautiful Old Testament foreshadowing of Christ’s redemption in the relationship of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth was childness and without a husband after he died. Boaz fulfilled the role of kinsman redeemer for her and the family. Through this beautiful relationship, the Messiah would be born (Ruth 4:18-22, Matthew 1:5)!
Friends, Jesus paid the price for our souls on the cross. He provides eternal redemption. It isn’t just a temporary thing - it is a forever redemption!
The Old Covenant continually required sacrifices. Yet, Jesus’s bodily sacrifice is sufficient for all time. There is no further need for more sacrifices.
We are now purified by the blood of Jesus - which is seen even more clearly in tour final two verses for today…
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.
We know that ultimately the blood of bulls and goats do not atone for sin (Hebrews 10:4) - they allowed for a temporary purification - but not true atonement. Each of these sacrifices looked forward to the ultimate sacrifice - Jesus Christ.
Jesus offered up Himself through the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit who rested upon Him throughout His earthly life. We see this in the beautiful display of the Trinity in Luke 3:22 at Jesus’s baptism as the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ like a dove.
The Holy Spirit ministered with Jesus on earth throughout His earthly ministry. Consider Isaiah 61:1 which Jesus Himself quoted in Luke 4:18-19:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus had no need to be filled with the Spirit since He was already God-made-flesh. However, Jesus was blessed with the Holy Spirit’s ministering power upon Him throughout His earthly life.
And completing the work set out before Him, Jesus offered Himself on the cross for our sins. By this we are told that He has purified our conscience from dead works to serve the living God at the end of verse 14.
What does the author mean about dead works? These are works that could never lead to eternal life.
In fact, none of our works can lead to eternal life! It is only by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that we can have eternal life.
Yet despite the fact that none of man’s futile attempts to appease God by his own strength will ever pan out - so many across our world continue to strive to work for the approval of God.
They continue with their consciences uneasy and unclear because they know there is still a chasm between them and God.
How many good deeds must we do to cancel out our bad deeds? How many ‘Hail Mary’s’ must we say? How much do we need to give to be forgiven? How many times a day must we pray in order to be approved by God?
Yet, Christ has purified our conscience by His once for all sacrifice.
For those who have repented of their sins and placed their faith and trust in Him alone, they can have a clear and purified conscience. They can approach God knowing that the righteousness of Christ has been placed upon or imputed to them!
God requires completed purification and Christ has provided that through His sacrifice.
Brothers and sisters - you may be struggling because of things you have done in the past. You may be struggling to forgive yourself for your failures, your shortcomings, your sins. But Jesus is here telling you through His Word, that He has provided a pure conscience. He has given you a clean slate. He has taken all of your sinfulness upon Himself and given you His righteousness.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
If you are in Christ, you are no longer slaves to sin. You are no longer under judgment because of your sins. You are free to be in God’s presence unashamedly and confidently - not because of who you are - but because of Christ is!
Scripture References: Ruth 4:18-22, Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 10:4, Luke 3:22, Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18-19, John 8:36
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, may we seek to grasp the wonderful reality of what Jesus has done for us on the cross through His once for all sacrifice.
May we appreciate the amazing love of God who desires us to be in His presence. Despite our sinfulness, He desires to show us mercy and grace and love, and desires a personal relationship with each one of us.
Because our God requires preparation and purification for those who approach Him, He has provided the perfect sacrifice in Jesus Christ.
We can now live lives of freedom in Him.
If you haven’t placed your faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation - may today be the day that you do so! Salvation is a free gift. There is nothing you can do to earn it! I’d love to chat with you after the service!
If you have, may you walk in freedom and peace - knowing that His once for all sacrifice was more than enough to cover your sins.
