This last year has been a revelation—a revelation about how you deal with a very contagious and infectious virus that has impacted the entire world and killed millions of people.
The big question this past year has been this: How do you stop the virus? How do you prevent it’s spread? How do you disinfect and destroy the virus? How do you cure the virus? How do you immunize people from its potentially deadly effect?
It’s now more than a year after the crisis was officially declared a worldwide pandemic. All of us have become accustomed to certain rituals, or regulations, all designed to prevent infections, its spread and to even make ourselves immune to it.
The rituals are evident here this morning. We’ve all learned that each of us has to wear a mask covering nose and mouth. We have to socially distance from people we don’t know. That’s evident in our face coverings and how we’re seated this morning. We’ve all learned that singing could communicate the virus, so that’s one thing we don’t do. And more than that, we now have been introduced to another ritual—vaccinations. Most of us are getting one or two shots of a vaccine intended to immunize us altogether from the virus, or from its most serious consequences.
But what perhaps only a few of us have realized is that this Pandemic is symbolic of an even greater problem the whole world has. It’s a problem that has been endemic in the human race for its entire history. It has infected every single human being. It’s the problem of sin. And its consequences are far greater than the Covid-19 virus. For the problem of sin is universally and eternally deadly—all die from it physically, and many die from it spiritually, that is they are destined to experience eternal death spiritually if they don’t accept the death cure.
And there is only one death cure—the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross to pay for our sins.
And this morning we visit Hebrews 9 that explains for us just that: that Jesus is the only solution, the only cure for sin that gives eternal life that we have. It also explains something else, that the Old Covenant, and all the regulations for worship, all the rituals that were practiced, were symbols, parables if you will, of how sin would eventually be cured, disinfected, how we could be immunized against it. And the whole reason the Old Covenant was given was to prepare us for the New Covenant cure for sin which would be the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross.
As we’ve mentioned, the writer to the Hebrews is addressing Jewish Christians in Israel in the first century who had grown weary of persecution for being believers. They had grown so weary that they were contemplating abandoning Christ and returning to Judaism. The writer in Hebrews 9:1-14 tells them not to abandon Jesus, because they would be abandoning the only cure for sin & way to God that has been provided.
A natural question that these Jewish Christians might have had about the Old Covenant sacrificial system is that if it worked before Christ came, why wouldn’t it work after He came. If it provided access to God and forgiveness of sins in Old Testament times, why wouldn’t it do so now. What would be so bad about abandoning Christ and going back to the Old Testament sacrificial system? So the writer now explains that the Old Covenant and its sacrificial system were just a symbol explaining that sin denied access to God, and only foreshadowed its solution.
Now I can’t stress enough that the Old Covenant, the Tabernacle, the Temple and the priests, and all the regulations, were just a symbol, a parable, of the problem between man and God, and how that problem would be cured. It was God putting into physical form invisible spiritual realities that would explain the problem of sin before a holy God and would foreshadow and prefigure how the problem would be cured.
So the writer begins briefly to describe the Old Testament sacrificial system, its regulations, and especially the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle, especially, as we shall see, was just a physical copy, a pattern given to men that explained how we could approach God, the barriers to having fellowship with God and living in His holy presence, and clues as to how the cure would ultimately be effected.
Verse one: “Now even the first covenant, the Old Covenant, had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary.” Again, remember the sanctuary refers to the dwelling place of God—the manifest presence of God here on earth among His people. Regulations here refer to the laws, the ways of doing things that were prescribed by God to deal with the infection of sin, and what would happen if sin might spread into God’s holy presence, and rituals that foreshadowed and predicted how sin would be taken away.
So now he describes the tabernacle. Remember that the tabernacle was a tent, but in this context, a very special tent. It was the tent that represented the mobile temple or sanctuary, the dwelling place of the manifest presence of God. It had been erected in the wilderness by Moses and the Jews according to the exact blueprint given for it to Moses on Mount Sinai as the Old Covenant was ratified. You can find a description of these things in Exodus 25-31 and also of how the Day of Atonement ritual was to be preformed in Leviticus 16 and 17.
So in verse two, he begins to describe the Tabernacle and some of its furniture. Each of these items and the design of the Tabernacle were important in explaining how God was to be approached, and the problem between sinful man and a holy God, and ultimately how sin would be cured.
Verse 2: “For there was a tabernacle (a.k.a. “the tent of meeting) prepared, the outer one in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread, this is called the holy place.”
So already we’re introduced to the idea that there were two rooms in this tent, an outer mentioned here, which was called the holy place. In it were a lampstand and a table and the sacred bread, all with important meanings to the people with regard to God’s provision for the people, and especially His ultimate provision in that Jesus would be the light of the world, and the bread of life, equivalent to the lampstand and the showbread found in this holy place. The holy place was a place where only Levites and priests could enter to maintain the sacrifices and offerings taking place there. Everyone else worshiped outside the holy place.
And then there was the second room, described in verse 3 as behind the second veil. Verse 3: “Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies.”
If you’re unfamiliar with the tabernacle, you might wonder about the reference to the second veil. It indicates there was a first veil. That first veil separated the common people from the holy place. The second veil separated the priests and Levites from the most holy place. Because in the most holy place was the very manifest presence of God. It was literally dangerous to enter the most holy place because God’s holy presence could strike out against sin and sinners at any moment in the most holy place. The most holy place was where God’s localized manifest presence lived.
And in the most holy place, the writer tells us were the golden altar of incense and the ark of the Covenant. Now there’s some debate as to whether the altar of incense itself was located within the most holy place or not, or right up against the curtain, so that the incense could waft into the most holy place. But I’ll leave that for scholars to debate. What’s clear here is that the writer of the Hebrews associated it with the ministry that occurred within the most holy place, and since incense clearly symbolized the prayers of the people to God, it clearly functioned as part of the most holy place.
But most importantly for the writer’s purposes was the fact that the ark of the covenant was contained within the most holy place. Again, verse 4: the Holy of holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant, and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, but of these thins we cannot speak in detail.
However, he’s given us enough detail that we need to explain a bit more about what was going on here. The ark of the covenant was a gold-plated box that contained the two tablets of stone upon which God wrote the Ten commandments. Thus, it was an ark, or box, or container, of the covenant between God and Israel which consisted at its core of an agreement to keep the Ten Commandments. It also held a couple other sacred objects, some manna from the wilderness preserved in a golden pot, a reminder of God’s provision under the covenant in the wilderness, and Aaron’s rod that budded, a reminder that His descendants were alone elected by God to be priests of this Old Covenant, two matters important with respect to this Covenant.
Now what is not mentioned here is that the lid to the Ark of the Covenant was a solid piece of gold called the mercy seat. The mercy seat had at each of its two ends images of cherubs, or highly exalted angels facing each other which were one piece with the mercy seat consisting of the same gold, only hammered in the image of these angels as though they were protecting the throne of the holy God, which cherubs actually do in heaven. And in Exodus 25:21-22 God said to Moses: “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sins of Israel.” So what we see here, is that the mercy seat, surrounded by the Cherubim symbolized the very throne of God in heaven, and it was actually the place where God agreed to meet with and speak with Moses and Israel, as He manifested His presence there.
Now, Hebrews describes the ministry which the Old Testament priests performed in the Tabernacle, and especially the Holy of Holies when sacrifices were offered there once a year, on the day of atonement.
Verses 6-9: “Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.”
So the thing to notice is that there is continual priestly service of worship and offerings and sacrifices going on in the holy place every day, all year long, but when it comes to the most holy place, the place of God’s manifest presence, it was completely off-limits to everyone except for the high priest, and he entered it only once a year—and this was on the Day of Atonement, which occurred every fall, and even the high priest did not dare to enter it without a blood sacrifice for himself and his sins and a blood sacrifice for the sins of the people. Now interestingly, he would sprinkle or splatter the blood of bulls and goats on the mercy seat, under the place where God’s manifest presence presented itself, between the two cherubim, so that the blood, in effect, came between God and the tables of the covenant. In other words, it covered the sin or the debt the people owed to not keeping the covenant, and thus prevented God from acting against the people, because a sacrifice of blood, indicating a life had been given for the sins committed, covered, in effect, the transgressions against the covenant committed by the people.
Now what’s said next is very important: “The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing.”
In other words, this whole picture painted by the Tabernacle is saying this: Access to God is denied. Access to the very manifest presence of God is still denied to sinners because sin has yet to be really taken away. The writer is saying that as long as the outer tabernacle even is standing, that’s a clue that there’s a nearly impenetrable barrier between us and the presence of God which still stands and is inviolable. And the conclusion is that the Old Covenant never provided the complete access to God’s presence, God’s fellowship, heaven, or His blessing that is ultimately necessary to be reconciled to God.
And then verse 9 tells us something else: that the Tabernacle and the Old Covenant and all the sacrifices were merely a symbol, a parable, of the realities necessary for access to God, the forgiveness of sins and eventual fellowship with God in His presence in heaven.
Verse 9, first phrase: “Which is a symbol for the present time.” The meaning of the Greek word for symbol is parable. The Tabernacle and the Old Testament sacrificial system were merely parables, parallels, illustrations of the problem of reconciling sinful man with a holy God and how that seeming impossible reconciliation would be affected—through a blood sacrifice. They weren’t the reality—they didn’t reconcile God with man, but just prefigured, foreshadowed and symbolized it. And access to God is ultimately denied until what the tabernacle foreshadowed and prefigured was fulfilled!
Conclusion: You can’t go back to Judaism, and the Old Testament Sacrificial system because it never gave access to God in the first place. The Old Covenant simply explained sin denied access to God and foreshadowed its solution, which would be Christ, the lamb of God who took away sins.
A huge deal!
Now the writer makes his second point briefly, but it is equally huge. It’s this: The Old Covenant’s sacrifices never perfected anyone, it never resulted in the forgiveness of sins or taking away sins, but it only prepared us for Christ’s sacrifice. The Old Covenant’s sacrifices and bulls and goats never took away sin, but just prepared us for Christ solely effective sacrifice.
Verse 9: “According.” In other words, since the Old Testament sacrificial system, the Tabernacle and the Temple were just symbolic, “both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience.” In other words, under the Old Covenant, worshipers could not be assured by those sacrifices that their guilt for their sins had been taken away. Because there’s no way that the blood of bulls and goats could atone for or take away sin!
Why? Because they applied only to physical or fleshly realities rather than the spiritual reality of sin and God’s holy wrath against it. Verse 10; “Since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.” Again the food and drink offerings, the various washings of priests and sacrifices in preparation for worship, applied to physical realities but were only symbolic of the greater spiritual reality which had not yet been addressed. And wouldn’t be addressed until a time of reformation, a time of change, when all this would be made right.
Now again this is big news for the Jewish believers contemplating a return to Judaism. None of those sacrifices then offered in the temple of bulls and goats had ever been effective in taking away their sin or perfecting a man’s conscience. They were only symbols prefiguring and predicting the one sacrifice that would take away sin, and that was Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. Therefore, don’t even think about abandoning Christ and returning to Judaism. You’ll be abandoning the reality for the symbol, and you’ll be abandoning the only sacrifice that gives access to God and takes away your sins that is available. The sacrifices offered in the Tabernacle and Temple had never taken away sin, at best they had covered sin, and now they had been rendered obsolete by Christ’s coming. In short, you abandon Christ for Judaism, and you lose everything. There no longer remains an effective sacrifice for sin. You can’t go back. Your only option for forgiveness and a relationship with God is Jesus and Jesus alone.
So when was the time of reformation? It should be obvious. It was the New Covenant established by Christ’s blood, His sacrifice on our behalf. Only Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice perfect and provides access to God and Heaven. Verses 10-14 tells us that Only Christ’s priestly ministry and sacrifice of Himself makes a way to God and Heaven. It is the only cure, the only disinfectant, the only vaccine for the pandemic of sin.
Now the writer to the Hebrews is going to tell us five things that are true of Jesus Christ in fulfilling all that the Old Covenant or the Law foreshadowed and predicted. Christ is the ultimate high priest. He ministers in the true tabernacle, which is God’s presence in heaven. He entered the Father’s presence not on account of the blood of bulls and goats, but through His own blood, His own life, given on the cross. And when He did so, He alone obtained eternal redemptions—His blood, the giving of His life, paid for our sins and took them away.
Verse 11: For when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation.” If it’s not part of this creation, it isn’t physical. It’s heaven, the very presence of God the Father. And how did he manage to enter that most holy place. Not through the blood, or the giving of the lives of mere animals, but through His own blood, his perfect and indestructible life given on the cross as a representative of man able to alone satisfy God the Father’s wrath against an infinite number of men’s sins.
And when he entered the most holy place, did he have to repeat His sacrifice? No! Not at all! Because in contrast to the ineffective symbolic sacrifices of bulls and goats, His precious and holy sacrifice accomplished our redemption, our cure from sin, satisfied God’s wrath against us “once for all”—there’s that critical phrase again. You don’t need someone to make a sacrifice for you ever again, because Christ offered Himself as the only sacrifice for sins you’ll ever need—He was the sin and death cure once for all men and for all time.
And then the writer offers this persuasive Jewish sort of argument to his readers—an argument from the lesser to the greater: Verse 13; “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a he3ifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” In other words, if the blood of mere bulls and goats actually did cleanse the flesh, the body, the physical things under the Old Covenant, how much more precious, how much more infinitely valuable, how much more eternally effective would be the blood of Christ be taking away even the guilt you experience for your sins.
In other words, don’t go back. The Old Covenant offers no hope. The Old Covenant priests never offered complete access to God, a very limited access at best. Old Testament sacrifices of bulls and goats were only symbolic and never accomplished the cure for sin we needed. Only Christ’s priesthood, only Christ’s sacrifice ultimately counts.
The sin and death cure has come. The big question is how we survive the pandemic of sin and death. And the answer has been given. The ultimate disinfectant, the only vaccine that has ever and will ever eliminate sin and its consequence is Jesus Christ, who offered His own blood as the sign of the life He gave for the eternal life we can now life.
Don’t abandon Jesus or you’ll abandon the only cure for sin you’ll ever have.
