It's All About Him: Hebrews -- Lesson 31

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Shadows and Substance

There is much to write about the next section. However there is also a unity that requires reading it all.

Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called 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 AaronÂ?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 things we cannot now speak in detail.

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. 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, which is a symbol for the present time.

Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

But 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; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer 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? (Hebrews 9:1-14, NASB 95)

We have come to expect this from the Writer of Hebrews. He has systematically worked through all the great pillars of the Old Covenant and replaced them with the Pillar of the New Covenant. That Pillar is Jesus, the Son of God, and the Jewish Messiah.

There is much in this passage that is intriguing. Let me start with one of the simpler, but not to say unimportant, points. In fact, it is the Writer's main point-- a KAL V'CHOMER argument, "If the blood of goats ... sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ ...Cleansee your conscience." KAL V'CHOMER--light and heavy--If this light thing, how much more this heavy thing.

The blood of God's Son taken and poured out in a tabernacle of substance has great weight. The tabernacle is where God manifested His presence during the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness. That is the shadow. Jesus offered His blood at the place where the living God dwells. The blood of a goat poured at the base of the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies in the earthly tabernacle is just a picture, a representation of what was to come. It was an annual reminder of failure and need. Jesus took His blood before the living God and poured it out--and the Living God was satisfied, and seated the Son at His right hand, and the Son could ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit, who came and dwells in us, so that we have become the Temple in which God dwells, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)"

And by this our consciences are cleansed from dead works so that we are able to serve the living God. It is little wonder that the Writer early on in this work wrote, "How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation."

Next time, I will look at the imagery of the ages in this passage.

Test everything. Cling to what is good.