Redemption through far Better Blood and Sacrifice
11So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. 13Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
Hebrews 9:11-15
Did you notice how this section begins? “So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things to come. . .” What is the writer meaning? Look at what came before that comment. It all connects together.
This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.
Hebrews 9:9-10
The Old Covenant and the Old System for cleansing was powerless to do what we needed. Christ is the antithesis of the Old Testament System. The illustration of the priestly system was pointing to the present time. What present time? The time of the readers in Rome before the destruction of the temple in AD 70 and our present time now! How can that be? We will see as I unpack this remarkable passage. It will come clear believe me. But to make it clear I have to unpack it in stages. Look at what the writer told us in 9:8.
The Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
Hebrews 9:8
This is proof that the letter was written to these Hebrew believers while the old system was still in place. He is telling them that Christ was not only the Coming Messiah but also the new Great High Priest of the New Covenant. Everything the Mosaic system couldn’t do, Christ did. They were in a transition between the Old and the New Systems for dealing with their sin. Christ has become (past tense), the Great High Priest over the things to come, while the Old System was still in use. The writer of Hebrews was contrasting Jesus with the work of the high priest under the Levitical priesthood. This contrast between the old and the new Great High Priest was taking place with a certain day in the writer’s mind. What day was that? The Day of Atonement of course. That one day in the year when the High Priest was able to go into the Holy of Holies under the Old System bearing the sacrifice to cover himself and the sins of all the people once a year!
What a contrast as we have already seen! Under the Old System the former High Priest could only enter once a year on the Day of Atonement and present the sin offering. The bulk of the activity of the priests of old was focused on covering the little things that needed offerings to cover the cleansing process from sins committed unwittingly, from ritual cleansing to deal with sins between neighbours and family, food and drink and ceremonial cleansing. It was a complicated system which kept the lesser priests busy daily. The contrast in this section is focused on the Great High Priest and his role on the Day of Atonement in order to deal with the sin of the people before God. Once a year he could enter into God’s presence in the Holy of Holies and represent all the people with the ephod and breastplate in place. But like Moses he couldn’t look on the face of God’s Presence. He was covered by the swirling smoke of the incense so he didn’t look on God’s face directly. Would he reappear or not? Or would the offering for his own sin, the calf for himself, and the goat for the people and the bull for the sin offerings not be accepted and he be struck down like Uzziah was? They would only know when the High Priest re-emerged from the Holy of Holies and the people breath a sigh of relief for another year. In the meantime back to the daily and weekly offerings.
Jesus had now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. What are they? Now we come to the first of our collective questions.
What is the connection to all the good things that have come? (9:11)
The writer has already told us in his own words in Hebrews 6:5 when he first talked of the good things of heaven. See Gem 2103. But to save you the trouble of looking, here is the list again.
- Those who were once enlightened
- Those who have experienced the good things of heaven
- Those who have shared in the Holy Spirit
- Those who have tasted the goodness of the word of God
- Those who have tasted the power of the age to come
The writer refers again to the good things to come in Hebrews 10:1.
The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.
Hebrews 10:1
Yes, there are more good things to come or which have come already but are yet to be realised in all their fullness. Apart from these five, there are three others mentioned in this short paragraph.
- Our redemption secured forever.
- Our consciences purified from sinful deeds.
- Receiving our inheritance which God promised
These last three were not possible under the Old System of sacrifice. The blood of animals, goats, calves and bulls and the ashes of heifers, couldn’t do it. The blood of animals was inadequate, the tabernacle was inadequate, as it was only a copy of the one in heaven. The high priest couldn’t accomplish it, nor any of the other priests, because they had to first take care of their own sin. How much greater and more effective was the blood of Christ which was offered by a sinless High Priest in the original Tabernacle in heaven? This Great High Priest went straight into the Holy of Holies and didn’t have to start from the outer court and move gradually through the Holy Place to the Holy of Holies. Did you notice that Jesus went straight into God’s presence and appeared before the face of God. (9:24)
For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.
Hebrews 9:24
But I am jumping ahead of myself in my eagerness to give you the good stuff.
Think for yourself what the good things to come are from your point of view. You can make a list of them just as easily as I can. The writer of Hebrews will spell some of them out for us. I will leave it there for the moment and we will move on to look at the first difficult part in this block in the next Gem.
One person has written and told me they find the section related to the covenant and the will hard to understand. (9:16-20) You are on the same level as the commentators who say such things as:
- “As it stands in my version it appears to me altogether inexplicable”.
- “The writer in commenting on the sense of testament and will passes over the declaration of verse 18 without so much as noticing the logical inaccuracy which presents itself”.
- Why does the author say Moses sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people when Exodus 24 doesn’t include anything about the book being sprinkled?
- Why does the writer say the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices (9:19) – that seems to suggest heaven needed purifying?
You can see, before I pull it apart, why this next segment is difficult. Time out for you ponder these difficult things for yourself before we head into the following difficult passage – Hebrews 9:16-23. You can look back at Gem 2120 to see the amount of orange there is in that segment.
Every opportunity has a difficulty and every difficulty has an opportunity.
J. Sidlow Baxter
Remember, you are made strong by the difficulties you FACE, not by those you EVADE!
Rick Godwin
Difficulties not only place a demand on your faith, but also reveal the depth of it!
Ian
Be thankful for the challenges and the threats to your faith. It is during those difficult times that you grow the most. Learn to address the difficulties head on.
Ian
Difficulties unravel between the lips and the fingertips.
Basil Brown