The Letter to the
Hebrews
Chapter 9
Jan-Apr 2014 FXCC
Hebrews 8 and before
• Jesus is greater than
– Angels
– Moses
– Prophets
– Levitical Priesthood
– Jewish High Priest
Hebrews 8 and before
• The readers are close to losing faith in Jesus
• Ready to go back to the Law of Moses and its
sacrificial system
• The way of Jesus was proving to be a hard
road (persecution)
– Rome didn’t like them
– Jews didn’t like them
Hebrews 9
• 2 covenants
• 2 sanctuaries/tabernacles (tents)
– One on earth
– One in heaven
Hebrews 9:1-5
•
1
Now even the first covenant had regulations
for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2
For a tent was prepared, the first section, in
which were the lampstand and the table and
the bread of Presense. It is called the Holy
Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a
second section called the Most Holy Place,
Hebrews 9:1-5
• 4 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, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the
stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above it were
cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy
seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in
detail.
Hebrews 9:1-5
• The earthly tabernacle
– A tent w/2 sections or rooms inside it (Ex 26)
– God’s dwelling place (Lev 26:11-12)
– The Holy Place (first room) was a rectangle
– The inner/second room was a square, the Most
Holy Place
Holy Place
• Lampstand
– The light of God in the tabernacle (Ex 25:31-40)
• Table of “the bread of the Presence”
– Symbolizing fellowship with God thru eating with
Him (Ex 25:23-30)
– 12 loaves, one for each tribe
Holy Place/Most Holy Place
• Altar of incense (Ex 30:1-10)
– Symbolizes prayers going up to God
– Also fills the Most Holy Place with smoke as a
symbol of God’s presence
– Noted as being in 2 different places
• Holy Place per Ex 30:6 and 40:26, in front of the
curtain, used daily (Ex 30:7)
• Most Holy Place per I Kings 6:20, 22 (Solomon’s Temple)
and here in Hebrews
• Thus it seems it was moved around
Most Holy Place
• Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:10-22)
– Is the presence of God among His people (Ex
25:22)
– God’s “resting place” (I Chron 28:2, II Chron 6:4042)
– The cherubs represent the angels surrounding
God’s throne in Heaven
– The “atonement cover” of the ark is the “mercy
seat” (Ex 25:17-22, Lev 16:14-15)
Hebrews 9:6-8
•
6
These preparations having thus been made,
the priests go regularly into the first section,
performing their ritual duties, 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. 8 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
Hebrews 9:6-8
• The worship or services performed in the
earthly tabernacle
• Holy Place
– Daily activity/service/worship by the priests
– Replaced the bread (once a week. Lev 24:8-9)
– Twice daily (morning and evening; Ex 27:20-21,
30:7-8)
• Added new oil to the lamps
• Offered incense
Hebrews 9:6-8
• The worship or services performed in the
earthly tabernacle
• Most Holy Place
– Only the High Priest
– Only once a year
• On the day of Atonement
• Sacrifice for sins of the priest and the people
• Sprinkled blood on the ark
Hebrews 9:9-10
• …as long as the first section is still standing, 9
(which is symbolic for the present age).
According to this arrangement, gifts and
sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the
conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only
with food and drink and various washings,
regulations for the body imposed until the
time of reformation.
Hebrews 9:9-10
• The limitations of the earthly tabernacle and
its worship
– The atoning/cleansing was only external
– Only a temporary solution
– Consciences were not cleansed/not perfected
– The tabernacle and its worship was only a copy/a
symbol of the real thing that would be in heaven
Hebrews 9:9-10
• None of this is a “put down” of the Jewish
tabernacle
• That was God’s gracious presence among His
people
• The whole ritual showed the holiness of God
• We do not understand holiness
– The holy has become mundane for us, i.e. OMG
Hebrews 9:9-10
• Israelites/Jews understood holy
– Awe, reverence
• But even as wonderful as it was, it was only a
copy, a shadow, temporary
• The tabernacle pointed to something better,
MUCH better and eternal
• We now have access to the original, the
pattern, the real thing
Hebrews 9:11-28
•
11
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) 12 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.
Hebrews 9:11-28
•
13
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, 14 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.
Hebrews 9:11-28
•
15
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. 16 For where a will is involved,
the death of the one who made it must be
established. 17 For a will takes effect only at
death, since it is not in force as long as the
one who made it is alive.
Hebrews 9:11-28
•
18
Therefore not even the first covenant was
inaugurated without blood. 19 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, 20 saying, “This is the
blood of the covenant that God commanded
for you.”
Hebrews 9:11-28
•
21
And in the same way he sprinkled with the
blood both the tent and all the vessels used in
worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost
everything is purified with blood, and without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
of sins. 23 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.
Hebrews 9:11-28
•
24
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. 25 Nor was
it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high
priest enters the holy places every year with
blood not his own,
Hebrews 9:11-28
•
26
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. 27 And just as it is
appointed for man to die once, and after that
comes judgment, 28 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.
Hebrews 9:11-28
• The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
– Sep/Oct on our calendar
– The 10th day of the 7th month (Tishrei) on the
Jewish calendar (Lev 16:29, 23:27)
– Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) is on the 1st
and 2nd days of the month (Tishrei), Lev 23:24
• A day of fasting, prayer and rest (Lev 23:32)
Day of Atonement
• The High Priest would immerse himself
(washed his whole body, Lev 16:4, Ex 30:1921)
– On other feast days he only washed his hands and
feet)
– Put on his sacred garments
Day of Atonement
• The High Priest offered 2 sets of sacrifices
– First for the sins of his own house, a young bull as
sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering (Lev
16:3,5)
– Then for the sins of the people, 2 goats
Day of Atonement
• After the sacrifices for himself the High Priest
took a censer of burning coals into the Most
Holy Place
– There he placed incense on the coals, creating
smoke (Lev 16:13)
• When the room was full of smoke (preventing
him from seeing the mercy seat, the Presence
of God, Lev 16:2) he would bring in the blood
of the bull and sprinkle it on the mercy seat
(Lev 16:4)
Day of Atonement
• After the bull’s blood was sprinkled, he would
go out and sacrifice one of the goats as a sin
offering
– The blood of the first goat was taken into the
Most Holy Place to sprinkle it on the mercy seat
• This purified the Tent of Meeting (Lev 16:16)
• The second goat was released into the
wilderness with the sins of the people placed
on it after laying on of the priest’s hands (Lev
16:21-22)
Day of Atonement
• Then the Priest would immerse himself again
and put on a new set of clothes, the elaborate
ceremonial robes (Lev 16:24)
• Next the High Priest offered burnt offerings to
dedicate the priesthood and the people to
God once again (Lev 16:27)
Hebrews 9:11-28
• Jesus is now our High Priest
– He entered the Most Holy Place in Heaven
– With his own blood, not that of animals
– One time only, no need to do it again and again,
etc
– Eternal forgiveness, redemption, vice an annual
cleansing
– Cleanses our consciences not just an external
cleansing
Hebrews 9:11-28
• Clean consciences allow us to worship and
serve the Living God
– We can approach God w/out fear/guilt
– We can approach God w/confidence
Hebrews 9:11-28
• Eternal redemption means our eternal
inheritance is secure
• The writer declares that Israel was forgiven of
their sins (also see Ps 32 and 51)
– But that forgiveness was due to/based on the
reality of the work of Christ
– Jesus’ blood forgave sins under the old covenant
(Rom 3:25-26)
Hebrews 9:11-28
• Vss 16-22 the writer explains why Jesus had to
die
– One, the blood ritual is required (there is NO
forgiveness w/out the shedding of blood)
– Two, a covenant (will) only goes into effect after
death
Hebrews 9:11-28
• The Mosaic Covenant was enacted with blood,
so was this new Covenant
– The Mosaic priesthood/tabernacle/etc were a
copy, a shadow, a pattern
– The reality also had to involve blood
Hebrews 9:11-28
• Christ is now in the real tabernacle/sanctuary
• Jesus is now in Heaven, with God, in His
Presence
– He is there all the time
– He is there on our behalf!
Hebrews 9:11-28
• We will all die and face judgment
– Two things are certain
– Death, and
– Judgment (not taxes  )
• Jesus will come again – WHY?
• To save those who eagerly wait for Him!
• Don’t give up!
Hebrews 9
• Are we eagerly awaiting, or are we ….?
References
• F.F. Bruce, “The Epistle to the Hebrews”, The
New International Commentary on the New
Testament, Eerdmans, 1967
• Edward Fudge, “Our Man in Heaven: An
Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews”,,
Baker, 1974
– Available on-line for free
– http://www.edwardfudge.com/written/omihtext.
html
References
• Edward Fudge, “Hebrews: Ancient
Encouragement for Believers Today”,
Leafwood Publishers, 2009
• John Mark Hicks, Hebrews, Word Doc
– http://johnmarkhicks.com/wpcontent/uploads/sites/10/2009/03/hebrewsedited.doc
References
• Referenced in John Mark Hicks, Hebrews, Word Doc
are the sites for a sermon series (Strength for the
Journey) by Rubel Shelly and John York on Hebrews
– http://www.rubelshelly.com/content.asp?lShow=20&ListS
G=316&Start=121&SortAlpha=
– http://www.rubelshelly.com/content.asp?lShow=20&ListS
G=316&Start=101&SortAlpha=
– http://www.johnyork.org/content.asp?lShow=20&ListSG=2
60&Start=161
– http://www.johnyork.org/content.asp?lShow=20&ListSG=2
60&Start=141
References
• Bobby Valentine’s “Stoned-Campbell Disciple”
blog
– http://stonedcampbelldisciple.com/2013/08/20/p
aul-and-the-unquestioned-authority-of-the-oldtestament/