A Glorious Salvation — Anton Bosch

Hebrews 9 and the Old Covenant Tabernacle

So we continue in our study on the book of Hebrews, and we're in chapter nine, and we need to start from verse 11, but let's start reading from verse six to remind ourselves of where we've been. So Hebrews chapter nine, reading from six through 22.

Now, when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance.

The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience.

Concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of the Reformation. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, of the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation.

Not with the blood of goats and cows, but with his own blood, he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

And for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgression under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying this is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.

Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood and without shedding of blood, there is no remission.

And so we have seen how that he gives us the picture of the old tabernacle, last time we looked at that, the outer court, the holy place, the holiest of all, the outer court having the laver and the altar of sacrifice, the holy place having the lamp stand on the left and in front of you, the altar of incense and on the right hand side, the table of showbread and then the veil that separated between the holy place and the holiest of all.

The holiest of all having the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat and the angels or the cherubim that covered over the top. And so he's using this as an illustration of what we have that these are a shadow or a picture of the reality which belongs to us in the New Testament.

And so you remember that all along he's comparing the priesthood in the Old Testament to the priesthood in the New Testament. He's comparing the sacrifice of the Old Testament to the sacrifice of Jesus in the New Testament, the blood of the animals in the Old Testament, the blood of Jesus in the New Testament.

Christ's Heavenly Tabernacle and Direct Access to God

So now in verse 11 he says, but Christ came as high priest of good things, of the good things to come with a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation. And so those things looked to the past.

What Jesus does looks to the future, the good things to come, the perfect tabernacle. Now remember the word tabernacle means a dwelling place, a place of habitation. And the tabernacle was the place where God met with man.

And because there were these two sections, there was the holiest of all which is where God dwelt and then the holy place where the priests functioned. And there was no overlap between the two, the veil separating between the two.

The high priest alone was able to go into the holiest of all once a year and we're gonna speak about that in a few moments. And so he is saying then that what Jesus has done has to do with a more perfect tabernacle, a more perfect tabernacle.

Now as I've said before, I don't believe that there is a tabernacle in heaven. That there is a tent with an altar court and a holy place and a holiest of all. He's simply speaking about the presence of God.

The difference between the Old Testament tabernacle and what we have and what we're looking forward to is that there is no veil that separates between the priests, remembering that we are all priests, and the presence of God.

That we know when Jesus died, the veil was rent. And so we now have access directly into the presence of God. Israel dwelt in tents. They would come and meet with God in the holy place. God would remain secluded in the holiest of all.

But what we are looking forward to is a place with no segregation, where we are in his presence all the time. Not in heaven where we talk about the mansions and so maybe we think, well I'm gonna live in a mansion over there and God's gonna be over there.

No, we're gonna be in his presence continually. We're gonna be in his very presence. And so what they had in the Old Testament was a very weak, as Paul says in the book of Galatians, weak and beggarly element.

It was something that was simply a bad picture of a glorious reality and a glorious truth. And so what Jesus has come to do is he is not a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, after the order of Aaron, so he is not serving in an earthly tabernacle but Jesus is serving in heaven itself.

And so we have a greater and a more perfect, a more complete tabernacle, not made with hands, not made, not of this creation. So he's talking about heaven itself. Now, not with the blood of bulls, the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered the most holy place, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

The Once-for-All Sacrifice and Eternal Redemption

Now he's gonna speak a lot about blood in these next few verses. And there are some Christians that have questions about blood and obviously unbelievers have a big problem of saying, well, this is a bloody religion.

This is just all gory. And yet all of this blood points to the perfect sacrifice that Jesus would bring. Remember that the blood in itself is in a sense ineffectual. I want us to be very careful here because there's a doctrine going around that says the blood is nothing.

The blood is something. The blood is important. But the blood without the death of the sacrifice is of no value. So Jesus could not go to the cross and they would maybe cut his veins and take some blood out of him and then patch him up again.

And so this is sufficient. His blood is now gonna wash us away. The blood clearly speaks about the death of the sacrifice. You can't have the blood as it is used in the sacrificial system without the death of the animal or the death of Jesus Christ in this case.

And so the blood speaks of a violent death. It's an unnatural death. When we die of old age or we die of some kind of disease, generally there's not blood. We just die. And yet when someone is murdered, there is the shedding of blood.

And so blood in the Old Testament speaks of two things. The one is of the victim in the case of murder. And on the other hand of the sacrifice who then is killed in order to atone for the sins of the people or of the person himself.

And so the priests in the Old Testament came with the blood of calves and of goats. But Jesus comes with his own blood. And I think that we get used to this idea. We get used to singing about the blood and speaking about the blood, that it becomes commonplace in our thinking.

And yet at the same time, this is the precious blood. I think it's Peter who says that we've not been redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus.

And so his blood is precious because it is the Son of God, who just for the unjust, the righteous dying in our place. And so with his own blood, he entered the most holy place. The priests in the Old Testament, the high priest would go in once a year on the Day of Atonement, as we've seen.

And he would go into the holiest of all with a basin of blood and he would sprinkle the mercy seat and the Ark of the Covenant. And he would make atonement for the people. But the blood that he would be bringing would be the blood of an animal, would be the blood of a bull and of a goat that would be killed.

But Jesus doesn't bring something else's blood. He brings his own blood. And so with his own blood, he entered the most holy place once for all. Here's another theme that we're gonna see in the next couple of chapters, particularly in chapter 10 in Hebrews.

And that is this idea of a once for all sacrifice. The idea that the sacrifices in the Old Testament could never make them perfect. And so they had to continually make sacrifice and continually shed blood.

But that blood could not remove sin. It could cover sin for a period. And you remember that earlier on in the chapter, he spoke about the sin that was in verse seven. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance.

And so there was sacrifice for sins committed in ignorance, but there was no sacrifice for willful sin in the Old Testament. There is no provision made for it whatsoever. And so this is the heart of Psalm 51.

Remember when David takes another man's wife and he kills that man, there is no sacrifice that would deal with that sin because it was willful sin. All he could do in Psalm 51 is throw himself upon the mercy of God and say, God, just be merciful to me.

Because sacrifice could only deal. Now the blood of Jesus is able to deal with willful sin as well. Now, unfortunately that gives us sometimes permission or license to continue in sin. And Paul deals with us in Romans eight.

And he says, should we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid. And so we are in a very privileged position in that there is no sin that cannot be dealt with by the blood of the Lord Jesus. Whereas in the Old Testament, there were sins that could not be dealt with because it was willful sin.

The other problem is that the sacrifice in the Old Testament was simply retroactive. In other words, when the high priest came on the day of atonement, he would make sacrifice for the sins that were done in that year.

But the moment he came out of the presence of God, people were already sinning again. And so they would not have to wait. That sin would now be adding up in God's books until the next year or until the next time they make a sacrifice.

Jesus' sacrifice deals with past and with future sin. And so his own blood, he entered the most holy place once for all. No need for a continual sacrifice, having obtained eternal redemption, not temporary.

The whole problem with the Old Testament, as we've seen, or the Old Testament sacrificial system, was that it was temporary. It was all a bookmark or a place marker for the cross. None of those sins could finally or fully deal with sin.

It could cover sin until the final sacrifice came, until Jesus came and made that final sacrifice. And so that redemption, you couldn't even really speak of redemption, but that forgiveness that was brought by the blood of bulls and of goats and of animals in the Old Testament was temporary.

What Jesus has done is eternal. There is never going to be need for another sacrifice. There is never going to be another sin that can be invented. And of course, man is very inventive when it comes to sin, designing all kinds of new ways of sinning.

Cleansing the Conscience from Dead Works

And yet all of that can be washed away by the blood of the Lord Jesus. Now, verse 13, he says, "'For if the blood of bulls and goats "'and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, "'sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh.'".

So all this could do was purify the flesh, he is saying. "'How much more shall the blood of Christ, "'who through the eternal spirit "'offered himself without spot to God, "'cleanse your conscience from dead works?''.

You see, the sacrifices in the Old Testament could not deal with conscience because as we've said over and over, they could only cover sin for a while. They could not remove that sin. And yet Jesus comes and he is able to remove the sin, and by removing the sin, we're able to have a clear conscience.

This is a wonderful privilege which is ours. And yet it's sad that so many Christians will continue to live with an evil conscience that has not been cleansed and with issues that have not been dealt before the Lord.

So of how much more shall the blood of Christ, if those sacrifices had some merit? And of course, we're saying that they have very little merit but they had some merit. If they had some value, how much more value is there to the blood of the Lord Jesus?

How much more does the father recognize the blood of his son than the blood of animals, of sheep and of goats and of bulls? And he offered himself without spot to God. This is another important aspect of the atonement of the Lord Jesus.

Sometimes we look at this and we say, well, you know, was it the Romans? Was it the Jews? But here the writer is saying Jesus offered himself. He did not defend himself. He laid down his life for us. You know, there is no comparison anywhere in the Old Testament for this.

No animal in the Old Testament laid down his own life. Every animal in the Old Testament had to be taken and had to be bound and had to be killed against its will. The closest we can come to this is Isaac, who you remember Abraham takes his son and he lays him on the altar.

And it seems that Isaac is not struggling. Isaac is submitting to his father. It's an amazing picture of the Lord Jesus. But that was the only, that was the closest one could come to a sacrifice of someone willingly sacrificing themselves.

And so Jesus, through the eternal spirit, and I'm not gonna, there's a lot of rich stuff there when we speak about the eternal spirit, but he offered himself without spot to God, reminding us again that as much as the sacrifices in the Old Testament, remember that the condition was that they had to be without spot and without blemish.

The sacrifice had to be checked, that there was no disease, that they were not crippled or blind or in any way, and they needed to be checked over a period of time to make sure that there was no hidden disease.

Only then could they make the sacrifice. But does that mean that those animals were perfect? No, well, you know, no animal is perfect. They have idiosyncrasies and things that aren't quite right. But Jesus is without spot.

He was without spot, the perfect sacrifice. And of course, we've emphasized this so many times that if he had guilt, then he would have to die for his own sin, and he would not be able to die for us. But right up to the last moment, even as they push him to the very limits as he hangs on that cross, and as they had beaten him and they'd mocked him and they'd spattered him and done all of these things, not for one moment does he say the wrong thing, does he do the wrong thing, but he is absolutely perfect and holy before the Father, right up to the moment that he dies.

And so he's without spot to God. How much more will the blood of Christ cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Now, here's the second time we've come across this idea of dead works.

In chapter six, remember, he speaks about the foundation of the faith, the repentance from dead works, faith towards God. Dead works, remember, are things that we do that have no value, so they are religious deeds that have no value because we do them for the wrong reason, but they also refers to sin, which are works that lead to death.

And so he is able to cleanse our conscience from dead works, and I think that you can quite legitimately replace those words, dead works, here with sin. And so he is able to cleanse our conscience from sin.

That is a wonderful blessing and privilege, which is ours. It's one thing to say, well, I'm hoping that this animal is going to be able to cover my sin. And at the same time, to know, well, it's only temporary, and it's not tomorrow, if I sin again, there's gonna be another issue, and I'm gonna have to bring another sacrifice, and so on.

And yet, it's the privilege of the believer to have a clear conscience, to have a clear conscience. Now, there's a difference, of course, because Paul speaks about the fact that there are some who have a seared conscience, a conscience that has been burnt, and is no longer able to feel the pricks of guilt.

That's not a clean conscience. The clean conscience is one that says, I am right with God, I have not sinned. Now, I may have sinned, but the blood of Jesus cleanses of all unrighteousness. So he's able to cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Cleansed to Serve the Living God

Now, here you can see why he uses the word serve, because now he's gonna talk about, sorry, the dead works, because he's now talking about serving. Notice he says, dead works, serving the living God. So what they did in the Old Testament was all dead works.

It was not able to save. Yet, he has cleansed our conscience, not so that we can just revel in forgiveness, and sing wonderful songs about our forgiveness, and that we're saved, and so on. But he has cleansed us so that we can serve the living God.

Now, remember, the priests in the Old Testament, in order to serve God, they needed to be cleansed. And so they have to go through a whole ritual of washing, and putting on clean clothes, and making sacrifices, and putting the blood on their right thumb, and on their right toe, and so on.

They have to go through all of this in order that they might be cleansed to serve God. And so God has cleansed us so that we can serve him. And so he's reminding us about chapter six, where he says repentance from dead works, turning away from the dead works, that we might serve the living God.

Unfortunately, too many Christians rejoice in their forgiveness and in their salvation, but they don't get to the point of actually serving the living God. We need to be those who are serving him. The priests in the Old Testament were not cleansed for the sake of just being cleansed.

They were cleansed for one purpose only, and that was that they could stand before God, and make the sacrifices, and enter into the holy place, and light the lamps, and do the various works of the ministry, and so he has cleansed us that we might serve the living God.

Jesus as Mediator of the New Covenant

Not a dead religion, but a living God. Now verse 15, for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant. Now he's gonna introduce two new words here, or two different words. The one is mediator, and the other is testator.

We'll come to the testator in a moment. So what is a mediator? Well, a mediator is obviously someone who stands between two. We have one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus. Sometimes if there is a legal dispute, or there is a dispute in a marriage, you may bring in a mediator, or sometimes we call him an arbiter.

And the purpose of the mediator is to be able to bring the two sides together. And so he is the mediator of the new covenant. So he is the one who brings the two sides together. God, on the one hand, who is offended by our sin.

Remember, Paul says we were at enmity with God. And so there is this war going on between the unbeliever and God. The unbeliever is resisting the voice of God. He's resisting the call to repentance. He's resisting the call of his conscience.

And so he is fighting with God all the time. And we know people who find themselves in that kind of situation. They're desperately unhappy, because God is working with them, and yet they're resisting God.

And yet he is the mediator. He is bringing the two sides together. And so he is the mediator of the new covenant. The new covenant. Remember, Jesus said at the Last Supper, he said, this is the blood of the new covenant.

The purpose of the covenant is to bring us into that new relationship with God, and we've dealt with that in the previous chapters. And so he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant.

Now, there's a lot of big words here and a long, stretched out series of thoughts, but I want you to just try and let's just tease this apart. And so he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death.

Normally, a mediator would mediate in the sense of compromise. So he would bring the two sides and say, well, you've got to see it from his point of view, you've got to see it from his point of view. Well, you know, this is not so, you know, and try and bring some kind of compromise, some kind of bringing together of the minds.

Jesus is a mediator, not in that sense. But he removes the offense. You see, because here's the problem. Many times in our relationships, we have broken relationships. The relationships are broken because there is some kind of offense.

Somebody did something that is wrong. And generally we say, well, you know, let's just sweep it under the rug and move on. Now, you may be able to do that. I don't think that that's really the basis of a good relationship.

I believe that things need to be dealt with. Things need to be removed. The offense, the cause of the problem needs to be taken out of the way so that the two can come together. And so what was the offense?

The offense was our sin. And so Jesus had to die to remove the obstacle that prevented us from getting together with God. And so he's not a mediator in the sense of somebody who talks and somebody who negotiates, but he's a mediator in the sense that he is the one who removes the problem so that man and God may be reconciled.

He is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death. So how does he remove the offense? By laying down his life. That's an amazing thing. Earthly mediators will walk away. They may have a dent in their reputation if they're not able to resolve the problem, but they never get personally involved.

They never have to make any kind of personal sacrifice in order to fix the problem between two parties, whether it's in business or in politics or in marriage or whatever. But Jesus lays down his life, removes the problem.

Now we are able to be reconciled to God. So by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. So here you see him expressing what we've been saying all along, and that is that the Old Testament's blood sacrifices could only cover sin.

They could not remove them. And so you'll see what he's saying here for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant. So those transgressions still stood until Jesus came, until Jesus' death.

But when he died, he was the redemption. He paid the price. Remember, redemption has to do with paying a price. When something has been put in hock at the pawn broker, P-A-W-N broker, you have to come and bring the money to redeem the watch or whatever it was that you gave a surety.

And so Jesus paid the price so that the transgressions under the first covenant can be dealt with. And so that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Now here's another very deep thing that we need to get our minds around.

Notice that he says that those who are called, now he's speaking about the old covenant, that those under the old covenant who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. So what did they have in the Old Testament?

Did they have eternal life? No, they only had a promise because the price would have to be paid in order for that promise to be made real, to be accessible. And so they have a promise. So in Hebrews chapter 11, when we get there finally, it's gonna speak about the fact that these all died in faith not having obtained the promises.

So we have obtained the promises. Our promise, our hope is that when we die, we're absent from the body and we're present with the Lord. They had to wait until Jesus paid the price. And so they're in Abraham's bosom in a place of comfort.

Remember in Luke chapter 16, is it? The rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus is in comfort in Abraham's bosom or in paradise waiting until Jesus paid the price. Having paid the price, they are now able to be redeemed and they're able to receive the promise that they had in the Old Testament of eternal life, of an eternal inheritance.

The Testament, Death, and the Eternal Inheritance

Let's do one more verse or so. Let's see how we go. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. Now, here he's talking about a will. Remember when we see the word testament in the Bible, we immediately think about the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Interesting, the word testament here is exactly the same Greek word as we have in the previous verse, verse 15. And for this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant. So that Greek word covenant is the same word testament in verse 16.

So why do the translators then translate it in this case quite correctly as covenant there and testament here? Because clearly he's talking about two different things. What is a testament or a will? When we were in South Africa now, we had to update our will.

It is another form of a covenant. It's an agreement. It's an agreement that you make with your descendants, with your children. They're not part of that agreement. It's a unilateral agreement in the same way as God's covenant with Abraham is a unilateral agreement, but it is a covenant nonetheless.

And if the conditions of that will are not carried out in detail, then there can be a lawsuit and there can be legal action because it is an enforceable contract. And the contract says that when I die, then this is what happens to my stuff.

And so it's just another form of covenant. But a covenant that is particularly applicable, he says, once the person who made the covenant, who made the testament, has died. And so this is a very obvious point that he's making and that is obviously that anyone, and I trust that all of us have a will and that you don't leave your children with the problems of having to deal with an intestate estate.

But that will has no value whatsoever until you die. Nobody can come and say, well, he left 50 bucks to me. I want my 50 bucks. No, he hasn't died yet. You can't get your 50 bucks. It only becomes relevant once he dies.

A very obvious point. And so he is then saying that Jesus not only made a covenant, but he also made a will and that will becomes effective at his death. Now, what does the will or the testament do? It gives certain things to the beneficiaries, to the children or to whoever are named in the will.

So there are privileges, there are blessings, there are things that come out of the will for those who are the beneficiaries of it. And so he is bringing the same point. So in order for Jesus, so Jesus makes a will in a sense.

And what does he leave us? He leaves us eternal life. But that eternal life does not become effective until Jesus died. And so that's really the point he's making. So a testament in verse 17 is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives, while the person who made the will is alive.

Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. And I'm gonna stop here. And so he's coming back to the issue of blood and we're gonna see in the next few verses, he's gonna speak about a blood many, many times.

If you look at verse 19, every precept of all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats and he sprinkled both the book and everything. Verse 20, this is the blood of the covenant.

Verse 21, likewise, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and the vessels of the ministry. Verse 22, and according to the law, almost all things were purified with blood and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.

And so now he's going to introduce this whole area of the blood. So because the will does not become effective until the testator dies, the blood is a symbol of his death. And so not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

So remember that God makes a covenant with Abraham. And the animals are killed and the carcasses are laid out or laid out in two lines. And God walks between. This is the way that they made the covenant.

But more specifically, what he has in mind here, I'm just gonna introduce this and come back to this next week, Lord willing. But what he's introducing here is the covenant that God made with Israel at Mount Sinai.

And so when Abraham came down and the law was written in the book, not just on the tables of stone, but in the scroll, all of that was sprinkled with blood. And so that covenant was sealed with blood.

And of course, again, Jesus said, this is the blood of the new covenant. And so again, it's the old covenant, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. Therefore, he is saying the new covenant is also dedicated without blood.

Salvation Through Christ's Blood and Grace

Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you, Lord, for the tremendous privilege that is ours of living in the New Testament. Lord, that we don't look forward to maybe one day Jesus will come and deal with our sin, but that we are able to look back at the cross 2000 years ago, where Jesus died and once for all dealt with our sins.

Lord, that there's no reason for us to be living with an evil conscience, but Lord, that we can have a clean conscience and that we might be able to serve you with that clean conscience. And so Lord, we pray that again, we've not said anything new or novel this evening, but I pray Lord that we may once again just be gripped with a wonder and the glory of your grace towards us.

Lord, that you've saved us, that Jesus has died for us, that you washed our sins away. Not only that, but you prepared a home in heaven for us where we can live in your very presence. And so Lord, I pray that you'd help us to understand, but Lord, more than that, help that these things may sink down into our very being and create within us a deep gratitude and worship and adoration of you and of your immense grace and mercy towards us who were sinners and yet we've been saved by your grace.

Make these things real for us, we pray. And we pray as we part now that you'd go with us, keep us and protect us, bring us together again safely. On Sunday, we pray in Jesus name.