WWUTT 1846 The Service of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 9:1-10)

There was a ministry that took place in the Old Covenant, but it did not have the power to change the person.

All of these things were simply done as types and shadows pointing to a greater covenant that would come in Christ, when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in Hebrews, this week in Chapter 9, and I'm going to start off by reading the first 10 verses from the

Legacy Standard Bible. This is the Word of the Lord. Now, even the first covenant had requirements of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary.

For there was a tabernacle prepared. The first part in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread, which is called the

Holy Place. And 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 Aaron's rod which budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the first part of the tabernacle performing the divine worship.

But into the second part 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 indicating this, that the way into the Holy Places has not yet been manifested while the first part of the tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time.

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

So what this first section of chapter 9 is telling us is about the earthly sanctuary and the symbolism of the old covenant.

And this is the section we're going to be looking at today. The next part of chapter 9 is about the exalted sanctuary and the superiority of new covenant worship.

Because what we had just finished up talking about when we were in chapter 8 was the new covenant that was given.

God promised a new covenant. We read about the promise of that covenant in Jeremiah 31, which is cited in Hebrews 8.

And the new covenant comes in Jesus Christ, who fulfills all the requirements of the old covenant and institutes a new covenant.

And he talks about this new covenant even with his disciples in the upper room, when they are sharing at the

Lord's supper, at the Lord's table. And he passes to them the cup saying, this is the cup of my blood of the new covenant.

And when he said this to his disciples, their minds surely would have gone to the promise of a new covenant, which was mentioned by the prophet

Jeremiah. They may not have understood it because the scripture says that they didn't understand these things until Christ opened their minds to understand them.

That was before his ascension into heaven in Luke 24. And then, of course, there was the giving of the

Holy Spirit. And Jesus said, the Spirit will recall to your mind these things that I have said to you and also teach you new things.

So there were things they did not yet understand, even when Jesus was breaking bread with them and passing the cup among them.

But nonetheless, there was this promise of the new covenant that had come in Jesus Christ.

So now having talked about that in chapter eight, we look back at the shadow of those things that were yet to come, namely with regards to the tabernacle, the sacrifices that were offered in the tabernacle, even some of those elements in the tabernacle and what they represented.

So you have this mention of the earthly sanctuary and the symbolism of old covenant worship.

And what we get to next is we'll get into this tomorrow, beginning in verse 11, the exalted sanctuary.

Remember that there is a tabernacle in the heavens, which the Lord pitched, not man.

That was in chapter eight, verse two. So the exalted sanctuary and the superiority of new covenant worship.

That's what we'll get into next. But first, the preacher brings back to the minds of the hearers everything that was connected with the old covenant worship.

And just as there were these symbols in the old covenant, and there were practices that were particular to worship in the old tabernacle, so there are particular things that are required even in the heavenly tabernacle.

So it's going to be talked about how Christ fulfills those things or ministers in those things on our behalf.

That's the section we'll be looking at tomorrow with the new covenant, the superiority of the new covenant and the exalted sanctuary.

Today, this is the symbolism of the old covenant and the earthly sanctuary. And the preacher introduces both of those things in verse one.

Now, even the first covenant had requirements of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. So you have the sanctuary and the service that was in that sanctuary.

Then verses two through five deal with the sanctuary and verses six through ten deal with the service in that sanctuary.

So again, let's pick up in verse two, for there was a tabernacle prepared, the first part in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread, which is called the holy place.

Now, obviously, we're just concerned with the tent portion of the tabernacle. This is not detailing anything about the courtyard, you know, where there would be the brazen altar in the laver, just that tent where after walking through the first veil, you would come into the holy place and then through the second veil into the holy of holies.

Perhaps you've seen these drawings in these illustrations, like the layers of the material that covered over the tent and then the cutaway that shows the inside where you have the table of the bread of the presence.

You have the lampstand and the altar of incense. Those things would be in the holy place. And then inside the holy of holies, there's really only one furnishing there, and that is the

Ark of the Covenant. So there's something controversial about these verses, verses two through four, because in mentioning the furnishings in the holy place and the holy of holies, the writer gives details here that seem to contradict everything that we've pictured about the inside of the tabernacle.

So let's look at it again, verse two, where it says there was a tabernacle prepared, the first part, which were the lampstand in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread, which is called the holy place.

So only two furnishings are mentioned there. You have the table and you have the lampstand mentioned and the bread, which goes on the table.

There's three elements, but only two furnishings mentioned there in verse two, the lampstand and the table. The altar of incense is not mentioned.

But then in verse, verses three and four, 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 Aaron's rod, which budded and the tablets of the covenant.

Now this has been hugely controversial, and in fact, this may very well be the most controversial passage in the book of Hebrews, because it almost looks like the writer of Hebrews aired.

Did Paul preach these things wrong, or did the person who wrote down Paul's sermon, did they get it wrong?

How do they only mention two furnishings in the holy place and then two furnishings in the holy of holies?

When based on descriptions that we have in like Exodus chapters 30 and 40, it looks like the altar of incense is before the curtain, before that second curtain, not after it.

It's not inside the most holy place, the holy of holies with the

Ark of the Covenant. The Ark is just there by itself. So why does the writer of Hebrews put the altar of incense in the same place with the

Ark of the Covenant and not on the outside with the other furnishings that are mentioned there?

Well, there are a couple of possibilities. Different commentators have said different things about this.

Some have even gone as far as to say, well, the guy just got it wrong. Luke, if he's the writer of Hebrews, he got this wrong.

I don't think that that's the problem here. It's really more semantics more than anything else. So the possibility is because the altar of incense was right next to the curtain, that was the instruction is that it was to be right there before the second veil so that when incense is burned, the fragrant aroma of the incense would waft into the holy of holies.

That was its purpose. It was outside the holy of holies because Aaron was supposed to burn on that altar the incense regularly.

He couldn't do that if it was inside the holy of holies, because remember the high priest was only supposed to enter that second veil once a year on the day of atonement.

Let's look at the instructions regarding the altar of incense as we have them in Exodus chapter 30.

I'm going to begin reading here in verse one. Moreover, this is the Lord speaking on how the altar of incense is to be constructed.

Moreover, you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense. You shall make it of Acacia wood.

Its length shall be a cubit and its width a cubit. It shall be square. By the way, a cubit, in case you forgot, is the distance between the tip of your elbow to the tip of your middle finger.

And when these things in the construction of the tabernacle were measured out according to cubits, it was likely that Moses had a rod, which he measured to be exactly the length of his own forearm from the tip of his middle finger down to his elbow.

And then that one single rod would be duplicated into other rods. So that way, all the measurements were exactly the same since, you know, some people may have a longer cubit than others.

So this would be the standard of measurement used in the construction of these things based on the instructions that God gave.

So with the altar of incense, it's square and not very tall because its height shall be two cubits.

Its horn shall be of the same piece. So you have a cubit by a cubit by two cubits.

It's not exactly a cube, a little bit taller than that, but it wasn't necessarily a tall altar either.

Verse three, you shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around and its horns, and you shall make a gold molding all around for it.

You shall make two gold rings for it under its molding, and you shall make them on its two sides on opposite sides, and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it.

So when the altar of incense would be moved from one place to the next, it would have those poles, and verse five says you shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

And it was the responsibility of the Kohathites to transport these items from place to place.

Whenever the tabernacle would be torn down and the children of Israel would move, the Kohathites had the responsibility of moving the furnishings.

Now those things would be wrapped. The Kohathites wouldn't do that. It would be the priest that would wrap it, and then the

Kohathites would transport it. You could not touch any of the furnishings that were inside the tabernacle.

Now we're used to hearing that about the Ark of the Covenant. You couldn't touch the Ark of the Covenant or you would die. But that was actually the case with all of the furnishings in the holy place and the holy of holies.

In fact, you could not even look at them or it would kill you. This was the strict requirements that God had on these furnishings that he instructed

Moses to make. All of these things were to be holy. They were not to be considered common. And so you could not even look at those things that were used for the purpose of ministry before the

Lord inside the tabernacle. So going on here in Exodus 30 verse 6, you shall put this altar, still talking about the altar of incense, you shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the

Ark of the Testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the testimony where I will meet with you.

So the picture, the visualization there is that the altar of incense is really, really close to the

Ark of the Covenant. It's only separated by a veil and you could not go through that veil except on the

Day of Atonement. But the altar had to be on the outside of that second curtain because Aaron was going to be burning on it regularly.

Verse 7, Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. He shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps.

When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be continual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.

A continual burning of incense. Even though the offerings where the blood would be spilled and then sprinkled on the top of the

Ark of the Covenant, even though that was only done once a year, there was still a regular burning of incense and then the smoke from that incense was intended to waft into the holy place, or yeah, the holy of holies, where it would be a fragrant offering unto

God. And this was done continually. Verse 9, you shall not offer any strange incense on this altar or burnt offering or grain offering and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it.

Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. He shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations.

It is most holy to Yahweh. So that particular item, the altar of incense, was even important in the work of the

Day of Atonement. And what's in view here is that particular day. Not just the ministry of the things that would happen on any given day in the tabernacle, but specifically the ministry that would happen for the atonement of the sins of the people.

Because as we go on, we have it mentioned in verse 7, into the second the high priest could enter only once a year, not without taking blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

And we've just read here in Exodus 30 how blood would also be sprinkled on the top of the altar of incense.

So that is a furnishing that's instrumental to the holy of holies, though its physical location was in the holy place so that Aaron was able to minister on it daily with regards to the incense that was to be regularly offered up to God.

Like I said, this argument is really down to semantics. When I read Hebrews 9,

I don't see a controversy here. I had to read about there being a controversy to understand that there's supposed to be something controversial about Hebrews 9, 2 through 4.

But even though the writer of Hebrews puts the altar of incense inside the second veil, that doesn't nullify anything or contradict anything that we read in the

Old Testament. It could very well be that the writer here is talking about specifically the day of atonement, since that's what's in view later on in this particular section.

Or it could be that he's including it as being within the holy of holies because that's where the fragrance of the incense was supposed to go.

It was supposed to waft into that place. That's why it had the location that it had. So it's considered a furnishing for the holy of holies, though its physical location may have been really outside of the curtain so that Aaron could offer incense on it daily, since he could only enter into the most holy place once a year.

Now, what was inside the Ark of the Covenant? That's the rest of verse 4, in which was a golden jar holding the manna,

Aaron's rod, which budded, and the tablets of the covenant, which would have been the Ten Commandments. The story of Aaron's budding rod was right after Korah's rebellion, when the

Lord was showing, here's the man that I will choose, the one whose staff buds. And it was Aaron's staff.

So showing this miraculous sign done through Aaron's staff that God would demonstrate to all the people of Israel, this is the man that I have chosen.

This is the one who's going to be your high priest and his sons who will minister on your behalf.

We've talked about that going through Hebrews, that God had chosen specifically the person in the lineage who would be responsible for this ministry that would take place in the holy place and in the holy of holies.

So verse 5, still in Hebrews 9, verse 5, above it, above the

Ark of the Covenant were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seed of these things we cannot speak in detail.

Now, the reason why the writer of Hebrews says that is because these things don't exist anymore. We can't go find the

Ark of the Covenant. We can't find the golden jar, Aaron's rod, the tablets of the covenant. We cannot speak of those things in detail because we can't go look at them and give you the details about these things.

We only know of them and can speak of them according to what is written down in the scriptures. Now, the next part, verses 6 through 10,

I've spent a lot of time just talking about the sanctuary. Verses 6 through 10 are about the service that was done in the sanctuary.

Now, when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the first part of the tabernacle, performing the divine worship, going through the first curtain and serving there in the holy place.

Remember, Aaron was to burn incense on the altar of incense every single day.

So there's functions that are going on in the holy place every day, but in the holy of holies, only one day a year.

Verse 7, but into the second, through the second curtain, 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 indicating this, that the way into the holy places has not yet been manifested while that first part of the tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time.

Now, the present tense is used throughout this section, verses 1 through 10, not because it's referring to services that are still continuing, but because it is tracing the ordinance that is according to scripture.

And it's only of the tabernacle that he speaks. It's not of the temple that was still standing at the time that this particular sermon was preached.

If the preacher here was referring to the temple, then there would have been nothing in the holy of holies.

There was not an Ark of the Covenant there. So he would not have been speaking of the Ark of the Covenant or even of the censer or the altar of incense.

There was nothing inside the holy of holies. So it's just a certain device that's being used here as the preacher is tracing the instruction according to the scriptures and speaking in the present tense.

I understand the literary device because I've used it too, even in my own preaching, even in preaching from the

Old Testament. So going on, let's see, where did I finish there? That was right at the start of verse 9.

Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience.

So although we have offerings that are made, even on Yom Kippur for sins that were committed in ignorance, that was what was said in verse 7, though it will atone for the person's unrighteousness, it doesn't clear the conscience.

It doesn't change or transform the person. Just because these offerings were offered on behalf of the

Israelites, that didn't make them better people. Their consciences weren't changed.

It didn't change them from sinner into saint. All of these things were meant to be types and shadows of something greater that was to come.

The new covenant, remember the promise of the new covenant was that the law of God would be written on our hearts.

It wouldn't be on external tablets. It would be inside of us. And so coming into the presence of Christ and being transformed by him and having his

Holy Spirit fill us up and tabernacle inside of us, right? Because the body is the temple of the

Holy Spirit, as said in 1 Corinthians 3 and 6. So we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

When the Holy Spirit is inside of us, then our conscience is changed and transformed.

These sacrifices that were done in the old covenant didn't change the conscience of anybody.

So you're starting to see here, right? How the new covenant is superior to the old.

The old covenant didn't even have the power to change or transform the conscience like the new covenant does.

Verse 10, since the stuff of the old covenant relates only to food and drink and various washings requirements for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

So once again, just talking about those things in the old covenant, which really did not change the person.

All of this was meant to be a type in a shadow of a greater covenant that was to come fulfilled in Christ, instituted by him, of which we are now members.

And we will talk more about this tomorrow as we come into the next portion of Hebrews chapter 9.

Understand this, that as followers of Jesus Christ, we know the right way to go.

We know God and we fellowship with him daily. And there doesn't have to be anyone else that does this on our behalf.

You can go to God now because of the ministry and work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

That is one of the wonderful blessings of this new covenant. And we'll explore more about this as we continue on tomorrow.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for these new things that have been given to us, new things that we experience even today, as we read in Lamentations 3, that your mercies are new every morning.

And we read in 2 Corinthians 5, that we are a new creation. The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come. So as new creatures that are being made into the image, being conformed to the image of Christ, teach us your statutes this day and may we walk in them as holy and pleasing sacrifices unto the

Lord. This is our spiritual act of worship, Romans 12 .1. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. And join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word, when we understand the text.