|
| Chapter 9 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
|
1 ¶ Then verily, the first covenant also had ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle made, the first, wherein was the candlestick and the table and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary. 3 And after the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, 4 which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; 5 and over it were the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat, of which we cannot now speak particularly. 6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service to God. 7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people; 8 ¶ The Holy Spirit by this signifying that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest, so long as the first tabernacle was yet standing. 9 It was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, which could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, 10 since it concerned only meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ, having come a High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands (that is to say, not of this building); 12 neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if sprinkling the unclean with the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 ¶ And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were covered under the first testament, those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 18 And so not even the first testament was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, 20 saying, "This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you." 21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And by the law almost all things are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. 23 ¶ It was therefore necessary that the copies of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. 25 Nor yet should He offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place with blood of others every year; 26 for then would He have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once, in the end of the world, hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment, 28 so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto those who look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin, unto salvation. |
We now have better access into the presence of God. v1-14. v1-10 A description of the first tabernacle . The writer looks at the physical parts of the earthly tabernacle v1-5 followed by the limits of the priestly ministry v6,7 and the sacrifices they offered, v9,10. v1 The ordinances had the mark of divine authority on them but the tabernacle and the instructions belonged to the visible world and were imperfect and temporary. v2 The tabernacle was divided into areas, the outer part contained the candlestick, the table, the showbread(shewbread) and alter of incense, not mentioned here. The priests were allowed to enter this area but were not allowed to enter the next area, the Holy of holies beyond the veil. v3 The Holy of holies was only entered by the High Priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. The veil represented the barrier between a holy God and evil Man. v4-5 The Ark of the Covenant was a box about 4 feet( 3.3m)long, 2 1/2 feet( 2.9m) hight and width. It was covered with gold, on top of the box (ark) was the mercy seat, above this two cherubims whose wings covered the mercy seat. In Solomon’s Temple we are told that there were three treasures kept inside the ark, a pot of manna, (Ex 16:32-34) Aaron’s rod that budded,(Num 17:1-11) and the tables of the Covenant (Ex 25:16ff). v6 There was a daily service by the ordinary priests. These priests were only allowed into the outer area of the tabernacle, they had a daily task of lighting and attend to the lamps, replace the 12 loaves of bread every week on the sabbath (Lev 24:5ff) and burn incense on the golden alter (Ex 30:7,8). They were also the representative of the worshippers, offering sacrifices and worship in their place. v7 Only the High Priest was allowed into the Holy of holies on the day of atonement. Lev 16:11-16 shows that he entered twice on that day, once to offer a blood from the sacrifice for himself and then a second blood sacrifice for the people. v8 The way for all people to enter into the presence of God was not allowed until the final sacrifice by Jesus was made, the tabernacle was not now needed, the veil had been torn in half at the death of Jesus, access to the Holy of holies had been made. The temple was still used by the Jewish nation as a place of worship until 70 A.D. when it was destroyed by the Romans. v9,10 The tabernacle and later temple had been a symbol of the future heavenly tabernacle, but it was not a perfect example, gifts and sacrifices had no power to remove the sin of Man. All these were able to do was give the worshippers a certain physical ‘cleaning’ from sin. The writer now examines the characteristics of the sacrifice of Christ and the eternal effect that they have on those who take Him as Saviour. He achieves this by again comparison with the Levitical forms of sacrifice and service. v11 By the sacrifice of Himself Christ made His entrance into the presence of God as the High Priest of sinful man, His aim has been to restore and secure this relationship and communion with God. v12-14 By this action Christ obtained eternal redemption for us, setting us free from the defilement and death of sin through His blood, purging (cleaning) the conscience of man and set them free to serve and worship the true and living God. The previous blood of animals had not been able to achieve any of this. Christ, being God and Man, was still able to act as Man at His death and so take the punishment in our place. A better sacrifice, 9:15-10:18. The writer now uses the word "covenant" as the more accepted meaning, a "will" or "last testament." Nothing can come into force until the person dies. v15 Because He was able to achieve this He has become our Mediator of the new testament, the new covenant, with God, He is able to set us free from the penalty of transgression produced by the first covenant and we have been given a promise of the eternal inheritance. This indicates that those who died in sin under the old covenant are set free to the eternal inheritance. v16,17 The word ‘testament’ or ‘covenant’ means an agreement between two people but it can also have a juristic(legal)sense and means ‘will.’ Though a ‘covenant’ does not necessarily involve death, a ‘will’ does. For the ‘will’ to be operate the person who wrote it has to die, before that it has no meaning or power. Christ had to die to pass on the promised inheritance. v18 The writer now uses the name ‘covenant’ in the general meaning, The Mosaic covenant was created with a death taking place, Moses took the blood of calves and goats and sprinkled the book and the people. Exodus 24:3-8. V20 echoes the words of Jesus when He instituted (started) the Lord’s Supper Matt 26:28but the writer does not refer to this event in all of Hebrews. v21 Moses appears from this verse to have also ‘sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and vessels’ but the tabernacle did not exist until later, it was still to be built. Was he referring to the later time when sacrifices were taking place? v22 It was the normal principle of the law that, almost without exception, purification involved blood, without shedding of blood there is no remission.. See Numbers 31:21-24 and Leviticus 5:11-13 for an event which did not involve blood. There is now Perfect Purification, v23-26. v23 The completion of the atoning work of Christ is explained, heaven itself was made free from the infection of sin, Man’s or Satan’s because of the blood of Christ, Satan lost his power at the death of Christ, Satan had been given the rights to earth when Adam disobeyed God but Christ had bought it back. v24 The sanctuary on earth under the old covenant is compared with heavenly sanctuary of the new covenant, as the High Priest entered the Holy of holies, so our Lord Jesus Christ entered the heavenly Holy of holies through His sacrifice. He did not enter to make a sacrifice, that was done on earth on the cross. He entered into God’s presence to act as our mediator. v25 The old covenant High Priest had to offer the sacrifice every year, with the blood of animals, the sacrifice demanded a pure and spotless victim, the High Priest was far from being pure, Christ the pure, perfect great High Priest needed to do it only the once. v26 The sacrifice of Christ was perfect and only needed the once, full atonement has been made, sin has been paid for, sin has been put away. Final Glory v27-28. v27,28 To prove that Christ’s action was completed, man is born, lives then dies just the once, only God’s judgement remains when a man will give an account of his life for judgement and eternal death. So Christ was born once, lived and died the once, never to be repeated. His resurrection proved that He will not be judged, God has accepted the sacrifice. Today He is in the Holy of Holies in the heavenly tabernacle, standing for the Believer, there He will stay until His return. One day Christ will appear back on the earth not to make a sacrifice but with eternal life for all believers who have believed. |
Easy English Translation
| Back to previous page | Return to Home Page |
| Hebrews |
| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 |
| Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 |
| Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Introduction Page |
