[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       Hebrews chapter 9, starting in verse 1: “Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 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, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail” (ESV).

       Picking up today where we left off in chapter 8, we continue with the discussion wherein the author was demonstrating how Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, makes the first covenant of God with Israel as obsolete. He makes it obsolete. The last verse of chapter 8, remember, stated, “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete” (13, ESV). In our text today, the author dives further into this old Jewish system, old to us that is, for this system was still in operation in Jerusalem at the time of this writing. This was being done in the third iteration of the Temple of God. The third iteration. What is being described within these verse of Hebrews is actually what we could refer to as the first version of a temple. Namely, in this case it is the Jewish people’s Temple of God, and this first one was a portable one. One that could be transported from place to place, a traveling version. Not a permeant fixture, like the second version is that we are probably most familiar with, which is most famous, and was the one built by Solomon. The third version would be the rebuilt Solomon Temple after the Exile. In the Jewish mind, these last two versions were the more desired versions because they were fixed structures—real structures. The first one was portable. Interestingly, the author decides to focus on the first one. We can probably see why. That’s because he’s showing that just as the Temple of God was portable, or temporarily fixed, so too is the old Jewish system. It was temporarily fixed, and a temporary fix to mankind’s problem. In contrast, Christ is much more than a temporary fix.

       Basically, then, this portable Temple of God consisted of two areas (and by the way, all this is described back in Exodus chapter 25 to 30 for anyone interested). The first section, which was called The Holy Place, contained three elements: the lampstand, table, and bread of the presence. Now, this lampstand consisted of seven arms, or branches. A significant correlation, which probably came to a few of you out there, is the seven churches mentioned at the beginning of The Book of Revelation. Recall, there John said, “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man” (Revelation 1:12, ESV). In Hebrews, however, we are speaking of one lampstand. Nevertheless, there was also the table of which sat atop the bread of the Presence. This bread represents life within the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Thus, that is the first section. The second section which was separated by a curtain, was called The Most Holy Place, or probably more commonly The Holy of Holies, of course was the place where God dwelled on the earth. This was after the fall, when he did not come down and commune with man anymore. Now, this would not be because his wrath prevented him from doing so, as is commonly thought and taught. It’s simply due to the fact that God is holy, and individuals are affected by sin. It’s not that God has to keep his wrath at bay. Nonetheless, in this area were the golden Ark of the Covenant, which had the mercy seat and cherubim crafted on top. Inside the ark were three objects of importance: the jar which held a sample of the manna of old that came down from Heaven, Aaron’s actual staff, and the second copy of The Ten Commandments. Those were the stones which were supernaturally engraved. And the author caps it at these details so as to not prolong his discussion.

       Regardless, in all of this—in considering these details—there are likely a few individuals out there asking the question of “Why?” “Why were things like this?” So used to, we are, to simply accepting these images as the way it is from our upbringing, or church learning, but we never seem to ask the question of why these things were the way they were. To tackle this question, we need to remember first and foremost that the idea behind it all was to provide a covering for people’s sins until Christ could appear on the scene to permanently save people from their sins—those who choose to believe in what he accomplished. Now, why there had to be this stage in the process with the three temples, and all the Jewish Law, and everything else, we really don’t know. For some unknown reason, it would seem that there had to be a delay before God could come to the earth as Jesus. We know, back in Genesis chapter 3, that Moses penned, “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To prophetically paraphrase that, we would say, “Christ shall bruise Satan’s head, and only Satan can bruise Christ’s heel.” Something like that. The point is that God was foreshadowing in the Garden of Eden that there was going to be a remedy to this whole situation of sin entering the world. Satan probably didn’t catch it, or didn’t believe it if he did, or thought he would stop it. We simply, though, don’t know why there had to be a period of time between when Adam and Eve first sinned all the way to when Christ appeared on the earth. We don’t know why there was that delay. And, it’s not because God had pre-written a story. It’s not that.

       Anyway, all this Jewish temple stuff with the curtains, the table, the ark, and everything else—why did these things have to be this way? Well, interestingly, and this might surprise some people—they didn’t. They actually didn’t have to be this way. In analyzing it, it would seem that to some degree, and again we don’t know to what degree this would be, that all these things were an acquiescence of God for the Israelites due to what the pagan nations had. The Israelites always desired to be like their pagan counterparts. That becomes obvious, remember famously when Moses was up on the mountain receiving the first tablets—the first copy of The Ten Commandments, and the Israelites turn to the other things—the pagan things—the golden calf. Remember? Moses comes down the mountain, sees what they’ve done while he was gone, and breaks The Ten Commandments in two in his anger. So, a second copy has to be made. Anyhow, other pagan nations had temples for there gods, and in those temples they would have shrines in the center of them. Well, it’s likely that Israel wanted the same thing for themselves, even though it’s not stated plainly. So God said, “Okay, I will make my temple like those, but it’s not going to have an image of me in it.” God wouldn’t allow it to go that far. Other pagan temples did have images of their gods, which interestingly, were commonly animal-based. But unlike their temples where a fake god would reside that had no true power (though perhaps demonic power at times), the Israelites Temple had the actual presence of the God of the Universe. It’s an amazing thing—but not nearly as amazing as the fact that God now dwells within the church—within the actual bodies of the believers of his church in these days.

       Continuing on. Verse 6: “These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 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. 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 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation” (ESV).

       Thus, spoken of in this section are the two tents—the areas where the priests of God dealt. Of course, we understand the first area was the outer tent. In this tent, all the priests of God could go. The priests under the high priest could enter it. Now, the second tent, the second tent, that could only be entered by the high priest, and that, one time a year. Only once a year. And, and, when he entered, he had to be sure he had animal blood with him to sprinkle on the mercy seat, on top of the Ark of the Covenant. This blood was to atone for the unintentional sins of the Jewish people, and for he, himself. If he didn’t carry that blood with him, he would have been killed on the spot. This is since God is holy—not because he is angry and wrathful, rubbing his hands together and hoping to nail someone not following his instructions. Anyway, this whole process is talked about in Leviticus chapter 16 if anyone desires to dig deeper into this. Of course, the Law dealt in others things, as are described in Leviticus chapter 6. This had to do with foods and drinks, rituals and prohibitions, which were to make persons temporarily holy—temporarily clean. Dealing with the externals they did, not the internals of the heart. That’s the difference between the old, original way, and the new way. These old ways were always seen by God to be temporal, until the new way could be enacted. And, as mentioned last time, we don’t know why there was this delay, but there was.

       One thing to keep in mind as we are discussing this, and really this text points this out rather well, is that this is a good baseline test when considering a body of believers, and whether we feel that body is aligning with what God wants and desires under the New Covenant. Why, this was foundational to why Martin Luther started the process of what he did, in breaking away from the Roman Catholic church (and quickly, this is not to go against Roman Catholics but simply to make a point). Luther felt that a lot of what the church practiced wasn’t right, which included some external rituals. So, we have protestantism being formed—which is protesting the Catholic ways (hence the name protest-ant). Anyway, ideas and beliefs have been taken pretty far, to the point where most ritual is frowned upon in the modern Evangelical world. Of course, many of the mainline churches (like the Presbyterians and Methodists) still practice some rituals within a church service, but this is probably growing less and less as time passes. Of course, besides the Roman Catholics, there are the Eastern Orthodox Churches, which arguably practice more ritualistic behavior than even the Roman Catholics. Yet, some feel that the way the modern Evangelical church has made things is too light—not enough going on to ‘honor’ God, if you will, in the form of ritual. Thus, there are individuals on both sides—individuals who think there should be no externals, some who think the answer is in the middle, and some who think there still should be many.

       Getting back on track, what is key and fundamental is that this sprinkling of the blood back during the first covenant could not do anything to erase sin from people. A person’s conscience could not and would not be cleared by this process. This is very, very different from the new way, the new covenant, where people believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the difference. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power and ability to wipe a person’s mind free from the guilt and condemnation of sin, and that permanently. Many of us have had this experience when first coming to Christ, as it indeed was the speaker’s personal experience. Coming to Christ at the young age of 16, there was great relief in knowing all sins were forgiven and even forgotten. They didn’t have to borne any longer on the shoulders, on the back, as a heavy load. But for the Jewish person back during the Old Testament times, sins couldn't just be thrown off. One could just have them covered until a later time—which, by the way, wouldn’t occur during their lifetimes for most, unless the person lived during the time of Christ. Simply put, this is the Good News to anybody today, that if you are carrying around a big load of sin on your back and don’t know what to do, Christ can take that sin from you, forgive you for it, and give you a newfound peace of mind, and most importantly, peace with God who resides in Heaven.

       To draw this point home a little further, the Apostle Peter speaks to these things in his first epistle. He noted, “Baptism… now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him” (1 Peter 3:21, 22, ESV). This is the difference; this is the difference. Whether we are speaking of water baptism or even our spiritual baptism which occurs to everyone of us at the moment we believe in Christ, whatever we consider, it’s not a ritualistic thing we do for our own personal holiness. Water baptism is a ritual, but we believe it’s not to make us holy before God. Water baptism is act we partake in in order to symbolize our newfound relationship with God through Christ—to show the existing church as well as those who don’t believe yet that we now believe in Jesus—we have a new life in him. Sure, it’s a commanded thing in Scripture, but the point is what it shows people. Our spiritual baptism, which is what the Apostle Paul speaks of in Romans chapter 6, happens to each and everyone of us at the moment of our conversion. We are baptized in Jesus—becoming one with him in his death, in that God puts all our sins to Jesus’ account, and his shed blood on the cross now covers all of our sins, whether they be past, present, or future. God unites us with Christ in this way, he baptizes us with him. Too, this means we will also be raised with him after we die.

       Our final two verses for today: “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) 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” (ESV).

       An interesting scene this is, as it it’s what is discussed in Romans chapter 6, that which we just went over. It is the scene of what happened at the cross, after all Jesus’ earthly activities, what happened at the moment of his death—in the spiritual world. This is when he “entered once for all into the holy places.” It is what Paul said in Romans chapter 6, namely beginning in verse 5, when he said, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (ESV). Thus, Jesus shows now, by his mere presence in Heaven after accomplishing all that he accomplished, that he is victorious over Satan, sin, and death. This is way, way better than anything the Jewish high priests did, or still did, at the time of this writing. The Jewish High Priest would offer atonement for the sins of the people and their owns sins, and this had to be done every year. It didn’t even cover certain sins, and was just that, a covering. Christ’s entering back into Heaven shows that sin has been totally defeated for all time. It’s a glorious picture. It’s a powerful picture. It’s certainly good news for us, for anyone who will believe on Jesus. It’s an incredible thing. It is “greater and more perfect” as the writer of Hebrews says. Jesus’ blood isn’t a temporary fix for our problems, for anyone’s problems. Animal sacrifices were just that, a temporary fix. But Jesus by giving his life had ultimately solved the problem for anyone who chooses to count on what he did.

       This whole accomplishment is a secure thing, by the way, as the writer states. He states, “securing an eternal redemption,” ““securing an eternal redemption.” An eternal security verse doesn’t get much more obvious than that. We can rest in what Christ has done because it is a secure thing, that cannot be moved by us or anyone else. Now, whole groups of Christians exist who don’t believe this—who live under the thought that salvation can be lost—either due to their own, personal sin, or due to Satan, or do to themselves willingly choosing to leave Christianity behind. Some might believe that. Yet, the important thing to know is that anyone who has their eyes fixed on Jesus will not be disappointed. It can be debated all day whether a person can willingly choose to walk away from God. As long as we aren’t doing that, though, there’s no concern, right? But perhaps persons are concerned for others. And that makes sense, and that’s where effective prayer comes in. Let us remember what the Apostle Paul told us in the grand chapter of Romans chapter 8, when he said the following, starting in verse 31:

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39, ESV).

We read this section of Scripture a lot, but we need to hold it in mind, and remember what it says, and not get so used to hearing it that we don’t hear what it is saying anymore.

- Daniel Litton