Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The Real Thing: Our new covenant purpose - Hebrews 9:11-28

Our last section taught us the priesthood and sacrifices of the old covenant were a parable meant to teach us about the reality of heaven. It’s important to remember a parable isn’t a made-up story used for teaching purposes. In its true definition, a parable is an earthly example used to teach a heavenly lesson. The earthly example may or may not have actually happened; in this case, it did.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B88Ivx7ssx4AbVRBcEpmQUhVczg/view?usp=sharing
Click picture for a printable handout for this section.


The passage for this section is long. We’ll break it up as we work through it verse by verse; however, I encourage you to read Hebrews 9:11-28 in its entirety before we start breaking it up.

The Real Thing

Reread Hebrews 9:11-12.

“But…” is an important word of transition. It shows us that what the author is about to write is contrary to what he just wrote. Jesus’ sacrifice was the real thing made in the real sanctuary before the real throne of the real God. His sacrifice wasn’t part of the parable. It wasn’t an earthly example to teach us about something heavenly. He literally and truly came before God in the Most Holy Place of heaven and sprinkled blood upon the altar to purify for sin; not His sin, though, but ours. Yours. And mine. The earthly high priest took the blood of an animal with him to purify for sin but not Jesus. He took His own blood from His sacrificed body. And finally, that was enough. He redeemed all mankind – from Genesis to Revelation.

This is the real thing so we better pay attention.

The Real Response

Reread Hebrews 9:13-14.

The blood of the animals sufficiently purified our flesh – our outer selves – although the high priest did have to repeat it on an annual basis. However, the blood of Jesus far supersedes that of goats and calves. We find real power in Jesus' blood – power to purify even our inner conscience.

Our consciences can become a messed up place. They are weak (1 Corinthians 8:7-12), seared (1 Timothy 1:4-5), and defiled (Titus 1:15). Jesus’ blood has the power, however, to redeem even the weakest among us; even those whose conscience is so cauterized that it feels no pain and so stained and contaminated that it no longer shows new filth.

The power that purifies us both inwardly and outwardly calls for a response on our part. Jesus’ shed blood before God’s holy throne empowers us to live a new covenant purpose – to serve the living God. We learned about this type of service in the last section. Latreuo service calls us into the Holy Place where we serve as priests of the Most High God in His kingdom. In that service, He calls us to continually shine our light out to the world, to regularly consume the bread of the word, and to daily stand before God in prayer and intercession. It’s all made possible by the power of the blood of Jesus.

The Real Covenant

Reread Hebrews 9:15.

Covenants involve a promise given, a time of hope, and a realization of the promise. We studied this earlier here and here.

Jesus mediated a new covenant; it was the seventh made between God and man. All seven covenants were part of one common goal which was the restoration of the relationship between God and man for all eternity. Adam and Eve severed that relationship when they sinned in the Garden of Eden. God’s whole plan and purpose since then has been to restore the relationship.

Adapted from The NIV Study Bible ©1985


The Real Death

Reread Hebrews 9:16-18.

When I first read these verses, I thought, “What on earth is this talking about? Why mention a will all of a sudden?” My research helped me answer the question, however, and the answer is powerful.

The author of Hebrews isn’t writing about wills all of a sudden. He’s been writing about them all along. The word used for covenant is the exact same word as the will mentioned in verses 16-17. In other words, a will and a covenant are the same thing.

A will goes into effect when the one who established the will has passed away. In the will, the deceased shares the inheritance each of their loved ones will receive. That is exactly what God did when He cut covenant with mankind – He made a will which would go into effect upon His death.

We’ve already studied that Jesus is completely God here and here. God cut covenant or established the will with mankind in an elaborate process to restore our relationship with Him and give us the inheritance He desires for us as His loved one. The problem, however, was He had to die for the will (covenant) to go into effect. Therefore, God became a man so He could die and we could receive our inheritance.

I don’t know about you, but to me that seems worthy of a response of priestly service on our part. A response of priestly service involves regularly shining our light, consuming His Word, and entering His presence in prayer.

The Real Blood

Reread Hebrews 9:19-23.

The earthly tabernacle required earthly blood but the heavenly tabernacle required something better – heavenly blood. Jesus couldn’t take the blood of goats and calves into the true holy sanctuary. He had to take His own blood as God who died to enact the will and bring the inheritance promised to mankind.

The Real Sacrifice in the Real Sanctuary

Reread Hebrews 9:24-28.

Jesus isn’t part of the parable. He died a real death to establish a real covenant. He shed real blood which He sprinkled before the throne in the real sanctuary. This is no earthly example; this is truth. This is reality. This is eternally, absolutely serious.

So real, so eternal, so absolute, and so serious, in fact, that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all mankind for all time – from Genesis through Revelation. In the parable, the high priest sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat year after year in order to atone for the sins of the people. With Jesus’ reality, His blood sprinkled on the mercy seat before God covers our sin once and for all.

People die once because of sin (Genesis 2:15-17). We don't die immediately and repeatedly after each individual sin. After our death, judgment comes based on our response to Jesus’ sacrifice. That’s the real point because Jesus also died once – not because He sinned but because of our sin. His death bore the weight of our sin once and for all. He doesn't need to die repeatedly after each of our individual sins. Therefore, when judgment comes, so will salvation for those who accepted Him.



The Real Truth

When you stand before God at some point, He won’t care about your excuses. “Oh, I would have done the whole Christian thing, but the church was full of hypocrites.” Or, perhaps yours is something like this, “I went to church but so-and-so made me mad and I left.” Maybe your excuses focus on the Word of God, “Yeah, I’d read the Bible except it’s all just made up by men who had no clue what life is like for me today.” You know what – God’s not going to care about your excuses.

He’ll look at you – the one for whom He lovingly gave His life – and say, “None of that matters. I sacrificed My blood so you could inherit eternity with Me. You let your excuses keep you from that very real truth. Depart from Me.”

Or, you have no excuse. You’ve realized you’re a sinner – your outer flesh is defiled, your inner conscience is seared. You’ll never live up to the level of perfection required by God’s holy law. Yet, you have also considered Jesus and realized the significance of His sacrifice and the grace He offers for those who accept Him. By faith, you’ve come to this moment before Him trusting only in the sufficiency of His blood to atone for your sin. And in that moment, He’ll look at you – the one for whom He lovingly gave His life – and say, “Your faith has made you well. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 9:22, 25:34).

It’s a real choice and it’s all up to you at this point.

After writing this section, I came across this video produced by One for Israel. In it, they do a fantastic job presenting this very process...



← Previous Section: Our Old Covenant Purpose    
Next Section: Clean, Once and for All →

No comments:

Post a Comment