Hebrews 9

Earthly place of worship is the tabernacle (tent) and the more permanent temple. Symbolic elements of the holy place include lamp stand, table, and a loaf or cake of bread always on display. In the Most Holy place was the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant (the presence of God holding an urn of manna, the staff of Aaron’s that budded, and the Ten Commandments

carved into stone by the finger of God). Yom Kippur was the once a year sacrifice by the High Priest. Blood was needed for purification; as seen when Moses sacrificed calves and goats, and sprinkled the blood on the law, the people, the tent, and the elements of worship. Christ Jesus stepped into the Holy Place of Heaven, the true and better tent not made by human hands, by only the power of His redeeming blood that was shed through His sacrifice. He has drawn up a new will, which went into effect at His death, that buys us back from the slavery of sin. Christ Jesus has entered into God’s presence on our behalf, not daily, not yearly, but once for all. So next time He comes, it won’t be to die again for salvation but to bring us into the life He has for us.

“The Old Testament is a beautifully furnished, but dimly lit room.” BB Warfield, theologian. (Some of you may remember this quote from last session in 1 Kings.) But Jesus, through His life and death and resurrection, switched on the light. Verse 9 says it best, we may not completely understand the symbolic elements, the preparations, or even the need for blood to be shed. But God has shown us what He requires. So what we can understand—Jesus did away with the daily sacrifices performed by a priest, gifting us with the Holy Spirit, who nudges our conscience in a way that drives us to our knees in repentance daily. We can see that Jesus did not do away with the requirements for entering the Most Holy Place, but entered on our behalf. No longer do we need the symbolism of bread, light, law, miracles, because Christ Jesus is all of these.

This chapter changes me by allowing me to see a clear picture of the Old Testament fulfilled in the New Testament. The exchanging of the daily sacrifices by a human priest, to the gift of the Holy Spirit living inside of me to come before God daily, at the invitation and permission of His Son, Jesus. And, with an overwhelmed heart, it allows me to watch Jesus, our true and better High Priest, walking into the Holy of Holies, not in any man-made tent or temple, but directly into the presence of God, by the power of His own blood. The anchor we have placed in God’s promises has secured on Jesus, and His once for all sacrifice of Himself. So in a layering on of hope only possible through the One who bought us, we are promised a second coming, not to deal with sin, but to save us completely, bringing us with Him.