PAUL had just finished writing in the eighth chapter concerning the first covenant. He stated that it was “old” and “ready to vanish away.” This was a blunt statement to make to Hebrew people, but it was true. To clarify his feelings toward the commandments, laws, and ordinances, Paul referred to them as being “ordinances of divine service” (vs. 1). He also wrote of the “worldly sanctuary” (vs. 1). We believe that Paul referred to the worship center of the Israelites in this manner to compare it later in this same chapter to the work of the high priest in the tabernacle with that of the High Priest “in the presence of God for us” (vs. 24). Paul carefully spoke of the tabernacle and of all its furniture. This whole worship center and plan was ordained of God and was sanctified with the sprinkling of blood. (See vs. 21.) The word “worldly,” as used in verse 1 is used at times to mean “orderly arrangement.” God certainly had established for the Israelites an orderly arrangement in their offerings, sacrifices, and worship. It was so orderly that it is easy for us who look back to sec the magnificent patterns, types, and shadows that point to to Jesus the Messiah.
It would be well to pause for a moment and
think of the materials used in the building of the tabernacle and furniture, and the making of
the garments for the priests.
They were of the finest, gold,
silver, brass, and fine linen. These were precious things. They should help us to realize how
precious Jesus is to us. The priest’s garments were made “for glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:2). Here,
again, we have the pattern to compare. In Hebrews 1:3 Paul wrote that Jesus was “the brightness 0 the outshining of His glory.”
There are patterns in almost all the tabernacle
furniture pointing to Jesus. Let us notice some of them. The candlestick which was to be
kept lighted continuously (Exodus 27:20), and the showbread which was always to be on the table
(25:30), are summed up in the New Testament. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), and
“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).
The golden censer (vs. 4) could refer
to the altar of incense which Paul did not otherwise mention. The altar of incense stood against the
east wall of the holy of holies by the entrance into it. The burning of the incense before Yehovah was to be
“perpetual.” (Sec Exodus
30:8.) In this we have the type of the offering of prayers which Paul had already mentioned in Hebrews 4:16. In Revelation 8:3 we
have reference to the offering of incense with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which
was before the throne.” Today when we pray, we enter into the Throne room
of our God and Father Yehovah to communicate with Him, because of what Jesus has
done for us.
Paul pointed out in verse 6, that these things were “ordained,” and
the priest went “into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.” The first tabernacle was the court of the
congregation and the first part of the tabernacle itself was called the holy place. In both places there was
daily service to perform. It included the “dressing” of the candlesticks (Exodus 30:7), the
offering of the lamb both morning and evening (29:38-42), the changing of the showbread once a week
(Leviticus 24:5-8), and many other duties. Once every year the high priest had to go into the holy of holies (called the second” in vs. 7) to appear before the ark of the covenant. He could not go in without blood. In fact, he had to take the
blood of two animals to sprinkle upon the mercy seat. First the high priest took the blood of the bullock which was
for his own sins and then he took the blood of a goat, which had been chosen by the casting of lot, and this
was for the sin of the
congregation. Before he went into the holy of holies, he had to bring “his hands full of
sweet incense” (Leviticus16:12) and burn it on the altar of incense. Remember, this altar was before the
entrance into the holy of holies and it represents prayer. The whole story of this procedure is told in Leviticus 16:234.
As long as the first tabernacle was standing (vs. 8), “the way into the holiest”
had not been made known. We understand that Paul was referring to the fact that Jesus is the “way,” and the holiest is in
heaven before the throne of God. Recall that Paul had already written, “We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (8:1). So, the divine service (vs. 1) was a figure “for the time then present” (vs. 9) “until the time of reformation” (vs. 10). This was the time of the change from the “old”; the first covenant; to the “new”; the second
covenant. The great contrast between the first and the new or the second is shown in verses
11-14. There was no bullock offered for the sinless Messiah. He gave himself as a sin-offering sacrifice for
mankind. There was no goat offered for the people. Jesus gave his life “to bear the sins of many” (vs. 28). There was
no incense burning as he, Jesus, presented his body and blood on the cross. Yet his prayer, prior to this offering on the
cross which He made in the Garden of Gethsemane, was the presenting of himself and the interceding for all
his disciples; both then and now.
Reference is made in verse 13 to the
"ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified) to the purifying of the flesh.” The full
account of this burning of a red heifer is given in Numbers 19. The Messiah Jesus “offered himself without
spot to God” (vs. 14). He did
so as the only perfect sinless man who has ever lived!
Because he offered himself, Jesus became the “mediator of the New Testament,” but he also was a sin-offering sacrifice for the “redemption of the transgressions” of
those “under the first testament” (vs. 15). The hope of the Israelites, those who had followed the ritual of the
offerings and sacrifices, was in the Messiah Jesus that “they which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (vs. 15). Under the old covenant worship, it took the blood
of an animal, and therefore death (vv. 16-22), to bring to pass the goodness of God. Those who took part were forgiven of their transgressions through their obedience. Now, under the new covenant,
through “the blood of the Messiah” (vs. 14), and his death, the “way into the holiest of all” (vs. 8) had been provided for the elect.
We could not have had the second without the
first. As is pointed out in verse 23, “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things
in the heavens should be purified with these.” The patterns were the plans and ordinances given
to Moses for the
building of the tabernacle and the carrying out of the worship for all Israel as prescribed by God to Moses. But “the heavenly things”; the right of any
individual to “come boldly before the throne of grace,” and the privilege of anyone to “believe on the
Lord Jesus the Messiah,” and others; would all lead to “eternal life through Jesus the Messiah our Lord.”
For this, it took a “better sacrifice” than
that of “the blood of goats and calves” (vv. 23, 12). It was necessary, to keep the sins forgiven and
the people sanctified in the sight of God, for the high priest to go into the holy of holies once every'
year. But Jesus “once in
the end of the world” gave his life and “appeared to put away sin by the sin-offering
sacrifice of himself” (vs. 26).
He “entered heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God
for us” (vs. 24). This same Jesus is coming again “unto them that look for him,” not as an offering for sin but “without sin
unto salvation” (vs. 28).
Brethren and friends, Jesus gave His life as a sin-offering offering for our sins, to reconcile us to his God and Father Yehovah. There is nothing else that can take the place of that offering. We are under the wrath of God, which is death, unless we accept Jesus as the “way into the holiest.”
Written by Francis E. Burnett and
edited and added to by Bruce Lyon
Notice:
Because of
what the lord Messiah Jesus has done for us we can appear before our God and
Father Yehovah before His throne to offer to Him praise and thanksgiving for
all He has done and will do for us as His slaves, bought and paid for by the
blood of the lord Jesus and as His sons and daughters because He has given us
the spirit of sonship and placed us in His household! Can we imagine how it
must have grieved the Spirit of Yehovah to witness His son going through 40+
hours of pain and suffering in order to carry out His plan of salvation for all
of us!
As a father
I can’t imaging the pain and suffering I would have if I had to witness my son or
daughter being severely beaten and then being crucified. We are so blessed to
have Yehovah as our Father who loves us so much by supplying us with all His
enabling power, to accomplish what He has commanded us to do, which will result
in our joining with Jesus as co-rulers and co-inheritors of all the promises
made to the father, king David, and the lord Jesus. To rule as glorified
immortal sons and daughters in the coming 1,000-year rulership of the lord
Messiah Jesus. Amazing grace that has saved a wretch like me.
Written by Francis E. Burnett and
edited and added to by Bruce Lyon
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