Hebrews Chapters 8, 9, 10
8: 1-2 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum:
Here is the whole basis for our faith and life as a Christian.
We have such a High Priest who is set on the right hand of the Majesty in the Heavens;
The Minister of Holy Things in the true Tabernacle which the Lord built, not man.
Jesus has finished all the requirements, all the work, to open the way to God and to make us fit to be qualified as His children to approach Him openly, boldly and confidently, to curl up in His lap as His child!
8: 7-10 For if the first covenant had been faultless, then there would no place have been found for the second.
For finding fault with them, God said, "Behold the days come when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah:
"Not like the covenant I made with their fathers ...
"This is the covenant I will make with them after those days: I will put my Laws into their mind, and write them on their hearts, and they shall be to me a people."
The first Covenant was deficient. It wasn't able to make the people consistent in following Him and obeying His Commandments.
9: 13-14 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean could sanctify to the cleansing of the flesh;
How much more shall the Blood of Christ, who offered Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The animal sacrifices could only cover the sins of the people, so God could forgive them. But they couldn't wash away their sins, so they couldn't go to Heaven. They went to Sheol, the Place of the Dead. Jesus described this Place as having two sides, one He called Abraham's Bosom, or Paradise, and the other side filled with a burning fire. This is where everyone went when they died, before Jesus died.
9: 15 Because of this He is the Mediator ...
Because He was the Lamb of God whose Blood has infinite value to wash away all sin and imperfection and fault in the whole Universe, without limit. That's what makes Him the only Mediator between God and Mankind.
9: 16-18 A "last will and testament" only takes force at the death of the testator.
Even the first testament required blood, the death of animals.
When a man files a "last will and testament," its terms never take effect until he dies. This is the character of this kind of document. This is the agreement, the Covenant, that God makes with Mankind.
When He instituted His Covenant with Abraham, He didn't walk with Abraham between the carcases of the animals laid out, as the custom was, to confer responsibility on the participants of the contract; He put him to sleep, to show that God alone was responsible for carrying out the terms of the agreement (Genesis 15:1-21), the first part of which was giving Abraham a son by Sarah. But it also included the future history of the future Nation of Israel to return to the Promised Land.
When He gave Moses the Law on Sinai, He was giving him the rules the people were to live by in this Land they were about to return to. Now the people also had a responsibility to live up to.
9: 19-23 So Moses purified the Book, and the people, and all the furniture of the Tabernacle and the Tabernacle itself, because without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
So it was necessary that the replicas of things in the Heavens should be purified with these, but the Heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Because the people were not able to be consistent in obeying all the statutes and precepts of the Law, they needed to be cleansed repeatedly. So they needed all the priests to offer all the sacrifices every day, over and over, like taking a bath after working in the dirt all day.
But:
9: 25-28 Jesus did not have to offer Himself over and over, as the Old Testament priests did every day, and the High Priest did every year. He came now, near the end of the World, one time only, to pay the debt of sin in full by His Sacrifice.
For it is appointed unto Mankind to die once, and then be judged;
So Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many; and to the ones who are looking for Him, He is coming a second time without sin unto Salvation.
Because we only die once, Jesus died once, and when He comes again He won't have to deal with that sin problem any more, He finished it. Now when He comes again, it will be as the King of the Earth, to set up His Kingdom here in our World; and He will finish our Redemption, by giving us our Resurrection bodies, changing our mortal bodies into spiritual bodies.
10: 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
As he said before, bulls, goats, and other animals cannot take away sins, only cover them. Like paying the interest on the debt. Jesus paid off the principal, the whole debt, in full.
10: 9-14 He takes away the first to establish the second.
By the Father's will that Jesus obeyed, we are sanctified through Christ offering His body once for all.
As every priest stands very day ministering and offering the same sacrifice for sins over and over, that can never take away sins.
But this Man, after He had offered one Sacrifice forever, sat down on the right hand of God, expecting to make His enemies His footstool.
Because by the one offering He has made perfect all that are sanctified by it.
Jesus said He did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it: the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. (See Matthew 5:17 and Luke 24:44-45.)
10: 15-22 And we know this by the Holy Spirit who witnesses it to us,
That the New Covenant is that God writes His Laws on our hearts, now that we have been cleansed by His blood. This gives us confidence and boldness to directly approach the Throne of God, not having any barrier between us.
Jesus' flesh is the veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. That's why the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom when Jesus died.
And we have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, our feelings and emotions cleansed from all the deceptions we formerly believed, and our bodies washed with pure water, the water of the Word of God washing through our minds, cleaning away all the wrong ideas we formerly had that were according to the World's ways.
10: 23-25 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful who promised):
Don't let go of God, He won't let go of you.
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works;
"To provoke" means "to incite or stimulate a person to action." We need to encourage each other in our walk with the Lord.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;
Don't neglect Sunday services, the one time when we all get together.
but exhorting one another.
Why we get together regularly, to help one another; not to satisfy our own spiritual hunger or needs.
And so much the more as we see the Day approaching.
Do we realize how soon Jesus is likely to come back? It could be any day now, He's right "at the door"!
10: 26-31 If we sin wilfully after supposedly having been saved, then there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Because he has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the Blood of the Covenant with which he was [supposed to have been] sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite to the Spirit of Grace!
For we know that He has said, "Vengeance belongs to Me, I will recompense" (Deuteronomy 32:35), and again, "The Lord shall judge His people" (Deuteronomy 32:36).
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Jesus died once, there's no second sacrifice. If you turn away from God in living your former life again, if you are His, God won't let you get very far--He will either draw you back to Himself or take you out of His way.
II Peter 4: 17 says that The time has come that judgment must begin at the House of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?
So it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands if we're running from Him.
10: 32-39 He's telling them to not forget when they were persecuted, and stood with those who were persecuted, and didn't complain when their property was confiscated. So don't throw it all away now. Don't quit before Payday!
Have patience through it all, maintaining your confidence that it will all pay off in the end, and you will receive great rewards.
If we're following Him in obedience, then He will give us rewards: Romans 4:10
tells us about the Judgment Seat for Rewards for Christians; it's the
Bema seat, comparable to the judges at the Olympic Games. We all will
win, but some will win more than others, and some will realize a loss of
rewards, too.
God won't wait forever to send Jesus back, and He won't be late.
The just shall live by faith: but if anyone draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
God has given us His own Holy Spirit to live inside us, in our spirits. He will strengthen us and give us the courage and boldness to continue in His footsteps, and not pull away or draw back away from Him.
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition: but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Here is the encouragement of confidence in the faith of the receivers of this letter.
O my Father, help me to have the confidence and optimism of the writer of this Epistle. He must have had doubts about some of these Hebrew Christians, but he always returned to the encouragement that they really did trust You fully to lean on You in their hard times.
O Father, please strengthen all of Your children to stand strong in the face of opposition and persecution. Keep us all as positive as this writer, even while pointing out the errors of our accusers.
Shine out Your Light from us as Your vessels, which You have cleansed and made into lamps, vessels of honor, out of the clay pots of dishonor we were.
Keep us strong in Your Word, clear in Your Truth, and compassionate in Your Love. Help us to love our enemies into Your Kingdom, Father; and to grow Your Kingdom with all of the resources You have given us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
