The New Covenant, Part 2

Hebrews 9:1-14

     As we come to our study, let's bow in prayer.

     We're grateful, our Lord, that you are real, Jesus Christ is real, the Spirit of God is real, the Word of God is real and our salvation is real.  How fitting it is that that song be sung, that, Father, we are no longer involved in a ritual, but we are involved with a reality.  And even as we come to the Book of Hebrews, we are reminded, as the Spirit of God has taught repeatedly through this book, that all of the old covenant and all of the old priesthood and the old sacrifices and the Old Testament and all that was, was only a shadow of the real.  But when Jesus came, the real came.  And, oh, it is real.

     Thank you, Father, that we do not worship in the shadows, that we do not bow before a pale copy of truth, but that we have real substance, that we have the reality Himself, Jesus Christ, God in us.  Now, as we come to this Word tonight, we pray that our hearts would be open to be taught of the Spirit.  Strip away our blindness and our prejudice.  Make us into soft clay, upon which the Spirit can write the truth that will harden into indelible...an indelible part of our lives, that these things may become ours for eternity.  We give the glory to Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.  Amen.

     As you well know, I have a great love for the Old Testament.  I have a great love for all that makes up Judaism, for all that Judaism is.  I have a great love for Israel.  I would have to say that the most joyous experience apart from the experiences of love and salvation was the experience of visiting the land of Israel, the experience of seeing some of the things that I saw which brought so close to my own heart those things which have been a sacred part of my life in the study of the Word of God for some years.

     And as we have studied the Book of Hebrews, we have not only been studying the truths of the New Testament, but we have been studying the truths of the Old Testament, so rich and so deep and so picturesque.  And tonight we come to the ninth chapter of the Book of Hebrews, and, if you have your Bible, I want to ask you to turn to that chapter. 

     My, it seems as though that we have hardly begun our study in Hebrews, and we're already in chapter 9, and there's only 13.  Some of you are saying, "Praise the Lord," because this is tough to handle.  Well, that's all right.  It is difficult.  But oh, what a blessing it has been.  We have endeavored to be somewhat repetitious in order that you might get some lasting impressions and some cardinal truths if, in fact, you don't get every detail, which we would never assume.

     But as we come tonight to the Book of Hebrews, just a couple of comments to lead us into the ninth chapter.  To the author of Hebrews, a book written to those in a Jewish community just some time past the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and those in that community had heard the truth of Christ.  Some had believed and some had come all the way to the edge, but not quite believed.  Now, to the author of Hebrews, the most important truth is a simple truth, access to God.  What He is talking about in this book is how to get to God. 

     He uses the terms "access to God," "salvation to the uttermost" and "perfection."  And those three are really synonymous terms having to do with entering into the presence of God.  And He shows that such access to God, or perfection, if you will, or salvation to the uttermost, is impossible except through Jesus Christ.  He shows to the Jew how that all of the old economy, all of the old priesthood, all of the old sacrifices and all of the old covenant could not bring men to God.  They could only take a man so far.  They could not provide uttermost salvation, full access to God. 

     And full access to God, according to the New Testament and according to the Holy Spirit writing in the Book of Hebrews, is by Jesus Christ.  And Jesus Himself had said, "No man cometh unto God but," what?  "By me."  And that's exactly the message of this book.  There is no access to God apart from Jesus Christ.  Because of Christ, men have access to God.

     So, first, the Holy Spirit is concerned with presenting Christ in this book.  Because if you're going to get to God, you must accept the fact of who Christ is.  If you're not willing to respond to Christ, then you have cut off the only access.  So He begins with a clear presentation of the superiority of Jesus Christ and tells us that He is superior to everything and everyone. 

     And then He goes on to show us three things by which Christ had made this access possible.  First of all, by His priesthood, and this through divine mediation.  In chapter 7, verse 27, "who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once, when He offered up Himself."  And He shows us that Jesus has a new priesthood.  And by His new priesthood of divine mediation, He has brought us to God.

     And He not only talks about a new priesthood, but, secondly, He talks about a new sacrifice, a new sacrifice.  Very clearly, this becomes a theme in chapter 10, but look at chapter 9, verse 22.  "Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission."  In other words, there's no forgiveness of sin apart from sacrifice.  And if you go to chapter 10, you find that Jesus says, "I am the final sacrifice."  So He brings a new priesthood and a new sacrifice.  One is divine mediation.  The other is divine redemption.

     Then the third thing that He offers that is new is a new covenant, or divine promises.  And that we found in chapter 8, didn't we, in verse 6.  "He hath obtained a more excellent ministry.  He is the mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises."  Now, the Old Testament worship was based on those three things, the priesthood, the sacrifices and the covenant.  Jesus says, "I bring a better priesthood, a better sacrifice, a better covenant."

     Now, that only comes from chapter 7 on.  The first six chapters are to show you that He is a better mediator to begin with.  So the first six chapters deal with the preeminence of His person, then the preeminence of His priesthood, then the preeminence of His sacrifice, then the preeminence of His covenant.  That's the message of Hebrews.  And on the basis of His priesthood, His sacrifice and His covenant, men can enter into God's presence.  There is access.  And since His is an eternal priesthood, an eternal sacrifice and an eternal covenant, our access is eternal as well.  To put our trust, then, in Jesus Christ is to receive the benefit of all three of these things.

     Now, if this is going to be His theme, it's no shock to us that He's going to talk about these three in relation to the Old Testament, and that's exactly what He does.  If He's going to show the Jews that there needs to be a better priesthood and a better sacrifice and a better covenant, He'll have to show them out of their own text, which is the Old Testament, and He does.

     First of all, you'll remember that all through chapter 7, He uses Psalm 110:4.  For example, look at verse 21.  Here He quotes Psalm 110:4.  The middle of the verse, "The Lord swore and will not repent, 'Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.'"  Now, He says, in effect, David prophesied that the Messiah would be a priest after a different order.  If there needs to be a different order, that means the Levitical order is not sufficient.  And that's his point.  We need a new priesthood, which provides divine mediation that is final, that is eternal.  And He uses the Old Testament prophecy that there would be such a priesthood.

     The second thing He wants to talk about is a new sacrifice.  And He uses Psalm 40, verses 6 to 8, and that comes in chapter 10, verse 5.  And here He quotes out of Psalm 40, verses 6 to 8.  "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me.  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.  Then said I, 'Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, oh God.'"  Above when he said, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure in them, which are offered by the law."  In other words, Psalm 40 said God is not pleased with the sacrificial system.  He wants to prepare a body for His son to offer a new sacrifice.

     So He proves there needs to be a new priesthood and a new sacrifice, and proves it out of the Old Testament, that the Old Testament prophets and the God of the Old Testament never intended the Old Testament priesthood and the Old Testament sacrifices to be the ones that brought final access to God.  There had to be better ones.

     The third thing is, He wants to prove there needs to be a better covenant.  And He does that by quoting Jeremiah 31.  And that we studied last week in 8:8 and following.  You'll remember that He quotes right out of Jeremiah, "'Behold, the days come,' saith the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.'"  And the very fact, look at verse 13, that He said a new one realizes that the old one isn't any good.  As soon as the new one comes, the old one vanishes away.

     So what are we seeing, then?  The Holy Spirit is talking about three things that are new in Jesus Christ, and He wraps up the discussion of the covenant which is new in verse 13, "In that He saith."  By the very fact that God said "a new covenant, He hath made the first old."  Do you understand that?

     I have a 1972 Volvo.  You know that.  I just thought I'd throw that in.  No, I have an illustration.  But I have a 1972 Volvo.  That is a new Volvo.  In a few weeks, 1973 ones will be out, and in that they say that is a new one, mine is automatically what?  Old.  Oh, that's terrible. 

     When God brought a new covenant, that automatically makes the old one old.  And so He has shown us, then, that the old covenant needs to pass away because the new one has arrived.  And that moves us into chapter 9, because that's the basis of the discussion of chapter 9. 

     The question that immediately arises in the Jew's mind is this.  "Okay, in chapter 7 you told us we need a new priesthood, and you proved it by the Old Testament and you said Jesus was the new priest.  Right?"  Yes.  "In chapter 8, you showed us we needed a new covenant, and you showed us that Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant.  True?"  True.  "Then are you telling me that the old covenant was purposeless, valueless and of no worth?  I mean, wasn't it any good for anything?"  The answer is a ringing, "No, of course it was good."  Is it purposeless?  Is it valueless?  No, not at all.  It has its purpose, and that's the meaning of chapter 9:1-14.  It is to show us the meaning of the old covenant. 

     What was it for?  And, oh, is this ever rich material.  I want you to get this.  He is asking them to give up the old for the new.  That does not mean that the old is evil.  It does not mean the old is worthless.  It means the old is old.  In its day, it was the best thing going.  But it's a new day.

     And you realize, of course, don't you, that in our sharing Christ with Jews, with those of the Hebrew faith, those of Israel, as in the day of Peter and as in the day of Paul and all of the New Testament men, the chief obstacle, now, mark it, the chief obstacle from a technical standpoint in the way of the Hebrews' faith is their failure to see that everything in the ceremonial law was only a ritual.  It was only a type.  It was only a symbol.  It was only a picture, temporary and transient.  And it needs to be done away when the reality comes, you see?  That's the stumbling block.  Because they cannot see that it was only a picture, not a reality.

     It's like you having a long-lost person that you love with all your heart, and you sit there, and you look at the picture.  And, oh, the picture means so much, you know, when they're not around.  And all of a sudden they show up and they come in and say, "Hello," and you just keep looking at the picture.  And they sit down, and two weeks later you're looking at the picture.  And they're saying, "But, but, hello."  And you're looking...that doesn't make any sense.

     But in effect that's exactly what is happening in Israel.  The reality is here, proclaiming His presence, and they stare at the picture.  And He keeps saying to them in Hebrews, "Throw the picture away.  You don't need it anymore.  The reality is here."  That's the whole point. 

     And so the shadows aren't needed when the substance comes.  The Mosaic ritual is good.  But it's only background.  It's only background.  And it is out of the Mosaic ritual that Jesus emerges.  Now, in these verses, 1 to 14, He presents a contrast between the old and the new.  Verses 1 to 10, He outlines the characteristics of the old covenant.  And in 11 to 14, the new.  Now, we're going to go as far as we can, and this is exciting.

     In verses 1 to 10, He just talks about the old covenant.  Let's look at verse 1.  "Then verily," truly, "the first covenant also had ordinances of," what?  "Divine service," even though it was an earthly sanctuary.  "No," he's saying, "I'm not saying that the old covenant is worthless.  I'm not saying that the old covenant has no point.  It had divine services."  Who instituted the old covenant?  God did.  It had divine meaning.  It had divine services.  But it was temporary, and that is signified because it was an earthly sanctuary.  An earthly sanctuary.  The very fact that it was an earthly sanctuary indicates that even though its service was divine, it was also temporary. 

     So He says, "No, please don't understand that I'm telling you the old covenant is bad.  It's only temporary.  And I'm not saying that its services were not of God.  They were of God.  They were ordained of God, so beautifully ordained of God down to every detail, that they present to us clearly a picture of Messiah in every detail.  They were all ordained of God."  And so He begins by establishing the fact that these services were divine.

     Now, this leads us to a little footnote that I think you ought to keep in mind.  It is typical of Hebrews, in this book, to draw comparisons.  They are constant, aren't they?  He compared Israel's prophets to Christ, angels to Christ, Moses to Christ, Joshua to Christ, Aaron to Christ, and so forth and so on.  But you have never once heard him depreciate any of those others by comparison.  He never says, "Oh, that crumb, Moses," compared to Jesus.  That's terrible.  Moses was the greatest.  He never says, "Oh, that...those lowly, worthless angels compared to Christ."  He never does that. 

     He exalts the prophets.  He exalts the angels.  He exalts Moses.  He exalts Joshua.  He exalts Aaron.  He exalts the old covenant as far as it can be exalted.  He never depreciates it.  And that's a wise thing.  The more they are legitimately magnified, the more Jesus is magnified when He is proven to be superior, you see.  And so His words are always gracious.  There's no sense in running that down.  That was divine.  His words are gracious.

     Now, He says in verse 1 of Chapter 9, "Verily, the first covenant also had ordinances."  That means rites and ceremonies.  It had certain ceremonies that were instituted by God.  They were divine things.  They were all laid out by God to show us the Savior.  But the fact that it was an earthly sanctuary means it was only temporary.  It was passing.  The services were divine, but they were temporary, in an earthly tent.

     Now He proceeds, then, to describe the earthly pattern, and I want to show you three things:  the sanctuary, the services and their significance.  The sanctuary, the services, the significance.  Then when we go to the new, we'll see the same three things, the sanctuary, the service and its significance.

     First of all, let's read verses 2 to 5 and see the sanctuary.  "For there was a tabernacle," that's the word for tent, "the first, in which was the lamp stand, and the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.  And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer, and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold, in which was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the Mercy Seat, of which we cannot now speak particularly."  In other words, I don't have time to go into all the details, but you know all about it.  And He even skipped some of the things that are in there, because He's speaking to a group of people who are terrifically familiar with all of this, anyway.

     So He's saying, "Look at all of this.  This is what the sanctuary possessed."  Now, let's look at it, beginning in verse 2.  "There was a tabernacle."  Now, we're talking about the old covenant, the ceremonies and rituals of Israel.  "There was a tabernacle."  Now, He's dealing here with the Tabernacle rather than the Temple, because He wants to pull out the primary things that God placed initially in that Tabernacle.  And it was the earthiest of the two, between the Tabernacle and the Temple.  It was the most transitory and passing thing, because of its mobility and the substance of which it was made, so it illustrates His truth.

     But He starts out by saying, "There was a tabernacle made."  Now, that tent is very important.  And I dare say we don't know nearly as much about it as we ought to.  Do you know that there are only two chapters in the Bible that talk about creation, and there are 50 chapters that talk about the Tabernacle?  That is important.  The Tabernacle is important and demands attention from us in our study, because the Tabernacle is a giant picture of Jesus Christ.  It is a gigantic portrait of Christ in every detail.  God laid out all the plans, and you look at it and it's just Christ, everywhere you look.

     For example, let's begin.  This was a big tent.  It was 150 feet long, and it was 75 feet wide.  And there was only one gate, and it was on the east, and it was 30 feet wide, 7-1/2 feet high, and many people could go through it.  Now, that is a perfect picture of Jesus Christ, who said, "I am the way," who also said, "I am the door."  To the Tabernacle or the place of God there was only one door.  How many doors are there to God now?  One door, Jesus Christ.  So the fact of one door pictures Jesus Christ.  Christianity is very exclusive.  Men only come to God through Jesus Christ.

     Now, let's assume that we started at the east and we were going into the 150 x 75-foot tent.  The outside was a curtain that was not covered.  And we would move, then, and He just doesn't even get into this, but let me fill in, we move into the courtyard, the outer court of the Tabernacle.  And we would see some furniture there, which He doesn't mention because of their obvious familiarity with it.  But as we walked from the east going in, we would first of all come to the brazen altar. 

     Now, the brazen altar was just that.  It was made of acacia wood.  It was 7-1/2 feet square, so it was a large altar.  It stood 4-1/2 feet off the ground.  The top was covered by a brass grate, and the coals were underneath the grate, and the sacrifice was placed on the grate.  On four corners of the altar were the horns of the altar to which the animal was bound when it was being sacrificed.  The brazen altar is a perfect picture of Jesus Christ, the one who was a sacrifice for sin.

     Having moved past that, continuing west, we would come to the next piece of furniture that is in the court, and that is the laver, or a wash area.  This was made of brass.  In it, the priests washed their hands and used it also to wash their feet as they went about the bloody services of sacrifice.  It again is a picture of Jesus Christ, who is the cleanser of His people.

     And it's a wonderful picture when you put the two together.  Once we have come to the brazen altar and received forgiveness for sins, we're not through.  We still need to go to the laver for the daily cleansing that brings about restoration and the pure joy of full fellowship.  So both of them picture Jesus.  And together they picture the work of Christ on earth, as He provided the forgiveness and the cleansing in the cross.

     Then we're still going west, and we come to the Tabernacle itself, 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, 15 feet high.  The Holy Place took up two-thirds of it, which meant that the Holy of Holies was a perfect cube, 15 x 15 x 15.  The other, 15 x 15 x 30.  We would go into the Holy Place, if were priests, and in there we would find three pieces of furniture.  And here the writer only mentions two.  As I say, He's in a hurry.  He doesn't have time for details.  And they know them all as well as the back of their hand anyway.

     And we would move then into the Holy Place, and first of all on the left side would appear the golden lamp stand, the seven lit golden lamp stand, the pure olive oil that was placed there for the fire.  This golden lamp stand was beaten out of solid gold.  Then we would look to the right and we would see the table of showbread.  This was made of acacia wood, again, overlaid with gold.  It was three feet long, one and a half feet wide, and about two and a quarter feet high off the ground.  And on it every Sabbath they laid 12 loaves, one for every tribe in Israel, six in two rows.  And at the end of the week the priests ate it, and only the priests were allowed to eat it.

     Then continuing to the center we would see the altar of incense.  It again was made of acacia wood, and it was sheathed in gold.  It was one and a half feet square, three feet high.  And on this were placed the burning coals from the brazen altar way out in the courtyard where sacrifice was made.  Now you say, "Well, what are these three things supposed to be all about?"  Again, they are pictures of Jesus Christ.

     Let me show you what I mean.  In the outer courtyard, all the things out there are connected with salvation and the cleansing of sin.  Now, where did Jesus accomplish salvation and the cleansing of sin?  On the earth.  And that's the courtyard, outside God's presence.  The very fact that it was the outer court, accessible to all the people, pictures Christ in the world, openly manifesting Himself before men.  But when He goes into the Holy Place, He is shut off from the men of the world.  And so whatever it is that's going on in the Holy Place, it'll have to do with that which He does when He gets back to heaven.

     And what are the three things that Jesus does when He gets back to heaven?  Number one, He lights