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| Hebrews 9 Memory Verses: Review Week Good Morning Brothers and Sisters, Memory verses to date: Ephesians 2:8-9; James 2:19; John 1:12; Romans 3:23; 5:8; 6:23; 8:1; 10:9-10, 13; 1 John 1:5-7; 5:11-12; Galatians 2:20; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 2:15 ;3:15-16; Galatians 5:25; Mark 8:35-36 Reading through Chapter 9, we see a lot of stuff crammed into this chapter. First, the implements of the temple itself is mentioned. Then the work of the priest is addressed, followed by the work of Christ in the new covenant. This is a chapter that could easily span over several days, I will do my best with it, if you see something that you want to add, feel free. I will post what you send me. 9:1-5 I pulled out a Scofield reference Bible, and went through the implements that are listed in these verses. It is interesting that all these items have reference to Christ as far as types go. It is also interesting that it is such an intense study that the writer chooses to ignore it and to go on. The full discussion of the Tabernacle is in Genesis 25-26. If you have a Scofield Reference Bible, there is a very good discussion on the symbolism of each article in the footnotes in Genesis. Otherwise, I believe that you can get Scofield's notes at www.crosswalk.com, Matthew Henry's comments are great on this chapter as well (also are at that website), and are quite exhaustive. The point of all of the implements and the fixtures that are mentioned is that all of these things are types of Christ in different ways. The symbolism of the articles in the ark, and the significance of their construction is a complete study in itself. One key point here is that all this stuff is an shadow of what is in heaven. It was all constructed after a plan which was patterned after what was in Heaven. 9:6-7 In the outer tabernacle, the priest offered daily offerings, the same offerings every day, these were the blood of animals, which symbolized the daily washing of sin that needs to go on due to sinful man. Also, incense was burned to symbolize the prayers of the saints. Exodus 30:7-8. Also, for the sacrifices offered, look at Numbers 18:2-6, 28:3. Can you imagine, two male lambs without blemish had to be offered every single day. In the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, the priest was only allowed to go once a year, and at this time, he had to be burning incense and be carrying blood for sacrifice of sin. Leviticus 16:29-34; Exodus 30:10. One other note regarding the high priest and the temple sacrifices, the ones mentioned are for sin. These were rituals which had to be exercised to keep an righteous God from judging the Jews with judgment that was due them. 9:8-10 As I read through v. 8 in the NASB, I was quite confused as to what was being said, so I looked to the commentaries: "The writer states that the Holy Spirit is both the divine Author of the Levitical system of worship and its interpreter. 14 The first tabernacle is the Holy Place. As long as that part of the Levitical institution was still in effect, Israel was to understand that the way into the presence of God had not yet been opened. The division of the tabernacle into the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies showed the limitations of the Levitical system, and kept the people from coming directly to God. The Holy Place barred both priests and people from the Holy of Holies. When the new order of things was brought into being by the death of Messiah on the Cross, thus fulfilling the typical sacrifices, God rent the inner veil of the temple which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, making of the two rooms, one. There was, therefore, no more “within the veil.” This was God’s object lesson to the Aaronic priesthood that its ministry was now over, that the temple was to be closed, that a new Priest had arisen after the order of Melchisedec. But, Israel in its apostasy, repaired the veil, kept on offering sacrifices, until God in His wrath, sent Rome to destroy the city of Jerusalem and scatter His chosen people to the ends of the Roman empire. The way into the Holiest of all, into heaven itself and the presence of God, had been opened at the Cross. God made it impossible for the high priest in Israel to enter within the veil, all of which was enough to show Israel that the true High Priest, the Messiah, had entered the heavenly Holy of Holies, and that the earthly one was to be a thing of the past." 14 The word “ghost” is an obsolete English word for “spirit.” The Greek word is the same in the case of both translations. Wuest, Kenneth S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English Reader, Heb 9:8. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997, c1984. Carrying that same thought that Wuest explains, it is clear to us that the remainder verses 9-10, are speaking clearly about the old testament rituals which were continuing in spite of the clear meaning of the rending of the veil. When is the "time of reformation"? It will be interesting to find out. Until that time, the symbolic levitical system continued with its now useless sacrifices. 9:11-14 Jesus came as high priest, and entered a greater tabernacle, the one which exists in heaven, and His own blood far exceeds the blood of animals which are unwilling victims of mans sin. His blood was given voluntarily, with the full knowledge of what was happening. He sacrificed His body, and His blood for the redemption of sin. Not only did He offer His blood, it was done for eternity, never to be repeated, imagine the cleansing that we experienced having holy blood shed for the payment of our penalty as compared to the blood of animals that was used before. Also, this was a completed sacrifice, never to be done again. 9:15 Jesus is our mediator of the new covenant, who are the called ones? Who are the ones who are called to Him under this covenant? Romans 8:28-39 gives us a real picture of what being called by God is really all about. Nothing can separate us from God, we are called, we are justified, we are forgiven. We can receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Isn't it great? 9:16-18 At first, I found these verses very confusing, why would a person have to die to institute a covenant? Here again, English has let us down. Even though the word "diatheke" could be rendered covenant, it was speaking almost exclusively of a last will and testament type of covenant. In other words, before someone's last will and testament was carried out, the person must first die. Jesus introduced a covenant, a last will and testament, which was shadowed by the Old Testament sacrifices, and when He came on the earth, He lived His life, and died, therefore the new covenant, which was the eternal forgiveness for sin, and eternal life was made permanent. The types and shadows are over, Jesus died, therefore the last will and testament came into full effect. The final sacrifice was offered. 9:19-22 How does the death of a person relate to blood of bulls and goats? In a sense, when the blood was shed, the covenant, or last will and testament of the animals was filled. Sin requires the shedding of blood for forgiveness. There must be shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus shed His for us. The reason you "almost say" that according to the law sins were forgiven was because the law was not anything more than a symbol of what happened on the Cross. 9:23-28 The general thought carried through these verses is the finality of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Since the earlier temple sacrifices were only symbols, now we have the true sacrifice, Jesus Christ Himself. He was sacrificed in a Holy Place not made with hands, in Heaven. He paid the penalty once for all, He paid the penalty of sin, therefore it is not necessary for ritual sacrifices to be made over and over. As a final note on this chapter, thought of it being appointed to man to die once, and after this comes the Judgment, relates to all men, even Jesus. He was killed, offered once, bore our sins, and died holy and righteous, a perfect unblemished lamb sacrificed for our sin. He was raised, and will appear the next time to take us home with Him, without reference to sin, because we have been forgiven. He bore our penalty on the cross, fulfilling and completing the requirements of the Law. As I reflect back on this chapter, it was difficult to try to understand the various symbols and types that were written here. As I stated earlier, if you see something that I missed, feel free to comment, I welcome your comments. I am going to beg off with one final note, the idea of these studies is not to give a verse by verse exhaustive study of the scriptures, it is simply for us to all be accountable to each other, and to learn together, by being accountable to each other to learn and study daily. Several have spoken to me requesting that I slow down and take perhaps a half a chapter per day, but if we do that, we will slow down our overview time. If you wish to comment on this, be sure to write, we are in this study together, it is your study as well as mine. I want to continue the present pace until we finish the New Testament, with the exception of Revelation, I feel that it is necessary to slow way down when we study that book. Once we get into the Old Testament, I am wanting to take a chapter per day, but not to go as deeply into it, along with about 4-6 verses per day out of the New Testament which we will dig deeper into than before. I really want to know what you think regarding this plan. I hope that I hear from all of you, several have been silent from the beginning, let me have some feed-back on this one so I know how to proceed. Lord, as we have studied Your Word today, enable each one of us to get a better understanding of the work that You did on the cross, and how it relates to us. Help us to understand redemption, and what it means to have received the forgiveness of sin. Thank You Jesus for saving our souls by Your work on the cross. In Him, Joe Turner. |
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