The original audio to this message was lost. To replace it, we ran Lon's notes through a high-quality text-to-speech program (called naturalreaders.com), and converted it into audio.
VII.
A New and Better Covenant (8:1–10:39)
E.
The Mediator of a New Covenant ()
2.
(, ) Continued: As a whole, the Levitical system looks constantly for blood as the means of putting away sin and impurity.
F.
The Perfect Sacrifice ()
From the sanctuary and what is needed to purify it, the author turns to the sacrifice that perfectly cleanses, a sacrifice that was offered once and for all. That one sacrifice has effectively put away sin. And the author looks forward briefly to the time when our Lord will come back again, this time to bring the doctrine of glorification alive for blessed vessels on the earth at that time. () They will receive glorified bodies and be saved from the very presence of sin in heaven. At the Second Coming of Christ, the saved-on-earth will enter heaven and the unsaved-on-earth, under the earth, and whose ashes remain will appear as reconstituted humans at the Great White Throne Judgment of Christ. () Since they must pay the penalty of their own sins (death in Hell) they will all enter Hell for the rest of eternity!
1.
(, ) What Christ entered is "heaven" itself," which is regarded as the true sanctuary. "Now" points to present activity. After His atoning work was done once for all, Christ now appears before God the Father. We ourselves are not fit to stand before God the Father and plead our case, and in any event, we are on earth and not in God's heaven. But Christ is there in our stead and in His capacity as the One who died as a better sacrifice for sins. "It was necessary" points to something more than expediency or the selection of one among a number of possible actions. There was no other way, because "without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (vs. ). This cannot be ignored as merely Jewish, for the Mosaic system was set up by divine command. The divine author reasons that the Mosaic system was concerned only with "the copies of the heavenly things"; it was taken up with the external. But the fact that God commanded that system to be set up means that there must be something analogous in it to the way true forgiveness of sin was brought about. Where atonement really matters — i.e., in the heavenly sphere — better sacrifices are needed than were provided under the old system.
a.
There may be a problem in understanding in what sense things in heaven — where God is () — need "to be cleansed" (). It seems best to recall that in the New Testament there are references to "the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (); the "rulers of this age" (); the "powers" like "height" and "depth" (), as well as "angels" and "principalities." Such references indicate wickedness beyond this earth. And when Christ performed His atoning work, He "disarmed the rulers and authorities . . . triumphed over them through Him" (). It was God's will to "reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross … whether things on earth or things in heaven" (). This strand of teaching is not prominent in Hebrews. Nevertheless, the language used here seems to accord with it better than with other views.
b.
The author is fond of the word "better" (see ), but it is unexpected for him to use the plural "sacrifices", since he is insistent that there is but one sacrifice and that Christ suffered "once" (). However, we should take "sacrifices" as the generic plural that lays down the principle fulfilled in the one sacrifice.
2.
() "For" introduces an explanation of what precedes. Christ's work for humankind is done where it really counted. We have already had the idea that Christ's ministry was not in a sanctuary that is "made with hands" (vs. 11), and here we come back to it. Not in such sanctuaries can the atonement be made that really deals with sin. A "made with hands" sanctuary is a "copy" of the true one. This word as used here means that the tabernacle is the shadow of the real thing; the earthly antitype points us to the heavenly reality, "the true one." What Christ entered is "heaven itself," which is regarded as the true sanctuary. "Now" points to present activity. After His atoning work was done once for all, Christ now appears before God the Father. We ourselves are not fit to stand before God the Father and plead our case, and in any event, we are on earth and not in God's heaven. But Christ is there in our stead and in His capacity as the One who died as a better sacrifice for sins.
3.
() "Nor" carries on the negative idea at the beginning of verse 24: "Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands . . . nor was it that He would offer Himself often" (vss. 24-25a). The divine author wants in this verse to make it basic to Old Testament ministry to offer sacrifices repeatedly, just as it was basic to Christ's ministry that He did not do so. The reference here to entering "the holy place year by year" shows that the sacrifices in mind are those of the high priest on the Day of Atonement. However, the divine author clearly implies that only Christ's offering can put away sin. Even the sins of those who lived in old times were dealt with by Christ's one offering (on account). If that offering had not been sufficient, Christ would have had to offer Himself "year by year." Moreover, when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, he did so "with blood that is not his own." The superiority of Christ's offering is also seen in that he does not press into service some external means, like the blood of some noncooperative, noncomprehending animal. He uses His own blood and with it makes the one sufficient offering.
a.
() What Christ entered is "heaven itself," which is regarded as the true sanctuary. "Now" points to present activity. After His atoning work was done once for all, Christ now appears before God the Father. We ourselves are not fit to stand before God and plead our cases, and in any event, we are on earth and not in God's heaven. But Christ is there in our stead and in His capacity as the One who died as a "better sacrifice" (vs. ) for the sins of the saved of the past, present, and future.
4.
() Again the divine author emphasizes that there is no other way of dealing with sin than Christ's own offering of Himself. If His one offering was not enough, He would have had to "suffer" death over and over. The reference to "foundation of the world" carries the idea right back to the beginning.
a.
"But now" introduces the real situation after the contrary-to-fact clause. Again, the divine author emphasizes the decisive quality of Christ's sacrifice with the word "once … to put away sin". It matters a great deal to him that Christ made the definitive offering and that now that it has been made, there is no place for another. We should probably understand "the consummation of the ages" to mean "the climax of history." The first coming of Christ — and more particularly His offering of Himself on the cross — ushered in the final state of affairs in human history. It is a common thought of the New Testament writers that God's decisive action in Christ has altered things radically. The Messianic Age has come — the age that all the preceding ages have led up to.
b.
The purpose of Christ's coming was "to put away sin," an expression that signifies the total annulment of sin. Sin is rendered completely inoperative by Christ's "sacrifice of Himself." The self-offering of Christ is the decisive factor.
5.
() This phase of the argument is rounded off with a reference to the one death people die and the one death Christ died. There is a finality about both, but with very different consequences. Human beings are "appointed … to die once." This is not something within their control. A condition of life here on earth is that it ends in death. There is a finality about it that is not to be disputed. But it is not the complete and final end. Death is more serious than that because it is followed by "judgment." People are accountable, and after death they will render account to God.
6.
() "So" introduces a correspondence with the "inasmuch" at the beginning of the previous verse. The passive "having been offered" focuses on Christ offering Himself as our atonement (cf. vs. ). Some see the thought here that Christ's enemies were in a sense responsible for His death as our atonement, but it seems more likely that the passive voice hints at the divine purpose in that death. Once more we have the adverb "once" applied to the death of Christ.
a.
"To bear the sins of many" is a concept found in the New Testament only here and in , but it is quite frequent in the Old Testament, where it plainly means "to bear the penalty of sin." For example, the Israelites were condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years as the penalty for their failure to go up into the land of Canaan: "According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition" (; cf. ). Many see here an echo of the fourth Servant Song: "He will bear their iniquities" (); "He Himself bore the sin of many" (). So, the author of Hebrews is saying that Christ took upon Himself the consequences of the sins of the many (cf. ).
b.
But this is not the whole story. Christ will come back a second time. The second time He will come to bring the glorification of salvation to the saved people on earth (glorification is the doctrine of being free from the presence of sin in heaven in our glorified bodies) and the Great White Throne judgment for the lost on and under the earth (, ).
G. The Law a Shadow (10:1-4)
The preceding sections have brought out the efficacy of the blood of Jesus as a prevailing sacrifice; now stress is laid on the once-for-all character of that sacrifice. First, the author contrasts the substance and the shadow. He sees the ancient system that meant so much to the Jews as no more than a shadowy affair. The real thing is in Christ. To leave Christ in favor of Judaism would be to forsake the substance for the shadow. The sacrificial system practiced by the Jews could not deal effectually with sin.
1.
() "The Law" as used here stands for the whole Old Testament, with particular reference to the sacrificial system. This is dismissed as no more than "a shadow" (see ). It points to something unsubstantial in opposition to what is real. The Law is a foreshadowing of what is to come. Perhaps those exegetes are right who see a metaphor from painting. The "shadow" then is the preliminary outline that an artist may make before he gets to his colors, and the "reality" is the finished portrait. Thus, the Law is no more than a preliminary sketch. It shows the shape of things to come, but the solid reality is not there. It is in Christ. The "good things to come" are not defined, but this general term is sufficient to show that the Law pointed forward to something well worthwhile.
a.
In the second half of this verse, the expression translated "continually" can go with what precedes it in the Greek or with what follows, meaning that the Law can never bring worshipers to perfection for all time. The latter interpretation is preferable. The author is saying, then, that the Levitical sacrifices continue year by year, but they are quite unable to bring the worshipers into a permanent or endless state of perfection. The yearly sacrifices mark another reference to the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement — ceremonies of which the author makes a good deal of use. "Can never" points to an inherent problem of depending on Levitical sacrifices instead of the one sacrifice of Christ that pays all the penalties of sin for those who receive Him as their Savior and Lord — giving perfection in the eyes of God as His Son gives His perfection, His forgiveness of sins, and His righteous life to those who receive Him by saving faith that is the gift of God. Levitical sacrifices cannot do what Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross did for us. Thus, Judaism cannot take the place of Christianity or be mixed with it! Our divine author concludes (, , , ) with his message all through the book of Hebrews: First-century Judaism is anti-Christ and anti-Christian. Followers of it incur the wrath of almighty God!