1 Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. 2 For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; 3 and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, 4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; 5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
"The writer to the Hebrews... has been using the idea that in this world we have only pale copies of what is truly real. The worship that men can offer [even through ordinances of divine services and earthly sanctuaries] is only a ghost-like shadow of the real worship which Jesus, the real High Priest, alone can offer." (William Barclay)
So, "Paul reviews here the tabernacle, that he might show the true glory of that temple which is in heaven." (Joseph Sutcliffe) "It must be carefully observed that the Epistle throughout refers to the Tabernacle, and not once to the Temples which succeeded it. Though they were formed on the same general model, their very nature and design necessitated changes of plan and detail which unfitted them for the writer’s argument here. So far as the Temple was a copy of the Tabernacle, and so far only, was it made 'after the pattern' that Moses had seen; and so far only was its symbolism of divine and not human origin." (Ellicott)
“Then indeed, even the first covenant had”— “he said not ‘...has also ordinances,’ but ‘had’” (A. W. Pink)— "'ordinances of divine services', literally, (Greek,) justifications; that is, arrangements justified by the divine will." (Whedon's Commentary) "and… [justifications of] the earthly [worldly] sanctuary, "earthly and shadowy, opposed to true and heavenly." (John Trapp Complete Commentary) Before Christ's sacrifice- once and for all, there was justification in making sacrifices and oblations in the tabernacle in the wilderness, even in the temple in Jerusalem. But now, as then, it must direct us to Him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote. Even now, we can read and learn for as the outer sanctuary views Christ on earth still, so the inner points to Him in heaven.
The first, outer sanctuary- “The holy place was a chamber which was entered by none save the priestly family, where those favored servants of Jehovah ministered before Him.” (Pink) “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 2-9-10) "He begins with the candlestick, whose seven lamps showed the interior sanctuary, where all the priests officiated. So God who in the beginning commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our dark hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. All the insignia of the sanctuary raised the expectation of better things, designated by the glory of all the types." (Sutcliffe) The table and showbread— The table with its twelve loaves, prefigured Christ as the substance of our fellowship, the One on whom we feast” (Pink)
The second, inner part behind the veil- the "holiest of all"- pictured heaven. “It was so called because the symbol of the divine presence - the 'Shekinah' - dwelt there between the Cherubim..." (Barnes) “which had the golden censer", a "fire-pan" made for the purpose of carrying fire from the brazen altar where the burnt offerings were made, into the most holy place. It is "a type or symbol of the prayers of God's people (Rev 5:8), the incense representing the prayers, and the altar the institution of prayer itself” (Coffman) The sacrifice of Jesus enables the prayers of His people.
This area, representing heaven, contains the most glorious and mysterious vessel of the tabernacle- the ark of the covenant. "It was the first thing made (Exod 25:10-11), yea, the whole sanctuary was built for no other end but to be, as it were, a house and habitation for the ark (Exod 26:33). The ark was the outstanding symbol that God Himself was present among His people and that His covenant-blessing was resting upon them. It was the coffer in which the tables of the Law (Commandments) were preserved. Its pre-eminence above all the other vessels was shown in the days of Solomon, for the ark alone was transferred from the tabernacle to the temple... The ark was an outstanding figure of the incarnate Son of God. The wood of which it was made, typified His sinless humanity. ‘Shittim’ wood never rotted, and the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament renders it ‘incorruptible wood.’ The wood was overlaid, within and without, with gold, prefiguring Christ’s Divine glory. The two materials of which the ark was made symbolized the union of the two natures in the God-man—‘God manifest in flesh’ (1 Tim. 3:16). The ark [itself] formed God’s throne in Israel...” (A. W. Pink) but typified His throne in heaven!
The ark of the covenant contained: 1) “the golden pot that had the manna”— “Hebrews 9:4 makes known God’s provisions in Christ for His people while they are journeying through the wilderness. Thus the ‘manna’ was Israel’s food from Egypt to Canaan: type of Christ as the heavenly sustenance for our souls. The preservation of the manna in the golden pot, speaks of Christ in glory at God’s right hand.” (A. W. Pink) 2) “and Aaron’s rod that budded”— which speaks of new birth and "was by God’s order put before the testimony in the holy of holiest, and not into the ark, for it was to be in view there as a token of the true priesthood- [sons of Aaron], the type of Christ’s, against all after-murmurers and usurpers: see Numbers 17:1-11.” (Matthew Poole) “This is a beautiful and striking type of Him who is Priest according to the power of an endless life, of Him who was dead, and, behold, He liveth for ever more, of the Rod out of the stem of Jesse, of the Man whose name is the Branch, and who shall be a Priest upon His throne (Isa 11:1; Zech 3:8, 6:12,13).” (Adolph Saphir) 3) “and the tables of the covenant”— “It contained also the tables of the covenant, in which God had written His holy law. These tables testified against Israel's sin and hardness of heart [as well as against ours]. And at first sight it seems strange and alarming that in the ark of merciful covenant-presence, … we should behold the accusing and condemning witness of the broken Law. But the Law which condemns us is and ever remains holy, just, and good; and the God who justifies us [by faith] is none other than the just God.” (Adolph Saphir)
“and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.” “We read of them [the cherubim] as of other celestial beings, as of the seraphim, who stand before God's throne, and as of the angels or messengers whom God sends forth to do His commandments, and to minister unto the heirs of salvation. We read of them as guarding the entrance into the garden of Eden after man's fall.” (Adolph Saphir) “The mercy-seat… was not the place where propitiation was made—that was at the brazen altar—but where its abiding value was borne witness to before God.” (A. W. Pink) “Of these things we cannot now speak in detail."
Hebrews 9
6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services.
“Here is a partial list of services performed by the priests: (1) They lighted the lamps each evening and trimmed them every morning. (Exodus 27:21; 30:8). (2) Each sabbath day they renewed the loaves on the table of showbread (Leviticus 24:5). (3) They burned twice daily the incense on the golden altar, this coinciding with the morning and evening sacrifices, and with the trimming and lighting of the lamps (Exodus 30:7,8; Luke 1:10). All of these actions took place in the holy place.” (Coffman Commentary)
“Christians have been made ‘kings and priests unto God’ (Rev. 1:6)… There ought to be… worship, both in the morning and in the evening. The replenishing of the oil in the lamps for continuous light, should find its counterpart in the daily looking to God for needed light from His Word, to direct our steps in the ordering of home and business life to His acceptance and praise… The burning of the incense should receive its antitype in morning and evening praise and prayer unto God: owning Him as the Giver of every good and every perfect gift, thanking Him for spiritual and temporal mercies, casting all our care upon Him, pleading His promises, and trusting Him for a continuance of His favors. The Greek word here for ‘accomplishing’ is a compound, which signifies to ‘completely finish’—rendered ‘perfecting’ in 2 Corinthians 7:1—denoting their service was not done by halves. May we too serve God wholeheartedly.” (A. W. Pink)
7 But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; 8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
“‘But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year’ on the great day of atonement; Exodus 30:10. On that day he probably entered the Holy of Holies three or four times, first to burn incense, Leviticus 16:12; then to sprinkle the blood of the bullock on the mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:14; then he was to kill the goat of the sin-offering, and bring that blood within the Veil and sprinkle it also on the mercy-seat, and then, perhaps, he entered again to bring out the golden censer. The Jewish tradition is, that he entered the Holy of Holies four times on that day. After all, however, the number of times is not certain, nor is it material, the only important point being that he entered it only on one day of the year, while the holy place was entered every day. [But] ‘not without blood’- that is, he bare with him blood to sprinkle on the mercy-seat. This was the blood of the bullock and of the goat - borne in at two different times. Which he offered for himself - The blood of the bullock was offered for himself and for his house or family - thus keeping impressively before his own mind and the mind of the people the fact that the priests even of the highest order were sinners, and needed expiation like others; Leviticus 9:7.” (Barnes) “‘And for the people’s sins committed in ignorance,’ that is, sins of ignorance, to which only those atonements extended.” (Wesley)
"The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.” (8) “How did He thus ‘signify’ this fact? By the very framework of the tabernacle: that is, by allowing the people to go no farther than the outer court, and the priests themselves only into the first compartment… There was an entrance into the presence of God, both unto grace and glory, for His elect, from the days of Abel and onwards, but that ‘way’ was not openly and publicly displayed.” (A. W. Pink)
"The veil remained always between the two sanctuaries, keeping the holiest of all in constant darkness. What a lesson for Israel! Here was continual testimony to the fact that there was a sphere into which Judaism could give no free access. God Himself remained in the thick darkness. Yet the entrance of the High Priest each year was an indication that God had not precluded the possibility of man's entrance there.” (L. M. Grant)- but not while the first tabernacle was still standing. “The Old Testament economy is represented by the holy place; the New Testament by the Holy of holies. Redemption by Christ has opened the Holy of holies (access to heaven by faith, <Heb. 4:16; 7:19,25; 10:19,22>: by sight hereafter, <Isa. 33:24; Rev. 10:19; 21:2-3>) to all mankind.”
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown)
9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
“To be sure, the worshiper who offered the proper sacrifices, washed himself ceremonially upon required occasions, observed the regulations as to meats and drinks, etc., could have been, and was, admitted into the commonwealth of God during that period.” (Burton Coffman)
But “the Levitical ritual [alone without the working of the Holy Spirit, even the Spirit of Christ] did not accomplish the true end of religion. The radical defect of the Levitical system was its [general or broad] inability to deal with the conscience, and thus bring about the ‘perfection’ which is the ideal of true religion. That ideal contemplated the cleansing and renewal of the inner man; not merely the removal of ceremonial uncleanness, or the formal expiation of sins. Comp. Matthew 23:25, Matthew 23:26. For συνείδησις consciencesee on 1 Peter 3:16.” (Vincent's Word Studies) That work was reserved for Jesus, especially after the great sacrifice of Himself for the sins of His people. These fleshly ordinances were “imposed until the time of reformation.” (10b) This “designates the times of the Messiah and the new covenant. Christ referred to those times as ‘the times of regeneration’ (Matthew 19:28), and Peter called them ‘times of refreshing’ (Acts 3:19).” (Burton Coffman)
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things that have come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things that have come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.”(11) "The rags of Joshua are superseded by robes, as in the vision of Zechariah; the true, the heavenly temple is now laid open, and the church is filled with the glory of the only-begotten of the Father. This is the temple not made with hands, but is the spiritual or mystical body of Christ.” (Sutcliffe Commentary)
“The particular reference in the ‘ashes of an heifer’ being to Numbers 19:2-17… An heifer having been burned, its ashes were preserved, that, being mixed with pure water, they might be sprinkled on persons who had become legally unclean. When an Israelite, through contact with death, became ceremonially defiled, he was cut off from all the public worship of Jehovah; but when he carried out the instructions of Numbers 19 he was restored… Those ‘ashes,’ then, were a most merciful provision of God; without them, all acceptable worship had soon ceased. They had an efficacy, for they availed to the purifying of the flesh, which was a temporary, external and ceremonial cleansing.” (A. W. Pink) The blood was “applied to the book and the people; to the tabernacle and the vessels of the ministry; and to ‘almost all things,’ in order to continue the approach of Israel and their service (vv 19, 21, 23). The antitype or fulfillment in the New Testament is, that our conscience has been purged; the heavenly sanctuary has been purified with better sacrifice; and after the One and perfect offering which Jesus brought once for all, no repetition of the sacrifice is possible or needed. Christ has abolished sin… wait now for His second coming in glory.” (Adolph Saphir)
“And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (15) “The children of Israel received from God an external call which separated them from the heathen, and when they were redeemed from Egypt they received promise of a temporal or earthly inheritance. But inside that Nation was ‘a remnant according to the election of grace,’ and they, individually, received from God an inward call, which made them the heirs of an eternal inheritance. It is of these latter that our verse speaks, yet as including also the saints of the present dispensation. Promise of an ‘eternal inheritance’ had the Old Testament saints. They had the Gospel preached unto them (Heb. 4:2). They were saved through ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 15:11) as well as we. They ‘did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink,’ even Christ (1 Cor 10:3-4). And therefore did they ‘desire a better country, that is, an heavenly’ (Heb. 11:16). How all of this sets aside the preposterous figment of the modern ‘dispensationalists,’ who relegate ‘Israel’ to an inferior inheritance from that which belongs to ‘the Church’!” (A. W. Pink)
The Old Covenant is still the core of some people’s religion. It is a religion of good works and human effort. There is always striving for the perfect sacrifice or oblation, but this is “a lower or elementary one” which secures no eternal promise. We must seek the “higher or more advanced one of fulfillment and possession” through the blood of Jesus. “This truth of there being two stages in our service of God, two degrees of nearness in our worship, is typified in many things in the Old Covenant worship; perhaps nowhere more clearly than in the difference between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place in the temple, with the veil separating them. Into the former the priests might always enter to draw near to God. And yet they might not come too near; the veil kept them at a distance. To enter within that, was death. Once a year the High Priest might enter, as a promise of the time when the veil should be taken away and the full access to dwell in God's presence be given to His people. In Christ's death the veil of the temple was rent, and His blood gives us boldness and power to enter into the Holiest of all and live there day by day in the immediate presence of God. It is by the Holy Spirit, who issued forth from that Holiest of all, where Christ had entered, to bring its life to us, and make us one with it, that we can have the power to live and walk always with the consciousness of God's presence in us.” (Andrew Murray)
“‘It is the glorious superiority of the new covenant that God has provided a way by which man's conscience can be truly cleansed, and the basis of that cleansing is shown in this verse. It is by means of the blood of Christ. But how does the spirit of man come in contact with the blood of Christ? Surely not literally. Therefore, there must be some accommodation in doctrine or ordinance of God that enables that sinful soul to know that he has in fact touched the blood of Christ….. Note the following: (1) Take the view that Christ's blood is in his body. To find contact with the blood, one would therefore have to enter the body of Christ; and how can this be done? Three times the sacred scriptures declare that people are baptized into Christ, that is, into his body (Rom 6:3; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:27). (2) Or take the view that Christ's blood was in his death, that being the occasion of its being shed. How does one enter the death of Christ? The scriptural answer is, ‘All we who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death’ (Rom 6:3). In view of these things, who can doubt that Christian baptism is in some wondrous way related to the believer's contact with the blood of Christ with its consequent cleansing of the conscience? If such is not the case, how could the apostle Peter have related baptism to the cleansing of the conscience in the manner of these words, ‘Which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Christ’ (1 Pet3:21)?... A good conscience becomes reality upon one's obeying the gospel of Christ through faith, repentance and baptism, and rising to walk in newness of life. [This precept was] enjoined by the Savior upon the occasions of his giving the Great Commission as related by Mark and Matthew. (Coffman) Quit striving and submit. Some say that baptism is works-based religion. Yes, but it is His works in view and not ours, according to His Word.
Serve the living God through the eternal Spirit, promised in baptism- "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. " (Acts 2:38) “The most specious performances of unregenerate persons are but dead works, because they proceed not from a principle of life, and have death for their wages, Romans 6:23.” (Trapp) It is not boxing God in, as some say, to expect Him to act or speak according to His eternal Word.
Hebrews 9
6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services.
“Here is a partial list of services performed by the priests: (1) They lighted the lamps each evening and trimmed them every morning. (Exodus 27:21; 30:8). (2) Each sabbath day they renewed the loaves on the table of showbread (Leviticus 24:5). (3) They burned twice daily the incense on the golden altar, this coinciding with the morning and evening sacrifices, and with the trimming and lighting of the lamps (Exodus 30:7,8; Luke 1:10). All of these actions took place in the holy place.” (Coffman Commentary)
“Christians have been made ‘kings and priests unto God’ (Rev. 1:6)… There ought to be… worship, both in the morning and in the evening. The replenishing of the oil in the lamps for continuous light, should find its counterpart in the daily looking to God for needed light from His Word, to direct our steps in the ordering of home and business life to His acceptance and praise… The burning of the incense should receive its antitype in morning and evening praise and prayer unto God: owning Him as the Giver of every good and every perfect gift, thanking Him for spiritual and temporal mercies, casting all our care upon Him, pleading His promises, and trusting Him for a continuance of His favors. The Greek word here for ‘accomplishing’ is a compound, which signifies to ‘completely finish’—rendered ‘perfecting’ in 2 Corinthians 7:1—denoting their service was not done by halves. May we too serve God wholeheartedly.” (A. W. Pink)
7 But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; 8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
“‘But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year’ on the great day of atonement; Exodus 30:10. On that day he probably entered the Holy of Holies three or four times, first to burn incense, Leviticus 16:12; then to sprinkle the blood of the bullock on the mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:14; then he was to kill the goat of the sin-offering, and bring that blood within the Veil and sprinkle it also on the mercy-seat, and then, perhaps, he entered again to bring out the golden censer. The Jewish tradition is, that he entered the Holy of Holies four times on that day. After all, however, the number of times is not certain, nor is it material, the only important point being that he entered it only on one day of the year, while the holy place was entered every day. [But] ‘not without blood’- that is, he bare with him blood to sprinkle on the mercy-seat. This was the blood of the bullock and of the goat - borne in at two different times. Which he offered for himself - The blood of the bullock was offered for himself and for his house or family - thus keeping impressively before his own mind and the mind of the people the fact that the priests even of the highest order were sinners, and needed expiation like others; Leviticus 9:7.” (Barnes) “‘And for the people’s sins committed in ignorance,’ that is, sins of ignorance, to which only those atonements extended.” (Wesley)
"The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.” (8) “How did He thus ‘signify’ this fact? By the very framework of the tabernacle: that is, by allowing the people to go no farther than the outer court, and the priests themselves only into the first compartment… There was an entrance into the presence of God, both unto grace and glory, for His elect, from the days of Abel and onwards, but that ‘way’ was not openly and publicly displayed.” (A. W. Pink)
"The veil remained always between the two sanctuaries, keeping the holiest of all in constant darkness. What a lesson for Israel! Here was continual testimony to the fact that there was a sphere into which Judaism could give no free access. God Himself remained in the thick darkness. Yet the entrance of the High Priest each year was an indication that God had not precluded the possibility of man's entrance there.” (L. M. Grant)- but not while the first tabernacle was still standing. “The Old Testament economy is represented by the holy place; the New Testament by the Holy of holies. Redemption by Christ has opened the Holy of holies (access to heaven by faith, <Heb. 4:16; 7:19,25; 10:19,22>: by sight hereafter, <Isa. 33:24; Rev. 10:19; 21:2-3>) to all mankind.”
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown)
9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
“To be sure, the worshiper who offered the proper sacrifices, washed himself ceremonially upon required occasions, observed the regulations as to meats and drinks, etc., could have been, and was, admitted into the commonwealth of God during that period.” (Burton Coffman)
But “the Levitical ritual [alone without the working of the Holy Spirit, even the Spirit of Christ] did not accomplish the true end of religion. The radical defect of the Levitical system was its [general or broad] inability to deal with the conscience, and thus bring about the ‘perfection’ which is the ideal of true religion. That ideal contemplated the cleansing and renewal of the inner man; not merely the removal of ceremonial uncleanness, or the formal expiation of sins. Comp. Matthew 23:25, Matthew 23:26. For συνείδησις consciencesee on 1 Peter 3:16.” (Vincent's Word Studies) That work was reserved for Jesus, especially after the great sacrifice of Himself for the sins of His people. These fleshly ordinances were “imposed until the time of reformation.” (10b) This “designates the times of the Messiah and the new covenant. Christ referred to those times as ‘the times of regeneration’ (Matthew 19:28), and Peter called them ‘times of refreshing’ (Acts 3:19).” (Burton Coffman)
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things that have come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things that have come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.”(11) "The rags of Joshua are superseded by robes, as in the vision of Zechariah; the true, the heavenly temple is now laid open, and the church is filled with the glory of the only-begotten of the Father. This is the temple not made with hands, but is the spiritual or mystical body of Christ.” (Sutcliffe Commentary)
“The particular reference in the ‘ashes of an heifer’ being to Numbers 19:2-17… An heifer having been burned, its ashes were preserved, that, being mixed with pure water, they might be sprinkled on persons who had become legally unclean. When an Israelite, through contact with death, became ceremonially defiled, he was cut off from all the public worship of Jehovah; but when he carried out the instructions of Numbers 19 he was restored… Those ‘ashes,’ then, were a most merciful provision of God; without them, all acceptable worship had soon ceased. They had an efficacy, for they availed to the purifying of the flesh, which was a temporary, external and ceremonial cleansing.” (A. W. Pink) The blood was “applied to the book and the people; to the tabernacle and the vessels of the ministry; and to ‘almost all things,’ in order to continue the approach of Israel and their service (vv 19, 21, 23). The antitype or fulfillment in the New Testament is, that our conscience has been purged; the heavenly sanctuary has been purified with better sacrifice; and after the One and perfect offering which Jesus brought once for all, no repetition of the sacrifice is possible or needed. Christ has abolished sin… wait now for His second coming in glory.” (Adolph Saphir)
“And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (15) “The children of Israel received from God an external call which separated them from the heathen, and when they were redeemed from Egypt they received promise of a temporal or earthly inheritance. But inside that Nation was ‘a remnant according to the election of grace,’ and they, individually, received from God an inward call, which made them the heirs of an eternal inheritance. It is of these latter that our verse speaks, yet as including also the saints of the present dispensation. Promise of an ‘eternal inheritance’ had the Old Testament saints. They had the Gospel preached unto them (Heb. 4:2). They were saved through ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 15:11) as well as we. They ‘did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink,’ even Christ (1 Cor 10:3-4). And therefore did they ‘desire a better country, that is, an heavenly’ (Heb. 11:16). How all of this sets aside the preposterous figment of the modern ‘dispensationalists,’ who relegate ‘Israel’ to an inferior inheritance from that which belongs to ‘the Church’!” (A. W. Pink)
The Old Covenant is still the core of some people’s religion. It is a religion of good works and human effort. There is always striving for the perfect sacrifice or oblation, but this is “a lower or elementary one” which secures no eternal promise. We must seek the “higher or more advanced one of fulfillment and possession” through the blood of Jesus. “This truth of there being two stages in our service of God, two degrees of nearness in our worship, is typified in many things in the Old Covenant worship; perhaps nowhere more clearly than in the difference between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place in the temple, with the veil separating them. Into the former the priests might always enter to draw near to God. And yet they might not come too near; the veil kept them at a distance. To enter within that, was death. Once a year the High Priest might enter, as a promise of the time when the veil should be taken away and the full access to dwell in God's presence be given to His people. In Christ's death the veil of the temple was rent, and His blood gives us boldness and power to enter into the Holiest of all and live there day by day in the immediate presence of God. It is by the Holy Spirit, who issued forth from that Holiest of all, where Christ had entered, to bring its life to us, and make us one with it, that we can have the power to live and walk always with the consciousness of God's presence in us.” (Andrew Murray)
“‘It is the glorious superiority of the new covenant that God has provided a way by which man's conscience can be truly cleansed, and the basis of that cleansing is shown in this verse. It is by means of the blood of Christ. But how does the spirit of man come in contact with the blood of Christ? Surely not literally. Therefore, there must be some accommodation in doctrine or ordinance of God that enables that sinful soul to know that he has in fact touched the blood of Christ….. Note the following: (1) Take the view that Christ's blood is in his body. To find contact with the blood, one would therefore have to enter the body of Christ; and how can this be done? Three times the sacred scriptures declare that people are baptized into Christ, that is, into his body (Rom 6:3; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:27). (2) Or take the view that Christ's blood was in his death, that being the occasion of its being shed. How does one enter the death of Christ? The scriptural answer is, ‘All we who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death’ (Rom 6:3). In view of these things, who can doubt that Christian baptism is in some wondrous way related to the believer's contact with the blood of Christ with its consequent cleansing of the conscience? If such is not the case, how could the apostle Peter have related baptism to the cleansing of the conscience in the manner of these words, ‘Which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Christ’ (1 Pet3:21)?... A good conscience becomes reality upon one's obeying the gospel of Christ through faith, repentance and baptism, and rising to walk in newness of life. [This precept was] enjoined by the Savior upon the occasions of his giving the Great Commission as related by Mark and Matthew. (Coffman) Quit striving and submit. Some say that baptism is works-based religion. Yes, but it is His works in view and not ours, according to His Word.
Serve the living God through the eternal Spirit, promised in baptism- "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. " (Acts 2:38) “The most specious performances of unregenerate persons are but dead works, because they proceed not from a principle of life, and have death for their wages, Romans 6:23.” (Trapp) It is not boxing God in, as some say, to expect Him to act or speak according to His eternal Word.
15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
“Whenever a man was forgiven under the Mosiac exercises, the sins were charged up against the blood of Christ... Hence when Jesus came into the world in the form of flesh, it was necessary for Him to make all of those instances good by His own blood. Thus Christ was not required merely to give ‘a pint of blood’ but He was made to give it all, and thus assure the whole world of the possibility for eternal inheritance.” (E.M. Zerr)
”This language teaches us that the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ enures to the benefit of the penitent who lived before his day." (Abbott's New Testament) Moreover: ”All that seems very complicated but at the back of it there are two great eternal truths. First, the sacrifice of Jesus gains forgiveness for past sins. We ought to be punished for what we have done and shut out from God; but because of what Jesus did the debt is wiped out, the breach is forgiven and the barrier is taken away. Second, the sacrifice of Jesus opens a new life for the future. It opens the way to fellowship with God. The God whom our sins had made a stranger, the sacrifice of Christ has made a friend. Because of what he did the burden of the past is rolled away and life becomes life with God." (William Barclay)
16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
"For where there is a 'testament'"- The same word was rendered covenant in verse 15 by the NKJV translators. So the following precept is built into the word "covenant" or "testament."
"Testament occurs twelve times in the New Testament (Heb 9:15, etc.) as the rendering of the Gr. diatheke, which is twenty times rendered 'covenant' in the Authorized Version, and always so in the Revised Version. The Vulgate translates... by testamentum..." (Eaton)
Then Jesus took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant (testament) , which is shed for many for the remission of sine." (Matthew 26:27–28) "Words which are frequently used are not necessarily correctly understood or rightly valued. And then our very familiarity with them is the source of danger. For the incorrect or inadequate idea, which we connect with the expression, becomes deeply fixed in our minds, and the fundamental misconception brings forth abundant and widely-ramified error. For these very familiar and constantly-recurring words express mother-ideas of primary importance. Our only safety is a constant and diligent study of Scripture, and a conscientious adherence to the principle, that Scripture thoughts and words are to be explained and judged on Scripture territory according to the Scripture circle of truth, and the Scripture mode of viewing and expressing things. If we apply this canon to the subject before us, we shall find that the ordinary conception of a covenant as a mutual agreement is not identical with the Biblical use of the word, and also that there is an intimate connection between the idea of an inheritance bequeathed through death, or a testament and the Scripture view of covenant." (Adolph Saphir)
"A will, however fully executed, does not take effect until the death of the testator. The apostle takes occasion from this circumstance to represent the gospel as a will, made effective by the death of Christ, inasmuch as it was by his death that the blessings of salvation were sealed and secured." (Abbott's New Testament) “It becomes still clearer here why Christ is called the mediator of a testament. God made Him the Heir, and thus through Him alone who owns everything, through Him and through His death as the testator, do we inherit as heirs. Although all comes from God, none of it reaches us save through Christ as the medium (Mediator), the middle link, the Testator for us, whose death gives to us, his heirs, the great eternal inheritance.” (Lenski) "Here the testator is Christ, heirs the saints, legacies the gifts of the Spirit, executor the Holy Ghost, witnesses apostles, martyrs, etc." (Trapp’s Commentary)
"And this necessity of the death of Christ, the apostle proves both from the nature of His office, namely, that He was to be the Mediator of the new covenant, which, being a testament, required the death of the testator; and from what was to be effected thereby, namely, the redemption of transgressions, and the purchase of an eternal inheritance. Wherefore, these are the things which he hath respect unto in these words." (John Owen) "For the redemption of the transgressions " (15b) "To make atonement for the transgressions which were committed under the old covenant, which the blood of bulls and calves could not do." (Adam Clarke)- "and the purchase of an eternal inheritance." (15c) "that is, the fulfillment of the promise; or that they might be made partakers of eternal blessings. That blood is effectual alike to save those under the ancient covenant and the new - so that they will be saved in the same manner, and unite in the same song of redeeming love." (Barne's Notes)
18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”[Exodus 24:8] 21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. 23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
The earthly tabernacle, which was a type, was sprinkled with the blood of the type, but the heavenly with the blood of the Christ. "ALL the church must of course be sprinkled with blood; all our words and works must be touched with the Redeemer’s merits. Such is the harmony of the divine counsel and love in our redemption.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
The antitype of the holy places of the tabernacle is indeed heaven itself, where Jesus is. And all the ways to the Father’s presence are “nothing to us but a dangerous labyrinth, until we know that He is pacified towards us through the blood of Christ, and that this blood affords to us a free access. All kinds of worship are then faulty and impure until, Christ cleanses them by the sprinkling of His blood.” (Calvin)
“Animal blood might expiate ceremonial guilt and secure temporary blessings, but in order to secure the expiation of moral guilt and the attainment of eternal blessings, a Nobler Victim must bleed.” (Brown)- Christ our Passover. "He had to suffer because of sin once, but he will never again have to do that; his sacrifice will never need to be repeated, and never can be repeated.” (Surgeon) Jesus lived a perfect life and died for sinful man. It is finished! He died the second death for those with ears to hear it and hearts to receive it for themselves. “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God… Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”’ (Revelation 2:7b; 11)
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
That first death “is the result of ‘appointment;’ (27a) ‘In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.- Genesis 3:19. It is not the effect of chance, or haphazard. It is not a ‘debt of nature.’ It is not the condition to which man was subject by the laws of his creation. It is not to be accounted for by the mere principles of physiology.” (Barnes) “Death is something more than the result of physiological law: the same God who sustained Methusalah for well nigh a thousand years, would have sustained Adam’s body for all eternity had he never fallen… Death is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23).” (Pink) It is a penal sentence of the broken law for each man, woman or child. “but after this the judgment.” (27b) “It is appointed to men that after death they shall come to judgment, to a particular judgment immediately after death… to be determined to its eternal state; and men shall be brought to the general judgment, at the end of the world. This is the unalterable decree of God concerning men—they must die, and they must be judged. It is appointed for them, and it is to be believed and seriously considered by them.” (Henry)
“Man’s life and works on earth end with death [unless Jesus comes first]; what remains is the result of this life and these works, as determined by God’s ‘judgment.’” (Ellicott) “Our last day stands, the rest run. On the annual day of atonement, the Jews did as Popish Rome still does. They “pray for the dead, that that bodily death may serve as an expiation of all his sins. (Leo Modem Rites of Jews.)” (Trapp) Such is their blindness.
Moreover: “As no wisdom, learning, virtue, wealth, or power, can keep one of the human race from death, so nothing can deliver a sinner from being condemned at the day of judgment, except the atoning sacrifice of Christ; nor will one be saved from eternal punishment who despises or neglects this great salvation.” (Henry) "Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
Just as it is appointed for man to die once and then the judgment, “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” (28a) as the ancient scape goat did for Israel on the day of atonement. This sacrifice “was to be presented to God, Leviticus 16:7, and the sins of the people were to be confessed over the head of it, Leviticus 16:21, and after this the goat was dismissed into a land uninhabited, laden, as the institution implied, with the sins of the people; and this the word ανενεγκειν, to bear or carry away, seems to imply. So truly as the goat did metaphorically bear away the sins of the many, so truly did Christ literally bear the punishment due to our sins; and in reference to every believer, has so borne them away that they shall never more rise in judgment against him.” (Clarke)
To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. “Yes, Christ shall be seen on earth again, not as a humble sufferer, but as the mighty judge before whom all people must give an account. The expression ‘them that wait for him’ is a tender and beautiful suggestion of the necessity of mortal trial and tribulation, and is a directive that Christians should ‘wait it out,’ never be discouraged, and endure to the end.” (Coffman) “In Christ's coming, or appearing the second time, it is very probable, as Dr. Doddridge and others have conjectured, that there is an allusion to the return of the high priest from the inner tabernacle; for, after appearing there in the presence of God, and making atonement for the people in the plain dress of an ordinary priest, Leviticus 16:23, Leviticus 16:24, he came out arrayed in his magnificent robes, to bless the people, who waited for him in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. ‘But there will be this difference,’ says Dr. Macknight, ‘between the return of Christ to bless his people, and the return of the high priest to bless the congregation. The latter, after coming out of the most holy place, made a new atonement in his pontifical robes for himself and for the people, Leviticus 16:24, which showed that the former atonement was not real but typical.” (Clarke) He will not come again for sin but rather for the salvation of His people, Israel.
Christ will bear the sins of “many” (28a)— not all— for “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,” He will take “vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” (2 Thes 1:7-10) Note that ultimately the second death is the penalty for sin-- an eternal punishment, not an eternal punishing.