Thursday, March 2, 2017

Hebrews 9:6-10

6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. 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. 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.

Commentary
Vs. 6 "Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services." 

The first part of the Tabernacle was that which the officiating priest went into every day to lay the show bread in order (on the Sabbath), light the golden lamp stand, burn the daily incense (Ex. 30:7) and perform all of the various service that God then required (the origins of which are described in Ex. 40:17-33).

Vs. 7-8 "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.

The second part of the Tabernacle was the Holiest of All (see 9:1-5), it was the place where the high priest alone as a mediator between God and man went into once a year on the day of atonement (the ritual of which is described in Lev. 16). Now before the high priest could even do so, he himself had to offer a sacrificial blood sin offering first for himself (Lev. 16:6), and then for the people's sins committed in ignorance (Lev 16:15). Now through all these rituals the Holy Spirit was indicating that the way into God's Presence by His grace given us through His Son was not yet present for them, and thus the way for us into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest to them while the Tabernacle was still standing. It is most fitting then when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for us all, that in the moment that He died on the cross that God Himself tore the veil in temple from top to bottom, indicating that He had now made the way for sinful mankind (that's you and me) to be reconciled to Himself and come into the Holiest of All to be in an everlasting relationship with Himself through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ who is now God's only Mediator between God and mankind (Matt 27:51-56; John 3:16; 1 Tim 2:5-6). 

Vs. 9-10 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.

The Tabernacle and all of it's sacrifices and rituals then was symbolic, representative then of all that the Lord Jesus Christ has now done and fulfilled in restoring us who believe in Him back to God. And so just as the worshipers who offered their sacrifices for their sins could not have their consciences made perfect by those gifts, so too with the high priests who offered sacrifices, first for themselves and then for those worshipers, for both their service and their adherence too those ordinances were only until the time of reformation, (gr. διόρθωσις, Str. 1357). The inability (and insufficiency) of the Tabernacle and it's service in making anyone perfect in regards to conscience or anything else then is the point being made by these passages. "For the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of la better hope, through which we draw near to God." Heb. 7:19
Therefore let us all draw near to God by the way that He has prescribed for us all and that is through His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12, 10:43; 1 Tim 2:5-6; Rev. 22:17); whose Sinless Life, Crucifixion Death, Resurrection from the Dead, and Ascension back to God the Father in heaven has made the way for us all to enter the Holiest of All, and thus have remission of all our sins and everlasting life with Himself by faith in His Person. Therefore don't delay, while it is the Day of Salvation be reconciled to God today and begin a New Life with Christ!

Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Additional Resources Consulted 
MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 2184). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Note on sins committed in ignorance
Under the Old Covenant there was no atonement for those sins committed "high handed" (Numbers 15:27-29, 30-31) meaning in knowing rebellious defiance towards God, for by doing so those who did so were declaring themselves to have rejected the Lord and His Word given to them (consider Numbers 15:1-15 (vs. 6-9); 16:1-40; Jeremiah 44:1-30, vs. 15-30 as some examples of this). Therefore in light of how seriously God dealt with those who did so, we should all consider such actions of willful defiance towards God as being very serious, whether under the Old Covenant or New, because those who now profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet knowingly and defiantly promote and expound those things that He abhors and hates as either coming from Him, or as now being acceptable to Him, are playing with an Everlasting fire that will not be quenched (Mark 9:42-49; Heb. 12:28-29). 



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