Wednesday Huddle – Hebrews 9-11-14

Have you ever had a conversation in which the primary communication was not the words spoken? Maybe an exchange with an old friend where you say very little to express your relationship? Maybe a conversation with a rival in which looks and posturing were really what was “said”?

The brief exchange Jesus has with the scribe in Mark 12 is similar. The scribes ask Jesus what the greatest commandment is and Jesus responds:

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:29-31 (ESV)

His answer connects to the central prayer faithful Jews prayed every day; it is called the Shema. But the words unspoken say a lot as well.

At least in Mark, the scribes are portrayed as Jesus’ nemesis. They are constantly harping on his behavior and ultimately are instrumental in causing his death.

And yet in this exchange, the scribe actually agrees with Jesus by saying: “You are right, Teacher…”

The conversation surprisingly takes a sharp turn away from the usual antagonistic tone. He agrees with Jesus quickly—where the subtext in most of their conversations is challenging, suddenly there is agreement.

Jesus’ reaction to this agreement is no less surprising:

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Mark 12:34 (ESV)

The Lord knows just when to stop everything and watch the kingdom leaking through, even through a scribe. This conversation stands out against other similar exchanges because there is pause, there is observation, not just a disagreement or debate.

Jesus sees the change coming through this man and proves that the kingdom welcomes everyone as a matter of the heart. Unlike Israel—who at the time who was shutting non-Jews (Gentiles) out—the gospel movement welcomed all—scribes or otherwise—if that person turned even slightly toward Jesus. It was a matter of faith—not social class, not ethnicity nor heritage, that brought someone to believe and follow Christ.

So this exchange—a surprisingly positive response from a scribe excites Jesus. It’s small moments like these showing how Jesus was transforming the world then and still is today.

I’d like to think this scribe who was “not far” from the kingdom made it all the way across. Perhaps this was the beginning of his journey—a brief, patient discussion with Jesus. The same discussion he has had with you.

I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.

Hebrews 9:11-14   But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come,^[i] then through the greater and more perfect tent^[j] (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), ¹² he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^[k] offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^[l] conscience from dead works to worship the living God!   

Now^[a] the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. ² For a tent^[b] was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence;^[c] this is called the holy place. ³ Behind the second curtain was a tent^[d] called the holy of holies. ⁴ In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; ⁵ above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.^[e]  Of these things we cannot speak now in detail.  

⁶ These preparations having thus been made, the priests go continually into the first tent^[f] to carry out their ritual duties, ⁷butonly the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year and not without taking the blood that he offers for himselfand for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.  ⁸ By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been disclosed as long as the first tent^[g] is still standing.  ⁹ This is a symbol^[h] of the present time, indicating that gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper¹⁰ but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right. 

PASSAGE FOR INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION … What is the Holy Spirit saying to us?

¹¹ But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come,^[i] then through the greater and more perfect tent^[j] (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), 

¹² He entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 

¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^[k] offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^[l] conscience from dead works to worship the living God!  

How Much More?

Hebrews 9:11-14 NRSVUE

We may not know who the author of Hebrews is or the date in which the book was written, but the message of the book is not lessened to any degree without this knowledge.  Because of all the references to the Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures, and Jewish traditions found in the letter, it becomes fairly apparent that the intended audience was Jewish Christians.  Because of this, those of non-Jewish heritage are at a disadvantage in picking up on the many comparisons made using various historically Jewish references in the letter.  However, what we do share with the intended audience is what makes this letter relevant for us today.  Like those early Jewish Christians, we share the temptation to allow secondary things to slip in and displace our trust in Jesus.

The recipients of Hebrews were a people who had put their trust in Jesus and even endured many persecutions on account of that faith.  We too can look back and see a time when we first placed our trust in Jesus as sufficient in and for all things.  We too may have given up much and endured a great many disadvantages for doing so.  However, we have this letter before us today because the Holy Spirit saw fit that we, like those early Jewish Christians, would need a reminder of the one who is truly worthy of our full devoted and unwavering trust.

We too can slowly drift away from the God who revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ.  We too can lose sight of who Jesus is for us and seek to either add something that we think will fill in the gaps, or to turn from him altogether.  It is possible as the years roll on in our walk with Jesus that we can fall out of step with growing in our knowledge of him and our faith in him.  Maybe that is where you are today.  If so, this letter is worth your attention from start to finish.  But, for today, we only have four verses to read.  Even so, this short snippet of Hebrews will serve to remind us, as the author intends, of the greatness and far surpassing sufficiency of Jesus and his work accomplished on our behalf.

This section alludes to a lot of details that were covered in the ten verses leading up to it.  Essentially, chapter 9 begins by revisiting the first covenant and the many regulations contained in it with special attention to the tabernacle and high priest.  An important aspect of these regulations is that they were intended for worship.  This is a critical filter to consider when looking back through Israel’s history.  From the start, God intended to enter into a relationship with Israel.  This relationship would be characterized by worship.  Israel was to know this God who had called them to himself, and in that knowing, they would respond in worship, which is the only fitting response to a God who is worthy of worship.  However, this worship would have to be a mediated worship on account of their sin and guilty conscience.

Their history puts on full display that these people were a sinful, broken, and outright rebellious people.  They repeatedly resisted God’s grace and love towards them.  As a result, God could not dwell with them directly in all his glory as it would destroy them.  So, in his grace, God set up a mediated system of worship that would enable these rebellious people to “stay in the room” with him in a manner of speaking.  God was making provision for their worship.

When you look back on all the details and precision that was prescribed by God to build the tabernacle and all that went with it, it becomes clear that God is the one who provided the means for Israel’s worship.  They would not need to provide their own worship, sacrifices, and rituals, using their own ingenuity or imaginations like the many pagan religious cults around them.  Israel was given very specific instructions on how to worship and how not to.  That took all the guesswork out of it, and they need not live in fear that maybe they did not offer up worship that was worthy enough to be accepted.  They knew exactly what to offer.  This was God’s grace to them and a signpost of the ultimate provision of a mediator who will come to fulfill all that God was doing in Israel for the sake of the entire world.

Today’s text, beginning with verse 11, is going to remind the readers of Hebrews that Jesus is God’s perfect and final provision for our reconciliation with him and for the worship of the Father that we were created for.  And it begins with a big fat “But.”

This “But” is to let us know that everything the author was talking about up to this point needs to be held in suspension to hear what will follow.  In other words, before we decide to hold onto these other things that we feel are so important for our relationship with God, we need to weigh that against what is about to be presented.  And what we are about to see is the author’s attempt to remind us that whatever secondary things we may be tempted to add to our faith, over and against a faith in Christ alone, or even to displace our trust in him altogether, they are insignificant by comparison.  Ultimately, what we have in Christ is so much more by comparison and we would be fools to settle for anything less.

But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! (Hebrews 9:11-14 NRSVUE)

You notice the name “Jesus” is not mentioned here.  The writer of Hebrews has already established that Jesus is the high priest and faithful over God’s house (Hebrews 3:1-6).  In today’s text, we can take note of several comparisons the author has chosen to bring to our attention which show how much more Jesus is worthy of our faith than animal sacrifices.

Here the writer of Hebrews mentions several types of animals that were sacrificed.  On the Day of Atonement, a goat was slain for the people.  The blood of this goat was sprinkled before the mercy seat.  The high priest confessed the people’s sins over a second goat, sometimes referred to as the scapegoat, which was then led away into the desert.  The Levitical high priest was required to offer a bull as a sin offering for himself and his household.  A red heifer was slain (Numbers 19:3-4,) whose ashes was mixed with water which became the “water of separation” for removing ceremonial defilement whether contracted by sin or by contact with death.  As this heifer was slain “outside the camp,” Christ was slain outside the city limits of Jerusalem (see Matthew 27:31-34, and Hebrews 13:11,12).  The sacrifice of our current high priest completely replaced the sacrificial system.

First, Christ is presented as the new “high priest.”  This is being compared to Israel’s high priests and their role in Israel’s history and worship.  Something has changed with this high priest.  He is a high priest “of the good things that have come.”  Every good thing God was seeking to accomplish through Israel’s history has now culminated in Jesus Christ.  This is now a present reality, not just a future expectation, namely, the very good thing of entering into eternal life.  This is a life characterized by an undefiled relationship with God, which has been established and has been completely mediated to us in Jesus Christ.  The high priests of Israel’s history never did that;  they only pointed to it.

Second, in Jesus we now have a “greater and more perfect tent” compared to the Old Testament tabernacle and temple.  One of the debates regarding the date Hebrews was written deals with whether the letter was written before or after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple.  However, considering how the author here is describing Jesus as the “greater and more perfect tent” it is safe to conclude that whether the temple was still standing or not is immaterial.  It would be obsolete by comparison anyway.  There is no longer a need for the specific place that contained the “holy of holies” where the high priest would atone for Israel’s sins.  Jesus is the one who “tabernacled” among us (John 1:14) and he is, in his person, our atonement.

Third, Jesus has secured our reconciliation through his sacrifice “once for all.”  Unlike the other high priest who had to come year after year to offer the “blood of goats and calves,” Jesus provides himself as the blood offering that obtains our “eternal redemption.”  There is no further need  of  any sacrifice to be made.  The shedding of blood for redemption is settled, once for all time, in the saving blood of Jesus Christ.

Finally, the author builds on this comparison of Jesus’ sacrifice compared to the sacrifice of goats, bulls, and heifers to establish that it is only in Christ’s sacrifice of himself that our conscience from dead works is purified.  And all this has the intended goal of bringing us “to worship the living God.”  God’s purposes have been established in Jesus.  He is now the mediator of our relationship with his Father.  He is now our true worship leader who leads us to know and enjoy God forever.

And did you notice how this was carried out?  “who through  the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God ….”  The entire triune God is involved in the provision of our redemption and purified conscience.  Like in Israel’s history, God again has provided for the people’s worship.

Here is a quote from T. F. Torrance, in Atonement,  that speaks beautifully on this issue of our consciences being purified in Christ and will serve as a point of closure for our passage today:

It is because in Jesus Christ the voice of the judge is identical with the voice of our high priest, because the very voice that condemns us is also the voice that freely forgives us, that Jesus Christ by his atonement purges our sinful conscience … Under the Old Testament liturgy there is remembrance (anamnēsis) of sin in every repeated act of sacrifice, but here in the new covenant there is no remembrance of sin at all, and so the conscience is purged of its guilty consciousness by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon it, as it is liturgically expressed … [So] our conscience with him is altered from enmity to peace.  But this purging of a guilty conscience means also the sanctification of the believer; that is to say, the believer is put in a relation of holiness to God, and so is dedicated or consecrated to God as a worshipper.  By taking away guilt from their conscience Christ sets the believer free in a relation of rightness to the holy God and before him so they may worship him properly and freely. (p.92)

In the coming weeks, we will hear the author of Hebrews making more staggering claims to how much more we can trust Jesus over anything else we may be tempted to rely on.  Perhaps what we must deal with is the immensity of the good news we have in Jesus Christ — the good news that we may at times think is too good to be true.  Thankfully the Holy Spirit has inspired authors such as the one who penned the letter of Hebrews to remind us of what is true.  Jesus is truly above and beyond all that we ever need or could possibly desire.  The more we can grasp that, or be grasped by him, the easier it will be to let go of all those secondary things that amount to less than nothing.  He and he alone is worthy of all praise and glory.

This week, spend time in worship thanking the Father for the Son, thanking the Holy Spirit for continually pointing us to the Son, and thanking the Son for being our perfect high priest.

Amen!