CHAPTER 9

(A.D. 64)

CONTRAST

¹Then verily the First Covenant(is meant to describe the Tabernacle in which the Service of God was celebrated under the former dispensation, and to show it had a reference to what was future) had also Ordinances of Divine Service (Ordinances adapted for Divine Service), and a worldly Sanctuary. (The word worldly is used here as a contrast to the Heavenly world.)

²For there was a Tabernacle made (refers to what Moses had made in the wilderness, which pattern was given to him by God); the first, wherein was the Candlestick (Golden Lampstand), and the table, and the shewbread (refers to the first room, which was the Holy Place where the Sacred Vessels were situated); which is called the Sanctuary. (This should have been translated, which is called the Holy Place. The name Sanctuary was commonly given to the whole edifice.)

³And after the Second Veil (pertains to the Veil which separated the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies), the Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all (refers to the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat);

⁴Which had the Golden Censer (should have been translated, the Golden Incense Altar, which sat immediately in front of the Veil in the Holy Place), and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold (presents the most Glorious and Mysterious Vessel of the Tabernacle), wherein was the Golden Pot that had Manna (presents that which was a Type of Christ as the Bread of Life [Jn. 6:32-33, 35]), and Aarons rod that budded (represents Christ Alone as Saviour, and proof that God would raise Him from the dead), and the Tables of the Covenant (the two stone Tables containing the Ten Commandments, five to each Table);

⁵And over it (the Ark of the Covenant) the Cherubims of Glory (Living Creatures) shadowing the Mercyseat (they looked down upon the Mercyseat); of which we cannot now speak particularly (cannot go into great detail).

⁶Now when these things were thus ordained (refers to the fact that all of this was of God, and every part and parcel of the Tabernacle in some way pointed to Christ), the Priests went always into the First Tabernacle (into the first of the two rooms of the Tabernacle called the Holy Place), accomplishing the Service of God.(This refers to the daily, even constant, rituals that had to be carried out.)

⁷But into the second (the second room of the Tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was)went the High Priest alone once every year (pertained to the Great Day of Atonement [Lev. 16:14; 23:27]), not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people (presents him going in twice on this particular day, each time taking the blood of the Sacrificial animal which had been killed once for himself, and once for the people with the blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat):

⁸The Holy Spirit this signifying (the Holy Spirit was both the Divine Author of the Levitical system of worship, and its Interpreter), that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest (proclaims the fact [and by the Holy Spirit, at that] that access to God was blocked while the Law was enforced, except in the most limited way), while as the First Tabernacle was yet standing (show the limitations of the Levitical system):

⁹Which was a figure for the time then present (refers to the Tabernacle being a representation of Heavenly realities), in which were offered both Gifts and Sacrifices, that could not make him who did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience (portrays the weakness of the First Covenant, in that it was based on animal blood, which was insufficient; in other words, the conscience of the Jew was still heavy with realization that sin had only been covered, not taken away; only the Cross could take away sin [Jn. 1:29]);

¹⁰Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal Ordinances (refers to the entirety of the Levitical system, which could only present types and shadows), imposed on them until the time of Reformation. (The Cross, to which all of this pointed, would address all of this once and for all.)

¹¹But Christ being come (the little word but is the pivot upon which all the arguments swing) an High Priest (presented by the Apostle to show how marvelously the one Offering of our Lord Jesus Christ transcends all the types and shadows of the old) of good things to come (should have been translated, of the good things realized), by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle (presents Christ Himself as the more perfect Tabernacle), not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building (Christ is not a flimsy structure like the Tabernacle of old);

¹²Neither by the blood of goats and calves (proclaims by the fact of the continued need of more Sacrifices that it was not properly effected), but by His Own Blood (presents the price paid) He entered in once into the Holy Place (presents Christ doing what no other Priest had ever done; He offered a Sacrifice that was complete, which means it would never have to be repeated; thereby, the Heavenly Tabernacle was opened to Him; and if opened to Him, it was opened to us as well), having obtained Eternal Redemption for us.(This proclaims what was accomplished by the giving of Himself on the Cross.)

¹³For if the blood of bulls and of goats (presents Paul turning again to the Levitical Sacrifices as an example), and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, Sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh (in these animal Sacrifices, Paul proclaims the effect of an external purification, a cleansing from ritual defilement, but that was as far as it went; as should be obvious, animal Sacrifices could not take away sins):

¹⁴How much more shall the Blood of Christ (while the Sacrifice of animals could cleanse from ceremonial defilement, only the Blood of Christ could cleanse from actual sin; so that throws out every proposed solution other than the Cross), Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God (in this phrase, we learn Christ did not die until the Holy Spirit told Him to die; in fact, no man took His Life from Him; He laid it down freely [Jn. 10:17-18]; as well, the fact that Jesus offered Himself without spot to God shoots down the unscriptural doctrine that Jesus died Spiritually on the Cross; had He died Spiritually, meaning He became a sinner on the Cross, He could not have offered Himself without spot to God, as should be obvious; God could only accept a Perfect Sacrifice; when He died on the Cross, He took upon Himself the sin penalty of the human race, which was physical death; inasmuch as His Offering of Himself was Perfect, God accepted it as payment in full for all sin past, present, and future, at least for those who will believe [Jn. 3:16]), purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God? (Dead works are anything other than simple Faith in the Cross of Christ, i.e., the Blood of Christ.)

¹⁵And for this cause (to purge our conscience)H e is the Mediator (He Alone can be the Mediator) of the New Testament (the New Covenant), that by means of death (the death of Christ on the Cross, which atoned for all sin, and was necessary if man was to be saved), for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament (proclaims the fact that the death of Christ pertained just as much to those before the Cross as those after the Cross; His Sacrifice of Himself guaranteed their Redemption, and we speak of all who had died in the Faith), they which are called might receive the Promise of Eternal Inheritance. (This continues to address those who had died in the Faith before the Cross. They are referred to as the called. The reason their Salvation depended on the Cross was that the blood of bulls and goats, which was all they had before the Cross, was insufficient to take away sins [10:4].)

THE NEW COVENANT

¹⁶For where a Testament is(Covenant), there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. (This refers to the death of Christ, Who was charged to make a New Covenant on the part of man.)

¹⁷For a Testament is of force after men are dead (this tells us in no uncertain terms that the death of Christ on the Cross was a legal matter): otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives. (This simply means it is not valid until the individual to whom the Will belongs dies, as is the case of any Testament or Will.)

¹⁸Whereupon neither the First Testament(Old Covenant) was dedicated without blood (but it was only the blood of animals).

¹⁹For when Moses had spoken every Precept to all the people according to the Law (this was referred to as the Law of Moses), he took the blood of calves and of goats (proclaims the seal of the Old Covenant, which was shed blood; of course, it was a Type of the Shed Blood of Christ), with water (as the blood witnessed to the nature of His Atoning Death [Jn. 19:34], the water witnessed to His full and proper humanity [Jn. 19:34]), and scarlet wool (wool is normally white, which symbolizes the Righteousness of Christ; however, it was dyed red, which portrayed the fact that it took the Blood of Christ to make this Righteousness available to man), and hyssop (a bushy plant, which typified His Death on the Cross as a man; in Egypt the blood was applied to the doorpost with hyssop [Ex. 12:22]), and sprinkled both the Book, and all the people (referred to the Book of Leviticus, with the Tribe of Levi Ordained for Tabernacle Service, pertaining to the people; the sprinkling of the blood was the ratification of the Covenant, and symbolized the Blood of Christ which would ultimately be shed and applied by Faith to the hearts and lives of believing sinners [the blood was mixed with water]),

²⁰Saying, This is the Blood of the Testament (presents that which made the Old Covenant valid) which God has enjoined upon you. (This presents the fact that everything in the First Covenant, exactly as in the New Covenant, is all of God and not at all of man.)

²¹Moreover he sprinkled with Blood both the Tabernacle, and all the Vessels of the Ministry. (This particular Verse portrays the awfulness of sin, and that it has contaminated everything on this Earth.)

²²And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood (some few things were purged with water, but almost all with blood); and without shedding of blood is no remission. (The shed Blood of Christ on the Cross is the only solution for the sins, the ills, and the problems of this world. The problem of the world, and of the Church as well, is that it has ever sought to substitute something else. But let all know, it is alone the Cross! the Cross! the Cross!)

²³It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these (everything that pertained to the Tabernacle and all of its Sacred Vessels was a copy of that which was in Heaven; inasmuch as the Vessels and the Tabernacle were touched by men, they had to be purified by Blood, i.e., animal blood); but the Heavenly things themselves with better Sacrifices than these. (If man were to enter Heaven, the abode of God, there would have to be a better Sacrifice than that of animal blood.)

²⁴For Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with hands (Christ did not enter the earthly Tabernacle or Temple, regarding the offering up of His Precious Blood on the Mercy Seat), which are the figures of the true (presents the fact that these figures were only temporary); but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the Presence of God for us (presents the purpose and reason for the Cross; all of it was done for us):

²⁵Nor yet that He should offer Himself often (refers to the fact that the one Sacrifice of Christ, which was the Offering of Himself on the Cross, was eternally sufficient for the cleansing from all sin past, present, and future; It will never need to be repeated), as the High Priest enters into the Holy Place every year with blood of others (refers to the High Priest of Israel of Old, who went into the Holy of Holies once a year on the Great Day of Atonement, carrying animal blood);

²⁶For then must He (the Lord Jesus) often have suffered since the foundation of the world (presents the fact that He wasnt functioning as the High Priests of Israel who, as stated, had to offer Sacrifice yearly): but now once in the end of the world has He appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of Himself. (This presents the One Sacrifice of Christ as sufficient for all time. The phrase, In the end of the world, should have been translated, in the consummation of the ages. As well, by the Sacrifice of Himself, He didnt merely cover sin, but rather took it away [Jn. 1:29].)

²⁷And as it is appointed unto men once to die (due to the Fall, all men are under the sentence of death, and, in fact, all have died Spiritually, which means to be separated from God), but after this the Judgment (the answer to the Spiritual death of man is Christ and what He did at the Cross; if Christ the Saviour is rejected, all will face Christ the Judge; for as death was inevitable, the Judgment is inevitable as well):

²⁸So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many (the Cross was Gods answer to sin, and, in fact, the only answer); and unto them who look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto Salvation. (This refers to the Second Coming. Without sin refers to the fact that the Second Coming will not be to atone for sin, for that was already carried out at the Cross at His First Advent. The Second Coming will bring all the results of Salvation to this world, which refers to all that He did at the Cross. We now only have the Firstfruits [Rom. 8:23].)