A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews

1. Don’t fall away! Don’t Depart! Don’t neglect your salvation! Don’t cast away your confidence! Don’t harden your heart! Don’t drift away! AStudyOf TheApostlePaul’s LetterTo The Hebrews How can we neglect so greata salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3

2. Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Person (1:1—4:13) Superior to Prophets (1:1-3) Superior to Angels (1:4—2:18) Superior to Moses (3:1-19) Superior to Joshua (4:1-13) Superior Priest (4:14—7:28) Superior to Aaron (4:14—6:12) Superior to Melchizedek (6:13—7:10) Superior to Levi (7:11-28)

3. Hebrews: Christ Is Superior! Superior Pact to Moses’ (8:1—10:18) Superior Promises (8:1-13) Superior Sanctuary (9:1-15) but… We’ll only study verses 11-15 today. Superior Sacrifice (9:16-28) Superior Results (10:1-18) Superior Principle (Faith) to Moses’ (10:19—13:25) Superior Things (10:19-39) Superior Actions (11:1-40) Superior Relationship (12:1-29) Superior Way of Life (13:1-25)

4. As we began our last study on chap-ter 9, we found that Paul began to show that Christ’s covenant is better than that of Moses, not just because it was founded upon better promises (chapter 8), but also because it in-cludes a better tabernacle than that of Aaron and his priestly lineage.

5. In 9:1-5 Paul pictured the sanctuary and its furnishings for his audience; then in verses 6-10 he explained to them that all these literal, physical things were merely symbols point-ing to the real thing. And now, upon that basis… In verses 11-14, He wrote about some of what those things symbo-lized. (V. 15 is a transition verse.)

6. Hebrews 9:11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

7. This is from a term whichmeanstomake one’s public appear-ance.(Many other ver-sions translate it as ap-peared.) And when did Jesus make His appearance as High Priest? According to 5:5-10, it was after His crucifixion and resurrection and within The Most Holy Place (v. 12). But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

8. This phrase is from a root term which means about to come. It’s the same term found in 8:5 where it speaks of when Moses was about to make the tabernacle; i.e., it wasn’t something thousands of years in the future, but something on the verge of occurring. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

9. Thesehavereference to everything that would/did achieve the aforementioned reformation(v.10),including redemp-tion, regeneration, reconciliation, and restoration; i.e., put concisely, thru ordue to Jesus (for the first time since Eden) we have access to God again. But Christ came as High Priest of the good thingsto come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

10. The original term is dia; being genitive, it’s better translated as through. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

11. Thisrefers,ofcourse, to the real, spiritual thing that the physi-cal, symbolic thing merely pointed to—the one-room taber-nacle or kingdom wherein all God’s people are united as one reconciled body. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

12. Paul also said it this way: in the … fullness of times, He … [was] gath-er[ing] together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which are on Earth (Eph. 1:10). And how and when did He do this?

13. In Matthew 24:31 Jesus said that He would send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. When? This generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled (v. 36).

14. In Luke 13:28-29 Jesus said to some Jews, There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.

15. And let’s not fail to connect Second Thessalonians 2:1 with Hebrews 10:25. In Thessalonians Paul wrote Concerning the coming of our Lord and our gathering together to Him, then in Hebrews he told them to not forsaking the assembling (orthe gath-ering)togetherof themselvesas they saw the Day approaching. (We’ll spend more time on this when we get to that verse soon.) Anyway…

16. This one-room tabernacle is also called a few other things in Hebrews: the city … whose builder … is God … a heavenly country (11:9 & 16), and Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly, the church of the firstborn, and a kingdom (12:22-28).

17. So it was/is through or by means ofthis tabernacle that Je-sus did and does His High Priestly work. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, withthe greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

18. This refers to the same idea found in 8:2 where it speaks ofthetruetaberna-clethattheLord,not man, erected. Inci-dentally, it doesn’t seem difficult to see (with unveiled eyes) the connection here with Paul’s words in Second Corinthians 5:1-4. Notice:   But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

19. We know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality might be swallowed up by life. (Alsoconsider 2 Cor. 4:8—5:8 as a commentary on Rom. 8:18-23).

20. This indicates, of course,thatthistrue, genuine, or real tab-ernacle is of a heav-enly or spiritual na-ture, not a temporal or physical nature; as Jesus Himself said, My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

21. Not with the blood of goats & calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemp-tion. Hebrews 9:12

22. Back in 6:19b-20a Paul had written of Jesus that He is the Forerunner, who has become High Priest and who has entered the Presence behind the veil. Then, as we’ll get to in our next sec-tion, in 9:24 he wrote, Christ hasn’t en-tered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into Heaven itself,now to appear in the Pre-sence of God for us.

23. This is not from the usual personal pro-noun (autos); it’s fromamorespecific term(idios), mean-ing that this blood wasuniqueto Jesus. Here’s an example: Not with the blood of goats & calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemp-tion.

24. Idiosis the word used in John 5:18 where it speaks of the Jews wanting to kill Jesus because He claimed Yahweh as His Father. Sinceallthe Jews claimed Yahweh to be their Father, why would this have been a problem? Well…   

25. According to John 5:18, Jesus didn’t just use the idea behindautoswhich would’ve indicated that He was a child of God just as the other Jews were;rather,Heusedtheideabehindidioswhich indicated that Yahweh was His Father in a unique way, meaning that He was deity just as Yahweh is deity. So…   

26. What made the blood of Jesus uni-que? It flowed in the veins of One who was sinless in regard to His humanity and deity in regard to His person, the combination of which made His blood the only blood that could be acceptably sprinkled on the mercy seat in the heavenly or true holy of holies.

27. This means once for alltime(cf. NLT & NCV), not over and over again every year as with the OT priests; in fact, this is the idea behind eternal here—instead of re-ferring to the doc-trine of once saved, always saved, it’s actually just a syno-nym for the once-for-all-time concept. Not with the blood of goats & calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemp-tion.

28. This refers to a re-lease by payment of a ransom, such as when money was paid in order to free a slave. Sinners are slaves of sin, and the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23); this is the debt Je-sus paid for those who want freedom from sin and eternal death. Not with the blood of goats & calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemp-tion.

29. Things to note in contrast: 1.Animal blood under the OT –VS– Jesus’ blood under the NT 2.Highpriest used animal blood –VS– Jesus used His own blood 3.Animal blood involuntary –VS– Jesus’ blood voluntary 4.Animals offered repeatedly –VS– Jesus offered once for all time 5. Animalbloodcoveredsinbriefly –VS– Jesus’ blood removed sin eternally.

30. I believe the NASB rendered verses 11-12 more accurately: When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect taber-nacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood He entered the holy place once for all [time], having obtained eternal redemption.

31. Hebrews 9:13 For if [lit. since] the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the un-clean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh…

32. Paul added the heif-er-sacrifice and the sprinkling of her ashes in water over people who became ceremonially un-clean as a result of some type of con-tact with the dead; see, if a Jew had such contact, then entered the taber-nacle area, he was cut off from Israel (Num. 19:1-10). For if [lit. since] the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the un-clean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh…

33. Ceremonial defilement was not in and of itself sin, but it (like leavening) was a type of sin; this is why it’s said that the blood of animals could cleanse this defilement. It was only the flesh that was defiled by contact with the dead, so it was only the flesh that was cleansed, meaning that the defilement and cleansing were both symbolic; this ceremony didn’t make anyone morally or spiritually better, just physically. In fact…   

34. Remember verse 9? Such things were 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 conscience.

35. Unclean refers to that which is unhal-lowed or not related toorassociatedwith God,while sanctifies means to set apart to or for God. So… For if [lit. since] the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the un-clean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh…

36. The unclean Israel-elite was out of bounds when it came to participat-ing in any service or worship to God; but once he fulfilled the Levitical ritual in relation to this un-cleanness, then he was sanctified to & for God again. So… If animal sacrifices could do that…  For if [lit. since] the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the un-clean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh…

37. Hebrews 9:14 …how much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

38. While the sacrifice of a heifer sanctified one physically in or-der to serve God ac-ceptably under the OT, the sacrifice of God’s Son sanctifies one spiritually in or-der to serve Him ac-ceptably under the New Testament. …how much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

39. Christ’s sacrifice is greater because He (as a human) was sin-less and because He (asdeity)offeredHim-selfonbehalfofman. …how much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

40. This phrase has no definite article be-fore it in the Greek, indicating that it is not a reference to the Holy Spirit as the NKJV and others indicate with the capital “S.” Rather…    …how much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru theeternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

41. It’s probably (and contextually) a re-ference to the eternal nature (or the deity) of Jesus Himself; the CEV, for ex-ample, reads, He offered Himself as an eternalandspiritualsacrifice. Besides... Just as it requires that which is physi-cal to affect that which is physical, so it requires that which is spiritual to affect that which is spiritual, which also signi-fies that the scenario here is spiritual in nature; i.e., Jesus didn’t take His literal blood to Heaven with Him.

42. This occurs at bap-tism (1 Pet. 3:21). This is when one is assured of absolute forgiveness, that which those under the OT didn’t have until Christ came; still another way to put it is that a clean conscience equals access to and recon-ciliation with the living God. …how much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

43. Thisprobablyhasre-ference to how that attemptstobesaved by works (as done in OT times)are,toGod, as fruitless as dead bodies that made them ceremonial unclean if touched; now, thru Christ, we are saved by grace. …how much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

44. Since dead works for a living God are worthless, our works though the Christ are living (Rom. 12:1-2), because they’re done out of appreci-ation instead of an attempt to merit our salvation. Now to Paul’s point: …how much more shall the blood of Christ, who thru the eternal spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead worksto serve the living God?

45. Hebrews 9:15 For this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant by means of death,for the redemption of the transgres- sions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of theeternalinheritance.

46. This refers to the fact that while ani-mal blood merely cleansed from cere-monial defilements, Christ’s blood cleanses from actu- al sin, making Him the Mediator of the New Covenant. For this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant by means of death,for the redemption of the transgres- sions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of theeternalinheritance.

47. This refers to one who intervenes be-tween two parties,either tomakeor re-storepeacebyform-ing a pact or ratify-ing a covenant: by His crucifixion, Je-sus removed the barrier and penalty for sin between God and man. For this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant by means of death,for the redemption of the transgres- sions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of theeternalinheritance.

48. Notice that Jesus wasn’t called the Testator here, but the Mediator, re-minding us of the idea brought up in 7:23 that Jesusnot only died to ratify, but rose to mediate as well. For this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant by means of death,for the redemption of the transgres- sions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of theeternalinheritance.

49. Thismeansthateven those under the OT weresavedbyvirtue of Jesus’ atoning work under the NT. Why?Again,because the OT had no provi-sions for the com-plete removal of sin. For this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant by means of death,for the redemption ofthe transgres- sions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of theeternalinheritance.

50. It’s believed by many that this is what is meant by the prophecy of Zechariah 14: 8: In that day … living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea. I.e…. The salvation that the Messiah would bring would extend in both directions in time from His cross: into the past & into the future, making His cross the pivotal point in human history; this is why it can be said that Jesus is a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8).