The Types and Shadows of Christ
Hebrews 9
6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age).
The Temporal Weakness of the Old Covenant Priesthood
Verse 7 of Hebrews 9 tells us that the high priest alone goes into the second section of the temple alter, and only then with the blood sacrifice for himself and the people’s sins (for which they may not even be repenting) and even then he only goes in once a year. Verse 8 follows by saying that the presence of the second section, the infrequency of the visit, and the limited membership of visitors allowed all indicate that the way into the holy places is not yet opened because the first section is still standing; while these restrictions are in place, the alter is inaccessible—that is the metaphor provided by these things.
11 But when Christ appeared 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) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14 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 serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
The Eternal Accomplishment of the New Covenant Priest
At the appearance of the archetype of the temple, Christ our High Priest takes His own blood into the second section and once and for all offers the perfect blood of His holy body, thus the curtain is rent in two and the dividing wall crumbles. And that is why in verse 15 it says therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant. Because of these things we may rightly surmise that whenever the earthly high priest is restricted from going into the second section, and even then he is the only one who may enter in, the holy place is closed, so if these restrictions were ever put in place again, in a future earthly temple, then the holy place must have been closed again, and closed again, then our eternal redemption has not yet been secured—this view does great damage to the atonement of Christ and His High Priestly work. And because He has opened the holy places by entering in, our consciences have been purified from dead works so we can serve the living God, but if the holy places are closed then our consciences have not been cleansed and we may not serve Him, and Christ is not yet the mediator of a new covenant.
It is stated that one of the reasons Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant is due to the nature of His work as The High Priest; this High Priest was without spot or blemish, and He doesn’t have to enter into the holy places more than once, and the holy places He enters to secure this redemption are the holy places not made with human hands, thus the security is everlasting.
16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you." 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Metaphor
The author compares the ratification of the New Covenant with the fact that a will establishes the occurrence of a death. The will exists in some sense before it’s the owner’s death but its promises cannot be distributed until the death takes place. It is the same with Christ and the promises of the New Covenant, the promises could not be distributed until He had died. The Old Covenant was no different, the stipulations and promises were of no effect until they were inaugurated by the sprinkling of the blood, signifying that a death had occurred to ratify the covenant God had made with His people. The contrast is then made between the earthly vessels of worship and the heavenly ones they symbolized, the former had to be sprinkled with the blood of bulls and goats, but the later were sprinkled, as it were, with the blood of Christ; His position is permanent, and His sacrifice propitiatory!
As a type of Christ’s blood and His body, the typological will was inaugurated by the blood of calves and goats being sprinkled on the tent made with hands and the vessels of worship as a shadow of the heavenly items they flattered. What is so very important here, as this passage ends, is an eschatology we see attached to the description of the shadow and substance of Christ. Notice at this point the sheer absence of a future temple made with hands, additional human priests to memorialize the Old Covenant sacrifices of animal bodies and the sprinkling of their blood—which cannot possibly propitiate the wrath of God, and that there is no reconstitution of the Mosaic law as a means of dealing with sin (even if it is just as a temporary covering). In fact, the exact opposite is displayed—it is said that Christ was offered once, and then He returns—not to deal with sin mind you (not to atone for sin) for His dealing with sin was done on the cross and He does not return to do it again, but to save those who eagerly wait for His return; no secret rapture, no earthly temple, just the real temple it pictured and the return of the King of the Universe with a shout and the blowing of a trumpet (as it is elsewhere described). And if there ever was an appropriate place for the Holy Spirit to use a New Testament author to tell us about how we should interpret Jeremiah and other’s prophesies in a dispensational way, it would certainly be here—but it isn’t.
New Covenant Inheritance
In reality the author of the book of Hebrews is saying that because Christ did all these things for us, we are the partakers of the New Covenant and Christ is its mediator—our mediator, the mediator for the called, the mediator of the New Covenant promises of eternal inheritance…and what is that inheritance? For one thing, it is the inheritance of having the law of God written on our hearts of flesh with which God replaced the hearts of stone we once had, and which were pictured by the law having been written the first time on stone tablets, but the inheritance for those in the New Covenant, at least in part, is that the law is no longer written in stone but in flesh. Another form of our inheritance is Christ as our God and our position as His people, and the fact that all of those who receive covenant blessings—all those in the covenant—will also be true heirs of the promises Jeremiah prophesied.
Hebrews 9
6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. 8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age).
The Temporal Weakness of the Old Covenant Priesthood
Verse 7 of Hebrews 9 tells us that the high priest alone goes into the second section of the temple alter, and only then with the blood sacrifice for himself and the people’s sins (for which they may not even be repenting) and even then he only goes in once a year. Verse 8 follows by saying that the presence of the second section, the infrequency of the visit, and the limited membership of visitors allowed all indicate that the way into the holy places is not yet opened because the first section is still standing; while these restrictions are in place, the alter is inaccessible—that is the metaphor provided by these things.
11 But when Christ appeared 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) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14 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 serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
The Eternal Accomplishment of the New Covenant Priest
At the appearance of the archetype of the temple, Christ our High Priest takes His own blood into the second section and once and for all offers the perfect blood of His holy body, thus the curtain is rent in two and the dividing wall crumbles. And that is why in verse 15 it says therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant. Because of these things we may rightly surmise that whenever the earthly high priest is restricted from going into the second section, and even then he is the only one who may enter in, the holy place is closed, so if these restrictions were ever put in place again, in a future earthly temple, then the holy place must have been closed again, and closed again, then our eternal redemption has not yet been secured—this view does great damage to the atonement of Christ and His High Priestly work. And because He has opened the holy places by entering in, our consciences have been purified from dead works so we can serve the living God, but if the holy places are closed then our consciences have not been cleansed and we may not serve Him, and Christ is not yet the mediator of a new covenant.
It is stated that one of the reasons Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant is due to the nature of His work as The High Priest; this High Priest was without spot or blemish, and He doesn’t have to enter into the holy places more than once, and the holy places He enters to secure this redemption are the holy places not made with human hands, thus the security is everlasting.
16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you." 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Metaphor
The author compares the ratification of the New Covenant with the fact that a will establishes the occurrence of a death. The will exists in some sense before it’s the owner’s death but its promises cannot be distributed until the death takes place. It is the same with Christ and the promises of the New Covenant, the promises could not be distributed until He had died. The Old Covenant was no different, the stipulations and promises were of no effect until they were inaugurated by the sprinkling of the blood, signifying that a death had occurred to ratify the covenant God had made with His people. The contrast is then made between the earthly vessels of worship and the heavenly ones they symbolized, the former had to be sprinkled with the blood of bulls and goats, but the later were sprinkled, as it were, with the blood of Christ; His position is permanent, and His sacrifice propitiatory!
As a type of Christ’s blood and His body, the typological will was inaugurated by the blood of calves and goats being sprinkled on the tent made with hands and the vessels of worship as a shadow of the heavenly items they flattered. What is so very important here, as this passage ends, is an eschatology we see attached to the description of the shadow and substance of Christ. Notice at this point the sheer absence of a future temple made with hands, additional human priests to memorialize the Old Covenant sacrifices of animal bodies and the sprinkling of their blood—which cannot possibly propitiate the wrath of God, and that there is no reconstitution of the Mosaic law as a means of dealing with sin (even if it is just as a temporary covering). In fact, the exact opposite is displayed—it is said that Christ was offered once, and then He returns—not to deal with sin mind you (not to atone for sin) for His dealing with sin was done on the cross and He does not return to do it again, but to save those who eagerly wait for His return; no secret rapture, no earthly temple, just the real temple it pictured and the return of the King of the Universe with a shout and the blowing of a trumpet (as it is elsewhere described). And if there ever was an appropriate place for the Holy Spirit to use a New Testament author to tell us about how we should interpret Jeremiah and other’s prophesies in a dispensational way, it would certainly be here—but it isn’t.
New Covenant Inheritance
In reality the author of the book of Hebrews is saying that because Christ did all these things for us, we are the partakers of the New Covenant and Christ is its mediator—our mediator, the mediator for the called, the mediator of the New Covenant promises of eternal inheritance…and what is that inheritance? For one thing, it is the inheritance of having the law of God written on our hearts of flesh with which God replaced the hearts of stone we once had, and which were pictured by the law having been written the first time on stone tablets, but the inheritance for those in the New Covenant, at least in part, is that the law is no longer written in stone but in flesh. Another form of our inheritance is Christ as our God and our position as His people, and the fact that all of those who receive covenant blessings—all those in the covenant—will also be true heirs of the promises Jeremiah prophesied.
We all know that at one’s death the inheritance of His possessions are distributed according to His last will and testament, so too it is at the death of Christ. So yet another form of inheritance is that of the inheritance of His possessions, and they are distributed according to His will. Christ told His disciples that the kingdom was at hand and that His coming in the flesh inaugurated His kingdom and His death and resurrection ratified it, and so began the distribution of the inheritance—such distribution is delayed in two ways: not all of the heirs have been translated into the kingdom in time, and not all the inheritance due to individual heirs is distributed at once. Like the kingdom, there is investiture and achievement, like a marriage, there is betrothal and consummation, so too in the distribution of the inheritance there is a beginning and an end and the amount of time in between is known only to God. Just as Christ is the Seed of Abraham and the God of Abraham’s seed; the Greater Son of David, and David’s King; the Precious Lamb of God, and the High Priest wielding the sacrificial blade—so too He is the Fellow Heir with His brothers and at the same time He is the Glorious King from whose bountiful kingdom we benefit as heirs.
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