Titled - "No More Shadows"
Written by: Pastor Bob Lawrenz
Picking up at the last verse of 8, “…the old is ready to vanish away,” chapter 9 begins with a reality check. It is a most remarkable verse, and the Holy Spirit is directing His remarks to the Jews, specifically those who had become believers, but also to every Jew who reads this Epistle.
It is a reminder of what still lingers today; Jewish believers wanted to meld the old traditions of Judaism into the new realities of Jesus worship. Today, they call themselves Messianic Jews. Yes, they recognize that Jesus fulfilled the Old Laws and was indeed the Messiah, but not quite coming to the realities that Paul wrote about in Colossians, that the ordinances of the Law were dead, and nailed upon the Cross of Jesus. They were a shadow of things to come.
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians speaks also of the Old Laws being dead in 5:17 - “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”
Literally, in modern vernacular, the old things have died; Look! All things have become new! Even more meaningful, when we are “in Christ” as Believers, we are to let those shadows of promise become awash in His light, and disappear, seeing the face of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the true light of the world! We know that light dispels the darkness, and shadows disappear. We are no longer looking through a glass darkly, we see Him clearly!
Shadows only give us a two-dimensional shape of objects. The new reality is in 3-D human form, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God-with-us! It is important to know that whether your background is Jew or Gentile, heathen or skeptic, agnostic, or atheist, if you find yourself in Christ, you are a Christian. No longer are you a Messianic anything, You are a Christian.
To see a shadow, we must look down at the ground, or at a wall. Look UP to see Christ, as we wait for Him!
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” - Galatians 3:28
Bobservations' Column: Audio Version
Sunday Morning Message:
Hebrews 9:1-15 - "No More Shadows"
Summary/Additional Commentary & Definitions:
The writer begins this section by taking us on a tour of the tabernacle. The author gives a brief description of the tabernacle, to which some fifty chapters in the Old Testament are devoted, including the tabernacle service (cf. Exodus 25-40). Remember that the writer concluded with the thought that the first covenant was obsolete because it was man-made, the articles in the temple symbolized something greater to come, it was inaccessible to the people, it was temporal and was an external ministry.
Next the writer shows us how and why the heavenly sanctuary is far superior to the earthly tabernacle.
Sunday Morning Audio Message:
Key Words and Definitions with Reference:
Candlestick (9:2) - The writer tells us that inside the earthly tabernacle was the candlestick or lampstand. Jesus is the true light of the world (John 8:12) and those who are in his family are also to lights (Matthew 5:14-16; Philippians 2:14-15).
Table of Shewbread (9:2) - Each Sabbath the priest would remove the old loaves and put fresh loaves on the table. The old loaves were eaten by the priests, and these loaves were called “the bread of presence.” Only the priests could eat the bread, and it could only be eaten within the tabernacle. Jesus called himself the "Bread of Life" who is given to the whole world (John 6). This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (John 6:50-51)
Holiest of All (9:3) - This is the Most Holy Place where the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat dwelt - the place of Atonement (Exodus 26:33, 34).
Golden Censer (9:4) - This is best understood as the gold altar of incense. (See Exodus 30:1-10; 40:5, 26, 27). Though it was outside the Holy Place (Exodus 30:6), the writer of Hebrews pictures the golden altar inside the Most Holy Place because uppermost in his mind is its role in the liturgy of the Day of Atonement. On that day, the high priest brought incense from that altar into the Most Holy Place (Leviticus 16:12, 13). The altar of golden incense marked the boundary of the Holy of Holies as well as the curtain. The high priest went beyond the altar of incense only once a year.
Not Without Blood (9:7) - This is the first of many references to the blood of sacrifice. The term is especially central to 9:1-10:18 where it identifies the deaths of Old Testament sacrifices and of Christ (cf. vv. 12:14). The shedding of blood in and of itself is an insufficient sacrifice. Christ had not only to shed His blood, but to dies. Hebrews 10:10 indicates that He gave His body as the sacrificial offering. Without His death, His blood had no saving value.
A Figure (9:9) - Figure or Symbolic. The Greek words is parabole, from which the English word parable is derived. The Levitical system was a parable, an object lesson, about what was to come in Christ.
Conscience (9:9) - This term refers to salvation. The sacrifices of the Old Testament did not remove the offerers' guilty conscience or provide them with full forgiveness for their sins (cf. 10:1-4). It was only "symbolic" of something else that would - namely Christ. The conscience is a divinely given warning device that reacts to sin and produces accusation and guild that cannot be relieved apart from the work of Christ. At the time of salvation, it is quieted from its convicting ravings, but it is not deactivated. Rather, it continues its work, warning the believer about sin. Believers should seek a clear conscience.
Carnal Ordinances (9:10) - The Levitical ordinances regulated the visible actions without changing the inner man (10:4).
Reformation (9:10) - The Greek term means "restoring what is out of line." All things are set straight in Christ. The reformation is the New Covenant and its application.
Good Things to Come (9:11) - The reference appears to be the "eternal redemption" (v. 12).
Goats and Calves (9:12) - Only one of each was sacrificed on the Day of Atonement (cf. Leviticus 16:5-10). The plural here represents the numbers sacrificed as the Day of Atonement was observed year after year.
By His Own Blood (9:12) - A better translation would be "through His own blood." The same phrase is used in 13:12. Nothing is said which would indicate that Christ carried His actual physical blood with Him into the heavenly sanctuary. The sacrificer was also the sacrifice.
Eternal Redemption (9:12) - This word for redemption is found only here and in Luke 1:68; 2:38. Its original use was for the release of slaves by payment of ransom.
Ashes of a Heifer (9:13) - It is said that, in the history of Israel, only six red heifers were killed and their ashes used. One heifer's ashes would suffice for centuries since only a minute amount of the ash was required.
Unclean (9:13) - The Greek term is literally "common" or "profane." Not that it was ceremonially unclean, but that it was not sanctified or set apart to God. The word was used in Jesus' discourse on what defiles a person (cf. Matthew 15:11, 18, 20; Mark 7:15, 18, 20, 23), in the Jews' complaint that Paul had defiled the temple by bringing Gentiles into it (Acts 21:28), and in reference to the meats that Peter had been invited to eat (Acts 10:15). According to the mosaic regulation, the red heifer's ashes were to be placed "outside the camp" and used in a ceremony for symbolic purifying from sin (Numbers 19:9; cr. 13:11-13).
How Much More (9:14) - Superior to the cleansing capability of the ashes of an animal is the cleansing power of the sacrifice of Christ.
The Blood of Christ (9:14) - This is an expression that refers not simply to the fluid, but the whole atoning sacrificial work of Christ in His death. Blood is used as a substitute word for death.
Offered Himself (9:14) - Christ came of His own volition with a full understanding of the necessity and consequences of His sacrifice.
Dead Works (9:14) - The works are dead because the unregenerate are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), their works are worthless and unproductive (Galatians 2:16; 5:19-21), and they end in death (Romans 6:23).
The Blood of Christ (9:14) - This is an expression that refers not simply to the fluid, but the whole atoning sacrificial work of Christ in His death. Blood is used as a substitute word for death.
Offered Himself (9:14) - Christ came of His own volition with a full understanding of the necessity and consequences of His sacrifice.
Dead Works (9:14) - The works are dead because the unregenerate are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), their works are worthless and unproductive (Galatians 2:16; 5:19-21), and they end in death (Romans 6:23).
To Serve the Living God (9:14) - Salvation is not an end in itself. The believer has been freed from sin to serve God, saved to serve (cf. Romans 6:16-18; 1 Thessalonians 1:9). The contrast between dead works and the living God (cf. 3:12; 10:31; 12:22) is basic.
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