Hebrews Chapter 9 — The Day of Atonement Surpassed

by J. C. Gibson (Scotland)

Paper 2

CONSEQUENCES (Continued)

An eternal redemption was obtained, v12.

What was achieved on the Day of Atonement only lasted for one year. It then had to be repeated the following year. The Saviour's work, however, is of everlasting consequence and our salvation eternally secure.

The conscience can now be cleansed, v14.

The Old Testament sacrifices could never do this, v9. They were impotent as far as the removal of guilt was concerned. On the other hand the cross purifies our conscience and removes all trace of guilt. Believers have been made servants, v14. This word for service is similar to that used to describe priestly tabernacle service in v1,6. One of the reasons for us having been saved is in order to serve, that is to serve as priests. In 1Pet.2.5 we are described as holy priests who offer up worship to God. 1Pet.2.9 portrays us as royal priests who show forth in gospel testimony the praises of Him who has delivered us from darkness to light.

The new covenant has been established, v15.

We need to refer to Jer.31.31-40 in order to understand who this new covenant is for and what it promises. It was first and foremost for the nation of Israel. It includes the spiritual blessings of God's law being written on their hearts, knowledge of God being bestowed upon them and the forgiveness of sins being granted. There is also the promise of national perpetuity for Israel, and the reconstruction of the city of Jerusalem. Although this new covenant is therefore primarily for Israel, we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ anticipate its spiritual blessings. Otherwise, how can we explain the language associated with the cup, 1Cor.11.25?

Past sins were pardoned, v15.

Old testament sacrifices could never remove sins, 10.4, for they had no value in themselves. The only reason they were worth anything was because of what they anticipated — Calvary. So not only does the cross have value that stretches into the eternal future, it also has value for the past. The efficacy of the cross reaches back into the past providing pardon for sins committed under that old economy, Rom.3.25.

An eternal inheritance has been promised, v15.

An inheritance is something left to you by your parents, Pr.13.22; 19.14, but it is very short lived in comparison to what eternal benefits have been granted to us because of the cross of the Lord Jesus, 1Pet.1.4.

The universe has been purged, v23.

It is only perhaps when we begin to realise the awful effects of sin that we can appreciate the magnitude and extent of the cross. If we look at our own lives we know things are not right because of sin. If we look at the world in which we live, we see the same is true. For example, there should be no deserts in the world, Isa.35.1. Sin has affected the planet on which we live. However, according to this verse sin has actually affected the whole universe; even the stars have in some way been defiled and damaged as a result of human sin. The cross makes provision for all that is wrong in the universe because of sin to be put right and purified, Col.1.20. It is no wonder that we read in Rom.8.22, ‘For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.’ Sin was borne, v28. What the Lord Jesus did upon the cross, was to bear sin in His own holy, spotless body, 1Pet.2.24. We can contrast this with the function of the scapegoat in the Day of Atonement: ‘And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited,’ Lev.16.22.

A new hope was introduced, v28.

On the Day of Atonement the high priest would offer the sacrifice, go into the tabernacle which, as this passage makes abundantly clear, typified heaven, and then he would come out again to the expectant people.

The Lord Jesus Christ has offered the sacrifice, entered into heaven itself, from which we now eagerly await His coming. This verse refers primarily to the earnest expectation of the godly Jewish remnant during the tribulation period, nevertheless this attitude of looking with expectancy should mark believers of this present dispensation as we wait for His return.

2. ITS CHARACTERISTICS:

a) It was bloody — blood is mentioned 12 times in this chapter. Let us never fail to appreciate how awful the cross was. Violent men mistreated our Lord Jesus. His perfect body was battered, bruised and lacerated, after which He was nailed to the cross, experiencing untold pain. Once He had died, a soldier pierced His side, so that blood and water flowed out, Jn.19.34. The cross could certainly be described as a Trinitarian activity, v14. All three persons of the Godhead were intimately involved in the great work of redemption.

b) It was voluntary — the Lord Jesus ‘offered Himself,’ v14. Victims of crucifixion had to heave themselves up, taking all their weight on the legs and feet in order to breathe. To hasten the dying process the soldiers would break their legs so they could no longer lift themselves up any more thus causing suffocation. When they came to the Lord Jesus Christ He was already dead, Jn.19.13, having given up His own life voluntarily. Of course not only His death but all the events leading up to the crucifixion were allowed to take place by Christ. In the garden of Gethsemane He made it quite clear that He went with the soldiers because He willed it and not because of any human force, Jn.18.6.

c) It was necessary, v16,23. The word for covenant doubles up to refer also to a final will or testament. vs16,17 form a parenthesis arguing that if someone leaves a will he must first of all die before the person to whom it is left will benefit. In the same way the Lord had to die for the new covenant to be established.

The work of the Lord Jesus on the cross was in one sense introductory, v24. On the Day of Atonement the high priest entered into the holiest of all on the behalf of Israel. The cross has introduced the Lord to a new work of appearing in the presence of God for us. He ever lives to make intercession for us.

d) There was finality, v25,26. In contrast to the Old Testament high priest having to make atonement freshly every year, the work of Christ was a once and for all work, never needing to be repeated, ‘It is finished,’ Jn.19.30.

e) It was also climatic, v26. All of eternity and history looked forward with eager expectancy to the cross*.

The cross acts as a means of explanation, v26 — ‘He hath appeared.’ The cross explains the incarnation. The Son of God became Man in order to die at Calvary.

* ‘The cross was ever in view in the eternal counsels of God in the past; it is ever before Him, and always will be, in the ages to come … The work of the cross thus forms the pivot of all God's counsels and acts in regard to man and to creation at large.’ (W.E. Vine).

—Concluded