Hebrews 9:14b, 15 Christ offered himself unblemished to God. 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
 
Job 9:32-34 “He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. 33 If only there were someone to mediate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, 34 someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.”  
 
LET’S connect Job’s plea for a mediator to Hebrews’ teaching on Jesus, the Mediator.
    To briefly review Job’s story, God allowed Satan to afflict the righteous man. Job’s family, possessions and health were destroyed. Job’s plea, “If only there were someone to mediate between us, to lay his hand upon us both.” reflects a cry many of us may have when affliction invades our lives. Our heart’s desire is to know, “Why, God? How do you want me to respond to this pain I’m suffering? Who will stand for me in this trial?” Job had lived in union and peace with God. But suddenly Job was afraid of God, uncertain of God’s justice and mercy. He sought healing for his afflicted body and his sorrowful heart. Job fervently desired someone to mediate peace between himself and God.
    As terrible as Job’s burden, it does not compare to sin’s affliction on your life. You need a mediator of peace between you and God to resolve sin’s affliction. That’s why you can thank God you have what Job wanted.
    Picture Jesus laying one of his nail-pierced hands on you and one on the Father. He stands, connecting you to the Holy Father. This is possible because his cross-suffering sacrifice redeems your sin-cursed soul to join as one with the Father into life everlasting.
    Job would later confess: I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. (Job 19:25) This confession did not immediately end his physical trials. But it helped Job understand God had not forgotten or disowned him. Job would eventually come to know that God is holy and sovereign. Although Job never knew the reason for his suffering, he submitted to God’s authority: Job 42:5 “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
    This must be our response to Jesus’ redemptive work. Jesus has come. He knows how sin afflicts your life. Your Redeemer lives. He has paid the full cost of your sin. Now Jesus is your Mediator. He put his hands to the nails, so he can put his hands on you to call you, “Sister.” “Brother.” “Child of God.”    
           

Hebrews 9:12 Jesus did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
 
WHEN Israel’s high priest entered the Most Holy Place in the temple on the Day of Atonement, he had to first purify himself. He sprinkled bull’s blood on himself then went out of the Most Holy Place to re-enter with the blood of the bull on him. He would then proceed to make atonement for Israel’s sins by sprinkling a bull’s and a goat’s blood on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. To complete the atoning ritual, the priest laid his hands on a second goat that would be released into the wilderness. The goat ceremonially carried Israel’s sins out of the camp. The Day of Atonement for Israel’s sins was temporary, repeated annually.
    Consider, then, Jesus’ entrance into the Most Holy Place. He did not enter to sacrifice a bull, he sacrificed himself. He did not sprinkle a bull’s blood on himself, but his own blood poured out of him onto the cross, the mercy seat. Jesus did not send a goat outside the camp. He was crucified outside the camp – outside Jerusalem. His atonement is complete. He does not need to repeat it. Hebrews emphasizes this further.
    Hebrews 9:13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
    Jesus saves. He has offered himself to the cross. He completes the law and fulfilled God’s redemptive purpose so that we may serve the Living God!
    Jesus taught us how to serve as he administered the gospel. Be reminded of his active life on earth: Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Seeking is work. It requires going and doing. Seeking is uncovering those in need and serving their needs. Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, preached the gospel, raised the dead, submitted to the cross, rose from the dead and ascended to heaven.
    Once for all Jesus has become the way to life eternal. He has shown you how to live while you await your future home. Jesus is an active, serving, redeeming Savior. He has done this all for you.
     
 

Hebrews 9:11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
 
CENTRAL to the Bible is the planned, purposeful ways God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7) This wondrous truth allows us to speak continually of forgiveness and redemption because it is real. We must talk of it. Sin creates a great barrier between us and our relationship with God. Out of darkness has come the Light. And we celebrate Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here.
    Another way to say this is that Jesus came to fulfill the redeeming prophecies of the Old Testament. The blessings we have now in the Christian life are fully available to us through Jesus. God had prepared these good things to distribute to the redeemed when Jesus completed his work.
    We read the good things in Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. Jesus spoke from this passage in Luke 4:18-19 in Nazareth when he announced his ministry. Jesus declared God’s good things – redemption, comfort, praise, peace, honor –  were ready, and he had come to deliver them.
    Paul wrote about more gospel good things in Ephesians 1:3-5 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. It is a good thing to become a child of God, isn’t it? Do you ever consider as a Christian you are blessed with every spiritual blessing? This is life eternal. This is God’s happiness, love, joy, hope and kindness. And what great spiritual blessing to know God has chosen you! Can we ever comprehend this side of heaven the good things of a complete, eternal relationship with God because God has made it happen? Jesus is the greater and more perfect tabernacle. “His body is the temple in which the whole majesty of God dwells.” (John Calvin) Jesus has delivered the good things God has prepared for us. 

Hebrews 9:6-10 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings – external regulations applying until the time of the new order.  
 
HOW do you enter the Most Holy Place – the place where you are in complete union with the Holy Trinity? Hebrews wanted the Jews to understand there is more  than the physical furnishings of the Most Holy Place God established in the Old Covenant. There is a new, personal and eternal place to be with God. To us this should be obvious. We know Jesus is the way through the Holy Spirit into God’s holy presence. But do we really understand God’s spiritual pathway to him? Or are our eyes too focused on the physical church?  
    For example, when you look at the furnishings in the church today, what do you see? Perhaps there is a cross, and maybe your church has a pulpit or other podium where the preacher delivers his sermon. Do you have a communion table? Some churches have lighted candles near the pulpit during worship. What other furnishings, decorations and ceremonies might be important to your church?
    Why do these exist? Do they represent the gospel to you? Is the pulpit a place from which God’s true Word is spoken? Are the lighted candles a reminder of God’s Word lighting the world? Is the communion table a continual remembrance of Jesus’ body broken, his blood shed to cover your sin?
    In truth you don’t need these furnishings to see Jesus, do you? You simply need the gospel preached and the sacraments of baptism and communion administered. Yes, the cross, the pulpit, the lights and the communion table help us remember who Jesus is. But these objects do not complete Jesus’ saving work. Jesus did. And in the Holy Spirit’s power you have access to your place alongside Jesus in the heavenly tabernacle.
           Once more we praise God the old covenant is complete. The temple furnishings are no longer needed because Jesus has personally come to be the Way to heaven. 

Hebrews 9:1-5 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
 
HEBREWS lists the physical objects of the earthly tabernacle. Let’s understand how these point to Jesus.
    “Tabernacle” can mean a dwelling place, and it can mean the act of dwelling in a place. Jesus came to tabernacle with us in his incarnation. He dwells in heaven now and has sent the Spirit to dwell within us now. You are the tabernacle of the Living God.
    The lampstand is a seven-branched candlestick that continually burned. It’s light allowed the priests to do their work. Jesus is the ever-shining Light of the World (John 8:12). He has taught us what we must know. He has also commanded us to be light (Matthew 5:14) to spread his knowledge.
    The table was wood overlaid with pure gold. The consecrated bread is 12 loaves called the Bread of the Presence. Each Sabbath the priest would put 12 freshly baked loaves on the table to symbolize God’s presence among his 12 tribes.   
    Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” (John 8:35a) He invites us into his presence at the table of communion. And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)
    The Holy Place represents the place where we can approach God. It is our church sanctuary, or it is a place set apart for your approach to God in prayer and worship. The golden altar of incense was used daily. It was the place of prayers for the people. As the priests interceded for Israel, Jesus intercedes for us. Heaven’s altar is the center of worship. (Revelation 8-14)
    The gold-covered ark of the covenant is the wooden chest that represented God’s presence and authority in Israel. Within the ark was the testimony of the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets - God’s law. Aaron’s budded staff testified that Aaron was the one high priest – God’s priesthood. (Numbers 17) The manna signified God’s provision for our daily bread. On the ark’s cover was the Mercy Seat, where God dwelled. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat. This clearly points to Jesus’ merciful work to be your atonement – also known as the propitiation, the covering – of our sins. Guarding the Mercy Seat were two gold-covered Cherubim, the guardians of God’s Word and display of his glory (Genesis 3:24). Jesus, the King, reigns from his throne, rich in mercy. He is the Word made flesh. Jesus is the Word of life, guarding your soul from destruction. Jesus is the propitiation of your sin.
    Did you notice that gold covered most of the tabernacle’s furnishings? God represented Jesus’ holiness and his supremacy.  
    The old order prepared for the new. God began his plan of redemption long ago. Jesus was – and is – at the center of the plan.
   

Hebrews 8:10-12 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” 13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. 
 
HEBREWS quotes directly from Jeremiah 31:31-34. God spoke to his people dispersed into exile. They had broken the old covenant relationship God had established in Exodus. God is gracious to replace a broken covenant with the new, eternal promise.
    There are four ways the new covenant is better than the old. First, the new covenant provides internal transformation. God has sent the Holy Spirit to put his commands into our hearts, minds and souls. Consider the power of God’s knowledge to come to you. Your understanding of God is rooted in God’s purpose to reveal himself to  you. It is a wonderful gift to know God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2:12)
    The new covenant brings us closer to God. In the old covenant, God repeatedly said, “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” But Israel did not obey, and God could not be their God. Today, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit are our intimate connection to God. Jesus is Lord, Savior and brother. The Spirit is life, and he indwells the believer. The new covenant is a new relationship based on the Son bleeding on a cross, so the Spirit can resurrect your soul into eternal life. This is a much deeper, enduring relationship than that of the first covenant established in animals’ blood. Saved in your faith in Jesus, you belong to the Lord forever.
    Third, the new covenant will increase the knowledge of the Lord. There need be no priests between you and God. In fact, you become a priest (1 Peter 2:5) who offers the spiritual sacrifices mentioned in the previous lesson. Each person from the least of them to the greatest can know God’s Word today through the preaching, teaching and study. We all have access to God through prayer, communion and the forgiveness of sins.
    Forgiveness is the fourth blessing of the new covenant. God’s forgiveness now is complete. God’s extraordinary mercy, “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” is the promise and sufficiency of the cross. To remember our sins no more means our past sins are done, out of God’s mind. Once we repent, he no longer counts them against us. Cleansed once of our sin, we no longer require additional cleansing.
    And we add a fifth: wondrously, the new covenant is eternal. God will never call it old. This is his ultimate commitment to you that leads to eternal life. Join in the covenant. Confess your sins, so the Lord will cleanse them from your heart forever. Joyfully live in God’s eternal promise.

Hebrews 8:3-4 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. 4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
 
JESUS’ priesthood is possible only through the cross. For Jesus to be the holy, blameless and pure High Priest, the Father required the Son to offer himself to the cross. Jesus is the ultimate priest because he has made the superior offering to God.
    Jesus’ offering is sufficient. We need offer no further animal and grain gifts of sacrifice. Your offering now is a life of sacrifice that rejects sin and receives sanctification. God’s will is that our sacrificial life will form us to become more pure in Christ. And by God’s will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)
    What is a life of sacrifice? One place the Bible defines this in Romans 12. The apostle Paul begins that chapter: Therefore (because your salvation is in Christ Jesus), I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1) To offer your bodies as holy and pleasing to God is to worship God. Your life is to be an active, continual response to the Lord, who has saved you. Paul then goes on to give specific ways you worship God with as a living sacrifice.
    Let’s review the apostle’s points in Romans 12:2-13: (verse 2) You do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. The word of God transforms you with a renewed mind. (Verse 3) You submit to God’s’ will. You are humble, knowing God has given you the faith to believe in him. (verse 4) You gather with the body of believers to use your gifts. (verses 6-11) Prophesying, teaching, serving, encouraging, generous giving, loving others, hating evil and zealously defending God will guide you to a holy life. (Romans 12:12-13) Spiritual sacrifice is to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. You share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
    Hebrews desires we truly take time to understand and celebrate Jesus’ one physical sacrifice to end the old covenant and begin the new. God’s story is being completed through the faith journey he has given you. Be an active participant. Sacrifice your will to his.  

Hebrews 8:1-2 The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
 
ONE of our faith’s confessions is that Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father. About 100 Bible verses speak to this. Peter preached it in the church’s  first sermon on Pentecost: Acts 2:33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. Spirit inspired, Peter exalted Jesus of Nazareth, crucified, dead, resurrected and ascended to the place of power and authority in heaven. He is Lord of all. The world must know this.
    Hebrews adds to this as he tells us Jesus is a serving High Priest in the heavenly tabernacle. The earthly tabernacle – first a large, beautifully constructed tent and ultimately the Jerusalem temple – was the God-designed place from which the priests served Israel. Jesus, the eternal High Priest, is in the eternal tabernacle serving his Kingdom. Sitting at the Father’s right hand does not mean he quietly awaits the Father’s command to return to earth. Instead, Jesus is the ruling, active, High Priest and King.
    We know Jesus is a serving priest because serving marked his earthly ministry: Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  Seeking is work. It requires going and doing. Seeking is uncovering those in need and serving their needs. The active Priest healed the sick, fed the hungry, preached the gospel, raised the dead and rose from the dead. Now he is about the Father’s business in the heavenly realm. What is Jesus doing now?
    Stop and reflect. For one, Jesus rules in the majesty of God. He is omniscient and omnipotent. All is under his authority. Second Jesus intercedes for us before the throne. He prays for us and with us to the Father.
    Third, Jesus receives worship and adoration: Revelation 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
    Fourth, Jesus is preparing a place for us: John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And fifth, Jesus is preparing to return. His preparation is to send the Spirit to advance the gospel to the ends of the earth. He awakens those chosen from eternity past to the gospel of salvation. Remember and know, Jesus is always with you even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)
     

Hebrews 7:26-28 Such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.  
 
GOD’s will is to have a personal relationship with us as it was at creation. From the moment of the Fall, God’s story has told of the people he has anointed to fulfill his purpose of a relational authority, so one day he will call us “friends”. Friendship with Gold is the result our true knowledge of him: You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:14-15) When we know Jesus, we are Jesus’ friends. He has revealed the truths of heaven to us.
    And what truths do we know? Hebrews wants us to know 1) Jesus is a priest who meets our need. We can answer the question, “What is my need?” with many answers. But the essential need Jesus meets is our salvation. Each person needs the Savior, Jesus Christ, Great High Priest. He meets that need forever.
    Jesus is able to meet that need because 2) He is one who is holy. By his very nature as the Son of God, he is holy; he is set apart from humanity’s sin. He is set apart to reign on heaven’s throne.  He is the holy prophet, priest and king who teaches, serves and reigns set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. He is your friend with power and authority to protect you and to bless you.
    Jesus cane to do these things and is qualified to do them because 3) He is blameless. His life is without sin. And 4) Jesus is pure. His life remains without sin, perfect in every way. 5) Jesus is the one eternal sacrifice for your sin. He is unlike the other high priests. They had to daily repent of their sins and offer sacrifices to God before they could offer sacrifices for Israel. They were weak in their flesh. Jesus is holy, blameless, pure in his majesty. The law appointed the priests. The Father appointed the Son with the oath: Hebrews 7:21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
    The Son of God can be your true, eternal friend because he is your holy, blameless and pure priest. The One, who is high above all creation, has come graciously into your presence to say, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
   

Hebrews 7:23-25 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
 
THIS may seem a very basic teaching. Likely (and hopefully) you rejoice to say, “I know that Jesus lives! Praise God!” But let’s consider to whom this letter was written.
First, the Jews needed to know the old priestly order was completed. Jesus is  the priest who will always reign in the new covenant. The great challenge of the gospel for the Jews is to accept Jesus as the eternal Son of God and High Priest who atones for sin.
    It was also very difficult for them to consider the Trinity, God in three persons. They were correctly taught as spoken in the first commandment: Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” And in what is known as the Shema (shi ma’) – that means “hear”: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4) The doctrine of a God, who is three persons in One, seems blasphemous. The final condemnation of Jesus came when he declared he is the Son of Man, one from heaven’s throne. Indeed, this is impossible to comprehend from a human point of view. 1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. How then, will they know? How does anyone know Jesus is the Son of God who lives forever?
    The answer to Jesus is essentially Hebrews’ purpose. The writer has reviewed essentials of the law to show Jesus is greater than the prophets and the angels. He has quoted many Scriptures to teach God has identified his Messiah, so we can know the truth of Jesus.
Hebrews’ purpose was – and is – to purify all of our minds from the unbelievers, scoffers and false teachers. Instead, we are to focus on God’s law and the prophets to see the Christ. Mankind’s natural way is to misuse and neglect the Bible. The limited human mind pretends it is wiser than God’s limitless glory. We must be careful to keep Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood, as the filter through which we monitor all information.  
    God has worked through the ages to remove the “foolish stumbling block” of Jesus crucified, dead and buried. Walk, then, with wisdom through this obstacle. If we listen closely to God’s words throughout the Bible, then his knowledge will awaken us to his eternal truth.
Attentive listening requires the Spirit’s help. He is God’s power always present on the earth. He comes to indwell God’s own, so we will believe in God the Father, Son and Spirit.
The evidence is in Jesus, the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 11-4)