Hebrews 9.1_28 Dissection

THE OLD COVENANT AND THE NEW COVENANT COMPARED

Hebrews 9:1-28 focuses on the fact that the Old Covenant featured aspects meant only as symbols of the "true" high priesthood of Christ. Since Christ's sacrifice is more powerful and performed in a better place, it is more effective in securing our salvation than the sacrifices of animals.

"Priestly service in the tabernacle under the Old Covenant was a remarkable feat. When those things had been prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services/rituals. But into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance. His entrance into the second part was not for fellowship, but only for atonement. The atoning blood was first for his own sins and then for the sins of his people."

Access to the Holiest of All was thus severely restricted. Even when someone could enter, it wasn’t for real fellowship with God. In this respect, Jesus’ work is far greater than the work done on the Day of Atonement. Jesus’ work on the cross is sufficient to atone for both the sins we commit in ignorance and the sins we are conscious of. The sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient to even restore our damaged conscience.

Jesus Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with a greater and more perfect tabernacle—greater than anything human hands could make—that is, not of this creation, as the superior sanctuary of the New Covenant: the very throne room of God. Jesus’ sacrifice was superior in that it was perfect (without blemish), voluntary, rational, and motivated by love.

The Lord Jesus Christ did not come to earth to make reconciliation by the holiness of His life or by the earnestness of His teaching, but by His death.

Our conscience is a wonderful tool from God, but it isn’t perfect. Our conscience can be insensible (1 Timothy 4:2), defiled (Titus 1:15), or evil (Hebrews 10:22). The believer is thus cleansed of an ill-conscience and all, not to live unto himself but to serve the living God.

Jesus’ work as a Mediator was essentially accomplished by His death on the cross of Calvary. His heavenly work of mediation looks back to that perfect sacrifice and is perpetual. Jesus’ ministry for us continues in heaven, not in the sense of continuing to atone for our sins, but in intercession and defending us against the accuser of God’s people (Revelation 12:10). His sacrifice was once for all, and it perfectly satisfied God’s holy justice.

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. Just as certainly as we die once and then face judgment, so Jesus only had to die once (not repeatedly, not continually) to bear our sins. Thanks be to God for His only begotten Son—Jesus Christ—reconcile mankind to Himself.