Jesus cleanses the conscience - Hebrews 9:1-14
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[00:00:00] In your Bibles to Hebrews chapter nine,
Hebrews chapter nine. We are gonna read the first 14 verses. So again, if you're able, please stand for the reading of God's word. Hebrews chapter nine, verses one to 14. And hear this for what It is, the words of our God. A love letter. Sent specifically to you and me so that we would know him. Hebrews chapter nine, beginning in verse one.
For even the first had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary for there was a tabernacle prepared the outer one in which the lamp stand in the table and the sacred bread. This is called the holy place. Behind the second veil, there was a second tent. Which is called the Holy of [00:01:00] Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna and Aaron's rod, which butted and the tables of the covenant and above it, the Cher of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.
But of these things, we cannot now speak in detail. But when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tent, performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.
The Holy Spirit is signifying by this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tent is still standing. Which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make the worshiper perfect in [00:02:00] conscience since they relate only to food and drink in various washings regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.
But when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is to say not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood. He entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and the bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of his flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ who through his eternal spirit, offered himself without blemish to God? Cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
May God add a blessing to the reading, the hearing, and most [00:03:00] importantly, obedience to his word. Please be seated.
I will be most shocked this morning if we actually finish the outline, but we'll see. If you look in your bulletins, there's a couple of different things. There's a fill in the blank outline for, uh, the sermon, and then there's the, that song sheet. And on the back of the song sheet there are some other notes, and that's what I want you to look at.
Uh, those other notes behind the song. And all I wanna do is, first of all, is I just wanna do a really quick overview through the first half of chapter nine. This is a difficult section of scripture, okay? And if everything I'm reading and everything I'm studying and, and looking into is correct, not only is it difficult, but because it is difficult.
Most evangelicals ignore this book. Most evangelicals ignore the truths found in this book. The book is very precise [00:04:00] and we need to stop doing that. So if you look on your outline, number one is the old covenant worship described, the old covenant worship described. That's verses one through five.
Specifically the tabernacle is described. But as we get into our passage, also, the Day of Atonement will be referenced and we're gonna go back to Leviticus 16. We're gonna spend a little bit of time looking at the day of atonement. Number two, a parable. And that's what the author refers to verses six through 10.
Uh, what he describes in verses six through 10. And the idea here is the old covenant worship cannot make a perf a person perfect. In con, in conscience. The old covenant worship were shadows and types and they pointed to something else. And unless the worshiper came in faith and looked ahead to what they pointed to, his conscience could not be cleansed.
His sin was never really taken away. The author calls it a parable. Number three, Christ's work [00:05:00] in the Heavenly tabernacle, and we read that Christ obtains eternal redemption. Christ does what the Old Testament system could never do. In fact, Christ does what the Old Testament system was never designed to do.
It was always designed to point to him in Christ's sacrifice, cleanses the conscience. We'll leave the rest of that outline for next week when we look at the second half of the book. But the other thing that I wanna bring up, and the other thing that I want you to listen for as we speak today is a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month, we talked about the atonement.
And I told you that there are two parts to our discussion on the atonement, and the first part was what was accomplished? God word. What was accomplished? Godward, we talked about different theories of the atonement, and we saw that the atonement, that I believe that, that what scripture presents at the top of the list is that the atonement was a penal substitution.
Christ took our place. He was our [00:06:00] substitute, and he died in our place and he died because we were under the curse of the law. And he took that curse upon himself and he died and he paid the price that we owed, and then he went above and beyond because he lived a perfect life. He took our sin and he gave us his righteousness.
So when God looks at us, he sees the righteousness of Christ and he sees a perfectly sin free person because that sin has been removed. But I told you there was a part two, the atonement and part two is what was accomplished, man word and specifically, and I realize that this has created much debate, but if the the Bible speaks of it, then I believe the Bible speaks about it often and regularly.
What was the extent of the atonement? For whom did Christ die? How ought we understand that? And the book of Hebrews begins to address this in these next few chapters. So number one on your [00:07:00] outline, old covenant worship. Old covenant worship, the Earthly Tavern cle. So go back to Hebrews chapter one, verse nine.
Now, even the first. Most of your translations will insert the first covenant because contextually uh, Hebrews eight 13, which was the last verse of chapter eight. It's talking about the covenant and it's referring to it as the first one, the old covenant. The covenant under Moses. Even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary.
So there's two things that I wanna point out, and this first part is really important. Divine worship has always been regulated. Divine worship has always been regulated. Worship is not a free for all. We are not allowed to do whatever we want to do on a Sunday morning, but the Bible lays out how we are to worship him.
Yes, in the Old Testament it was a little more specific, but about [00:08:00] a year ago I did about a month, uh, four weeks of Sundays. Trying to explain why we worship the way we do here, where our liturgy comes from, and I did my best to ground it in scriptures and sadly, we still debate it. Sadly, we still Christians like to argue just about everything, but it will be our goal here to constantly and consistently try to worship according to how scripture lays it out.
And I'm not afraid to reform. I'm not afraid to add something. I'm not afraid to take something away if the scriptures demand it, if the scriptures call for it. But please understand, divine worship has always been regulated because God is holy and we just don't approach him flippantly. And the second thing I wanted to point out about this verse, and it'll become clearer as we go on, is the author takes us all the way back to the Tabernacle, that first tent that the Israelites constructed, [00:09:00] that God gave Moses instructions in the wilderness.
He's taking them all the way back to the beginning of the covenant so that they understand, because what happened at the Tabernacle was updated slightly, but it also happened at the temple. So all the way back, the people that he's writing to. This is how the old Covenant functioned from day one, verse two, and kids, this is on your outline in the sense that it's gonna start to answer a lot of questions.
Uh, there's a diagram on the bottom of your page, on your outline. You'll start to be able to fill in some of the blanks, but beginning in verse two, for there was a tabernacle, literally a tent. There was a tent prepared. The first one, some of our translations will say the outer one, and moms and dads. If you look in your handout, you'll see that I, I put a diagram of the tabernacle there for you, and you can look at how it's laid out, and you might wanna look at that as we read this, because we, you'll see a difference.[00:10:00]
The, the author says something here and it freaks people out. And it freaks us out because we don't know our Old Testament. So listen to his description. There was a tent. The first one in which there was a lamp stand and the table of the sacred bread, this is called the Holy Place. So when you entered the tabernacle, you entered from the east.
And that's important because Eden was blocked off from the East. And there was a sense, and we'll get to it momentarily, that when you entered the Tabernacle, you were reentering Eden. But you entered from the east and in that first room, as our author says, there was a lampstand and the table of what is commonly translated as showbread.
And then he goes on, and this is where we ought to be surprised 'cause he seemingly leaves something out. There was something else that we know from our Old Testaments was in that first room and it was the altar of incense. But listen to our author as he continues [00:11:00] behind the second veil. So you had to enter the first room through a veil, and that was the Holy of Holies.
And then behind that was another room. I'm sorry, that was the holy place. And behind that was another room called the Holy of Holies. And that's where the Ark of the Covenant was. And that was sectioned off by a veil. So he says behind the second veil there was another tent, which is called the Holy of Holies.
And now he describes this having a golden altar of incense. Our minds start to spin because we remember the Old Testament, that altar of incense was in the first tent. Did he get it wrong? Did he make a mistake? Is there a textual corruption? Having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold in which was a golden jar holding the manna.
An Aaron's rod, which butted and the, and the tables of the covenant. So a couple of things here, and then we're gonna address the ultra of incense. First of all, uh, in one Kings Chapter eight, [00:12:00] verse nine, and I won't read the verse, I'll just refer it to you. And most of these verses should be in your handout on your notes.
But in One Kings eight, nine, by the time Solomon builds the temple, there's nothing in the Ark of the Covenant. Okay. No explanation for what happened to the contents. We're just told that there's nothing in there, and some people find a contradiction here because the author of Hebrews says it was full of these three things while the altar of the author of Hebrews is talking about the tabernacle, not the temple.
And we can read in Exodus 16, number 17, in Exodus 25, that the arc of the Covenant did in fact have these three things. It had two complete copies of the 10 Commandments on each of the tablets. All 10 commandments would've been written. So you have two tablets, not because you needed extra room, but you had a copy, and it also had a golden jar of manna and it also had Aaron's rod.
But what about this alter of incense? You see there are two things [00:13:00] that the Bible is crystal clear on. The problem is we're typically only aware of the first. So when we read the book of Hebrews and he seems to leave the altar of incense out of that first tent, we start to freak out. I submit the, the, the readers didn't, the readers wouldn't have freaked out at all 'cause they knew their old Testaments.
So in Exodus chapter 30, verse six, we read this. You shall put this altar. Speaking of the altar of incense. You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the arc of the testimony in front of the mercy seat that is over the arc of the testimony where I will meet with you. We read again and Exodus 40 same instructions.
We read them elsewhere. The altar of burnt, uh, the altar of incense was placed in front of the curtain in the holy place outside of the Holy of Holies. However, the Old Testament is also clear about another truth. The altar of incense was always [00:14:00] theologically tied. To the Holy of Holies, and I'm only gonna give you one example and then I'm gonna give you an example from the Book of Revelation.
But when you study this, it's almost as if what the, what God is trying to communicate in the Old Testament is the altar of incense always belonged to the Holy of Holies. It should have been placed in the Holy of Holies, but the high priest was only allowed to go in there once a year. Because going in there was to go into the very presence of God, so it would not have been practical.
So it's as if God condescended and put it outside the veil. And you can read this whole section, but in One Kings chapter six verses 20 to 22, uh, it's describing Solomon building the temple and it describes Solomon building the Holy of Holies. And what he does that, I'm just gonna read to you, verse 22.
He overlaid the whole house with gold until all the house was finished. Also, the whole altar, contextually [00:15:00] the altar of incense, also the whole altar, which was by the inner sanctuary. He over, he overlaid with gold, and again, our translations says by, and we think, okay, it was close to it, but literally the text says, belonging to attached to.
You see, the golden altar of incense always belonged to the holy of Holies. And when Christ comes and when the, the, uh, veil is torn, we see the same thing. In Revelation chapter eight, verse three, another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censor and much incense was given to him so that he might add it to the prayers of the saints.
So the incense that would've been built, burned on this altar represented the prayer of God's people, and they would've filled the room. So he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar, which was before the throne. And again, if you could look at the original, it was as close to the throne as possible.
It was [00:16:00] almost attached to the throne. It was right there. And the, the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat was God's throne on earth. Historically and physically, the altar of incense was in the holy place, but theologically, it always belonged to the holy of Holies, and so our author simply gives the theological view.
One commentator had this to say, thus, the description in Hebrews nine, three through four, rather than showing ignorance of the Hebrew ritual, would appear to indicate familiarity and knowledge of the ritual's most minute. Particulars and subtle meanings. That is to say this seemingly problematic, these seemingly problematic verses do not reveal either a textual corruption or an inconsistency or an heir on the part of an uninformed author, but suggest in said, a precise theological interpretation of the function of the alter of incense [00:17:00] in the sanctuary service.
All of that to say our author didn't get it wrong. He knew exactly what he was describing and why. Look at verse five. Above the arc of the covenant was were the cher, and here he describes them. Above it were the Cher of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. But of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
So three things about this verse. First of all, the one that makes me chuckle. The very last line, but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. And the reason he says that, and he said something like this a little bit earlier, is because he knew his readers understood this, but when you and I read this text, we're thinking, please speak in detail.
Please explain this to us in more detail because we're not saturated in the Old Testament. He refers to the Cher as the Cher of glory. But please understand he's not [00:18:00] describing the angels as glorious, though he could, but he's describing them as the cher of of glory because that is where God met. That was the throne of God in Exodus 25, 22, when God is instructing Moses, how to put this together.
God says this to Moses, there I will meet with you and from above the mercy seat from between the two cherub. Which you're upon the arc of the testimony. I will speak to you and I will give you in command. I will give you my commandments. For the Sons of Israel, that was God's throne. That is where God met with the high priest once a year.
That is where God met with Moses was when he was constructing the tabernacle, and that is why the Cher are described as glorious. But the most important thing is this word, mercy seat. You see, the arc had two parts. The arc had a box. We've already read about the box. It was overlaid in gold and inside the box box were the two tablets of the 10 Commandments, [00:19:00] the the manna and Aaron's rod.
And it was just an open box and it needed a lid. And so God commanded Moses to make a lid, and this lid was called the mercy seat. And on top of this lid, you had the two cherub that covered the entire mercy seat with their wings and that that mercy seat, that's how we translate most of the time, sat on top of the box.
But the word used in both Hebrew and Greek is place of propitiation. It's not really mercy seat, but it's where Propitiation took place and it referred to that great day of atonement when the high priest would bring in the blood blood for his own sins. Then he'd go outside, he'd bring in the blood for the people sin, and he'd sprinkle the mercy seat with that blood.
And God was atoned and God was propitiated and sin was covered and it pictured a ransom paid. Because an innocent victim had to die. And that's the word that our author uses here. And why that's fascinating is because both Paul and the author of [00:20:00] Hebrews refers to Jesus as that mercy seat. They use the same root word to describe Jesus.
So that mercy seat, that ark of the covenant is what Jesus came to fulfill in Romans chapter three, verse 25. Speaking of Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a literally mercy seat, as a propitiation in his blood through faith, Jesus is that mercy seat. Jesus is the lid of the ark. And the writer of Hebrews basically says the same thing in chapter two, verse 17.
Therefore, he speaking of Jesus, had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation same root word, to make propitiation for the sins of his people. So Jesus is pictured and described [00:21:00] as that very mercy seat.
Two on your outline. Old covenant worship could not perfect. The worshiper, old covenant worship could not perfect the worshiper. Starting in verse six. Now these things have been so prepared. Speaking of that tabernacle, speaking of the different rooms, speaking of the different furniture, now these things have been so prepared.
Once they've been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle. Performing the divine worship, they continue to go into the holy place, that first tent, and they take care of the lamps. They make sure the lamps are burning 24 hours a day. They burn incense twice a day. They replace the the bread.
There's 12 loaves of bread on the table, and they're to be replaced once a week on the Sabbath. And it all represents this worship of Yahweh that he has instructed, and it is continually, every day they do this, look at [00:22:00] verse seven, but into the second tent. Only the high priest enters once a year. Once a year.
He's allowed to go in there, but not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. Now I wanna take a minute here and I wanna go back and I don't know how long it will take. I shouldn't say a minute 'cause I don't know how long it's gonna take, but I wanna look at the Day of Atonement.
But before we talk about the Day of Atonement, I wanna say something about kids and learning. I think you'll make the connection here. Okay, kids, little kids, I'm talking about infants. I'm talking about babies from the womb are brilliant in terms of how God has blessed them and endowed them with the ability to learn.
And I just wanna give you one example. If you are attending the parenting class, I'm actually gonna cover some of this material this Friday and give you more examples. But here's one that I just find fascinating. [00:23:00] Children learn their first language almost entirely by observation. Have you thought about that?
I remember when Stacey and I took Jesse home from the hospital and I was worried about everything. I was worried about driving. I was worried about the car seat. I was worried I had it in there, right? I put it in the middle of the backseat because I know everyone was gunning for me that day because I had this precious gift in the backseat.
And I probably drove slower and more cautiously than I've ever driven in my life. And we got her home and immediately dropped to our knees and thank God that we were safe. But you know what? I never worried about? Would she ever be able to talk? Never once worried about that because it comes so naturally because one might say we have been created to learn our first language.
And think about it, most of us struggle with our language today. Okay? I've taught a number of different Greek classes to adults, to [00:24:00] teenagers, and typically I have to reteach English grammar because most of us forget it and we can't remember it, and we can't keep track of it. And yet babies pick it up just by listening, just by watching, just by observing.
And it's almost as if we were created to learn this. It was almost as if that God designed infants, that they would learn certain things just by being there. I want you to listen to Paul's words and hopefully you'll make the connection. I want you to listen to Paul's words in Galatians chapter four, beginning in verse one.
Now I say, as long as the heir is a child. And this Greek word translated child refers to a very young child as far back as an infant, as long as the heirs a child. He does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.[00:25:00]
And if you were to do a word study on guardian and and managers, it boils down to this. He's under instruction. These guardians, these managers are constantly instructing him and pointing 'em in the right direction and teaching 'em how to do things. So also, here's the important part. So also while we were children, you see there was a time when God treated the church as children, as infants.
Yes, I believe that you can call the Old Testament people the church. The church was reconstituted under Christ. It didn't have its beginning. God always had a people. And there was a time when the church were treated as children. So also we, while we were children, were held in slavery until the elemental things, under the elemental things of this world.
And contextually, the elemental things are the law of God. Specifically in the Book of Galatians, the emphasis is on the ceremonial law. But here's the the point, and here's why I brought up language, and here's where we [00:26:00] tend to get it wrong. These sacrifices, these ceremonies were meant to instruct in many of the Israelites, and I know the, the Old Testament refers to a remnant, but that remnant, it wasn't just two or three many Israelites, not all of them, but many Israelites would go year after year after year, week after week.
And they would see these ceremonies, and they would see these sacrifices, and they would see Jesus. They didn't know his name was Jesus. They'd see the seed of the woman. They'd see the seed of Abraham. They'd see the seed of David. They'd see the child that was promised who would be born and the government would rest on his shoulders.
And I only say that because as we go back and we look at the Day of Atonement, these people would've seen something. And the whole reason that our author is referring to this is he's trying to remind them of what they should already understand. And if they understood the Day of [00:27:00] Atonement properly, they would understand that only Jesus could fulfill it, and that we needed Jesus.
We needed the Messiah, the God man, to fulfill these things. So I would encourage you this week, go back and read Leviticus 16. Interestingly enough, Leviticus 16, believe it or not, is right in the middle of the Pentateuch. Okay? Now, if you count the verses, the very middle is the Leviticus chapter eight, but if you break the verses up and outline it, Leviticus 16 is the center of the Pentateuch.
It begins in Genesis, and we lose relationship with God, and then we get to the very center of the first five books, and all of a sudden we learn how to reconnect with God. Then the rest of the Penit two walks us through what the Israelites did, did they respond properly? And the answer is no. But the Day of Atonement is all about reconnecting with God.
So all of this information is [00:28:00] found in Leviticus 16, and I will include a handout, uh, in the email tomorrow. Um, so if you want to take notes, that would be great. But just listen, just listen. And I think it's interesting because Leviticus 16 and I wanna read the first two verses. If you want to turn there, please do.
But in Leviticus 16, we read these words. Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, and we read about the death of Nadab and Abai. Who in Leviticus chapter 10, and what did they do? What caused them to die? Two things. I'm only gonna talk about one. But the thing that caused them to die is they tried to enter it seemingly, they tried to enter the Holy of Holies, but they took their own incense.
They created their own mixture. And the Bible says they burnt strange fire and they walked into the presence of God. And who remembers what happened to them? They were consumed. They were burnt up in their tunics, [00:29:00] and interestingly enough, when you read the text, and this is how you know it was a divine thing.
They were consumed in their tunics, but their tunics weren't consumed. And so God commanded Aaron to have others pick them up and they picked them up by their tunics and they took them out. Aaron wasn't even allowed to mourn, which is one of those things that's really hard for me to wrap my head around.
They were consumed because they approached God in a wrong way. Now, the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of his two, after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they had, when they had approached the presence of Yahweh and died. And Yahweh said to Moses, tell your Brothern, Aaron, he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil.
It's not up to you when to come into the Holy of Holies. It's not up to you when to come before the Ark of the Covenant. Divine worship is regulated. He shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the [00:30:00] mercy seat, which is on the ark, or he will die for I, and most translations for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat, but literally the word could be read for I do appear.
That is my throne. And when the high priest is supposed to go in there, I will appear, my presence will be above those Cher of him and I will meet with this high priest, but he can't do it whenever he wants. And then it goes on and it starts to give regulations and I wanna break it down into three parts.
And I find this fascinating. So here are the three parts of the day of atonement cleansing. The high priest had to cleanse himself, the people, as well as the tabernacle and all the furnishings. Okay? When you study this day, when you studied in detail, it is also a day of judgment. It is a day of judgment and a day of atonement.
It depends how you approach either you approach and you see what awaits you [00:31:00] in judgment or you approach in faith and you see what awaits you in redemption. And so he begins reminding Moses and Aaron about the death of Nate AB and Abba, who. It, but it begins with cleansing. Then it leads to the approach of God.
How do we approach God? And we'll see. The only way to approach God is through blood sacrifice. Only the Old Testament blood sacrifices only work temporarily. They lasted about a year. We don't have that problem anymore because you and I approach God with the blood of the lamb. You and I approach God with the perfect spotless blood of Jesus Christ.
That works eternally. The last part is reentering Eden, and some of this happens simultaneous, but just I want you to put yourself in the shoes of the Old Testament people. What would you have seen? What would you have understood? You see sin committed throughout the year by the high priest and by the people contaminated everything, and God could put up with it for a year.
But at the [00:32:00] end of that year's time, the high priest who's supposed to be the holiest man in Israel, the high priest needed to be cleansed. The people needed to be cleansed, even though many of the people would've gone to the, the, the tabernacle of the temple and offered sacrifices throughout the year, they still needed cleansing.
And the temple, the tabernacle, the furnishing themselves needed cleansing. So the day begins with cleansing. And the high priest would enter the holy of Holy only once a year, and he would do it twice. And the first time he'd bring his own sin offering a bull. He would kill a bull. The bull would be killed next to the altar, the, uh, bronze altar where you would normally burn them.
But this, this bull wouldn't be burnt, but it would be killed. Its throat would be slit. It. And Aaron would fill something with blood and then Aaron would go into the holy place and he would take a, a sensor, a a little jar to burn, and he would fill it with calls from the ultra of incense. And he [00:33:00] would take some of that incense and he, he'd put it in the sensor and it would start filling the place with smoke.
And he would walk into the Holy of Holies. And the Bible is very clear. This smoke would shield him from being consumed by God. And the Holy of Holies would fill with the smoke. And the interesting thing is when you pay really careful attention to the text, he had to go all the way to the back of the room because the Bible specifically says that he is supposed to sprinkle blood in an eastward direction.
So he had to go all the way to the back. Remember the entrance is to the east. So he goes in through the east all the way to the west end, turns around, sprinkles the arc of the covenant. And then the Bible says he's supposed to walk around and go to the front of the art, sprinkle it again, and then when you put it all together, he goes out and he takes blood and he applies it to the horns of the altar of incense.
And then he goes outside and he applies more blood to the horns of the burning off [00:34:00] altar. Then he takes one of two goats and he lays his hands over the goats and they cast lots. And one lot will fall to one goat, and that goat belongs to Yahweh. The other goat is known as the scapegoat. We'll talk about that in a minute.
But Aaron would then kill, or the high priest would then kill the goat that was dedicated to Yahweh, fill another basin of blood, go back in and repeat it. And the first offering was for his sin. The second offering was for the sins of the people. So we see cleansing taking place. We see that Aaron is approaching God when he enters that holy of Holies.
Once a year, the high priest would enter behind the veil. And believe it or not, as you start putting this together, as you start reading your Old Testament, it pictures Daniel seven. It pictures the son of man approaching the ancient of days. The son of man is entering the heavenly, holy of holy, and he approaches the ancient of days and he receives [00:35:00] a kingdom.
This is what's spoken about in Hebrews chapter four, verse six, when we're told that we can approach the throne with boldness because Jesus has brought his own blood in and Jesus has cleansed us. He didn't need any cleansing. That is what defined him. That's what separated him from the other high priests.
He didn't need to die. He did it on our behalf. He did it as our substitute. And then there's these two goats and these two goats. They're kind of interesting because one of the goat is referred to as scapegoat. And let me tell you what's most important, because there, there is something that's very controversial, and I'll just be honest with you.
There is something that no one agrees on. No, there is not scholarly consensus here. There is not biblical consensus here. Okay. Um, and that is the name of the second goat. What we typically call the scapegoat. So in the original Hebrew, the second goat is called Azazel. [00:36:00] Alright? And we simply don't know what the word means.
We don't, you can look it up in, in any Lexington you want. You're gonna get a couple different ideas. One is scapegoat. Okay? And typically we name it scapegoat because of how it functions. But another one just means a, a rocky place. To a, to a cliff. And some people think that maybe that sheep was, that goat was taken to the cliff and then pushed off.
But again, we don't know. And others believe that this name Azazel, is a demon, that the goat is taken out into the wilderness and released to a demon, which again is an interesting picture because either your sins are forgiven or you belong to Satan, but we just don't know. But here's what we do know. It pictured the removal of our sin.
It pictured, the removable our sin. The first goat pictured the death of Christ. The second goat pictured what Christ's death accomplished. And in the book of Hebrews, we read what Christ's death accomplished. He put away sin. Are you in Christ today? If you [00:37:00] are in Christ today, and so many evangelicals have a hard time believing this, your sin is gone.
Yes, we're commanded to confess our sin because we need to be reminded of, of our ongoing disobedience, but it is for restoration of fellowship. Your sin was paid for at the cross past, present, and future. And I know that's hard to wrap your head around, but Jesus paid for it. He took it out of the way.
That's what the book says. He put away our sin, it is gone. It is not to be arrogant. It is not to be overconfident. In fact, if you really believe that truth, you would be afraid. You would fear God, all the more you would worship God, all the more you would love God, all the more you would live your life in gratitude.
All the more, if you understood the work of Christ on the cross and how complete it was. Your sin is gone. [00:38:00] Eternal redemption has been secured, and yet we evangelicals argue about can you lose your salvation? Let me read you the verse again. Hebrews nine 10, I'm sorry. Hebrews nine 12. Eternal redemption has been obtained.
Finished action. Jesus has obtained redemption for everyone whom he died for. Which is why in a later sermon, a very soon sermon, we're gonna have to talk about the extent of the atonement, because if Jesus died for you, you have eternal redemption. Guess what? Eternal means it never ends. It means you cannot lose your salvation, and it is not overconfidence.
It is faith, and it is fear, and it is gratitude. He has put away sin. He secures eternal redemption, and he cleanses the conscience. He cleanses our conscience, but only if you believe the first two you believe he [00:39:00] put your sin away. Do you believe that you have eternal redemption? And I'm not saying you should never struggle with your conscience because we're sinners and we're gonna sin in ways.
And it's a fair question. If I'm really a Christian, what I do this, but we have to believe the promises of God. What does Jesus say about me? He says, my sin is put away. He says, I have eternal redemption. He says, my conscience is clean. I need to believe him. And so I confess that sin. I turn from that sin, and on my knees I go before the throne of God.
All of this pictured on the Day of Atonement. And here's what's fascinating. On the Day of Atonement, it took four animals to picture the work of Jesus Christ.
After the priest. I find this fascinating too, because again, it pictures the work of Christ. But after the priest sacrificed these two sinner offerings, and literally in the Hebrew purification offerings, they [00:40:00] purified us because they removed the sin. Atonement was made, our sin was covered. Our sin was expiated.
Propitiated removed, taken out of the way. And the fascinating thing, and we kind of skipped over this is on the day of Atonement, Aaron was not to wear his high priestly clothes. He had some really, or ornate, high priestly, beautiful, gorgeous, glorious. The Bible calls them clothes with jewels and everything else.
He wasn't allowed to wear them on the first half of the ceremony, but he had to dress like a common priest. He put on some special, uh, undergarments. He put on a special tunic and he wore a turban, and that's how he made the first two sacrifices. That's how he entered the holy of holy as a humble servant, who does that remind you of?
Jesus came to earth and he lived his life and he went to the cross. Theologians refer to that as his humiliation. But then when Jesus rose from the dead, now theologians refer to it as his glorification. [00:41:00] After the high priest made these first two sacrifices, he was to go back into the holy place, change clothes, take another bath, and then put on his stately clothes, put on the clothes.
That made him look glorious, and it was a reflection of now. A glorified Jesus, a glorified high priest, and then they would offer a ram for himself and a second ram for the people. But these were known as burnt offerings, and a burnt offering is known as a dedication offering and the burnt offering. What was special about it is the entire animal was consumed on the altar.
The entire animal would go up in smoke to to Yahweh, and it was a picture of us dedicating our entire lives, body, soul, spirit, mind, our entire lives to Yahweh, what does the writer of Hebrews say? In Hebrews chapter nine, verse 29, so Christ also having been offered once in time, [00:42:00] never to be repeated, offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time for salvation with reference to sin, to those who eagerly wait on him, to those who are fully dedicated to him.
And in Hebrews nine 14, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God? Cleanse your conscience from dead Works. There's a purpose. Cleanse your conscience from Dead Works to serve the living God. It was a picture of the burn offering our entire life was to be dedicated to God and the high priest would come out, clean up, put on his glorified outfit, sacrifice two rams, burn them on the altar, and it was a picture of the people completely and utterly dedicating their lives to Yahweh.
Last but not least. And again, I told you some of this happened simultaneous. It's a reentering of Eden and we've talked about this before. Salvation is a reentering of Eden. You read the last book of Revelation and it describes this city, and it's fascinating because the [00:43:00] city is a perfect cube. Why? It represents the Holy of Holies, which was a perfect cube, and the city has the tree of life on both sides.
Of the street and the Tree of Life has 12 different feuds fruits, a reflection of the apostles, a reflection of the church because we have life. You see, salvation is a return to Eden and the inner veil. When you went into the the, the holy place, and you are looking at the veil that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, it would have cherubim on it, and you would be reminded of Eden because the cherubim guarded the way into Eden.
And yet on this great day of atonement, the high priest could go past the cherubim 'cause they no longer guarded the entrance. And he walked in and he made atonement. The, the, the veil was made of purple scar, scarlet and blue when the temple was finally made. Um, and they had wood in on the inside, they would carve fruit and palm trees and more cherub.
It [00:44:00] was a picture of Eden and it was a picture of returning to Eden. This is what God offers us. This is what the believer, the one who would come with the eyes of faith in the Old Testament, and they would bring their sacrifice before God. And they would see this, they would see the high priests function in a way, and then at the end of it, you're all dismissed Now, come back next year.
There was something about what the high priest did that really didn't work, and yet it pointed to something. It was a shadow because God had made a promise and his promise was, I will crush the head of the serpent. I will turn this around and this isn't doing it. It must point to something else. It must point to that promise seed.
And those who came in faith saw that seed and they put their faith in Christ. Looking forward, just as you and I look back.
And what the author of Hebrews is doing here, this entire chapter is a hyperlink because it takes you back to the entire Pentateuch. [00:45:00] It takes you back to that great day of atonement. It takes you back to what that priest did. And here's the point, and here's how we're gonna end. I knew we wouldn't get through it.
'cause once I put this together, I knew that I was gonna spend too much time here on purpose.
Jesus is your high priest. I just want you to think about that for a minute. In fact, maybe you want to just bow your heads and close your eyes and just meditate upon it. Jesus is your high priest. Jesus did everything pictured by those multiple sacrifices. He covered your sin. He opened up the way to the Holy of Holies, to the throne of God.
He invited you back to Eden. And then the last two sacrifices, he teaches us that we are to dedicate our lives to God. And I will leave you with that question. Is your life [00:46:00] 100% of your life dedicated to God? Are you holding back? Because if you are holding back then, as the author of Hebrews said earlier in the book, today is the day.
Today is the day stop holding back. If your faith is not in Jesus Christ, today is the day. Understand what he has done for you. Understand the release and the freedom he has given you. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for that great day of atonement and everything it pictured. Thank you Lord that just like little children, learn languages.
That is exactly how these ceremonies functioned. And if a person went open, if a person went in faith, he would see these things. It was natural. He would've learned these things. She would've learned these things. [00:47:00] Father, forgive us. We've already confessed our sins, but Lord, sometimes we just, sometimes we look at the Old Testament and we wonder, what are you doing?
And you knew exactly. What you were doing, you knew exactly how to picture Christ. You knew exactly how to bring people to faith as you always have. Thank you that my sin because of Jesus Christ, my sin is gone. My conscience is clear. Thank you, Jesus. In spirit of God, thank you that you dwell within your church.
You dwell within your church corporately and you dwell within the individuals. And so Father, we should expect growth. Father, I pray that today is the day for each and everyone sitting here for we ask this in Christ's name, and all of God's people said, amen.
