Take your Bibles now and turn
with me to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 9. The Lord willing, we'll be looking
at the first 14 verses this morning, Hebrews chapter 9. The message this morning is Christ,
the fulfillment of divine ordinances. Christ the fulfillment of divine
ordinances. Now this message the Apostle
is delivering is to us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To
us who are partakers and heirs of the covenant of grace. To
us who the Spirit of God has put the law of God into our minds. written them in our hearts, who
has taught us of Christ. We who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ have been washed in the blood of Christ, whose unrighteousness
have been propitiated by His death, whose sins and iniquities
God says, I will remember no more. We are heirs of the new
covenant. We are made partakers of the
divine covenant of God's grace wherein He gives the promise
to us in Romans 10 that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to who? Everyone that believeth. Everyone
that believeth. So you who believe. You who believe,
this word is to you. Look at the last verse of chapter
8 before we get into chapter 9. It says, "...in that he saith
a new covenant..." That's what we're made partakers of. The
new covenant. Covenant of grace and forgiveness.
"...he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away." You see, that covenant of the
Old Testament is waxed old. Why? Because Christ has come. The fulfillment of the covenant
has come. And we no longer need the types
and the shadows and the pictures when we have the real. When we
have the real. Therefore Christ is the end of
the law. The end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. Now at this time, the apostle
was writing this, the Jews were still participating in those
ordinances. The ordinances of the tabernacle,
the sacrifices, the priests, they were still entering in daily
into the tavern, into the temple, performing those same rituals
over and over again. They were still sacrificing,
still attending to the daily service of the tabernacle. Why? Because they had not yet realized
that the fulfillment of those things had come. They had not
realized that Christ Jesus was the fulfillment of these services
and ordinances. These things were only meant
for a pattern, a purpose, a figure, a picture of Christ who was to
come and fulfill the law, not only in obedience, but also in
the satisfying of the justice of God. And we can see the conclusion
before we get into our text. I just want to show you the conclusion,
why Paul is mentioning these divine ordinances. In verse 9,
he says, "...which was a figure." which was a figure for the time
then present. Verse 10, "...which stood only
in meats and drinks and divers washing carnal ordinances imposed
on them..." Until what? The time of reformation, until
the time Christ should come. That's how these things should
last, only until Christ should fulfill them by His coming. And so then, in verses 1 through
7, the Apostle is going to give us a brief description, a brief
description of those divine ordinances of worship in the Old Testament, which was to take place in only
one place, the tabernacle. Read this with me in verse 1.
Then verily the first covenant, had also ordinances of divine
service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
a tabernacle made, wherein was the candlestick, the table, and
the showbread, which is called the sanctuary, and after the
second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of
all. Now speaking on this tabernacle,
it was an earthly tent. What it was? It was an earthly
tent which God instructed Moses to make according to the pattern
showed him in the mount. We cover that in Hebrews 8, verse
5. He tells him to make that tabernacle
specifically after a certain pattern. Why? Because it was to represent Christ. It was to picture His Son. Now this tabernacle, it was 45
feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high. It was not a very
large place. It was not a very large place. And it was two rooms in this
tabernacle. The first is called the Holy
Place. And the second is called the
holiest of all. Now the first room, if you were
to walk into this tabernacle, you would only see three pieces
of furniture in this first tabernacle. There was the table of showbread. There was the altar of incense
and then there was the golden candlestick. These three things
were daily the attendance of the priest. They would go in
there daily and make sure the incense were burning perpetually.
They would go in and trim the candlestick and make sure that
it was burning brightly. They would replace the showbread
with fresh showbread. And this was a daily thing. It
was something they had to do every day. All the time. But these things, just as I said
before, what are these things? Well, they're a pattern. They're
a figure of Christ. They're a picture of Christ.
Believer, though we're not under the law, can we not still benefit
from the law? We can benefit from the law by
this, by seeing Christ in the law. Now I benefit from that. And I want to show by the end
of this, that's my purpose, I want to show you how this benefits
you. How this should encourage you.
How this should, I know that reading the law is not easy,
is it? It seems very complicated. But
when you do, you should always look for Christ. And I want you
to see that these things, they become clear. They become manifest
as to why they were made the way they were and why they were
served in the manner that they were served. They were to picture
our Lord, our Master, and His service. And this should encourage
us. So we can still benefit by seeing
that Christ is The picture is pictured by all these things.
Now, in this first room, the holy place, let us see Christ
in the table of showbread. It was a table. You know what
it was made of? It was made of incorruptible
wood. Acaia wood or shidom wood is what it's called. It is incorruptible
wood and it was overlaid with pure gold. This simply pictures the person
of Jesus Christ, our Lord. It pictures the person of our
Lord. His incorruptible humanity is pictured by the wood. His
deity is pictured by the gold. Of great value is His deity.
Incorruptible, sinless humanity. and the bread that sat on the
table. You know, there were 12 loaves
of that bread, one for each one of the tribes of Israel. It's
wonderful. Why? Because He is the bread
of life. He is the bread of life and He has sufficient bread for
every one of His elect people. Sufficient bread. He is the bread
of life. He said I am in John 6 35. I
am the bread of life He that cometh to me shall never
hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst in verse
540 48 of that same chapter. He said again. I am the bread
of life. I In verse 51 of that chapter,
He said, I am the living bread. If any man eat this bread, he
shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
him is My flesh. What is this bread? What is this
show bread? God is telling you that Christ is going to give
His flesh. He's going to give Himself. And
you that eat of Christ, you shall never hunger for righteousness.
Never thirst for satisfaction to God's justice. Why? Because
He fulfilled it all. Christ is all. He's the bread
of heaven. That next piece of furniture
is a golden candlestick. Gold again, picturing his what?
Deity. Again, his deity. And the candlestick. What does a candlestick do? Well,
it gave light to the whole room. Jesus said, I am the light of
the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but have the light of life. And this candlestick,
I know this, it had seven candles. What is seven? Seven is the number
of perfection. It's the number of perfection.
In other words, this is a perfect light. Christ is the perfect
light. And when He lights into the hearts
of His people, He shines a light out of darkness, to give us what? The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And third, that
third piece of furniture was the altar of incense, which was
to be perpetually burning. This again was made of Incorruptible
wood Overlaid with gold. What is he saying? Person of
Christ and what is it? What is the work of this altar
of incense? It is to provide an aroma in
a smoke that fills the air This speaks to us of the intercessory
work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who continually perpetually
intercedes for us Now, in Leviticus chapter 10,
we have two characters, Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron. Now, they came to this altar
of incense, and the Scripture tells us in great detail the
ingredients for these incense. It tells us in great detail. Why? Because it pictures Christ.
God is picturing his son, his work, his offering. And these
two guys come in and they decide to make up their own incense.
They decide, well, that smells good, but ours smells better. And they lit those incense on
the altar of incense, and you know what happened to them? God
sent fire out of heaven and killed them. Killed them. These incense were to be specific
because they pictured Christ. They were to be continually burned
in the holy place and not anything else. Behold, believer, our Lord
Jesus Christ daily then intercedes for us, and we dare not offer
any other incense. Isn't that right? Do you want
to offer any other thing to God but coming by Jesus Christ? No. We have nothing else to offer.
Christ is all to us. He is our intercessor. And so
this picture is His intercessory work before God. And before the
second room of the Most Holy Place, we have the veil. So He
says that. He says, "...and after the second
veil," verse 3, "...the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of
all." Now then, we come into the second room of this tabernacle. The second room. And there was only one piece
of furniture here. One piece of furniture. It was the Ark
of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant, and
it was in two pieces. You had the box of the Ark of
the Covenant. Guess what it's made of? Can you not see the repetition
here? Do you not see that everything revolves around the person of
Christ in this sanctuary? It's made of incorruptible wood
and it is overlaid with gold. It is talking about the humanity
and the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this lid, it was
called the mercy seat, and it was made of pure gold, which
again speaks of the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The mercy
seat was one solid piece of gold laid over this box. And notice this. He says in verse
4, "...in which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant
overlaid round about with gold, wherein..." Now he's telling
us there are things inside of this ark of the covenant. "...a
golden pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables
of the covenant." You not see the repetition here
of the pot of manna? The table of showbread, what
is that picture? Christ is the bread of life.
Guess what this picture is? I'll give you one guess. Jesus
is the bread that came down from heaven. He said, your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. But this is the
bread that came down from heaven. He was speaking of himself. That
golden pot of manna Deity, golden pot. Manna, his humanity. He came down from heaven. He's
the bread of life. Aaron's robbed at Buddha. Now
what significance is this? Not much is said about this.
Go back to Numbers chapter 17. I want you to see this. Numbers
chapter 17. Okay, now this occurred after
the sons of Korah and his band rose up against Moses. They said,
who are you to be priest and prophet? Who are you to speak
to God? We can all do that. We're all Israel. And remember,
God swallowed them up. God killed them. You'd figure
that would have ended the strife, right? That would have done it.
They would have said, okay, okay, Moses and Aaron are God's men.
So, no, they murmured and complained again because those men of Korah
died. And then God sent a plague on
them. And you remember that Aaron was
sent with the censer in his hand, and he stood between the dead
and the living. Oh my, what a picture of Christ. He's a mediator between the dead.
He separates the dead from the living. He cures the plague. He stays the plague of sin. And after this, in verse 1, And
the Lord spake unto Moses, Saying speak to the children of Israel
and take every one of them a rod According to the house of their
fathers and all their princes according to the house of their
fathers twelve rods Write every man's name on the rod and now
shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi For one rod shall
be for the head of the house of their fathers now. What's
a rod? It is a dead stick All right You'll cut a walking stick
out of a tree, it's dead. You can't grow anything out of
it. And God was going to show and
testify who He chose to be His priest. And He said, write your
names on it, all the twelve tribes, you write your names, you lay
those before the tabernacle and see what happens. And what happened?
Verse 8, And it came to pass that on the morrow Moses went
to the tabernacle, witnessed, and behold, the rod of Aaron,
for the house of Levi, was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed
blossoms, and yielded almonds. The dead stick produced life. And then God commanded Moses
to take that rod and you put it in the ark. You put it in
the ark. This tells us that Jesus Christ
is the chosen High Priest of God. He is the chosen High Priest
because, listen, He stems from a dead line. Remember, He shall
come out of the root of Jesse, out of the dry ground. You see,
his line was seemingly dead. Impossible to produce a king
out of that line. Nope. God chose him out of that
line, and sure enough, Christ blossomed as the High Priest. He produces fruit unto God, righteousness
and peace. And not only this does it picture,
but it also pictures that our Lord Jesus is risen from the
dead. Being a chosen High Priest, He
died. He died. His Spirit ascended
to God. He died. And yet what happened? Because He is God's chosen High
Priest, He now brings forth fruit. You are His fruit. You are the
almonds. You are His seed. And so then this proves that
by the rod that Aaron butted, it's put into the ark, which
is Christ. is the chosen high priest. That's
what it testifies. And the third thing that was
in there was the table of the law. The table of the law. Go back over to my text here. It says, "...the tables of the
covenant." Now remember, when God first gave that law, He wrote
it with His finger on tables of stone, gave it to Moses, and
sent him down. He sent him down the mountain.
But what happened before the law was revealed to Israel? They had already broken the law. Before the law came to them,
it was already broken. And Moses, in anger, broke that
law into pieces. Broke that law into pieces. And God, by grace, gave him another
table. And this time he didn't bring
the table to men. He brought it to the ark. See,
the law wasn't safe with you and me. It was only safe in Christ. It was only sure to be kept in
Christ. Now behold, before we ever heard
the law, did we not break it? But God, having chosen Christ
to be our High Priest, to make us holy, the Law of God was written
in His heart. Psalm 37, verse 31 says in prophecy
of Christ, the Law of His God is in His heart. None of His
steps shall slide. And Jesus saith by prophecy,
I delight to do thy will, O God, yea, thy law is within my heart. Do you not see the picture? Christ
is the ark, and where is the law? It is in the ark. Where
is the law? It is written in the heart of
Christ to do the will of God, which He displayed by His sinless,
perfect obedience in obtaining for us perfect righteousness,
the perfect righteousness of God. And as these priests daily
ministered to these things, even so, God by these things
shows us His Son. These things He perpetually showed
to Israel day after day after day. They went and did these
things. These things, these carnal things
were right there in their face every single day, and yet most
of them did not recognize, could not see it. What a blessing it
is for you and I to be able to see that. You and I see that. God has given us a blessing.
Now, go back to your text in verse 7. Now he speaks not only
of the tabernacle, which pictured Christ, but now he's talking
about the work of the high priest. And he said, "...but into the
second..." Sorry, verse 6. "...Now when these things were
thus ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle,
accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went
the high priest alone." once every year, not without blood,
which was offered for himself and for the errors of the people."
The Apostle in verse 7 here shows us the work of the priest in
the second room, the holiest of all. Now, it was the work
of the high priest to offer blood sacrifices once a year called
the Great Day of Atonement. And you see that he had to, for
himself, offer a sacrifice. Now why? Why should the priest
have to offer a sacrifice for himself? Because he himself was
in need of an atonement. God showed that these priests
were sinners. And they themselves needed to
be cleansed. And then he would offer a second
sacrifice, which was for the people. And he'd take that blood. He couldn't enter into that place
without blood. Because that's where the presence
of God was. He couldn't enter that place without blood. And
he'd sprinkle it on the mercy seat. Now consider the exclusiveness
of this room. I want you to consider how exclusive
this room was. There was only one in all the
world. When this tabernacle was standing, there was only one
in all the world. Only one place. It's only the one place, and
there was only one ark of the covenant. Therefore, there was
only one place that God would meet with sinners. I could show you these in Exodus
25, verse 22, Exodus 30, verse 6, Leviticus 16, verse 2. All
of these tell us, I will meet with you there in the tabernacle
above the mercy seat. Only there will I meet with you,
no place else." That's pretty exclusive, isn't it? What do
you think people think about that? They would... Well, how
dare you? Aren't you just being arrogant
to say that this is the only place? No, because God said it. God said it. It was the only
place in the world where God established His worship. It was
the only place where sin would be atoned and not without blood.
Now you remember there was a man by the name of Jeroboam. When
the kingdom of Israel was split after Solomon, God came to Jeroboam,
this man, and he said, I am going to give you the ten tribes, northern
tribes of Israel. I'm going to give it to you.
You're going to rule over it. He seemingly was a man of God
at first. It appeared as though he was. He seemed to receive the Word
and do well. But because of sin and greed
of power, he said God could be worshipped in the tabernacle
of men. He said, you don't have to go
all the way down there to Jerusalem. Let's make it convenient for
you. Let's just build tabernacles up here so you don't have to
go down there. And people thought, sounds good.
Sounds good. This is known as the sin of Jeroboam. It was an abomination to God.
The sin of Jeroboam is that God can be approached and worshipped
anywhere by anyone. Now this sin of Jeroboam is not
exclusive but still active today. It's still active in those who
claim to worship God outside of Christ. Remember, everything
in the tabernacle pictures Christ. And guess where God will only
meet with sinners? He will only meet with sinners
in Jesus Christ. And outside of Christ, God will
not be worshipped. And to worship God outside of
Christ is the sin of Jeroboam. Those who try to come to God
in such a way as He has not decreed, are lost. Now it is our, it is our responsibility,
it is our privilege to call sinners to God. I would call you to God. Come unto Me, and be saved, all
the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
else. But be careful how you come.
Be careful how you come. For there is only one tabernacle,
as there was only one tabernacle, one ark, one priest, only one
sacrifice prescribed. which these carnal services were
a picture. Even so, there's only one place
where God will meet with sinners. Only one high priest was chosen
to offer only one particular sacrifice for the sins of men.
That place, that person, that offering is Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. No place else. No place else. It's exclusive. Listen to the words of the Apostle.
There is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. Christ
is exclusively the only priest. Exclusively the only Sacrifice. exclusively the only way to God. I am the way, the truth, the
life, and no man cometh to the Father
but by me. Does that sound exclusive enough? Now either Christ is the only
way to God or he's a liar. I don't want people dancing around
that subject. Either he is the only way to
God or he is a liar. Don't tell me Jesus is a good
man and not believe him. You don't believe he's the only
way to God? Then either he's a liar or you are. And I'm telling
you, you are. He's the only way. He's the only
way to God. Well now, as long as these things
stood, we have the tabernacle, we have all the furniture, all
of the ordinances, all of the sacrifices pointed to what? To
Christ. And as long as these carnal ordinances
stood, look at verse 8. He said, the Holy Ghost, this
signifying, this is what He was signifying by these things, that
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. while
the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure
for the time then present, which they were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect, as pertaining to the conscience which stood only in
meats and drinks and divers' washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them, until when? Until the time of reformation." You know, the Lord did this so
Christ could not be missed. He could not be mistaken by anybody
else. Only Christ fits all of these
types. Only Christ. Only Jesus. And
Jesus become, in verse 11, but Christ being come. an high priest
of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building."
You see, Jesus Christ has come an high priest of good things
to come by this greater and more perfect tabernacle. What is this
tabernacle? What is this tent? He has said,
it is not of this building. It's not made with hands, he
tells us in the previous chapter. This tabernacle is his flesh. It's his body. Jesus Christ became a high priest
when he became a man. Being come and I he was always
our high priest, but I'll tell you there was a time when he
being come was made a priest remember priests are taken from
what men and So in order to be our high priest he must take
upon him our nature That's what all that wood was made for in
the tabernacle. It pictured his person the overlay
with gold pictured his deity and tabernacle was his place now
that first ten in the in the wilderness if you were to go
inside it was beautiful you know i've never seen anything stone
with golden thread have you i've never sick i mean i imagine it
has a museum somewhere but i i've never Can you imagine how glorious
it was to have gold thread and the purple and the scarlet? It
was beautiful on the inside, glorious! What is that picture? Again, we're going in circles.
It pictures His deity. His deity inside Christ is truly
God, very God. And yet, what was the outside
of that tabernacle? It was badger skin. It was rough. It was ugly. It was common. Nobody would pay that tent one... If they were to raid the tents
of Israel, they'd look at that and say, there ain't nothing
in there. There's nothing. Nothing. You know, that's how
men beheld Christ. They looked at Him and said,
there's nothing in there. There's nothing good there. And Scripture says, "...he was
despised and rejected, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. We esteemed him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not." Why? There was no beauty in him that
we should desire him. And listen, if you are not come
to Christ, why? Because there is no beauty in
Him. You have nothing in Him. You
don't desire to know Him. You don't care to hear of Him
because you don't know what's inside. You've never been inside. And the only way for one to know
Christ, then, is for God to open your eyes. The only way to see the glory
and beauty shine forth is if God opened your eyes to see it.
For only then could He be made such a priest to offer a sacrifice,
if He be made our bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
And by doing so, He was able to offer His own body and blood
for our sins. Verse 12, "...neither by the
blood of bulls and goats, but by His own blood He entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us." Jesus Christ did not come with blood of bulls or goats
or lambs or calves. He came with His own blood. And
he entered into the very presence of God with his own blood. Remember,
he told that thief, today thou shalt be with me. Where? In paradise. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he died, he ascended into glory with his own blood as our
high priest. He went into the holy place.
Not made with hands. Heaven itself. And as Aaron went into the presence
of God having made an atonement. He sprinkles the mercy seat.
But now, behold, Aaron was imperfect. His sacrifices were not effectual. Why? Because they need to be
offered again and again and again. But our high priest, get this,
he himself entered into the presence of God with his own blood. How
many times? Once, once, once. He entered in once. Why? Because He obtained eternal redemption. He entered in once because God
was pleased with His offering. And all the law and ordinances
of divine service were only a figure and picture Can you imagine what it was like
at that day in the Old Testament? You've got that priest and he
makes that offering and you're watching. You see it. He makes
the offering. He's got the blood. And he goes
in. And then what? You don't see
him. You don't see him. Can you imagine everyone who
had any interest at all in atonement held their breath waiting to
see if he was accepted. Was the offering good enough?
Remember, if they didn't obey God in this instance, there would
be consequences. That land would then be taken
from them. And they would not enjoy it for
that year. So they held their breath in
suspense, waiting. And when He came out, guess what? Oh boy. It's over. It's done. God's satisfied. They waited, and God was satisfied. They were safe for another year.
Their consciences was cleansed, and their hope renewed. And as
long as Israel kept this, they were safe in the promised land.
How much more, that's what he tells us in the next verse, It
says, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of Hefler's
sprinkling of an unclean sanctified the puring of the fying of the
flesh, if it gave them encouragement, how much more then should the
death and resurrection of Christ encourage us? How much more? That's what he says in the next
verse. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience of dead works? To do what? Serve the Living
God. If Christ, who went into the
holiest of all with His own blood, came out, did He not come out
of the tomb? He came out. How then, how much
more should your conscience be purged? seeing He has obtained eternal
redemption for you once for all, how then should you not be encouraged
to draw near to God? Draw near to God. Hebrews chapter 10, Let's see if I can find it. Here it is, Hebrews 10. 19 having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and
living way Which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that
is to say his flesh and having an high priest over the house
of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full Assurance
of what faith? Faith you want full assurance
Believe in Christ I did not say believe in your
faith. There's no assurance in that. If you're looking to Christ,
there's full assurance. And that should encourage you
in what? The service of God. So what does all this do? What
does it do, believer? What is all this about the tabernacle
and a picture in Christ? God, having already determined
what to do, should give you assurance, seeing He's already had it done.
And now that He's applied it to your heart, what more do you
need? Do you need signs and wonders,
miracles? No, you don't need. You have
the full revelation of God. You have the Son of God ever
living to make intercession. Should that not purge your conscience
of dead works? It should energize us. It should motivate us. It should
move us. That we should draw near with
boldness to God. seeing you have been accepted
in Christ. Our tabernacle, the only place
where we worship God is in Christ. He is our intercessor. He is
the bread of life. He is the light of the world.
He is the fulfillment of the law. He is God's chosen high
priest. He has offered himself without
spot to God. And God has accepted it, having
obtained eternal redemption. He took the book from the right
hand of God and now gives out life to you. Is the tabernacle not encouraging?
It is if you see Christ in it. If you just see a tent, you're
missing it. If you just see a box, you're
missing it. Remember that Christ is all in
the Scripture. He's all. I pray God blesses
to you.