And in chapter 9 now that we're
going to study this evening, I call this message, Christ Our
Mercy Seat. But there are three things that
are clearly set forth, clearly declared. I want to give them
to you before we begin the study. And the first one is the theme
of the entire book of Hebrews, and that is the preeminence,
the preeminence of our Lord Jesus Christ. over everything in the
Old Testament. The priesthood, the tabernacle,
its furniture, its sacrifices, its ceremonies, everything. He fulfilled them all. He had
the preeminence over all these things. They all point to him. He fulfills them. Secondly, all
of these ordinances and sacrifices and ceremonies, all of them,
now please understand this, had no power to save anybody. There was no efficacy in any
of the blood, able sacrifice on down to put away one sin. It's not over there in chapter
10, you're looking right at it, verse 4, it's not possible. that
the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. That's
just not so. No one's salvation is in Christ
and it's always been in Christ. It's in Christ today, it's in
Christ yesterday, it was in Christ when Malachi wrote, it was in
Christ when David was here, it was in Christ when Abraham saw
his day. Salvation is in Christ. Never
did God ever make any attempt to put away sin. by animal sacrifice. These are types and only types. And the third thing is this.
Our Lord's sacrifice on Calvary puts an end, an absolute end,
to all Levitical ceremonies, all Levitical sacrifices, all
Levitical Sabbaths, all Levitical special feasts and special days. Fulfills He taketh away the first. Don't bring it back. Don't try
to put any of us back under that bondage. It's put away. It's fulfilled in Christ and
put away. Now then, let's read verses 1
through 5 of Hebrews 9. And then verily the first covenant
hath also ordinances, ceremonies of divine service. and a worldly
sanctuary. Well, there was a tabernacle
made. The first were in was the candlestick and the table and
the showbread, which is called the sanctuary, the holy place. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the
golden censer, Ark of the Covenant, overlaid round about with gold.
wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that
budded, and the tables of the covenant, the ten commandments
which God wrote and gave to Moses, and over it the cherubims of
glory, shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak
particularly." Now take you back to those Old Testament days,
and there was the courtyard. And there, the eight foot high
white linen fence about the courtyard. One gate, the eastern gate. You hear about it in the songs,
read about it in the scripture, the eastern gate where the sun
rose. That's the only entrance into
that courtyard or to that tabernacle. And just as you come in that
eastern gate, there's the altar. There's the altar where the bullocks
and the lambs and the rams were slain and burned. Their bodies were burned and
the blood was collected for the sacrifices. Right out there in
front of the eastern gate, the only opening into the courtyard. Come walking across that courtyard
and here's the tabernacle. It wasn't an imposing structure.
The Lord wasn't calling attention to the structures, calling attention
to the sacrifice, to the atonement, to the priesthood, to the work
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there stood this tabernacle.
It's 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, 15 feet high. And on the outside,
it looked like any other tent. It had badger skin. Under that
was goat skin. Under that was the ram's skin
dyed red, and under that was the pure, beautiful white linen.
And all of this, the courtyard, the white linen fence, has to
do with our Lord Jesus Christ. The altar out there where the
blood was shed, and as I said, as you walk across that courtyard
and come to the tabernacle, right in front of the tabernacle was
the laver of pure water. And the priest would sacrifice
the animal burn its body, collect its blood. That's justification. He'd come across the courtyard,
and here he'd wash his hands and wash his feet. And before
he went into the tabernacle, there's the cleansing, the water,
sanctification, all of it points to Christ. But there are two
sections. As it says here, they were in
the tabernacle, there were two sections. The first was the sanctuary
or the holy place. And in the holy place were three
pieces of furniture. On one side was the table of
showbread, which is Christ the bread of life. This table of
showbread was made of wood overlaid with gold, and that speaks of
the deity of our Lord, the gold and the wood of his humanity.
And on that table of showbread were twelve loaves of bread kept
fresh by the Levites, by the priests. representing the twelve
tribes of Israel, but it's Christ the bread of life. And on the
other side in the holy place was the candlestick, seven, the
number of deity of course, and this is, there's no windows in
the tabernacle anywhere. This speaks of Christ the light
of the world. That's all the light that kept
burning all the time, all the time. As you look up you see
that beautiful white linen. Beautiful white land. There was
the first veil as you came in. There was a table of showbread,
Christ the bread, Christ the light of the world. And then
here's another veil that talks about the second veil. There's
a veil here that's a thick veil, four or five inches thick. No
opening in it anywhere. It separated the holy place from
the holy of holies. right in front of this veil was
an altar of incense. I want you to read about that.
If you'll turn to Exodus 30, Exodus 30, and you know immediately
what this altar of incense, as you read it there in Hebrews
9, it sounds like the altar of incense is just inside the veil
in the Holy of Holies, but it's not. It's right outside, and
you'll see that here in Exodus 30, verse 1. Thou shalt make
an altar. to burn incense upon, of Shittem
wood shalt thou make it. Now verse, look at verse 6. And
thou shalt put it before the veil, that is by the ark of the
testimony, before the mercy seat that's over the testimony, where
I'll meet with thee. And Abram shall burn their own
sweet incense every morning. Now it had to be on the outside
because the high priest didn't go in the Holy of Holies book
once a year. but he's to burn incense every morning. Read on. When he dresseth the lamps, he
shall burn incense upon it, and when Aaron lighteth the lamps
at evening, he shall burn incense upon it. A perpetual incense
before the Lord throughout your generation. It never stops burning. There was that altar of Eden.
There's Christ the bread, Christ the light, And here in front
of that heavy veil separating the holy place from the holy
of holies is an altar of incense, sweet fragrance always going
up. That's the intercession of Christ.
Continual intercession. He ever liveth to make intercession
for us all the time. All the time. Now then, we read
here in Hebrews 9, verse 3, and after the second veil, the tabernacle
which is called the holiest of all, the holy of holies. And
there was really in the holy of holies one piece of furniture,
one piece of furniture with two parts. It talks about the Ark
of the Covenant. This Ark, and you've read about
it and studied it and I've preached about it, the Ark of the Covenant,
it was three and three feet nine inches long. It was two and a
half cubits. A cubit's 18 inches. 18, 18's 36, and half a cubit's
nine inches, so it's three feet nine inches long. I like that,
the art of the covenant. And it was two and a quarter
feet wide, two and one quarter, two feet three inches wide and
two feet three inches deep. Now this art was made of wood,
and it's covered with pure gold. And inside the art, there were
three things. Inside that art, it tells you
what it is, what was inside that art, verse 4. And it overlaid
with gold. Wherein, verse 4, was the golden
pot that had manna. You remember the manna that God
gave Israel? They fed on it each morning when
I gathered manna. Pardon me, but there was a golden
pot of manna commemorating that time when God fed them. And this
is, Christ is the bread of life upon which we feed. But there
it is in there. And then it says in there also
was Aaron's rod that budded. You can go later and study this
in Numbers 17, but when God chose Levi, the tribe of Levi to be
the priest in things pertaining to God. The tribe of Levi, Aaron's
sons and the tribe of Levi was to deal with Israel in things
pertaining to God. All the sacrifice, they took
care of all these things. They carried, only the Levites
could carry the ark dismantle the tabernacle, move it from
place to place, set it up, offer the sacrifices morning, noon,
and night, and so forth. Well, there was a little objection,
just like they objected to Moses being the leader, sons of Korah,
and God destroyed them. But some of these people objected
to the Levite tribe being the priest. And so God said to them,
all right, take twelve, I don't know how long the rods were and
what kind of rod it was. Oh, the shepherd rod, but a shepherd
rod wouldn't fit in that ark. It's some kind of ruling rod
or something. Anyway, they would take the rods,
let a rod from the prince of every tribe, twelve tribes, bring
them before the Lord. This is in Numbers 17. And the
rod that buds, that's Mount Praise. They all put their rods there,
and Aaron's rod not only budded and bloomed, but produced almonds. And so they took that rod and
put it in there. Aaron is God's priest. See, God
appoints the priest. Even the Son of God didn't take
upon himself to be our high priest on his own. He who said unto
him, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, he made
him our priest. Anyone who has objections to
that will have to miss Christ and miss God, because He's the
praise. And also, in that ark, Moses was commanded to put these
tables of stone. He broke the first one. God called
him back up and said, I'll write them again, and you put them
in the ark. And I tell you a wonderful point
here. God took the law out of the hands of Moses and put it
under the mercy seat. under the blood. I'm sure glad,
aren't you? Now on top, that's the ark. Now the mercy seat,
the mercy seat, verse 5, and over it the cherubims of glory
shattering the mercy seat, of which I can't tell you a whole
lot, Paul says, and I can't either, but I'll tell you I know this.
The mercy seat was a solid piece of pure gold. And it measured the same size
as that ark. And it covered that ark. The
mercy seat. Let's read about it. I want you
to read this. This is Exodus 25. Let's turn over there. Exodus 25. Exodus 25 verse 16. You can go back more and read
about the ark in this chapter here, Exodus 25, but I want to
move along and you study on your own, you go back and pick these
things up and just mark this chapter here, but let's start
with verse 16. And the ark. And thou shalt put
into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee, and thou shalt
make a mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half, shall
it be the length thereof? cubit and a half the breadth
thereof, the width. I shall make two cherubims of
gold, a beaten work, shalt thou make them in the two ends of
the mercy seat." In other words, here's the mercy seat and over
each end is a cherubim with wings over the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one
end, and the other cherub on the other end, even in the mercy
seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And
the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering
the mercy seat with their wings. And their faces shall look one
to another. Toward the mercy seat shall the
faces of the cherubs be. And thou shalt put the mercy
seat above, upon, over the ark, and in the ark put the law. that I shall give thee, and there
I'll meet with thee. I'll meet you at the mercy seat,
and I'll commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between
the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all
things which I shall give thee in commandment unto the children
of Israel." What's the mercy seat? Well, mercy seat comes
from the word perpetuatory. It derives its name from the
blood of propitiation. Propitiation means to reconcile,
to make atonement, to make one. That's the mercy seat. The blood
sprinkled on the mercy seat makes reconciliation, atonement, propitiation,
propitiatory. That's what mercy seat means.
Now, won't you turn to another scripture, Romans 3. And here
it tells us Christ is our mercy seat, Romans chapter 3. The word
perpetuation is mercy seat. The word mercy seat is perpetuation,
reconciliation, to make atonement. In Romans 3 verse 25, talking
about our Lord Jesus Christ, let's read verse 24. Being freely
justified by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a mercy seat, a perpetuatory,
perpetuation, atonement through faith in his blood to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed back
yonder in the Old Testament through the forbearance of God to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness that he might be the just and
justifier of him who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
right, go back to my text now. Hebrews 9. Now there's the tabernacle. Now verse 6, when these things
were thus ordained, the priests, the common priests, there were
many of them, they went always into the first part of the tabernacle,
the holy place, the sanctuary, accomplishing the services of
God, the fresh bread, keeping the candlesticks, the incense,
offering daily sacrifices, morning and evening, But into the second,
the Holy of Holies, where the mercy seat was, where the Shekinah
glory of God overshadowed that mercy seat, into that second
Holy of Holies went the high priest alone once every year,
not without blood, which he offered for himself for the errors of
the people. into the Holy of Holies, on the
Day of Atonement, went to high praise once a year. All right, let's read about that
in Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16. I think you need
to read about this and you can mark it also and go back and
read that whole chapter. Brother Charlie Pennington brought
a message on it some time ago here that Ronnie probably has
the tape. Do you, Ronnie, you have that tape? It's one of the
best messages I've ever heard on Leviticus 16. It deals with
all of the sacrifice and atonement. You may want to get that tape
and play it. While you're finding Leviticus
16, let me read you a verse from Exodus. And Aaron shall make
an atonement upon the altar once in a year with the blood of the
sin offering of atonement. Once a year shall he make atonement
upon it throughout your generations. it's holy unto the Lord. All
right, Leviticus 16, verse 11. And Aaron shall bring the bullock
of the sin offering which is for himself, and shall make an
atonement for himself, for his house, and shall kill the bullock
of the sin offering which is for himself, and take a censer
full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the
Lord. I want you to notice how many times it says, before the
Lord, before the Lord, before the off the altar before the
Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense, beaten small, and bring
it within the veil. And he shall put the incense
upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense
may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony that he
die not. He shall take of the blood of the bullock and sprinkle
with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward. Before the mercy
seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that's for the
people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood
as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon
the mercy seat, before the mercy seat. He shall make an atonement
for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel, because of their transgressions and all their sin. And so shall
he do for the tabernacle of the congregation that remaineth among
them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in
the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement
in the holy place until he come out and have made an atonement
for himself and for his household, for all the congregation of Israel."
The high priest alone, Christ alone, by himself. We are going
to read about that in a minute. But this is all a picture of
our Lord. Now, verse 8 through 10 tells
us what the Holy Spirit's teaching in all of this. Verse 8, the
Holy Ghost thus signifying, thus teaching, here's the first thing
He's teaching, that the way into the holiest, the way into the
presence of God, what is that way? It's Christ. Christ is the
way. That's what he says over in Hebrews
10. Listen. "...having therefore, brethren,
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living
way." And the Holy Spirit is saying here that that way into
the holiest of all, into the presence of God, was not yet
made manifest. The way was there because Abraham
came by that way. Moses came by that way. But that
way was not revealed. or actually manifested while
this old tabernacle stood. But when Christ our Lord died
on the cross, and he said it's finished, and the veil in the
temple was rent in two, all of these sacrifices fulfilled, that
way was manifest, clearly, plainly revealed in Christ Jesus, and
the way, and the truth, and the life. But as long as these ordinances
and sacrifices and ceremonies stood, the Holy Ghost was saying,
the way has not yet been manifest, fully revealed, made clear. They saw it in type, but my,
my, they didn't see it as we do, while that first tabernacle
was standing. Then secondly, saying this, verse
9, this is a figure of the time present. a picture of the work
of our Lord. It's not the saving work. Over
there in Hebrews 10, Paul said the Lord Christ, quoting the
Lord Jesus here, our Lord, our Father never had any pleasure
in these sacrifices. These sacrifices never gave him
any delight or pleasure. He said, this is my Son in whom
I'm well pleased. These were types, figures, figures,
that's what the word figure means, a picture. type, in which was
offered both gifts and sacrifices. Now here's the third thing he
said, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could
not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the
conscience. These sacrifices could never
perfect anybody, never give rest to anybody, never give assurance
to anybody. Never put away sin. Never could. Never could. Because verse 10,
they stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and
carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. And the Greek, that reformation
is used just one time. That's right here in the Bible.
And it means setting things straight, making things clear. And when
Christ came, the way was made straight, clear, and plain. Time
of reformation. These things stood until that
day. They're all gone. Fulfilled. Fulfilled. All right. Verse 11 and 12. With Christ being I preached
of good things to come. Now what's the good things to
come? Peace, righteousness, reconciliation, fellowship, all the good things
that God promised. He's the fulfillment of those
good things. By a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.
What is that tabernacle? That's his body. He tabernacled
among us. The disciples said, we saw him.
We heard Him. We touched Him. The way of life
was manifested. He tabernacled among us. God
met Israel there at the tabernacle. His glory was in the tabernacle,
upon the tabernacle. Mercy seat. Christ is our tabernacle. Where do I meet God? In Christ.
Where does the glory of Christ abide? The glory of God abides
in Christ. Where's the glory of God revealed?
In Christ. Where's the mercy seat? In Christ.
A body hast thou prepared me. He dwelt among us. He's my tabernacle. I said one day in a message that
three things required over here for worship. One was a place
that God designated, the mercy seat. He said, I'll meet you
there, didn't he? A place. Secondly, a priest,
a mediator. Thirdly, a blood offering. Isn't that true? Where's your
place? Where's God going to meet you?
In Christ. He's the mercy seat. I'll meet
you there, he said. Commune with you there. Priest. Mediator of Christ is my priest.
Blood sacrifice. His blood. That's what that's
saying. And verse 12, It wasn't by the
blood of goats and carries, but by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having already accomplished it. obtained
eternal redemption for us. I'm just going to read these
closing verses and show you four things. And you'll see them. The efficacy of his blood, the
necessity of his blood, the blood illustrated on earth, the blood
applied in heaven. Now watch it. Here's the efficacy
of it. Verse 13, 14. If the blood of bulls and goats
and the ashes of a heifer and the unclean, sanctified to the
purifying of the flesh, if that hell sway thee awaiting his coming,
how much more? See that? Boy, if Abel could
walk away from that sacrifice content that God had heard him
and shown mercy, I know it represented Christ. Man, think of the confidence
we can have who don't offer an animal, but we Believe in His
Son. That's what it is. How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without stop to God, purge your conscience? We have
no more conscience of sin, no more remembrance of sin, to serve
the living God. Oh, what rest, what peace, what
joy, what confidence, what assurance you have in Christ. If old Aaron
could walk out of that holy of holies having looked at a golden
mercy seat over an ark shattered by cherubims and come away with
some peace, how much more can I look to Christ than have peace?
How much more? That's the efficacy. Now here's
the necessity. Verse 15, and for this cause
he's the mediator of a new covenant that by means of death But for
the redemption of the transgression that were under the first covenant,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, where a last will and testament, a
covenant that's got to be of necessity, the death of the testator
has to be. Has to be. For a testament is
a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it's of no strength
at all while they live. The Son must be lifted up. The
Testament is in force because the testator has died. And he
willed it to us. That's right. He purchased it.
It's mine. That inheritance is mine because my Lord died and
left it to me. And he arose and enforces his
will. Necessity the son must be lifted
up testator must die. All right. Here's the blood illustrated
on earth That's what we've been studying all the way through
Hebrew Verse 18 whereupon neither the first covenant the typical
covenant was dedicated without blood There's blood everywhere
when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to
the law He took the blood of calves of goats with water and
scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the book, sprinkled
the people. He said, this is the blood of
the covenant which God hath enjoined unto you. He sprinkled with blood
the tabernacle, all the vessels of the ministry, and almost everything,
by the law purged with blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of blood. Blood. The wages of sin is death,
death, death, death, death. The soul that's in it's got to
die, die, die, blood. It was illustrated all the way
through the Old Testament. Now verse 23, the fourth thing,
the blood applied in heaven, is therefore necessary that the
pictures and types and patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with these, these sacrifices, the blood. But the
heavenly things, the good things, justification, redemption, righteousness,
salvation, these things with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the
holy place made with hands, but to figure the truth, he's entered
heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence
of God for us, nor yet that he should offer himself often as
the high priest entered into the holy place every year with
the blood of others. What's he keep on saying in Hebrews?
Once in the end of the world hath he appeared. One sacrifice
he's perfected forever. One, one, one. If the Lord was
like those priests, then he often, must often have suffered since
the foundation of the world because he's been our high priest since
the foundation of the world. But now once, in the last days,
We've been in the last days since he came into this world. Its end is near, after he appeared
in the flesh to put away sin. How? Well, sin is pretty hard
to put away. Pretty hard. Impossible, except one way, by
the sacrifice of himself. Isaiah 53, he was wounded by
a transgression. And as it's appointed unto men,
wants to die, and after this the judgment. So Christ, once
offered, once offered. Don't sacrifice him in the mass
every Sunday, that's, don't do that. Once offered to bear the
sin of everybody, no, of many. And unto them that look for him,
those that believe on him, he's going to appear the second time.
without sin unto salvation. Brother Maurice Montgomery, I'll
close with this illustration. Maurice Montgomery wrote an article
one time, Some Things I Cannot Do. Number one, there's a holy God
I cannot please. In the flesh no man can please
God. There's a holy law I cannot keep. There's a righteousness I cannot
produce. There's a sin I cannot put away.
There's a judgment I cannot escape. There's a condemnation I cannot
endure. What am I going to do? I'm going to find that high priest
that God ordained. with a suitable sacrifice, and
I'm going to put my cause in his hands, because he did please
that holy God and kept that holy law and provided that perfect
righteousness and put away that sin, and in him there is no judgment. And that question I read in Romans
8 a while ago, who is he that can do it? It's Christ that does
it. That's a good hope, isn't it?
Good hope. All right, I hope that's a blessing
to you.