Hebrews 9

God gave the Israelites rules for Old Covenant worship through Moses. To those who have been schooled in the simplicity of the New Covenant, the life of tabernacle and later temple worship is very foreign. Yet for Old Testament worshipers who understood what it was to have a Holy Place and a separate section within the temple called the Holy of Holies, this was all normal, imprinted upon their souls from the youngest ages.

As we consider these matters in our day, we need to have diagrams and an artist's rendition to understand the physical properties and locations of the lampstand, the table for the bread of the presence, the curtain, the golden altar of incense, the ark of the covenant, and the mercy seat above the ark. The Jews knew about these objects, even if they never were able to see them. If they came to Jerusalem for the annual festivals, they could not help but see the impressive building that towered above the city, and they were taught by their elders about the rituals of the Law, and the holy objects and spaces connected with them. Yet they did not understand the meaning that God stored up for us all in the religious patterns that were to be a part of the normal rhythm of Jewish life.

When they heard the word “priests,” they had immediate mental images that flooded their minds from experience. Those men, who were dressed so distinctively, were the ones who had access to special places in the temple where other people could not go. They performed certain ritual duties that only they were allowed to do. In particular, only the high priest was allowed to go behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies, and only on the Day of Atonement once per year with the blood that was commanded according to Leviticus 16. But what was all this about? They knew that the high priest offered sacrifices for his own sins and for the unintentional sins of the people. But why was access to the presence of God in worship subject to such severe restrictions?

Now that the final Sacrifice has come in our great High Priest Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit has revealed to us the meaning of these rules. God established this system exclusively for the time of the Law, which was a time of preparation. It was the Lord's intention to eventually bring down the curtain that separated us from His presence. While that old system of worship was still in place, it told worshipers that a safe way into the Lord's presence had not yet come in the person of the Messiah. These old ways speak to us with even greater clarity now about the division between heaven and earth, and about a day beyond the gospel era, when we will see the full reunion of all things in Christ.

Peace with God and resurrection life could never have come to us through the right set of rituals, whether old or new. We need the reality behind the rules. That reality is Christ, who has now appeared as a High Priest of the good things that have come. The resurrection age has begun. The new temple is His body. His physical body was pierced for us and our atonement was secured through His blood. When He ascended again into heaven, he brought the blood of a better sacrifice into the presence of God for us, securing our eternal redemption.

The old way of ceremonial purification according to Leviticus had its good purpose for the time of preparation. Now the reality has come to us in Christ, and we cannot return to a system that has had its day, but has now come and gone. We want more than a story of redemption communicated in the mystery of symbols. We want redemption itself through the Son of God and the gift of the Spirit.

Christ is the only sacrifice that is truly without blemish. He offered Himself to God through the eternal Spirit, and through that same eternal Spirit, the benefits of His life and death touch our lives today as we worship God through Him. Our consciences have been purified from the dead works by which so many Jews and Gentiles once tried to obtain peace with God. Through the blood of Christ we have been set free to serve the living God.

The time has come that was foretold so long ago in God's promise to Abraham. The death of Christ has brought the Old Covenant to an end. Now is the time to walk together in the inheritance that is ours in Christ, the one Mediator between God and man.

Blood is all about life and death. God has created an amazing system of circulation whereby necessary oxygen and nutrition flows to every part of the body. While the heart is pumping and the arteries and veins are doing what they were designed to do, we have life. When there is a great loss of blood, or the body is damaged by some injury or disease that is so severe that this system of healthy mortal life can no longer function, we face death. Blood is a matter of life and death.

When the Son of God shed His blood and when Jesus ascended into heaven, God made a way for us to have bold access to Him. Jesus did not enter the temple in Jerusalem to make peace with God for us. He ascended into the heavenly temple. Now we look for a life where the glories of heaven will be our daily experience, and the former ways of our access to God, old and new, will only be a fading memory.

Christ, in His singular sacrifice, has done what the Old Testament priests could never do through all their annual rituals. Because of the power of His blood, we can die in peace, and can face the judgment of God safely in the perfect Lamb of God. He has borne the sins of many, and will come again to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.