A Commentary in Simple English on the letter to Jewish Christians

CHAPTER 9

We shall find several things in this chapter that we cannot explain. But it is a good chapter. It is the chapter of the Letter that says a great deal about the death of the Lord Jesus. This goes on into Chapter 10 as far as verse 19. You will find that the Letter does not speak about 'blood' until verse 7 of this chapter. But we find the word 'blood' 12 times in the chapter. We should read this chapter to see what is said about the blood and death of Jesus. You know that lives are changed because Jesus died for sinners. We look at this part of the letterto find out why this happens.

Verses 1-10: The Worship in the Tabernacle

Verses 1-7 tell us a little more about the Old Testament worship. Then in verses 8-10 the writer tells us what this means to us. Verse 1 tells us that God had given rules for this worship to Moses. But the Tent and its worship belonged only to this world, not to heaven. [9.1].

Then in verse 2, the writer begins to describe the Tent. (See Exodus 26.) There was the first curtain. He does not speak about this. Beyond it was the Holy Place. This would have been a dark place but there were seven lamps burning in there on a golden stand. (See Exodus 25:31-39.) There was also a Table. This is described in Exodus 25:23-30. There was always to be special bread on this as an offering to God.

God also told Moses to make a special mixture of spices (Exod 30:34-38). We call this 'incense'. When the priest burnt it, it made a pleasant smell. The smoke rose up into the air and this was a picture of prayer. Our prayers rise to God and they are pleasant to Him. Moses also made an altar from gold and the priests burnt the incense on it.. [9.2]. This altar is usually thought to be in the Holy Place.

Behind the second curtain was the Most Holy Place. There was the Covenant Chest (verses 4 and 5). This was behind the second curtain. We may be sorry that the writer was not able to write in detail about all this. No doubt he would have had many good things to teach us (verse 5).

There are, it seems, two kinds of angels, the cherubim (see Genesis 3:24; Ezekiel 10:20) and the seraphim or burning beings. 'The Glory' here means God's presence. The main teaching is plain. In the Holy Place the priests had three things. There was light. There was an offering to God, the bread. There was burning incense, a picture of prayer. But the way into the Most Holy Place was not open. The second curtain was in the way. The Most Holy Place was the place where men might have met with God. That was the place where sin could be dealt with, so that man would find peace with God. And only one man, on one day in the year, could go in (verses 7 and 8). So there was some light in the darkness: there was prayer; and there was an offering to God, but no real coming near to Him. The various limits, which God put on entry by the priests into the Most Holy Place, were to show that there was something better to come.

As we have already seen, the High Priest had to splash blood on the gold Cover. He had to do this for himself first because he was a sinner. Then after that he did it for the people. Even then, the blood was only to deal with some sins. Only the sins they had done because they knew no better were 'covered' by the blood. [9.3].

The purpose of religion is that a sinner may have peace with God. Now the Jewish worship could not give this to sinners. Christ does. We do not obey God all the time. We are still sinners. But we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (verse 9).

Verse 10 shows us something else. The Jewish worship could not bring men all the way to God. But it did not reach right into the hearts of men either.

Verses 11-14: The blood of Jesus

Verse 11 tells us that God has 'good things' for sinners. This includes forgiveness for our sins; the New Birth, the work of the Holy Spirit; the hope of eternal glory, and much more. Now the work which a priest has to do is to bring men to God He also has to bring from God to men the 'good things' that He has to give to us. The Jewish High Priest was not able to bring men to God: Jesus can! And the High Priest could not bring God's 'good things' to us: again, Jesus can! [9.4].

(Verse 12)The writer is still thinking about the real 'Tent' in heaven, not the 'copy' on earth. (See 8:5, and 9:8.) The blood of bulls and goats was good enough for the Jewish High Priest to take with him when he went into the 'copy' on earth. Jesus gave His own blood. He poured it out when He died on the cross. It has greater worth than the blood of any animal. No animal chose to give its blood as an offering. Jesus did (John 10: 17 - 18). The animal offerings had to be perfect bodies. Jesus was perfect, without sin. He did nothing wrong. But more, He did all that God wanted Him to do. He was obedient. The worth of His blood is greater because He is the man who is also the Son of God. (See Acts 20:28; 1 John 1:7. It is the blood of Jesus, God's Son.) It has so much worth that Jesus has the right to enter the Most Holy Place in heaven.

God sets a high value on blood. The Jews were not allowed to eat it. (See Leviticus 11:10-14.) 'The life of the flesh is in the blood'. So when we read about the blood of Jesus, we really read about His life. When we read about His blood poured out, we really read about His death.

When Jesus gave His life, and poured out His blood in death for us, He made it clear that He agreed with God His Father. Jesus said that God was just. God had joined sin and death together. God said that unless blood was poured out, there could be no forgiveness for our sins. (See verse 22.) And Jesus says: 'That is right. This is the only way to deal with sin'. [9.5]. Jesus came from heaven to find a way to rescue sinners. He paid the price to rescue us. That was His blood. Now He has gone back to heaven but He has the power to rescue us.

Verse 13 tells us first that the priests killed bulls and goats. The priests gave the blood of the bulls and goats, to God as an offering for people's sins. But then the writer begins to talk about one part of the Jewish worship that was quite different and special. We have to turn to Numbers 19 to read about this. It will be worth your while to look at this chapter of Numbers.

There, in verse 1, God spoke to Moses and to his brother Aaron who was the High Priest. In verse 2, we read that the Jewish people were to bring to Moses and Aaron a young cow. It was to be brown all over - not bright red. There was to be nothing wrong with it. [9.6.] If an animal had something wrong with it, it was not good enough to be used in the worship of God.

In verse 3, Eleazer, Aaron's son was not the High Priest. He was to take the young cow out of the Camp in which the Jews lived. He watched while someone else killed it. In verse 5, they burnt the cow to ashes. They even burnt the blood. They added other things to the fire. [9.7.] In verse 9, another man had to gather up the ashes and store them.

Verse 11 explains how these ashes were used. If anyone touched a dead body, he was 'unclean'. He could not join in the worship of God. He had done nothing wrong. It is not a sin to touch a dead body. So this is only a picture of sin. Sin really does stop us from coming near to God. So now in verse 17 we begin to read how a man splashed the ashes and water on anyone who had touched a dead body. 'At evening he shall be clean'. He will no longer be stopped from joining in the worship of God. [9.8].

So there is a picture of sin - touching a dead body. There is a picture of making a sinner clean - splashing him with water and ashes. But there is a real change. A man who could not join in the worship of God before he was splashed could do so afterwards.

So the writer to Hebrews says that instead of the ashes and water, we have the blood of Christ which is of far greater worth. Instead of a picture of sin, we have real sins. But the blood of Christ makes a real change. The memory of all the wrong things that we have done is in our 'conscience'. I know what I have done. God too knows. And I know that God knows. 'Conscience' means 'knowing with'. I know with God. That stops me from coming close to Him. But the blood of Jesus makes me pure inside so that now I can come to God. [9.9].

'Dead works' means religion that does not bring life to us. God is 'the living God' because He has life to give to us. Dead worship must not be given to the living God! The first readers of this letter knew that all the life had gone out of the Jewish worship in the Temple.

Before we leave these verses, there are one or two more things to say. When the young cow was killed, a priest was needed. But it was done away from the Tent or Temple. There was no altar. It was all done away from the camp. (See Hebrews 13:12,13.) So we must go to Jesus to be rescued from our sin. We may have to go away from other people to do this. When we go to Jesus, we may have to go away from our family. We may have to go away from the customs that our family has always kept.

Verses 15-22: The Blood of the Covenant

In these verses the writer brings together two thoughts. One thought is of Jesus as the 'middleman' or 'bridge' between God and men. He is the 'Middleman ’ of the two Agreements that God has given to men. The other thought is of the blood of Jesus.

In verse 15, the writer says these five things.

1. We are all sinners. But God had given to the Jews the Old Agreement, which is here called the first covenant. The sins of the Jews were worse because God had been so good to the people. Their sins just piled up. There was no way to get rid of them.

2. Jesus died, and paid the price so that He could rescue us all from our sins. The Jews were not left out of this. Paul also says this in Romans 3:25.

3. The blood of Christ makes clean our 'conscience' and this means we can now worship God (verse 14). So Jesus is the 'go-between' or 'middleman' between God and men. He makes God's new Agreement work.

4. We are 'called' by God to share in this. We hear God's word, the Good News. The Holy Spirit tells us this is the truth. We feel God's power at work in us. He tells us to become followers of Jesus. [9.10].

5. The Good News is that God makes promises to us and keeps them. (See 6:17.) He promises to forgive our sins when we trust Jesus. He promises to give to us His Holy Spirit. He promises to give us life forever when we die. But there is something more here.

Usually when a man dies, he passes on everything he has to his sons. They are his 'heirs'. God has made us His sons (Rom 8:14-16). But we are not only God's sons, we are His heirs (Rom 8:17). What a man leaves to his children when he dies is their 'inheritance'. It may be money. It may not be much. It may not last long. But if we are children of God, we have an eternal 'inheritance'. (See 1 Peter 1:4; Revelation 21:6,7; Acts 20:32.) It is 'eternal' so that no one can ever take it away from us. It lasts for ever.

So in verse 16, the writer thinks back from the 'inheritance' to the 'Will' which a man makes. He writes down his wishes. He says what he wants to happen to his money, his property and his belongings when he dies. He sets out in his Will what each of his family and friends are to have. [9.11]. God's 'Will' is that through Jesus we should be rescued from sin and given eternal life. This can only happen because of the death of Jesus. (verse 17). Jesus is different, because He died and rose again!

Verses 18-21 use some verses from Exodus 24:3-8. [9.12]. Moses had to use the blood from animals that had been killed in the worship of God. He needed this blood to make things clean and fit for the worship of God. So in verse 22, there are two things said about us. First, God only forgives our sins because Jesus poured out His blood when He died on the cross. Second, if we are to be pure, and able to come to God and worship Him, it can only be because of the blood of Jesus. (See Zechariah 13: 1.)

Verses 23-28: Jesus will come again!

In verse 23, the writer says once again that the Tent which was made by Moses and all the things that went with it were only copies of real things in heaven. These copies on earth had to be made clean. To make them clean for God's worship the blood of animals offered to God in worship was good enough. There is no doubt that the 'better sacrifices' with which the 'heavenly things' are made clean means the death and poured out blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9.13]. What then are the 'heavenly things?’ Surely we are! There is nothing in heaven that needs to be made clean. But we do. And we are called to heaven. It is our home. (In John's Gospel 3:10 our Lord speaks in much the same way. 'Earthly things' there means the New Birth).

Verses 24-28 speak about three times when Christ 'appears'.

1. In verse 26, He appeared on earth among men to die as an offering for sin.

2. He has risen from death and now He appears before God, for our good. (verse 24).

3. In verse 28, we have the promise that He will appear again at His Second Coming in glory.

There are many other very important things for us in these verses.

(a) The High Priest offered the blood of animals to God many times, but he did not suffer. When Jesus offered His blood and His life to God because of our sins, He suffered. If Jesus had to offer Himself again, He would have to suffer again. These two things cannot be separated (verses 25 and 26). Jesus did not suffer more than He had to in order to rescue us from sin and death. Nor did He suffer more often than He had to in order to save us.

(b) Jesus appeared 'once for all time' at the end of the 'old age' of the Jewish Law.

(c) Verse 27 teaches us that God has made man in such a way that he has to die once. Jesus is a real man too. So He offered Himself to God in death once. [9.14].

(d) We die once, and after that, God will judge us. John Bunyan's Pilgrim found that he was not willing to do the first - to die - and not able to do the second - come to God's judgment. Some religions teach that at death the soul goes out of a man and may wander for long ages before it come back to earth in a different body. There is no place for such ideas in the Bible. They are cruel ideas because they carry the idea of punishment and reward; and yet the soul does not remember what happened to it before and cannot learn by it. The Bible is clear. As we are when we die, so we shall be when we stand before God at judgment. If we are saved when we die, we shall be saved at the judgment day. If we are lost when we die, we are lost for ever. We must turn from our sin and trust Christ in this life. (See 1 Corinthians 5:10; Matthew 25: 31-46.)

(e) We are told that the Jews waited outside the Tent (or later the Temple) when the High Priest went into the Most Holy Place. When he came out, there must have been joy among them. Now we too wait. We do not see Jesus, our great High Priest, but we shall have great joy when He comes out from heaven.

(f) Christ came once to deal with our sins. He will come again (verse 28) but when He comes again, it will not have anything to do with sin.