Hebrews 9:15-26: Purged with Blood
2023-03-25
Hebrews 9:15
We have seen previously how Jesus is our mediator between the Father and us. This also includes that Jesus is the mediator of the new testament. The words for testament and covenant are the same. The translator likely chose “testament” here because of the use of the word “testator” in the immediate context. The phrase “new testament” and “new covenant” are identical in meaning in the Bible.
He was the mediator of the testament by His death. The transgressions spoken of were under the first covenant. The first covenant, as we have seen, shows us our sinfulness. “Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful” (Romans 7:13). Jesus redeemed us from that.
The first testament brought death; the second one brings life. His blood is not automatic, but rather only applied to those who are called, namely, those who are born again and believe.
Hebrews 9:16-17
A testator is one who makes a will, leaving instructions for what happens after his death. Any inheritance to be given is after the testator dies.
The word testator is translated as “appoint” elsewhere. Jesus said, “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:29-30). The Lord appointed the Twelve to rule with Him over the tribes of Israel. Being that this is the resurrection, eternal life is a part of that inheritance.
The word “made” is the same word also in this verse: “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (Acts 3:25). It is a covenant word.
We see like usage here, which we saw in the last chapter, with the word “make”: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” (Hebrews 8:10).
All the promises of God culminate in the death of Jesus. Everything the Lord promised is fulfilled with the death, and by assumption the resurrection, of Christ.
Hebrews 9:18-20
Blood was a central theme to the Old Testament and its elaborate sacrificial system. The quote in Hebrews 9:20 is from Exodus 24:8. Consider the discussion here. (Exodus 24:1-11.)
What does it mean about the water, scarlet, and hyssop? Consider the discussion here.
Hebrews 9:21-22
Whether it is the tabernacle or its vessels, blood purges it. The Law required blood sacrifices at many junctures. Here is a reference to Leviticus 17:11. See the discussion here.
Hebrews 9:23
The “patterns of things in the heavens” is the tabernacle as we have seen. These were a picture of heavenly realities. For example, a photograph of your family is not your family; it is merely a picture, showing what your family looks like. Your family is not that small and is not two dimensional! Likewise, this pattern is not the same as the thing it signified.
The tabernacle was purified with “these.” What things are referred to in the word “these”? Previously, we saw the significance of the blood. This also refers to the water, scarlet, and hyssop (Hebrews 9:19). There is a cleansing aspect, and permanent staining aspect, and an applying aspect. The Lord Jesus Christ took of His own blood, He purified us (compare with water), He permanently marked us with His blood (compare with the scarlet dye), and He applied it by the baptism that He gives us (compare with hyssop). This is what David needed after he committed grievous sin which required capital punishment, which we also need. “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalms 51:7). We need something beyond figurative ceremony to permanently redeem us from sin.
These things are all from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is a “better sacrifice” than these worldly pictures that do not really effect change within us.
Hebrews 9:24
We know that Jesus never went into the holiest on earth. He went into heaven itself. Is God in the earthly holiest place? Sure, He is there. God is omnipresent. Consider Psalm 139:7-12. David rhetorically asked where he could go to hide from God. His Spirit and His presence are everywhere. Here we see a verse that shows the deity of the Holy Spirit. From here to the uttermost part of the sea, from the highest heaven to the lowest hell, He is everywhere. Whether in light or in complete darkness, He can see everything, an allusion to His omniscience.
We often say that sinners are separated from God and that the lake of fire is a permanent separation, but never forget this separation is not proximity, but in relationship. Even in the lake of fire, one is not separated from God’s presence. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name” (Revelation 14:9-11). The Lord Jesus, who is fully God, overlooks the lake of fire forever according to these verses.
However, we talk about the presence of God in heaven, we differentiate between His omnipresence and a specific location where His throne and the seat of His glory is. “And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald” (Revelation 4:2-3).
Jesus Christ went into this place. “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne” (Revelation 5:5-7).
We see this again in Daniel 7:9-14. We see the Ancient of Days, the Father, on His throne. The Son of man, Jesus Christ went into the Father, and went near to Him. He was given all authority and the kingdom.
He went in there on our behalf, and He remains there as our advocate and mediator. The interpretation of Daniel’s vision does not mention the Son of man again, but rather we read, “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him” (Daniel 7:27). Those saints are saints because the Son of man went into the throne of the Father.
Hebrews 9:25-26
Unlike Aaron’s descendants, Jesus went into heaven once. He did not offer a sacrifice of something else on His behalf, like the priests of old. He offered Himself once. He did not need to do so a second time, for He was accepted by the Father the first time. Once was sufficient.
The promise of His completion was promised at the dawn of time in the garden. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). At the end of time, He fulfilled the oracle. Recall by the end of the world or last days, we refer to our current age, or time since Christ, as we saw in Hebrews 1:1-2.
When it is said that He “put away sin,” a cancellation took place. The penalty for sin has been removed, and by this we have power over sin and will be removed one day from sin forever. The English phrase “put away” throughout the Bible shows us a complete separation from something, especially idols and sin, and it is also used in the case of divorce. We are separated from our sin once for all in Jesus Christ.
He was a sacrifice, which entails Him putting Himself forward as payment for sin. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:25). We often use the word sacrifice to mean giving up something. While this is true of Jesus, giving up heaven to suffer for more than thirty years of time, the term “sacrifice” should be thought of as an act of propitiation and atonement for sin; His sacrifice appeased God on behalf of our sin.