Establishing the Superiority of Jesus Christ (II)

This post is part II of a three-part commentary exploring the superiority of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant to the Old Covenant as set out by the author of the book of Hebrews in Chapter 9. See previous post for Part I.

Verses 16–20:

c. In order for those who lived under the Old Covenant to receive the promised eternal inheritance — as opposed to the earthly, temporary inheritance that the Old Covenant delivered — this New Covenant must address both their shortcomings and those of the Old Covenant itself.

How does Jesus mediate the New Covenant, remit the sins under the Old Covenant and deliver the promised Eternal Inheritance to those who are called?

The (multi faceted, or as described in Ephesians 1, the glorious riches. In other words, these many faces of our inheritance in Christ are the glorious riches) eternal inheritance is the provision of the New/Everlasting Covenant.

d.The Greek Word for Covenant and Legal Will are the same, so the Apostle deliberately invokes the image of the legal will and inheritance here to teach us that,

1. God’s will for man is found in the covenant He made with him in Christ, which also specifies how God’s estate will be bequeathed to man. [Heb. 8:8–12; 2 Cor. 5:1; 1 Pet. 1:4; 2 Pet. 1:4]

2. For the will of God for man, or the covenant that God made with man, to be fulfilled, Christ, God in human form, had to die. The chattels on the will are not shareable until the testator, the person whose estate is to be divided according to the will, passes away. Because the person who wrote the will forfeits his claim to, and possession of, his belongings upon his death. This is why even the Old Covenant was dedicated with blood. [Exodus 24:1–8].

In verses 21–22a however, he introduces and expounds another thought; one that is more familiar to the Jewish mind — purification/cleansing by atonement/remission. [Exodus 29:36]

Here, he has moved from using the image of the Testament and the Testator and the necessity of His death, to reminding them of the Old Testament ritual of slaughtering animals and sprinkling the blood on the furniture of the Tabernacle (and even smearing said blood on the high priest and his sons).

The reason? He wants to show us that as the death of Jesus was needful for the new covenant to be enacted; that the blood of Jesus shed at His death was needful to accomplish atonement and purification. The ultimate and final purification necessary for man to be eligible for both his promised eternal inheritance in God and pure, unhindered intimacy with Him.

In Exodus 29, one of the texts of scripture he’s referring to, God told Moses to take a bull and two rams without blemish, while Aaron and his sons, the high priest and the high priests in waiting lay hands on each of them as they’re slaughtered before the tabernacle, which was to symbolize their identification with the animals’ blamelessness. (We will revisit this later.)

And then in verse 12, God says Moses must take the blood of this bull and put it on the horns of the altar with his finger,

In verse 36, God orders the offering of a bull as a daily sin offering for atonement. (The sin offering is offered to make atonement for sins so that the offerer does not live under the burden/weight of guilt and the judgment of his sin).

And that in making atonement for the altar, it is purified from its intrinsic impurity and consequently for use in the worship of God. So it was done to all the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle, even on the Day of Atonement. [Exodus 24:1–8; Lev. 16:33]

Essentially, as stated very clearly in Exodus 29:36, atonement purifies. i.e. the blood of a blameless animal offered confers the status of blamelessness on the offerer and anything or anyone that identifies with it by smearing or sprinkling.

This cleansing or purification was declared as a must or needful for things that were earthly copies of heavenly realities. The blood of animals was sufficient to accomplish this needful cleansing, in the Old Covenant. But, for heavenly things, the original substances can neither be reached nor cleansed by the blood of animals, the apostle argues. For the heavenly tabernacle, which are far superior to the earthly copies, to be cleansed, then better sacrifices would be required!

He’s implying here, that the animals that were offered and whose blood accomplished the cleansing in the Old, were types of Christ. Their being without blemish was pointing forward to One Whom God is preparing to send, Who is the truly pure One. And this is not a novel understanding — see John 1:29;36; Is. 53:7; 1 Pet 1:19]

In those animals, God was indicating that He (the One without blemish) is giving Himself in sacrifice for the sins of His people, thereby accomplishing purification by atonement. Or, atonement and consequently, purification. Then temporarily and skin-deep, now eternally and heart-deep.

Why do heavenly things need cleansing?

Now, the question- why do “the heavenly things” need to be cleansed? Are they impure too? What made them impure?

It is important that we have no doubt in our hearts that nowhere in the scriptures is it most faintly or remotely implied that there is any impurity in the heavens of God. There isn’t the slightest suggestion of such an idea anywhere in the Holy Scriptures. We cannot in any way or form attempt to interpret a difficult text of scripture to entertain such a notion.

Remember, the Lord Jesus, in teaching His disciples to pray asked that God’s “will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” That is, heaven is the template for the civilization that God seeks to build on earth.

Heaven is the perfect expression of God’s desire; the perfect prototype of God’s will.

Hence there can’t possibly be any error or impurity whatsoever in heaven- heaven is not touched by the earth’s corruption.

What then, can these heavenly things being purified mean?

This commentary is split into three parts for easier reading. See Part III here.