It’s all about Jesus
The Bible is all about Jesus – The Old Testament points to our need of Jesus. The gospels shows us how Jesus sorted our greatest need. The epistles show us how to live in the good of Christ’s first coming as we await His second.
Hebrews 9 shows how the Old Testament sacrificial system, Tabernacle and Temple all point to Jesus. The first readers of the Hebrews were Jewish background Christians facing persecution and temptation and tempted to go back to just Judaism.
Jesus is the fulfilment of what the Mosaic system foreshadowed. The new covenant makes the old one obsolete. It was a shadow or copy of the heavenly reality.
So what does the tabernacle represent?
There’s lots of theories! The Bible gives three answers
The tabernacle represents the universe. The High Priests going through represents Jesus’ passing through to get to the very immediate presence of God. The courtyard represents the world and the tabernacle represents heaven.
The tabernacle represents the progress from the old to the new covenant. The veil between the holy place and the most holy place is torn. The first covenant with its ineffective sacrifices is the Holy Place. Jesus is the veil – when his body was broken the veil was torn and the way into the Most Holy Place at any time (not just by the High Priest once a year).
The writer admits no space to write in more detail! The tabernacle was built to God’s design as a copy and shadow of heavenly things. Christ has done it! And is now sat on the heavenly mercy seat speaking for us!
The High Priest used to have to go into the Most Holy Place once a year. Christ has done it once in a much greater way. The much used Holy Place was a symbol of the old covenant where worshippers outside gave sacrifices to the Priests to make that were entirely symbolic andhad no spiritual power. The law was weak it had no power.
The coming of Jesus set things fully right. All the blessings of the new covenant are now available to us. We have the empowering and assuring work of the Spirit, giving us certainty we are children of God and access to those blessings. We can pray in confidence, the foretaste of the resurrection given by the Spirit and fellowship with Him.
V13-14 indicates that the gospel sprinkles Christ’s blood on our consciences. Whereas the Old Testament priest sprinkled blood on people’s bodies, Christ sprinkles it on our consciences – we feel clean with in and have a sense of God’s love.
Notice the tenses in v12-15
In verse 12 a past tense – we have received eternal redemption.
In verse 14 a future tense – we shall day by day receive a cleansed conscience.
In verse 15 a subjunctive is used we may or might receive the full inheritance. It is not automatic. it is received by faith and patience. It is made possible by the blood of Christ.
The last section makes it clear that blood shed is required. Verse 22 shows us the law required blood to be shed for forgiveness. The fulfilment is Jesus on the cross. Blood stresses the punishment for sin that was requited that involved the death of Jesus
Marinate on that
Andy