Hebrews 9:11-14 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The act of God saving Israel from Egypt is a type or a shadow of the salvation we have in Christ.

When Israel cried out to God (Exodus 2:23-25) the Lord heard them, and raised up a Redeemer. “The people groaned because of their slavery, and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery went up to God.” While we are satisfied with our lives, satisfied that “we are gods” or that the gods we have created are sufficient, God will not help. But when we realize that we need the True God, the Power of God Himself, and cry out, God will raise up the Redeemer.

God raised up a Redeemer in Moses for Israel. Moses is a type or a shadow of Christ. Moses goes to Egypt – the Lost World – and demands that Pharaoh release God’s people. Why? God told Moses to say:

Exodus 7:16 … The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let My people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness …

Exodus 8:1 … Let My people go, that they may serve me.

Exodus 8:20 … Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go, that they may serve me.

God saved Israel from Egypt so that “they might serve God”. This is a pattern of salvation. God saves us, rescuing us from Egypt or the World, so that we might serve Him. We are not to serve ourselves, but Him Who saved us. We live for Him.

Under the Old Covenant People Served God
By Eternally Striving To Be Saved

Israel was saved to serve. We are saved to serve. What was the difference between the service of the believer under the Old Covenant as compared with the service of the believer under the New Covenant? That’s where the Lord is taking us today. Read with me:

Hebrews 9:1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.

Under the Old or the First Covenant, service to God was accomplished mainly in a worldly sanctuary. All service to God was mainly accomplished in the Tabernacle (the Tent of Meeting) or in the Temple. These were “ordinances of divine service”. The word “ordinances” is the Greek dikaíōma, {pronounced dik-ah’-yo-mah}, which means “deeds required for justification or righteousness, laws established that ensured salvation”. There were things that you had to strictly adhere to to retain your salvation before God. This was a works salvation.

The Law governed what you are as clean or unclean.
The Law required frequent animals sacrifices to cover sin.
The Law required ceremonial washings and cleansings.
The Law required set feasts and celebrations.
The Law controlled who approached God, and who did not.

We read:

Hebrews 9:2-5 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the sanctuary. 3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.

Breakdown of the Temple: Under the Old Covenant when you entered the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and looked left you would see the Golden Candlestick. This Candlestick was pure gold, beaten and made of one piece. It had a main light, but also six branches of lights meaning there were seven lamps in total. The Golden Candlestick cast light on the Table of Shewbread. The Table of Shewbread had twelve loaves of bread – one for each Tribe of Israel – to show God’s provision for His people. These were shadows of what would come under the New Covenant.

The Golden Candlestick represented the Holy Spirit of God, and Table of Shewbread the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus told us:

John 6:32-35 (ESV) Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

As the Golden Candlestick illuminated and revealed the Table of Shewbread, the Holy Spirit illuminated and revealed Jesus as the Messiah, the Savior of the world. In the inner most part of the Temple – called here the “Holiest of all” – was the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant represented God.

Who served God in the Temple? The people who brought the sacrifices, but also the Priests that killed the sacrifices. Blood was shed, and carried into the Holy of Holies, making Atonement for the sins of the people.

Hebrews 9:6-7 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

The PRIESTS or Levites served God in the first part of the Tabernacle, “accomplishing the service of God”. The HIGH PRIEST or the sons of Aaron served God in the Holiest part of the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies. The people brought sacrifices for their sins, and the priests and the High Priest made the sacrifices and made the offerings.

Under the Old Covenant, the works of the Law were accomplished to insure your place as an Israelite, and as a saved believer in God. The intent of the Law was to show that we could not save ourselves no matter how hard we tried.

While the Holy of Holies stood, the “WAY INTO THE HOLIEST OF ALL”, the Way into Heaven, was not manifested.

Hebrews 9:8-10 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

The earthly Tabernacle and the human priests could not make the worshipers perfect or right with God. “The Way into the holiest (God’s Heaven) was not yet manifest while the first Tabernacle was standing”. Man cannot save himself. We cannot make ourselves right with God by any work that we do. We can go through the motions – but it is highly ineffective. God must save us!

What is “The WAY unto the Holiest of All”? It is JESUS. Jesus said (John 14:6) “I AM THE WAY, the Truth, and the Life: No man or woman cometh unto the Father BUT BY ME”.

The New Covenant Saves The Believer
So We Can Serve God

When the Gentiles began to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the question came up as to circumcision. We are told in the Book of Acts:

Acts 15:5-6 (ESV) some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” 6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

A sect of believing Pharisees rose up in the Church, people who did not understand the fullness of the grace of the New Covenant. They wanted to impose the Old Covenant requirements on the Gentiles. They wanted to require circumcision on every male believer, and require the keeping of the Law of Moses, the feasts and sacrifices, the holy days and sabbaths, the laws of food and drink. As the elders (the Pastors) of the early Church deliberated on this, the Apostle Peter spoke up, saying:

Acts 15:7-11 (ESV) Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.

The concept that salvation is by works is a yoke on the neck of the believer. It is a yoke that, in time, you cannot bear. Salvation has always been a free gift of God.

Noah, who lived long before the Law, was saved by Grace.
Enoch, who lived long before Sinai and Moses, was saved by Grace.
Abraham, the father of faith, was wholly saved by Grace.

The New Covenant was not God’s “Plan B” because mankind failed the Old Covenant. God saved Israel from Egypt BY GRACE before He ever gave them the Law.

Why did God institute the Law? Because Israel kept making golden Calves. Israel kept trying to save herself. Only God can save. Only God is God.

Hebrews 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

The Levitical High Priest served God in a worldly Tabernacle or Temple. But Jesus Christ serves God not in an earthly Temple, but in the “perfect tabernacle” of Heaven, that place which is “not made with hands”. Heaven is God’s structure, God’s construction. No man laid the street of gold. No man put up the gates of pearl. No man builds mansion in that place, but the God-Man Christ Jesus. He builds mansions there. He, the Son of God, reigns in that place.

Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

The Bible says:

Galatians 3:19 (ESV) Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

Why did God give the complicated, convoluted, crippling Law at Mount Sinai? It was added “BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS”, because Israel would not listen to or obey the voice of God by faith. The Law was like a king over Israel. When Israel had God as its King, it needed no other King. God is the Perfect King. But Israel wanted a King so they would be like the other nations – so God stepped down and gave them a king.

They traded the King of Kings for a king. But God promised in David that He would send a King of Kings once more (2 Samuel 7:8-29).

The Law was given “until the offspring should come”, the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. When the Lord Jesus Christ came, He came to offer Himself for His Sheep. He said:

John 10:11-15 (AP) … I am the Good Shepherd – not a hired hand. I know My Sheep, and they know Me. I know the Father, and He knows Me. I lay down MY LIFE FOR THE SHEEP…

No one took Jesus’ life – He laid it down of His own will (John 10:18). The Eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ, was “made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death” (Hebrews 2:9). Jesus TASTED DEATH FOR EVERYONE. The Bible says that Jesus did not take the blood of the Old Covenant, the blood of animals that were without spot or blemish, into the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Jesus BYPASSED THE TEMPLE. The Bible says:

by his own blood he entered in once
into the holy place

The priests entered into the Holy of Holies years after year, sacrificing frequently for the sins of man. But Jesus carried HIS OWN BLOOD into the Holiest of All, into Heaven itself. His Blood was efficacious and effective. He entered ONCE into Heaven, paying for our sins. How effective was the Blood of Christ. We are told that Jesus:

obtained eternal redemption for us

Read the text carefully. It doesn’t say that Jesus obtained eternal LIFE for us, but that He obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION. The word rendered REDEMPTION is the Greek lýtrōsis, {pronounced loo’-tro-sis}, which means “deliverance from the penalty of sin”. The believer in Christ is no longer enslaved to sin. The believer in Christ is no longer bound to the darkness. The believer in Christ is now a purchased possession of God. As the Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 6:20 {you} are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 7:23 {you} are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

You who are saved by faith in Christ belong to Him Who saved you. You are children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You were redeemed from Egypt, from the world, so that you can serve the Living God.

Hebrews 9:13-14 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The blood of bulls, goats, the heifer all sanctified to the purifying of the flesh. It outwardly cleansed the offerer, but did nothing for the soul or the spirit. Just as the High Priest going into the Holy of Holies was a shadow, the sacrifices were shadows, without any real substance. The offerer had to constantly be examining himself to see if he fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Law. What was the net effect? Under the Old Covenant people were constantly sacrificing and keeping the Law in order to stay in God’s graces. But under the New Covenant, Jesus did the work.

There is no more sacrifice for sin.
The work is done, so we as children of God can focus on serving our Lord. Not to be saved – but because we are saved. Having Eternal Redemption, we also have an Eternal Inheritance.

Hebrews 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

We who are saved have an “ETERNAL INHERITANCE” waiting for us. We who are saved by faith in Christ are promised that when we leave this life, we will enter another life where our Father is God, our Brother is Christ, and the Holy Spirit will be with us forever. We are not just given forgiveness now – but that state continues into eternity because of Christ. We stand right with God because of Jesus.

Are You Ready For Your Appointment?

I want to close by skipping down to the last two verses in this text:

Hebrews 9:27-28 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Each and every person in this place – on the face of the earth – has an appointment with death. It is sure, and it is certain. You will ONCE DIE. But will you just ONCE DIE, or will you DIE TWICE? If you are in a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, you will only DIE ONCE. But if you have no relationship with Jesus – if you are not one of His Sheep, His Followers – then you will DIE TWICE. The Bible speaks of this in:

Revelation 20:11-15 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

God will judge every person who stands before Him at this Great White Throne. As we read in this text, “they were judged every man according to their works”. What is “The Work of God” that God is looking for when He judges their works? Jesus said:

John 6:29 (AP) THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD, that you BELIEVE ON HIM WHOM GOD HAS SENT …

You have an appointment with God, with judgment, coming. Have you believed on Jesus? Or are you relying on your good works to get you into Heaven. They will not. What will get you into Heaven is the WORK OF GOD which is to BELIEVE ON JESUS. To give your life to Him. To trust Him, and follow Him as your Good Shepherd. When you do so, your name will be written in the Book of Life. But if you will not surrender to Him, following Him, loving Him, then the Bible says:

whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire

This is the SECOND DEATH. Oh Beloved, do not put it off. Recognize yourself as a sinner in need of the Savior. REPENT of be8ing your own God, and turn to Him Who is God the Son, Who died on Calvary for your sins and mine. Turn to Him Who today sits at the right hand of God the Father, Whose Blood cleanses us from all sin.

Do not delay. Come to Him today! Your works will ever fall short if you put them BEFORE Jesus. Once saved, you will work for Him. Not to BE saved, but BECAUSE you are saved.

May God speak His Word deep into your heart. Amen and Amen.