Hebrews Part Two Lesson 11

HEBREWS – PART TWO – LESSON 11 “It’s Gone! For All of Time! It’s Gone, My Guilt is Gone!” Kay Arthur, Teacher

It’s gone for all of time! It’s gone; your guilt is gone! That is the message of Hebrews, and especially of Chapters 9 and 10. I want to ask you, precious one, are you living that way? Are you living with the knowledge and the faith that accepts the fact that God says that He has perfected you forever? That you are sanctified forever? And that because of that, you can come boldly to the throne of grace. You can draw near with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, knowing that your conscience has been cleansed, that you are clean before God. What more can He do, and what more can He say than what He has done and what He has said? Now, it is your turn, and my turn, to believe, and to come boldly to the throne of grace. That is the message of Hebrews 9 and 10. Go to Hebrews 9:1-5. We are going to move right through Hebrews 9, and right through Hebrews 10, verse by verse. In Hebrews 9:1-5, he tells us about the first covenant, and he tells us how, in the first covenant, they had regulations about worship and a divine sanctuary. We know from Hebrews 8 that he has talked about Christ being a minister, a priest, that has gone to the true tabernacle, and in that true tabernacle He has sat down at the throne of the majesty on high. Now he is going to take us back, in Hebrews 9,and he reviews the tabernacle for us. He reviews, specifically, one part of the tabernacle; and that part is the tent of meeting. The whole thing could be called the tent of meeting, and sometimes it was, but then they also called the inner part of the tabernacle where the holy place and the Holy of Holies the tent of meeting. (1) “Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. (2) For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread;” [He is talking about the holy place. On the right, as you went in the holy place, there was a table of showbread. Then on the left hand side was a seven-branched candlestick. Before the veil was an altar of incense. Hebrews 9 talks about a censor, and I think that he is talking about the censor that is behind the veil where the ark of the covenant was, because, on the Day of Atonement, which is the focus of Hebrews 9, the high priest took the censor and the coals off the altar of incense (there are four horns there), and he went inside to the Holy of Holies, into the presence of God. When he went, he had to go within the veil. When he went within the veil, there was only one piece of furniture in there, beside the censor that he was carrying, and that piece of furniture was called the ark of the covenant. That ark of the covenant had a mercy seat on top of it, and that mercy seat was considered a separate piece of furniture. They made the ark, and when they first made it, they put the testimony in it (the tables of the Law). Later they would add Aaron’s rod that budded, and the pot of manna. Then they put the mercy seat on top of the ark, so that when God looked down, there was not judgment upon man, but there was mercy. There were cherubim attached to each side of that mercy seat that hovered over the mercy seat. This represented the very throne of God. This is the focus in Hebrews. He does not go to the outer tabernacle at all.] I want to take you back to Exodus 40:17. In Exodus 40, they have just completed the tabernacle, and they are putting all the furniture in place. (17) “Now it came about in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was erected. (18) And Moses erected the tabernacle and laid its sockets, and set up its boards, and inserted its bars and erected its pillars. (19) And he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” [This is the part of the tabernacle that he is talking about. He is talking about the holy place and the Holy of Holies. It had a tent around it, and then a covering went over the top of it. So it made it dark inside, except for the light of the candlestick, which represented Jesus as the light of the world in the midst of darkness. He is the one that gives us light.] (20) “Then he took the testimony and put it into the ark,” [The testimony in the ark is the ten commandments written on those tables of stone. He put it inside the ark. Those ten commandments represented the Law, and if you broke the Law, you would die, unless you broke it unintentionally. Then you would have to come and make a sacrifice. So every time the Law was broken, then a death of one sort or another had to occur. The ark, without the mercy seat, brought condemnation to man, because man had 1 broken the Law.] (20b) “And he put the mercy seat on top of the ark. (21) And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up a veil for the screen, and screened off the ark of the testimony, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” [He is talking about the veil that separates the Holy of Holies from the holy place.] (22) “Then he put the table in the tent of meeting (the showbread on the right), on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil. (23) And he set the arrangement of bread in order on it before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (24) Then he placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.” [Remember now that the tabernacle was always pitched to the east, in the light of the rising sun. That is where the one door to the tabernacle was pitched—in the east.] (25) “And he lighted the lamps before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (26) Then he placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the veil;” [He is talking about the altar of incense, right here in front of the veil in the tent of meeting.] (27) “and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (28) Then he set up the veil for the doorway of the tabernacle.” [Now he is going to move us outward. He is moving us from God’s perspective outward, from the throne of God outward.] (29) “And he set the altar of burnt offering before the doorway of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (30) And he placed the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing.” [As you come in the door, you have the altar of brass. This is a picture of the cross of Jesus Christ where sins are taken care of. Then there is a laver, and the laver is where the priests wash daily. This is a picture of our daily cleansing in Christ Jesus as a kingdom of priests unto God. So this was the tabernacle. Now watch what happens.] (34) “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (35) And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” [This “glory of the Lord” was a pillar of cloud during the day. At night, when they traveled, it was a pillar of fire. It was called the shekinah glory, and it represented the very presence of God. This is where the shekinah rested. It rested over the tabernacle.] (36) “And throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; (37) but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. (38) For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.” Can you imagine what it was like to camp in that camp? Can you imagine what it was like to look and to see that pillar of cloud, and to know that your God had come down to dwell with you? At night to walk out and to look up at the stars and to think about Him so far away, and then catch your eye with that pillar of fire, and know that God had come down to be with you? God dwelt there. Look at Numbers 7:89. “Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him.” [This is where God spoke to Moses. Moses would hear God from the very mercy seat, and as He spoke from the mercy seat between the cherubim, he was talking to God. God was talking to him. What did that ark of the covenant with the mercy seat and those cherubim represent? It represented the very throne of God. Now, it was not the true throne; it was a copy and a shadow of the true in heaven.] Go to Revelation 4:1, and let’s take a quick look at what it is like in heaven, and see the comparison. (1) “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, ‘Come up here, I will show you what must take place after these things.’” [Can you imagine what is coming in the future? That is what Revelation lays down for us. We can know what is coming in the future, so we won’t be shaken. I was listening to Revelation last night on my audio tape, and just listening to it and thinking about it, and thinking about all that God is to us—it is so wonderful!] (2) “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. (3) And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. (4) And around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns 2 on their heads. (5) And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of the burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;” [What does that remind you of right here? The menorah, the candlestick before the throne.] (6) “and before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.” Now go back to Hebrews 9, and as you go back, I want you to see the next thing that God wants us to see in this chapter. He has given us a glimpse of the throne; He has talked about it briefly. He says, “Now we can’t speak in detail about these things.” And then, in v. 6, he says, “Now when these things have been thus prepared (when the tabernacle is set up), the priest are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship.” [He is talking about where the table of showbread is, and the candlestick, and the altar of incense.] (7) “but into the second only [the Holy of Holies behind the veil, where the ark of the covenant is) the high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. (8) The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing,” [In other words, the Holy Spirit, by having the priest go in only one time a year, two times—first for his own sins and the second time for the sins of the people—he is saying that because the priest has to go through all this, we haven’t really seen God’s way into His presence. It is closed up for now. Watch!] (9) “which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, (10) since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for imposed until a time of reformation.” [Do you know what you are going to see? You are going to see that the reformation has come, and because it has come, it is gone. What is gone? Your guilt is gone for all time. That is what he is going to show us.] But before we look at that, let’s go back to Leviticus 16. He is talking about the high priest going in only one time a year. He is going only in only one time a year, and he is going in two times on that day; first for his own sins, and then he is going to go in for sins of the people. He is saying that the people can’t go in to God. There is no way that the people can go in. A representative has to go in for them. We see this is Leviticus 16, as in the book of Leviticus he presents to us the Day of Atonement. The Jews call the Day of Atonement yom kippur. This is the most holy, sacred day in all of the year for the Jews, for this is the Day of Atonement. This is the day when they went through a ceremony (when the tabernacle was still standing) in which they had a cleansing for their sins that would last for one year. On this day, the priest would have to go into the Holy of Holies, first for himself. He would take the blood of a bull, and he would sacrifice that bull, take that blood, come to the altar of incense, get some goals off the altar of incense, put it in the censor, push back the veil, swing the incense in the Holy of Holies. Then he would walk into the Holy of Holies, take the blood of the bull which was slain for his sins, and put that blood on the mercy seat. That was so he could stand in the presence of God, with the blood having covered his sins. Then he would go back out, and he would take a goat. There were two goats on that Day of Atonement. They were two goats that were brought to the door of that tabernacle. This is what would happen. (7) “And he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. (8) And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.” [The word for “scapegoat” is azazel. They would take these two lots, and then the lot that fell on the goat for the Lord, that goat would be slaughtered. Its blood would be shed, and the priest would then take the blood of that goat, and he would come again to the Holy of Holies. He would take that blood of the goat, and he would put it on top of the mercy seat.] As you go through Hebrews 9, you are going to see “the blood, the blood, the blood” is emphasized. When you get to Hebrews 9:22, he is going to tell us the reason. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” The blood is significant, because Leviticus tells us that the life is in the blood. If I am shedding blood, or if I am giving a sacrifice that has blood, I am signifying that a life is being given for the sacrifice of sin. So this is what they would do: they would take that blood (and I am not going into detail, because you have studied that). After he got through doing that, he would come back out, and they would take the scapegoat. The priest would lay his hands on the head of that goat, and the people would confess 3 their sins. Then they would take that scapegoat, and a man would lead it out into the wilderness. They said that because it was a holy day, because it was a sabbath, they would have a man within a sabbath’s walking distance, and then another man within a sabbath’s walking distance, and then another man there; so they would walk a sabbath’s journey, hand the goat to the next man, he would walk a sabbath’s journey, and then to the next one. This is what tradition has. They would take that goat with the sins of the people confessed upon its head, and they would lead it out into the wilderness. Tradition also says that as you go down (and it is neat, because as you leave Jerusalem you go down. It is overwhelming to have been there, and I have seen those bald, bald wilderness mountains down there south of Jerusalem). As they would take that goat out there, they said that they would get him on one of those high mountain peaks, and they would push the goat off. What was God having them do? He wanted them to know, “My Son has died for you.” You say, “A goat representing the Son of God? I thought He was the Lamb of God.” Yes, He is the Passover lamb, but He is also the goat that belongs to the Lord, the goat that represents those who are sinners, and who are going to have to die. So a goat is going to die in their place. That second goat represents the fact that not only does Jesus pay for all of our sins, but He takes all of our sins away. He takes them, and removes them as far as the east is from the west. God puts them behind His back; He remembers them no more. He buries them in the deepest ocean, and as dear Corrie Ten Boom says, “He buries them in the deepest ocean, and He puts up a sign, ‘No Fishing Allowed.’” No fishing allowed—our sins are gone, gone, gone. That is what He wanted to tell those people. But the problem was that they had to do it year after year after year. There was remembrance of sins. And not only that, but day after day after day—oh, there wasn’t a Day of Atonement every single day—it was only one a year when the priest could come into the presence of God. But day after day, whenever they sinned, whenever they were guilty, whenever they discovered their sin they had to take a sacrifice. God was showing them that He was a holy God. “I am a holy God, and I cannot look upon iniquity. Iniquity has to be paid for; it has to be taken care of.” So, it was taken care and covered, year after year, on the Day of Atonement. But the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin, so this is what Jesus did. Go back to Hebrews 9:11. Here we find a contrast. He has talked about an earthly tabernacle; he has shown us a heavenly tabernacle. He has talked about an earthly throne, the ark of the covenant. He has talked about a heavenly throne. He has talked about an earthly priest, Aaron; he has talked about our high priest, Christ, after the order of Melchizedek. Now he is going to show us what Christ did. (8) “The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing,” (11) “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come (the things that belong to the new covenant, the better promises, the better hope), He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; (12) and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” [What is he saying? He is saying, “Listen, every year, year after year, they went in and celebrated the Day of Atonement by putting blood on the mercy seat, but that blood could never make those people perfect. It could never cleanse their conscience. It could only take care of their flesh. And it went year after year after year. But then one day, at one point in history, God took His Son, and He made Him a sacrifice for us on Calvary. It says that ‘Jesus, as our high priest, walked into the very presence of God, into the very throne of God, and He took His blood, and He appeared in the presence of God for us. And I am sure that He put that right on the throne of God, and all of the angels cried, “Propitiated! Propitiated! God is satisfied!’” His holiness was satisfied, because it was not with the blood of bulls and goats, but it was with a body. It says, “Thou hast no pleasure in the blood of bulls and goats, but a body Thou hast prepared for Me. Lo, O Lord, in the volume of the book it is written of Me. I come to do Thy will, O God.” And when He does Thy will, He takes away the first, the old covenant, the old way of coming into the presence of God, and He opens up a brand new way. We are going to look at it next week, as we look at the rent veil of the flesh of the Son of God. But right now, the author of Hebrews wants us to focus on the fact that there was an earthly tabernacle; there is a heavenly tabernacle. There was an earthly throne; there is a heavenly throne. And as sure as the shekinah glory was over that earthly throne, surely the presence of God dwells on His 4 heavenly throne. And as surely as the high priest walked in and put the blood on the mercy seat to make a covering for sin year after year, so Jesus Christ entered into the very presence of God for us, and He took His blood and He put it on that mercy seat. I know that all of heaven rejoiced. “Propitiated! Propitiated!” What does Hebrews 1 say, as it gives us an overview of God speaking through His Son? God speaking through Jesus, who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, who, when He had by Himself made propitiation for our sins, sat down at the right hand of throne of God, of the Majesty on high. Jesus, Himself made propitiation for our sins. He entered the greater and more perfect tabernacle, that is what Hebrews 11 says, not made with hands; that is to say, not of this creation. Not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood He entered the holy place once for all. Once for all! Why? Because His was a perfect sacrifice, because it sanctifies you forever, because it perfects you forever, because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, all unrighteousness. So He obtained eternal redemption. Listen to 9:13. “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, (14) how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” [He says, “Listen, if those washings in the Old Testament days took care of the cleansing of the flesh, if they, when they touched dead bodies, became defiled because they were touching that which if of the flesh and which is corruption and which speaks of death (and death always speaks of sin), if when they took the priest took that red heifer, and he burned that red heifer and got the ashes, and he put those ashes in water and then sprinkled the people (or the people sprinkled themselves), if that took care, day after day, incident after incident, of the cleansing of the flesh, and that satisfied God for a time, until the reformation should come, how much more do you think the blood of the very Son of God, the Lamb of God, how much more do you think the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse, not only your flesh, but cleanse your conscience from dead works?” What are you living with? I know people that say, “I cannot believe that God would save me. I cannot believe that God would forgive me.” I know people who have made professions of faith, and have come to Jesus Christ (and some of them, I believe, sincerely born again), and yet they walk around stooped, bent over like this, with their faces in pain, because they are bearing the guilt of sins that Jesus took away. What an insult! What an insult to God to say that the blood of Jesus Christ does not cleanse me from all sin—when the ashes of a heifer, and the washings, all of those, served from time to time. Now God has brought His Son. What a slam in His face! What more can God say? What more can He do? What can be done besides what He has done? He has done it all; He has paid it all. Here is the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse your conscience from dead works. Dead works are all those things of the flesh that you abhor, all those things that are against God, all those things that are not born of the Spirit of God. How do you have a conscience that is cleansed inside? How does a man live with himself? How did the apostle Paul live with himself when he said, “This is a true saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”? How did he live with the fact that he had put those Christians to death? How did he live with Stephen’s face shining before him when he consented to Stephen’s death when they stoned him to death? How did he live with that? He lived with it only way, and the only way that any