and sing with me. Reading from Scripture comes from the New Testament, from the book of Hebrews, and I'm going to read chapter 9 and the first 14 verses. Now as you direct your attention to these verses, I remind you that this is the Word of the Lord. Hebrews 9, 1 through 14. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship in an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared. The first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of presents. It is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place. having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was the golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the Covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties. But into the second, only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of Reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of bulls and goats, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of the heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, how much more will that purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Thus ends the reading of God's word. You may be seated. I have often wondered at the story that's told in Exodus chapter 33. Perhaps you remember the story and you remember the context. The Israelites who had just been rescued from slavery in Egypt were then caught red-handed, as it were, in a most gross idolatry. I mean, here they were in the very midst of making a covenant with the one true God of heaven and earth, right in the very midst of their covenant making, and they run into idolatry. This would be like a person getting married and cheating on their spouse, but not just cheating on their spouse, cheating on their spouse during the very midst of, in the middle of, the wedding ceremony itself. And so after this episode, God tells Moses that he is to take Israel and go up into the land that he had promised them. God would fulfill his promise to them. He would give them the land still, but he says to Moses, I will send an angel before you, but I will not go up among you. Why not? His holy presence would consume the Israelites, he says. He could not be among them. He could not be with them. For to do so would be to destroy them for their sin and their sinfulness. And here's the most interesting part to me. Maybe not the most interesting, but it's certainly an interesting part. Do you know what the text says about this message from God to Moses? Do you know what it calls that message? It calls it a disastrous word, a word that caused the people to mourn, a word that caused Moses to plead with God. And I think to myself, why, why a disastrous word? I mean, weren't they getting what they wanted still? In the first place, God had not destroyed them for their sin, which is what it deserved. They were free from slavery in Egypt and they were still going to get the land. But no, God's withdrawal from the Israelites was a disastrous word and they knew it. They needed his presence and they needed his presence not to consume them. It wouldn't matter if they should gain the whole world, but if they lose God? So God, in his mercy, reestablishes his covenant with Moses. He rewrites the commandments, and he institutes this covenantal system that revolved around the tabernacle The Old Testament meeting place between God and his people where they would have his presence amongst them and they would not be consumed. But what we find in our text this morning from Hebrews chapter 9 is that this old covenant tabernacle system, though an infinitely gracious condescension on God's part, The Old Covenant's tabernacle system was imperfect and restrictive. And as such, it pointed to something better that was to come. So chapter 9 in Hebrews continues the theme of chapter 8, and that theme being that the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. Chapter 8 shows us that the new covenant is better than the old covenant in the first place because it is enacted on better promises. That's what it says in Hebrews 8, 6. In the New Covenant, God promises that by the powerful missions of his Son and Spirit that he would remit the sins of his people and that he would renovate their hearts and minds. And here, In chapter 9, Hebrews continues that line of thought by showing the way that God would remit the sins of his people, the way that he would forgive them their sins, that is, by a better sacrifice and in a better tabernacle. And so this is just one more reason why the new covenant is better than the old. It's instituted. by a better sacrifice, by which the ultimate purposes of God and his salvation are accomplished, are realized. This better sacrifice secures an eternal redemption, we're told in verse 12. And by it, those who come to God through faith receive the promised eternal inheritance, it says in verse 15. And that's the point of this section here in chapter nine. So let's jump into some of the details. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship in an earthly place of holiness. Verse one begins. By these two then, the regulations for worship and the place for worship, as verses two through five make clear, these two, the whole of old covenant worship is included. Not only the rules for the rituals and the services conducted, at the tabernacle, but all the furniture, the utensils of the tabernacle, even the very construction of the tabernacle itself, the whole thing, all of it, pointed forward. That's what's meant here in these few verses two through five. And there's a familiar kind of argumentation used It's the very imperfection of that tabernacle system, which itself points forward to the perfect that is to come. When we've seen this kind of argumentation now throughout the book of Hebrews, and it provides such insight into the Old Testament, into the Old Covenant by its very imperfection. Now note, imperfection in the sense of incompletion. and it's not able in and of itself to bring about the full saving purposes of God. By its imperfection, that is by its shortcomings, it points forward to a fullness, a completion that is to come. So how is it then that the tabernacle is imperfect? Well, says Hebrews, in the first place, look at its very construction. The tabernacle consisted of two sections, verses two through five. It says, There was the first section, which was called the Holy Place, wherein was the lampstand and the table and the bread of presents on the table. And this place was the place where the priests conducted their daily services and their daily duties. the lamp, among other things, reminding the Israelites of God's presence of light amidst a dark world, his enlightening spirit for dark minds and dark hearts, and the 12 loaves of bread on the table, reminding the Israelites of their need for God's presence of life, God as their very sustenance. And yet, though they were daily reminded of this through the priest's duties and services in that first section, there was also a second section called the Most Holy Place. And in the Most Holy Place was the altar of incense, we're told, the Ark of the Covenant, and the mercy seat. This place signified and indeed was the place of the very life-giving presence of God and the sacrificial covering, the mercy seed, which secured that life-giving, enlightening presence of God for his people. Now, this arrangement of the tabernacle is very important. That's what the author of Hebrews is getting at. It's very important. In fact, all of the details, of course, are important, and all of the details of the tabernacle point in their various ways to Christ. But rather than getting into all of those details, as he says at the end of verse 5, of these things now we cannot speak in detail. Rather than getting into the details, he's going to focus on the main point, and the main point is this. There are two sections in the Old Testament tabernacle, and the first section is veiled off from the second section. That's the main point to keep in mind when you're thinking about the construction of the tabernacle itself. The first section, among other things, daily reminded the people of their need for God's life, his light, his presence. The second section reminded them that it was veiled off. Now, not totally, but restrictively. And the services and the rituals of the tabernacle further reinforce that same point. That's what verses six through seven are showing us. Not just anyone, but the priests only could go into the tabernacle and conduct their services. But they could not just go anywhere in the tabernacle. No, they were confined to the first section where they would perform their ritual duties. Only one priest, the high priest, was permitted to enter the most holy place, and only on one day of the year. And even then, he was not just to go in, he had to enter with the blood of sacrifice. the blood of sacrifice to sprinkle on the mercy seat atop the Ark of the Covenant in order to atone for his own sin and for the sin of the people. Now this mercy seat situated atop the ark of the covenant was not only in the heart of the tabernacle then, but this day of atonement, the one day of the year in which the high priest would enter with the blood of sacrifice. This day of atonement was at the heart of the Israelite religion. It was at the heart of the Israelite relationship to God. You see, the ark was that symbol of God's presence. And there before the ark was the urn of manna and reminded the Israelites of God's sustaining power. You remember that God provided manna from heaven for the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. There was also in the ark Aaron's staff, the staff with which Moses had struck the rock and provided life-giving water to the Israelites who were dying of thirst in the desert. Again, a testimony to God's life-sustaining power. So this is what Israel needed, God's life-giving, God's life-sustaining presence. And sitting atop this ark of presence, this ark of the covenant, covering those symbols was the mercy seat. This was the only way that Israel could have God's presence among them and not be burned up by his holiness. God had in his mercy then provided for them a way of atonement. But here's the point of the old covenant tabernacle. And later, of course, the temple as well had this similar construction. Here's the point of the construction and the worship and the goings-on in the temple. The very construction of the tabernacle, the way the furniture and utensils were raised, all of the rituals and services, they led up to this mercy seat, to this day of atonement. And all of it led up to, pointed to, the need for God's forgiving mercy and for his presence. And that mercy seat, that ark of God's presence, it was veiled off. Not only from the people who are not allowed to go into the tabernacle at all, but also from the priests. Not totally again, as I say, but restrictively. It was open to one people group, and to one tribe of that people group, and to one person of that tribe, and only on one day of the year. For the rest of the time, it was closed up. Okay, so what are we to take from this? Look at verse eight. By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is standing. So get the logic here. As long as the tabernacle or the temple still stood, there would be two sections. And as long as there were two sections, it meant that the holy place, the most holy place, is not yet opened. There are two sections because there's a veil dividing the two sections. So the most holy place is not yet opened. It's veiled off. As long as the tabernacle stood, the very thing that the Israelites needed, the very thing indeed that the whole world needs, would be restrictively veiled off. And notice that the tabernacle itself stood for the Old Covenant. So what it says at the beginning of verse 9, the first section is symbolic or literally a parable. The first section is a parable of the age that then was, of the present age then. In other words, just as the first section represented restricted access to God's mercy seeds and his presence, so too the old covenant itself was restrictive in comparison to the new covenant. As long as the first covenant still stood, the fullness of God's mercy, the richness, and the splendor of his grace would be veiled. This is the imperfection represented in the very construction of the tabernacle itself. God had every intention of pouring out the fullness of his mercy upon his people and of granting them unrestricted access to his throne of grace. And so by restricting this in the construction of the old, of the tabernacle, he points to the fullness of time when the veil would be torn in two, when the gates of his mercy would be flung wide open, when he would make a new covenant with his people. And he would do this in a very specific way. Notice the reason for the restricted access under the old covenant tabernacle system. This in verses 9 and 10. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper. but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of Reformation. The sacrifices of the Old Testament tabernacle system, those sacrifices of bulls and of goats, they were imperfect. that could not deal entirely with the guilt of the people. That's why they were offered every year, time and again. And even then, it could not deal with the depth of the stain of sin on the human soul. These sacrifices were only surface treatments, as it were. And as such, they too pointed forward to a cleansing sacrifice. One that reached all the way to the depths of human depravity. One which would minister grace far as the curse is found. The reason for the restricted access under the Old Covenant was because the sacrifices were imperfect and they could not satisfy a holy God. They could not atone. But when Christ appeared, it says in verse 11, but when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that have come. In other words, all those things that the Old Testament tabernacle system pointed to, all of those good things that pertain to the perfect salvation of God, all of them, when Christ appeared, they have come. And in this specific instance, the good things in view are the perfect tabernacle in which he ministers and the perfect sacrifice of his ministry. And you see this in verses 11 and 12. Then, through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, He entered once for all into the holy places, and not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. It's precisely because the blood of Christ is able to purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God, it says in verse 14. It's precisely because it's able to purify our conscience, unlike those Old Testament sacrifices, that the temple veil is torn in two. No longer does that first section stand. No longer is there a veiling off. No, indeed, Christ now ministers in the true tabernacle, the heavenly throne room of God. And not only that, dear Christian, but he takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us in as well. We now enter boldly and draw near to the throne of grace because we have Christ as our high priest, the mediator of a better covenant. So now we, by faith in Christ, have access, full and rich, to the forgiveness and the life-giving presence of God Indeed, Christ himself by his Spirit is that life-giving presence of God. I want to show you this, but somewhat like what is said in the end of verse 5. We don't have the time this morning to go into all of the details, but I do want to make a couple of observations. in order that you see the sheer profundity, the brilliance of God's wisdom. As we noted before, the furniture and the arrangement in the tabernacle, and in particular in the most holy place, it signaled to the Israelites God's relation to his people by means of a covenant. The two tablets of the law housed within the Ark of the Covenant, keeping the law of God safe and unviolated. within the ark. It signaled God's presence among them, the ark itself being the ark of God's presence. It signaled the life-giving and life-sustaining presence of God, the manna, the urn of manna, and the staff of Aaron from which water was drawn in the desert, by which I should say. And all of this because the sins of the people were covered by a sacrifice on the mercy seat, a propitiation, as it is called at times in the Old Testament. Now, isn't it remarkable? that Christ is said to be the true ark which keeps the law of God whole, complete, and unviolated. Matthew 5, for instance, in Romans chapter 8, that he himself, by his obedience, keeps the law of God, thus establishing this firm foundation for our relationship with God by means of a covenant. And isn't it remarkable that Christ himself is said at the beginning of John's gospel to have tabernacled amongst us. He is himself now, God's very presence with us. Not only God's presence, but his life-giving and life-sustaining presence. Christ himself taught that he is the bread of life, the true manna from heaven, which comes down from heaven and feeds his people. I am the living waters, he told the woman at the well. And later on in John chapter 7, he says it again, that whoever comes to him thirsty will thirst no more for the partaking of those living waters. And all of this is because he is put forward, we are told in Romans chapter 3, as our propitiation, as a propitiation for our sins. Christ himself is the true mercy seat. So Jesus Christ himself has become for us our true tabernacle. The old no longer remains. It no longer stands. The better has come. Finally, let me draw your attention to that last verse, verse 14. where we are told that the sacrifice, this much better sacrifice of Christ, will purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. We are saved for a purpose, brothers and sisters, in Christ. That purpose is to serve the living God. Will you pray with me? Oh, our Father in heaven, how marvelous, how wonderful, how unspeakable this grace that you have shown to us. We who, like the Israelites, are in desperate need of you, and we who, the Israelites, are desperately wicked, and yet by your grace, in Christ and by the mission and ministry of your Spirit, you have forgiven us of our sins and are making us new. We thank you, oh Father, for this and ask for your continued help and guidance that we may walk in holiness before you on this, our pilgrimage through this life. Awaiting that time when we are caught up into the fullness of your presence and enjoy that full and complete communion and union with you. Until then, We continue to pray, to press on and to pray, even as Christ has taught us, saying together, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.