We'll be going to Hebrews chapter 9, continuing our series through the book of Hebrews. This is now message number 27 in that series entitled, Nothing Better. And we're going to look, beginning at verse 16, going through the end of the chapter to verse number 28. We'll start out reading verses 16 and 17. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is a force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all, while the testator liveth." We recently studied through the book of Exodus, and Exodus has a detailed description of the earthly tabernacle, and it's lengthy, it's extensive, it gets down to very fine details concerning the tabernacle. But we also have a description of the true heavenly tabernacle, and we have been seeing quite a few references to that here in the book of Hebrews. So this comes from the Revelation. And this is chapters 4 and 5 in the Revelation. And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats, and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within. And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne who liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne and worship Him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof, for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever and the four beasts said amen and the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever." Now this vision of course is still yet future to us because it precedes the opening of the seals at the end of this age. But it is where Jesus entered after his ascension, where he now serves as Great High Priest because of his sacrifice. And we see depicted, of course, as a slaughtered lamb before the throne in reference to that sacrifice. So we do have a description somewhat of the true and heavenly holy place that the temple and the tabernacle were just figures of, just copies of, just there as a resemblance to point toward the true reality And the writer of Hebrews, of course, as we have been recently reading in this letter, has continually referred to the fact that this is where Jesus is. This is where he went after he ascended from the earth after his death and resurrection. Now verses 11 to 15 in chapter 9, which is what we looked at last time, presents the contrast to the Old Covenant with Jesus as great high priest in the true holy place in the heavens, in the presence of God. His entrance there, the writer says, was with his own blood, not with any sacrifice. of animals, but of himself. And through that, he obtained eternal redemption and eternal inheritance for those who believe in him. The Old Covenant had a tabernacle, it had a priesthood, and it had sacrifices. But other than effecting ceremonial cleanness, none of those things could actually purify people from their sins. Jesus' death, we're told on the other hand, redeems all the transgressions of the Old Covenant. So the sacrifice And the priestly service of Jesus Christ secures permanent purification, frees us to serve the living God in a way surpassing that of the Old Covenant. And maybe we don't often think of it that way. Sometimes we have a tendency to look back at the Old Covenant and all of the ceremony and all of the ritual and maybe perhaps think that there was something better about that, something more holy or more righteous about that. But actually, the writer of Hebrews is telling us it's the other way. There's a better way to serve God than through the Old Covenant, which stood for a time to point to the greater to come, which comes with Jesus Christ. So the rest of chapter 9 we want to look at here in this message. emphasizes the superiority of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which the writer continues to emphasize was one time and once for all time. And another way to look at that would be that his one sacrifice leaves nothing else to do in terms of sin. So the comparison and the contrast of the blood of the covenants continues. We saw that reference in that passage we looked at earlier. And the writer draws attention to the physical location of Jesus. He has been referring to this and he's going to press into that even further. The physical location of Jesus Christ relative to his work and he builds up to the great time of his second coming to earth. So we're going to look at this passage in two parts in verses 16 to 22 where the writer uses an analogy of a will and testament and in verses 23 to 28. where the writer speaks of the sacrifice of Christ as once for all time. So we'll start here again in verse 16. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. Now, having once again shown the sacrifice of Jesus made him the mediator of the new and the better covenant, the writer uses this analogy And he's setting up a further comparison and contrasting between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Testament that he uses here, it means covenant, and typically it's used in the context of what we think of as biblical covenants. He's not referring specifically to a biblical covenant in this sense because the word can also mean something more along the line of a contract or particularly of a will, what we think of as a will, a person's last will and testament, as it were, and that's actually the analogy that he is using here concerning sort of a legal will. So, legally, a will is a document that a person makes to describe the disposing of their property upon their death, and it also coincides with the concept of inheritance that was just mentioned in the previous passage that we looked at. So what the writer states here again, and we've seen him do this a few times in making this analogy, he's just stating what is a general truth, one that everyone would be acquainted with. The existence of a will presupposes the death of the one who made the will. In other words, if a person, hypothetically, was never going to die, then that will would be useless. There would be no point in it, and it would never have any force or any power whatsoever. So, the execution of a will, then, depends upon the death of the testator, which is a legal term for one who makes a will. Now verse 17, for a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. So he's continuing this analogy and he's explaining that a will is enforced on the death of the testator. So the testator is the person, again, the person that makes the will. And when that person dies, then that will will be executed. Then it will be enforced. A will has no force while the person is still alive. So, for instance, in a will, a person may name someone as the inheritor of their estate. but that in no way makes that person the owner of that estate while that testator is still alive. That's not enforced, it's not enacted until that death happens. So he's explaining here simply the role of death in the execution of the will. So again, making the will presupposes the death of the testator and the death of the testator is necessary in order for the will to be enforced, for it to be enacted. Verse 18, whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. All right, so now he states that general truth and now he's taking this and making an analogy with the old covenant, the actual biblical covenant. He's beginning to compare and contrast. And so death in the previous verses is now sort of translated to blood. And blood, actually the shedding of blood, it coincides obviously with death. But shedding of blood, even though it refers to death, but of course the blood itself was necessary. And I believe that's why he made this transition as he presses on further. So the first, or the former, the Old Covenant that he's talking about, It wasn't enacted without blood. It wasn't enacted without death. And he's, in other words, likening that to what we might think of and understand in terms of a will. In verse 19, He says, "...for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all the people." Now he's referring here to back in Exodus chapter number 24 after that Moses had rehearsed all of these all these words of the law of the old covenant to the people of Israel there at Sinai. And he wrote this down. And after he had done so, he killed these animals and he sprinkled the scroll on which these words were written down. And he sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on the people. And that's what he's referring to here. And then he quotes in verse number 20, saying, So he's quoting here from verse 8 of Exodus chapter 24, the words of Moses confirming the covenant with Israel. So this covenant was given, and as you recall, Israel had agreed, we will obey all of the words of God, we'll obey all the words of this covenant. And so, with that, this covenant is confirmed. When these animals were killed, the blood was sprinkled on the scroll of the covenant, was sprinkled on the people, and that confirms this is in force. Death has happened. This is in force. Just like it happens with a will when a person dies. Then that will is executed. It becomes a force. So that's the analogy that he was using. It's also interesting to think about how that Jesus echoed the words of Moses there in the upper room at the last Passover when he instituted his supper. Jesus echoed those words, Matthew 26, verse 28, but he said, For this is my blood of the New Testament, or New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. It might seem subtle, but if you look at the words of Moses and you look at the words of Jesus, there is a very important contrast and difference. Jesus said, my blood. This is my blood being shed in order to put this new covenant into effect, to confirm it. This is my blood which is being shed for the remission of sins. Moses, of course, could only say, this is the blood. And it was the blood of those animals. This is the blood, he said, but that was all that he could say. And Jesus said, this is my blood. Of course, the writer of Hebrews does make a point, not quoting Jesus in Matthew 26, but does make a point that Jesus entered with his own blood. That was his sacrifice and his priestly service. Verse 21, moreover, He sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. So similarly as Moses took this blood and he sprinkled it upon the scroll of the covenant, he sprinkled it upon the people of Israel. He also sprinkled it upon the tabernacle, upon the altar, upon the furniture and the vessels and the utensils and everything that was consecrated to this service. They were sprinkled with blood. Now he's continuing to use this word for ministry here. describing again the priestly service. In fact, the word that's most often translated minister or ministry, that diakonos, and we get our word deacon from it, and it literally means table, waiting, menial type of service. Well, again, it's a different word. In fact, from this word is where we get our word liturgy or liturgical. So liturgical service. In other words, that of the priest. Continuing to use that to distinguish this priestly service and the necessity of this blood, the sprinkling of the priests and the objects and everything involved. In verse 22, he says, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. So now he's drawing again one of those necessary consequences. These are, again, clear statements, things that these first century Jewish believers would have known, been acquainted with in the Old Testament. And he says that under the Old Covenant, almost everything had to be purified with blood. And he's referring here to the cleansing from defilement or the sanctifying of that that was common for sacred use. And these things, as we've said, were a shadow. They were a figure of the greater. By showing that without shedding of blood, There's no pardon. Use that word remission, pardon, forgiveness. It could be used to speak of being released as like from prison or being released from a penalty. Maybe that was due to you. Now, of course, the writer of Hebrews has repeatedly pointed out that the Old Covenant couldn't actually accomplish that remission. All the blood that was shed under the Old Covenant, all the blood that was sprinkled on people and upon all these objects and everything having to do with the tabernacle, it could not accomplish that remission, that pardon. which shows, the writer of Hebrews, draws this direct consequence, it shows the need for better. And of course, the better has come with the new covenant and Jesus Christ. So we want to proceed here, and we're starting in verse 23, where we see the reference, and the writer emphasizes the once-for-all nature of Jesus' sacrifice. Verse 23. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." So it was necessary for the copies, the figures, the shadows, the patterns of the true to be purified with blood as he has just mentioned. In other words, it was necessary that these things happen. And that blood, he's already pointed out, that that blood was sufficient up to the point of purifying uncleanness and restoring a ceremonial cleanness. It was able to do that, but all that was external and all that was essentially objects, even thinking of people in that sense as again being those objects. That's all it was sufficient for, but it was necessary that it be done because that's what the Old Covenant required and they were sufficient Because that was just an earthly shadow tabernacle. He says, but the true holy place in heaven must be purified with better sacrifices. Now, that might be hard to grasp, what he's saying here in moving from tabernacle to holy place in the heavens. If the earthly, that was a copy of the heavenly. If the earthly, that was a copy of the heavenly, to show that better was coming, to provide access to the heavenly, was to be sprinkled with this blood. In other words, it's not why would the heavenly need something so brutal seeming. In other words, it's easy to read about these things in Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. But what is being described here is pretty gruesome. It's pretty brutal. The slaughtering of these animals and the dismembering of these animals and all these things that was going to happen. And in our way of thinking, we look at that as a brutal system that seems to be beneath the honor and glory of heaven. So this had to be done here, but why would it be necessary in heaven? So that brutal sprinkling of blood, and this is where I would say that thinking that way, I think he's thinking in the wrong direction. I think we're making the earthly more than what it was. It's the shadow. That brutal, bloody sprinkling of the earthly was a figure, a parable of the true. And if, and I believe this is following the writer's logic, if that animal blood wasn't sufficient to effectively purify the earthly. And how do we know that? Because according to the Old Covenant, it had to be repeated. It had to be done again, and again, and again, and again. And so the best that it could do, the most that it accomplished, was just a sort of temporary sanctification, a sort of a temporary ceremonial cleanness. But again, it wasn't lasting, it wasn't permanent, it had to be repeated. And if that wasn't sufficient enough for the earthly, then it certainly wasn't sufficient for the heavenly. And remember which way that it goes. What was being done there in the earthly tabernacle was a copy of the heavenly holy place and not the other way around. So the writer concludes from the earthly tabernacle then that the heavenly necessarily required, demanded, we might even say, a far greater blood, far greater sacrifice than what was provided to the earthly. Verse 24, So he's returning again to the priestly service of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not go into the tabernacle. He didn't go into the temple at Jerusalem that men made on the earth. He entered after his death as a sacrifice, not into those which were only figures of the true. And also remember back in chapter 8 and verse 4, Jesus could not enter those as a priest. He could not enter those as a priest. But now he's telling us, notice he says that, now to appear in the presence of God for us, but now And we've seen this reference. In the present time, in this present age, Jesus appeared. Now that word and this concept is thematic here in this section and actually in this whole letter. Because when you think about it as you read through Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews is constantly making reference to where Jesus is located. Where he was located, where he is located, and where he will be located. He's continually making reference to those facts. So he says Jesus appeared now in this present time or age. Jesus has appeared and what he means by that word simply is physically, visibly, really, actually in the heavens in the presence of God in this age. And he's there for the duration of this age until he returns to the earth, which he'll say more about in just a moment. Verse 25, "...nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others." Of the sacrifice of Jesus, it is once for all time, not repeated. The high priest of the Old Covenant entered once a year with blood of the animals to the most holy place on that day of atonement. And a high priest did that year after year after year until he died. And then when he died, then another high priest took it up and year after year after year after year and on and on and on for a very long time. But Christ's priesthood is not like that. It's better, and it's better because it has a better sacrifice, one that actually accomplishes so that there is no repetition. It is once for all. Now the writer emphasizes how that the old covenant priests entered with blood that was not their own." And that's the indication, with blood of others. With blood that was not their own, the high priest would enter. Ineffective blood of animals. Now continuing in verse 26, for then must he have often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So if the priesthood of Jesus was like that of the old covenant priests, then he must have suffered, and that's indicative of his dying. He must have done that many, many, many, many times since the founding of the cosmos. And that's the word that he uses there, the beginning of the creation and the fall in the garden. He must have done that many, many times. So in this sense, His sacrifice and His priesthood, if that were the case, would be no better than that of the Old Covenant. And it's also why It is impossible that anyone who has once been redeemed by the blood to renounce that and then be saved again as it would require another sacrifice in complete contradiction to the New Covenant sacrifice and the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Of course, the writer spoke about that back in chapter 6, verses 4 to 6, the very idea puts the blood of Jesus Christ on par with the blood of bulls and goats. Well, the contrast to this present age, for now, by this time, by this age, he must have suffered many, many times and died. But now, once, he says, in the end, of the world, which he calls here the consummation of the ages. And this word for world, it is eons, and it is plural. It's the end of the ages. And end is not just sort of like a turning point or, you know, maybe sometimes you've driven up an old country road and you've come to the end of the road. It just doesn't, it just ends. It just doesn't go. It's not that kind of an end. The end that he's using here is a word that refers to an entire completion. It's a consummation. It's being brought to a completion, and the greater has come. He says, now, once in the end of the ages, in this last age, which he referred to as the last days, beginning in chapter number one, last days before the kingdom, he says, Jesus appeared. Now we see this concept again. He visibly, physically came to the earth, was located on the earth in a human body. And he died, he sacrificed himself to put away sin, is what the writer says. And that word for put away, it means a complete cancellation. He canceled the penalty of sin by the sacrifice of himself, and everyone who believes in him is redeemed and fully pardoned from the penalty of sins. Verse 27, he says, "...and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Now, the last two verses here makes an analogy as he's drawing a conclusion from what he has been saying. Every man and woman, he's saying. Essentially, he's saying every man and woman has one life, has one death, and one judgment. This is what awaits everyone. He says this is what's appointed. In other words, the word of Hebrews, there's no coming back and doing it over. You have one life on this earth, one mortal life on this earth. and a death, the end of that life, and one judgment. So then we see what he says in verse 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. This word for so means likewise or after this manner. In the same way, he's saying Jesus once was sacrificed for the sins of many. In the same way that men and women on this earth have one life, one death, and one judgment. And that's the way that God has made it. It's the way that he has appointed it. In the same way, he says, Jesus was one time sacrificed for the sins of many. The writer has been repeatedly and consistently clear in Hebrews. Jesus appeared on earth to a remedy sins by the sacrifice of himself. after which he ascended to the heavens to appear in the presence of God in the true holy place where he continues for this age serving as great high priest interceding for all those who trust in him and then he says he will appear on earth again a second time and he did he does say that Deuteross a second time he will appear on the earth meaning He will descend from the holy place in the heavens to the earth. But when He does so, it will not be as a sacrifice. It will not be in order to make another sacrifice in order to redeem from sin. Why? Because there is nothing left to do for sin. His appearing on earth in the age to come will be, as he says, unto salvation, will be to rescue, to deliver those who believe in Him to His kingdom and that eternal inheritance the writer has mentioned. Now we cannot read the Old Covenant and miss the pervasive references to blood. You just can't miss it. And some of it may even just make you queasy and you'd rather not read some of the things that are contained there. You just can't miss it. There are detailed descriptions of the slaughtering of animals, the dismemberment of animals, and offering them in various ways, and all of that because of sin, and that's just pervasive through that Old Covenant. But reading the Old Covenant should inform us of three particular clear truths that I think the writer of Hebrews has been bringing out. Number one, Sin, as the Bible defines it, as God has defined it in His Word, sin is a greater problem than we imagine. We go about thinking we have no sins. We go about thinking maybe the sum of our sins is just very small, just a trifling matter. But all that blood on all the altars, and on the floor, and on the tabernacle itself, and even on the Ark of the Covenant, all over the hands and the clothes of the priests, and all those burnt carcasses, say far otherwise. Far otherwise. It is tragically ironic that legalists can read the law and think themselves righteous when every drop of blood condemns, condemns sin. And if you think about it, we've been talking about the repetition of those sacrifices because they didn't effectively cleanse sin, but the repetition also shows that the people kept on sinning. They kept on sinning. And they needed a remedy that was something greater, something better, something that's actually effective. Number two, God himself is far more holy than we imagine. I don't remember who the old writer was. I remember coming across it years ago, essentially that whatever our thoughts are of God, They're not high enough. They're not high enough. For all the blood, all the ritual, for all of that, that old covenant tells us that the way into the holiest remained closed. It wasn't open to us. We read the Old Covenant and we think, well, who does God think he is to tell us how to live and how to serve and how to worship and even how to die? Every word of that Old Covenant, it opens up that chasm. between us and God that separates us from Him, it opens it up further and further and further. Him who perfectly and is completely holy and separate from sin, and then we think in our minds that we can build a bridge. Number three, of what the Old Covenant clearly informs us of, there is no sin. no sin that will go unpunished. The Old Covenant is very thorough and describes and denounces sins and gives penalty for them. Every sin, just as the writer talked about back in chapter 2, every sin under the Old Covenant has a just penalty. It is rewarded in a perfectly just and equitable way that it deserves. Well, then in the New Covenant, we see that everything pointed to in the Old Covenant is so true. Again, sin is a greater problem and a greater offense against God than we imagine. God is far more holy than we imagine and far more holy than us. And there is no sin that will go unpunished no matter how small that that sin might be. So in the New Covenant, we see that everything pointed to in that Old Covenant is so true. It is so true that when sins were laid on the holy, faultless Son of God, God poured out the full measure of His wrath on His own Son. Of course, the good news is that Jesus absorbed that wrath so that everyone, Jew, Gentile, man, woman, whatever you may be, everyone who believes in him, who puts their trust in him will never suffer the least drop of the wine of God's wrath. Furthermore, If, as the writer states, we live once and we die once, Christ then only needed to live and die once as a man to secure eternal redemption. And we're told he ever lives to intercede as our great high priest. But it is also another opportunity for us to realize that that day is coming for us all. This is the way of life. This is as it is appointed, and it is coming for us all, whether we're young or whether we're old. We might think that, hey, it's just around the next corner, but the truth of it is we don't know. We don't know, but it is appointed. It's coming for all of us. And so that leaves us with the question of, well, are you ready? Are you ready for that? Because after that, there's a judgment. And all sins are going to be judged. And they're going to be judged one of two ways. They're going to be judged in Jesus Christ on the cross and therefore redeemed. Or they're going to be judged in us suffering the condemnation of hell and eternal separation.