PART TWO
PART TWO
The Limitations of the Old Covenant
When I was growing up, my favorite film was Raiders of the Lost Ark. It features Harrison Ford in his prime as the archaeologist Indiana Jones. Really, though, the star of the show was not Indiana Jones but what he finds in the movie: the ark of the covenant. This was a golden box which represented God’s holy presence.
The God of the ark of the covenant is not a God you cozy up to easily. In the movie, when the explorers open the lid, they are killed by the fire of God’s holiness. Eventually the ark is hidden away in a crate in some warehouse, because everyone is afraid of it. The message is: God is holy, so leave him well alone.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is just a movie, and it is filled with Hollywood speculation about what the ark would be like. But what the movie does get right is that God is more holy than you can possibly imagine. You cannot just charge into his presence.
The idea that God is holy and at a distance encapsulates the experience of Old Testament worshipers. They took part in real worship, and it was the real God they were worshiping; but it all had to be done at a distance. Access was denied.
Hebrews 9:1-10 highlights these sorts of limitations of old-covenant worship. It accomplishes this by taking the reader deep into the inner workings of the tabernacle. What was in the tabernacle? What did you experience there and what did you do? The old-covenant worship was ordained by God, and therefore it was good. But it had all kinds of limitations to it.
Throughout these verses, the author’s point is simple: Don’t you want to worship God in a way that involves full access? That is what Jesus makes possible.
An Earthly Place
Verses 1-5 describe the tabernacle: the “earthly place of holiness” (v 1), where people under the old covenant tried to approach God. This had a larger courtyard with a fence around it, where sacrifices took place, but the tabernacle proper was “a tent” (v 2) with two sections.
The first section, the “Holy Place,” held the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence.
You will have seen pictures of this lampstand: it was a menorah, with seven branches, each one with a cup-shaped oil lamp at the top (Exodus 25:31-40). One of the jobs of a priest was to make sure that the light never went out during the night (Exodus 27:21). The bread of the Presence was actually twelve loaves (Leviticus 24:5-9). These loaves were baked fresh every week; once the new loaves were in place, the priests would consume the old loaves. There was always bread there, but it had to be continually replaced.
Both the lampstand and the bread point to Christ. Jesus identifies himself as the light of the world (John 9:5) and the bread of life (John 6:35). Not only is he the new temple (John 2:21); he is the new bread of the Presence—which never has to be replaced. By “eating” this bread—by putting our trust in his broken body—all believers enjoy access to the holy places.
The first section of the temple contained these pointers toward Christ. Yet only the priest could go in there. Other worshipers had to remain outside in the courtyard.
But the second, inner section was the most special. From the outset the author makes note of the curtain that blocked the entrance to it. “Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place” (Hebrews 9:3). This curtain blocked not only God’s people from coming into God’s presence, but even the priests. They could enter the Holy Place (the first section of the temple), but not the Most Holy Place. Only the high priest could enter, only once a year.
This inner chamber held the altar of incense and the ark of the covenant (v 4).
The ark was like a memory chest—a box full of things that are a treasure to you, that remind you of something. God put in this chest reminders of what he had done for his people: it was like a little history of Israel. God gave the Ten Commandments to get his covenant started. He made Aaron’s staff blossom as a sign of his power and presence with his promised priests (Numbers 17:8). And he gave the people manna from heaven to preserve them in the wilderness. So the tablets, the staff, and the manna reminded them of what he had done.
But the real essence of the ark was the mercy seat. This was a picture of God’s throne. It was where his presence dwelt (Leviticus 16:2). Around the mercy seat, on the lid of the ark, were the “cherubim of glory” (Hebrews 9:5). These were angelic beings emblazoned in gold (see Exodus 25:20).
If, as the high priest, you had entered that inner chamber, you would have drawn back that curtain with a trembling hand, wondering whether you would come out alive (Leviticus 16:2-3). It would have been terrifying.
But as scary as it would have been, it was only ever a symbol of what God’s real throne room is like in heaven. Remember Isaiah 6:1-5, where we find a vision of this true throne room. There are real angelic attendants flying around God’s throne, covering their faces with their wings. The foundations shake and smoke fills the room when one of them speaks, yet even these wondrous, sinless angels are hiding their faces from God. And they sing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)
What would you do if you walked into that real heavenly throne room? You certainly would not say, “Hey, God, I’ve been waiting to see you my whole life. I have some questions. Let’s have a chat.” No, you would say, like Isaiah, “Woe is me!” You would long for the ground to swallow you up. You would be utterly undone.
The ark of the covenant represented the presence of God, and in one sense, God was there. But this pales in comparison to what the ark was pointing toward. This is an example of the limitations of the old covenant. Even if you got into the temple—even if you got past that curtain—you still would not be in God’s full presence. That is why the writer to the Hebrews wants his readers to know that they cannot rely on an earthly tent to solve their sin problem and get them into the presence of God.
But Jesus changed all that—as we’ll see later in Hebrews 9.
Earthly Priests
Hebrews 9:6-10 focuses on the earthly priests through whom the people worshiped. The normal priests spent a lot of time in the outer section “performing their ritual duties” (v 6)—that is, bringing in sacrifices, making sure the lamp didn’t go out, making sure the bread was there. They did this “regularly.” A better way to translate this Greek phrase, dia pantos, would be “repeatedly.” That is, they were doing the same things again and again and again. They had to do this because the problem of sin was never solved. Later, in verse 9, we are told why these sacrifices didn’t solve the problem of sin: “Gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.” It was all only provisional: “regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation” (v 10). It pointed forward to the time of the new covenant—when the one person who could solve the problem of guilt would come.
In addition to describing the activity of the ordinary priests, our author tells us that “only the high priest” could go into the inner chamber, “and he but once a year, and not without taking blood” (v 7).
The high priest was the number one guy. He was the main representative of the people. He was the one who could enter the Most Holy Place. But this was still restricted. He could only come in once a year, to offer sacrifices for the people and for himself—and he had to do so very carefully.
Imagine that you are the high priest and you are about to pull back that curtain. You would be thinking, “How did my week go? How obedient have I been? How holy am I? Is this sacrifice going to be enough to clear my sin?” Even the high priest was an earthly person. He was still limited. So, he entered with trepidation.
All this tells us is that you cannot just stroll into God’s presence in your current sinful state. You need someone to fix that problem.
Leviticus 16 is the chapter which gives the instructions for that yearly event when the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place. It was called the Day of Atonement. It is here that we see the problem most clearly. God says to Moses about Aaron, the first high priest, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die” (v 2).
Even Aaron, the brother of Moses, could not go in there without fear of death. The Day of Atonement was designed to allow him to enter in order to make offerings on behalf of the people of Israel; but he could only do so once he had gone through a series of rituals himself (Leviticus 16:3-14).
“By this,” our author comments in Hebrews 9:8, “the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened.” If it was so difficult for an earthly priest to enter the earthly temple, how much more difficult would it be for an ordinary sinner to enter the true throne room of God? Under the old covenant, it was impossible.
The whole difference between the old covenant and the new covenant could be summarized in those two words, “not yet.” Do you have full access to the holy God? In the Old Testament, the answer is “not yet.” This could not happen “as long as the first section is still standing.” In other words, as long as the old-covenant order—with its earthly tent—was still valid, then the way would be shut.
But the implication is that there was a time coming when God would open up the door fully and widely, and enable people to enter into his presence. The “present age” (v 9) of restriction would be over, and a new age of access would come.
It’s worth looking back to Hebrews 4:16 at this point: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” “Throne of grace” is equivalent in Greek to “mercy seat”—the seat on the ark of the covenant where God’s presence rested.
What a contrast between the two covenants. Now, because of Jesus, you can enter God’s presence with confidence. No more wondering if the sacrifice is enough. No more doubting whether you will be welcomed. In Christ, we know for sure we will be accepted.
Fulfillment
The very first word in 9:11 is “But.” But when Christ appeared, things changed. That is what the next section will tell us. All those limitations and barriers are gone. This is the glory of the new covenant.
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest” he entered “through the greater and more perfect tent”—the real throne room of heaven, not the earthly tent “of this creation.” Like the high priest entering the Most Holy Place with the blood of animals, Jesus entered God’s throne room “by means of his own blood” (v 12). He made a sacrifice for sin—and secured “an eternal redemption.”
Notice the passage tells us that Jesus’ journey into the holy places was “once for all.” This stands in contrast to the never-ending work of the priests who kept repeating their activities over and over. Jesus’ sacrifice was successful, so it only needed to be offered once.
The kind of cleansing that the old covenant provided was limited: it merely offered the “blood of goats and bulls,” which only “sanctifies for the purification of the flesh” (v 13). This “purification” is what we might call ritual purity. The idea was that if you washed correctly, put on the right clothes, ate the right things, and performed the right rituals, you could be declared “clean.” The book of Leviticus is full of these rituals. But all of this was just on the outside. Jesus, by contrast, has done something on the inside. He cleanses us internally. He sanctifies our hearts, not just our flesh. Thus, our author says, “How much more will the blood of Christ … purify our conscience” (v 14). It’s an argument from the lesser to the greater. If a person thought the old-covenant sacrifices were beneficial, which only cleansed the outside, how much more would they think Christ’s sacrifice is beneficial, which cleanses the inside!
There are a couple of reasons why Jesus’ sacrifice was able to accomplish this cleansing. First, Jesus offered himself “through the eternal Spirit.” The meaning of this phrase is debated and not altogether clear. But the word “eternal” has popped up many times before and often refers to Jesus’ eternal nature as the divine Son of God. He is an effective high priest precisely because “he continues forever” (7:24). The only way to have an eternal sacrifice that is eternally sufficient is if one has an eternal Savior.
The second thing that makes his sacrifice unique was that he “offered himself without blemish.” This is Old Testament language. Sacrificed animals had to be spotless, healthy, and strong. But Christ was “without blemish” in a more important sense: he was absolutely sinless. Thus, he alone is able to “purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (9:14).
I am so thankful that we worship at a time when the work has been done. Jesus went not into the earthly tent but into the heavenly Most Holy Place. He was not just an earthly priest but the Son of God. And he offered not animals but himself. All of that solved the problem of limitations in the old covenant.
When I work in my office at the seminary, my staff knows that my research requires blocks of time when I can focus undisturbed. So, they are unlikely to just burst through my door and start talking to me unannounced. But that’s not the case with my kids. When they come to visit me at the seminary, they just charge right into my office and jump up on my lap or give me a hug. Why do they feel able to be so bold? Because they are my children!
In the same way, we can now march boldly into the presence of God—not disrespectfully but with assurance that we will not be struck down—because God has poured out all his judgment on Christ in our place. Yes, God is still holy. But your sins have been paid for. And now you can run into your Father’s arms like a little child. That is possible because of what Christ has done.