The Tabernacle Worship
THE TABERNACLE WORSHIP
HEBREWS 9:6-10
How much better is the Christian new order, with its spiritual institutions and universal blessings.
From the furnishings of the tabernacle we turn to the nature of the worship that was carried on in it. While the writer notices the daily worship performed by the priests (9:6), his real interest is in the ceremonies on the Day of Atonement. He stresses the limitations on access to the Most Holy Place. Ordinary priests could never enter, and even the high priest “only once a year” (9:7). Nor did he have the right to enter as he pleased on that day. He must first offer “blood” both for himself and the people. The author does not see this as merely a piece of old-fashioned ritual. It has meaning. It is unthinkable that God would bring about the setting up of such a complete system of worship without there being profound meaning in what is established. In later chapters certain points in this meaning will be unfolded.
Here the author’s concern is with the fact that the careful hedging about of approach to the Most Holy Place is in itself significant. It showed that the way into the very presence of God was not open to sinful humanity. The people had no way into it. The priests had no way into it. The high priest had no way into it for every day of the year except one. And on that one day his access was severely restricted. Could it be more plainly shown that the way to God was not open? Incidentally this is a truth which still needs to be learned. In our democratic days we are apt to take it for granted that we have the right to approach God whenever we will. The meaning of the tabernacle furniture has an important message still.
The readers of the letter are reminded in conclusion that the ritual regulations were concerned with the purely external. They could deal with the body (9:10), but they could not deal with the problems of conscience (9:9). Ritual is not unimportant and it has lessons to teach us. But it has inbuilt limitations. It should never he regarded as bringing about things to which it can only point.