Preparation for a Great Inheritance
Preparation for a Great Inheritance
In the 9th chapter, we see another aspect of the great! salvation. Here we see how we are prepared for our share in the eternal inheritance. Sometimes a wealthy father makes a will to divide his property to his children after his death. It will come into force only after his death. Then the children will receive their share according to the father’s will. The Lord Jesus Christ has brought the Old Testament to an end: now He is the Mediator of the New Covenant. We are going to receive our inheritance through Him, depending upon our ability to overcome (Rev, 21:7). Our sins arc forgive, freely by the grace of our Lord, but our heavenly inheritance and portion can be obtained only when we overcome. We find many difficulties to overcome. The Lord Jesus Christ becomes our Mediator to teach us to overcome. In the seventh chapter we have seen that He is our Intercessor. By the same intercession He is now preparing us for the heavenly inheritance.
During the Old Testament period people offered many sacrifices for the forgiveness of their sins according to their need, but none of those sacrifices could give them a good conscience. The Lord Jesus Christ shows here that we have to claim His precious blood constantly for the cleansing of our guilty conscience, where the stains are caused by sinful thoughts, words and deeds. That gives us boldness into God’s presence and prepares us for our share in the eternal inheritance. That blood is now available in the most Holy place, the Heaven. The very second we are defiled by thought, word or deed we have to claim the precious blood for cleansing. The Lord is in Heaven as our High Priest. When we call upon Him after being cleansed, we are in a better position, for we have a good conscience. If we have guilty conscience we will be afraid to look at Him. When we have a good conscience we will be very glad to look at Him and welcome Him. Through I lis precious blood He cleanses us and prepares us for His coming and for our heavenly inheritance.
In the tabernacle of the Old Testament there were three parts,- we see in Heb. 9:2-5, first, there was the outer court, where the altar was kept for sacrifices, and laver to wash the feet. Then there was the holy place where the priest ministered. Thirdly, was the Ark of God in the most holy place. In the most holy place behind the veil, and on the Ark was the Mercy Seat. The priest was not allowed to go there. The sunlight shone in the outer court, and divine light in the most holy place. There was no door nor window in the holy place but light was always burning in the golden candlestick which was kept there for that. purpose. Only the high priest could go behind the veil once _ a year with the blood of the sacrifice; no other person could _ go there. Here, God is saying that only by the efficacy of: the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can anyone enjoy His Holy presence. We have to be forgiven of all our » sins, washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ because every sin we commit either by thought, word or deed leaves a mark on our conscience.
: Every human being is composed of three things-body,; soul and spirit. The body consists of blood, muscles and bones. Soul consists of intellect, emotions and will power. Spirit also has three parts-namely, conscience or the inward voice or the sense of discernment to know what is good and bad or right and wrong. Secondly, we have a desire to know the unseen. We have curiosity to know our Creator, where He is and how to find Him. Then there is the intuition, a sudden thought to do something. In Gen. 1:26 we read; God made man in His own image. God’s glory and beauty could be seen in the first man’s face. Because of sin man underwent a threefold downward change. The spirit became dead due to sin, the soul became darkened and the body became defiled. We read in John 4:24 that God is Spirit, and He is living. We can feel Him, talk to Him and know Him, but we cannot see Him with our physical eyes. In our spirits we can talk to Him and feel Him. As long as we live in sin and remain in an unforgiven condition, none of us can feel God’s presence or hear His voice because He is a Holy God. God’s Word says in Heb. 12:14 that without holiness no one can see God. Also we read in Matt. 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” We can see God provided we are holy. 1 Pet. 1:16 says our God is Holy. No one can ever have such holiness by themselves. God wants us to have everlasting holiness.
In Matt. 5:48 our Lord said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” None of us by our own effort can have God’s perfection and_holiness. It is to make us righteous that our Lord rose again. In the Old Testament period, God used the Tabernacle to show —His people how they should be holy, For example, the most holy place had divine light. God wants us to be filled with the same divine light. Only in that divine light can we see our real condition. There are some diseases which cannot be seen and diagnosed by ordinary examination. Some years ago X-rays were discovered. These reveal the condition of the internal organs of the body very clearly. Through X-rays it can be seen whether there ts any fracture in the bones. Similarly, when the light of God comes into us it enables us to see ourselves as God sees us, and also helps us to see God’s glory and beauty.
In the tabernacle, only the high priest could go behind the veil once a year. Even he could not go without the blood of the sacrifice. He used to wear special garments which were called garments of glory and beauty. We read in Exo. 28:2,4 that first of all there was the white robe; over that he wore the blue robe; at the edge of the blue robe there were golden bells and pomegranates alternately; over the blue robe came the ephod made of five materials: gold, blue, scarlet, purple and fine linen woven very skilfully. Over the ephod the breastplate was worn, with twelve stones on the upper part of it and the Urim and the Thummim underneath. All these garments speak of Divinity. Before the high priest entered into the most holy place, he had to remove these garments of glory and beauty and put on white clothes instead. This means, before he could take the blood of the sacrifice before God on behalf of the people, he had to become an ordinary man. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ never came into the world like an angel. He came as a man (Heb, 2:16). He became like one of us. Had He wished, He could have come like an angel. But as an angel He could not die on our behalf, because angels do not die. That is why angels cannot understand man’s sufferings. The Lord Jesus Christ became like us in order to be our merciful and faithful High Priest. The high priest had to go into the holiest with the blood of the sacrifices on behalf of himself and also on behalf of the people. This happened only once a year on the day of Atonement.
In Lev. 23 we read about the seven feasts of Jehovah which were shadows of coming events. The first feast was the feast of the passover, signifying the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Passover Lamb. Secondly, the feast of unleavened bread, when for seven days the Jews had to eat unleavened bread. Leaven is a symbol of sin because a little leaven can leaven the whole lump. In the same way, one sinful thought can defile the whole body. The Lord wants us to become like unleavened bread and He desires to impart divine nature to us. Thirdly, the feast of the first fruits, which speaks of the power of resurrection. Just as one grain of seed when it dies brings forth many grains, the Lord’s death has made many righteous. Fourthly, the feast of Pentecost, which signifies that men of all classes are equal. By the Holy Spirit we are baptized into one body. The fifth feast was the feast of blowing trumpets, when the people had to blow the trumpets for seven days. This speaks about the importance of the preaching of the Gospel in the whole world with great power, Sixthly, the day of atonement, showing how people of all classes can become righteous. Seventhly, the feast of tabernacles, revealing to us the truth that the Lord wants us to reign with Him one day.
On the day of atonement, the people would gather from many far off places, but they could not go inside the tabernacle. They had to stay outside. They had to confess all their sins by putting their hands upon the head of the animal of sacrifice. That animal signifies the Lord Jesus Christ.
When it was slain, the high priest removed his garments of beauty and glory and put on ordinary garments and took the blood of the sacrifice behind the veil and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the ark. Divine fire came down and consumed the blood, indicating that the Holy God had accepted the sacrifice on behalf of the people and had forgiven their sins. Then the high priest came out of the Holy of Holies and declared to the people that he went behind the veil on their behalf to offer the blood and had seen fire coming down from heaven. He declared that God had forgiven their sins. That was the happiest day for the whole nation. But none of these sacrifices could make man perfect, because they were only a shadow. Only the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. By offering Himself, He perfects all those who come to Him.
By merely confessing our sins to the Lord Jesus Christ and repenting of them we are not made righteous. Every sin we commit either by thought, word or deed leaves a mark on our conscience and these marks or stains cannot be removed by our tears of repentance or offerings. Our conscience reminds us constantly of our past sins. When we go through any difficulty our conscience accuses us that God is punishing us for the sins which we committed in the past. Many people being pricked in their conscience weep, fast -and give charity. Some go on pilgrimage, thinking that by doing these things the marks on their conscience will go away. Because of their guilty conscience they are troubled and have no peace. Many people are troubled at the time of their death because of their sins and start weeping, plead ing with others to do something to help them get mental relief. No human effort can bring real peace to our conscience. The stains of our guilty conscience are washed away only by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus, as we read in Heb. 9:12, the Lord Himself entered into the holy place with His blood. According to the prophecy in Psalms 16:10, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ did not see corruption. He is perfectly holy. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Now His blood ts there in heaven, and it has everlasting life. From there it is sprinkled into the heart of the repentant sinner. By that blood all our guilty stains are washed away (Heb. 9:14).
Before new birth, our conscience is defiled with sin. Our spirit is dead, our soul is darkened, and our body is defiled. When the Lord Jesus Christ as our Priest sprinkles His blood upon our dead spirits our dead spirits are quickened. We find divine life flowing into our spirits. We begin to feel God’s presence. We talk to God as a friend talks with his friend. We feel heavenly peace coming into us.
When our dead spirit is quickened we are given a longing to be as holy as the Lord is holy. We receive an increasing love for God’s Word and His people. When our darkened soul is enlightened, we are given divine wisdom to understand the things of God and to know His purposes. Through divine love we can love all people equally. Our defiled body is also cleansed. Now we want to serve God through our members. Our tongue begins to praise God. Our legs refuse to go to wrong places. As long as we are in this body we get defiled because of our old sinful nature, We do not become supernatural when we are born again. The old man or the old sinful nature will be stirred up again and again. By entertaining sins like hatred, enmity, pride, and greed in our hearts, we nurture the sinful nature, and get defiled. But we can constantly claim the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for cleansing, washing, and purging. As we read in f John 2:1, He is our Advocate, Intercessor and High Priest. By His intercession for us and by cleansing through His blood, we are made perfect.
Just as we claim His grace and wisdom for doing His work, we can claim by faith His intercessory ministry. Through this very important ministry, we can overcome all temptations, We are saved from the deception of the world and are thus prepared for His Second Coming. And at His coming we will receive our great inheritance.