The Purification of Heavenly Things

Heb 9:19-24

Message 26

Heb 9:19-24

19 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,

20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.

21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.

22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

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.

24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: KJV

The scholars have labored over the words of v.23. The 'heavenly things,' that place of worship in heaven after which the tabernacle was modeled, were 'purified' by the Work of Christ.

I. The question arises, "Why do the heavenly things need to be purified at all?"

Have they somehow been stained by the sin of man? Has man's sin risen up to heaven and polluted the holy place of God? Of course, this is impossible to imagine. In spite of the wickedness which we acknowledge to be in man, we would never ascribe to him the power to corrupt and degrade the heavens. First of all, man has not ascended into God's Holy Place in an unredeemed state. That is simply contrary to everything that we learn in other places in the Word of God.

But there is something that has happened to the heavenly tabernacle because of man's sin. It has been closed off to him by the judgment and wrath of God.

Ps 95:7-11

7 Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,

as you did that day at Massah in the desert,

9 where your fathers tested and tried me,

though they had seen what I did.

10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;

I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray,

and they have not known my ways."

11 So I declared on oath in my anger,

"They shall never enter my rest." (from New International Version)

Just as God placed a flaming sword at the entrance to the garden lest Adam and Eve return to it, He has also closed the gates of the heavenly sanctuary to men in judgment upon their sins.

Isa 1:15

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. KJV

So, even though man's sins have not corrupted the heavenly sanctuary, they have affected it. It has become completely removed from them, shut up to them, and God is not disposed to open it unless something happens to erase the iniquity the caused Him to close it in the first place.

In order for the sanctuary to be re-opened that man might commune again with God, something must be done to totally address both the justice and the anger of God. Since both of these are perfect and not subject to being set aside, the Work must be Mighty Work. The cleansing work must be Perfect and Complete.

We might also make another comparison. The elements of which the first tabernacle were made were ordinary physical things that, so far as was known, had never been used for any ungodly or unclean purposes. The necessity of them being cleansed was more the object of worship towards which they were directed than the corruption in themselves. God, being Holiness in Perfection, could not be worshiped with ordinary things unless they had been specially dedicated to Him.

We might wonder aloud if this passage is also intended to communicate to us that the Holiness of God also demands that any worship directed toward Him, even if from heaven itself, demands a special dedication and purification process. It was not only that the first tabernacle was dedicated with blood but that it was dedicated to Him alone. No other God could be worshiped from that tabernacle under penalty of divine judgment.

We find a case in the book of Ezekiel in which the elders of Israel were worshiping false gods in Jerusalem and even at the temple, (Ez.8). This is considered an abomination of the grossest form.  That which had been dedicated to God alone was being used to worship accursed and abominable things.

So it was not simply that the first tabernacle was dedicated with blood but that it was dedicated to God Alone, as was the temple. We might consider that the purifying of the things in heaven also has this as a component. It is not only that the righteous anger of God is turned aside from the worshipers by the Perfect Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and that the righteous judgment has been so satisfied that men can worship in the heavenly sanctuary but also that the Holy Temple has been devoted exclusively to God by His blood as well.

One might desecrate the earthly sanctuary and use it for ungodly things, but no one shall ever defile that temple purified to God Alone by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ.

II. We should also observe that this purification of the heavenly tabernacle by Jesus provides a better access than that of the tabernacle.

The only people who could enter that old tabernacle were the Levites and the priests, those of the tribe of Levi.

Even though the tabernacle had been purified and even though the people had been sprinkled with the blood of purification, they could not enter the tabernacle or the temple. They were stopped at the door of the congregation. It was an abomination for them to go further. We read of one man who did and the consequence of that action upon him. It was king Uzziah.

2 Chron 26:16-19

16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:

18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.

19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. KJV

Even the king could not enter the Holy Place. The access was strictly limited. This is not the case of the temple in heaven. The writer is going to affirm this in ch.10, though we do not want to get ahead of ourselves.

Heb 10:19-22

19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

21 And having an high priest over the house of God;

22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. KJV

Not only can we enter the temple grounds in heaven, but we can go into the holy place. But we are not required to stop there. We may enter 'the holiest,' that is, The Holy of Holies.

While the blood of bulls and goats could purify the tabernacle and the people that they might come to the tabernacle and worship, the blood of Christ so purifies both us and the temple of heaven that we can enter the very holiest place in all of time and space, the throne room of God Himself.

III. And, there in the throne room, we have a better advocate than the ancient Jews.

The High Priest went into the Holy of Holies for them, but he could only go once a year and only after the most rigorous purification and after sacrificing for himself.

One the other hand, we have instant, perpetual and constant access to the Holy of Holies ourselves and, once there, find an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Our advocate never sleeps, never dies, and never offends the Father. Christ's activity before the Father consists in a perpetual presentation of Himself as the one who died for our sins and rose again for our justification.

No High Priest could ever have done that if he were not the Son of God Himself.

Can we even imagine the incredible value of an Advocate before the throne of God? Where would we be without someone on our side, Who always seeks our good and Who always reminds God's justice that all our sins have been paid for and that His Perfect Righteousness has been credited to our account, 'imputed' to us?

That ancient Jew had to depend upon a man who was required to sacrifice for himself because he was also a sinner. They constantly worried while he was behind the veil that he might die of natural causes or be killed by God for having failed to properly purify himself. And, they had to worry that the offering of the Day of Atonement might be rejected by God. For this reason they tied a rope to his ankle so that they could drag him out from behind the veil if he died there.

And, they had to worry that even if the sacrifice were accepted on behalf of the nation, would this actually apply to them personally.

The believer has no such worries. The High Priest, Jesus Christ, is guaranteed acceptance.

Heb 1:5

5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? KJV

And, we have the word of Christ Himself that the sacrifice was accepted.

John 20:19-22

19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: KJV

Now, we have the guarantee that He will be our perpetual representative there to assure that we will be justified eternally and that we will continually have acceptance before the Father.

Not only that but when the Lord did appear to the High Priest, He veiled Himself in the smoke of the incense altar and in a cloud above the mercy seat. The High Priest did not see the Face of God, but only saw the representation of God. Nor could he hold conversation with the representation that he saw. There was no interaction between the two.

By contrast, Jesus Christ has the face of the Father. He holds communion with Him. He has conversations with Him. And not only does He have this access to the Father, but we have it as well.  We can do what the High Priest could not. His interaction with God was brief and very limited while ours is constant, instant, and continual.

IV. And, the sacrifice of Christ provides better for sins than the Jewish Temple

Heb 9:24-26

24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;

26 For then must he 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. KJV

Jesus entered into heaven itself, appeared in the Presence of God for us with a Once For All presentation of the sacrifice of His Own Blood. This Work has put away sin for those who believe on Him. The Single Act by which Jesus 'put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself' is superior in an infinite degree to the yearly sacrifices of the Jewish High Priest 'with the blood of others,' (animals).

Remember, the argument of the writer is against turning back to inferior forms and modes of worship.  Outside of the New Covenant provisions, the Jewish Tabernacle afforded the best of all other hopes for men. It was a system given by God in a vision to Moses, the greatest of the prophets outside of Christ. Therefore, the Jewish worship is superior to every other form of religion invented and used by men. If it is inferior to the Worship of God through Jesus Christ, the New Covenant, then certainly every other religion is inferior to it.

Understand that the writer is making an argument considered 'politically incorrect' in our day, that True Christianity is indeed a better religion than anything else. It does matter how a person worships God. There is only one system of worship that actually deals with the problem between man and God.

The modern mantra that 'all religions are good, all religions lead to God,' is simply untrue. There is one and only one mode of worship that actually works, that actually provides a human being with complete and total access to the Holy God. There is only one that puts his sins away and robes him in complete and total righteousness. There is only one that provides him with a constant Advocate in the throne room of God.

And understand this. Since Christianity has mutated into a thousand forms and many of them in disagreement concerning the way of access to God, not all forms of Christianity are equally valid.

If a person must believe and be baptized in a specific kind of church structure, then what I believe and teach is wrong.

If a person must believe, be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost as manifested by speaking in tongues, what I believe and teach is wrong.

If a person must believe, keep the teachings of a specific church and have their seven sacraments performed upon him, what I believe and teach is wrong.

If a person must believe in Jesus Christ and believe that Joseph Smith is His prophet to be saved, what I believe and teach is wrong.

The reverse is true as well.

Now I am not affirming that a person must be a Baptist to be saved. But hear me plainly, a person must, by the help of God, believe on Jesus Christ as his Only Hope of Salvation and repent of his sins to be saved. This is what the scriptures teach.

This is what many different groups of Christians have taught and believed across the centuries. We might mention some who have affirmed what we teach concerning salvation: the Donatists, the Novations, the Paulicians, the Henricians, the Waldenses, the Albigenses, the Moravians, the Lutherans, the Calvinists, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Anglicans, the Puritans, and many more along with the Baptists.

Listen to what John Wesley said on the subject. It may surprise some of you.

"9. If you ask, "Why then have not all men this faith? all, at least, who conceive it to be so happy a thing? Why do they not believe immediately?"

We answer, (on the Scripture hypothesis,) "It is the gift of God." No man is able to work it in himself. It is a work of omnipotence. It requires no less power thus to quicken a dead soul, than to raise a body that lies in the grave. It is a new creation and none can create a soul anew, but He who at first created the heavens and the earth.

11. It is the free gift of God, which he bestows, not on those who are worthy of his favor, not on such as are previously holy, and so fit to be crowned with all the blessings of his goodness; but on the ungodly and unholy; on those who till that hour were fit only for everlasting destruction; those in whom was no good thing, and whose only plea was, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!"

No merit, no goodness in man precedes the forgiving love of God. His pardoning mercy supposes nothing in us but a sense of mere sin and misery; and to all who see, and feel, and own their wants, and their utter inability to remove them, God freely gives faith, for the sake of Him in whom he is always "well pleased."  (From "An Earnest Appeal of Men of Reason)

What we believe and teach concerning the gospel is not some weird and strange construction, some cultic understanding, some hidden and secret doctrine. This has been the general testimony of Christianity from the very beginning. But some do not agree and, to the extent that they do not agree with the historical testimony of the Christian church, they are wrong.

Our writer is saying that it really does make a difference what one believes. It really does make a difference what he hopes in for his salvation. There really is a religion that is superior to all others.

The responsibility that we all have is to hold fast to what we have received.

Heb 2:1-3

1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;

3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; KJV

Help others to see it. Support those who proclaim the ancient truths. Dispel from your mind the notion that all religion is equally true and equally valuable. There is one and only one faith, the faith taught and believed by the First Century church and by faithful men in many churches sense.

The fact that most denominations, including the Baptists, are in the process of leaving this understanding does not make them right. Truth is not democratically decided, it is given by God in understandable form, Who then demands that men acknowledge and obey it.

Let us hold fast to what we have seen and heard.