Hebrews 9:23
"It was therefore (see? Because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin) necessary (it had to be) that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; (that is with blood, because of the language of the first curse found in Genesis 1-3 mans blood was required because God used an animals as a means to an intended end, that end is Christ) but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these."
Here it is again. See the comparison? Oh, the heavenliest. The sanctuary. And that Holy of Holiest, into which Christ went after the order of Melchizedek, had to be better than everything that was taking place down in Jerusalem, the Temple or the Tabernacle. And so, the heavenliest place had to be purified, purged washed with pure clear or clean; with ‘better’ blood sacrifice than that of animals. And so what was it? The blood of Christ! Remember to that the animal world was also under the curse which means its blood was not free from defilement.
I just thank the Lord that we get very little opposition, but when I taught back in Genesis that Eve was in Adam, that shook people up. And then I pointed out that she had to be in order to be part and parcel of ‘the fall.’ And that the Seed of the woman would one day come, in the person of Christ, of course, and be the Redeemer, the Savior of mankind. And I pointed out that the mother’s blood never courses through the baby in the womb. And oh, that shakes some people up. They just can’t comprehend something like that and I come back with this answer. If Mary’s blood would have coursed through the baby Jesus in the womb, would He have had sinless, perfect, Divine blood? No. He couldn’t have, because Mary was just as human as anybody else. Then we have to add that the seed of Christ is in every human being with Adam and Eve on as small as a grain of mustard seed, for this is the meaning of the parable.
But, Mary’s blood did not course through the infant Jesus in the womb. His blood originated as blood does in all mammals – livestock and everything – it begins with the what? The sire. The father. And so, since God was the Father, the Divine blood of Christ originated with God Himself. And oh, listen, without that, you’ve got a mighty weak theology. Because it had to be the sinless, Divine, perfect blood sacrifice to satisfy the heavenliest of Holiness in the power of the Eternal Life. It all makes sense, see?
God is even in charge of the physiology of the human being in order to fulfill His theological and ontological and Christcentered or Christological throughout the Old in shadowy form and More so in the New Covenants within which He now does what man could not do in his own strength under the Old. I always remember an old junior high school chemistry teacher and one of his premises was that the blood of the mother could never course through the infant, so then you would not have a Divine blood in the Savior. All right now verse 24,
Hebrews 9:24a
"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true;…"
He didn’t go into the Holy of Holiest in the Temple in Jerusalem. He didn’t go back behind the veil in the little tent in the wilderness. Oh, the Shekonah Glory stood above it, I know that. But, Christ didn’t go behind the veil and present His blood in an earthly Temple or an earthly Tabernacle, which were figures, or types, and but pictures of the true. But, verse 24 reading on:
Hebrews 9:24b
"…but (he went) into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;"
I don’t know why but that word ‘passed’ means to me just a great sweep. With just a great sweep of power and glory He passed into the heavens. Am I making my point?
But you see, it just tells me something. That when He ascended into the Heavens (and I think with His blood with Him and those of old who were waiting for Him in what is called Abraham's bosom), that He’s now going to present it not to the Temple there in Jerusalem but into that Holy of Holiest in the presence of God Himself. And He passed into the Heavens. Because all of the Old, Covenants, the Law and the Prophets are Christological His death put them all to death or an abrupt end. Just as when we enter conversion of our own free will choice there is an abrupt end of the sin nature and its hold on us. But we have to learn its power and meaning and our further need of God to be God in us. And this is the purpose of our being placed by God within a corral, just as Israel was under the Law. For what purpose to bring us to Christ, to learn of Him, to rightly hear His words of Life through the Holy Spirit's working in us just as He did in Jesus as the son of man. All right, coming back now then to Hebrews chapter 9:
Hebrews 9:24
"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; (or the picture of the true) but (He has passed) into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God (for what purpose?) for us."
He became our substitute. He took our place. First and foremost on the Cross. He died the death that you and I should have died. He was our substitute. Now He’s in the presence of God for the same reason. He’s our substitute. He’s there in our place. And all the glory of God is funneled down to us through Him. Oh, I think we’re getting through to people. If we have not the Spirit of Christ within us then we are none of His. What that tells me is that I as a New Covenant creature am in two places at the same time, a mystery of God and godliness found only in Christ Jesus. Which brings to bear Paul's statement of Galatians and Colossians, Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 3:4:
Galatians 2:19-21
"For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." and then Colossians 3:4:
Colossians 3:3-10
"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."
You see, to enter into this kind of relationship doesn’t mean that I’ve got to walk around ‘holier than thou,’ wrapping my Pharisaical cloak around me. No. That’s not what we’re talking about. Nothing thrills me more than when someone says something like, "Bill, yesterday a fellow came to me and started asking questions, and I could share The Gospel with him." Well, that’s just being ordinary, isn’t it? You don’t have to be out there putting on some kind of a ‘holier than thou’ front. We’re just ordinary people. I’m just an ordinary retired man. I make no apology for it. But, I can revel in that Grace of God all day, all night for this very reason, because I and my substitute is right there in the presence of God pleading my case. We can have perfect peace and rest in God because He has perfect rest and peace within me.
The same way with those (men and women) who have had a horrible past. Forget that past and come into the present, that Christ Jesus is now representing us, not our past. Our present, washed and cleansed, as only the blood of Christ can do. All right, verse 25.
Hebrews 9:25
"Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;"
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