Hebrews 9:6a
"Now when these things were thus ordained,…"
That is by God Himself. The furnishings in the tabernacle, all the way from the brazen altar, the laver of cleansing, to the table of show-bread, to the candlestick and the altar of incense. And then behind the veil was the Ark of the Covenant in which were the three things we just spoke of. Now continuing the verse:
Hebrews 9:6b-7a
"… the priests (the priests of Israel, all Levites remember) went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone, once every year,…"
Let me come back, so daily, the priests would begin with the animal sacrifices out here at the brazen altar; they would stop at the laver of cleansing and wash and wash and wash. And then they would come on in and they would replace the loaves of bread on the table of show-bread and they would trim the wicks and fill the oil and all that in the candlestick, which when looked down upon from the top was a wheel within a wheel, the center lamb being the axle. They would trim the fires and everything on this altar of incense but never beyond the veil. Then they would accomplish their daily work and go back out. Now that’s as far as they could go in their daily ministration, but once a year the high priest could go behind the veil. But not without a cord being tied to his ankle with which to pull his corpse out should he not be acceptable to God for any reason.
We're to discern from Scripture, did he come around the end of the veil? We know he didn’t go under it, but somehow or other, once a year the high priest would come in behind the veil and sprinkle the blood upon the Mercy Seat and then go back out, get the blood of another animal; come back in for the sins of the Hebrews and go back out. And only once a year on what is called the Day of Atonement.
Remember the Day of Atonement could not take away Israel’s sin. It was only a stopgap, it was a covering and that’s why David said in the Psalms, "Blessed is the man whose sins are covered." They weren’t atoned for completely; they couldn’t be with animal’s blood. So few people understand this whole concept of the departure of the Jewish believers or unbelievers as far as that goes in the Old Testament economy. And the Scripture is so plain that they went down into Hades or Sheol or Hell as we call it in the English. But Hades was divided by a great gulf, and on one side were the ‘flames of torment’ and on the other side was ‘Paradise’ Abraham's bosom. But it was all down in the center part of the earth.
Now maybe we’d better chase down the Scriptures for this. Come back with me to Matthew chapter 12, and we’ll begin at verse 38. Remember this in Christ’s earthly ministry.
Matthew 12:38-39
"Then certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. (now remember, the Hebrews were always requiring a sign. And His answers are in red if you have a red letter edition) But he answered and said unto them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; but shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:'"
If you ever have somebody scorn the story of Jonah, then you just tell them well, the Creator of the whole universe believed it. And if the Creator Himself believed it, you’d better! Because if you don’t you’re going to stand in danger of the judgment someday, because if you can’t believe that, then you can’t believe the work of the Cross. That’s the way I look at it. Because one is just as believable as the other. As are the writings of say Jasher and Enoch after all Jasher's writing are mentioned in 2 Samuel and Joshua with quotes by Jesus Himself. And so here the Lord of Glory Himself is putting His stamp of affirmation on the story of Jonah.
Matthew 12:40
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Which means the very center. "In the heart of the earth." Now let’s go up and get a little glimpse of that place in the center of the earth, in Luke, chapter 16, and we can jump in at verse 19. Again, I think we’ll just take the time to read a good portion of this because the Word of God is more powerful than any two-edged sword. And it’s certainly more powerful than anything I can say, so we’ll just let it speak for itself. And again in the words of the Lord Jesus, Himself. Now I can never emphasize enough that even though He was on earth in the flesh, He never stopped being the Creator God of Genesis 1:1-3. And of course, this is what Hebrews has been showing; that Christ was totally God in the flesh. So, as God you see, He knows exactly what He’s talking about and this is not a parable.
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