Heb 9

A better sacrifice

Context: When Jesus became the true high priest, the priesthood of the Old Testament became obsolete (Heb 8:13). Chapter 9 now addresses how that old covenant itself pointed to the coming of the new. Main point: Already the Old Testament itself taught that animal sacrifices are only a sign and cannot themselves cleanse the conscience. They cannot save from “dead works” (i.e. works that have no life from God, regardless of how pious they may appear). As such, they instead served as a constant reminder of the need for a better sacrifice that can and will save. Arriving at this understanding of the Old Testament is necessary to discern and receive “the good things that have come” with the appearance of Christ (v11).

Warm-up: What do you remember as the largest sacrifice that a friend ever made to make a wish of yours come true?

Read: Hebrews 9

• vv1-5: What details of that symbol did he consider of less importance here?
• vv8-10: What aspect did he highlight as the key to understand what this symbol illustrated? =>

2) v8: No one was allowed to enter the inner tent except the high priest, once every year. What did this ordinance reveal about the ministry of ordinary priests in the outer tent?

• v9: …and about the efficacy of their animal sacrifices (notwithstanding their regularity and expense)?
• v10: “…until the time of reformation”: How did this layout indicate that one day the OT worship will be reformed?
  • What ‘good things’ were veiled by this thick curtain? =>
    • Read Ex 25:21-22. What did the ‘testimony‘ inside the ark testify? cf Jn 5:45; 7:7 =>
    • The kapporeth, (gr. hilasterion), lit. ‘propitiatory’ (from the root word kopher which means the ‘price for ransom of a life’), was a thick plate covering the ark: How did this explain how the worshiper will be saved from condemnation? [cf 2Cor 3:7-9; not by abolishing the law, but by…]
• How did this inner sanctum and its design reveal the true character of God? How can we know how holy he really is: Through the law? If so, why were the tablets with the ten commandments covered below the ‘kapporet’?
  • Hint: Does anyone place the superior beneath the inferior?
  • cf Ro 3:21-26, God’s righteousness was revealed apart from the law: Does this mean that before Jesus, it was revealed by the law? Or rather that it was not yet properly revealed at all?*
• v11 (interpretation): What are the ‘good things’ that have only come in the new covenant? cf Heb 6:19-20; Ro 5:2; Eph 3:12 What makes such hope possible now? cf Lk 23:45.

• Read (again) Ro 3:25 => When did Jesus become what the ‘mercy seat’ in the tabernacle represented only symbolicaly?
• v12: Until the death of Jesus, access to the inner tent was prohibited. Why was free access less useful at that time than the promise that it will become accessible in the future?
  • Hint: What would have happened if this earthly copy of the true ‘tent’ in heaven would have already permitted free access to the holiest of holies? cf v17
  • Hint: Was the curtain in the tabernacle intended to deliberately hide God’s holiness? => If that were the case, then why build any tabernacle or any inner tent at all?
  • Since the purpose of the curtain evidently was not to hide the future new covenant, why put up a curtain at all? cf v8**
• vv13-15: What difference does it make if in the new covenant we now do have ‘access to the inner tent’?
  • Hint: Why is the ‘purification of the flesh’ contrasted to a purification of the conscience? =>
  • How can the blood of Jesus purify our consciences while our own offerings cannot?

4) vv16-23: One of the difficulties for Jews to accept Jesus was that they expected the Messiah to destroy their oppressors. How did already the tabernacle and its priestly worship foretell that the Messiah instead had to die in our place to become our High Priest? =>

1. How is this question addressed by vv16-18 and their reasoning about someone’s death and testament?
   • What ‘testament’ are we talking about here?
   • How did the ‘Old Testament’ come into existence?
   • By what logic was it necessary that therefore any future New Testament would need a better sacrifice to come into effect?
2. Read Gen 22:13-14 => How does this story illustrate that the blood of an animal cannot be the real deal, but only a graphic metaphor for the sacrifice of a future offspring promised to Abraham?
3. vv19-23: Picture the tabernacle where God was dwelling. Was it holy and pure by the blood of animals, or did everything become holy by the presence of the holy God? Ex 29:43 [to explain what this signified, see e.g. Lev 19:1-2; Ro 8:3-4]

5) v23: Since nothing in heaven needed purification, what ‘heavenly things’ did the writer have in mind that were not yet clean enough for God to dwell there unless they are cleansed by the sacrifice of Jesus? cf Heb 3:6; Eph 2:17-22; 2 Cor 6:16

• v24: What difference does it make that death could not hold Jesus and that he became a living high priest in heaven?
• (vv25-26: Do you think the commemoration of this sacrifice requires that bread and wine literally turn into the body and blood of Jesus each time in a process of ‘trans-substantiation’? Why or why not?)

• v26: Why is reincarnation not necessary?
• v27: Why is reincarnation not possible?
• v28: Instead of putting their hope in a next reincarnation, what will believers hope for? And why so eagerly?

• What ‘practical’ use, if any, do you think is there in trying to follow an analysis like the one in Heb 9 about animal sacrifices?
  • For what purpose do you think are such things in the Bible?
  • After studying this chapter, do you think the writer only targeted a Christian subgroup such as its clerical elite, or are there essential truths to grapple with for every Christian who wants to grow in the faith?
• If the writer was interested in seeing his readers grow in their service to God, or in seeing more people come to repent of ‘dead works’ (v14), why is he not writing about that? Or is he? cf Heb 5:14In your own experience, has ‘solid food’ as provided in this chapter influenced your own spiritual growth? How?
• If you consider the closing verse (v28), how did the writer expect his readers to respond to what he just penned down in this chapter?
  • How does that compare to your own reaction?
• Does anything in this chapter make you long for Jesus to come back? Why or why not?