Yom Kippur - Hebrews 9:1-14

9:1-5 - The best introduction to chapter 9 comes from the IM which says, “Paul continued his comparison between the Levitical high priest and Jesus Christ by discussing the work of the high priest on the Day of Atonement.” If we remember from a few days ago, the Day of Atonement was held once a year on Yom Kippur. On this day the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and perform sacrifices atoning for the sins of not only himself and his fellow priests, but for all the people of Israel. This is something that Paul discusses in this epistle because his audience is Jewish-Christian converts and so they are familiar with and deeply devoted to Judaism. I’ve debated how in depth I want to get with the coverage of these verses because Paul goes into such detail about the furniture and the decorations, etc. that I don’t know how much of the details will come across as important to the overall interpretation. First Paul talks about the “Tabernacle.” The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com goes into great detail about the setup of the tabernacle saying, “There were three main divisions in the tabernacle of Moses (the temple of Herod presumably was set up the same way.” The first was an outer courtyard which contained the altar of sacrifice and the large laver for washing ordinances. This is where the Levites performed most of the animal sacrifices spoken of in the Mosaic Law. This area represented the telestial kingdom.” Honestly, I don’t think I’m going to get too much into the details here because I know that at some point I will be going through the Old Testament and I’m sure will be doing a very in depth analysis of the tabernacle and everything that goes into that. Paul names the sacred relics that were in the different areas of the tabernacle, candlestick, table, showbread, the veil, the golden censer, the Ark of the Covenant, the golden pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, the tablets with the Ten Commandments, two cherubim, and the mercy seat. It’s easier to understand the role of some of these objects when it comes to the Day of Atonement, but some objects are more abstract. 9:6-10 - When the Day of Atonement came, the priests (plural) would go into the “first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.” But into the second area, only the high priest went who would sacrifice several different animals representing different classifications of people. There was some burning of the dead animal bodies and a lot of blood being sprinkled everywhere. All this was “signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.” I read something somewhere that I can’t find now that basically said because Christ had not yet performed the atonement, God and man were separated by the veil. This would be an important point for a former Jew now Christian to understand, that ancient Jewish ordinances and rituals were important in their time and place, but the dividing factor between Judaism and Christianity was the atonement of Jesus Christ. And Paul is explaining this to them using what they already know, making it extra effective. The most important part of all the ritual and ordinances of the Law of Moses was that they were only a “figure” or a symbol, type, or teaching tool of the actual atonement performed by the Savior. Paul says that the offered “gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” I understand that the atonement can be complicated, it is a difficult concept to put your finger on, even the prophets have said that there’s a lot about the atonement that we won’t understand in this life. But when I think about the mechanism of being saved, of having my sins forgiven and living with God again, inheriting all that he has, at no point do I think “this piece of meat will be the thing that accomplishes this task,” or “this drink” or “this washing will be the lynch pin to my salvation.” It’s interesting and this might sound pretty far out there for some people, but there’s a book called “Visions of Glory” in which a man who has encountered life after death numerous time dictates to a friend about his experiences. A part of this book talks about plants and animals being spiritually alive and having a testimony of Jesus Christ, and while this might seem out there, it makes complete sense to me. There’s a very powerful moment in the book where he says something to the effect of “the most powerful testimony I’ve ever heard of Jesus Christ was born to me by a blade of grass.” He says that all of God’s creation are in a constant state of singing His praises, and that we are the only creatures who don’t. This was really powerful to me because such a large part of my testimony comes from nature and how it works and the beauty and self-regulation of it. We know that everything was created spiritually before being created physically, so everything has a spirit, and it would make sense that perhaps we are the only beings in creation who have the veil over our understanding. The only reason that I bring this up is that I thought how ironic it would be for people to think that the animal of the sacrifice is what would actually save them, when the animal being sacrificed would probably be singing the praises of Jesus the whole time and be thankful to be a part of the process. 9:11-14 - But Christ is the ultimate “high priest of good things to come,” which to me embodies the whole purpose of the atonement. We are down here in this mess of a life with all its injustices and evils and depravities, and all of that will be not only relieved in us, but will also be compensated for. The hope that things will get better, even if they are going ok at the time, is so very important to our mentality in this life. Hope, looking forward to something, it’s critical in our mental well-being. Christ as our highest priest will save us “by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in over into the holy place, having eternal redemption for us.” This is a call back to Mark 14:58 where the people testify they heard Jesus say, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.” This, of course, is when Jesus was talking about his body as the temple and building another in three days referencing his resurrection. The people didn’t understand it then but Paul is tying Christ’s words about Judaism to Christianity, giving it more credibility. And if, through the Law of Moses, “the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,” if all that is able to “purify” or as I interpret, “bring closer to God,” then Paul asks “How much more shall the blood of Christ… purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” I took this to mean that the shift in understanding from the Law of Moses to the atonement of Jesus Christ could be a powerful catalyst for spiritual growth. Maybe it’s because I don’t really know very much about Judaism, that the Law of Moses doesn’t make a ton of sense to me as far as preparing people for the coming of Christ. It’s hard to understand how people thought that animal sacrifices were going to save them. But then again, I really didn’t know very much about the atonement until recently, so I thought that going to church and not drinking coffee were going to save me. The obedience is important and is very meaningful when there’s not a clear understanding of why. But it seems to me that understanding the why and how at some point is important for our spiritual growth otherwise we will just end up living as very Pharisaic religious enthusiasts. An important part here is verse 12, which when combined with 11 might be paraphrased to say, “As the ultimate high priest, when the time came for the Day of Atonement, Christ didn’t use the physical temple or blood from animals to perform the sacrifices needed to forgive the people of their sins. He used his own blood as the sacrifice and entered ‘into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.’” Sometimes there are just no more powerful words that what is already written. I imagine the ritual sacrifice happening with a various high priest using animals and it’s a graphic, messy event. But then I think about Jesus using himself and it’s a very different feel. With the animals there would probably be animal stink, loud animal sounds as they resisted being killed, probably blood everywhere. But with the Savior, it would be quiet, controlled, and clean. There would be a stark difference between the animal struggling to get free and avoid their fate and Jesus not only accepting it, but choosing to be the one, apprehensive but happy to do it. It’s such a counterintuitive concept that it really takes some reflection to let it sink in, that some person, arguably the best person who ever lived, would voluntarily die a horrifically painful death just so that other people don’t have to suffer the consequences of their own actions. It’s really an interesting concept.