Daily Meditations

Hebrews 9:4 The golden Altar of Incense Having perused the items of the inner Tabernacle furniture and their placement within the tent, this verse seems to throw up an obstacle, for it places the golden altar of incense alongside the Ark of the Covenant and within the Most Holy Place! Scholars accept that there is a problem here, if the altar was used by priests twice daily, to offer prayers to the Lord, how could it be housed within the Most Holy Place which was entered only once a year by the High Priest? The general agreement seems to be that this altar was closely associated with all that took place within the curtain, it was the sole obstacle to entering through into God’s presence and so it was included in the same package as it were! From this altar of incense, the High Priest would use the holy fragrance when He made His annual visit to worship and sacrifice before the Lord. In other words, the altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant were inextricably linked!  There ha...

Hebrews 9:3b Inside the Tabernacle The Holy Place It’s time to look a bit more closely at the furniture that occupied the inner Tabernacle of the Israelites. This will hopefully help to make sense of the rest of this chapter of Hebrews. As the priest entered the Holy Place, and only priests could enter, they would be illuminated by the light from the menorah, or seven branched lampstand. Light is, of course, at the very heart of God’s dealings with the earth and with mankind. Light was given at the beginning of creation; it dominates every day of our lives in contrast with darkness. Jesus was the light of the world; His Holy Spirit gives us light as does His Word. If you are a true believer in Christ, then you share in His Holy Spirit. He is your light. That was the whole point of Pentecost.       The Table of Shewbread occupied the space opposite the Menorah. On it were 12 loaves of unleavened bread in two stacks of 6. Some incense was placed on the table to anoint the o...

Hebrews 9:3a Inside the Tabernacle The Holy Place was not the final part of this sacred tent, there was another curtain that confronted the priests who daily entered the Tabernacle. It hung as a taunt, for some of these men must have wondered what exactly lay beyond. But it was also a barrier, for no ordinary priest was allowed to pass through this curtain or to see what lay within. It was believed that God’s holy presence dwelt in this inner sanctuary, called the Most Holy Place. Only one man was allowed to pass through the innermost curtain, and he could only do only it but once per year, on the Day of Atonement. We will talk more about this in a few verses time.   Throughout this chapter it will be helpful to have at least an illustration of the Tabernacle and its furniture so that the layout and the nature of the sacred objects can be better visualised. We will provide this next time. If you were a priest and therefore allowed to serve in the sanctuary, it must have been a very...

Hebrews 9:2 The Holy Place There is no room here to look in detail at the regulations for building the Tabernacle. These can be found in Exodus 25 and later chapters. As we know, the instructions for building this “tent” and its furnishings were precise and had to be followed meticulously. For those who study the plans and the symbolism or significance of every detail in its construction, the Tabernacle offers a wealth of understanding about the nature of God and His relationship with His people. Every single piece of this temporary structure points to Christ and to the permanent heavenly Tabernacle where He now serves as our High Priest. The first room of the Tabernacle is often referred to as the Holy Place and in it was the lampstand or seven branched Menorah, the lamps were kept burning night and day. In addition, a Table of consecrated bread was positioned on the north side of the room, this held 12 loaves which were replaced once per week. Positioned near the entrance to the next...

Hebrews 9:1 The first covenant When the writer here talks about the “First Covenant” he is referring to the covenant made with Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai. The Covenant made with Abraham, referred to previously, was made years before. Paul calculated it was 430 years. (Galatians 3:16-17.) The Sinai Covenant was a complex and demanding arrangement that the Israelites fastidiously attempted to obey, and they failed miserably. As would we! The full contents of this contract are set out in the Torah and the rules and ramifications of it all occupy most of the texts of Exodus through to Deuteronomy. The verse before us highlights the two main aspects; regulations for worship, and everything associated with an earthly tabernacle.  “Tabernacle” simply means “tent or temporary dwelling.”  It’s a deliberate action on God’s part, the Law and its rituals were only ever meant to be temporary, they were to occupy a period of time until Messiah came. They were given solely ...

Hebrews 8:13 The new covenant It is vital that we remember that God made more than one Covenant with the world through His ancient people, Israel. In fact, I believe there were 7. The two most important are, the contract that He sealed with Abraham, and the Covenant in which Israel was given the Law under Moses on Mount Sinai. Abraham was appointed the father of all who believe, from every nation, forever. The Law, on the other hand, was a temporary arrangement given primarily to Israel and it was put in place to protect and guide them exclusively as a nation, during their occupation of the Promised Land. This Covenant was established to guard the Jews until Christ came! It is now obsolete!  The New Covenant, instigated and initiated by Christ, replaces the contract on Sinai, it removes the need for a Levitical priesthood, a Temple and the rituals and ceremonies of the Jewish religion. However, what Christ has signed and sealed for us is in fulfilment of, and in no way detracts fro...

Hebrews 8:12 I will remember their sins no more.  Remember that these verses were written by a Jewish author, to Jewish people who were struggling to marry up the Christian faith with the laws and principles that they had grown up with and that had dominated the Jewish religion and culture for centuries. They needed to be reassured that God was not rejecting the Old Testament Scriptures, and the faith of their ancestors, for the sake of the church. In reality, what He was doing was embellishing the beliefs of the ancient people by embracing the whole world and replacing a broken system with something far better. Was Israel finished and eradicated from the Covenant promises of God? By no means, their faith and their understanding was being enhanced, it turns out that all that had been revealed to them over the centuries was simply the foundations, the roots of an even more elaborate and fuller plan for God’s engagement with the people of the world. The church needs to remember this,...

Hebrews 8:11 They will all know Him! There is a future fulfilment to these verses that we have been addressing. Remember that v8-12 of this chapter of Hebrews are a quotation from Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the old prophet’s pronouncements look into the future when the whole world will be under the rule and reign of Christ, and all men will learn to obey the commands of the Lord. The Israelites were ordered to teach the commandments of the Law to one another and to their children and many have done so, to this very day. In the same way my parents taught me a great deal from the Scriptures, not least what was right and wrong in God’s sight. Parents today would do well to follow this example, but it won’t always be necessary! Will we always need to proclaim the word of the Lord on street corners or in our workplaces or in Sunday Schools? No! There will come a day when men are no longer ignorant about God, for His Son will reign over the earth and His commands will be obvious to all.  Psal...

Hebrews 8:10 The Holy Spirit writes His Word in our minds and on our hearts The Old Covenant was exclusively with Israel, although it was intended to be a source of truth and inspiration to the whole world. Whilst the Israelites were God’s chosen people, they were not meant to keep that relationship just to themselves, God intended that they should be a light to everyone on the planet, that those who sought after Him could find truth through the Hebrew Scriptures. The most obvious benefit of the New Covenant, as opposed to the Old, was that instead of having to consult and pour over pages of written instructions, God has chosen to write its terms and conditions on our hearts. In this context we are all the people of Israel. Jacob was given this name after he spent a night wrestling with a divine being and Israel means, “One who struggles with God.” Isn’t that true of all of us?  Ezekiel elaborates on the New Covenant relationship when he prophesies the return of the people to their...

Hebrews 8:9 They did not remain faithful This is a further quote from Jeremiah 31, and it reveals something of the emotions in the heart of God towards His people. We can almost feel His sadness as He recalls His covenant relationship with the ancient Israelites,  “I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt.”  This is the Lord God at His most gentle and caring, it is with tenderness and love that He led the people away from the cruel demands of their Egyptian slave masters and guided them through the Red Sea and the wilderness. After a few months the vast crowd of ex-Hebrew slaves arrived at Mount Sinai and there the Lord gave them the terms and conditions of His covenant. He had high expectations, they had none. They were never going to obey Him completely; they were unfaithful people and still are. But even as we read these words, we realise that we are looking in a mirror for we are no better! The last part of this verse is chilling, because the people were not faith...

Hebrews 8:8 A new Covenant with Israel and Judah t’s probably a bit pointless to speculate about what God expected from Israel when He gave them the first Covenant. Did He really think that they could keep it? Did He unwittingly underestimate the ability of this people to obey His Law? Did they make far more of a mess of it all than He had ever considered possible? I think not! Our Father always had a plan; he knew that men were fallible and that a system of sacrificial offerings was necessary. If not, why did He instigate it so precisely to begin with? As the Apostle Paul says,  “So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.”  Galatians 3:24.  All the religions of the world depend on obedience and works, on adulation and on devotion to the gods, these are the only qualities that will appease their hierarchy. Our God accepts all such efforts from His faithful ones, but He shows us that we can never earn His favour, we can never atone f...

Hebrews 8:7 The battle of the Covenants It’s a good point that is being made here. In modern parlance we would say, “If it ain’t broke, you don’t need to fix it!” In other words, if the Law, the sacrifices, the rituals and the ordinances of the old Jewish Covenant made with Abraham, Moses and the Israelites was working fine, then God would have not needed to replace it. But it was not working fine. It was constantly failing the people who found it impossible to meet the Covenant’s demands. They had spent centuries examining it in detail and trying to make it simpler and easier to uphold, hence the Mishna (written code of Jewish oral law) and the Talmud (the recorded oral thoughts of centuries of debate by the various Rabbis). The Law had become increasingly complex and, in their attempts to understand it and simplify it, the teachers and the scribes had made it impossible for the people to obey it! As we have seen, the Old Covenant only covered sins committed in ignorance and the whole...

Hebrews 8:6 A superior Covenant Oh dear, I wonder how this verse and its associates went down with Jewish readers of this Epistle! If they had fully embraced the Gospels and the work of Messiah, then no problem. If, however, they were still sceptical, (and the whole point of the letter is that some were) then statements like verse 6 would be hard to accept. For the point being made is that the ministry of Yeshua, and the Covenant that He initiated, is far superior to all that had transpired under Moses and the Levitical system of the Law. This whole verse seems to revolve around one word – mediator! In fact, the entire letter concentrates on the supremacy of Christ and how He has initiated and mediated a superior way of relating to the Lord God.  Moses was able to intervene before the Lord on behalf of His people on numerous occasions, however, he could only bring temporary respite, in the same way the sacrifices and offerings at the Tabernacle were only temporary, they had to be c...

Hebrews 8:5 A copy and a shadow There are two potent verses in Exodus that probably are never given the attention they deserve. Exodus 25 describes the precise instructions given by God to Moses about the building of the Tabernacle and the furnishings within it. Twice the Lord says to Moses , “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.”  V9, v40. When God instructs us to follow a pattern, it is always in the context of it being a shadow or an earthly replica of a heavenly reality. Throughout the centuries of Jewish worship and rituals it didn’t seem to dawn on anyone that all their sacred objects and their sacrificial offerings were merely reflections of a greater, spiritual reality. The sanctuary was just  “a copy, a shadow of what is in heaven. ” It took the coming of Christ Jesus, and the revelations to the Apostles, to unlock this mystery and to explain it all so that we might understand. This is exactly what the author of Hebrew...

Hebrews 8:4 Jesus is no earthly priest We have already discussed this point! Yeshua was in no way qualified to be a human priest of God Most High. That is why the religious leaders and the priesthood of Jesus’ day rejected Him. He was not of the tribe of Levi so He could not be a priest. He was not officially trained as a Rabbi and did not align Himself with any of the prominent teachers of His day. He exhibited few of the skills of a scribe and was most certainly unconnected to the Sadducees and Pharisees. He failed all the criteria required to be a religious leader in the culture of those days. He was not even a zealot for He had no political affiliations or motives. Small wonder that the Jewish leaders questioned His integrity, and in a culture that relied on traditional values, Jesus was found to have fallen short of every qualification used at the time. And yet He left them all gasping at His knowledge and His wisdom, even when He was a 12-year-old boy, visiting the Temple for the...

Hebrews 8:3 Gifts and sacrifices We need here, to establish the difference between gifts and sacrifices, especially in the context of the high priests. Gifts are voluntary, they always have been, they reflect the esteem the receiver holds in the mind of the offeror and also the love and affection that exists in their relationship. Gifts are, therefore, for our nearest and dearest or those for whom we feel a sense of gratitude and respect. Tithing is giving, and there were numerous other ways in which individuals could show their gratitude to the Lord God including offerings of grain, flour, oil and bread. Livestock was killed and the priests were allowed to keep part of these if the offering was a voluntary peace or fellowship offering.  Whilst the Levitical priests were not farmers or landowners, there is an inference that they too made offerings to the Lord to express their gratitude and devotion to Him.  Sacrifices obviously are different, and all priests, including th...

Hebrews 8:2 Set up by the Lord. We would be correct in thinking that the content of verses like these would be mind-blowing for most Jews. They had completed centuries of religious rituals, following the letter of the Law and their own oral traditions, seeking to do things correctly and to make themselves blameless before the Lord. Now they were being told that all their hard-earned religion amounted to very little, it was merely a reflection of a reality that exists outside of this world. It was being suggested that their ancient faith was just a sham, a shadow of the heavenly reality. This was earth-shattering news for them, and we can’t blame them for finding it hard to digest, especially as the ramifications flow over to us Gentiles. Firstly, the Jews are being asked to believe that the real Tabernacle is in heaven. This is not built by human hands; it is constructed by the Lord Himself.  Secondly, they are all being asked to grasp the fact that the Levitical priesthood was als...

Hebrews 8:1 We do have such a High Priest This chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews begins with a rather unsettling comment. After all that we have covered in recent studies we find that we have yet to get to the main point! We’ve deliberated over explanations of the qualifications of God’s Son, the provision of spiritual rest, the efficiency of the Word of God, the establishment of the priesthood and the covenant with Abraham, the role of a High Priest and the appointment of Jesus Christ to be that person for the church forever. If we thought that was sufficient material for a fairly complex letter, then we are being reminded that all this is just an introduction! If that is not enough, now we are reminded that we are about to get to the main point!  Firstly, the author wants to stress to his Jewish readers that every quality required by an earthly High Priest has been met in Christ Jesus - and some. He has demonstrated that despite any misgivings they might have and despite His ...

Hebrews 7:28 Men are weak, the Son is perfect This last verse of chapter 7 is a kind of summary of all that has gone before. The footnote in my Bible gives three excellent reasons why  “men in all their weakness”  cannot compare with the Son, in fulfilling the roles of the priesthood.  Firstly, men are mortal, we do not live forever, Christ on the other hand is eternal and His priesthood will never end.  Secondly, human beings are tainted and scarred by sin, no man or woman has ever been able to rid themselves of this terminal and pervasive disease. However righteous a priest might be, he is still imperfect and unable to meet the holy standards that define the Lord our God. For that reason, all human priests have had to offer sacrifices for themselves as well as for the wider population.  The third distinguishing difference between the Levitical priesthood and that pioneered by the Lord Jesus is that the human priests could only offer animals to God as substitut...

Hebrews 7:27 Once for all It is hard for us to imagine just what a conveyor belt of ritual and ceremony the role of an Aaronic priest embraced. There would be daily queues of men standing with their animals and other offerings waiting to be attended by those on duty. Every offering must be explained, the various sacrificial rules must be followed; was this a peace offering, a sin offering or a burnt offering? The priests needed to know because in some cases they were entitled to a share of the meat, in the case of the peace offering a portion would be returned to the offeror’s family. Imagine the clamour and commotion as the various participants queued with their animals awaiting their turn. On the special Feast days, the hubbub would be greatly increased, for up to 2 million people could descend on Jerusalem for the celebrations! The trouble is, each sacrifice and each offering was only temporary, the rituals were repeated over and over by every individual, because as time elapsed and...