Equipping University

In the tenth chapter of Hebrews, the author concludes his lengthy argument for the superiority of Christ to everything in the old covenant. However, he does not stoop to sheer emotional manipulation like today's televised jurists. He does not even praise the Lord for the greatness of the sacrifice of Christ's sacrifice. Instead, he presses on and repeats his primary point once more: the glory of the superior sacrificial offering of the superior high priest operating within the superior covenant. There is nothing new here. If fact, much of what he says in the first eighteen verses of the tenth chapter will be very familiar to the reader. He does not say anything new but the way that he says what he says here is new. In doing so, the author highlights for us what he deems to be the central issues in his argument.

My grandfather died during my sophomore year in high school. He did not have much in the way of material possessions. Therefore, when he died, each member of the family received certain items that do not amount to much in financial terms but are priceless in an emotional sense. The only bad side to receiving an inheritance, no matter how large or little, is that someone must die first. The author of Hebrews labors to make this point in the passage we study next. In the latter half of chapter nine, the author mentions a "promised eternal inheritance" that is set aside for "those who are called" (9:15). However, the only way these individuals can receive this incredible prize is for a certain death to occur.

If you have ever gotten blood on your clothes, you know how difficult it is to remove that stain. Because of this, we would never think of blood as a cleansing agent. We know that blood stains; it does not clean. Blood is something we try to scrub off, not scrub with! Yet the Bible speaks often of the cleaning power of blood. It is certain that the ancient Israelites knew nothing of the cleansing nature of blood. However, in his infinite wisdom and as part of his eternal plan, God gave to them a practice that would serve as a metaphor or type to explain his ability to cleanse his people from the greatest of stains: sin. In the previous chapter of Hebrews, we discovered that the Lord initiated a new covenant with his people to replace the old covenant established under Moses and the Law. Jeremiah's declaration of the new covenant revealed all that God would do in this unconditional covenant but the prophet did not mention anything about blood. However, six hundred years later, Christ instituted the new covenant in the Last Supper and proclaimed as he shared the wine, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:27-29).

Suppose you had previously traveled to Orlando's "Holy Land Experience" and later you were invited to travel to Israel. Suppose further that you replied, "I think I'll pass. I've already been to the Holy Land Experience. There's no need for me to go to Israel." What would people think of that decision? It is ludicrous to think that seeing a few replicas in Florida would be the equivalent of actually traveling to Israel to see those same objects in reality. The author of Hebrews asks the same question to his readers in the eighth chapter of his letter. He asks, "Are you going to give up on the real thing to chase after a replica?" The rites and rituals of Judaism are shadows of the real thing that is in heaven.