CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 9

It is a great point to see that the proper function of the Priest in regard to us is to lead us in as being of His house. One used to think that it was to bear us, as God’s people, through the wilderness; this is true in a sense, but His proper work is to lead us into the ^[p. 453] holiest (not yet to heaven), but where He Himself has entered.

In this chapter He is gone into the sanctuary — not the holy of holies on earth — and in Christ we go in. We get in this chapter twice that he has entered in (verses 12, 24). Verse 12 is the moral idea. Christ has entered in once. It will not be repeated. He has definitely taken up that place as man before God on the ground of accomplished redemption. We get somewhat the same idea in Romans 6, “In that he liveth, he liveth unto God”. Verse 24 is that He has entered in as representative. He has entered into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us in contrast to holy places made with hands. Christ has entered in not simply on the ground of personal perfection, but on ground on which we can enter in. He enters by His own blood, and we go in because He has obtained eternal redemption for us, i.e., His work has cleared all for God so completely that we can go in.

So long as God went on with the testing of man, there was not the unfolding of His purpose; the way into the holiest was not made manifest. In the Old Testament we get in the main the testing of man, in the New the purpose of God unfolded. The first tabernacle, whatever it might present in shadow, was in connection with the testing, therefore there was no liberty of access; but in the New Testament we get God’s purposes, and so there is going in: all is of the order of the Sanctifier. The first tabernacle was suited to man in the flesh: it had that character: the religious system which God gave to man in the flesh suited man in the flesh; the new sanctuary is moral in contrast to the material.

The apostle gets back to the first tabernacle for contrast in the beginning of this chapter — not for comparison. In the first tabernacle the priests went into the holy place accomplishing the service of God ^[p. 454] because their ministry was in the things connected with Israel; the candlestick, shewbread, etc., each was symbolic of Israel in connection with Christ. The shewbread is the exposition of the twelve loaves, as setting forth Israel in completeness in connection with Christ. The candlestick is Israel in connection with the Spirit. Israel will have the place of God’s centre of administration on earth; so, too, it will be the light here. The priests did not minister in the things that are in connection with Christianity.

Now the first tabernacle is done away — that is, all in connection with Israel is done away for the time being, so that if we have not the holiest there is no service of God at all. In Matthew’s gospel we get the history of Israel taken up afresh in Christ; He becomes the true Israel, and Israel is set forth in Him before God. He comes in as Jehovah’s Servant to that end; but that is in view of the future.

Service was the rendering of what was due to God. All this part leads on to worship. Under the law, the priest was the worshipper, the worship was carried on by the priests — a select class. They talk in Christendom of ‘divine service’; it is quite a common expression. The apostle cannot spend much time over it (verse 5) — it was not the moment to speak particularly of the things that belonged to the first tabernacle; he was hastening on to speak of another thing. The first tabernacle in verse 8 refers to what existed then. Now that is done away — all that remains is the holiest, and that not in type and shadow, but in reality. There is no proper priestly service at all, except as connected with the holiest: no real service to God, except what comes from the consciousness of the calling.

In Christendom we get the first tabernacle set up again in principle — this could not be the service of God. The generality of people in Christendom are, in their sense of things, on the footing of responsibility before God. ‘We bless our Saviour’s name, our sins are all forgiven’. Now in this hymn you are never away from the responsible man; it was a very common hymn some time ago amongst us. It is true we are forgiven, but when we speak of forgiveness we are not off the ground of responsibility; in the holiest you lose the sense of previous history. It is not possible that the mind of man can be occupied with two things at once. It has been pointed out that the consecration of the priests came after all the offerings had been offered. The whole question of sin and sins has been settled first, and the holiest is where God has been pleased to reveal Himself.

God can reveal Himself in a way to occupy and completely absorb us to the exclusion of everything else; this is the idea of the holiest; this leads to worship. This revelation of God really presents the Father, for it is in this character that God has been pleased to reveal Himself. Sins are individual and forgiveness is individual, but in the holiest we are of the company. We go into the holiest as the companions of Christ, and God is towards us as He is towards Christ. The holiest is what Christ is under the eye of God.

We cannot assemble together on the ground of our calling, for this latter depends on the state of our souls: we come together as Christians, for there are many things we have in common as such; but being in the truth of our calling in our souls is another matter. We cannot exclude from the company those who do not enter into the truth of our calling, for they have the Spirit of God, and for this reason I have not as much difficulty as some in singing certain hymns. The idea of the holiest is that God is towards us as He is towards Christ. We are loved with the same love. The proper privilege of the assembly is realised when Christ is known in the midst. Christianity is not simply that God has come out, but that ^[p. 456] we go in with Christ into the place whence the light has come — the Father’s presence.

In verse 12 we get that Christ has entered in — i.e., He has taken up a place before God on the ground of redemption — eternal redemption in the broad sense, not mere ‘for us’. Christ could have gone in on the ground of His own Person, but then we could not have gone in; but He has died to sin and lives to God, i.e., He has taken up ground on which we can go in. He entered by His own blood. Christ has entered in as Forerunner. He is Priest and can conduct others in. We go in under His shadow, He introduces us, too, according to His own acceptance, and is not ashamed to call us brethren. Christianity is a most wonderful thing if you really get the idea of it; the more we realise the place that Christ has taken up as man, the more we are filled with reverence, and the more tenacious we shall be of the glory of His Person. It is a wonderful thing to find out that we are objects of God’s love. It is this that calls out worship.

So long as we are down here we are always, in the sense of grace and righteousness, as men here; but in the holiest, and so too in heaven, we are entirely a new creation.

The Father will be the great object in heaven and in eternity. The Father is the way in which God is now presented to us. We shall see that the Son is the object of all the divine purposes — and that the glory of God is displayed in the accomplishment of them.

The land is not a figure of the holiest, the land is the inheritance, that is what Christ inherits. In Hebrews it is largely contrast, it is not instruction in types. In these we get priests going into the holy place, and the high priest only once a year into the holiest of all. It is all in contrast to what has come out in Christ.

In verse 14 we have “dead works”, it could not be otherwise when the sentence of death was on man.

^[p. 457] All the priests who went in performing the service under the law had the judgment of death still on them.

“To serve the living God”. It would affect man even physically if he believed in the living God. All that we have to do with in this scene is under death, but having come into contact with a living God must have a great effect upon a man — it works morally, and I believe it has an effect even physically. If we were more pious we should have better health; piety is profitable to all things. Christ having come in is not exactly His coming in or going in anywhere. The idea is that He has come on the scene; the law pointed on to millennial good things; it had a shadow of good things to come. Christ will be High Priest of good things to come (as Melchisedec) when He comes out in the millennium. But we get the good things and better, on the principle of going in, not when He comes out; when He comes out we shall come out with Him.

Christ takes up His place as Priest on the ground of righteousness; Psalm 110. It is when He is at the right hand that He is saluted as Priest for ever.

The first covenant is referred to now simply to show that even in it all things were purged by blood. The “heavenly things” are Christianity (verse 23). The “things in heaven”, of which the tabernacle was a figure, is rather a different thought from the heavenly things. The argument is that the first system was not dedicated without blood, it was inaugurated by blood. Blood is the witness of death. The heavenly things are purified with better sacrifices than these. If there are to be worshippers who enter the holiest, they must be cleared from all against them and from all inconsistent with the presence of God in heaven. So at the close of the chapter we get sin and not simply sins put away. A worshipper now in the eye of God is completely purged from what came in by man.

^[p. 458] Chapter 9 presents a great contrast to the beginning of the epistle. In the beginning we saw how God had come out, and now we see that man has gone in. “Has spoken to us in the person of the Son”, gives the key to the wonderful character of the revelation. There was a great deal that God could say by prophets, but a great deal also that He could not say by them; and now He has said that by His Son in the character of apostle. As High Priest He has gone in; by the Apostle God reveals Himself, and consequent upon that, man goes in. The two things must go together, for if God had not come out, man could not have gone in. He would, as regards man, have remained in darkness. The great point of chapter 9 is that Christ has gone into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us representatively, that we may reach there.

God could not have come out in the gospel if sin had still been before Him. When Christ died the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, the witness that God had come out. The truth of sin put away refers to the gospel; it is the only ground on which God could approach man in grace. If God had come near to man without it, it must have been in judgment or else to condone sin. It helps to the understanding of the epistle to see the contrast between God coming out and man going in. God could speak in a totally different way by His Son than He could by prophets. “The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. Now, Christ has entered in, and the believer appropriates Him as on our side: He is for us. In chapter 10 we enter in; at the close of chapter 9 He has entered into heaven to appear in the presence of God for us; we have boldness to enter into the holiest. I think the distinction between heaven and the holiest is that heaven is the actual place. There is no thought of our going into the place now, but we enter in morally.

^[p. 459] As far as I understand Hebrews, I do not think it takes believers off the earth. It is not like Ephesians, where Jew and Gentile are made to sit in the heavenly places in Christ; the holiest does not carry you to heaven exactly, though into the presence of what is heavenly in association with Christ. I do not think the thought of worship is prominent in Ephesians. You have gone in, and you come out to fight, to hold your ground. There is access to the Father in Ephesians, but worship is not the subject; it is the full height of the calling of the church brought out, and the object is, that you may be able to come out in divine power here; so the apostle exhorts them to walk worthy of the calling. In Ephesians we have also the state answering to the calling; God has predestinated us to sonship by Jesus Christ to Himself, and the state is for the entering into the calling.

In the latter part of chapter 9 you get the completeness of the offerings. Christ entered into heaven when the offerings were all completed. He appeared once in the end of the world to put away sin by His own sacrifice, and then He enters in when all is complete. He has left no offering work behind to be done. We could not go in if the offering was not complete. He is there as man, to the perfect satisfaction of God. It is most important to lay hold of that side, I mean of what is found in the fact of His presence there for us. The Apostle is from God to man, the Priest is from man to God, after the order that God has approved. A wonderful thing, for all He is as a divine Person gives its character to His manhood. Morally He gained nothing by becoming man; the point is what He brought into manhood.

The essence of appropriation is that He is put within our reach, so that you may eat Him. It is affection, I think, that does so, for it is a question of attachment. We are drawn to Him, and it is affection and not simply faith that appropriates Him.

^[p. 460] I must have Him, and I am entitled to have Him. If not entitled it would be covetousness; to desire anything to which I am not entitled is covetousness. I admit that affection is closely linked with faith, but it is not faith only. It is on the principle of Peter, in his saying to the Lord, “Bid me come unto thee on the water”. Christ was above the difficulty, He was drawing Peter to His own side, attracting him out of the boat to Himself, and making him consciously His companion where He was. You appropriate Him by affection. The more you appropriate Him the more you are separated from all here. It is the principle of John 6: “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me”. I think it is most wonderful to apprehend Christ on our side; it is a great defect if you do not see what He is on our side, the place that He has taken as man God-ward; you do not get the good of it without appropriation.

“Once in the end of the world (the consummation of the ages) hath he appeared to put away sin ... and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation”. The latter part of the verse proves how perfectly everything has been effected — no question of sin when He comes again; He has completely done with it. Properly it is the Jew who looks for Him; morally it applies to the Christian I do not doubt, but He appears to Israel for salvation. Some people try to make out from this verse that only those looking for Him will be taken at the rapture; but it does not speak of the rapture at all; it is His appearing, His coming out, and not the saints going in.

Strictly, the ‘salvation’ is the deliverance of the Jew, but I should not have the slightest objection to applying it to Christians, for it is true of them, only He comes out to take us in.

The idea of the Priest used largely to be, of one ^[p. 461] who carried us through the wilderness. It is only comparatively lately that I have seen that the point of the Priest is to carry us now to where He is — not only to bring you safe home at last, but to take you in now. The principle on which you go in is the appropriation of Christ as Priest.