Hebrews 9:1-10
Having no Jewish roots can make understanding a letter
written to this group of Hebrew Christians of some challenge. As a Gentile, who never thought of
himself as such, but if ask would have said; I’m a white poor boy that grew-up
a Baptist in Texas, and have little understanding of a Holy Place. But the brothers to whom this letter
was addressed had a full understanding of what was in the Holy Place, and
though none, but the high priest was allowed behind the second curtain, of the
Most Holy Place, they had been given a lot of information about what was
there. It is my understanding from
Scripture that only the high priest was allowed in the Most Holy Place, and
this is what was reported to be there: Verses 4-5, “having
the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides
with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that
budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot speak in
detail.”
I found it of
great interest that the priest could go into the first area or behind the first
curtain and perform their ritual duties, but into the second, only the high
priest had access. It is important
to understand that the high priest could only go into the Most Holy Place once
a year, and he must take blood, which he offered for himself and for the unintentional
sins of the people. That is
the first time I’ve seen that, and having no clue to its meaning, at face value
it would imply that the intentional sins were not covered, or you could
interpret it to mean that all sins are done in ignorance. Now that I’ve opened that can of worms,
let me chase that rabbit. When
Jesus Christ died on the cross what sins were covered? The apostle Peter stated this in 1
Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body
on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds
you have been healed.” Before leaving such an important subject,
turn to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do you not know that
the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the
sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice
homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers
will inherit the kingdom of God. And
such were some of you. But you
were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” And so was I, and yet by the mercy and
grace of God, the blood that Christ carried into the Most Holy Place, once and
for all, covered sin. Read the
list, it contains the sins that we call the big ones.
Our high priest; Jesus Christ has already paid the price for
sin, the apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, “For
what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on
the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and
then to the Twelve. After that, he
appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of
whom still living, though some have fallen asleep.”
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment