August 10, 2008

• Hebrews 9

  The Jew and the Gentile are together with Christ as Mediator of a better covenant.

  Hebrews 8:13 In that He says, “A new covenant, ” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

  This verse states clearly the reference to keeping ALL the Mosaic Laws. There were some 660 laws.  God gave the 10 commandments and men added to that piece by piece. No one could keep the Mosaic law. Yet, the Jews had cows, goats, etc. that needed to go out to pasture, even on Sabbath. They had a goyim to come in on the day of rest to do the work that they could not do on the Sabbath. That was not the intent of the law of God, they took it to the next level.

  Hebrews 9:1-3 Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,

  Pastor Don told us that on the way to Sight and Sound, an annual church trip, they stop by a place that has a complete model of the Tabernacle, so that we can see a picture of it. Israel also had wonderful models of the various temples and historical sites, some of the models were huge. 

  Just so you can get an idea of the scale model of the Israeli models, I have included  pictures from last year’s trip to Israel. This was a model of the temple at the time of Jesus, and the surrounding area.  I especially love that little boy in the white hat at the right of the picture. He was talking with his Israeli father, calling his father, “Abba.”

  

  

  

  Hebrews 9:4-5 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

  We visited the Temple Institute in Israel, and they have been making the Temple tools in preparation for the rebuilding of the Temple. I did not get a picture of this in Israel, but this is a picture of the Ark from the Temple Institute site.

  

  When Paul wrote this passage in Hebrews, he had seen the things in the Tabernacle (remember he was a Levite and served in the Temple) and he had had the vision of the Heavenly Tabernacle.

  At the time of Paul, the Romans had no love for the Jewish Nation. They had 20,000 soldiers stationed at Caesarea, which had a feel of little Italy, with prostitutes, horse races, and things that were familiar from their home.  Here are some pictures from our trip to Israel. You can see the Roman influence.

  

  Here is the stadium where they held their horse races.

  

  Buildings and arches

  and a wonderful waterfront view.

  

  This was a swimming pool.

  

  Below is a picture of me sitting on some columns

  

  And our group listening to a lecture. Pastor Don is in the green shorts just left to the woman in blue.

  

  Pastor Don then continued to talk to our Friday Bible study about the altar, especially at the time of the major feasts, where the priests would be ankle deep in blood at the High Holy Days, sometimes sacrificing 2,000 sheep.  Pastor Don pointed out that at the High Holy Days the price of lamb would be at rock bottom, but the best parts were used for the sacrifice and given to the priests.  The rest of the animal was given to the public.  There could be a million people in Jerusalem at the time. God wanted people to be happy and fellowship with Him.  The feasts were times of parties and fellowship with God.

  During the Dark Ages the Church became a place of penance and suffering, far from the idea of what God wanted for His people.

  When the people were in the wilderness, the Shekinah Glory of God would be over the tabernacle – there would be a fire by night and a cloud by day.  The people would move when God instructed them to move.  It would take about 45 minutes to take the whole tabernacle down and load it on carts. The moving was very organized.  The people were organized like an army. Each person had a job, and a position around the tabernacle.

  The Tabernacle we had on earth is a copy of what is in heaven.

  Hebrews 9:6-7  Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;

  The High Priest went alone into the Holy of Holies, with blood sacrificed for himself, for his sins, and then for the people.  If the Priest’s sins were not paid for and he went into the Holy of Holies he would drop dead.  The priest’s garment had bells on the hem that would make noise as he moved around the Holy of Holies performing his duties, and there was a rope tied around his ankle so that, if he had not atoned properly for his sins and dropped dead, he could be dragged out of the Holy of Holies.

  Pastor Don told us that the High Priest had a small group of priests who trained with him.  Once a year, the sacrifice for atonement occurred and it had to be perfect.  The priest had to remember to do everything in the correct order, and trained to do this.  He had to wash ceremonially the right way, do the necessary sacrifices for himself and his family, and then the sacrifices for the people of Israel. The priest was going to go into the presence of God on the earth, meeting Him at the Mercy seat.  There was no liberty at all to make mistakes.  There could be no sin, and the priest could not touch an unclean thing, or anything dead.   All his actions, legal and business had to be in order, nothing wanting.  The priest could not touch alcohol or herbs.  Eli, the High Priest’s two sons died because they were using alcohol and robbing the people, not doing the sacrifices in the way that God ordained and taking their portions from the best cuts that belonged to God.

  Pastor Don told us that you can’t get drunk on Saturday night and then come into church and minister on Sunday. We are in God’s Holy place and some things don’t change. God is holy and He expects us to line up with His word.

  Unclean is Unclean.  We trust the Word of God, and we know that what is unclean is subject to death.  A prophet or teacher can drop dead for what they say if it is not lining up with God’s Word.  There is a weight of responsibility in serving God.

  I want to save the rest for tomorrow for I have a wonderful picture that my husband took showing how Pastor Don illustrated the next part.

  Hoping you have a blessed day!

  Heather

  • 2:19 pm
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