The Weekend Word

Hebrews 8:11-13

¹¹ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

• All who enter this covenant will know God.
• It won’t just be the privileged who know God.
• All who are a part of the covenant will know God
• In this new covenant – how will all know the Lord? By the Holy Spirit!
• This isn’t just a knowledge of the Lord
• 1 Sam 2:12-13 “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. ¹³ The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand,…”

¹² For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

• Sin will be forgiven – was it not forgiven in the OT?
• Read 2 Cor 5:18-21 – How God has made reconciliation and remembers our sin no more. Sin is taken care of and is no longer the issue.
• In the OT you had to go back year after year to be forgiven again and again.

¹³ By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

• Remember earlier we spoke of game changers
• The “NEW” is definitely a game changer
• New priesthood – new covenant
• Hebrews written in the mid 60’s – what was rolling down the pipe?
• Soon to come, the Jewish Wars and the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem.

Chapter 9

The Earthly Holy Place – READ v 1-5 together before the commentary.

1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.

• The first covenant required sacrifice … so it required a place for this sacrifice.
• A place of holiness – the sacred tent.
• The 1^st covenant was established with its due regulations for worship and its holy place.
• Holy Place = John 1:14; “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
• Here in John 1:14, these words carry my thoughts back to the Book of Exodus, specifically to the scene of God’s Tabernacle in the desert. Here’s what I mean: (1) First, the English word translated “dwelt” is the Greek word “eskenosen” which means, “to encamp”; “to pitch a tent”; “to tabernacle”. God encamped among His people in a human body. In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle (“The Tent”) was the point of contact between God and man. In the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth—the incarnate Son of God—is the point of contact between God and man.

² For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence, It is called the Holy Place.

• He will now go through and give the geography of the tabernacle – v 1-5
• The splendor and beauty of being in the presence of God. In v 5 he stops and says he won’t go into detail – heaven is far superior.
• First section = more than one section
• Lampstand = the 7 branched lampstand // Solomon’s temple had 10 lampstands.
• The table = need a place to set the bread.
• The bread = 12 loaves made – each made from 2/10ths of an ephod of fine flour
• The Bread of the Presence = the Real Presence? The Lord’s Supper?

³ Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,

• This is the Holy of Holies
• Think about this – most of the Hebrews never saw much of the tabernacle – only the priests were allowed in the 1^st section and only the High Priest the 2^nd

⁴ 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.

• Altar – I think this holds the censor of incense – some discussion if the author had the location correct – in or outside of the tent curtain.
• The Ark of the Covenant – a wooden box covered with gold
• Inside the Urn with the Manna – Ex 16:33-34
• Aaron’s staff that budded – Num 17:1-11
• The 10 commandment tablets –

⁵ Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

• The Mercy Seat = the lid
• Once a year the sacrificial blood was brought in and sprinkled on the Mercy Seat.
• The blood was accepted but it was not sufficient for salvation as it had to be repeated the following year.
• OK, he says – enough about that.

Next week, we will hear from the writer as he moves from the description of the sanctuary to the ritual.