24 - Heb_9:15-28

CHAPTER X X I V. THE MEDIATOR OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Hebrews 9:15-28. THE scope of the apostle’s argument, from verses 15-28 (Hebrews 9:15-28), is as follows:

Christ entered with the price of an eternal redemption into the presence of God. The first effect of His entrance is, that our conscience is purged from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:14.) The second effect is, that thereby Christ has become the Mediator of the New Testament, in order that the called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance, (Hebrews 9:15.) The death of Christ was necessary to establish this testament; for even the first covenant was "not without blood." And this blood was applied to the book and the people; to the tabernacle and the vessels of the ministry; and to "almost all things," in order to continue the approach of Israel and their service, (Hebrews 9:19; Hebrews 9:21; Hebrews 9:23.) The antitype or fulfillment in the New Testament is, that our conscience has been purged; the heavenly sanctuary has been purified with better sacrifice; and after the One and perfect offering which Jesus brought once for all, no repetition of the sacrifice is possible or needed. Christ has abolished sin, and we wait now for His second coming in glory.

Jesus by His death has become the Mediator of the New Testament. It is because Jesus died that He now dispenses the gifts which He has purchased. The New Testament is in His hand. He is the Mediator, bringing us as true worshippers, unto God; and bringing the inheritance, with all its blessings and gifts, unto us.

There is perhaps no word with which we are more familiar, and which is more frequently used by us than the word "covenant" or "testament." We are in the habit of calling the sacred books of Israel and of the church, the books of the Old and New Testament. And in that precious ordinance of the Saviour, which according to His will is to be the joy of His disciples, as well as their testimony to the world until He come, we hear constantly the solemn words: "This cup is the New Testament in my blood."

Words which are frequently used are not necessarily correctly understood or rightly valued. And then our very familiarity with them is the source of danger. For the incorrect or inadequate idea, which we connect with the expression, becomes deeply fixed in our minds, and the fundamental misconception brings forth abundant and widely- ramified error. For these very familiar and constantly-recurring words express mother-ideas of primary importance. Our only safety is a constant and diligent study of Scripture, and a conscientious adherence to the principle, that Scripture thoughts and words are to be explained and judged on Scripture territory according to the Scripture circle of truth, and the Scripture mode of viewing and expressing things. If we apply this canon to the subject before us, we shall find that the ordinary conception of a covenant as a mutual agreement is not identical with the Biblical use of the word, and also that there is an intimate connection between the idea of an inheritance bequeathed through death, or a testament and the Scripture view of covenant.

Now the first and primary idea of covenant and testament is a disposition and order of things, made of God, and shown forth in a promise or institution. For instance, we read that God established a covenant with Noah. " Here is a divine promise, unconditional and immutable, based upon His sovereign grace; an order of things which it pleased Him to establish, and whereof He gave a double assurance, His word and the rainbow, seal and pledge of the covenant of His grace. Again the Lord made a covenant with Abraham. He promised to be the God of Abraham and of his seed; to give unto them the land; to give unto them the seed, in whom all families of the earth will be blessed. This covenant is also unconditional and unchangeable, it is not a mutual agreement, it does not depend on man’s faithful and complete fulfillment of stipulated conditions. And as it originates entirely in the purpose of eternal wisdom and love, it is impossible that it can ever be changed or frustrated. Nothing that happens in time, and subsequent to the announcement of the covenant, can in any way interfere with its fulfillment. Neither the law, given four hundred years after, nor the awful sin of Israel in rejecting their Lord and Messiah, can alter God’s covenant of grace. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." The Abrahamic covenant had also a twofold assurance and manifestation - the word of promise, and the ordinance of circumcision. (^* Genesis 6:9.) In this covenant the testament-nature is already apparent; for here is an inheritance, and, as the apostle explains to us,^* it was by promise, and given unto the one seed, Christ. The Abrahamic covenant, he also teaches us, was confirmed by God in Christ. And the meaning of this is evident now in the light of fulfillment The covenant with Abraham was also a testament, and, as all testaments are, connected with death. It promised an inheritance, but an inheritance which could become ours only by the death of Jesus, in whom alone there is redemption for sinful and guilty men. But in order to bring out fully the character of the covenant of grace, the intermediate dispensation of the law was given, And here it is difficult to see both the contrast, sharp and distinct, between the old covenant and the new testament, and also to recognize the bond of connection between them; there is the antithesis, law and grace; there is the contrast, shadow and truth; but there is something which bound these two aspects together in the actual history and experience of God’s ancient people. (^*Gal. 3.) For the promise given to Abraham, and not to Moses, was not superseded or forgotten in the giving of the law. When God dealt with Israel in the wilderness, He gave them the promise that they should be a peculiar treasure unto Him above all people; "for all the earth is mine;" and that they should possess the land as an inheritance.¹ Based upon this promise, and corresponding with the divine election and favour, is the law which God gave to His people. As He had chosen and redeemed them, so they were to be a holy people, and to walk before Him, even as in the Ten Commandments the gospel of election and redemption came first. "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of Egypt." Hence this covenant or dispensation, although it was a covenant, not of grace and divine gifts and enablings, but of works, was connected with and based upon redemption, and it was dedicated, as the apostle emphatically says, not without blood. Both the book, or record of the covenant,² and all the people, were sprinkled with the blood of typical sacrifices.³ For without blood is no remission of sins, and the promises of God can only be obtained through atonement. But we know that this is a figure of the one great sacrifice, and that therefore all the promises and blessings under the old dispensation, underlying and sustaining it, were through the prospective death of the true Mediator. When therefore the spiritual Israelite was convinced by the law of sin, both as guilt and as a condition of impurity and strengthlessness, he was comforted by the promise of the inheritance, which always was of grace, unconditional and sure, and in a righteous and holy manner through expiation. (¹Exodus 19:5-6; Exodus 23:30;Deuteronomy 15:4.²"The book of the covenant," mentionedExodus 24:7, in which Moses wrote the first fundamental group of laws. (Exod. 21 - 23.)³"The blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop." Water, scarlet wool, and hyssop are mentioned in connection with the purification of those who had come into contact with death (Num. 19); also of the lepers. (Leviticus 14:4-7.) Compare also the passover (Exodus 12:22), and the prayer of David, "Purge me with hyssop." (Psalms 51:7.)]

Through the blood sprinkled by Moses on the book and people, and afterwards on the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, they were set apart unto the holy God. The tabernacle was itself established as an ordinance of mercy in the midst of a people who had been guilty of grievous transgression,^* and the very tabernacle required to be purified by blood before the Lord could meet there with His people. (^*Exod. 32.) How evident is the meaning of these earthly things now, when we see the fulfillment in the heavenly and eternal things!

Jesus desired with desire to eat the Passover with His disciples. It was on that night that He took the cup and blessed it, and said, "This is the cup of the New Testament in my blood." He as the true Sacrifice - fulfillment of all the varied types - was offered for us on Golgotha. Through His death the inheritance is obtained for us; it is of grace, and it is reserved for us in heaven, while we live even now in the enjoyment of its power and blessedness. The testator is, properly speaking, God; for we are God’s heirs; but it is God in Christ, even as in the death of Christ for sinners we behold God’s love. Jesus is the Heir. This is the Scripture teaching. The Lord Himself in the parable presents the last Prophet sent by God into the vineyard as high above all the servants; He is the one Son, the Only-begotten of the Father. And even His enemies draw the correct inference, that He is the Heir.¹ This is the Son whom the Father loved from all eternity, and unto whom He hath given all things.² This is He by whom the world was made, and who was appointed Heir of all things. We are joint-heirs with Christ, and the inheritance is blood-bought. But, as the types prefigure, this precious blood belongs to the heavenly sanctuary. It does not belong to earth, even as it does not open the way to an earthly temple and secure earthly blessings. It is precious, incorruptible.³[¹ Mark 12:7.² Hebrews 1:3.³Compare in 1 Peter 1, the incorruptible inheritance, the incorruptible price of redemption, and the incorruptible seed of regeneration. The whole covenant refers to Jesus; yea, He Himself is the covenant; for thus it is written of Him: "I will give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." (Isaiah 42:6.)]

Jesus entered with His own blood into the holy of holies. And here is the antitype of the earthly tabernacle being sprinkled with blood. Heaven is now opened to believers; the most holy place is anointed with the blood of atonement.^* Our sins no longer ascend to heaven. The adversary can no longer accuse us before the throne of God. The Father, having made peace through the blood of Christ’s cross, hath reconciled all things unto Himself, "whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."² So great and real is the efficacy of the precious blood of Christ. (¹ Daniel 9:24.² Colossians 1:20.) The Saviour, who by His own blood entered into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us, is the Mediator of the New Testament; as the First-born He has entered into the inheritance, and He now dispenses to us the very blessings which through His death He has purchased for us.

1. Jesus has put away sin, once for all, by the sacrifice of Himself. All that stood in the way of the infinite love of God flowing into our hearts has been removed, and that forever, unto all who believe in Jesus. In that He died, He died unto sin once for all; and we who believe in Him are delivered out of the region of sin, of defilement, and of death.

2. The blessed Lord having entered in by His blood, we also have ascended with Him. This is implied by the apostle’s saying that Christ appears now in heaven for us. In a different but harmonious light the same truth is taught in the epistle to the Ephesians. The apostles were filled with amazement when Jesus was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight; the men of Galilee stood gazing up into heaven. But when the full import of the ascension was disclosed to them, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. The beloved disciple regretted no more that he could no longer lean on the bosom of the divine Master. The apostles no longer felt that Jesus had left them, and had gone alone into the heavenly home; for they knew that they had ascended with Him, that they had died with Him, had been buried together with Him, had risen together with Him, and were seated together with Him in heavenly places.^*(^*The "together with" Christ begins at the crucifixion. Not the incarnation, not the prophetic life and work on earth, but the cross is the point where the Shepherd finds the lost sheep, and the two are joined.)

3. Hence with increasing clearness it became evident that believers are always before the Father as accepted worshippers; that in the archetype, of which the tabernacle was a picture, there was no division of the holy place and the most holy, but that all believers, as priests, are in the most holy, because Jesus Christ, the High Priest, is there "for them," and one with them.

All these truths are presented to our view and sealed to our faith in the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. We notice three very strange and sad ways in which this ordinance has been misunderstood and misused. In the first place, though it was intended to illustrate and confirm the strong and sweet bond which unites all the disciples of the One Master, it has been the occasion of dividing and separating brethren, and of substituting other bonds, not so fundamental, not so comprehensive, not so profound as the one which Christ alone acknowledges, that vital faith in Him which manifests itself in love.

Secondly, whereas the Lord’s Supper was designed, by a simple illustration, to show forth spiritual mysteries, the Lord’s Supper itself has been asserted to be a mystery which it is difficult to comprehend, or when comprehended to explain to others. Now, the union of Christ and the believer is indeed a mystery. Great is the mystery, exclaims the apostle. Our spiritual life, growth, and joy are rooted in Christ, in His broken body and shed blood. Here faith beholds also the communion of saints, the second advent, and our glory with Christ. But of these spiritual and unseen realities, we have in the Lord’s Supper an illustration so simple, so comprehensive, that it is the easiest way of explaining to little children the gospel of our Lord. Many minds are thinking about the mystery of the sacrament, instead of thinking about the mystery of the union with Christ by faith and through the indwelling Spirit. For such the Gospel of John is most instructive, both on account of its silence as to the institution and its profound exposition of the "mystery," which in the Lord’s Supper is set before us. But thirdly, the very purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to show that by one great sacrifice, once for all, Christ has put away sin. As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do show the Lord’s death. It is the commemoration of the one offering by which we are perfected. Hence to speak of a repetition of the sacrifice, in any shape or form, is to contradict the essential meaning and purpose of the ordinance.^* Christ died once upon the cross, once He entered by His own blood into the holy of holies, and by this one death and once entering in we have redemption and access unto the Father. Hence all the blessings of the New Testament are ours. (^*All assertions that the Lord’s Supper is a sacrifice, from the glaring fiction of Rome, of an unbloody sacrifice in the mass, down to more mystical and vague views, are refuted by this chapter and the whole teaching of Scripture. Beside the one sacrifice of our Lord, offered and presented to the Father once for all, the New Testament speaks only of spiritual sacrifices, praise, prayer, and the offering of ourselves (Romans 12:1;Hebrews 13:15-16;1 Peter 2:8), and only of the priesthood of all believers, while it never calls ministersίερεῖϛ, but bishops, presbyters, etc. These spiritual sacrifices are to be offeredcontinually, the remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice is to befrequently, A remembrance not so much of Himself, who is always with us and of whom we constantly think, but of His One oblation. There is a higher aspect of the Lord’s Supper as asealingordinance.)

Consider the teaching of our passage in the light of the Lord’s Supper. Once we were under the sentence of death on account of our guilt, the transgression of God’s holy law. We had forfeited the inheritance. Christ came. He is the Son; He is the Heir. He came to save us. He came to redeem them that were under the law from the curse of the law. He redeemed us by His death on the tree, by the shedding of His precious blood.^* This is the bread; this is the cup. (^*Compare Gal. 3, where the subject is viewed in connection with inheritance.)

Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament gives us the inheritance; and of this inheritance we have now the substance, for we eat and drink in the presence of the Father. Yet is the inheritance still future; for the Lord’s Supper points to the fulfillment. "Till I come" is the golden link between Christ’s first advent and His return, when we shall be glorified together with Him. Jesus said to His disciples on the very night in which He instituted this ordinance: "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."^* We are to be made manifest with Christ, and reign together with Him. The promise is not fulfilled yet, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." But when we show the death of the Lord we look forward in hope to the final salvation, which shall be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (^*The originalδιατίθϵμαιὑμῖν βασιλϵίαν,means, I ordain to you in a testamentary manner. CompareRevelation 3:21;Revelation 12:11;Revelation 21:7.)

How solemn sound the words, "This is the new testament in My blood." This is indeed the central, the fundamental, the eternal mystery. "Thou hast redeemed us by Thy blood," we sing at the Lord’s table - it will be our song in eternity. This is the new song for ever, even as it is the new testament forever.

Blessed are we if we read Scripture, as the testament; if, as children and heirs, we see in the word the record of our inheritance, the promise of glory, as well as the assurance of our present possession of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

See here the perfection of the fulfillment, (Hebrews 9:24-27.) As the Levitical high priest entered into the holy of holies with the blood of the sacrifice, to appear before God as the representative of Israel, so Christ by His own blood entered heaven itself for us. But not as the type is the fulfillment. The Levitical high priest entered every year; Christ once for all. Hence there is no need of a repetition of His sacrifice. Once He appeared in the end of the world, in the consummation of the ages. In the fullness of time¹ Jesus was made manifest to put away sin really and forever. He was made manifest, for in the counsel of God He was, from before the foundation of the world, the Lamb; but now the time was come when He fulfilled the salvation-will of God.² Once He bore the sins of many;³ as their substitute He endured that which sin deserved according to the holiness and righteousness of God. This is accomplished, and perfect; it now lies behind Him. (¹Galatians 4:4; ²Comp.1 Peter 1:20;³ Isaiah 53:12.)

What then is our position? The apostle by a very significant transition speaks now of man; leaving the contrast between Jewish type and heavenly reality, he enters, strictly speaking, into the sphere of the gospel, the glad tidings for mankind. Now the contrast is Adam and Christ. The apostle’s statement Hebrews 9:26-28) may be rendered more faithfully thus: But now once for all, in the conclusion of the ages, hath He been manifest to put away sin^* by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after that judgment (or decision); thus Christ, having been once offered in order to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time without sin for the salvation of them that wait for Him. (^*ϵἰϛ ἀθέτησινἁμαρτίαϛ(Hebrews 9:26), for the abolishing of sin is a very forcible expression.)

There are two chains; the one dark and the other bright; the one pertaining to man, earth, and time, the other entirely of God, from heaven, and eternal; the one ending in eternal glory, the other in everlasting misery. The one chain is thus described by the apostolic word: "The wages of sin is death." The links are sin, death, judgment. Unto fallen and guilty man it is appointed to die, and after that the judgment. This chain is the chain of the covenant of works, the relation between the links is that of man’s doing and its consequence, according to divine justice and truth. It is impossible for this sequence to be broken. The day sin entered into the world, death also entered, and death as leading to judgment. Death is not, as many, alas! deceive themselves, the transition from sin to glory: as sin leads to death, death leads to judgment. Inevitable is the connection between sin and judgment, and our death cannot sever this connection; it is, on the contrary, the intervening link. In vain do men seek to put something between death and judgment. It is on this side of the grave that we must be taken out of the region of this dark chain. For there is another chain. It came down from heaven. It originated in the eternal wisdom and love of God. It is of God from beginning to end. Jesus came; this is the first link. Jesus died; this is the second. Jesus comes again to receive us unto Himself; this is the last. Instead of man, the Son of man, God’s own Son; instead of the death of the sinner, Christ’s death; and instead of judgment, the saints glorified together with Christ. But the logic of this chain is not so apparent as of the first. Sin, death, judgment - this is a right sequence. But the incarnation of the Son of God and the cross; the sinless, perfect Son of man and death, seem to be rather contradictions than consequences. One single word explains it, but this word is a stumbling-block to many. It is Substitution. Jesus came to die as the substitute; the just laid down His life for the unjust; the Father laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And now, sin having been taken away by His one offering of Himself once for all, we look forward to His glorious return. The first time He appeared with reference to sin; the second time He shall appear - apart from the work of atonement, for it is accomplished, and they who love His appearing shall then receive the inheritance. As death is the conclusion of our earthly life, and does not lead to a repetition of the same, but to judgment; so by the death of Christ all that was connected with sin and atonement is finished, and now there is nothing before Him but His second coming. He shall come again in glory. At the Lord’s table we behold nothing but grace - not wages, but the gift of God; gospel or glad tidings, righteousness instead of guilt, life instead of death, glory instead of judgment. Instead of looking back to Adam and transgression, we remember Christ and His obedience, the obedience, even His death; instead of looking forward to judgment, we wait for the coming of the Lord, who shall give us then the full adoption and inheritance, the redemption of the body and the glory.

If we were thoroughly fixed and rooted in this apostolic "once for all," we should have perfect peace and a lively hope of the glory of God. Here is our weakness, that we do not put all our confidence in Christ, in His one and only death once for all. Though we so often say, "Christ is all," yet we have some secret feeling that Christ is not all, and that the work is not quite complete. If Christ is all, then blessed be God! He came, He died, He ascended, He will return for us. As He died for us, so His return must be for our glory.

"Christ is all," the Lord’s Supper says. Nothing can be added to this bread, or mixed with this cup. "Drink ye all of it;" the blessed Saviour includes the weakest believer, encouraging the bruised reed and the smoking flax. "The blood was shed for the remission of the sins of the many." The apostle uses almost the same expression as the prophet - He was once offered to bear the sins of many.

Now we rejoice in hope. Sin is removed, and therefore faith looks back and beholds the love of God in a crucified Saviour. Hope looks forward, and beholds the Lord bringing the crown and the inheritance. And though we also have to pass .through the valley of the shadow of death, we know that Christ has abolished death, He has taken away its sting, it is to us no more a link in the dark chain of sin and judgment. We have been transplanted out of the kingdom of darkness, and whether we fall asleep before the Lord’s return, or are still living on earth at His advent, to us there remains now only one thing to expect: Christ appearing the second time, apart from sin, unto salvation. Our Lord on earth came as the Prophet; after His death, and by His blood, He entered into heaven to be our Priest, and at His second coming He shall appear as King in great majesty and glory.¹ He who on earth was without sin, who knew no sin, and yet was made by God to be sin for us,² shall appear unto His people waiting for His return, looking with joyful, though humble and contrite, hope to His return. For He comes unto salvation. The Coming One is the same Jesus who ascended; it is emphatically the Saviour who delivered us from the wrath to come.³(¹ Rev. 19, 20.²2 Corinthians 5:21;Romans 8:3;³ Acts 1:11;1 Thessalonians 1:10.)