Hebrews: The New Covenant Administration of Christ Max A Forsythe (c) Anno Domini 2004

From the Pulpit at Pilgrim's Rest Presbyterian Church in America

The Old Covenant Sanctuary
For the Lord’s Day:  the 5^th of September 2004 

Hebrews 9: 1-5

“Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.  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.  Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 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 now speak in detail. ”

Introduction:  Over the years I have met all manner of people who are sympathetic with the reformation attitude of the Presbyterian Church in America, but (and this is an important point), they are unwilling to leave the building which their grandparents sacrificed so much to raise up in their community.  And very many of those buildings are beautiful in their architecture and grand in their sublime testimony to the devotion of those who would worship the great God of Creation.  So beautiful in fact – that a majority of the population is willing to put up with all manner of deviant theology, and even down right apostasy, just so long as they can continue to worship in their hallowed halls.

We can also read of the early Apostles and their continuance, as long as they were allowed, in praying in the Temple courtyards and meeting their Old Covenant brethren for discussions and even spirited arguments.  By all accounts, the Temple precincts of Herod’s construction were pleasant indeed.  The various porches and courtyards provided the central focus of the Old Covenant Church and for a short time – the visitation of the New Covenant promoters.

The point that I am getting at is that it is all too human to prefer the material sustenance of sublime beauty than leave it behind for the real substance of the spiritual kingdom.  Even the Psalm that we read and sung today was often mistakenly appointed to the sacred precincts than to the more important Shekinah of God’s presence.  And so, given this ordinary sinful human appropriation we should not be surprised at the spiritual tack that our writer takes in today’s lesson.  F.F. Bruce observes on the whole first part of this ninth chapter:  “The inadequacy of the old order as compared with the new is now set forth with reference first to the arrangements of the sanctuary under the old covenant and then to the sacrificial ritual associated with that sanctuary.”

Interestingly enough, the writer to the Hebrews takes as his primary example the old Tabernacle used by the Pilgrim people until the more permanent Temples were built in their trietary sequence.  Bruce again observes:  “Our author’s point is … the sanctuary of the old covenant, in its very furnishings and sacrificial arrangements, proclaimed its own temporary character.”  Even the three temple building projects over a thousand years proved to be just as transitory.  All that is left in our time is a foundational wall!  The lessons of history, when it comes to architecture – are harsh indeed.  What the climate and environment are unable to accomplish – human hatred and warfare are more than able to bury in the earth.  Certainly, magnificent ruins abide in many storied places – yet it is in only a very few of those geographic sites – that the ancient purpose is still enshrined.

What we are getting at in this ninth chapter, over the next few weeks is simply this as John Brown summarizes it:  “The facts with regard to the ministry of Aaron and his sons are stated in the first ten verses of the ninth chapter.  The facts with regard to the ministry of Jesus Christ are stated in the 11th and 12^th verses; and the whole of what fallows, from the 13^th verse  (in this chapter) to the 18^th verse of the Tenth chapter … is occupied with showing how these facts clearly prove that Christ Jesus has indeed received ‘a more excellent ministry.’”

Development:  With that special purpose in mind, let us consider the first five verses that focus on the primitive mobile sanctuary from the age of Moses.  I would hope that whenever we teach our children about the various sections and furniture of the tabernacle that its very tented nature is drawn out to present the time limitations on its usefulness to all concerned?  There are many models and printed lessons that all too commonly present the tabernacle as a worthwhile end in and of itself.  However, detailed the lessons and drawings may be – this is not the end of the lesson in and of itself.  Every portion and part of the structure and ritual was meant to lift the thoughts of the worshippers to heaven where their own Father God ruled all things in heaven and on earth.

Let us begin to appraise the details here in the verses before us.  Verse one read:  “Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.”  Raymond Brown tells us that “Although the old covenant is a vanishing shadow, our writer does not dismiss it hastily, casually or unappreciatively.  He recognizes something of its former glory, even when he is explaining its partial worth.”

There are two points to be made from the observation in verse one.  The Apostle to the Hebrews describes these two elements of the Old Covenant divine services.  First, there were regulations concerning the ministry implicit, as John Brown would prefer to emphasize the worship so regulated.  While this was appointed by God through Moses, the author prefers to recognize only the anterior value of that which was in the process of being replaced.  “The Old Covenant had indeed a divinely appointed ministry, but that ministry was far inferior to that which Jesus has obtained.”  And so what we must take away from this verse is the pointed observation that the time appointed for that economy of regulations was now passing away.

Second, there was “an earthly sanctuary”, as the older texts read.  Now we should be very careful to use the worth “earthly” rather than the word “worldly” as some translation offer.  After all as John Owen observed the good Lord did indeed appoint a holy place on earth.  “This tabernacle was a visible pledge of God’s presence among his people, as he owned, blessed, and protected them.  It was also the focus of all divine worship and continual representation of the incarnation of the Son of God.”  To this end, we need to be reminded that the Gospel of John literally tells us that “Jesus tented among us.”  And just as his temporary human form was much improved in glory, (so too is the “worship in spirit and in truth” required of the New Covenant), an improvement and preparation for the far greater glories of heaven to come.

In verse two we move further into the discussion:  “For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and thee table and the bread of the Presence.  It is called the Holy Place.”  Here begins the loving observations of the precious accouterments associated with the familiar memories of millennia and more.  In my files, I have a one page advertisement from an old Saturday Evening Post.  The ad pictures the latest pieces of hay processing equipment for the careful farmer of the mid-thirties.  There is the horse drawn mower, the once familiar hay rake and of course the tall hay loader which trundled after the wagon picking up the rows of hay and feeding it to the farmer to be stacked loose on the wagon.  I have many, many memories associated with the team of horses and that equipment.  Summer after summer, they were used by my father to store away the winter’s food for the barn full of livestock.  But, however much affection I might have, I would not even give a second thought to actually using such antiquated equipment today!

In this catalogue of memories, the Apostle is remembering the once familiar religious equipment that had a vital place in the form of worship and sanctuaries that had now been displaced forever with the advent of Christ’s new administration of the same Covenant.  The Bread of the Presence, which once sustained a famished David and his crew – is no longer adequate to memorialize the ongoing presence of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary.  After all, As Owen has it “the Lord Christ is the only bread of life for the church, the only spiritual food for our souls.”

As the Apostle continues his mental tour of the antiquated tabernacle, he remembers how the rooms were carefully arranged in verse three: “Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place.”  The fact of a second curtain mandates the existence of the first curtain which opened into the larger two-thirds of the tabernacle proper.  And outside that was the walled, but uncovered courtyard.  In that perfectly square room, there resided “the emblem of Divinity enshrined in glory,” as John Brown terms it.  In this room, the footstool for heaven’s only God was placed and access to this “Holy of Holies” was always severely restricted to the High Priest alone and only at the appointed times.

Much speculation has been fueled in recent years about a possible replica or even the original “Ark of the Covenant” being in a remote district of Ethiopia.  While the book and “documentary” film weave an awesome and provoking possibility – still this is only archeological furniture with no contemporary validity.  Like the Ark of Noah itself, even if one or both could be proven to exist in our day and time, neither would be sufficient witness to convince the worldly and the wicked that God not only exists, but also rules over all!

A late uncle of mine, kept a Model T Ford in operating condition for over fifty years.  When he finally broke up housekeeping, the man who purchased it was able to drive it up onto the trailer under its own power.  Yes, he paid more than what the automobile had been worth new and the original black paint only needed a little touch up, here and there.  But, in this thoroughly modern world, what daily use would it be worth?  Last week, with the threat of no power at home, I remembered the last time I pulled my old typewriter out of its case, that the ribbon had proved absolutely worthless and it would probably prove more profitable to make some pencil notes rather than try to resurrect the time worn instrument of my college years.

Application:  I have already hinted at the usefulness of the implements used in the earthly tabernacle, let us go over the shorter list mentioned in verses four and five briefly:  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 now speak in detail. ”

The images here could all be discussed for countless pages, as several of the commentators all too easily prove!  Briefly put, the incense represented prayer, the ark conveyed the law, the urn contained the bread of God and Aaron’s staff proved the calling of his family to service and then there were the tablets of the covenant which were read to the whole people.  Over shadowing all these artifacts were the symbolic cherubim who hovered over the mercy seat.  All to remind us, that our God is a merciful God.  There on the mercy seat for many hundreds of years, the blood of atonement had been sprinkled one day of each year.

By the time of Christ, all of these “sacred images” that pointed towards His person, cause and coming – they had all disappeared from this world.  Transitory shadows of the far greater glory to come in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Now what are we to make of this inventory of once “sacred objects” recited all too briefly to many minds, by the Apostle to the Hebrews?  The very last phrase of verse five is instructive:  “Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.”

Very many people would prefer that more details had been given.  Indeed, there are many who would offer the details that such venerated objects may have originated.  Very many antiques have a long and faithful pedigree.  My favorite antiques story is the one about a hundred and fifty year old axe, whose handle had been replaced five times and the head at least three!  Be careful before you pat too much money for such a valuable treasure!  I worry that too much of the evangelical world would all too easily be persuaded to work with any department of Israeli antiquities to reappoint a new temple, if the Arab legions defending the area were ever put to flight!  Even as the Apostle here understands, the Old Covenant tabernacle and all its furniture have disappeared from history – for all time.

Calvin too would warn us from any such earthly affection:  “Since nothing is enough for inquisitive men the apostle cuts out any opportunity for subtleties  ... we must show discretion and moderation in case we desire to know more that it has pleased God to reveal.”

Do we need to be reminded that the curtain to the holy of holies was torn asunder the very hour that the Lamb of God died on the cross?  Within seventy years, the God of heaven and earth cause the whole neighborhood of Zion to be torn apart in a Roman rampage against that generation of Old Covenant Jews who thumbed their nose at the Roman rule.  Of course, the New Covenant Church went through many and manifold birth pangs before it was firmly established – but the total destruction of the Old Covenant community and its sacred temple mount should be instructive to one and all.

Only in the person of Jesus Christ is there any hope for sinful man, and while we might treasure our family heirlooms and even the occasional family farm – these worldly treasures have no final lasting value.  So as we continue to study the superiority of Jesus Christ in this glorious letter, let us all the more cling to Him as the author of grace and mercy and thereby receive Him as our Lord and Savior in this life, even as we hope in the next.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES
Brown, John.  A Geneva Series Commentary:  Hebrews.
Brown, Raymond.  The Bible Speaks Today:  The Message of Hebrews.
Bruce, F.F.  The Epistle to the Hebrews.
Owen, John:  Commentary on the Book of Hebrews.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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