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 Forgiveness of Sins
For the Lord’s Day:  the 3^rd of October 2004 

Hebrews 9: 15-22

“Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.  For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.  For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.  Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.  For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.’  And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.  Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. ”

Introduction:  Have you ever wondered about the dual use of the descriptive terms for the former Hebrew Scriptures and the newer Greek revelations?  It would seem that the word “Testament” is easily interchanged for the word “Covenant.”  And in our passage for today – that variable usage has an important point which it is necessary to discuss.  I believe that I remember an obscure discussion that, while the first Geneva Bible named the two great divisions of the text into an Old and a New Covenant, the successors who worked on the King James Version insisted upon using the Old and the New Testaments.  In fact, it was thought necessary to provide an entirely new translation free from the Calvinistic footnotes scattered through the original Geneva text. 

As an contemporary example of a similarly serious argument, I can remember when the original New International Version was moving along towards publication, that there were people who believed that the chapters and verses should be removed from the text and that every page of their version, no matter what the printed size of the edition, should remain exactly the same in content.  That was an idea that I felt made a lot more sense, since I have always found it easier to turn to a page than to memorize an artificial system grafted onto the whole of the scriptures.

So, I hope you understand that the fine point being divided here is not absolutely earth shaking in its context.  However, as Reformers – we might well be delighted to realize that our affection for “Covenant Theology” can be better substantiated if we read the text for today in a “covenantal” context than a “testimonial” one.  Now, our English Standard Version goes right down the middle on how it translates the essential word here in the text that is ordinarily translated as “covenant.”  And so, in verses sixteen and seventeen where the word “will” is used, several translations will continue throughout with the word “covenant.”  Other translations will mix in the word “testament.”

Raymond Brown understands the first three verses of our passage today in a legal sense.  He notes that the word here used for “covenant” is a word that “can also be translated as ‘testament’, and it is exactly the same word as that used in secular Greek literature to describe a will or a legacy.”  However, the New Geneva Study Bible notes:  “If the writer is not speaking of a last will, he is probably referring to the ratification of a covenant by means of a representative sacrifice such as is found in Genesis 15.”  So, let this be our first point today: that we are speaking in a covenantal sequence rather than in the legalities of a Roman court concerning a last will and testament.  The text of course will support either assumption and various scholars have differed on this point over the centuries.

Development:  Now, a Covenant by definition is “a bond in blood sovereignly administered.”  Like the marriage covenant in our thoroughly modern age life itself is easily at risk if either party is unfaithful to the terms of that common familial agreement.  The fact of sovereign administration in our definition is the overriding blessing that enables covenant breaking humans any hope of salvation.  And because the Father and the Son agreed before time as to how mankind might be saved – therefore in the working out of the Son’s death and the shedding of His precious blood – the covenant breakers known by God can have a hope and a future.  This is the general message of our text for today.

F.F. Bruce tells us that the basis for the mediation of Christ in this regard: “is made plain; that basis is His sacrificial death.  By virtue of His death redemption has been provided for those who had broken the law of God, the life of Christ was the costly price paid to liberate them from their sins.”

Bruce acknowledges that “if we revert to the teaching of the old theology (Turrettin, Witsius, Hodge), the covenant of redemption viewed as the undertaking of the Son, will rank as the prior phase of the covenant of grace.  By fulfilling that divine counsel of peace the heavenly Covenanter has met all the claims of outraged rightousness.  His ‘obedience unto death’ fills up the breach with heaven as nothing else could do.”

I would think that the details to which the Apostle goes in the following verses to establish the principles of the Old Covenant in this regard – should be ample testimony to the covenantal implications of the whole text.  And just as the Apostle notes: the first covenant was inaugurated with the shedding of sacrificial blood and that blood was applied symbolically to not only the covenant itself, but to the people, the tabernacle and the utensils used in the tabernacle itself.

Application:  Therefore, as we sense the direction in which this argument is going, can we even begin to fathom the incredible price paid for our redemption?  John Brown presses home the clear and necessary fact:  “The sum and substance, then, of the Apostle’s argument is just this: ‘The death of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God was absolutely necessary to the obtaining for His people the blessings of that New Covenant of which He is the Mediator.” 

Further he would argue that:

                “because of the perfections of the divine character,
                because of the rights of the divine government
                require a sacrifice corresponding in value to the blessings received.”

And since we are talking about eternal life here – then it is all the more appropriate that One who is eternal lay down His life for those whose ordinary existence is temporal only.  By this means of the sacrifice of God’s only Son – the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternity are achieved once and for all, for all of those who have been claimed by the Lord of life.

Now, what does this seemingly complicated theology achieve for you in the here and now, as well as on into eternity.  First, as Raymond Brown outlines it, “In Christ we have a forgiveness which covers our past.”  Second, Jesus Christ serves as our “mediator in the present.”  And finally, He provides “an inheritance in the future which no-one can take away!”

Let us delve into these three important provisions of the New Covenant administration of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We all have a past, in that life history – there were many moments of sin and desire for less than what God wanted for us.  Some sins were serious enough to afflict our health, mind and soul over many years and the transgressions have an impact far longer than we may have once assumed.  Habits, that are now almost second nature – can well afflict our relationships, our health and our mental abilities.  Words have been said that we might now wish could have been taken back.  I remember several instances in our grade and middle school where the group mind afflicted people for many, many years into the future.  I am terribly sorry that I was part of that experience.  You too, have your own stories and confessions that are indeed forgiven in the blood of Jesus Christ.  And with His forgiveness you can put those sins out of mind and resolve to do better.

Second, there is the present work of Christ on the throne of heaven.  He is there sitting on the seat with the Father praying for us at all times.  Our Mediator is one who was tempted as we are, He suffered even as we do – and He knows our inmost thoughts and desires.  And He prays that by the power of His will and Holy Spirit that we will be enabled through sanctification to better reflect the greater glory with which we are covered so that we can one day ascend into heaven and stand before the Father.

Third, one day – we and all the elect will be taken into glory and there we will spend eternity in the presence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Time will end, these frail sinful bodies will be put away and an eternal and blessed life will be given to us forever and ever.  And our last point is vitally important for the blessings that can be ours.  None of this can be taken away.  Once we belong to the Father, we are His both now and forever.  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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