PROMISE OF THE RESURRECTION

Hebrews 9: 16-21
Hebrews 10: 19-25
Hebrews 11: 13-16 & 39
Hebrews 12: 1-2

The Reformer's Fire
/\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exposition by Max A Forsythe

HEBREWS 9: 16-21

For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you." Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Our first point this morning has to do with the necessity of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. When I was in seminary, our music professor, spent the better part of an hour condemning any and all hymns which contained any reference to the blood of Christ. He said that he was deeply offended with what he thought was a mere leftover sacrificial concept from a more primitive Judaism. In our day and time, the shedding of any blood is far removed from most common experience.

During Desert Storm, the military tried as hard as they could to keep the reality of battle from the news cameras because they had learned how people reacted to the coverage of Viet Nam. I will even admit that I get light headed whenever I see more than a drop or too of blood, That is why I had to leave the local Rescue Squad in the seventies. Again, one of our meat customers, once became offended with the redness of the thawed hamburger. After all, most commercial retail outlets now add a little powdered animal protein to soak up any hint of the processing remnants. In a similar way has our culture has sought to downplay the reality of Christ's blood shed for our salvation.

The Greek concept of propitiation is involved here in the legal definition of our passage in Hebrews. In this legal reality of the death of Christ and the judicial purpose for His death, we may begin to understand what God has accomplished for us. In 1st John 2:2 we read that

Jesus "is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."
In Romans 3:25 we read that
Jesus was "set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith..."
What we must learn here is that there can be no access to the realities of heaven without purification. The sacrifice of Chist is the only effective propitiation which can wipe out the consequences of sins committed under the Old Covenant and to inaugurate the fellowship which is promised under the New Covenant.

More simply put, we may state that the sacrifice of Jesus gains for us forgiveness for all of our sins. But, this is only effective through the judicial revelation of the Old Covenant which we may read in Leviticus 17:11:

"the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonment for the soul"
HEBREWS 10: 19-25
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Our second point this morning is that "the will of God as expressed in the law under the Old Covenant was presented externally to the people, while under the New Covenant it is to become an internal principle of life." Jeremiah once promised that under the New Covenant, there would be no need of human intermediaries. God Himself, would intervene in the hearts of men. Therefore, our writer says that we should be practical about our obedience to God. Unlike the Priests of old, we can enter directly into the Holy Place of a relationship with God, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. God has Himself provided access to His grace through Jesus. But this does not mean that we are all priests! Jesus Christ is our only priest. And because of His access to the Father, we are granted three things: a conscience cleansed by His blood and the assurance of the removal of guilt and the confidence to approach our Holy God in prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ.

HEBREWS 11: 13-16 & 39

These all died in faith not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. ... And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
Our third point involves the promise of a resurrection only guessed at by those who lived before Christ. I have selected a few passages to show us this promise. In Psalm 49: 15 we see:
"But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me."
Then in Psalm 73: 24 we read that:
"You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."
In another psalm, Psalm 86: 13 we hear this witness:
"For great is Your mercy toward me, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol."
Finally, there is the patriarch Job. In Job 19: 25-27 we here his greatest testimony:
"For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know That in my flesh I shall see God. Whom I shall see for myself, And my eye shall behold, and not another, How my heart yearns within me!"
Of course there is much much more, here in these chapters of Hebrews there is the great celebration of the faith of the ancients who believed and because of that belief were saved in the Christ that they hoped for.

HEBREWS 12: 1-2

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and et us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Our fourth point this morning shows us the real promise of Christ's resurrection in that we, who were once poor sinners do really profit from what happened to Him in that first Resurrection week so many centuries ago.

By contrast to the Old Testament saints, we live after the time of Christ, and if we would believe in what God did for Christ, we may also understand that He will do the same for us. But, why is it so hard in our day to believe in His resurrection? After all, there is more convincing testimony about what happened to JC than two years of testimony has ever brought out about OJ! Listen to the gospel truth of the recorded facts.

ACTS 1: 1-3 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking for the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-8 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

JOHN 20: 1-10 Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there: yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, the He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes."

Finally this morning we come to this glorious conclusion regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the power for us in that fact. Listen to Paul as he would encourage us.
2 TIMOTHY 2: 8-10 Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. COLOSSIANS 1: 15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence.
And just as certainly as the resurrected Christ, Lord of Creation, has preeminence in heaven and on earth, so may we turst his servants who have faithfully recorded the events that prove His resurrection. All that remains for us to share in His resurrection is that we believe the gospel record. By the power of the indwelling Spirit, may you find eternal life in our Lord Jesus Christ, so that on the last day, you too may join the heavenly throng in singing glories to our Lord and our Christ.
Return to Archives
Return to TULIP.ORG - - Table of Contents