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“The Superior Temple Of Our High Priest” • 1.28.17 • Calvary
Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro
- In our last
session, we learned of the Priesthood of Melchizedek and it's superiority to
the Levitical Priesthood that was in operation at the time of this writing.
- Melchizedek's
order predated Levi's order. It was preserved by an eternal oath. It promises a
better hope and it is held by a perfect Son.
- The author is
hoping to have changed your perspective about the Priesthood. He seeks now to
do the same with the Temple. Let's look at verse 1.
Text
•
Hebrews 8:1,2 : "Now this is the main point of the
things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of
the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man." : Our author is getting to what he has been driving at.
Christians are not without a High Priest!
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That had been the objection from family and friends of this young Jewish
Christians.
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"Who will represent you before God if not a Priest?" This isn't a
small matter. The entire history of redemption has been such that men cannot
approach God on their own.
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Those that were returning to the Temple had a High Priest that could be seen. He
wore beautiful, colorful robes and served in, arguably, the most ornate Temple
ever designed.
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What did Christianity offer? Our author has made the point that we, Christians,
have a superior High Priest, who is holy, harmless and in the appointed line of
Melchizedek!
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Ours is not only superior to the visible one, but He serves is a superior
Temple to the one that they were impressed with!
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Keep in mind that this is being written at a time when the Temple has been
freshly renovated. It would have been a very strong temptation to be impressed
with Herod's architecture.
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Many of the families of church members, might have given of their own resource
to it's cause.
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But we have a High Priest that is incorruptible that doesn't serve there! Our
High Priest serves us at the right hand of the throne of God! That is where He
is seated!
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Of all the furniture that was commissioned for the Tabernacle and then the
Temple, one glaring ommission was the provision for seating. This wasn't an oversight
on God's part.
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The priests that served in the Tabernacle were never meant to sit comfortably
during their time of service. The High Priest would never think of making
himself comfortable in the Holiest!
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If anything, the Levitical High Priest wanted to get in and get out as fast as
he could!
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God designated a lack of seating to illustrate the fact that their work was
never finished. There would always be a need for another sacrifice, another
cleansing, another ministration.
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Our High Priest is seated, communicating that His work is complete and that He
belongs comfortably in the very presence of God Himself! He is seated at the
right hand of the throne.
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This is the position of honor, the proximity to the proverbial strength of God!
What a picture of splendor! Think about what it must be like to be there!
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"The Throne of the Majesty in the heavens!" The very seat of divinity
and Jesus sits as the Minister of the sanctuary, the very place of God's
dwelling.
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When Moses was given plans for the tabernacle, it was modeled after the Throne
room!
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According to Exodus 25:40, Moses was
to make the Tabernacle after the "pattern" that he had seen on the
mountain! We don't know when or how, but he saw the very throne room of God!
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The Temple was an astounding feat of modern architectural design. It served an
admirable and noble purpose for it's time.
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Ultimately, it was a miniature model that pointed to a greater, more significant
reality. The Temple was the hot wheel version of an actual Corvette!
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Our High Priest isn't confined to a building, hoping to successfully live
through another offering in the Holy Of Holies! He ministers where His Father
actually rules from!
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He has direct, eternal, access to the Father! What could be better? Verse 3.
•
Hebrews 8:3-6 : "For every high priest is appointed
to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One
also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there
are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of
the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make
the tabernacle. For He said, 'See that you
make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.' But now He has obtained a more
excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which
was established on better promises." : The men
that served in the role of high priest were designated by God, through the
Mosaic law, to offer offerings and sacrifices, literally "victims" to
God.
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That is their duty as Levites. Our High Priest must also have something to
offer, though our High Priest would not be a priest if He served on Earth. That
would be against Moses' law.
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It's interesting that the copy and shadow of the "heavenly things"
would not welcome or exalt the person of Jesus Christ. It was bound to the
Mosaic law.
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The fact that the Temple continued to operate in Jerusalem, post crucifixion
and resurrection, was a direct rejection of Jesus!
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Yet, for the sake of culture, history and family pressure, the young Christians
wanted to honor the Temple, seemingly unaware that it existed to point to a
greater reality!
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The Temple was merely the imitation and shadow of heavenly things! The Temple
that they were so impressed with then, had no substance!
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God's presence had lifted off of it and the reality that cast the shadow now
permanently resided in heaven! This wasn't a new truth. God disclosed this fact
in Exodus 25:40.
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The Tabernacle and thus the Temple after it, was only a replica, a model of the
original. Jesus serves in the place whose reality casts the shadow but that is
only the beginning!
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He serves as the High Priest in the genuine heavenly Temple and has been
granted a surpassing service than that of the high priests of the Temple.
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It is more excellent than theirs, first, because He is also Mediator of a
better covenant.
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The word "Mediator," used 6 times in the New Testament, and is the
only term employed by each of the major translations, suggests the concept of a
"go-between."
˚
"One who intervenes between two,
either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or form a compact, or
for ratifying a covenant." BLB
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Christ is the arbiter, broker, moderator, intermediary and middleman of a
superior agreement!
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We have mentioned and will mention again that the old covenant featured within
the law, was good for a time. It held the people in check. It taught them to
anticipate Christ.
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But it wasn't meant to be permanent and it cannot be considered in the same
league as the New Covenant.
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Christ is not only the Mediator, He is the sacrifice which stands between both
parties, God and Man, assuring that there will be peace between the two
entities as long as He lives!
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He is the Architect and sustainer of that agreement, which is better because of
His eternal presence and because of the establishment of better promises! What
does that mean? Verse 7.
•
Hebrews 8:7-9 : "For if that first covenant had been
faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He
says: 'Behold,
the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah—not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I
disregarded them, says the Lord." : As with the priesthood, so with the covenant. If the first
would have been sufficient, there wouldn't be need for a replacement.
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The problem is not with the covenant itself! The Bible tells us that while the
law made nothing perfect (Hebrews 7:19)
the law of the Lord itself is perfect, converting the soul. (Psalm 19:7)
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The law perfectly reveals the excellent moral character of God and
consequently, the imperfect character of the person.
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That law drives a person, not to justify themselves before the God of the law,
but to seek to negotiate a peace, through sacrifice, with Him in order to
experience relief.
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The law stood strong year by year, demanding fresh sacrifice, prompting the
person offering to beg in their heart of hearts for a greater sacrifice that
would truly and finally satisfy! Why?
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Please note the beginning of verse 8.
"Because finding fault with them." The problem is the people! God's
demands were clear, but God's people were unable to meet them!
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If the Jewish people, who lived during Moses' time were unable to follow the
law, how could anyone today ever hope for a different outcome?
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They, we, have no hope of being able to rise to the demands of that covenant. We
lack any power within us to sustain a holy life.
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That is why the terms of the Old covenant, the sacrifices within the Old
covenant, were necessarily temporary.
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The blood of bulls and goats simply stemmed the tide. It held off the wrath of
God. It satisfied God for the moment, serving as a placeholder for what was to
come!
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When the New Covenant would come, it would signal a change in condition for
both sides. That is what the author picks up on when he quotes from this
passage in Jeremiah 31:31ff.
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Our author isn't making this up. He is pointing out what their scriptures
clearly teach!
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God initiated the covenant with the exiles from Egypt, but had to set the
people of God aside at the end of the Kingdom age because they did not continue
in the covenant!
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This is basic history! This is the testimony that we observed through our study
of the Kings. And yet, in Jeremiah's time, there was a disconnected sense of
disbelief.
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Turn with me to Jeremiah 29.
Jeremiah writes a letter to the first exiles that found themselves in Babylon.
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The Prophet is writing to clear up a sentiment that was growing among the
exiles, namely that their time in Babylon would be short. Have a look at verse 4.
• Jeremiah
29:4-10 : "Thus says the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have
caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build
houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take
wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your
daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be
increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the
city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord
for it; for in its peace you will have peace. For
thus says the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are
in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be
dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My
name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.
For thus says the Lord:
After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My
good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place." : It was God's will that they dwell in Babylon. Therefore, do
your best to live out your days, building homes, growing your families and
seeking the welfare of the city you live in!
- Verse 7 speaks so strongly to me about the heart of any spiritual
endeavor. They were not only to do what it took to carry on their lives, they
were to do so as they blessed Babylon!
- "Seek their peace. Pray for
it! Their peace is your peace!" That was God's exhortation for them and
I'm not ashamed to say that it would be His heart principally for us here in
Colton!
- In addition to convincing them,
Jeremiah also wrote to correct the false prophets that were exploiting the
wishes of the people of God.
- They were playing on the
emotions of these vulnerable people, pretending to speak for God.
- Their dreams and their supposed
prophecies would be tailored to the desires of the people listening. Jeremiah writes
to confirm that God's judgment was firm.
- This exile to Babylon would last
for 70 years! Most of that group would die in the land of Babylon. How could that be possible? 70 years
removed and then God would bring them back?
- Who would be alive for such a
thing? God is going to cause them to return to their place, but under what
conditions? Verse 10.
• Hebrews
8:10-12 : "For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind
and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My
people. None of them shall teach his
neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them. For I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless
deeds I will remember no more.'" : Notice where the responsibility lies. "This is the
covenant that I will make." "I will put my laws in their mind."
- The entirety of the covenant
responsiblity would rest upon God's shoulders! The Lord would not impose an
external law upon His people as He once did through Moses.
- Instead, the covenant that He
intends to make is reminiscent of the covenant that He made with Abram in Genesis 15:8-21.
- God told Abram to cut up some
animals, which would serve as an illustration.
- The Chaldeans understood the
message: If I walk through the carcasses of these animals and do not hold up my
end of the bargain, my partner can treat me like them!
- Abraham set the animals in place
and waited for God to meet him. He waited so long that he finally fell asleep!
While Abraham rested, God walked through the macabre scene alone!
- He alone would take
responsibility to bring the covenant with Abraham to pass and that is His
desire with us!
- God's law through Moses had
said, "Do this to live." God, through Christ, tells us "Done,
now live!" And He doesn't leave it to chance!
- He will take Israel, the true
members of the faith, via Abraham's belief and He will inscribe His laws in
their mind.
- Their minds will be renewed.
Their thinking will be altered. Their mind will conform to His way and He will
write His laws on their hearts!
- There isn't another
intermediary, ie. stones that stood without. These are personalized, written on
the very conscience of the believer.
- Consider the gift of conviction,
which operates upon every individual action. The Holy Spirit reminds us of what
is obviously off limits, explicitly prohibited!
- But He also directs our hearts
to obey Him in areas that are particular to our own spiritual make up. God's
Word then becomes truly the lamp that lights the space before our feet!
- God's people have an internal
compass and all of them would know Him! This covenant isn't strictly for an
exclusive membership. Every one of His people, regardless of status, would know
Him!
- The intimacy that is promised,
the confidence that is available, is almost unthinkable to us! To the Jewish
person, this had been an impossibility!
- Their unrighteousness was ever
before them. To those in Christ, God promised a merciful response always! Their
sins, God promised to remember no more!
- This doesn't mean that God
doesn't know about them. As God, He must know all things. He cannot, not know,
but He can make a choice not to remember and He does for those in Christ!
- He can choose not to bring them
up and allow them to interfere with the flow of our relationship.
- God makes the choice to look at
you through Christ's righteousness, not through the sin that you once lived in!
He promises to make that choice forever! Verse 13.
• Hebrews
8:13 : "In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming
obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." : This "new covenant." What does it mean but that God
now looks at the first covenant as "obsolete." The word is written in
the present tense, meaning that it is currently in this condition.
- The word "obsolete"
speaks to a state of decay. It is wearing out and ready to disappear out of
sight. We aren't sure exactly when this was written.
- The Temple restoration was
completed in 63 A.D. What most did not know at that time was that Rome would
destroy the Temple to it's foundations in 70 A.D.
- This passage was not only true
Biblically, as the law's influence as an external source of righteousness
passed away, it would be true historically!
- Their faith could not be in the
Temple because if it was, it was only a few proverbial minutes away from being
destroyed!
- Our faith in Christ, instead of
become obsolete, old and vanishing, is becoming increasingly relevant, fresh
and clear!
Conclusion
- We aren't without representation! Our High Priest serves in a better place! He is the better sacrifice, which stands eternal before the Presence of Almighty God!
- We aren't without representation! Our High Priest serves in a better place! He is the better sacrifice, which stands eternal before the Presence of Almighty God!
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As we come to communion today, let the words of our author ring in your ears!
Because of Jesus, God will be merciful to your unrighteousness and will
remember your sins no more!
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Let's pray!