GOD HAS SPOKEN BY HIS SON
Meditations in Hebrews
Hebrews 9:11
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WE are now taken by the apostle to a fuller a deeper understanding and appreciation of the greatness and truly effectiveness of Jesus as the priest we need. The wonderful thing is that the tabernacle of the Old Covenant and the priesthood that ministered there show forth and point to this perfect ministry and priesthood of Jesus. This is what it was meant to do, but the Jews failed to appreciate this.

Christ came as high priest over and for his people. He is the one and only true priest and the one and only effective priest. He came as a high priest of good things that are already here, or of good things that are to come. Both expressions are held in the original, and both are embodied in the meaning of Christ's effective priesthood.

The good things that are already here are found in his perfect ministry as priest when he was here on earth. As our priest he taught his people the blessing of the grace of God poured out on sinners in himself. Then as a priest he prepared himself for sacrifice as the spotless lamb of God by his most holy life. Then as our priest he offered himself as an all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of his people, which met all the demands of the holy law of God, and so cancelled the debt to God on account of sin that we sinners all have incurred. So the good things Jesus as our priest has now brought here for us are full forgiveness of all our sins, our restoration to fellowship with God, our being accounted by God as righteous for ever, and our adoption into the family of God, with the gift of everlasting life. Together with this is the blessing of the presence of God by his Spirit within us and inside us, being our teacher, guide and deliverer throughout our earthly life.

There is nothing so blessed as these good things for we live this life in the shadow of the Almighty, and we dwell in the fellowship of his love, and we find our souls satisfied in his service.

Then the good things which Jesus as our priest has provided for us which are to come are that we will persevered in God's love to the end of this life by the power of Christ, then we shall be gathered after physical death into the heavenly glory, and the dwelling place Christ has prepared for us, with the joy of everlasting glory in the presence of God. We have the good thing to come of seeing Jesus whom our soul loves.

These good things are present possessions because they are gift to us of pure grace and have been fully paid for by our Saviour, and even now in heaven are being claimed for us.

Then we see the greatness of Christ's priesthood which has achieved all this for his people. He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not part of this creation. This tabernacle is heaven itself and right into the throne room of the heavenly glory, where God sits on the throne which is sovereign over all.

The earthly tabernacle which the Jews knew throughout the Old Testament had this symbolism. The inner room called the most holy place symbolised heaven and the throne of God. The presence of God was specially present in that room. The high priest once a year, but only once because there was no right of access for sinner to come into the presence of God, came with the blood of the sacrifice to seek the forgiveness of the people on the grounds of the sacrifice of atonement made, which the blood gave proof. Thye blood was presented to God by sprinkling of it on the lid of the ark of the covenant, which was known as the mercy seat. God seeing the evidence of sacrifice in the blood forgave the people for a period of another year, or more correctly withheld his just judgement upon their sin for another year.

All this showed forth the inadequacy of this earthly tabernacle and this earthly priesthood. God had given it to the Jews as a temporary measure until the true priest should come, who would offer the perfect sacrifice and take the blood of that sacrifice into the real most holy place in heaven on behalf of his people, and obtain eternal redemption and complete redemption for them. The old tabernacle taught the holiness of God, the necessity of sacrifice to atone for sin, that God could not be approached by sinners until their sin was purged, and also pointed to the need of a preist to offer a sacrifice for sin, and enter into the real tabernacle to mediate for his people before the throne of the universe. It was never meant to be the real thing, but only to point to it. The Jews did not appreciate this, and in their pride gloried in their earthly priesthood with its ministry, and took for granted what never was meant to be the real thing, and imagined they were in God's favour by it.

When Jesus came he did the real work of a priest, and put an end for ever of the need for any other priest on earth or in heaven. He is the priest we need and he is the priest for all who believe in him, and worship him as Lord, God and King.