November 18th, 2018
Hebrews 9:1-10
“The Better Sanctuary”
Aux. Text: Jeremiah 31:33-34
Call to Worship: Psalm 110
The Perfect Portrait of Christ
Question: What is the author of Hebrews trying to tell us about the earthly tabernacle in the Old Testament as it relates to the conscience?
Answer: The earthly tabernacle was the divinely appointed system of rituals to provide a temporary cleansing of the conscience; it is a perfect portrait of Jesus Christ because He is the fulfilling reality of the unfulfilling rituals, and He provides permanent cleansing of the conscience (that means the forever, never-ending forgiveness of our sins!).
Word of the day is CONSCIENCE
- The Old Covenant tabernacle was based on ritual and is obsolete.
- Levitical System was dominated by temporary, physical matters and regulated the visible actions (i.e. continuous priestly mediation through animal blood sacrifice) without cleansing the inner conscience
- The Old Covenant made nothing perfect—saved no one
- “Perfect” refers to complete reconciliation and unhindered access to God
- The Old Covenant made nothing perfect—saved no one
- Levitical System was dominated by temporary, physical matters and regulated the visible actions (i.e. continuous priestly mediation through animal blood sacrifice) without cleansing the inner conscience
- Levitical system was deficient to deal with eternal, spiritual matters
- Provided only temporary forgiveness
- The New Covenant tabernacle is reality and is never-ending.
- Melchizedekian System is dominated by permanent, eternal matters and regulates the invisible actions (i.e. continuous priestly mediation of Christ through HIS blood sacrifice) by cleansing the inner conscience
- The New Covenant makes everything perfect—saves everyone
- “Perfect” refers to the complete reconciliation and unhindered access to God IN CHRIST
- The New Covenant makes everything perfect—saves everyone
- Melchizedekian System is sufficient to deal with eternal, spiritual matters
- Provides only PERMANENT FORGIVENESS
Conclusion:
The earthly tabernacle of the OT is the perfect portrait of Christ because it is not the reality, but a mere shadow of it. Portraits are just copies of what is real. Instead of a physical ritual of worship that was motivated by guilt for the temporary forgiveness of sins, Jesus is the heavenly tabernacle of the NT, the eternal reality of worship that is motivated by GOD’S MERCY for the PERMANENT forgiveness of sins.
JESUS:
THE REALITY