Reading: Hebrew 9-10, Psalm 29

Today we come to the Temple. Recalling the Story of the Hebrew Scriptures, one will remember that the Temple was a place of extraordinary importance. First there was a tabernacle, a tent version of the place. It was built in the desert following the Israelite escape from Egypt according to plans that God spoke to Moses. Even the craftsmen who built it were said to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. It was designed such that everyone would know that it was another kind of place- a holy place. It had incense burning that could not be used anywhere else in Israel. It always had fresh baked bread on a table. It smelled different than anywhere else. It was make of stuff rare and expensive. It looked different than anywhere else. On it’s innermost room it had images of the Garden- cherubim, animals, fruit trees. It was a reminder of the lost Garden of Eden and the boundary drawn between God and humans when they took the knowledge of good and bad for themselves. But it also served as a way back into the presence of God like it was in the Garden. The High Priest, once a year, could approach the throne of God in that innermost room and plea the pardon of the people of Israel.

But it didn’t work out so well. Not only did the sacrifices and pleading have to go on, because the people kept on doing things that separated them from God, but here in Hebrews we see that it was never the tabernacle, or any of the Temples that followed it, that was the place the pleading needed to happen. The author of Hebrews has already cast Jesus as a better, superior take on most of the important characters in the Hebrew Scriptures. Now he says that not only is he better, he did what he did in a better place. The tabernacle was merely a shadow of the real Temple, which we got glimpses of in Ezekiel and Isaiah, and will see again a bit in Revelation. Note that this is not a dualism- I do not believe Hebrews is saying there is a “real” place that the whole earth is but a shadow of, but that the Temple specifically exists and was copied by Moses. This real Temple, which Moses and some of the prophets saw, is where Jesus went to complete his work as High Priest. Then he stayed there, seating on the throne right next to God. Remember the empty throne in Daniel’s vision? It isn’t empty anymore.

This is the center of the argument the author of Hebrew is making. Because the real Temple has been occupied by an eternal High Priest, who sits on the throne in God’s presence, the whole system has fulfilled it’s mission. There is no longer any sacrifice needed when the blood of our redemption runs through the veins of Jesus in the presence of God. His plea for pardon is eternal, his sacrifice is eternal, his presence before God eternal. The Day of Atonement has expanded to fill all of time and space.

The implications of this are enormous. The covenant with Moses is completed. There has been a faithful Israelite who kept all the laws, and by his position on the throne has recapitulated the human race. He is the primary and greatest human, as well as the Son of God. And he has written a new covenant between God and humanity. Now everything is based on belief in him. He sends the Holy Spirit to put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds. The old covenant was retributive. It corrected behavior. The new covenant is regenerative. It gives humans a new heart. It works to transform humans at the level of their nature, to root out the problem.

This is all very worrisome to the Jewish people of the first century, and will be so to many gentile people of the following centuries. How do human power structures maintain themselves if people are all running around serving Jesus of Nazareth instead of the king, emperor, or chief priests? The author of the Hebrews is not naive about this. There has been and will be persecution for believing this kind of thing. Which is why he makes such a big deal of confidence and full assurance. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. This is the lesson of Abraham. You might screw up a whole bunch of things, but God is faithful. Believe that. Let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works. Rather than worrying about keeping regulations and memorizing laws, let’s spend our time coming up with new ways to do good. God once accused the nation of Israel of coming up with ways of doing evil that he had never entertained the thought of. It is the privilege and call of the Christian life to seek out new and better ways of doing good.

The struggle is not over. It is a persistent belief in the goodness and faithfulness of God that brings this about. Those who turn and deliberately break the law licentiously are worse off than the people under the old covenant. There is no sacrifice for the forgiveness of such sins. There is a warning not to try and take advantage of God’s grace to do what is not good. The Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Jesus is both the redeeming High Priest and the eternal Judge. Discounting either of his roles is a recipe for disaster.

This might seem quite intimidating. I’m sure the original audience thought it so too. But the author of Hebrews is not done, and he is fully aware of the challenge this represents. Serve Christ above and beyond all things, look for ways to do good, and do not take advantage of God’s grace to do evil. Easy to say, hard to do. So he is about to issue one of the greatest rallying cries in human history. It comes at the beginning of chapter 12. First, he is going to recount the long history of the people of God, reminding us that it has always been by this faith in God that humans were declared righteous, and showing the current generation that their stories are the completion of the stories of God’s people through thousands of years.