Lesson 6 - Ritual Rules and Regulations Revealed

• Review
• Regulations Regarding Ratification
• The Required Ritual of the Old Covenant
• The Final Sacrifice

This lesson is brought to you by the letter “R ”!

Review

“As faithful listeners will no doubt recall” when we left Lesson 5 we were looking for a clue dropped by the writer. There - I’ve always looked for a place to use that phrase! Actually, the writer didn’t drop a clue by accident - it’s just his style. But the question still stands - did you find it?

Good for you! It's the last phrase of 7:27 - “when he offered up himself.” So far every covenant referred to in Hebrews has been sealed or ratified by some sort of sacrifice. Even God's convenant with Abraham, while not part of the author’s argument, involved sacrifice, for Abraham killed and divided several animals.

Moses ratified the covenant between the Jewish people and God with a sacrifice, and the covenant itself required regular sacrifices to maintain a proper relationship between God and his people. Remember, too, that God gave Moses the tabernacle and its rituals as a “copy” of a heavenly reality.

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Rules Regarding Ratification

Let's take Hebrews 9 apart and rearrange it a bit differently. Let's put the “Ratification” first and then talk about the “Ritual.”

We’re still working our way through the connection between the Mosaic Covenant with its rituals and the New Covenant. Remember when Moses ratified the covenant? No, I don’t either, but the writer reminds us that, according to Exodus 24:6, Moses sacrificed some bulls and sprinkled their blood on the people as a sign of their acceptance or ratification of this covenant. Leviticus (8:15, 16:14-16) notes that the sprinkling of blood, oil, and water were part of the ceremonies surrounding the setting up of the tabernacle.

In other words, blood sacrifices are involved in setting up the Mosaic or “old” Covenant. OK - what about the New Covenant the writer mentions in Chapter 8? Yep - that, too, is ratified by sacrifice. This is his argument in middle of Chapter 9 - all covenants, even the New, are ratified by sacrifice.

Hold it a minute - what kind of sacrifice would be good enough to ratify something like the New Covenant, the “covenant to end all convenants”?

Good question and nice transition to the next point!

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The Required Ritual of the Old Covenant

The clue dropped in Chapter 7 shows where the writer is headed - Jesus is

• A High Priest by divine selection and on a pre-Mosaic basis.
• The mediator of a better covenant, i.e. the New Covenant.
• The final sacrifice that establishes once and for all this covenant to end all covenants.

We're leaving the details of Jesus as the final sacrifice to Chapter 10 and the next lesson. Just keep in mind that the concept of human sacrifice was something totally abhorent to the Jewish people and Christians. This concept was even more jarring than that of Jesus as a High Priest!

OK - back to Chapter 9! The writer gives us a tour of the ancient tabernacle. No one knows its dertails for sure, but we have a pretty good idea of what it generally looked like. Here are a few places on the web where you can find some pictures. Some of interpretations are as interesting as the pictures are good! -

• Mishkan Ministries
• Daily Bible Studies
• The sloooow personal page of Marilyn Barrow

He does this to remind his audience of one key thing - the old covenant’s regulations required that the rituals be repeated year after year after year! Every year on the Day of Atonement the High Priest put on his special garments and sacrificed a bull for his own sin. He then took a bowl of the animal’s blood, incense, and burning coals, and entered the Holy of Holies - right into the very presence of God Himself!

In the smoke-filled inner chamber, lit only by the light of God's glory he sprinkled the blood seven times onto the top of the Ark (=“box”), guided by the cherubim. He then repeated this ritual, this time with the blood of goat as a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

Blood was required, and it was offered year after year after year. Surely there must be a better way!

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The Final Sacrifice

OK - so there are no R’s there - but the righteous ritual was respected! The one unique duty of the Mosaic High Priest was the offerings on the Day of Atonement. This ritual was part of the old covenant and in some way reflected a heavenly reality.

The High Priestly duty of Jesus was that reality! On the final Day of Atonement Jesus entered the true Holy of Holies to offer the final sacrifice for sins. Finally and forever the sin question was settled. God and mankind were reconciled! All that remains is for people to accept the sacrifice of Jesus as their own. Truly, IT IS FINISHED!

When Jesus offered his sacrifice he ratified the New Covenant and reconciled God and mankind. When he offered his sacrifice, the old ritual was over, the requirements were met, the rules were satisfied! That's why this chapter ends with an emphasis on the finality of Jesus’ work. He did this once for all, never to be repeated.

Wow - after all this, why not just end the book here? Because two final questions remain - that of human sacrifice and the problems of the church. So, on to the rest of the book!

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