Jesus in My Place
This morning we have come to Hebrews 9, which is one of the most theologically rich chapters in the entire New Testament, which I think is saying a lot because there’s plenty of great theologically rich passages in the Bible.
This morning, we’ll look at the first half of the chapter, and then over the next two weeks, God willing, Pastor David Mathis and Pastor Max will take us through the rest of the chapter. And I’m very excited about that.
Preamble: Mother’s Day
But before we dive in, I just want to say, to all the mamas in the house: Happy Mother’s Day! We live in a society that devalues motherhood and I just want you to know that I’m a fan of mamas. I’ve got a good Mama. I’m married to a good mama. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you.
I also know that Mother’s Day is a painful day for a lot of women, for a lot of people, for various reasons, this is a tough day. There are women who want to be mothers that are not or maybe you’re estranged from your mother or your family. We know that this is a painful day for some, for a lot of different reasons, and I just want you to know that Jesus sees you. He sees you, and he knows you, he loves you.
Jesus loves you and I can say that with confidence because of passages like Hebrews 9. Passages like Hebrews 9 shout to us the love of God and shows us the length that Jesus was willing to go to in order to demonstrate the love of God to us.
And so, if you are sitting here this morning and today is painful, Jesus sees you, he knows you, he loves you, and he proved it at the cross, and Hebrews 9 will help us look a little more into the extent of his work at the cross. Would you pray with me, and we’ll dive into Hebrews 9.
Father in heaven, You are so kind and merciful to us, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. You are faithful to us, and I praise you. Thank you for your Word that instructs us. God, would you please show us your glory through Hebrews, and may that transform how we live. Lord, I ask, would you use your word this morning to shape us, to mold us, to make us to be more like Jesus. In the matchless name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
Introduction: It’s All About Jesus
Well, as we’ve been going through the book of Hebrews the last few months, we’ve seen the writer talk a lot about Jesus. He knows that if we love Jesus, we’ll stick with the faith.
He knows that if we consider Jesus, if we continually look to Jesus, we’ll be strengthened and we’ll be less likely to walk away from the Christian faith. The way we stick with the faith is by looking at Jesus, so the writer keeps pushing us toward Jesus. He makes much of Jesus.
In this book we’ve been told that Jesus is better than Moses, and that he’s better than the Levitical priests, and he’s even better than the angels.
The writer has also told us that Jesus is sinless, that Jesus has indestructible life, that Jesus is a King, and that Jesus is divine, he’s the exact imprint of God.
The writer of Hebrews is making it very clear, if you walk away from Jesus, you’re downgrading. Turning to anything other than Jesus is a major downgrade, especially if you go back to the old covenant, that’s a major downgrade, because Jesus is better.
The Bigger and Better New Covenant
The writer of Hebrews then continues and tells us that Jesus has instituted a new covenant and that he’s rendered the old covenant obsolete. Now, to be clear, the writer of Hebrews is not being pejorative toward the old covenant. He’s not dogging on it, he’s simply saying it’s obsolete. Because it cannot do what we need it to do, we need it to remove the guilt and stain of sin, but it cannot do that.
Let me give you an example, I know that last week Pastor Jonathan used a car metaphor to describe the old covenant, and I want to use another car metaphor, but slightly different, a different emphasis.
Let’s say you have a car, maybe even a nice car, whatever. And someone comes to you and says, can you drive me to the moon? “Ahhhh, what?” Uh, no, this is a car, and to go to the moon, you’re gonna need a rocket ship. The old covenant was inadequate, it cannot do what we ultimately want to do. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
You see, in a previous season of life, that person may have only needed to get across town, so the car worked fine, it was great, it did what was needed at that time, it did the job. But now the request has changed, the expectation is different. Now the goal is to get to the moon, not just across town, and the car won’t do the trick. The car is now obsolete.
It’s not appropriate to expect a car to drive you to the moon, even if it’s a great car. That’s not what the car is designed to do. Likewise, it’s not appropriate to expect the old covenant to do what it was not designed to do, it’s not appropriate to expect the old covenant to permanently remove the guilt and stain of sin. That’s not what it was designed for. The old covenant is not the final destination. The old covenant is not the perfect product, there’s something better that’s come along.
The new covenant does indeed permanently remove the guilt and stain of sin, because that’s what it was designed to do, and Hebrews 9 helps us to see that. The new covenant is the rocket ship, taking us to the moon. The new covenant is bigger and better and grander. The old covenant was good in its day, it was helpful in its time, but it cannot accomplish what we need.
The Value and Design of the Tabernacle
Now, previously in the book of Hebrews, the author has already highlighted the thing that the old covenant could not accomplish. We’ve seen this the last two weeks. Pastor Jonathan talked about this last week and Pastor David two weeks ago, we’ve seen that the old covenant is obsolete, and the new covenant is far superior. At the end of Hebrews 8, the writer says that the old covenant is ready to vanish.
However, here in Hebrews 9, the writer is actually going to highlight something good about the old covenant; he shows us that the old covenant could indeed accomplish something of value, and he shows why it matters to us New Testament believers. He’s going to highlight one of the primary purposes of the old covenant. To do this, he first starts by reminding them of some of the components of the old covenant.
In Hebrews 9:2-5, he’s describing the tabernacle. We heard Pastor Mike read it for us earlier. The author of Hebrews reminds them that the tabernacle had two sections. And to get into the first section, you needed to go past the first curtain, the entrance to the tent is covered by a curtain. And once you went past that first curtain, into that first section, that was known as the Holy Place.
But then there’s a second curtain, which takes you from the first section, into the second section, and that was known as the Most Holy Place. Then he reminds them of all the stuff that was inside the tabernacle, in both sections.
He's like: Remember, in the first part, in the Holy place, there’s a lampstand and a table and the show bread. And then he’s like: and once you go past the second curtain, into the Most Holy Place, right? You go from the Holy Place (the first section) into the Most Holy Place (the second section). Well, it’s in that second section where you’re gonna find the ark of the covenant.
And in the ark of the covenant, you’ve got the golden urn that’s holding the manna, and you've got Aaron's staff, and you've got the tablets of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
So, he reminds them of all the important stuff that’s there. And for those of you who were with us in the Exodus and Leviticus series, this will be familiar to you as well.
The Priestly Protocols
Then, after the talks about the tabernacle, the writer then begins to remind them of the priestly protocols. Look at verses 6 and 7:
“These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year.”
He’s reminding them, the priests had regular duties. They would enter the Holy Place (that first section) on a regular basis to do their priestly duties. But once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would go past the second curtain into that Most Holy Place. This whole process is described in Leviticus 16.
In Leviticus 16, God gives them very specific instructions. You may remember that from our Leviticus series. On that Day of Atonement, there were several different sacrifices that happened.
There was always one sacrifice that the priest offered for his own sins, that was a bull, and then there were sacrifices for the sins of the people, the two goats. One goat would be slain and the other sent into exile, but not before the priest confessed the sins of the people and they were put onto the goat. The sins of the people of Israel were imputed onto the goats, and the goats then suffered in the place of the people.
So, the writer of Hebrews is basically recapping all these very particular protocols. But then the writer says that this was all done for a reason.
The Old Covenant as the Map
Here in Hebrews 9, we see that the writer of Hebrews is going to give the audience the reason for this entire elaborate system. Look at the first 6 words of verse 8, just the first six words:
“By this the Holy Spirit indicates…”
This entire system, the elaborate Old Testament regulations, the structure of the tabernacle, the furniture, the sacrifices, the protocols, everything, the Holy Spirit is orchestrating all of this to indicate something to us.
Another English translation renders those first few words like this:
“By these regulations, the Holy Spirit revealed.”
All this stuff was designed to reveal something to us. This is all a picture of something greater, a depiction of something bigger and better. The old covenant was designed to reveal something newer and grander. Now, he does not immediately, here, tell us what that newer thing is, but we know he’s alluding to the new covenant, which he certainly makes clear later in this chapter.
This elaborate old covenant system and all its minutia wasn’t just an accident. It was not arbitrary. In fact, God gave very specific instructions and blueprints for how they were to construct the entire tabernacle and how to arrange the furniture in the tabernacle, it was all very particular.
More than 30 times in the book of Exodus we read that Moses built the tabernacle according to the pattern, according to the pattern given to him. This really is very important. Moses needed to follow the instructions because if he didn’t, he’d create a tabernacle that gave a wrong picture and flawed depiction of the grander reality that God wants them to see.
You could say that the old covenant is, sort of, like a map. Maps are designed to depict a real place, right? The map is only valuable if it accurately depicts a valuable place you want to get to.
Maps give us a quality picture of a particular location, but the map itself is not the final destination, the map is not the jam. You don’t take a week off work to spend time with a map, right? The map isn’t the final destination, the map isn’t the goal. The map is designed to lead you to a place. Likewise, the old covenant was designed to lead us to some place… or to some person.
You could say that the old covenant was pedagogical. The old covenant was designed to teach us things. It is designed to give us insights into the new covenant. The entire elaborate system was engineered by God, crafted by God, to give us a picture of what Jesus would eventually do for his people.
So, while the new covenant is certainly better than the old, much better and newer and grander, there are still some insights that we get by looking back at the old covenant. The old covenant is helpful to us in that way. There are some things about the new covenant, that we better understand, by looking back at the old covenant, and the reason that’s true is because that’s precisely what the old covenant was designed to do. It was designed for that.
The Better Tent, In Heaven
In this passage we see the comparing and contrasting, between the old and the new, but we also see the writer leveraging the old to explain the new.
Look at verses 11 and 12:
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands…”
The writer here is making it clear, there’s a better tent. The tent that Jesus entered is the throne room of God in heaven, and that heavenly tent is waaaaayyyyyy better than the earthly tent that was made with human hands.
But the events that took place in the earthly tent give us insights into what happened in that heavenly tent. Just like the Jewish high priest of old would enter into the physical tent, here on earth, to offer an offering to God for the sins of the people, likewise, Jesus enters into a tent, to offer an offering to God for the sins of his people. But Jesus is the better high priest, entering into the better tent, and offering up a better offering.
Look at verse 12:
“He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
Jesus did not bring an animal into that heavenly tent, no. Jesus offered a better offering, not goats and calves, but himself! In Galatians 3, the apostle Paul says that,
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”
Jesus became a curse. He suffered the penalty that was meant for us.
How Much More Valuable is Jesus
Now, in Hebrews 9:13, the writer of Hebrews is about to tell us that the goats and bulls used in the Old Testament were actually useful, to some extent. Look at the last few words of verse 13, those Old Testament sacrifices, they did “sanctify for the purification of the flesh.” So, there was some purification that took place. But it was very limited.
It was a sinful priest with the blood of some mere animals, some bulls and goats, but that whole project did have some value; it was sufficient to atone for the sins of the Jewish people for twelve months, right? But it wasn’t a permanent thing. It was gonna have to be done again and again and again, every single year, year after year after year.
The old system was incredibly limited. But, it did have some value, and the writer of Hebrews is about to ask, if that old limited system had some value, if the blood of some bulls and goats could offer some purification, how much greater will the purification be when there’s a better offering.
Look at verse 14:
“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
If bulls and goats could accomplish something for the Jewish people, how much more will the blood of Jesus accomplish?
Just like we see in the book Leviticus, we saw that the sins of the people were transferred to the animals, imputed to them, and then we see those animals being punished, suffering the wrath of God, because God hates sin. The sins were on the animals and those animals were punished, that was the offering. Similarly, our sins are transferred to Jesus, our sin offering, and Jesus suffers in our place.
So, in some ways, you could say, the old covenant was similar to the new covenant. There’s a process of imputation happening. If you want to understand what Jesus did for us, looking back at the Old Testament sacrificial system is helpful to us; the old covenant and the protocols of the tabernacle depict the work of Jesus.
But, of course, in many other ways, the covenants are very different.
The New Covenant is Different
There’s at least three major ways in which they’re different. Surely, there’s actually more than three, but I’ll just highlight the three that I think are immediately most obvious and most helpful for us to consider.
The first difference between Jesus and the Old Testament sacrifices is that Jesus went willingly. The bulls and goats weren’t doing it willingly. They didn’t freely choose.
Consider this, on some of the Jewish holy days, the Jewish people would bring lots of sacrifices. I mean you could have thousands and thousands of goats and animals being slaughtered on one day, so it’s a very bloody sight in the tabernacle. There’s lots and lots of animals being killed, lots of goats having their throats slit. It’s a very, very gruesome scene, and not one of those animals chose to be there. Not one volunteered. In fact, if they could see what was happening, they wouldn’t have come.
But Jesus, from his seat in heaven, is seeing this bloody mess, this gruesome moment, he sees the blood of the sacrifices, and Jesus still determines that he will step in, he’s going to volunteer to put himself into that moment, into that gruesome spot, and he voluntarily lays down his life. This is far greater than anything a goat ever did.
The second most obvious big difference, and I’ve already alluded to this, it’s important to note that the sacrifice of Jesus is permanent, like we saw in verse 12, it was “once for all.” It’s done. It is finished. The guilt and stain of sin of gone, done away with!
The third big difference is that the sacrifice of Jesus was not limited to just a small ethnic group in Palestine, but it’d be sufficient for all peoples everywhere.
The bulls and goats could cover sin for the Jews in the ancient world, for a short period of time, but the sacrifice of Jesus applies to all people groups, everywhere, at all times. This is why, in John 1:29, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, He shouted:
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
The new covenant is permanent and for all peoples everywhere.
Purification from Sin
Now, look again at the last clause of verse 14. Here he states the results of the work of Jesus. He says, the blood of Christ will
“purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
Dead works are the choices we make that lead to death. But because of Jesus, because of what he accomplished, we are forgiven of our sinful choices that otherwise would have led to death, and now we can serve the living God, and we can enter his presence and enjoy him forever. What a glorious reality, that we can enter into the presence of God and enjoy him forever!
Penal Substitutionary Atonement
Now, with all this stated, I want to briefly touch on a doctrine being outlined herein. Overall, this passage is dealing with a thing we call the doctrine of atonement.
The word atonement in the Bible refers to sin “being paid for” or “sin being covered” or “being taken care of.” The implication is that God does not just ignore sin. He does not just “let it go.” No, it must be dealt with. God is just, and holy, he does not just let people “get away” with sin.
But, if you are a believer in Jesus, you can take comfort, he has dealt with it for you. Your sin has been dealt with.
However, if you are not a believer, the Bible makes it very clear, you’re gonna need to deal with your sin yourself. And I promise you, that will not go well for you.
In Hebrews 10, it says,
“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
You should be terrified about the reality of God getting his hands on you, without your sin having been dealt with.
Why? Because God hates sin. I said it earlier. God is holy, and just, and he demands that sin be punished. Every single sin must be punished.
But that’s the brilliance of the cross, at the cross God punishes sin, and yet makes a way for sinners to be treated mercifully. Jesus takes on the penalty in our place. He is our substitute. That’s our understanding of atonement.
Theologians call this understanding of atonement (that I’ve just unpacked), “penal substitutionary atonement.”
“Penal” implies that there’s a penalty or a punishment being imposed. “Substitutionary” denotes that there’s a substitute, in this case Jesus is our substitute. So, we call it “penal substitution.” This is what the Bible teaches. This is the picture we get from the Old Testament, and it depicts what Jesus did for us.
Now, in our last few minutes together, I want to tackle one controversy that’s big in many circles right now and then I want to give us two points of application.
Defending Penal Substitution
First, the controversy. There are some people who reject penal substitutionary atonement. They claim that we’ve misunderstood the Bible and what the Bible teaches about atonement. And there’s various responses to this.
Some people claim that the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement was actually invented in the sixteenth century by John Calvin or maybe some other Reformers. They claim that this is an advent of the 1500s and no one before that time ever believed this.
Well, with all due respect, they’re wrong. They are just flat-out wrong. There is tremendous evidence that people in the second and third centuries believed this understanding of this atonement.
Sometimes, I think, people say this because they’re just ignorant of church history, they haven’t actually read second and third century pastors and theologians. And other times they do know, but they just think that you won’t know, and that’s far more nefarious.
But there is great evidence for penal substitution existing in the early church. I don’t have time to go through this all this morning, but this is what I intend to do. God willing, this week when we post the manuscript for this sermon on our website, I’ll put some links to several articles that decisively prove that, so if you’re interested in knowing what the early church fathers and theologians and pastors believed, you can check out those articles. (See footnotes below).
The early church fathers didn’t use the term “penal substitutionary atonement.” Obviously, the terminology is new. But the concept of penal substitution was very clearly there, from the earliest days. Check out the resources below, if you're interested.
Now, there are other people who push back on penal substitutionary atonement and they say, “well there are other understandings of the atonement in the early church.” Which is true, there are. But when you examine them, what you see is that these other atonement theories are not actually mutually exclusive with penal substitution.
Most of the time when people make arguments for other atonement theories and understandings, I’m like yeah, yeah, that too! The atonement is way more awesome than we realize, so penal substitution is true and these other ones are often true as well. These are all things that Jesus accomplished, but some people want to pit these against each other and I think that’s a flaw, it’s a false dichotomy, and I'd encourage you, don’t fall victim to that.
Also, there’s some people who reject penal substitution, honestly, because they just don’t understand it, and that’s pretty common, so we can walk with them through Hebrews 9 and help them understand.
Some people reject penal substitution because they have a low view of scripture and they think they can pick and choose what parts of the Scripture they can reject, so they only pick the things they like, and they often are like, well, we don't really like that whole “God has wrath” stuff, that's gross, so we're just going to ignore that passage of Scripture. That happens often.
Some people just can’t stomach the idea that God is a god of wrath or that God is going to punish sin, they can’t stomach that, or it doesn’t logically compute to them, so they find ways to massage the Scriptures. In most cases they’re not being nefarious, in most cases they’re just bothered by wrath, so they find interpretations of the passages that simply fit better with a different understanding of atonement, so that they don’t have to think about this whole idea of penalty and punishment and wrath.
But here’s the problem with that: We should believe whatever the Bible teaches us! The Bible clearly teaches that God has wrath. God is giving you his assessment of himself, and some people turn around and disagree with it.
But if you disagree with God, it is not God who is wrong!
We must be very careful to not allow our modern sensibilities to inform how we read the text. We need to read the text on its own terms, seeking what the author meant to communicate to his audience, and we must embrace whatever the Bible actually teaches, wholeheartedly, even if we don't like it.
The Bible clearly teaches that God hates sin and punishes it. He cannot and will not dwell amongst sinful peoples. Which is the entire reason for the Old Testament system. The elaborate system of the old covenant gives us insights into God’s insistence that sin be dealt with. And we know that Jesus did it for us.
Jesus was our substitute, taking the wrath of God in our place.
Christian, Your Sins Are Forgiven
Two points of application for believers. First, if you are a believer, your sins have been forgiven. There’s no scarlet letter on you. That nagging sin that haunts you, that thing you feel guilty for, its been forgiven!
Psalm 103:12 says:
“As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
God speaking through the prophet in Isaiah 43:25:
“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
God blots out your sin. He has chosen to forget it. But you keep bringing it up. You keep harping on it. But you have been wiped clean!
Christian, to all who humbly seek the mercy of God, we say to you, in Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven. Praise be to God!
The Cross Demonstrates Love
Second, Jesus dying in our place shows us the love of God. Jesus became our substitute because he loves. He chose to enter into that gruesome moment, he chose to do it, because he loves.
In Romans 5:8, the apostle Paul says that this is how God shows his love for us, he says that
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
When you were at your worst, when you had nothing to offer him, that’s when he saw you, and he chose you. He looked down the corridors of time and said “I want him… I want her.” He chose you and he went to the cross for you, to show you his love for you!
When you doubt his love, just stop and look at the cross. Look at what he did, he took on your penalty. He was your substitute. He instituted a better covenant, because he loves you!
The old covenant was specifically designed to teach us about the new covenant, the better covenant, mediated by the better high priest, who loved you and gave himself for you.
Church, that’s worth remembering, and that’s why we come to this table each and every week, to remember what Jesus has done. To remember, Jesus stood in my place.
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Additional Resources:
1) Brian Arnold, “Did the Church Fathers Affirm Penal Substitutionary Atonement?”, 9Marks, August 20, 2019, https://www.9marks.org/article/did-the-church-fathers-affirm-penal-substitutionary-atonement.
2) Brian Arnold, “Penal Substitution in the Early Church,” The Gospel Coalition, April 13, 2021, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/penal-substitution-early-church.
3) Mike Winger, “The Real History of Penal Substitutionary Atonement,” YouTube video, October 15, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4bTHScjdEo.
4) Michael J. Kruger, “Did Early Christians Believe in Substitutionary Atonement?”, The Gospel Coalition, June 25, 2019, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/did-early-christians-believe-in-substitutionary-atonement.