Lawyers, you can’t live without them; and you can’t strangle them. The author of Hebrews delves into legal details about covenants and wills. He begins to use a little legalese in describing what Christ has done for us.
I hope you are not beginning to tire yet of this material concerning the priesthood of Christ. We have been looking at it from different angles since chapter 4 and it can seem somewhat repetitive. But this material is the bedrock of the Christian faith. The work of Christ as our high priest is tantamount (or equivalent) to Christianity itself. If your Christianity doesn’t have this as its core then you don’t have Christianity. If what you believe contradicts these precious truths you don’t have Christianity. He has used almost 120 verses to proclaim the importance of the priesthood of Christ and its contrast with the Old Testament.
Key Idea: God used the concept of a covenant (or testament) to call a group of people to Himself and give them the privilege to receive eternal life through it.
I. What is the Working of a Testament (generally)?
A. Its explanation
What we notice first in the working of a testament is its explanation. In this passage the author begins by explaining certain legal aspects of a covenant or testament. In verses 16-17 he says, “For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.” The author tells us that for a testament or will to be valid or in force the testator must have died. We may not clearly see the link between a will (that we think of when someone dies) and the covenants God has made with the nation of Israel but it is inherent in the word the author uses. The word he uses can mean either covenant or will and he presses both meanings here since there is a similarity between the will a person leaves behind and the biblical covenants.
Now the identical characteristic between the two is the fact that there must be a death to make the covenant or will effective. In biblical terminology this is called “cutting the covenant.” In Genesis 15 the Scripture says, “the Lord made (or cut) a covenant with Abram.” The animal is killed and the death of the animal makes the covenant effective. It doesn’t necessarily grant all the benefits of the covenant immediately. In the case of a will it is effective upon the death of the testator because he is distributing his personal effects. He wouldn’t normally distribute all his possessions while living.
There is also this similarity in the fact that both types of contract (God’s covenants and man’s testaments) also look to benefit recipients of the contract. But as far as the similarities between a covenant and testament this is as far as the author goes. And he uses this as we will see later to establish the fact that Jesus is the testator of the covenant for which He died.
B. Its illustration
What we notice next in the working of a testament is its illustration. Now in this passage the author is no longer contrasting the two covenants but is noting their similarity in requiring the death to initiate the covenant. And in verses 18-21, he uses the illustration of the establishment of the Old Covenant from Exodus 24. We see here, “Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.’ And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood.”
The author wants his readers to understand that this New Covenant under which Jesus died was not without precedent. God wasn’t changing the way He did things in bringing in this New Covenant. God was simply doing in the New what He had always done in the Old. And there was reason for it.
Since the Old Covenant was a symbol or picture of good things to come then this covenant was consecrated by the blood of animals signifying the future death of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Because the death of the One making the covenant was needed to cause the covenant to be effective when the time came Jesus died to initiate the covenant. He was the One by whom the covenant would be cut.
And so the author uses this illustration to show the link between God’s work and plan in the Old Testament was not radically or unrealistically different from what He did through Jesus. It was simply that He now brought into reality what had simply been shadow.
C. Its necessity
Finally in looking at the working of a testament we see its necessity. In verse 22 the author notes, “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding blood there is no forgiveness.” Again from the Law, the Old Covenant, the author describes why a necessity exists to inaugurate the New Covenant with the blood of Christ.
He begins by noting “one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood.” The reason he says, “almost all things” is due to the fact that in the Law there was provision for the poor person who could not even afford the two birds sold for a penny as an offering to offer a grain offering. So the poorest could come with a grain offering. God would not forbid someone to worship because they could not afford to do so. But the whole principle of the Law otherwise was that it required blood to offer forgiveness (or atonement).
Why is this the case? Why blood? Why is the shedding of blood necessary to bring forgiveness? It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 2:15 God said that in the day Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die. Death would be the penalty for their transgression. And God had also laid down the principle that the life is in the blood. The blood symbolized life. And if you ever witnessed someone losing blood you might have recognized this principle. As their color fades from them and their blood pressure drops and they begin to lose consciousness, they begin to lose their life. Give them blood and their life returns. And so the shedding of blood was the required payment for sin against God. The shedding of blood was in truth the payment of death. And after Adam and Eve sinned God made a provision for them. God killed animals in their place and so the principle of substitution was put into place. We mentioned this principle last week when we noted that God would accept the sacrifice of an innocent substitute in place of a guilty worshipper so they might be cleansed. God would not accept a blemished sacrifice.
This eternal principle had been disclosed and practiced from the beginning of the world since the fall. It was settled in God’s mind. But throughout history people have tried to circumvent it. Cain was one of the first. Instead of worshipping God by offering a sacrifice in his place Cain offered the work of his hands. He thought God ought to have accepted it because he worked hard to raise it and it was good stuff. But God could not accept Cain’s efforts as sincere as they may have been. He needed, as his brother had, to offer a sacrifice killed in his place to atone for his sin. You might ask if Cain had understood this principle. Perhaps it hadn’t been clearly explained to him. After God had spoken to Cain about why his offering was not acceptable he killed his brother. The interesting thing to note is the word Scripture used to describe this murder was the word meaning, “to slaughter for sacrifice.” In the rebellion of Cain’s heart he said to God, “You want a sacrifice with blood here it is God and he slit the throat of his brother Abel.” How else do we know this? God came to Cain and said, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.” Cain refused to offer a God ordained sacrifice because he thought God would accept him by his works alone. But this is not the case. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
This is why the cross is the universal stumbling block. The necessity of the shedding of blood calls for the death of Christ on our behalf. There is no way around it. The cross has lost its focal point even in the modern life of the Christian. Yes there is the importance of the resurrection through which power we are to live. But it is the cross that allows us to enter into the resurrection life.
The cross has always been and always shall be an object of shame. The world looks with disdain on the bloody thing. It is the universal stumbling block by which the world falls into judgment. The world sees the cross not as a necessity but as a trinket. It is the rave jewelry. But to think of it as any more important is foolishness. In 1 Corinthians 1, he apostle Paul says people would rather seek signs or wisdom to seek God’s favor than to trust in the cross. The cross is an affront to a proud person because it says you cannot earn your salvation. The cross says your salvation has been provided for you if you will admit you are wrong and a sinner and repent of your rebellion against God. But who wants to admit their wrong and change? Who wants to admit they are wrong today? That is simply the attitude of rebellion. “How dare God accuse me of rebellion” but to the Christian telling someone the Gospel it sounds like, “How dare you tell me I’m a bad person.” No one wants to admit that they are that bad. The problem is people don’t understand their deep depravity. They look at a few things they have done wrong but miss the point that they are sinners by nature and would be the most vile person unless God’s restraining grace kept them from becoming such a person.
People are not willing to see the cross as the consequence of their sin. They are not willing to humble themselves and repent of their sin and receive its complete payment for us. The cross is always offensive because it tells people that their way to heaven is not acceptable. But let’s recognize it. Some will malign us when we proclaim Jesus’ death on the cross as the only way of salvation. But without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
And the forgiveness offered on the cross is can never be combined with any other offer. It is salvation by faith alone in the work of Christ or it is ineffective. Christ plus works for salvation results in condemnation. It is without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
II. What is the Will of Jesus the Testator (specifically)?
The second question the passage looks into is “what is the will of Jesus the testator? Since the testator leaves a certain will to be followed then what is the will or instruction Jesus leaves concerning this New Testament? Verse 15 describes this, “For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” The verse notes three aspects.
A. The provider
The first aspect the verse notes is the provider. It begins by saying, “For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant.” Jesus is the provider for this covenant. For this reason or because he died He has become this mediator for the new covenant. In looking at the names of God on Sunday evening we recently explored the name, “Jehovah-Jireh” which means The LORD is the provider. He provided a sacrifice for Abraham to take the place of his son, Isaac. God intervened on behalf of Abraham to save his son. And now Jesus is the One who has provided to save us from eternal death.
B. The payment
The next aspect we notice in this verse is the payment. It says, “Since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant.” Jesus’ death was the redemption or payment for our transgressions (sins). His death was sufficient to pay for our rebellion and wrongdoing. Christ’s death took place it says for “the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant.” What does the author mean by this? He is referring to the certificate of debt written against us as found in the Ten Commandments. It is not referring just to sins committed by the Jews. The righteous requirements by which God will judge everyone are the Ten Commandments. These become the charges under which a person will be condemned at the judgment. Jesus paid the penalty for these. The penalty Jesus paid doesn’t somehow become greater the more people sin. The payment was not based on number of sins but on the righteous requirements of the Law. If you were the only person to have lived and transgressed God’s Law Jesus would still had to have died. This payment is in this sense personal. Jesus died because of your transgression. He was hung upon the tree and suffered the wrath of the Father because of your sin. And this payment was sufficient to cover all your transgressions.
C. The people
The third aspect we notice in this verse is the people. Look at verse 15 once again. “Since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” For whom has this sacrifice taken place? The author says this great payment enacted on behalf of our sins is for those who have been called.
The author is telling us that the free gift of Christ’s work on our behalf is based on grace. There is a calling that takes place by which God shows His grace to people. God called the nation of Israel into existence not because Abraham was greater or more holy than anyone else but because God wanted to shower His grace upon him. In the same way He hasn’t called any of us because we were more noble or smarter or more holy than anyone else but because He wanted to shower His grace upon us through Jesus. He is now fulfilling His promise to Abraham that all the families in the earth would be blessed through Jesus.
Think about why you are here this morning. Where would you be if it weren’t for God’s drawing and wooing you? Do you desire to know Him? It is because of His call not because of your great spiritual aptitude. We come to Him through faith in Christ but we wouldn’t come unless He had been drawing us. As the Psalmist says, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. As the shepherd calls his sheep so the Lord has called His people. And Jesus died so that we who are called might come.
D. The promise
And this brings us to the fourth aspect of this verse. It is the promise. The end of verse 15 reads, “those who have been called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” There is a promise to each one who comes to the Father through Jesus. It is the promise of eternal inheritance. This eternal inheritance is given because of Jesus’ death on our behalf.
Have you thought about this eternal inheritance? Since Jesus died and left His inheritance to those who are part of His will (through the New Covenant) shall receive an inheritance that is eternal. They will spend eternity with God. They will be with Him forever. They will worship Him with unending joy. In case you haven’t guessed this inheritance isn’t just heaven it is God. The joy of heaven is God. Without God heaven wouldn’t be heaven. It is not parties and cake and feasting and revelry but God.
In 1925 Hemmingway sent a letter to someone and in it he portrayed his view of heaven. He said, “To me heaven would be a big bull ring [in which I possessed two of the best seats in it] and a trout stream outside that no one else was allowed to fish in and two lovely houses in the town.” But where is God? I am afraid that many people who claim to be Christians have such similar low views of heaven.
If spending forever praising God is not for you then you do not understand how great God is. You do not know what a blessing it will be to give God the honor due His name for eternity. He will be our one joy. We won’t need fishing and bull rings and houses when we are in the presence of God.
If you have not seen heaven as a great place because God is there then you have not turned away from the selfishness that calls you to be in first place. If heaven would only be heaven if it fits Hemmingway’s description then perhaps you have not come to faith in Christ and you are set for eternal torment.
Let me ask you, “Have you been written into Christ’s will? Are you an inheritor of an eternal inheritance with God?” If not God calls you to the cross. He calls you to repent of your sin and selfishness and receive Christ’s payment on your behalf so you might receive the eternal inheritance and be with God forever. Without repentance and faith you cannot become an inheritor of God’s eternal presence. Will you come to Him?
And for you who have put your trust in Christ you need to recognize your position in Christ by which the blood of Christ has brought to you forgiveness. As Christians we are too often burdened by the trials of life instead of looking to Him for what He has already done for us. We fail to see our lives now in light of eternity future. Paul was able to say that the trials he experienced were not even worth to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in heaven. Look to your inheritance and rejoice.