Read Hebrews 9:11-14

What exactly did Jesus do? He established a new order of the ages. A new agreement between God and man.

Israel’s high priests had to make animal sacrifices for their own sins and the sins of the people before they entered the Most Holy Place in the old temple. The author speaks here of Jesus entering the heavenly Most Holy Place. What did the resurrected Jesus do? Jesus went directly into God the Father’s immediate presence. Did he go empty handed? The record says not. He did not need a sacrifice for his own sins because he was sinless. But he carried a tremendous sacrifice into the Father’s presence for all of us, his own life. The sinless died for the sinful.

Jesus purchased our eternal salvation with his blood. Nothing in all of creation is more important. Although we may have to repair the results of our past sinful actions, for example, the consequences of a drunk-driving accident, God cleanses and forgives so that we no longer need struggle with a nagging bad conscience. Unchained from the guilt of our sinful past, we are free to turn our attention forward, toward God, working out problems with his help. This superior new way does what the old priesthood with its animal sacrifices could never do, opens the possibility for complete fellowship with God by humans. You are free to serve God, the writer cries. Enter the living God’s presence!

Read Hebrews 9:1-10

The priests of ancient Israel are gone. The forms and rituals that seemed so important have passed away. The author has told us that the old way of doing things is finished. There is a new agreement between God and humans.

Then here he repeats it all. Why? He describes the tent housing the ark, symbolizing the old covenant. He tells us what was in the Holy Place where all the priests ministered. He explains the furnishings of the Most Holy Place where just the high priest entered, coming into God’s presence only once a year. What’s his point? We’ve heard it all before. It must be incredibly important for him to stress again that the old sacrifices could not clear our consciences of sin. But, he says, big changes have come, a new order.

The next time you have a United States one-dollar bill, look at the back of it. There is the Great Seal of the United States. Notice particularly the left side. Observe the unfinished pyramid of 13 courses with “1776” on its base. The Latin words “Annuit coeptis” mean “He [God] approves the things which have been begun.” The other Latin phrase, “Novus ordo seclorum,” translates “New order of the ages.” When you see a dollar bill, think of God’s new order for everyone. He allows us into his immediate presence, the Most Holy Place, at any time. Christ’s death and resurrection make it possible.

Read Hebrews 8:7-13

Centuries before Jesus came, the prophet Jeremiah predicted God’s new relationship with men and women. The author of Hebrews quotes the passage from Jeremiah 31. He says God did his part. But the system of priests in ancient Israel failed because of the character of the people. Under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Jeremiah looks down the centuries and says God in his patience will make a new and better way. How would it be different?

The old covenant was written on tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments that Moses carried down the mountain. Jesus wants to write his new covenant on our minds and hearts. God can change our “want-tos,” creating an inner spiritual fellowship rather than performing external rituals.

What will be the effect of this? A personal knowledge of God will be possible. He will make himself available to humans as friend with friend on an individual basis. Does this mean priests and pastors are not needed? No, but it does mean that all who know the Lord in this vital relationship can introduce others to Jesus. It is the priesthood of all believers. How will God deal with our sin under this new relationship? With mercy, unmerited favor, and forgiveness.

One thing does not change. Obedience to God’s will is a necessity. Only by submitting our wills to God’s plan for our lives and following him in full surrender can we know the joy of God’s fellowship.

Read Hebrews 8:1-6

Which is more real—your front yard, or heaven?

If we are honest, we have to admit that it seems as if our front yards are more real. Our world with its scientific experiments, mechanical principles, and financial balance sheets—these are real things. The idea underlying the book of Hebrews is quite different. It’s Hebrews’ two-story view of reality again. Jesus never despised our world. He created it. His teachings concerned things we know about—growing crops, lost sheep, good fishing places. Hebrews says those things are just the lower part of the house. Compared to the upper story of the house, land and taxes and fishing are transient, here today, gone tomorrow. The real thing is upstairs—God’s kingdom—perfect, permanent, forever. Christ’s heavenly ministry is so far superior to anything any pastor or priest could do on earth as to be an entirely different order. Jesus is the mediator, the go-between, our High Priest, who makes it possible for God and humans to communicate. Jesus’ new promise completely replaces the old priesthood with its animal sacrifices. Jesus fulfills to us God’s new promise, a whole new way of doing things.

Hebrews describes Jesus as sitting down at the Father’s right hand. Who sits down, the person who is still working or the one whose job is complete? Christ’s death on the cross was a once-for-all sacrifice. Our job is to accept such a magnificent gift of forgiveness.

Read Hebrews 7:26-28

If someone asked you what you needed, what would you say? More money? Better looks?

If we are honest, we can look at ourselves in the mirror and know our need is deeper than material or physical things. We are weak, sinful, “frail creatures of dust,” as the hymn says. We need somebody to negotiate for us with God. The first point the writer makes in this paragraph is that Jesus as High Priest meets all of our needs. Then, instead of listing our needs, he names five characteristics of Jesus that he implies meet us humans where we are. In a way, they all appear to be aspects of one quality. What are they? Christ is holy, blameless, pure, the list begins. “Set apart from sinners,” he continues. Don’t we know it! Christ came to earth and was fully human. Yet he was different from anybody else ever born because he never sinned. The last, “exalted above the heavens,” speaks of Christ’s relationship with the Father. God accepted Jesus’ work of redemption on the cross by receiving him back into heaven.

Isn’t our church real? Aren’t our pastors doing God’s work? Yes, they are. But our pastors, being human, must, like us, ask forgiveness for their own sins. Jesus was sinless. His one sacrifice was enough. He did not have to cleanse himself repeatedly before attending to the sins of others. He is the perfect Priest forever.