Heb 9:11-17 “But Christ Being Come an High Priest of Good Things to Come” – Part 5

[Study Aired December 24, 2020]

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 
Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 
Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

Last week’s study discussed the redemption process God’s elect are blessed to go through in this life. The process of redemption and the holiness it produces is something that comes at the expense of our carnal old man being destroyed, meaning our carnal mind that was represented by the forty and six years (4+6=10 number for flesh) that it took to build the temple in Jerusalem. Christ told those of His day, “Destroy this temple…and in three days I will raise it up.” “But he spake of the temple of his body” which we are (1Co 3:16, Rom 12:5) where the new mind of Christ is freely given to those who are called and chosen by God (Heb 9:15) to receive His spirit (Joh 2:19-22, Psa 127:1, 1Co 2:16, Mat 13:11).

Joh 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Joh 2:20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
Joh 2:21  But he spake of the temple of his body.
Joh 2:22  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain [“I will raise it up”].

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

There is no amount of time specified for how long it will take to “destroy this temple” but Christ’s life, which is that temple that we’re talking about, was destroyed at a specific time and paralleled with the oblations and sacrifices which were taken away in the middle of the week in Daniel 9:27. This reminds us of how God’s judgment was taken out of the earth when Christ died, leaving the elect with the other half of Christ’s ministry. It takes our filling up what is behind of His afflictions, symbolized by the second half of that week (Col 1:24), in order to be made ready to be kings and priests. Our lives are judged and made ready through that judgment to rule and reign under our Lord (Isa 26:9), accomplished by the holy spirit. This righteousness learned is the righteousness of the saints which is represented by the fine linen (Rev 19:8) God gives to Christ’s bride “for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready”.

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

This thought of Christ raising up the church, “the temple of his body” which we are (1Co 3:16, Eph 2:4-6), introduces the first verse of our study which reads, “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.” The building up of the body of Christ is the “greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” and can only come about by our being granted the power to overcome “trespasses and sins” (Eph 1:1-2, Joh 8:36) which left us dead when “in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Christ is our example of “being come an high priest of good things to come” by overcoming those powers and principalities. He would later give His disciples the same power, through God’s spirit, to start to overcome (Joh 16:7, Joh 8:36,  Jas 4:7-17). These verses in John 16:7 and John 8:36 explain how we can fulfill these verses in James 4:7-17. It is the most humbling process we are going through (1Pe 4:12), but God tells us to not grow weary of His correction (Pro 3:11) and that nothing is going to separate us from His love if we are being humbled “under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (Rom 8:28, 1Pe 5:6).

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

It is through “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” that we are blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” where we are raised “according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Eph 4:6). It is this love that we have toward one another, supplied by each joint that builds up God’s temple, which witnesses to the world that the “three days I will raise it up” process of judgment the church is going through is something that is being made manifest in the church as He abounds toward us in all wisdom and prudence (Eph 4:16, 1Pe 4:17, Eph 1:8, Eph 3:10).

We are reminded in these verses of Ephesians about the truth that He has “predestinated” us (Eph 1:5, Eph 1:11) “unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” [and it is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom and therefore we are not to fear but rather rejoice that we are being saved through this process that causes us to lose our life but gain the new life of Christ within us (Luk 12:32)].

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

We are being saved, or redeemed “through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace^G5485“, and it is that grace or favor that is called the “riches of his grace” because His favor is demonstrated through those who are being chastened and scourged and judged in this age so that we can be “accepted in the beloved” (Eph 1:6). God has “abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (Col 1:27). God purposed to make this wisdom and knowledge known or manifest through the church, and it is through the “riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering” that we are able to be led unto repentance, otherwise it would not happen (Eph 3:10-12, Rom 2:4).

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph 3:12  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

“For a testament is of force after men are dead” (of verse 17) is a true statement for God’s elect as well if we see ourselves as dead to sin and alive in Christ (Rom 6:11), which is the only way we should see ourselves (Gal 2:20) being in constant need of “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2Co 10:5). We can work toward that mark through Christ who makes this all possible as we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14).

God gives the elect great incentives to want to put off the flesh today, working within the body of Christ where His grace is abounding in our lives where sin abounded (Rom 5:20). This is all happening to those who are bound to the altar (Psa 118:27), being those who first trusted in Christ unto the saving of our souls (Heb 10:39, 1Co 10:13). Christ was saved for the elect’s sake, and we are being saved for the world’s sake who are being reserved unto judgment in the lake of fire (2Pe 2:9, 2Pe 3:7). If God is judging us in this age, we are being preserved through His judgments that He does not hold back or reserve against our old man of sin as He will against those who will be judged in the second resurrection.

Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

2Pe 2:9  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

The things that we build and take pride in through this life are represented by that first temple which took forty six years to build (Joh 2:20). It is through the destruction of the fleshly mind of the first Adam represented by that temple that we can become a new creation on a new foundation Jesus Christ. Very few will be blessed to experience this judgment in this lifetime that will result in our seeing “a greater and more perfect tabernacle” formed which is made by the hand of the master Potter (Jer 18:4). It is His vessel, His workmanship that He is cleansing through a lifetime of fiery trials, much tribulation, affliction, persecution, along with chastening, scourging and yes, pruning, represented by the tearing down of that old temple that was made “with hands“, independent of the knowledge that God is sovereign and in control of all things. That first temple we are is not made according to the pattern shown in the mount but is the marred vessel God deemed necessary to fulfill His purpose within us (Exo 25:40, Rom 9:20, Jas 4:14-16).

Exo 25:40  And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

God has made all things through Christ (Col 1:16-17), and is working all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). It is God the Father “who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us” who is showing us His love by receiving us through the chastening and scourging of this life (Heb 12:6) which we can endure through Christ (Php 4:13) so that we are no longer “dead in sins” but rather “quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)”. Our goal in this life as God’s elect is to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” knowing that God is able to purge our conscience from all sin and make us “meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2Ti 2:21). By following these commandments of our Lord we can become more “prepared unto every good work” (2Ti 2:21-26).

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work [Mat 20:23, Rev 19:7].
2Ti 2:22  Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2Ti 2:23  But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
2Ti 2:24  And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
2Ti 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

The “good things to come” spoken of in this first verse of our study have already begun to manifest in the lives of those who have God’s holy spirit within them as “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph 1:14). Christ is working in us both to will and to do of our Father’s good pleasure (Php 2:13), to make us a “more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building”. Christ himself, who is the author and finisher of our faith, knows how to make this building, this body, this temple, come together as a “whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Heb 12:2, Eph 4:16, Rom 5:5).

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

Christ’s life was precious in the sight of His Father (1Pe 1:19) who said “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mat 3:17, Joh 1:29). Christ always pleased the Father, and we are told, “He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” Christ was declaring the Father whom we cannot see physically (Heb 11:27) but could see through Christ’s declaration of Him, with His words and actions (Joh 1:18, Joh 14:9-11). Today we are being sent as Christ was sent (Joh 20:21), which is also pleasing to the Father as we declare Christ as lively stones that give witness to the fact that we abide in heavenly places with Christ and our Father (1Pe 2:5, Joh 14:20).

All the “blood of goats and calves” and “the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling” were for our sakes. They were symbolic, ritualistic exercises that are types of Christ who would offer Himself once for the sins of the world. These sacrifices were not able to cleanse the conscience of the one doing the sacrificing, and yet just going through those motions as we did in Babylon made our flesh feel appeased; that somehow we had done something that made us acceptable to God such as taking “the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh” (Luk 18:21-22). We know that nothing we do in our flesh makes us acceptable to God and that we are only accepted through the beloved (Eph 1:6-7). That is the great take away from these verses that we need to hold onto. We are unprofitable servants who have done that which is expected of us (Luk 17:10), both in our immature days as a babe in Christ offering sacrifices to God in the earth, and then becoming a more mature sacrifice to the Lord as we learn that the only sacrifice He is concerned about is our presenting our entire life as a living sacrifice to the glory of God (Rom 12:1-3).

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The actions of those priests did not have eternal consequences, only earthly consequences that never cleansed the conscience of the one making the offering. When Peter was inspired to say to Christ, “To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (Joh 6:68), he was speaking above his understanding in declaring what these words tell us: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit (Joh 6:63) offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 

We will “receive the promise of eternal inheritance” if our high priest, Jesus Christ, “is the mediator of the new testament” within us (Col 1:27), giving us the power to lay down our life (Rev 11:3) “that by means of death” both Christ’s death and our being given to die daily and being buried into His death (Rom 6:3-4), we can be redeemed “of the transgressions that were under the first testament“, which represent our own righteousness being shown in all those carnal ordinances we just read about that cannot cleanse our heavens. Those offerings of goats and bulls and heifers were all patterns of what Christ was going to do in the lives of those who were predestined to be bound to the altar in this age so our heavens can be purged of all ungodliness (Heb 9:23, Tit 2:12-13).

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

Christ said this same point with these verses:

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Let’s look at the last three verses of tonight’s study in the Easy-to-Read version:

Heb 9:15  So Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. He brings this agreement so that those who are chosen by God can have the blessings God promised, blessings that last forever. This can happen only because Christ died to free people from sins committed against the commands of the first agreement.
Heb 9:16  When someone dies and leaves a will, there must be proof that the one who wrote the will is dead.
Heb 9:17  A will means nothing while the one who wrote it is still living. It can be used only after that person’s death.

With that in mind, we can see that the prophesies in the book of Daniel serve to confirm Christ’s words which were written for the elect to give us encouragement at this time. (Dan 9:25-27, Dan 12:8-13, Joh 16:7, Joh 8:36).

Dan 9:25  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem [Think of Jerusalem above, the mother of us all (Gal 4:26)] unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks [69]: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

[‘Troublous times’ is the time of judgment that must come upon all men in their appointed time, and it begins at the house of God, starting with our Saviour whose flesh was judged during a very outwardly troublous time. The outward circumstances reflected what was going on in Christ’s heavens just as God’s elect must endure through perilous times. We are as Christ “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Heb 9:27, 1Pe 4:17, Ecc 7:2, 1Co 15:31, Job 5:7, Isa 53:3, 1Jn 4:17)]

Dan 9:26  And after threescore and two weeks [62] shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

[Christ was cut off at 62 weeks, which represents the foundation or rock that he told Peter the church would be built upon (2×6=12) (Mat 16:18, Joh 12:24). Christ did not sacrifice His life for Himself but for us (“Messiah be cut off, but not for himself” Dan 9:26). Christ made a way for us by being judged in His flesh 69 (Dan 9:25), but it was going into “the holiest of all” which happened when Christ died in the symbolic 62nd week that we then had a high priest who could and can “save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (Rom 5:10, Heb 7:25).

The complete ministry of Christ (7) is seen in these numbers as well 69-62=7 notwithstanding God completed this work in Christ so that the greater works than these could be accomplished within the body of Christ starting on Pentecost “For a testament is of force after men are dead” which is why Christ told us “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”. The “much fruit” that is brought forth is the life of Christ being manifest within the church, and Abraham and his one seed is the parable which explains this truth for us that will one day apply to all of God’s creation (Gal 3:16, 1Co 15:22). That holy seed is called to do greater works than Christ as we fill up what is behind of His afflictions “for his body’s sake, which is the church” that one seed that is being used to bring healing to those whom God drags to Christ and His body (Joh 14:12, Col 1:24, Joh 6:44)].

Dan 12:8  And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
Dan 12:9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end [Luk 10:24].
Dan 12:10  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand [2Ti 3:13].
Dan 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, [in the midst of the week (Dan 9:27)] and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days [1290].

[This period is a type and shadow of when the man of perdition is realized in our own heavens who must be destroyed by the brightness of His coming through judgment (2Th 2:8)].

Dan 12:12  Blessed is he that waiteth [Rev 20:6, Rev 1:3], and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days [1335].
Dan 12:13  But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

All of these numbers point to the life of Christ and His Christ who are predestined to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Rev 20:6), blessed to be judged now in order be those who “first trusted in Christ” (Eph 1:12) “in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” [1335-1290=45]. The numbers 4 and 5 when added give us 9, which is why we would be blessed to endure through this period knowing that this judgment must antecede our going onto perfection on the third day if our Father in heaven has determined this to be the case (Mat 20:23).

These are the “good things to come” that “Christ being come an high priest” is able to work in the lives of those who will be blessed to see this verse fulfilled in their lives through Him (Luk 13:32).

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.