Heb_8:5 — The tabernacle on earth was a “shadowy outline” (Moffatt). The wilderness tabernacle was a picture of the tabernacle in heaven. Christ serves in the real tabernacle. In this epistle, stress is placed upon the ascension of Christ rather than the resurrection. Here we have a better sacrifice, a better priest, and a better tabernacle. He died down here to save us; He lives above to keep us saved.



2. New covenant better than the old, Heb_8:6-13

Heb_8:6 — There are two covenants. Christ is the Mediator of the better covenant because it contains better promises.

Heb_8:7 — The first covenant was not adequate, which created a necessity for a better covenant.

Heb_8:8 — There was nothing wrong with the covenant — the people were to blame. “Finding fault with them,” not it.

“New covenant” (see Jer_31:31-34).



Heb_8:9 — The people broke the first covenant. It did not enable them to perform what it demanded.

Heb_8:10 — The new covenant will be written upon their hearts — not upon tables of stone — so that they will be able to obey it.

Heb_8:11 — It will be a global covenant, known worldwide.

Heb_8:12 — There will be full forgiveness of sin, complete pardon.

Heb_8:13 — The old covenant is outmoded. It will be supplanted by a new covenant with Israel in the future (Jer_31:31-37). The church is a beneficiary of the new covenant.



3. New sanctuary better than the old, Heb_9:1-10

Heb_9:1 — “Earthly sanctuary” is sanctuary of this world — literal and visible, in contrast to the sanctuary in heaven.

Heb_9:2 — The tabernacle, not the temple, is used to present the spiritual. The floor plan of the tabernacle is given with the furniture (see author’s book, “The Tabernacle: God’s Portrait of Christ”).

Heb_9:3-4 — “Golden censer” is altar of incense. This was in the holy place in the tabernacle. The veil had been rent in two, and Christ, our intercessor, had passed into the heavens. The altar of incense, which speaks of prayer, belongs properly in the Holy of Holies. The three items in the ark are listed also.

Heb_9:5 — The writer cannot dwell upon the tabernacle because it is not the subject — the priesthood is the subject.

Heb_9:6-10 — The way to God was actually blocked by the three entrances and compartments. Only the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies. It was a temporary, makeshift arrangement. The service of ritual and ordinances was given for a brief time. Now Christ can bring us to God, but only He can bring us there (Joh_14:6).



4. Superior sacrifice, Heb_9:11— Heb_10:18

Chapter 9

Heb_9:11 — “Good things to come” should be that have come to pass.

“More perfect tabernacle” — not of this creation. The better tabernacle does not belong to this natural creation as to materials or builders.

Is there a literal and real tabernacle in heaven? The tabernacle in heaven is spiritual but real (Heb_8:2); it is literal but real (Heb_9:9). (Compare Heb_9:23, “patterns” are types. See also Rev_11:19 and Rev_15:5.)



Heb_9:12 — This is a superior sacrifice for the genuine tabernacle. Did Christ present His blood in heaven? I think that He did.

Heb_9:13-14 — If the blood of animals could remove ceremonial defilement, surely the blood of Christ can take away the guilt of sin. “Heifer” (see Num_19:9) — the blood of Christ cleanses the conscience, not the flesh.

Heb_9:15 — Christ is now the Mediator of the new covenant.

Heb_9:16-17 — Here the reference is to a will that was made by a man who has died. It was no good as long as he lived.

Heb_9:18-22 — “Blood” occurs six times in this section. This reveals the place and power of the blood in the Old Testament ritual. “Without shedding of blood is no remission” is the axiom of the Old Testament. The blood is important in the New Testament. “There is power in the blood of the Lamb.”

Heb_9:23 — “These” (see Heb_9:19) — heavenly things needed cleansing because sin originated in heaven. (See Heb_9:11.)

Heb_9:24 — Christ has not entered into a handmade and man-made sanctuary. It is spiritual but real. He lives in heaven to keep us saved. He is there for us. He died on earth to save us.

Heb_9:25 — The high priest entered with blood not his own. He entered often.

Heb_9:26 — Christ appeared once in the end of the age and offered Himself.

Heb_9:27 — If Christ had failed to save in His death at His first coming, there would be nothing afterward but judgment. He is not coming back to die. Christ died but was not judged. Rather, He took our judgment here, and He will be Judge there.

Heb_9:28 — This is not the Rapture, but His coming as Sovereign to judge the earth. Believers will not come into judgment.



Chapter 10

Heb_10:1 — “For” — the writer continues the theme of the superior sacrifice.

“Shadow” (Greek skian) is hazy outline.

“Image” (Greek eikona) is likeness.

Old sacrifices were shadow, not substance. (You cannot live in the shadow of a house, you need the house.)



Heb_10:2 — Old sacrifices required repetition. They never accomplished remission of sins. “He who is obliged to take a medicine every hour to keep life in him cannot be said to be cured” (Govett).

“Consciousness of sins” — not cleansing.



Heb_10:3-4 — “Remembrance” — each sacrifice was a calling to mind of sin, not a removal. Christ said, in instituting the Lord’s Supper, “This do in remembrance of me.” When we “remember” Him, we are recalling the One who has blotted out our sins and remembers them no more (Heb_8:12).

Heb_10:5-8 — This is a quotation from Psa_40:6-8; cf. Isa_50:4-5.



“A body hast thou prepared me” is in the Old Testament, “Mine ears hast thou opened” (Psa_40:6; see also Exo_21:1-6). A slave had his earlobe pierced if he had married a woman in slavery and chose to stay in slavery with her. Christ was crucified in a body that He might redeem the church.



Heb_10:9 — It is God’s will to remove the animal sacrifices and to sacrifice Himself.

Heb_10:10 — By the will of God we are consecrated through the offering of Christ. This is positional sanctification.

Heb_10:11 — The priests stood (servile attitude). It was a constant repetition of daily offerings, never completed.

Heb_10:12 — Jesus sat down; His work was finished — “one sacrifice for sins forever.”

Heb_10:13 — Psa_110:1 — this is the second coming of Christ to the earth.

Heb_10:14 — One offering does what many offerings could not do. If Christ cannot save you and keep you, then God has no way to save and keep you.

Heb_10:15-16 — The Holy Spirit is God (Lord, Heb_10:16). This is a repetition of Heb_8:10-12 from Jer_31:33, Jer_31:34 — Jeremiah spoke by inspiration.

Heb_10:17 — This is the essential part of the quotation.

Heb_10:18 — “Now” — the sacrificial system began with Abel and ended with the death of Christ.

This concludes the doctrinal section.



5. Encouragement, Heb_10:19-25

Practical — Privilege — Responsibility

Heb_10:19 — This is an invitation to the unsaved and believers to enter and enjoy the benefits.

“Having” (Heb_10:21) is the present tense of the blessed life.



Heb_10:20 — “New” is freshly slain — the sacrifice of Christ never becomes old. Luther said, “It seems but yesterday that Jesus died on the cross.”

“Through the veil” — when Christ dismissed His spirit, the veil of the temple was torn in two (Mar_15:24-38).



Heb_10:21 — We have a High Priest.

Heb_10:22 — “Full assurance” rests upon having our (1) “hearts sprinkled” (with blood) — the applied sacrifice of Christ; (2) “bodies washed with pure water” — the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit.

In three verses, “let us” occurs three times:



(1) Draw near in faith (God) Heb_10:23 — (2) Draw near in hope (self) Heb_10:24-25 — (3) Draw near in love (others)

“Provoke” (Greek paroxusmon) is literally with a view to incitement. “Privileges perceived and not practiced become paralysis” (Dr. Morgan). We are sanctified with other Christians.



“Saint” is not used in the singular, always in the plural — communion of saints.



“The day approaching” refers to the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.



5th Danger Signal: Peril of despising, Heb_10:26-39



(Most solemn warning of all [Heb_10:14 is the key].)



Heb_10:26 — “Sin wilfully” is to go back to the sacrifices after Christ had come, acting as if He had not died for sins or attaching no value to His death (2 Peter 2:21). Unbelief is willful sin (1Jn_3:9). These are not Christians.

Heb_10:27 — There is nothing between the sacrifice of Christ and His coming but judgment. He is not coming to die again.

Heb_10:28 — The Mosaic Law exacted the death penalty (see Num_15:30-31; Deu_17:2-7). Sins then were not as great or extensive as rejecting God’s provision of salvation through Christ. There is no comparison.

Heb_10:29 — “With which he was sanctified” refers to Christ, the Son of God. “Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh” (Heb_6:6). To treat the death of Christ as inadequate to settle the sin question and to go on as if He had not died is to treat the blood of Christ as a despised thing. Privilege creates responsibility.

Heb_10:30 — God has a sovereign right to judge — which He has not surrendered. (See Heb_10:23; cf. 1Pe_4:17-18.)

Heb_10:31 — This is for Christians (see 2Co_5:11).

Heb_10:32-33 — This is a personal word to Hebrews.

Heb_10:34 — “Compassion on me in my bonds” should be compassion on the prisoners.

“Substance” is possession. The writer refers them to their own past experiences.



Heb_10:35 — “Confidence” is boldness (see Heb_10:19).

Heb_10:36 — “Patience” — “Tribulation worketh patience…” (Rom_5:3-4).

Heb_10:37 — Scripture says that the Lord will not tarry, He will surely come.

Heb_10:38 — This is a quotation from Hab_2:3-4, quoted also in Romans and Galatians.

Romans — “The just”

Hebrews — “shall live” (faith and patience go together [