The Mediator of the New Covenant - Heb. 9:15-28 Last time we were working through Heb. ch.9 we were thinking about the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the day of atonement, and how all of that was a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus our Redeemer. We need to go back a little to pick-up the context here But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. [Heb. 9:11-12] For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without 1 blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? [Heb. 9:13-14 ] 2 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the 3 transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. [Heb. 9:15] Jesus is called the Mediator of the New Covenant three times in this letter, and this is the middle one of the three. Back in Heb. 8 it was [Jesus] is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. [Heb. 8:16] When we get to Heb. 12 we read [We have come] to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. [Heb. 12:24] Jesus is both the Maker of the New Covenant, and He is the Mediator of this covenant. He is active in its operation. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus [1Tim. 2:5] That is not a was statement, but an is statement. The Man Messiah Jesus today continues to be the one mediator between God and men. There is no other representative, no other leader, prophet, priest, teacher. Only Jesus. a death has taken place It is by His death that He has redeemed us from our transgressions, so that we may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. This redemption and this New Covenant are for those He calls. That is what we learned through Romans And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His 1 Notice the how much more phrase and argument? Jesus certainly used those words, but who else? Paul: Rom. 11:12, Rom. 11:24, 1Cor. 6:3, Philem. 16 2 The Gk. word here is used by Paul elsewhere: Rom. 3:24, 8:23, 1Cor. 1:30, Eph. 1:7, 14, 4:30, Col. 1:14. 3 Likewise, this Gk. word is found twice in Hebrews (see also Heb. 2:2) and then again in Paul s letters: Romans, Galatians and 1Timothy. # 1 of # 7
Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. [Rom. 8:28-30] Those whom God chose ( foreknew ), He predestined (to be conformed to the image of His Son), and He called them, and justified them and they will be glorified. That is why all things work together for their good - God makes it so. For where a covenant [testament] 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. Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. [Heb. 9:16-18] The word for covenant or will and testament are the same in NT Greek, and Paul switches between these two ideas here. The two are very different in our society, a covenant being an agreement between two living parties, and a testament being a unilateral statement of a person as to who should inherit from them on their death. [Summary] For the benefits of a testament to pass to the heirs, the testator has to die. You only inherit when the relatives dies and the will is enacted. The final will that they make is the effective one replacing any earlier wills, and there is usually an executor of such a will. (These principles have come down to us from Roman laws.) Death of Testator: A testament takes force when the testator dies. So in both the old covenant and the new covenant, there was a death. The first covenant/testament was inaugurated through blood and death, but that of animal sacrifices. The New and Better Covenant/Testament was inaugurated through the blood and death of the Lord Himself. It is His Testament, made in His blood. Jesus set the New Covenant up as a last will and testament that would come into force with His death. Thus, it should be easy for all to understand that the New Covenant came into force when Jesus died on the Cross. [Peter Ditzel] Final Will and Testament: It is the Last or Final Will, Testament, Covenant. It is God s last and final covenant. It overtakes all previous covenants. You may claim that I am arguing from English or Roman Law back onto Scripture here, but the Scripture clearly states that this New and Better Covenant has overtaken the Old Covenant - the Law - and is the fulfilment of all God s promises in Messiah Jesus. Living Executor/Mediator: Yet He rose again, and is now the Executor of His own Testament. Our Roman/English law makes no sense here - how can the testator (who dies, so that the beneficiaries may inherit) then be the executor and mediator? The comparison is overthrown by the far greater truth of the Gospel of Jesus The One who made the testament has died, so that the heirs may inherit, but through His resurrection He lives to reign over us and represent us before the Father. He continues to be our Mediator. Through Him every blessing and benefit of the New Covenant comes to us by the Holy Spirit. To put it into a simple statement: Jesus has saved us by His death. Jesus continues to save us by His own eternal life. He is everything to us in the New Covenant: Sacrifice, Testator, Guarantor, Mediator/Executor. That would have any lawyer in a spin trying to draw up a legal document to cover that contract. But that is the greatness of the Gospel, and of this New Covenant which is also the New Testament. # 2 of # 7
There now follows a comparison between how the Old Covenant was inaugurated and then the New Covenant, both through the shedding and sprinkling of blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the 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. [Heb. 9:19-20] This is drawn from Exo. 24, but there are also additional points here, such as water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, as Paul draws together a number of features from the inauguration of the Law, the opening of the tabernacle and the day of atonement and treats them as if they were one event - for in Jesus they were all fulfilled by one event - His death on the cross. Hyssop is a medicinal plant, and is rather like oregano or thyme. A bunch of the herb was dipped in the blood, and shaken to sprinkle or to paint the blood. This was first done on the night of the Passover - a bunch of hyssop was used to apply some lambs blood to the lintel and doorposts of every Israelite home, and the messenger of God bringing death to every firstborn in Egypt passed over that home. [Exo. 12] Then in the Sinai desert a bunch hyssop dipped in blood sprinkled the book of the Law, the people And in the same way he [Moses] sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. [Heb. 9:21-22] Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. [Heb. 9:23] These things were shadows of a heavenly reality. Did heaven need cleansing? Of course not. But we need cleaning and forgiveness to be accepted in God s presence, and by a much better and greater sacrifice than those which took place to start the Old Covenant. Therefore (to go back to v. 19) at the sealing of the Old Covenant the hyssop tied with scarlet wool and dipped in the blood sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU. [Heb. 9:19] The main point here is not the tabernacle, its furniture and vessels being sprinkled with blood but a covenant (the Book of the Law) and a people being sprinkled and sealed together by blood. Now, listen to this verse from 1Peter: To those who who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood [1Pet. 1:1-2] We are not obedient and sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit so that we will be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. We have been sprinkled with His blood to seal us to obedience to Him and to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. When did that happen? A long time ago. At Golgotha. Don t you know that God counted you as being there? The Eternal God did not have to wait until you were born, or until you believed and repented, you know. All His works were finished before the foundation of the earth. [Heb. 4:3] He is working out in time what He purposed and decreed before # 3 of # 7
He made the world. So you were given to the Lord Jesus, and He died for you - and to use this analogy, you were sprinkled with His blood - centuries before you were born. We have been sealed into the New Covenant by the blood of Messiah Jesus through the eternal plan of God. To jump back to Heb. 9:13-14 again For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? [Heb. 9:13-14] All that Old Testament ritual provided a temporary and incomplete cleansing from sin, but the blood of Jesus cleanses our conscience from works that lead to death to serve the living God. Now, remember that in v.19 the apostle pointed out that under Moses both the book of that covenant and the people were sprinkled with the sacrificial blood? We ve just seen that we are the people so sprinkled in the New Covenant, but what does the book represent? It was the Book of the Law in the Old Covenant, but what does that become in the New Covenant? The Bible? The books we call the New Testament? No. It is Jesus Himself. All Scripture points and leads to Him. You know that I love the Scriptures, but the Bible is not an end in itself. The written word of God leads us to and feeds us on the living Word of God. The Old Covenant was written in a book, but the New Covenant does not depend upon parchment, or a printing press, but the Person of Jesus. It is all about Jesus. He is the New Covenant embodied as Isaiah prophesied [Isa. 42:6-7, 49:8-9]. Eternal life - salvation - is knowing Him. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day. [John 6:40] This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. [John 17:3] And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. [John 5:11 12] It was by the spilling of His own blood that the New Covenant was made. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. [Heb. 9:24-25] Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. [Heb. 9:26] The apostle does not say here that Messiah Jesus entered heaven and sprinkled His blood. To say that is to go beyond Scripture. In fact, the writer is careful not to say that. Let s sum up here [OT/NT Comparison] He bled and died once (for all) Once in time, for all eternity, for all the redeemed, for all their sin. # 4 of # 7
The blood sacrifice for this New Covenant - the atonement - was completed at Golgotha, on the cross. That is the complete testimony of the NT Scriptures. It is indeed what Jesus cried out with a loud voice in His final moment on the cross: It is finished! 4 Therefore we must reject the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, who say that at every Mass when the priest offers up the wafers and the wine Christ s sacrifice is not only remembered but repeated. But we also need to think carefully before we speak or sing about His blood still flowing for us, or His blood being again sprinkled on us or coming over us. That is at best poetic language. It is not Biblical language. My dear friend, if I am today not under the blood of Jesus than I am a lost sinner. Nor do we need to plead the blood. In fact, the message of Hebrews that we are working through pictures the blood of Jesus as pleading for us [Heb. 12:24]. His blood was shed once for all. It is finished. He does not now suffer and bleed, but reigns and mediates and intercedes for us in the presence of the Father. Don t mix and confuse the finished work of the cross with His continuing heavenly ministry. The atonement - the blood of Jesus - is a finished and eternal work. Once for all time Once for all sin Once for all His people He bled and died at the end of the ages. Jesus came and put away sin at the consummation [end] of the ages. At the end of the Age of Moses and the Law, and at the start of the Last Days - the reign of Messiah. This letter started with the statement God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son [Heb. 1:1-2] The expression last days there does not just mean recently - it is the Jewish expression meaning the Age of Messiah. Since Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again we have been living in the Last Days. This is His age - the final age of mankind and the world s history. Here is Paul using similar expressions again Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. [1Cor. 10:11] But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law [Gal. 4:4] with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ [Eph. 1:10] Let me give you a diagram which I hope may help us here All my life some preachers and teachers have been trying to stir up concern that we are living in the Last Days! Listen, Christians have always been living in the Last Days. They started when Jesus Messiah rose from the dead, ascended to the Father and began to reign over His kingdom. The first sign of the Last Days - His reign - was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So treat the scare tactics of those preachers and teachers (and the cults and sects) about the Last Days with scepticism. As for those who predict the Lord s Return in this or that year - (despite the direct warning of the Lord Jesus that the date is unknown and we are not to believe those who claim to know it) - every one of them has been proved wrong so far, so why listen to yet another of them? 4 and also High Anglicans who celebrate Mass. # 5 of # 7
He bled and died to seal the New Covenant to us, and us to the New Covenant. I know, I ve already said that, but it s worth repeating. Moses sprinkled the book and the people. Jesus on the cross made the New Covenant by His blood, and we were sealed to Him through His blood. I have already said that some people take the idea of the blood of Jesus beyond Scripture. Others turn the phrase the blood of the Covenant into blood covenant and teach all sorts of things about the New Covenant which again go beyond Scripture. They borrow from all kinds of sources to make their case, and what they can t prove by study they claim as special revelation [Jer. 14:14, 23:16, Eze. 13:3]. Jesus blood (which means: His suffering and death) has inaugurated the New Covenant for us, and redeemed us from our guilt and condemnation under the just and holy Law of God. So, to the last verses of Heb. 9 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who 5 eagerly await Him. [Heb. 9:27-28] There is an unbreakable, universal order. Because of sin, we will all die, and face the judgment of God. It does not matter whether people believe that. They will inevitably experience that as being true. By the way, reincarnation, the transference of souls, and also the annihilation of the human soul are all denied in this statement of Scripture. Every person will die once and face judgment. But there is another also unbreakable order: Jesus will appear a second time, to save His people - not by redeeming us from our sin (He has finished that), but to bring us into all our eternal inheritance as heirs of God as promised by His New Covenant. No wonder that we should be eagerly awaiting Him! Do you know Jesus, the Son of God? Not just know about Him Know Him as a Person, as a Saviour, as the Mediator of this New and Better Covenant. Communion: We have heard the phrase the blood of the covenant today - Paul quoting Moses, re-applying what was said to inaugurate the Sinai Covenant through Moses to this New Covenant in Messiah. But Jesus Himself also used the words: While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body. And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father s kingdom. [Matt. 26:26 29 - also Mark 14:22-25] A cup of wine for us symbolises the blood of Jesus, which has sealed us to a much better covenant We are bought and redeemed by the blood of God [Acts 20:28]. The New Covenant was made in the bloodied person of Jesus on the cross, and our coming together to the Lord s table brings us back every time to His cross. Until He comes! 5 Again, the Gk. word translated eagerly awaiting is also found in Paul s other letters: Rom. 8:19, 23, 25, 1Cor. 1:7, Phil. 3:20. # 6 of # 7
David Evans 330 Northbrooks Harlow Essex CM19 4DP Mobile: Email: Facebook: Twitter: 077 3990 8595 david.evans@light house.church www.facebook.com/harlow.puritan @HarlowPuritan All Scriptures unless otherwise marked are taken from New American Standard Bible Update (NAS95S). Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used with permission. # 7 of # 7