Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant 

Hebrews 9:1-28; 5/29/2022; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang

 Introduction

What is a mediator?  To put it simply, it means an intermediary guarantor.  What to do if the relationship between God and man is broken due to man’s sin?  Or all are judged by the justice of God to the point of death.  However, in addition to righteousness, God is also love!  He could not bear our perdition and death out of love, and chose redemption.  This is why Christ is the Mediator.  Let’s look at the first point:

 Showing the way into the Most Holy Place

The dual nature of God and man of Christ established the only choice for God to take Christ Jesus as the mediator.  First, the testimony of the Holy Place.  The Holy Place can refer to the temple in general, and is expressed in the form of the tabernacle on the road in the wilderness.  There were three things in the Holy Place: the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread.  The lampstand is a golden lamp with seven branches made by Moses in the shape of an almond flower.  Originally used in the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple.  The meaning of application is not difficult to understand, that is, to be light for the Lord.  The table is made of pure gold,  and is used to place the lampstand and the place for the display of bread.  It is unadorned but also extremely glorious, symbolizing the Lord’s example of washing the disciples’ feet and willingness to serve the Lord’s honorable heart. Consecrated bread is twelve loaves of unleavened fine flour, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. The New Testament meaning of consecrated bread is that Jesus Christ is the bread of our life.

Second, the preparation of the Most Holy Place.  The Most Holy Place is the dwelling place of God, the innermost space of the entire sanctuary.  Inside were five things: which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.  The golden altar of incense is the vessel for the high priest to pray for the people, and it is also the prayer command of the New Testament church.  The ark of the covenant is covered with gold, which refers to the dignity of the covenant and expresses our attitude when we hear the sermon every week.  Manna, the food of the Israelites in the wilderness, came down from heaven to testify to God’s faithful provision.  A golden pot for manna, besides making the Israelites feel precious in their memory.  It is a living textbook to teach future generations, and remember the grace of the Lord!  Aaron’s rod, which means election and watchfulness, Aaron’s rod of the tribe of the Levites budded, budded, blossomed, and yielded ripe almonds.  This is a warning to those who challenged God’s chosen servants of Korah’s party, not to despise God!  Of course, the stone tablets of the covenant are the core of God’s relationship with man.

Finally, the offering of Christ. The testimony of the Most Holy Place in the Old Testament is but a shadow of the incarnation of Christ.  When the high priest went to offer sacrifices,  he had only one chance to enter the Most Holy Place once a year, and no one knew how it was inside.  So Paul said: “The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. (Hebrews 9:8)”  When the time was full, Christ came. When He came, everything was different.   Our Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed himself to accomplish salvation.  It is for this reason that our Lord mediates the relationship between God and man established in the New Testament. He died on the cross for us, atonement for the sins committed by mankind in the old covenant, so that those who have been blessed will receive the promised eternal inheritance of the gospel.  Excuse me, did you get it?  Let’s look at the second point:

 The blood of Christ is more effective

After Adam and Eve sinned, God began His redemption.  Remember, the Lord made garments for them out of animal skins, symbolizing that the forgiveness of sins must be shed through sacrifice.  First, the shedding of blood is the forgiveness of sins.  Why does it have to be bloody?   The reasoning is also very simple, because of the righteousness of God.  God said, the day you eat it, you will surely die!  Therefore, before the coming of Christ, human beings are all dead from the cradle to the grave.   However, God is love,  and cannot bear the death of man. How to do it?   Sacrifice is a method, through the death of the goats and calves, the shedding of blood indicates that the goat or the calf died for me, and the righteousness of God is satisfied. People can come before God, communicate and pray, etc. with God.  The sacrificial ordinances such as the Five Levitical offerings were the opportunities of grace established by God for the Israelites.

Second, God’s elects’ history is a demonstration.  God led the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses, went up Mount Sinai, walked in the wilderness for forty years, and made sacrifices, setting an example for the people of the future.  First, everyone can make sacrifices.   The rich can offer goats and calves, and the poor can offer doves and pigeons.  The second is to express love for the Lord.  The effect of a person’s life comes from the heart. No matter how difficult the world is, no matter how evil the people in the world are, no matter how weak the world’s affections are, you should always hold your heart towards the Lord. The third is the growth of spiritual character. Moses is a model:  hard-working, obedient to the end, mild-mannered, always humble, and willing to suffer!

Finally, the Holy blood purifies the heart.  We know that according to the law, there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.  Once a year the high priest went in alone, not without blood,  and offered sacrifices for the faults of himself and the people.  The sacrifices offered in the Old Testament cannot, at best, conscientiously make the sacrificer or the worshiper perfect.  Only Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and its effect is in our hearts.  The effect from the heart can get rid of our dead deeds, even the words and deeds that lead to death.  Instead, we can serve God and focus our life on God.  This is the proof of Christ alone, and apart from him there is no other name given in heaven and on earth by which one can be saved.  Let’s look at the third point:

 Only Christ can save us

All the prophets in the Old Testament are going to die, so the author of Hebrews said that many times and many ways.  Only Jesus Christ is the prophet, priest, and king of the New Testament.  He is the greatest one in the last days.  His position is inexhaustible and eternal.  So it is not necessary to offer sacrifices again and again, but once is enough.  We are actually more blessed than the Israelites because we are directly connected to Jesus Christ.  First, Jesus Christ is the way.  Every step that Jesus Christ took in the world actually left us a path that we could follow.  When we are weak and stumble, when we are lost, and when we cannot go on, we can look back at the footsteps of the Lord back then. When encountering a situation where you don’t know what to do, you can ask yourself:  What would happen if the Lord were in the same situation?  The high priests of the past generations, or all kinds of preachers and pastors, cannot be our way.   The high priest entered the Most Holy Place with the blood of animals.  If he doesn’t bring it, it is very dangerous, and he may even be killed by God.  But Jesus Christ is different.  He is with his own blood,  without adding or subtracting, nor forgetting.

Second, Jesus Christ is the truth.  What is “truth”? Truth is the absolute standard, right? Paul said: “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”   Who is the author and the finisher but Him?  For this he became the mediator of the new covenant.  Since he died to atone for the sins committed by man in the former covenant, He enabled those who were called to receive the promised eternal inheritance.  Therefore, Christ is the Mediator, the greatest truth in today’s message!

Finally, Jesus Christ is life.  Why do I say that Christ is life?  How to say?  Look at our human life, according to the destiny brought to us by the sin of the first father, Adam,  everyone in the world has one death, and there is judgment after death, right?  Look at Christ, Who, being in very nature God, and is honored with the Father, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.  Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  This is the life of Christ, a life of sacrifice, a life of resurrection, a life of power!  The return of Christ is the hope of our lives!

Conclusion

Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is the mediator, which means that He has continued the old covenant and entered the new covenant.  The gap between the two covenants was filled by Christ.  The veil is torn, the barriers between God and man are gone, and the barriers and obstacles between the elect of Israel and the New Testament church are gone.  Christ is the Mediator, by virtue of His holiness, the dual nature of God and man. who established His uniqueness.   He is our only salvation!

Let us pray……

 

Hebrews 9:1-28

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.  11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here,[a] he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining[b] eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[c] so that we may serve the living God!  15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.  16 In the case of a will,[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.  23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.