Hebrews #6: Christ overcomes the religious impasse
Hebrews #6 : Christ overcomes the religious impasse
Christ overcomes the religious impasse
The challenge during the holidays
Do you remember our summer challenge? That of reading a book of the Bible. Obviously, my wife and I took on the challenge. And I admit that we particularly like the time off when breakfast can drag on reading, discussing what we have read in the Bible…
Leviticus!
So recently, I was looking forward to this moment and I asked my wife:
– “What would you like us to read during the holidays?” »
And there she answers me:
– “Leviticus”.
Leviticus for vacations…
And actually, it was great!
Perfect Fulfillment in Christ
It made us perceive even more, by taking the time, what Jesus accomplished and which frees us from the complexity of the perfect law sealed with the people of the Hebrews.
Not to tell my life story.
But because the New Testament often builds on what was to show the perfect and incomparable realization in Jesus Christ. And this is the case of the epistles to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews, a term given to it because it is addressed to a community that knows the Torah very well (the first 5 books of the Old Testament / Bible)
Comparison and Contrast
#This epistle works in comparison/contrast.#
####Between the Old Testament and the New Testament, between the law given to Moses and the fulfillment in Christ to show the incomparable superiority of Jesus compared to what had been established for the Hebrew people.### #
Encouragement to remain in Jesus
Given that Jesus has no equal, that His work has no equal, the unknown author of this epistle encourages his readers to remain attached to Jesus even if the persecution to which they are subjected could find a way out by returning to Judaism.
Jesus without equivalent so great
Superior to the angels
Indeed #Jesus is superior to the angels#,
####even those who gave the commandments, the laws. Thus, the message that Jesus brings is also much higher than the commandments, the laws.####
Jesus without equivalent, so great, superior to Moses
#Jesus is superior to Moses#
####who led the people and built the tabernacle. Indeed, Jesus is the head of the people of God and He did not have the tabernacle built but He created the earth, the universe and humanity.####
Moses, leader of the Hebrew people, is the site manager.
Christ at the head of the universal people of God and He is creator.
Jesus without equivalent so great, superior to the Levitical high priest
Jesus is far superior to the high priests and their lineage.
The high priests who represented the people and presented sacrifices for the sins of the people and, for the people, who were also fallible men.
Indeed, Jesus comes from a much more prestigious line of priests. He, perfect, without sin, offers himself as a definitive sacrifice.
And we will be able to appreciate perfection in Christ even more with the reading of chapters 8 and 9 of this epistle to the Hebrews.
And straight away, the comparisons will show the gap between:
Hebrews – Chapter 8
1 The main point of what has just been said is that we do have such a high priest,
who sat down at the right hand of the throne of divine majesty in heaven
2 and performs his service in the sanctuary, in the true tabernacle, which was set up by the Lord and not by a human being.
3 Every high priest is appointed to offer offerings and sacrifices;
it is therefore necessary that Jesus also has something to present.
4 Indeed, if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, for there are the priests who present the offerings according to the law.
Comparison/contrast
Jesus, as the preceding chapters indicate, is not of the same lineage as the priests of the time. So, in fact, Jesus cannot officiate in the sanctuaries of the time (tabernacle or temple).
Obviously, it’s something else…
Furthermore, He is not going to officiate or celebrate a cult rooted in the past and which was a sort of “prototype” of what God had in store for perfection.
This is what the following verses tell us:
Hebrews – Chapter 8
5 Now, they celebrate a cult which is only the copy and shadow of celestial realities.
Moses was warned of this as he was going to build the tabernacle:
Look , the Lord said to him,
and do everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.
6 But in reality, Jesus has a much superior service, all the more so because he is the mediator of a better alliance, based on better promises.
7 Indeed, if the first covenant had been blameless, there would have been no question of replacing it with a second.
8 In fact, it is as a reproach that the Lord says to his people: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will conclude a new covenant with the community of Israel and the community of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt.
Because they did not continue in my covenant, neither did I care for them, says the Lord.
10 But this is the covenant that I will make with the community of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
11 No one shall teach his fellow citizen or his brother any more, saying ,
‘ You must know the Lord!’ for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will forgive their injustices and remember their sins no more.
13 In speaking of a new covenant , the Lord declared the first old. But what is old, what has aged, is close to disappearing.
We can say that
Hebrews – Chapter 9
1 So the first covenant had rules for worship and an earthly sanctuary.
2 Indeed, a tabernacle had been built. The first part of this tent, called the holy place, housed the candlestick, the table and the consecrated loaves.
3 Behind the second veil was that part of the tabernacle called
the most holy place;
4 it housed the golden censer for incense as well as the ark of the covenant, entirely covered with gold. This chest contained a golden vessel filled with manna, Aaron’s staff that had blossomed, and the tables of the covenant.
5 Above the ark were the glorious cherubim, overshadowing the mercy seat.
This is not the time to talk in detail about this.
6 The whole being thus arranged, the priests who perform the service enter at all times into the first part of the tabernacle.
7 But in the second, only the high priest enters, and this once a year, not without bringing blood which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people.
8 The Holy Spirit thereby showed that the way to the most holy place was not revealed until the first tabernacle was pitched.
By all these measures, these laws, the Holy Spirit showed that it was difficult to be in relationship with the Lord, that it was not done lightly, rarely (once a year), that it was almost impossible and in any case extremely limited and therefore it necessarily called for something else. (Indeed, in Eden before the fall, the relationship between God and humanity was simple.)
9 This is an illustration for the present time; it means that the gifts and sacrifices presented cannot make perfect, on the level of conscience, the one who takes part in this worship.
10 Along with food, drink, various washings, and rules relating to the body, these were regulations imposed only until a time of reform.
11 As for Christ, he came as high priest of good things to come.
He passed through the greater and more perfect tabernacle which is not made by hands – that is, which does not belong to this creation –
12 and he entered the most holy place once for all, not with the blood of goats and young bulls, but with his own blood. He has thus obtained for us eternal redemption.
Consequence: the work of Christ is not ritual, external, it acts in depth allowing us to truly be in the service of God through Christ through Christ.
13 Indeed, the blood of goats and bulls as well as the ashes of a cow, with which those who are defiled are sprinkled, make them holy by providing them with ritual purity.
14 If so, the blood of Christ, who offered himself to God
by the eternal Spirit as a flawless victim, will purify your conscience all the more from dead works so that you may serve the living God!
Religion refines the ritual, Christ deeply touches the conscience
It’s super interesting what God tells us here:
make it clean on the plan
when we look at what needs to be done.
But the conscience is always worked, it has absolutely nothing to do with what Christ did. Often the testimony of people who give themselves to Christ speaks of the peace that results from it and which touches the conscience.
In what we have just read there is opposition/contrast between
ritual purity and conscience.
Extent of Christ’s work
Another consequence: in addition His work had an echo for those of the old alliance: they were not forgotten!
15 This is why he is the mediator of a new covenant:
his death came for the redemption of the transgressions committed under the first covenant so that those who were called would receive the promised eternal inheritance.
16 Indeed, where there is a will, it is necessary that the death of the testator be recorded.
17 A will only comes into force in the event of death, since it has no effect as long as the testator lives.
18 Therefore even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood.
19 After Moses had pronounced before all the people all the commandments according to the law, he took the blood of the young bulls and the goats, and water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the book. himself and all the people saying:
20 This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded for you.
21 He also sprinkled the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship with the blood.
22 Now according to the law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and if there is no blood shed, there is no forgiveness.
23 If it was necessary to purify in this way what was only the image of the celestial realities, it was necessary that the celestial realities themselves be purified by even better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, that he may now present himself before God for us.
25 And it was not to offer himself many times that he entered there,
like the high priest who enters the sanctuary every year to offer blood other than his own;
26 if this had been the case, he would have suffered many times since the creation of the world.
But now, at the end of time, he has revealed himself once to abolish sin by his sacrifice.
27 It is appointed for human beings to die once, and after that comes judgment.
28 Likewise, Christ offered himself once to bear the sins of many, and then he will appear a second time, without connection with sin, to those who wait for him for their salvation.
What we have just read is huge. It also has huge consequences!
No need for another religious system
#Christ abolished, by fulfilling it, the most perfect legal and religious system, because it had been transmitted by the Lord.#
####So, never again, no other religious system can have any impact on God. It may have a cultural, traditional, identity, ritual, ethnic value but it in no way has any impact at the divine level.####
Why do we love religion so much?
And yet humanity, in various ways, loves religiosity too much with its rites, things to do which somehow reassure. Because “I did it” and it’s visible, tangible.
For the most fearful, it only satisfies the fear which is calmed a little but it is only momentarily…
For the most confident, it only satisfies their sated pride in having done well.
But in both cases, the great forgotten ones are God and my neighbor, because trust is placed in the ritual response, in the fact of having responded well, done well.
But not for God, not for my neighbor…
While both are at the heart of summarizing the whole inspiration of law and the purpose of law.
36“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?”
37Jesus answered him:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the first commandment and the greatest.
39 And this is the second, which is like unto it:
You will love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”
The rites extinguish these two aspects because the attention and trust are in the observance.
God, through Christ, overcomes the religious impasse
This is what God tells us today in the text we read.
This new alliance, celestial through the cross that Jesus put in place, aims to touch the conscience of the person and not just a ritual aspect. God desires a real relationship, a real knowledge, not just a ceremony…
Just like marriage is not just the ceremony, but a life of sharing together.
Perfect laws but fallen humanity
The old covenant, with its perfect laws, shows that imperfect, fallen man cannot fulfill it. Only a perfect man could accomplish it. To inaugurate something superior, accessible to fallen humanity. By Him, by His perfect accomplishment.
No pilgrimage
Christ did not pass through a human tabernacle, the appearance is heavenly.
No pilgrimage that steals God’s place
It’s great, because we don’t have a place of pilgrimage where again, it’s the place that matters instead of God!
No pilgrimage but direct access
There is no longer a single place where we can have a special appointment with God. Now Jesus allows us, through Him, to have a heart to heart with God.
The law now
Christians returning to OT law?
For the sake of spirituality, of piety, we may have met one or other brothers and sisters who seem challenged or attached to an aspect of the law of the Old Testament.
What do you think?
To revert to one or another law from before the cross to obtain divine favor would be to declare that the work of Christ is not perfect and at that time we would have to revert to all the laws.
What to do with the law?
We understand that Jesus fulfilled and abolished the law.
So what to do with all these legal texts?
Already pedagogically, they give us the measure of what Christ accomplished. The scale and precision.
What He acquired for us and which was completely impossible for us to accomplish.
Consequence: reading the Bible
We do not read the Bible in a linear way. There is a before and after the cross. What was transitory and what is accomplished.
Before: prototype
Pedagogically, all these laws gave the outline, the outline, the prototype of what is perfect in Jesus. And a lot of terms went in this direction in our reading.
the copy and shadow of celestial realities
13 Speaking of a new covenant,
the Lord declared the first ancient .
But what is old , what has aged , is close to disappearing
23 If it were necessary to purify in this way what was only the image of celestial realities
And next time, we will read this summary in
The law, in fact,
has a shadow of the good things to come,
and not the exact representation of reality;
she can never ,
by the annual offering
and always repeated the same sacrifices,
lead to perfection those who participate in it.
The law was the shadow, the outlines. Jesus gives us the reality of what God wants to experience with us.
Now, exact representation
#It is therefore in the light of Christ’s accomplishment that we can see whether either law is still relevant.#
####If in the words of Jesus, after His death and resurrection or which evokes this fulfillment of a law of the Old Testament is taken up, it is still relevant today####
The epistles
#If in the epistles of the apostles,#
####so after the death and resurrection of Jesus, laws from the Old Testament are taken up so it is still relevant for us.####
Example
Is it that
You will love your neighbor as yourself.
is taken up after the cross? Yes, one way or another, so it’s still valid for us.
On the other hand, the observation of the Sabbath is not included in the epistles, it is therefore not an obligation, it is no longer a norm for the disciple of Christ.
Application to other subjects
This summer, in our discussions, we discussed cremation, tattoos, diets (I can or cannot eat this), circumcision, etc.
Are these aspects taken up as a standard for Christ’s followers in the epistles, in light of Jesus’ victory through His death and resurrection?
If Christ does not impose it, let us not impose it on ourselves or others (believers or not).
So what can they be used for now?
These laws, which are not taken up as a standard, can be interesting for meditating on the principle they implied,
you respect one or the other law, it is up to you to see with full conviction towards God. But they in no way improve what is eternal. And you cannot force it, just as Christ does not force it on anyone.
Christ has freed us, it is not to put ourselves back under legal servitudes or conversely under stupid servitudes, under the pretext that we are free.
God gives us His Word (the Bible), his Spirit, brothers and sisters, to live wisely (that is, to think and act according to God).
On the final verse
27 It is appointed for human beings to die once, and after that comes judgment.
28 Likewise,
Christ offered himself once to bear the sins of many,
then he will appear a second time, unrelated to sin,
to those who wait for him for their salvation.
Verse 27 gives us answers to common questions
No reincarnation
#The idea of reincarnation#
####is not biblical and does not correspond to reality.####
At most a poetic reverie.
No 2nd chance purgatory
#The purgatory to remake yourself against your will (because it’s others who do it, whether you want it or not) does not exist.#
####What the verse of Hebrews 9. 27 tells us , “It is appointed for human beings to die once, after which comes judgment”, evokes two sequences (death and judgment), not three sequences ( death, second chance, judgment).####
Huge value of our life now
Which shows the enormous value that God places on our lives and the responsibility He entrusts to each of us now. Indeed, in His grace, God grants us many days to make good life choices.
Two sequences for Christ
And in the next verse, the 28th, there are also two sequences.
The first, coming from Jesus to solve the central problem of humanity, sin.
The second, to close the time of grace and manifest His final triumph. Moment when faced with His perfect judgment on all things, our faith in Him will translate into Salvation, because this faith in Him saves us from His just judgment.