Kollel Ki Tavo

Kollel Ki Tavo

Hebrews 9

Continuing the theme of why Jews should accept the authority of Yeshua:

Heb 9:1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.

The word “covenant” does not appear in the greek text.  It was added by translators, to follow where they added it to 8:13.  But the context of the latter part of chapter 8 does discuss the new covenant, the one promised through Jeremiah the prophet.  The contents of the “new covenant” are simply the same Torah written on our hearts and minds instead of on stone and paper (Jeremiah 31).  There is no other covenant.   Those who refuse to obey Torah are outside of Elohim’s covenant and Elohim’s will.

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:   Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith YHWH:   Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH, I will put my Torah in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people.

We see here that the “new” covenant is simply the same old Torah – the only thing that is “new” is the location.  Whereas before it was just written on paper or stone, now it will be written in our hearts and minds, so that we can remember do all of Elohim’s commandments.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:2  For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.

Heb 9:3  And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;

Heb 9:4  Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

Heb 9:5  And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.

The writer could not speak of them particularly because the ark has been missing since the destruction of the first Temple.  No one has any idea where it is – and the Babylonians kept very meticulous records of all the stuff they took from the Temple and the Treasury, records that are avaialble to this day – and the Ark is not listed as being taken.  It is speculated that the priests removed the Ark from the Temple when it was clear the seige was almost upon them.  Currently, it is presumed to be somewhere under the Temple Mount or perhaps spirited out of the city to an undisclosed location by way of the water conduits.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:6  Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

Heb 9:7  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

This procedure is proscribed in the book of Leviticus and was applicable to the Tabernacle as well as to the First Temple.  It was Moshe who spoke with Elohim between the Kerubim on the mercy seat, presumably without having to offer a sacrifice first, whenever he needed to.  After him, however, the high priests of the line of Aharon did have to offer a sacrifice first, to  make sure they were pure enough to enter the presence of the Shekinah without being fried.  So Moshe, who was personally appointed by Elohim, had free access, while the priests, who just inherit their positions, did not.  Yeshua has access like Moshe’s, no sacrifice needed.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:8  The Ruach HaKodesh this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

Heb 9:9  Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;

Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

The reformation, as we saw in the last parashat, was the re-instatement of the priesthood of the Firstborn in the person of Yeshua.  Yeshua has complete and eternal access – there will be no other high priest than him.

Hebrews, co ntinued:

Heb 9:11  But Messiah being come as 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.

Yeshua has no need to make an offering before he enters the Holy of Holies, because he was his own offering.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh:

Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to Elohim, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living Elohim?

Notice it doesn’t say that the former sacrifices were ineffective – it’s just that Yeshua’s sacrifice is MORE effective, and can be permanently applied by us for as long as we live.  The Temple and the sacrifices will be resumed during the Messianic Era, of course, when the Temple will be available.  Right now, we have to Temple but we don’t have to worry that this somehow makes us unfit, because Faith in Yeshua is even more effective than Temple sacrifices.

The “dead works” are the sins of our past.  Offering a proper sacrifice gave a person a “clean slate” as far as their conscious and the record of sins was concerned.  By proclaiming our Faith in Yeshau, the Living Word, and demonstrating our faith with obedience, we also can live without fear that our past will be held against us.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new [last will and] 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 lives.

Heb 9:18  Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.

A “testament” is what we would call a “will” today.  It is something that takes effect after the death of the one who establishes it.  Until Yeshua was sacrificed, the “new” covenant of Jeremiah could not be implemented.  But now, it can.  And blood is the still the seal.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Torah, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,

Heb 9:20  Saying, This is the blood of the testament which Elohim hath enjoined unto you.

Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.

Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the Torah purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

“The life is in the blood” as Elohim tells us in the Torah (Deut 12:23, et al).

Hebrews, continued:

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.

Recall, the earthly Temple is an image of the Heavenly one, and was designed to be perfectly congruent with the one in Heaven.  “As above, so below” the sages say.  What we do here is an enactment in our physical world of what is taking place above on the spiritual plane.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:24  For Messiah is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of Elohim for us:

Yeshua is currently officiating in the Heavenly Temple, but will return to earth later.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:25  Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others;

Heb 9:26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Unlike the line of Levites, the descendents of Aharon who had to keep making an offering to purify themselves prior to entering Elohim’s presence, Yeshua’s sacrifice is a permanent remedy for past sin and past errors.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

No reincarnation.

Hebrews, continued:

Heb 9:28  So Messiah was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Our “salvation” is not yet.  It is a future event.  We can mess up our “salvation” in the meantime.  For example, let’s borrow a bit from next weeks parashat:

Heb 10:26  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,   Heb 10:27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

Continuing to live in sin – that is, continuing to violate the Torah – results in judgement and loss of status in the kingdom – those are “the least” described in Matthew.  And we know, already, that the definition of sin is transgression of the Torah commandments (I John 3).  Here is the final word on the subject, from the prophet Ezekiel:

Eze 18:20  The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Eze 18:21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Eze 18:22  All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

Eze 18:23  Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith Adonai YHWH: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

Eze 18:24  But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

Eze 18:25  Yet ye say, The way of Adonai is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

Eze 18:26  When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

Eze 18:27  Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

Eze 18:28  Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Eze 18:29  Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of Adonai is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

Eze 18:30  Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith Adonai YHWH. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

Eze 18:31  Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Eze 18:32  For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith Adonai YHWH: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

So Choose Life!

Next week:  Parashat Vayelekh.