Hebrews 10 and Ultimate Redemption — Part 3

A friend asked me to reconcile Ultimate Redemption and the supposed unpardonable sin found in the Letter to the Hebrews. In Part 1, we established that the part of our Bibles labeled the “New Testament” is about the end of the Old Covenant Age and System and the anticipation of the fully established New Covenant Age. It’s about the overlapping of those two ages. In Part 2, we determined that the Old Covenant Age and System (hereafter OCAS) was still fully operational by the time the Letter to the Hebrews was written. In this Part 3, we’re going to address Jesus as a high priest, his location, and why that’s important.

Jesus as the High Priest 

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews states that the reason God became human in the person of Jesus was so he could “become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, in order to wipe away the sins of the people” (2.17; CEB[1]). Throughout the next several chapters, the writer states that Jesus was not a priest in the Levitical order but after the order of Melchizedek (chapters 5-7). The writer asks about this priestly order, “So if perfection came through the Levitical office of priest (for the people received the Law under the priests), why was there still a need to speak about raising up another priest according to the order of Melchizedek rather than one according to the order of Aaron” (7.11; CEB)? The answer is given in the next verse, “When the order of the priest changes, there has to be a change in the Law as well” (verse 12; emphasis added). One could say it this way — “When the Law changes, there has to be a change in the order of the priest as well.”

This chapter finishes by contrasting the weakness of the Levitical priesthood (mainly because they were bound by sin and death) to the superiority of the priestly order of Melchizedek (mainly because Jesus was without sin and serves forever). 

Chapter 8 starts out by saying —

Hebrews 8.1-2 (CEB; adapted):

Now the main point of what we’re saying is this: We have this kind of high priest (i.e., from the order of Melchizedek without sin and serves forever). He sat down at the right side of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. 2He’s serving as a priest in the holy place, which is the true meeting tent that God, not any human being, set up (emphasis added).

That is to say, Jesus, as a priest after the order of Melchizedek, was serving as a priest in the meeting place of God, i.e., “the throne of the majesty in the heavens” (God’s Realm).

In chapter 9, this is more fleshed out. The first part (vv. 1-6) describes the earthly tabernacle and what it contained and the holy of holies which contained the Ark of the Covenant. As we know, “Above the ark were the cherubim of the [Sh’khinah], overshadowing the atonement cover” (verse 5; NIV[2]; adapted). The atonement cover was where God’s presence — the Sh’khinah — would appear. Then the writer makes a significant point — “But only the high priest enters the second tent (the holy of holies) once a year. He never does this without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people committed in ignorance” (verse 7) — and then states:

Hebrews 9.8-10 (CEB):

With this, the Holy Spirit is showing that the way into the holy place hadn’t been revealed yet while the first tent was standing. 9This is a symbol for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices that are being offered can’t perfect the conscience of the one who is serving. 10These are superficial regulations that are only about food, drink, and various ritual ways to wash with water. They’re regulations that have been imposed until the time of the new order (emphasis added).

That is, while the tent of meeting was still being used (the one used during the Exodus), the way into the Holy Place in the Temple hadn’t been revealed. Likewise, the way into the true holy place — God’s presence — wasn’t revealed while the then existing Temple was still standing. That’s what verse 9 means. We see, again, that the OCAS was still in practice — the “gifts and sacrifices [were still] being offered.” However, they’re only a temporary thing, “until the time of the new order,” that is, until the priestly order of Melchizedek.

The writer continues:

Hebrews 9.11-12 (CEB; adapted):

But Christ has appeared as the high priest of the [coming] good things. He passed through the greater and more perfect meeting tent, which isn’t made by human hands (that is, it’s not a part of this world). 12He entered the holy of holies once for all by his own blood, not by the blood of goats or calves, securing our [age-enduring redemption] (emphasis added).

There are two points here. First, Christ entered the true holy of holies, that is, God’s very presence. Second, he did it “once for all.” The contrast is between the high priest of the OCAS entering the “shadow” (earthly) holy of holies annually and Christ entering the true holy of holies only once. While the earthly high priest had to enter annually because the people continued to sin and there were new people in the community since the previous year, the heavenly high priest (Christ) only had to offer sacrifices one time for all people because he used his own blood which secured deliverance for all time, as is stated later:

Hebrews 9.24-26 (CEB):

Christ didn’t enter the holy place (which is a copy of the true holy place) made by human hands, but into heaven itself, so that he now appears in God’s presence for us. 25He didn’t enter to offer himself over and over again, like the high priest enters the earthly holy place every year with blood that isn’t his. 26If that were so, then Jesus would have to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. Instead, he has now appeared once at the end of the ages to get rid of sin by sacrificing himself.

Once more, the writer contends that Jesus was in the true holy of holies, in God’s presence (see 1.3; 8.1; 10.12; 12.2). And this is crucial because right after this it states:

Hebrews 9.28 (NIV; adapted):

Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he’ll appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (emphasis added).

Ah. Here’s where the rubber meets the road. To understand why that sentence is so important, we’re going to have to take a brief detour to the book of Leviticus.

In Leviticus 16.18-22, after offering blood in the holy of holies the high priest would return to the people, lay his hands on a live goat confessing the sins of the nation, symbolically transferring the sins of the people to the “scapegoat.” The scapegoat would then be led out into the wilderness, symbolizing God’s removal of the people’s sins, thus “saving” them for another year at least.

However, if the high priest did not return to the people, something went wrong in the holy of holies and the high priest died (vv. 11-13). Moreover, if the high priest died and didn’t return to the people, this indicated that God didn’t accept the sacrifice, salvation was not delivered, and the people were left in their sins.

Now back to Hebrews.

The writer stated, “Christ has appeared as the high priest … [and] entered the holy of holies once for all … securing our [redemption]” (Hebrews 9.11-12; CEB; adapted). In other words, Christ went into the holy of holies offering his own blood to secure “our redemption.” So, what’s supposed to happen next? In comparing this to Leviticus 16, what’s the next step?

The High Priest must return to the waiting people.

As we saw from Leviticus, when the high priest returned he brought salvation with him. And that’s exactly what the writer of Hebrews stated, “Christ … will appear a second time … to bring salvation” (v. 28). This echoes Jesus’ own words. When he was warning the disciples about the then coming war with Rome and the destruction of the Temple, he told them, “When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near” (Luke 21.28; GNT[3]; emphasis added). And St Paul said the same thing, “… our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13.11; NIV; emphasis added). 

In Matthew 24-25, Jesus told a bunch of stories about someone leaving, putting others in charge, and then the person returns after a delay. However, in each case, the person returned, not to some other group of people hundreds or thousands of years in the future but to the very same people who were left behind. That’s the point of those stories. Jesus was telling his disciples that he would leave them and might be gone for a long time but he would return to them, to the same people he left. The followers of The Way in the New Testament were waiting for the true high priest to return and bring salvation. The question we must ask is, “Are we still waiting for that to happen?” If we’re still waiting, then Jesus failed to keep his promise and there is no actual salvation — only the promise of it. We’ll address this below.

We’ve now established that, when the letter to the Hebrews was written (circa 67CE[4]), the OCAS was still fully operational but it would “soon disappear.” Also, Jesus, in the role of High Priest, was in the true holy of holies, God’s very presence, and used his own blood to secure our redemption. The writer finishes off chapter 9 by stating that Christ would return and would “bring salvation” with him. 

Before we address the passage in question, we have to make one last stop — the warnings in the New Testament about continuing in the faith. We’ll do this in the next post.

Click here for the next post in this series.

~~~

In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC

_________

[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.

[2] Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[3] Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are taken from The Good News Translation (Today’s English Version, Second Edition). Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. All rights preserved.

[4] Robinson, J.A.T., (1976). Redating the New Testament, pg. 317. http://richardwaynegarganta.com/redating-testament.pdf.