SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 7 is a complex argument about Melchizedek, often referred to one of the most uh complicated and complex arguments in all of the Bible, Hebrews chapter 7 is.
SPEAKER_00: And so I love Hebrews chapter 8, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: As we start reading.
SPEAKER_00: Now the point in what we are saying is this.
SPEAKER_00: I just love it.
SPEAKER_00: We have a complex, profound argument that takes a full chapter, and the author of the Bible says, the point of all that, in case you got lost somewhere, in case you fell into a Melchizedek trap and can't get out, chapter 8, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: The point of all that is that we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tense that the Lord set up, not man.
SPEAKER_00: For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all.
SPEAKER_00: Since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law, they serve as a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things.
SPEAKER_00: When Moses was about to enter the tent, he was instructed by God saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of God, and I pray he would seal it into your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite books, uh, it's a kid's book, Holes.
SPEAKER_00: I brought show and tell tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Holes by Lewis Sakar.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if you've read it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I read it before they made it uh into a movie, read it and loved it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh as I think I was a middle school student when I read it.
SPEAKER_00: And uh then they made a movie, which I also loved, and it was leverage in my own family's life.
SPEAKER_00: I told Madison she could watch this movie only if she read the book.
SPEAKER_00: And it motivated her to read the book.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you have read this book.
SPEAKER_00: What drives it, this is a book that is uh uh I think really uh extremely popular.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a Christian book, but it has a kind of a plot that draws you in and traps you in it.
SPEAKER_00: Because what's behind all of this book is this idea that generations ago, two families made a promise to each other.
SPEAKER_00: And that promise binds them together, binds their fortunes together in unforeseen and unsuspecting ways.
SPEAKER_00: This book jumps from generation to generation.
SPEAKER_00: It swings hundreds of years in different directions as the plot goes through it.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't tie it all up together until the end.
SPEAKER_00: I won't spoil it for you because I hope especially some of the littler people here tonight would actually read it.
SPEAKER_00: So I won't tell you the ending of it, but what drives the whole book is this idea that an oath or a promise or a covenant made between two families actually impacts the way those families interact.
SPEAKER_00: And for generations, generations throughout the centuries, they're bound together by this common oath or common covenant.
SPEAKER_00: That obviously is a kind of a faint uh indication of what you see happening in Hebrews chapter eight.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter eight is where Paul is transitioning here from his argument in chapter seven about Melchizedek being a priest.
SPEAKER_00: It's a different category than a Levitical priest.
SPEAKER_00: He's in a world all to himself, and Jesus belongs to that world, and now, centuries, millennia after Melchizedek, thousands of years to this present day after Melchizedek, our fortunes, our life is just fundamentally different because of what kind of priest Melchizedek was.
SPEAKER_00: He too was appointed a priest by somebody else.
SPEAKER_00: He too is a priesthood that's bigger than him.
SPEAKER_00: And all those who were under that priesthood, namely Jesus, act in one way.
SPEAKER_00: And then all those who are blessed by that priesthood, from Abraham was the first person to encounter Melchizedek back in Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham and all of his children, all the way to this present day, as we're the children of Abraham by faith.
SPEAKER_00: We are blessed by that promise to Melchizedek, that covenant made with Melchizedek, that oath that was given to him about being a priest.
SPEAKER_00: So, centuries later, our fortunes are interwoven in a very complex and profound way that can only be explained by an oath that took place long before we were ever born.
SPEAKER_00: Long before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, that oath had taken place.
SPEAKER_00: Long before Melchizedek walked the earth, that oath had taken place.
SPEAKER_00: And the point that Paul is making here in Hebrews chapter 8 is that oath finds its culmination or its fulfillment, its realization, its unveiling.
SPEAKER_00: You can use all kinds of different words.
SPEAKER_00: That oath comes to fruition fully in the death of Jesus Christ, his resurrection into heaven, and his present-day ministry right now.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to go through all of chapter seven, as I mentioned, it's a very complex argument, but the reader's digest version, the Sparks Notes version here of Hebrews chapter 7, is that there was a priest back in Genesis named Melchizedek, which basically means king of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And that king encountered Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham made offerings to him, tithed to him.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham submitted himself to him long before the Levitical priesthood, long before Levi was a person, Abraham submits himself to the priesthood of Melchizedek.
SPEAKER_00: David then picks up on that in Psalm 110 and says, The Savior, when the Savior comes to crush the head of the devil, when that savior comes and fulfills Genesis chapter 3, that savior will come in light of Genesis chapter 14.
SPEAKER_00: That savior will come like Melchizedek.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the promise.
SPEAKER_00: Now the point of all that though in Hebrews 8, verse 1, is that a high priest like Melchizedek is what we have.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 1, that high priest right now is at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He's at God's right hand.
SPEAKER_00: That high priest has been resurrected, of course.
SPEAKER_00: That high priest was crucified on the cross for our sins, buried on the third day, resurrected, has ascended up into heaven where he is right now.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 8 is in light of the ascension.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's describing Jesus right now is seated at the right hand of God, sitting there, and he's making intercession for us.
SPEAKER_00: This goes back to earlier in the book of Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: We have a high priest.
SPEAKER_00: We can draw near to the throne of grace because our prayers are heard by Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Our prayers are spiritual, they're brought by the Holy Spirit through Christ to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus intercedes for us right now in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So the priestly work of Jesus Christ is ongoing at this moment.
SPEAKER_00: He is interceding on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: He at this very moment is our mediator.
SPEAKER_00: That's from 1 Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: There's only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So right now he is our mediator.
SPEAKER_00: Right now he is interceding for us.
SPEAKER_00: Right now he is our high priest, present tense.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, he's seated in heaven, is the language in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: He's seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He's ministering there right now in verse 2 says, He's a minister in the holy places in the true tent.
SPEAKER_00: So this is all present tense.
SPEAKER_00: Like right now in heaven, Jesus is ministering in the tent.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of questions about that.
SPEAKER_00: Like what tent?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't dwelling in a tent in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: The tent was set up on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the tent was set up on the language of tent in Hebrews 8 is for the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_00: As the Israelites left Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_00: Moses went up Mount Sinai, comes down with the Ten Commandments, comes down with plans, comes down with the description for the ark, comes down with what they're going to build for the Ark of the Covenant, where they're going to store the tablets, the Ten Commandments, they're going to put manna in there, they're going to put Moses' rod and Aaron's staff, or Moses' staff and Aaron's rod and bud, and all that's going to go in this.
SPEAKER_00: And they're going to have a tent that for 40 years is going to wander around the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: That's the tent.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a temple.
SPEAKER_00: The temple's going to come later.
SPEAKER_00: The tent is before the temple and it's in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: And here in Hebrews 8, it says there's a tent right now in heaven where Jesus is doing those things for us.
SPEAKER_00: He's praying for us, he's interceding for us.
SPEAKER_00: He's seated at the right hand of God in the true tent that the Lord set up.
SPEAKER_00: So, got questions, and those questions we'll work through in verse 3 and hope to answer them tonight.
SPEAKER_00: And then you get to verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the statement of fact, like the doctrinal statement that drives verses 1, 2, and then 4 down through 6.
SPEAKER_00: This one doctrinal, all this is being in the first paragraph of Hebrews 8 is being driven by this one doctrinal sentence.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a very clear statement of fact, and it's not complicated, it's straightforward.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3 every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the statement of fact.
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm going to put it very simply for you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the doctrinal statement, the doctrine, Jesus is the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the doctrinal statement from this first paragraph of Hebrews 8.
SPEAKER_00: If you're taking notes, that's what you write down.
SPEAKER_00: Then there's going to be four observations from that doctrinal statement.
SPEAKER_00: So the doctrinal statement for the first paragraph of Hebrews chapter 8, Jesus is the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to make this complex, uh, very profound theological point accessible to you by doing it in this style of outline.
SPEAKER_00: It's not my normal style of outline, like a doctrine and then observations about it, but I think it'll help you get your mind around what's going on in Hebrews 8, because Hebrews 8, of course, is a very profound and important chapter.
SPEAKER_00: So the doctrinal statement is that Jesus is the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: That's drawn out of verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Follow the logic.
SPEAKER_00: You could even diagram this if you wanted to.
SPEAKER_00: Last time I said that in passing to some sentence in Ephesians 1, I said it's impossible to diagram.
SPEAKER_00: I know some homeschool families made their kids do it, and now their kids hate Ephesians and diagramming and homeschooling.
SPEAKER_00: So try this one instead.
SPEAKER_00: This one is more straightforward in verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
SPEAKER_00: You could diagram that grammatically, but more importantly, you could diagram this logically.
SPEAKER_00: You know, high priests are appointed to offer something.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is a high priest because he was appointed to offer something.
SPEAKER_00: The conclusion is that Jesus is the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: Every high priest is appointed to offer sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was appointed to offer sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: Ergo, Jesus is the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the doctrinal statement.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: Now what follows from that, to work your way back to the syllogism and draw out those points, what follows from that?
SPEAKER_00: Four observations.
SPEAKER_00: First, he ministers in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first observation from this.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus is the high priest, that means that he ministers in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: So this gets back to the mystery in verse one and in verse two.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 1, it clearly says he's seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That's not new information for us.
SPEAKER_00: We learned that in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: Stephen sees this, the heavens open up.
SPEAKER_00: There, Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty, stands up to receive Stephen in glory, as Stephen becomes the first martyr.
SPEAKER_00: So we know where Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus told his disciples he's going into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He'll be seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
SPEAKER_00: Paul describes this in 1 Corinthians 15.
SPEAKER_00: It's alluded to in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: This is not new knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the right hand of God, got it.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, in verse 2, he's also in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
SPEAKER_00: So this tent is what the ark and the tabernacle in the wilderness are going to be patterned after.
SPEAKER_00: The word tent and tabernacle are often used as synonyms.
SPEAKER_00: What is paraded around the wilderness, what moves with the pillar of fire and the cloud of fire and the pillar of smoke, what moves that way through the wilderness, that tabernacle for those 40 years wandering that then David kept in the barn after Uzzah was struck dead and was eventually replaced with the temple that Solomon built.
SPEAKER_00: That tabernacle was made according to the design that God gave Moses.
SPEAKER_00: And God told Moses in Exodus 25, verse 9, that the design I'm giving you is a it's patterned off of something else.
SPEAKER_00: The design that you're gonna get, the tabernacle in the wilderness, that's not the original.
SPEAKER_00: There's an original somewhere else.
SPEAKER_00: That's just the pattern for you.
SPEAKER_00: So you you see as you drive along uh Backlick, our Braddock away from the church, the soccer field, the church's soccer field.
SPEAKER_00: I love that our church has a soccer field.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have a coffee shop, but we have a soccer field, and I choose a soccer field over the coffee shop every time.
SPEAKER_00: No regrets.
SPEAKER_00: On the soccer field are those labradors.
SPEAKER_00: You know the dogs I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: They are stationary labradors.
SPEAKER_00: You never see them move.
SPEAKER_00: There's three of them.
SPEAKER_00: And people often ask me, what are those labradors doing on the soccer field?
SPEAKER_00: And what they are doing there is scaring away the geese.
SPEAKER_00: They are wood dogs.
SPEAKER_00: They're wood cutouts of dogs, and they're propped up on the soccer field, and they actually work.
SPEAKER_00: The geese, there's like two geese that are rebel geese that have seen through it, but but most of the geese, before those labradors existed, that field was covered in geese.
SPEAKER_00: And Tom Coles had an idea one day.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I bet birds aren't very smart.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's an expression bird brain brain for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: I bet they would fall for a wood cutout of a dog.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is where those labradors came from.
SPEAKER_00: Tom Coles did a Google image search of Labrador and got a clip art image and printed it out on a printer upstairs in the church, like one of those big printers, and took it to the woodworking room over there and laid it down on a piece of wood and cut out off it's so it's those are clip art labradors out there, made from clip art on the wood.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just that those are fake dogs, it's not just that are wooden dogs.
SPEAKER_00: They look very real.
SPEAKER_00: They fooled some of you, I know it.
SPEAKER_00: Those dogs are patterned after a different dog, after a real dog somewhere else.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows what image of a dog the artist of those dogs had in mind, but whoever drew that clip art dog had seen Labradors before, had seen dogs before, and so made that drawing of the dog as an outline or an image of a real dog, or like the Plato would call it the like the quintessential dog, the the true dog.
SPEAKER_00: That Labrador has all the marks of a true essence of dogness, even though it's not a real dog.
SPEAKER_00: It relates to the dog, it's the image of it, it's the copy of it.
SPEAKER_00: The real dog is the source, and that is the pattern of it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're driving by in Braddock or you're flying by in the sky, and you look down, you'll be confused because you don't, it's not a real dog, but it's a patterned dog.
SPEAKER_00: It's a dog that's pointing somewhere else.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what the tabernacle is doing in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: The tabernacle is in the wilderness, wandering around, and it's the cutout.
SPEAKER_00: What's it the cutout of?
SPEAKER_00: Where did Moses on Mount Sinai go to Google Images and print out the pattern which he would get?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's Exodus 25, where Yahweh tells Moses, exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all of its furniture, even, you shall make it.
SPEAKER_00: Or again, Exodus 25, verse 40.
SPEAKER_00: See that you make them after the pattern for them.
SPEAKER_00: And in that part, the last part of Exodus 25, that's talking about like the utensils, the snuffer for the fire.
SPEAKER_00: The implements for moving the wood out of the fire and the offering onto the altar.
SPEAKER_00: It says those are patterns off of something in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And verse 40 says, which Moses saw on the mountain of Exodus 25, verse 40, it says, Moses saw it on the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: So what did Moses see?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Moses had an image, a vision of the Lord, of course.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, the Lord moved by Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Moses could only see the back of him, which is another way of saying Moses saw him faintly.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't see the incarnate Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He can't say what John writes in 1 John chapter 1, that which we have have touched and heard and handled.
SPEAKER_00: Can't say that.
SPEAKER_00: Moses can't say that.
SPEAKER_00: Moses is, you know, back in a cleft of a rock, and his deity moves by him in some manifest form.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what he saw.
SPEAKER_00: And that becomes the pattern.
SPEAKER_00: That becomes the reality that shines forth into the world.
SPEAKER_00: The people, the Israelites, they didn't go up on the mountain, remember?
SPEAKER_00: They did not want to go up on the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: God was willing to reveal himself to all of Israel, but the Israelites were not willing to endure it.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, they yelled at Moses.
SPEAKER_00: They, you know, the glory of God was being unveiled at Mount Sinai, and they yelled at Moses and begged Moses to get God to be quiet.
SPEAKER_00: They begged God that no further word be spoken to them.
SPEAKER_00: That's Hebrews chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: They couldn't endure the command that if even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.
SPEAKER_00: So terrible was the sight that Moses himself said, I tremble with fear.
SPEAKER_00: And so they pushed Moses forward.
SPEAKER_00: Say, you go up there.
SPEAKER_00: So Moses sees it.
SPEAKER_00: Moses comes down, the glory fades in his face.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he's got to cover his face and hide in the tent.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reality.
SPEAKER_00: Moses was exposed to it.
SPEAKER_00: It caused his face to glow.
SPEAKER_00: That was not the shadow.
SPEAKER_00: What they built on the earth in the tent, that was the shadow.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what's the reality?
SPEAKER_00: Is there in heaven the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, model of the tabernacle?
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
SPEAKER_00: If you go to Jerusalem, you might see there's a model city in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite tourist attractions in Jerusalem is the model, the model city.
SPEAKER_00: It's a replica of Jerusalem from the life of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's incredible to look at.
SPEAKER_00: Incredibly detailed.
SPEAKER_00: And it just, I love it.
SPEAKER_00: And is that what's going on in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Is there father, son, spirit model of the tabernacle or of the temple with all the implements in it?
SPEAKER_00: And then what's on earth is the real is the is patterned off of the reality in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: What's in heaven is before creation is only deity.
SPEAKER_00: It's only father, son, spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That's all is there.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a fourth thing, there's not furniture there.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a pattern there.
SPEAKER_00: And so I deduce that where Jesus ministers is to the Father through the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And that that interaction, that ministry, that is the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll talk more about that as we get to the final observation.
SPEAKER_00: But the bottom line is that Jesus is in heaven, and he is doing ministry right now, interceding, seated at the right hand of God, in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
SPEAKER_00: Not only is since Jesus is a high priest, not only does he minister in the sanctuary, but number two, he also makes an offering.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the high priest does.
SPEAKER_00: That's the difference between the high priest and the other priests.
SPEAKER_00: The other priests all do offerings.
SPEAKER_00: You know, they'll sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Priests are basically butchers, remember?
SPEAKER_00: So the other priests will sacrifice the cows and they'll do the goats, and like the rookie priests get the pigeons, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And they get promoted up to goat duty one day or ram duty, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And they get promoted up to the cow duty, and they're you know, rising through the hierarchy there.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: The high priest on the Day of Atonement.
SPEAKER_00: The bulls are sacrificed, and there's the wave offering.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you take up the hindquarters of the bull and you wave it in the air, and you're putting the kidneys and the entrails and the fire, and you're getting the ash from that, and you're you're gonna take blood into the tabernacle, into the tent.
SPEAKER_00: And even when there's the temple, in the middle of the temple is the holy of holies, which is kind of a model of the tabernacle itself.
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of going to temple pointing back to tabernacle, pointing back to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So all that's in the Holy of Holies there.
SPEAKER_00: The high priest goes in there, splashes blood on the Ark of the Covenant, the two angels with their wings out facing each other, and the Ark of the Covenant in the middle there.
SPEAKER_00: There's no chair in there.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the high priest doesn't get to sit down.
SPEAKER_00: He just goes in and splashes blood on it, and then he gets out of town.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what the high priest does.
SPEAKER_00: He goes into the sanctuary to make the offering into the Holy of Holies.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus himself makes an offering.
SPEAKER_00: So what offering does Jesus make?
SPEAKER_00: As far as we know, Jesus never walked into the literal temple, into the Holy of Holies in his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He goes into the court, he cleanses the temple, he purifies the temple.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know of him going into the Holy of Holies.
SPEAKER_00: So what offering does he make?
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you recall, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies was torn at his crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: So that's a pretty big indicator that that is the moment of his offering.
SPEAKER_00: That when the curtain is torn, the offering is that's his offering right there.
SPEAKER_00: That's his death on the cross, and that seems to be the way the rest of the New Testament picks up on this.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 5, verse 2 says, walk in love as Christ loved, gave himself up for us, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 5, verse 2?
SPEAKER_00: Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up as a fragrant offering.
SPEAKER_00: And the sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus made an offering, which was his death on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 10 will say the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 10 verse 10, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
SPEAKER_00: So Hebrews 10 10 describes the death of Christ as his offering.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, Hebrews 10, fascinating passage.
SPEAKER_00: It says the death of Jesus is the offering.
SPEAKER_00: You remember what Hebrews 10, verse 11 says?
SPEAKER_00: The blood of bulls and goats can't take away sin.
SPEAKER_00: That's Hebrews 10 11.
SPEAKER_00: Very, very well-known verse.
SPEAKER_00: We talk about it at communion almost all the time.
SPEAKER_00: But Hebrews 10.10 and Hebrews 10.12, bracketing that verse, both describe the death of Christ as his offering, his sacrifices.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 10 verse 12, when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sin, he sat down at the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: Finished.
SPEAKER_00: In the Roman Catholic Church, they teach what's called the perpetual sacrifice of the Mass.
SPEAKER_00: So they teach this as the transubstantiation.
SPEAKER_00: They teach that the bread becomes the body of Jesus in a mysterious and mystical way, of course.
SPEAKER_00: And the priest, in the breaking of the bread, re-sacrifices Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Mass is called the perpetual sacrifice of the Mass.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is continually sacrificed.
SPEAKER_00: And they derive that doctrine, by the way, from passages like Hebrews 8 that describe the ongoing ministry of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So if he's still ministering at this day, then that ministry must be in the form of his death.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 10, I think, contradicts that by saying he's offered himself a single time.
SPEAKER_00: He was a single sacrifice for sins and then sat down at the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 10, verse 12 says, when you pair that with Hebrews 8, which has him seated down at Hebrews 8, verse 1, you know that his seating is not a perpetual sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: He's not continually dying in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what his ongoing ministry looks like.
SPEAKER_00: His offering is not a perpetually reoccurring offering.
SPEAKER_00: Because Hebrews 10 says he did it one time and sat down.
SPEAKER_00: And Hebrews 8 says that while he's ministering, he's sitting.
SPEAKER_00: Which means he's not dying.
SPEAKER_00: He's not being taken off of the cross repeatedly in communion.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to celebrate communion tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not re-dying at communion.
SPEAKER_00: It's a final sacrifice, a final offering that was already made.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 10, verse 13, if you keep going to Hebrews 10, it says he sat down and made his enemies a footstool for his feet, which is from Psalm 110, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: So all this is going to connect in a second.
SPEAKER_00: But my second point here, he made an offering.
SPEAKER_00: The offering was his own death.
SPEAKER_00: Third application of this doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: First, he ministers in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: Second, he makes an offering.
SPEAKER_00: Third, he was appointed.
SPEAKER_00: He was appointed.
SPEAKER_00: You don't sign up to be high priest.
SPEAKER_00: You're appointed.
SPEAKER_00: You know, even if you volunteer to run, like you use an American political analogy, you volunteer to run for president, you put yourself forward, you get voted in, you don't give yourself the oath of office.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody else has got to give it to you.
SPEAKER_00: This is kind of imagery here in Hebrews 8.
SPEAKER_00: Every, it's back at the beginning of verse 3, every high priest is appointed.
SPEAKER_00: This is the same kind of questions that we saw earlier with if it's a sanctuary, what is a sanctuary like?
SPEAKER_00: When was it made?
SPEAKER_00: And we said, no, it always exists.
SPEAKER_00: Well, with this, when was Jesus appointed?
SPEAKER_00: Who appointed him?
SPEAKER_00: When did that happen?
SPEAKER_00: Did the disciples appoint him?
SPEAKER_00: Certainly not.
SPEAKER_00: He chose them, they didn't choose him.
SPEAKER_00: Did Mary and Joseph appoint him?
SPEAKER_00: Certainly not.
SPEAKER_00: This happened to Mary, not at her initiation.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly Joseph was not the one who initiated this.
SPEAKER_00: It happened to them.
SPEAKER_00: So when did this happen?
SPEAKER_00: And this gets you back to the Melchizedek point.
SPEAKER_00: Well, when was Melchizedek made a priest?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're saying Jesus was appointed to be high priest like Melchizedek, which is another way of saying he was appointed not from the tribe of Levi, not from the line of Judah, where the kings come from, not from the line of the family of Jacob, not even because he was an Israelite, although he was, not even from Abraham, not only even because he was a Jew.
SPEAKER_00: No, his appointment comes before that.
SPEAKER_00: Everything in Genesis is describing the division of the families and the earth, where all the families and the nations came from.
SPEAKER_00: You don't get that with Melchizedek, no genealogy for him.
SPEAKER_00: The point is that he, his appointment happens before people, before nations, before families, before people.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, this is an eternal appointment.
SPEAKER_00: This happened in eternity past.
SPEAKER_00: That's when he was appointed.
SPEAKER_00: And I can show you this from the book of Hebrews, so we're gonna just dance through several verses in the book of Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: You guys don't have to be anywhere until tomorrow, right?
SPEAKER_00: Look at Hebrews 1, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: So flip left a few pages, these short chapters in Hebrews, so my Bible is just like two or three pages left to Hebrews 1.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 1 verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: In these last days, God has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things.
SPEAKER_00: There's that word appointed.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at all the words of uses of appointed in Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first one.
SPEAKER_00: The book begins with this concept.
SPEAKER_00: So this isn't tertiary or secondary in the book of Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: This is a critical point in the book of Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: Arguably, Paul's main point in this book is that the Son was appointed the heir of all things before the world was created.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that in verse 2?
SPEAKER_00: Through whom also he created the world.
SPEAKER_00: So he would and notice the structure.
SPEAKER_00: He was appointed heir, and then through that appointment he created the world.
SPEAKER_00: It's not normally the way an heir works.
SPEAKER_00: You know, my children will inherit our wealth or property, however little or great that may be, but they're inherited, but they didn't make me.
SPEAKER_00: They're the heir because I made them.
SPEAKER_00: So Hebrews begins with that flipped on its head that Jesus was appointed heir of all things.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to inherit all things, and so he made all things through him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what appointment means in the book of Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: It's something that predates creation.
SPEAKER_00: It predates, in the language of verse 2, the creation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: I just love it.
SPEAKER_00: The Son is the heir of all things.
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, he also made all things.
SPEAKER_00: Side note.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 3.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 3, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was faithful to him who appointed him.
SPEAKER_00: Just as Moses was also faithful in God's house.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is compared to Moses here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is faithful to the charge God gave him, just as Moses was faithful in God's house.
SPEAKER_00: That's a contrast, of course, an intentional contrast.
SPEAKER_00: And Moses, he's gonna hit this in Hebrews 11.
SPEAKER_00: Moses left Pharaoh's household because he'd rather suffer and be maligned with God's people than have the riches of Pharaoh's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Moses was part of Pharaoh's household and he bounced out of that.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what he's referencing here back in chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: That Moses said, I'd rather be mistreated with God's people than dwell in Pharaoh's house.
SPEAKER_00: So here God's people are described as God's house.
SPEAKER_00: Moses is faithful to them just like Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: And then I just love how verse 3 ends.
SPEAKER_00: Or how verse 3 goes as Jesus has much more glory than Moses, just like the builder has more honor than the house itself.
SPEAKER_00: So it's like Paul's saying, every analogy has limits.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus, you can compare Jesus to Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Both of them are faithful to God's people, but the analogy ends right there because Jesus made Moses.
SPEAKER_00: So it's nice to compare them, but Jesus made Moses.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus was appointed, also Jesus made Moses.
SPEAKER_00: So again, same similarity as chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the heir of all things, appointed the heir of all things, also he made all things.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is appointed to work in God's house.
SPEAKER_00: Also he made Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Now, chapter five, this is the key use of this word in the book of Hebrews, chapter five, verse five.
SPEAKER_00: Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't put himself forward.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't volunteer this.
SPEAKER_00: The idea of the sonship of Christ, or the idea of the eternal priesthood of Christ, or that Jesus would be the Savior, did not initiate with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't put himself forward, but he was appointed by him who said to him, You are my son, today I have begotten you.
SPEAKER_00: And later you're a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
SPEAKER_00: So do you see again, same concept that he was appointed to be the priest, he was appointed to be the savior when he was begotten by our heavenly father.
SPEAKER_00: This is the doctrine of eternal generation, and at the very least, it's saying that Jesus was appointed to be the eternal son in eternity past.
SPEAKER_00: There was never a time where he wasn't the eternal son, there was never a time where the father didn't beget the son, the father and the son have an eternal relationship, and it is because of that eternal relationship that the Son comes forward as the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: He's appointed by the Father to be the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: This is obviously an eternity past.
SPEAKER_00: That's where this happens.
SPEAKER_00: So go back to Hebrews 8, and you see that same language again now in Hebrews 8, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: It's every high priest is appointed, just like it's already been established that Jesus was appointed, and he was established and appointed in eternity past.
SPEAKER_00: So when do we learn about this establishment and this appointment?
SPEAKER_00: It's Psalm 110, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to flip to it.
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome to listen to me as I read it, or you can flip to it as well.
SPEAKER_00: It's right in the middle of your Bible, Psalm 110, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: This is the appointment that Hebrews 8 is describing.
SPEAKER_00: And it's, of course, connected to Melchizedek's priesthood, Psalm 110.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, that's the same language that's used in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, that Jesus is exalted in heaven with his enemies as a footstool, clearly fulfilled in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh gives from Zion a mighty scepter, so he can rule over his enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Then down in Hebrews 8, I mean uh Psalm 110, verse 4, Yahweh has sworn and will not change his mind.
SPEAKER_00: You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
SPEAKER_00: And notice what Psalm 110, verse 5 says the Lord is at your right hand.
SPEAKER_00: So the same language is from Hebrews 8 is used here in Psalm 110, that the Lord is reigning over his enemies.
SPEAKER_00: He is seated at the right hand of God, he is the eternal son, and it is in that appointment, the appointment of his eternal sonship, that he is the savior.
SPEAKER_00: Yet he's the savior.
SPEAKER_00: So the father designs salvation, communicates that design to the son, as he communicates all of the fullness of the father.
SPEAKER_00: The son receives his existence, his life eternally, without beginning, of course.
SPEAKER_00: He's an eternal being, the eternal son.
SPEAKER_00: And through the relationship to the father, the son will be the priest.
SPEAKER_00: This is the appointment.
SPEAKER_00: It is outside of time.
SPEAKER_00: It's beyond what we can understand.
SPEAKER_00: It's an eternal appointment.
SPEAKER_00: It's tied to Melchizedek, meaning it predates creation.
SPEAKER_00: It's older than David, older than Moses, older than Levi, older than Jacob, older than Abraham, older than human families, older than human nations, older than Adam, even.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is before every family.
SPEAKER_00: Levitical priest can only be from one family.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is above every family.
SPEAKER_00: And that oath took place in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It took place in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 1, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So this is something that took place before time.
SPEAKER_00: We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: As the Father designates Christ as the Redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: This oath took place before the foundation of time.
SPEAKER_00: Titus 1, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: The Father, God who promised before the ages began, God who cannot lie, a reference to Hebrews 6, God who cannot lie promised before the ages began that Christ would be the Redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: That's the appointment in Hebrews 8, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: It's something eternal from the Father to the Son.
SPEAKER_00: And then fourthly, so Jesus is the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: First, that means he ministers in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, it means he makes an offering.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, it means he was appointed.
SPEAKER_00: But fourthly, he has nothing.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus have to offer?
SPEAKER_00: What does he have to offer?
SPEAKER_00: The high priest shows up with the wave offering.
SPEAKER_00: The high priest shows up with a bull.
SPEAKER_00: The high priest shows up with the scapegoat at the very least.
SPEAKER_00: Even Abraham had the pigeons.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus have to offer?
SPEAKER_00: And if this is an eternal sacrifice before the world began, your question comes down to this.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus have to offer before he created the universe?
SPEAKER_00: You just need to think about basic theology 101 here.
SPEAKER_00: Before the universe existed, what existed?
SPEAKER_00: The Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: There's not Father, Son, Spirit, cow to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Father, son, spirit, goat to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Father, son, spirit, money to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Before creation, there is only father, son, spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I say nothing in quotes there, because everything of value comes from them.
SPEAKER_00: They possess all things.
SPEAKER_00: They made all things.
SPEAKER_00: They're not poor.
SPEAKER_00: God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you wanted, if you needed a cow, you could get a cow.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point of that.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need rams, he doesn't need rivers of oil.
SPEAKER_00: He made all that.
SPEAKER_00: The point is that before creation, he didn't have those things because they weren't made yet.
SPEAKER_00: And yet Jesus was already appointed to be the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're tracking with me, if you get this list on your screen, you're tracking with me, you understand that Jesus was appointed to be the high priest from eternity past.
SPEAKER_00: He was appointed as high priest.
SPEAKER_00: That means he has to have an offering.
SPEAKER_00: That was agreed upon.
SPEAKER_00: But what does he have to offer?
SPEAKER_00: So if I told you I you guys know I love my I love my truck.
SPEAKER_00: If I said I want to sell you my truck, and you said I want to buy it for this amount of money, we would agree to the price right here and now.
SPEAKER_00: We'd settle it.
SPEAKER_00: I believe you have the money.
SPEAKER_00: You believe I have the truck.
SPEAKER_00: We both have the things the other person wants, and we'd make that exchange, but we would agree upon it first.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to give you the truck and negotiate the price, secondly.
SPEAKER_00: No, you agree first.
SPEAKER_00: Might even shake a hand have a handshake or something.
SPEAKER_00: That marks that we're actually doing, shake hands there.
SPEAKER_00: We've sealed the deal.
SPEAKER_00: But I believe you have the money, and you believe I have the truck.
SPEAKER_00: So in this instance, when was Jesus appointed mediator?
SPEAKER_00: Before creation.
SPEAKER_00: So what does he have to offer?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have money.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have a truck.
SPEAKER_00: What does he have to offer?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have anything.
SPEAKER_00: All he has is himself.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is what he will offer.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to come into the world and offer himself.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does the father have to give?
SPEAKER_00: The Father, we're not made yet.
SPEAKER_00: But our names are written in the book of life from before the foundation of time.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Lamb slain for those names in the book of life before the foundation of time.
SPEAKER_00: So what the Father has is his elect.
SPEAKER_00: And what the Son has is his life.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the agreement.
SPEAKER_00: That's the appointment right there.
SPEAKER_00: The elect for the life.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where the handshake happens in eternity past.
SPEAKER_00: I say he's ministering in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: What's the sanctuary?
SPEAKER_00: Where is he ministering?
SPEAKER_00: He himself is the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: He himself is the temple.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a clay model in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: No, Jesus Himself is the temple.
SPEAKER_00: So what you see in the wilderness is a pattern of him.
SPEAKER_00: With the law, of course, the angels whom he made, the blood, which references his own death, the manna, which he produces, he is the bread of life.
SPEAKER_00: Everything's pointing back to him.
SPEAKER_00: It's all a pattern about him.
SPEAKER_00: So when he comes in John chapter 2 and says, tear this temple down, I'll rebuild it again, they said it took for decades to build this place.
SPEAKER_00: And they didn't understand John chapter 2, verse 21, that he was talking about himself.
SPEAKER_00: He's the temple.
SPEAKER_00: So he offers himself.
SPEAKER_00: Now a Levitical priest is not equal to the Father in glory and majesty, but our high priest is equal to the Father in glory and majesty.
SPEAKER_00: That's verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: He's at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He deserves to be there.
SPEAKER_00: He has all the majesty of the Father in himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's what was given to him by the Father.
SPEAKER_00: He possesses it all, and yet what he lays down.
SPEAKER_00: He sacrifices his own life, his own self.
SPEAKER_00: And now he's back in heaven, seated down, back again, the right hand of the Father, ministering in the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_00: Notice verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: If he was on earth, he wouldn't be a priest at all.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if he was still doing work on earth, who cares?
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean anything.
SPEAKER_00: That means the whole thing's a lie.
SPEAKER_00: If you have to do the perpetual sacrifice of the mass, the whole thing's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine the Jews feeling cheated.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I went to I've been to some Catholic services before, some high church Episcopalian Anglican services before, some Coptic services before, with all the smoke and the priestly vestments and the recitation and people with long speeches memorized in Latin and Greek and everything.
SPEAKER_00: And it's there's part of you that that wants that, isn't there?
SPEAKER_00: Like there's part of you that's like, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00: The guy walks down with the smoke and the bells and waves it, and the priest ascends up into the altar.
SPEAKER_00: And that's like that's high Anglicanism, right there.
SPEAKER_00: And there's people that are drawn to that.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine if you were a Jew, you have that with the Passover every year, all the pomp and the circumstances, and the long robes, and the trumpets, and the intricacies of the temple.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, our churches are like in, we have a beautiful building, but most Christian churches are like in strip malls, you know, and then there's got like this temple with the oxen and the the you know part of you is like man that's nice but Paul's point is that if this was on earth it'd be nothing it wouldn't mean anything if you have all the ceremonies of Judaism it means nothing because that was just shadows that was just the copy that was the clip art printout fake dog in the soccer field it doesn't mean anything better to have the truth in heaven in our backyard we have this massive redwood tree Ralph White who's an expert in these kind of things Pastor Ralph if you remember him told me that it is one of the largest trees in Fairfax County and he is the kind of person who would know and I believe that to be true.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly the largest tree I've seen and it casts a massive shadow in the evening when in the summer when the sun's setting further away the shadow goes up our street.
SPEAKER_00: You can practically trace the tree with the shadow right up the center of our street.
SPEAKER_00: But the shadow doesn't stay there very long.
SPEAKER_00: The sun sets the shadow goes away but that tree is unmoved by the sun setting that tree does not care that the sun set or that the sun rose it's bigger than that little plants might need more sun.
SPEAKER_00: This tree doesn't care is the shadow helpful yeah it's helpful you can see how big the tree is and if you knew geometry or trigonometry and geology you could probably deduce the size of the tree from the shadow you could study that shadow a lot and learn all kinds of things about the tree but who cares?
SPEAKER_00: The real tree is right there.
SPEAKER_00: And so it is with the high priest goes into the temple every year it's all intricate with the angels and the ark and that's so lovely.
SPEAKER_00: It's gone now and Jesus is in heaven right now.
SPEAKER_00: That's so much better so much better for us.
SPEAKER_00: So we don't want the copy back we don't want the shadow back we don't want the heavenly things back we recognize that Jesus had an appointment from before the foundation of time and he carried it out in time offering his own life God we're thankful that you gave your life for ours that you robed yourself in human flesh made your dwelling among us lived moved expressed your being and existence in human flesh taking on a human nature to offer yourself as a sacrifice for sins and now we're thankful that you are resurrected and ascended in heaven right now in the sanctuary because you are the sanctuary in the temple because your body is the temple and we too are part of the temple now as we are bricks built into your body members of your body members one to each other and in your body so we know that we our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit because we are in you Lord we're thankful for this covenant of redemption that you made before the foundation of time that you appointed the Son the mediator you appointed the son to be a priest like Melchizedek older than Abraham older than the families of the earth all the way back to the one who created the world.
SPEAKER_00: So Lord Jesus we worship you as the creator of the world we worship you as the redeemer of the world we worship you as our high priest who still works still makes intercession but who does not still sacrifice the perfect sacrifice we know the Hebrews uses one more the award appointment one more time.
SPEAKER_00: It's been appointed for man once to die.
SPEAKER_00: That's our reality Lord I pray for people who are here tonight that perhaps have never given their lives to you we know it's appointed for people once to die and then the judgment and we're thankful that through the death of Christ we escape judgment because it was poured out on the sun we're grateful for that in the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen and now for parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us if you're in the Washington DC area I would love to see you at Emanuel Bible church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on our church or current service times go to IBC.church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington DC location go to tms dotu I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily serve others around you and share the gospel with all of us