Hebrews 9:9 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Hebrews 9:9

Comments

‘Which was a figure’ (and the Greek word there translated figure is not pattern as it usually is; it is parable) – ‘Which was a parable for the time then presents, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience.’ That seems a complex sentence, but it is very simple really. Yes, the sacrifices and the washings made you fit for worship, in just the kind of outer level they made you clean. Going through them helped you to realise that God was holy and you had to be washed. You had to be forgiven even to approach him. They taught you to come in the right frame of mind. They made you externally fit, but they did not really take away your guilt and your sin. They could not really cleanse your conscience; only the blood of Christ could do that, and that was yet to come. What about those people then? Couldn’t they be saved? Yes if they trusted in the Christ who was to come, and they truly and sincerely repented of their sin, and they realised God was holy and they needed forgiveness, and that alone they could not earn favour with him. Then God would change their hearts and they would be saved, just as we hopefully are saved, and they would walk with him and pray to him and prove him and know him. But the actual paying of the price of sin was yet to come. It was to be accomplished and we read about that in a verse or two later.

Application

Were the consciences of those Old Testament worshippers made perfect? Was their guilt truly and consciously, taken away? Not if they depended on the animal sacrifice to do it. The conscience cannot be deceived in this way. It speaks with authority to the soul, and no amount of self-deception is able to persuade it that sin has been forgiven in the absence of the assurance of God. The Israelite who went through the motions of outward religion and dutifully offered sacrifices according to the law, had the satisfaction of knowing that he had obeyed God to a certain point, but his or her guilt stubbornly remained at the end of these religious exercises. Conscience refuses to cease its accusations until it sees the blood of Christ and knows that God himself is satisfied with the offering. How wonderful is the peace that the newly converted Christian has! Having accused himself ceaselessly through out life, he has now come to a place he has never been before, where conscience has for the first time genuinely stopped accusing him. This cannot be achieved by any amount of psychological manipulation, promotion of self-esteem, or attempted reprogramming of conscience. It is a peace which comes only from the Holy Spirit, as he applies the blood of Christ to our hearts.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Hebrews 9:9 Commentary and Bible Study