I love this book! The author is explaining for us the
progression from being under the Mosaic covenant to now being under the New
Covenant by giving a synopsis of Mosaic covenant facts, facts which help us to
better understand the Covenant mediated by Jesus. I love the topic of the Ark of the
Covenant. I spent an entire week on the
Ark alone in my Old Testament class in Kentucky. Here I will only say the statement is made
that inside the Ark was the tablets of the covenant, which were the two stone
tablets containing the “Ten Commandments.”
This is a fact that is shown in Exodus 40:20. The author of Hebrews emphasizes the day of
atonement here, because it was always intended by God to lead, from the annual
event it was, to a single ultimately glorious day in history.
In the second sentence of verse five, a plural pronoun is used: “But we cannot discuss these things in detail now”
(NIV). “We” is also used in 5:11 and 8:1
in a like manner. This is not direct
evidence of multiple authors, since the plural is used in other contexts as
well. For example: “Therefore, since we
have a great high priest….” (Hebrews 4:14 NIV), and “Therefore let us leave the
elementary teachings….” (Hebrews 6:1).
The author could have had assistance from other people, yet more
plausible, our author does not see himself as some marquee theologian, but
rather as a person writing as a part of a community, a community of people who
follow Jesus. I add that a number of modern
Bible scholars often claim nearly every book of the Bible was group
authored, copied, ghost written, or redacted.
Their fatal flaw is they come up with these theories, yet in many cases they have no
historical evidence. In fact, historical
evidence consisting of the writings of early Christians is often evidence to the
contrary of the authorship theories of many modern Bible scholars. Historical evidence is why I am thankful for the
writings of ancient Christians. (1) No
one claims that they were perfect theologians and perfect historians, yet they
give us insight into facts of Scripture formation that many modern scholars
ignore. Do I think the author of Hebrews
collaborated with anyone in writing the epistle? I think his key collaboration was with the
Holy Spirit.
I received Jesus at age twenty-two,
praise be to God. One challenge of being
a new Christian at that age was that most of the people in church were long
time Christians. And many of the sermons
in the church were aimed more at mature Christians, so sometimes I felt like I
was in a college class where I had been denied prerequisite classes. Yet I did attend a special church where Scriptures were consistently taught, and I
became a student of the Bible, and I slowly started learning the basics of the
Scriptures. One teaching that took me awhile to understand: statements about needing “the blood of Christ.” Why in the world would a person need to be “covered
in the blood?”
In past youth ministry work, I have served at
several youth Christian weekend retreats and also week long camps. I was younger then J Serving at one
such camp at Trinity Ranch in Colorado, it was only for elementary students,
and on the whole those kids were a bunch of angels. I cannot say the same on the whole for the
junior high students who were supposed to be the “junior counselors.” Yet I cared about them. I was even honored with a request by the lead
minister to take them on a hike one afternoon and talk with them about being
better role models. I think she
recognized I cared about them. So having
such a cool group, when it was time every night for “lights out,” students most
often were considerate. But about the
time students were falling asleep, there was one young boy who would start
having serious nosebleeds. This is
common at camps in the high altitude of the mountains of Colorado. So this kid would be in the bathroom with
blood dripping all over the place, but he was old enough to wipe off the blood
of his face and blow the blood on a bunch of paper towels. I did not do anything to help, other than
clean some blood off of the floor or sinks afterwards, but the student was
thankful I was there every night when it happened, because I was supporting and
encouraging. Having blood flow out of
your nose can be a scary and lonely feeling.
Blood gives life to the body when it is in its proper place. Yet being covered with blood on the outside
of the body; that is wrong.
The author of Hebrews goes so far as to say
that blood cleanses. How does blood
cleanse? Blood here is symbolizing
sacrifice. The high priest who was going
into the Most Holy Place once a year on the day of atonement sprinkled blood on
the mercy seat; on the atonement cover. That
shed blood of the animal was the sign that the animal had been killed,
sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins.
Blood here is symbolic, symbolic of the ultimate sacrifice, of giving
one’s life. Jesus made the Sacrifice,
physically and spiritually, once for all, shedding His blood, in death, as the
substitution for human beings. Because
Jesus loved everyone and was willing to shed his blood on the Cross, and die,
we people can now have atonement for our sins.
He willingly took the punishment.
That is the reason the author of Hebrews can say a person can be
cleansed “by the blood.” And the author
of Hebrews makes the key point in verse 14 that the blood of Christ was offered
“through the eternal Spirit,” explaining there was a spiritual nature to this
sacrifice as well as a physical offering.
This is key. Dr. Neil Lightfoot
states “Spirit” should not be capitalized by expounding on the details of the
original Greek text. He claims the
author of Hebrews is not referring to the Holy Spirit, rather the author is
referring to Jesus’ own spiritual nature. (2)
I think this brilliant scholarly detail is key, since the eternal
salvation of your soul and mine required a spiritual sacrifice! People often say that Jesus died for you, and
if you turn to Christ, you will never die.
Yet I have known Christians that died.
To be more specific, a person’s spiritual nature, which though it cannot
be seen is the core of all humans who were made in the image of God, will never
perish for those who have turned to Jesus.
What is truly covered in the blood for a believer is the soul, and also
all followers of Jesus will be given a new resurrected body.
Jesus was the substitute for the wages of
sin which is spiritual death. And now
Jesus is risen. May we serve Jesus!
Hunter Irvine
Hunter Irvine
(1) An example of the rich information which anyone can be familiar with for historical purposes can be found in sources such as: Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers; Translations of The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325 (1885; repr., Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979).
(2) Neil R. Lightfoot, Jesus Christ Today: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976), 171-172.
I share another musical performance in the midst of learning these life giving revelations from our Holy God. Enjoy a classic by Fernando
Ortega.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ZAQwXZ7YQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ZAQwXZ7YQ