Hebrews Chapter Nine, Greater

 

Hebrews 9:11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

 

Again, following the natural progression the writer leads us along, he wants his readership to pause when he says, ”but.” The word “But” is a conjunction, used in writing to contrast one idea against another formerly mentioned. Verses 8 through 10 focused on the earthly tabernacle, made by Moses and the Israelites by God’s express direction.

The tabernacle Christ entered is not earthly. Several descriptors are exercised to define the tabernacle that is juxtaposed against the Jewish one. The tabernacle spoken of in this verse is “greater.” Oxford’s Dictionary of Current English defines “greater,” as: “considerably above in strength, considerably above average in quality or importance.” Compared to the shadow, of course, the substance excels. The shadow conveys what is coming; the substance exceeds expectation. The tabernacle was created to reflect the ministry and sacrifice of the Christ. The heavenly tabernacle was blessed with His actual person, bearing His efficacious blood on our behalf, to save us from our sin.

 

The author relates that the heavenly tabernacle is “more perfect,” than the earthly. The NASB renders the passage, “He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle,” while the HCSB emphasizes, “In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands.” The implication is that Christ was the tabernacle, as He stated in John 2:19: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John clarifies Jesus’ statement, adding, “But He was speaking of the temple of His body,” John 2:21. We read in Revelation that there is no temple in the new heavens and earth, “for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple,” Revelation 21:22. This image is alluded more strongly in Hebrews 10:19, 20, where we read that Christians may enter the Holiest of All by the blood of Christ through the veil that formerly partitioned the Holiest of All. That veil, we are told, is Christ Himself, who everyone may enter through by faith. More on these verses later.

 

Every facet of the earthly tabernacle was an evidence or witness to the minsitry and sacrfice of Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus was indeed “not made with hands.” He was (and remains) the Word of God, begotten of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, Luke 1:35, John 1:14. Judaism had become an external practice one could perform by going through the motions; but it was sterile, consisting of appearance without function. Religion falls into the same pit of error. But when Jesus incarnated, He revealed an intimately closer capacity to approach God. It brought God out of the tabernacle and into men’s hearts. It was not about sacrifice but love. It was not about performing religious service but obedience in the spirit, John 4:24.

 

This tabernacle was “more perfect,” but that does not intimate that the earthly tabernacle was perfect. Emphasizing the perfection of the heavenly tabernacle, the author stresses it with the adjective “more,” denoting a higher form of revelation in the heavenly verses the earthly. Thinking about it rationally, something cannot be “more perfect” than something else that is already perfect. If the first tabernacle were perfect, then the second couldn’t eclipse it with this terminology, or this would just be simple word games, and grossly misleading. But the Holy Spirit led the writer to employ the terms he did, inferring that the first taberncle, contrasted to the heavenly, was imperfect. Of course it was; it was a shadow of the substance, a pattern of what was true, Hebrews 10:1.

 

We return to the idea that this tabernacle was “not made with hands,” which the writer further explains for sake of definition, “not of this creation.” The creation in question happens to be material creation, or more specifically, fallen material creation. Not only mankind, but the entire universe labors under the corruption of Adam’s sin, Romans 8:20-22. Jesus incarnated in the likeness of sinful flesh, without inheriting Adam’s sin. He was the sinless God-man. Was Jesus real? Many, even those who claim some type of Christianity, claim He was a spirit, or that the Christ spirit indwelt the man Jesus until prior to his death. But what does Scripture say?

 

“Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe,” John 20:27, ESV. The apostle John contributes, “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,” 1 John 4:2. This was an important point for John to make. He wanted to be crystal clear that Jesus, though God, was also a Man. He told his readership that, “our hands have handled,” the Son of God, 1 John 1:1. Though Jesus was the sinless, perfect Lamb of God, the God-man begotten of the Holy Spirit was flesh and bone, Luke 24:39.

 

In summary, Jesus is more than the sum of the tabernacle’s parts. Each one told a story, possessed a function, taught truth. But in Him all things are perfected, whole, and without flaw or blemish. Were it not so, we would, Jew and Gentile alike, be utterly lost. We would remain unsaved, condemned, fit for the Lake of Fire, without hope and without God in the world. If there is anything that the reader of this epistle ought to take away, it is that Christ is sufficient. He is superior to all things, as the Maker of an object is greater than said object. When we turn to earthly things, religious or otherwise, we have set up idols in our hearts to resist what God can and will do only through His Son, Ezekiel 14:3, 4. The Hebrew Christians were backsliding into Judaism, and hence into idolatry. The writer strove to reveal the sufficiency and supremacy of Jesus Christ over all.

 

Our Lord is High Priest of the good things to come; the Law was a shadow of the good things to come, Hebrews 10:1. What the Law indicated, Christ fulfilled. The Law merely related what it had no power to perform. Comparatively, Jesus performed all that He related to mankind. He said that He would die; He said that He would pay for our sin; He said that His death would open the way to the Father’s throne. He did all of this and more. To seek Judaism—or any other alternative—when the light of Christ revealed the way to the Father, was to plunge back into darkness after being shown the door out and handed the key to our freedom. For the backsliding Christian, we stand in the rarified air of spiritual life, but the sin nature still lurks, and we long for the door that we came through, somehow convincing ourselves that amidst that wasteland of sin and death we missed out on something good. To conclude, just focus on those two simple words to give the saints clarity of purpose: Christ came. It is finished, and we only have the grace of God to thank for that. And to His eternal glory, we have everlasting life with which to do it. Do not turn back to the inferior, when we have already laid hold of the One who keeps our souls.

 

“Nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have commited to Him until that Day,” 2 Timothy 1:12.