Hebrews Chapter Nine, Redeeming Those Under The Law

 

Hebrews 9:15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

 

We pause at the beginning of the verse to ask the question: for what reason? The author states, “for this reason,” Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant. It is beneficial sometimes to forget chapter and verse breaks, since the numbers can adversely impact our understanding of a passage. Sometimes they are read in isolated pockets, like every verse is an island unto itself. But each verse deepens the theological context of the overall idea the writer is attempting to convey.

Bearing that in mind, return to verse 14, which states that the blood of Christ, which was offered by the Holy Spirit (in this verse called the eternal Spirit) to God the Father, cleanses us from our spiritual filth. The dead works God finds abhorrent (Isaiah 64:6, Ezekiel 36:17) are cleansed, and we no longer offend God by trying to enter Heaven by merit or violence.

 

For this reason, Jesus is our Mediator, and the covenant was ratified by means of His death. Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Christ died to remit our sin and become Mediator of the new covenant. The Old Testament was replete with evidences that a new covenant would supplant the old, provisional covenant under Moses. We read in Ezekiel, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them,” Ezekiel 36:25-27.

 

God was not remiss foretelling rebellious Israel that there would be a time when He would genuinely cleanse them from iniquity, making further sacrifice redundant. But even in this chapter of Ezekiel it appears that He is likewise warning them that their national revival and reception of their Savior won’t happen until they experience national deliverance. “Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it,” Ezekiel 36:36. Israel as a nation will not experience the fullness of God’s promise until Messiah’s triumphant return, apart from sin, for salvation. The prophets agree on this, Joel 2:32, Zechariah 14:3, 4, 16, Daniel 12:1, Romans 10:1, 11:26, 27, Revelation 19:19-21. The individual Jew may place his trust in Jesus as the Savior, but Israel as a whole awaits a definitely appointed time in which a national revival, following an unprecedented calamity, is absolutely certain.

 

Why did our Lord need to die? He died to redeem His people from the transgressions under the first covenant. The first covenant, the provisional covenant made at Sinai between Yahweh and Israel, was one of cause and effect, elegantly defined in Leviticus chapter 26. To transgress simply means to disobey. The reason ancient Israel often disobeyed was the absence of faith. If we believe something to be true, our behavior tends to align with that belief. Action is an external reflection of internal conviction. The fact that manifold transgressions needed to be atoned for revealed the absence of faith. Even for those of us who believe, we may demonstrate a severe and embarrassing absence of faith. We commit sin; we stand in need of redemption. The believer in fact is redeemed, but having sinned stands in need of forgiveness to restore proper fellowship and blessing from our Lord.

 

Paul makes it abundantly clear that even the nations apart from Israel, or before the Sinatic covenant, had sinned and were guilty of transgression, Romans 5:12-14. But the focus here is not on the Gentile nations, but rebel Israel. The Mosaic sacrificial system would mean nothing to the Gentiles; this letter was addressed foremost to the Hebrews. The Messiah had come to redeem Israel from transgressions accrued under the first covenant. We know the first covenant was not without fault, for the people that entered into it with God could not keep it, Hebrews 8:7, 8, Acts 15:10.

 

His death freed Israel from their bondage to the old covenant. His blood ratified the new covenant, putting it in force, that through the name of Jesus Christ men would be saved, whether they are Jew or Gentile, God did not make a distinction between them in this dispensation, Acts 15:11. The fullness of this covenant couldn’t be entered into until Christ came to die in our stead. The faithful, who died anticipating Christ and went to Abraham’s Bosom, met Him after His triumphant death. Then the Holiest of All was opened, and the Old Testament saints, Jewish or otherwise, could be brought into God’s unmitigated presence. “And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us,” Hebrews 11:39, 40, see also Ephesians 4:8-10. Zechariah writes about this moment, “As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit,” Zechariah 9:11.