The 5^th Sunday In Lent

SERMON

Text: Hebrews 7:23-28

Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

In Christ Jesus, Who is both our High Priest and Sacrifice, dear fellow-redeemed:

The people of Israel were discouraged along the way in their journeys as often happened. Again, as often happened, they complained about having no food or water. On this particular occasion, God sent fiery serpents into their midst—venomous snakes whose bite meant certain death. When many people died, they realized their sin and came to Moses saying, “We have sinned…pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us” (Numbers 21:7).

Moses did plead with the Lord and God told him to make a bronze snake, put it on a pole, and to give the people this promise from God: “Everyone who is bitten, when he looks at [the bronze serpent] shall live” (Numbers 21:8). Many people who believed in that promise from God, looked at the snake on the pole and lived and did not die.

Over 1,000 years later, Jesus sat with Nicodemus one night, talking with him and teaching him. During that conversation Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." (John 3:14). The bronze snake is a "type" or picture of Christ. The snake raised up on a pole, the people looked at the snake in faith believing God’s promise, and they lived despite the bite of the snakes. Jesus was lifted up on the cross, sinners look to Him in faith believing God’s promise, and they live eternally despite the bite of sin and death.

There are a number of "types" in the Old Testament that picture something in the New Testament. The Old Testament pictures of New Testament fulfillment are not random. Nor can we say that every thing from the Old Testament that is similar to something in the New Testament is a "type" or picture of what is in the New. However, there are times when God Himself says that something in Old is a definite foretelling picture of something else in the New Testament.

Other examples of distinct Old Testament pictures fulfilled in the New Testament are:

1. The Sabbath Day & Sabbath Year ~ The Sabbath Day was a day of REST—no work was permitted. The Sabbath Year was a year of REST for the land—no crops planted. We are told by God that these are pictures (or "types") of the true REST Jesus would bring. When God makes picture connections between the Old and New Testaments, the fulfillment is always greater than the picture. Rest from work is good. Resting the land is good. Rest from sin and condemnation through Christ is BETTER.

2. Peter tells us that the waters of the flood in Noah’s day were a type/picture of Baptism. Peter writes, “Eight souls were saved through water” (1 Peter 3:20). The waters of the flood were destroying the sinful earth but they also kept the ark floating and saved eight souls. BAPTISM is the greater water (the fulfillment of that picture) that drowns our Old Adam and sinful desires and washes away sin through Christ Jesus. BAPTISM is the fulfillment through which God saves our souls.

The place in the OT we notice the pictures/types the most is in the kind of worship God commanded. The worship was so different in the Old Testament compared to what we observe today. I can stand before you rather clean and tidy…the priests in Old Testament worship were sacrificing animals. All of the Old Testament sacrifices, ceremonies, festivals were types/pictures of Christ and what He would do. As such, the sacrifices and festivals of the Old Testament were "lacking" because the fulfillment is always greater than the picture.

These Old Testament pictures were a like a shadow coming into a room. You see the shadow, by the shadow you know that someone is coming, you might even be able to know certain things about the person on the basis of the shadow, as long as the shadow is there it is a reminder that someone IS coming. However, once the person enters the room, you no longer pay attention to the shadow you look at the person who has entered the room. Likewise, the sacrifices and festivals in Old Testament worship were "shadows of Christ" reminding the people that someone WAS coming. That "someone" is Jesus! Jesus has now come, we have the fulfillment and no longer need to worship with the shadows: "[the OT ceremonies] are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:17)

Once Jesus came and fulfilled the pictures then the Old Testament believer needed a "bridge" to get from the Old Testament to the New Testament fulfillment so that they could understand that Jesus of Nazareth was the One who fulfilled all these pictures. The Letter to the Hebrews is that bridge.

If we ever need to understand how an Old Testament ceremony or sacrifice foretold and pointed ahead to Christ, the first place to look is in the epistle to the Hebrews. We are doing that this morning as we consider that THE OLD TESTAMENT CEREMONIES WERE A SHADOW. THE SUBSTANCE IS CHRIST! There were I. Many sacrifices…One Lamb of God; II. Sinful priests…Holy Christ; III. Dying man…eternal God.

I.

There were a great number of differing sacrifices that God commanded in His Old Testament law. Some were sacrifices of thanksgiving and not directly connected to the work that Christ would do. But all of the BLOOD SACRIFICES were connected to Christ. All of the blood-sacrifices were pictures of the blood that Jesus would offer on the cross.

As we heard in the Old Testament reading, blood-sacrifices were very much involved with the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement carried with it the very vivid picture of a bull being slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant in which was the law of God. The high priest couldn’t even dare to go into the Holy of Holies (the room in the tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant was kept) UNLESS he had the blood of the sacrificial bull. Without "blood of forgiveness" the high priest couldn’t dare to come into the presence of God because the law of God condemned him as a sinner. Even before he could sprinkle the blood, the priest entered with incense so it would cover the mercy seat lest he die (Leviticus 16:13). The high priest (a sinner and by nature under the wrath of God just as anyone else) could enter into God’s presence and is life would be spared BECAUSE of the blood of the bull which would be sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

Next, the high priest left the Holy of Holies, and then returned with the blood of a sacrificial goat to do the same thing—this time for the sins of the people. In addition to the blood-sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would also lay his hands on the head of another goat, confess the sins of the people, and then drive the goat and the sins out into the wilderness to be lost forever.

All of this was pointing ahead to Christ. Year by year by year those same sacrifices, the same activities were carried out. This wasn’t even all of it. There were, also DAILY sacrifices. Our text speaks of Jesus and says, “…He does not need DAILY as those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his sins and then for the sins of the people…” [v.27] In Exodus we hear this command from God: “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight” (Exodus 29:38-39).

We couldn’t even begin to count how many sacrifices there were in all the many years of the Old Testament worship with 2 daily sacrifices, the annual Day of Atonement, plus all of the other sacrifices commanded by God. All of these had to do with sin, purification—a sacrifice to forgive the sins and wash them away through BLOOD. But it wasn’t really the blood of the bulls, goats or any other animal that gave the forgiveness of sins. It wasn’t the bronze snake that saved the Israelites’ lives. It was the promise God gave and connect to looking at the snake. So it was with ALL the sacrifices--SO MANY made over the years and not one of them (of itself) accomplished the salvation of souls or the forgiveness of sins.

Elsewhere in Hebrews we read, “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His (Jesus’) own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). In another chapter, “every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11).

The sacrifices were made daily but God says, that they could NEVER take away sins. By itself, the blood of the animals was really worthless. Why, then, did God have the people continually offering these sacrifices year by year and day by day? Because the intent of the sacrifices was not to actually take the sins away from the people but to be a picture of what the Son of God would do when He did come. The sacrifices needed to be repeated over and over again because the people needed a constant reminder that they were sinning daily. Day by day the people kept sinning (as we also do) so day by day God instructed them, "offer a sacrifice to remind yourselves of your sins, the punishment that those sins, and how those sins are going to be forgiven."

All of the blood and many sacrifices were reminders and instruction to the people and pictures of what would come. When Christ came, He was the Lamb of God. His blood COULD save and did…and does! Again, in a later chapter of Hebrews we read, “… we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

The Old Testament sacrifices had to be repeated because they were only reminders. When the "Real Thing" came, when the blood that would truly forgive sins was shed…that was it, it didn’t need to be repeated ever again. When Jesus cried out from the cross, "It is finished!" He was declaring: "This work of redemption stands complete for all time! The blessings will continue from sinner to sinner, but the WORK is DONE! FINISHED! No more shedding of blood is (or ever will again be) necessary to wash away sins. Paul writes in Romans, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God” (Romans 6:10).

The blood of Christ was the holy blood of the Son of God. It was the necessary ransom price to buy us back from sin and death. When Jesus shed that blood, our redemption was complete. No longer do we need the many sacrifices to remind us of the coming salvation, for we have Christ who has come and accomplished all through His death.

II.

Another contrast between the picture of the Old Testament and the fulfillment in Christ is the sinfulness of the priests vs. the holiness of Christ.

We read in our text, “[Jesus] does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people…the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness” (Hebrews 7:27-28)

The priests died because they were sinners and death is the consequence of sin. The priests who were offering these sacrifices in worship were just as sinful as the people whom they were serving. It is the same today, because the pastors who preach are just as sinful as the congregation who hears.

In the Old Testament ceremonial "pictures" of Christ the priests were sinners and it was in a certain way helpful that they were. The priest’s sinfulness was part of the "picture" God intended the people to see. We read in Hebrews chapter 5, “He [the earthly high priest] can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins” (Hebrews 5:2-3).

By making a fellow sinner into a priest who was offering the sacrifices, God showed the Israelites that all people are sinful. He highlighted the sinfulness of all people by making the priests offer the sacrifices first for themselves. Every time the people saw the priest offering a sacrifice for himself they would be reminded that sinfulness is a universal disease. God was showing them that here is a sinner just like you performing the sacrifices for salvation…but he needs it too. It showed that there indeed is no salvation from among men. It was abundantly clear from God’s Old Testament picture that the priest was not the one winning salvation for the people.

There is no salvation that will come from a priest/pastor, our friends, or family. There is no salvation in the things we do. We have to look to a Greater One—to one Who is not sinful, to One Who is holy and just.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the picture and is greater than the picture. The picture was a fellow sinner working as a priest. The fulfillment is Jesus the sinless Son of God. Yet, Jesus did become like us taking on human flesh. It was not sinful flesh that Jesus took to Himself, but in every other way He became like us just as the Old Testament priests were like the people whom they served.

In chapter 2 of Hebrews, the writer says, “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). It was absolutely necessary to our salvation that Jesus become like us…but without sin. He had to take on human flesh so that He could be put under the law as our substitute. As the Son of God, Jesus couldn’t be subjected to the law and yet in order to take our place and fulfill God’s expectations of us, He had to be under the authority of the law. Therefore, He became like us and took on human flesh and blood.

In order to be our Savior, Jesus had to pay the penalty of our sins and die on the cross because we DO deserve death. The Son of God cannot die, therefore, He had to become man. Our Savior from sin had to take on human flesh and be like one of us in order to save us, but had He been sinful (like the Old Testament priests) then His sacrifice would have meant nothing. Then the fulfillment would have been of no greater value than the picture.

Jesus is holy—He is our Priest who gained salvation for us.

III.

We are also taught by our text that the work of the Old Testament priests was limited…but not Christ’s. " …there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing but He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:23-26).

The priesthood was limited to this life. Aaron died before Israel ever entered the Promised Land. All of the high priests after Aaron also died and their service came to an end. These priests were instruments of God, serving the people through worship during all the time that they lived; but then they died and it was done. They could serve the people no more. Not so with Christ.

Our High Priest, Jesus, lives forever. Jesus does not enter a physical place on earth and sprinkle blood on the Ark of the Covenant. Jesus has entered eternal glory and now lives and rules over all things. He has gone to heaven a victorious Savior! He lives FOREVER! He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him. He is SO DIFFERENT from limited human beings. Jesus has conquered sin and death and STILL intercedes for us.

Another purpose of the Old Testament priests beside offering sacrifices was to intercede with God for the people, in other words, to offer prayers on their behalf. This is a wonderful part of what Jesus continues to do for us. Jesus is in heaven PRAYING FOR YOU!!! Hebrews tells us that Jesus "lives to make intercession for you.” In Romans, Paul writes, "…Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen…is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).

Imagine! The Son of God is sitting at the Right Hand of God, ruling over all things and praying for you, interceding on your behalf when you sin, praying for you that the Father not look on Your sins but His righteousness and holiness. Jesus has ascended into heaven victorious and has given us salvation by sacrificing Himself. But that’s not the end because unlike the Old Testament priests our Great High Priest is ETERNAL and LIVES and still makes a difference in our lives—spiritually and in earthly matters.

Ultimately, where does all this connection between Old and New Testaments leave us? What does it all mean? So we have a Savior-High Priest, who sacrificed Himself once instead of many times. He fulfilled that picture—fine. So we have a Savior who is holy so that He could do things that no sinful priest could do. He fulfilled that part of the picture—fine. So we have a Savior who is living and interceding for us. He fulfilled that part of the picture too—ok, fine. But what does this mean for us in a day-to-day life?

The book of Hebrews as that bridge from Old Testament to New helps us with the answer: "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16). This is what it all means.

We have the substance in Christ. It is not just a shadow…not just a picture…not just an imagination…it is the SUBSTANCE OF SALVATION! We can come boldly to the throne of God. Our sins are forgiven, we are His beloved children, and there at the throne of God is Jesus also interceding for us.

We can hold fast to our confession, hold firmly to the truth of God’s Word because this same Jesus is the One who has given us that Word. As we will shortly sing in the hymn following the sermon, we can put our hands on Jesus’ head (so to speak) and confess our sins and He as the Scapegoat will take those sins away—as far as the East is from the West. We can confess our sins and put our trust in the blood of Christ offered on Calvary and KNOW that that blood REALLY DOES TAKE AWAY OUR SIN! And then we can live as God’s children in the joy of knowing we are His redeemed beloved children with sins washed away.

Those Old Testament pictures are still important for us because we can see how God was providing salvation from the days of promise through the days of fulfillment. However, we don’t have to observe those pictures anymore, because we have the "Real Thing." We have the SUBSTANCE—CHRIST! Therefore, let us hold fast to our confession. Amen.

—Pastor Wayne C. Eichstadt