The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 248

Vers. 11-14.-Superiority of the new covenant. The advent of the Messiah has removed the defects suggested by the Mosaic ritual. He has obtained for the true farael those great spiritual blessings which "the first covenant" was powerless to bestow. These verses indicate various elements of superiority. The new covenant has provided- I. A Bl!TTER HmH PamsT. (Ver. 11.) Our priestly Mediator is "Christ," the Anointed. He has been divinely ordained, equipped, and accredited. He is a better High Priest than Aaron, because the Minister of a better dispensa.tion. The "good things" denote the blessings of the new covenant; and these are described as " to come," because they had been always promised and expected in connection with the advent of the Messiah. How joyful the tidings to our guilty, sin-deflowered, distracted world, that its true Priest has " come "! He has assumed our nature ; he has lived and died ; he has risen and ascended ; he has "entered in once for all" into the true sanctuary. IL A NOBLER TAllERNAOLE. (Ver. 11.) The sacred tent of the Hebrews had, doubt- less, many excellences. It we.s a costly erection. Its arrangements were " a parable n (ver. 9) which instructed the Jews in spiritual truth. The ark was an emblem of the Divine majesty. The cherubic figures were "cherubim of glory," for Jehovah dwelt in symbol between them. Yet, after all, the Jewish tabernacle was only an earthly structure. It was "made with hands." But our High Priest ministers in "the greater and more perfect tabernacle." The place of his priestly service is the highest heavens. The true tabernacle is "not of this creation ; " it is in the unseen-in the immediate presence of Jehovah. And the work of Christ there is to interpose and intercede for his people. Every act of saving power results directly from the expression of his will, as our Advocate at the bar of God. Ill. A BlOBEB. SACRIFICE. (Vers. 12-14.) Salvation comes to us as the result of satisfaction rendered to Divine justice. We are not saved by receiving Christ's doctrine, or by observing a Christian ritual, or by following Christ's example, or by imbibing moral influence from him as a Teacher and Martyr. Christ saves us "by the sacrifice of himself." As he Ls.id down his life for us, and as "the blood is the life," he is said to have " entered into the holy place" " through his own blood." How much richer and more powerful is this blood than that which was shed upon the brazen altar of the tabernacle! The latter contained only the principle of brute life. But Christ's is: 1. Buman bl,ood. Our High Priest is a real man, woman-born-our own mother's Son. He is " bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh." So he yielded himself up intelligently and voluntarily as our Sacrifice. 2. Holy bl,ood. Jesus "offered himself without blemish unto God" (ver.14). Hie earthly life was absolutely faultless. He is the only perfect specimen of humanity that has ever lived upon earth-the one "Bon of man" who did not share in human corruption and condemnation. 3. Heavenly blood. The Man Christ Jesus had an "eternal Spirit" (ver. 14); 'i,e. he possessed the Divine nature. He is personally and literally God. And it is his Deity that gives to hie death its marvellous significance. No creature-blood could atone for our siD.B; but the sacrifice of Christ ie of infinite value,_because there resides in him" the power of an endless life." CH. IX. 1-28,) THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 239