Hebrews Chapter 9
In the last chapter, we are introduced to the need for a new covenant, of which Christ Jesus is the High Priest, a more excellent ministry with better promises. To help us understand and better enlighten about this new covenant, God deliberately made the Old Covenant a copy and shadow of the New Covenant. Thereby allowing us to grasp clearly the deep profound intricacies surrounding this mystery.
By leading us through a ‘virtual tour’ of the earthly sanctuary, the service and ministry of the High Priest, we have a first-hand encounter of the salvation plan of God, the plan that God had carefully and lovingly crafted since the beginning. A plan that requires the shedding of His precious blood for purification and remission of sins. A plan that requires Him to put aside His kingly glory to take on the appearance as a man and to humble Himself by becoming obedient to death. That through His stripes, we are healed. That through His great suffering and death, we will be able to escape the eternal suffering and death in the lake of fire.
There are however, two points in this chapter, that have generated much discussion. The first is pertaining to verse 3 and 4. The first pertains to the position of the golden censer and the second pertains to the contains in the ark of covenant.
According to the account in Exodus 30:6, the golden censer was placed before the veil and not inside the Most Holy Place, that is, inside the veil. Explanations to this discrepancy ranges from copyist error of Heb 9:4 or that the either the veil was moved on the day of atonement so that the censer is together with the ark to facilitate the work of the High Priest or that the altar was moved inside the veil on this day, or that there were actually 2 different altars (one inside the veil and the other outside the veil). I believe this still baffles all till this day and no satisfactory answer has been given.
The question is, is there a need to determine this? The point that the author makes is about Christ who is the High Priest of the new order and His service. It is not so much about the items in the sanctuary. Perhaps that is why the author expresses in verse 5 that of these things, we cannot speak in detail. Perhaps suggesting that there are more and deeper things surrounding the sanctuary, but there is no need to delve into these things for the ‘secret things belong to God but the things that are disclosed belong to us forever so that we may do all the words of the law” (Deut 29:29)
The second issue raised is about the contents in the ark. At the time of writing, the ark should only contain the two tablets of stone according to 1 Kings 8:9. The golden pot containing manna and Aaron’s rod that budded were placed during Moses time but were subsequently lost, possibly when the ark was captured. This issue is more easily resolved as the author was concerned about the prefiguration between the old and new covenant. It is not about what the ark contained at the time of writing.
Let us hence not be side-tracked but always take stock of the key message that God wants us to note of.
Is the law of God in our hearts and mind?
is He our God and we His people?
How do we serve the living God who through His death and suffering, cleansed our conscience from dead works?
May the Lord enlighten us.