Emmanuel Lutheran Church

Hebrews 11:1–7 (NKJV)

¹ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ² For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. ³ By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. ⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. ⁵ By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. ⁶ But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. ⁷ By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

“Just have faith,” people say. What they usually mean is, “Convince yourself that the thing you hope for will come true.” What an empty thing such a faith is! As if your hopes and desires had any power to make something happen, or as if God were bound to give you whatever you hope for.

The faith of which the Bible speaks, however, is a sure and certain thing, because it isn’t based on our hopes but on God’s sure and steady Word. When God tells us of things we can’t see in the past or present, or when He promises things in the future, faith latches onto God’s Word and rests on it securely.

God tells us, for example, that He created the universe, and how He created it. We were not there to see it. But faith latches onto God’s Word and confidently says, “Yes, God did make all things, just as He says He did.” Abel and Enoch latched onto God’s Word, telling them He was a good and gracious God who had promised salvation to Adam and Eve and their children after they fell into sin. They didn’t live to see the promised Savior, but they lived as men who believed God’s Word. Noah was so certain of the word God had spoken about the impending flood that he got right to work building the ark when all he could see were sunny skies.

These Old Testament believers were rewarded for their faith, one way or another, either in this life or in the next. But the greatest reward of faith is that God, in His grace, counts it for righteousness, according to His promise. He has invited all sinners to come to His Son, promising that in Him we will find the forgiveness of sins. The Holy Spirit works through His promise to make us sure that He is telling the truth, and so we believe it, come to Christ, and, through that faith, receive the promised forgiveness.

Let us pray: Lord God, You have given us Your Word and have promised us so many things. Help us by Your Spirit always to believe what You have said and to live by every word that proceeds from Your mouth. Amen.

Hebrews 10:1–34 (NKJV)

¹ For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ² For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. ⁵ Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. ⁶ In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. ⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ” ⁸ Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ¹⁰ By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹ And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵ But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” ¹⁷ then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” ¹⁸ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. ¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. ²⁶ For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ³² But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: ³³ partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; ³⁴ for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.

The Law of Moses required the Israelites to bring the same sacrifices year after year. What were they to learn from that? That the sins they committed throughout the year kept piling up until they needed to be atoned for again eventually? No, the many sacrifices were to teach the Israelites that the blood of animals can never make atonement for human sins, and yet, atonement had to be made if they were to be God’s people. All the sacrifices they brought were to be little shadows and reminders that the Lord Himself would one day provide the true atoning sacrifice for their sins.

By the one sacrifice of Christ, God has “perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” In other words, on account of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, God has justified believers in Christ. Our sanctification began when we were converted and baptized. It continues as the Holy Spirit renews believers in love each day. Through faith, we stand righteous before God all the time. No more sacrifices for sin ever need to be made. We can approach God the Father boldly and confidently for the sake of Christ and His one sacrifice.

But we must “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” We stand righteous before God through faith, not apart from faith, and God will faithfully sustain our faith through Word and Sacrament. But if we fail to gather with other Christians around Word and Sacrament, then we jeopardize both our faith and theirs. And if we turn back to sin, knowingly and willfully sinning against God, then we separate ourselves from Christ’s sacrifice; we drive out the Holy Spirit and the faith by which we have access to God. So let us take great care to live each day in repentance and to encourage one another to remain faithful until Christ comes.

Let us pray: Holy Father, we dare to approach You only for the sake of Your beloved Son and the blood He willingly shed for us. Be gracious to us and deliver us from evil, especially the evil of falling into willful sin. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Hebrews 9:16–28 (NKJV)

¹⁶ For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. ¹⁷ For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. ¹⁹ For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” ²¹ Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. ²² And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. ²³ Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵ not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—²⁶ He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷ And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

In English, we don’t use the words “covenant” and “testament” interchangeably. A covenant is a formal, binding agreement. A testament is a formal promise to pass on an inheritance upon the death of the one making the testament (the “testator”). We don’t speak of people making a “testament” with one another, nor do we speak of a person’s last will and “covenant.”

But in Greek, the same word can have both connotations, so that the same Greek word is used throughout the Bible for both “covenants” and “testaments.” And sometimes, both aspects are in view, as is the case with the Old Covenant/Testament and the New Covenant/Testament.

In today’s reading, the writer to the Hebrews shows us that the covenant God made with Israel on Mt. Sinai was also a testament in that it required the blood of animals to ratify it and to bring the people into it. That First Testament was a shadow of the New Testament that Christ, the Mediator, would institute in His own blood. He was the Testator whose death was foreshadowed under the Old Testament. Indeed, Jesus was both the Testator and, as the promised Seed of Abraham, the Heir of the Old Testament. The Heir of the Old Testament instituted the New on the night in which He was betrayed. It went into effect when the Testator died on the cross. And now, risen from the dead, He sprinkles sinners with His blood in Holy Baptism, through faith, and He shares with baptized believers the fellowship meal of His sacrifice in Holy Communion. As a result, all who believe in Christ Jesus have become heirs of all the good things He promises in the New Testament, even the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

Let us pray: O Lord Jesus, we eagerly wait for You to appear at the end of the age for our salvation. Keep us firm and steadfast in the faith until that day. Amen.

Hebrews 9:1–10 (NKJV)

¹ Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. ² For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; ³ and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, ⁴ which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; ⁵ and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. ⁶ Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. ⁷ But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; ⁸ the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. ⁹ It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—¹⁰ concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.

The Holy Spirit was depicting a very important truth in the design of Old Testament tabernacle.

The Holy Place represented the holy assembly of Israel that had been separated from the nations and sanctified by God through the covenant He made with them on Mt. Sinai. Everything in the Holy Place represented Israel as it stood in its covenant relationship with God. Just as the seven lampstands in Revelation 1-3 stood for the churches in Asia Minor, so the lampstand in the Holy Place stood for the church of Israel, which was to burn at all times with the light of the knowledge of God. The table with the twelves cakes of showbread represented the twelve tribes of Israel, whose lives were to be a continual offering to the Lord.

But a veil separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, with its golden censer and the ark of the covenant, which symbolized God. Only the High Priest could pass behind the veil once a year, bringing with him the blood of animals to make atonement for Israel. The veil in the tabernacle was to teach Israel that, for as glorious as the first covenant was between the Lord and Israel, it was still lacking. There was still a separation between the presence of God and the people of Israel. A High Priest—a Mediator—was needed. And blood was needed to bring God and His people together.

The High Priest symbolized the coming Christ, true God and true Man, who would enter into God’s presence with His own blood which now sanctifies all who believe in Him. He is the Mediator of the new covenant, and His blood reconciles believers to God, as God revealed in a shocking way when the veil in the temple was torn in two at the moment of Jesus’ death.

Let us pray: O Lord God, we thank You for reconciling us poor sinners to You through the death of Your Son and through the ministry of reconciliation by which You have brought us into the new covenant of the forgiveness of sins. Amen.