Arrangements of the first covenant.
The Epistle to the Hebrews is the New Testament Leviticus. In itself, the book of the Jewish ritual is rather dry reading. "Nothing can well be duller or more dingy than the appearance of a stained-glass cathedral window to one who is looking on it from the outside of the building; but, when you enter and gaze at it from within, the whole is aglow with beauty" (Dr. W.M. Taylor). Now, from this Epistle we learn to read Leviticus with the bright gospel sunlight for a background, and we thus discover how rich that ancient Scripture is, in instruction regarding the way of access to God, and the means of fellowship with him.
I. THE HEBREW SANCTUARY. (Verses 1-5) The tabernacle was the Divine palace, the symbol of Jehovah's residence among his ancient people. There was a gracious presence of God in Israel which other nations did not enjoy. Mention is made here of the two chambers of the sacred tent, each of which had a "veil" covering the entrance, and of the principal articles of furniture in these two chambers respectively.
1. The holy place. (Verse 2) This anterior apartment was oblong in shape, being thirty feet in length, fifteen in width, and fifteen in height. Three articles are named as belonging to it.
2. The holy of holies. (Verses 3-5) This innermost recess of the sanctuary, separated from the outer chamber by a richly wrought curtain, was the dwelling-place of Jehovah. It was a smaller apartment than the other, measuring fifteen feet in length, breadth, and height, and thus forming a perfect square. Seven things are named as belonging to it.
II. ITS SERVICES. (Verses 6, 7) While the outer court of the tabernacle was open to the whole congregation of Israel, except to such as might at any time be ceremonially unclean, only the sons of Aaron were allowed to minister at the altar, or within the sanctuary proper.
1. The holy place was for the daily ministration of the ordinary priests. (Verse 6) Their duties were such as these: They sprinkled the blood of the sin offerings before the "second veil;" they lighted and fed and trimmed the seven lamps of the candelabrum; they offered incense upon the golden altar; they changed the shewbread every sabbath day.
2. The holy of holies was for the annual ministration of the high priest alone. (Verse 7) None of the ordinary priests ever dared to enter the inner sanctuary, or even to look into it. And even the high priest could only do so on one day in the year—on the great annual fast day, the Day of Atonement. In the course of that day, however, he went into the holy of holies at least three times: first, with the censer and incense; secondly, with the blood of the bullock, for his own and the priests' sins; and, thirdly, with the blood of the goat, for the people's sins. He went in "not without blood," the presentation of the blood being necessary to the completion of the sacrifice.
III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BOTH. (Verses 8-10) These verses remind us that the institutions of Judaism were established by the Holy Spirit himself as a symbol of Old Testament facts, and as a prefiguration of the privileges of the new covenant spoken of in Hebrews 8:8-12. It was not Moses who ordained the Levitical ceremonial; it was the Holy Ghost. And by this means the Spirit taught the great truth that on the ground of nature access to God is barred for all sinful men; and that even under the "first covenant" of grace this blessing was only most imperfectly realized. The division of the sacred tent into two apartments, and the exclusion of the ordinary priests from the holy of holies, illustrated the great defect of the old covenant. The nature of the services, too, reflected its imperfections. The rites of Judaism cleansed the body from ceremonial defilement; but they could not wash the soul from sin. They involved, indeed, a continual remembrance of sins, rather than a putting away of sins forever. And yet, notwithstanding this, the tabernacle-worship was a bright promise and prophecy of the "opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers" at the time of rectification foretold by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34).