HEBREWS CHAPTER 9 VERSES 16-28 

CERTAIN PRINCIPLES THAT ARE BEING ESTABLISHED IN THE 9th CHAPTER OF HEBREWS: 

1) “Covenant” is far different from “Testament”…effectively as far apart as Law is from Mercy and Grace. 

2) THE HIGH PRIEST OFFICE LOOKS TO THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN and Redemption. WHEREAS THE MEDIATOR OFFICE LOOKS ON TO THE REST AND INHERITANCE. 

3) WHAT IS THE NECESSITY OF THE SACRIFICE? God did not institute the blood offering/sacrifice (or death for death offering) so that man might live (per se) but that man might once again have a presence with God.  

4) The “eternal inheritance” is God’s gift to believers, through theTestament/Will of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

5) It must be understood that the ‘Gospel Covenant’ is apart from the New Covenant with Israel. The New Covenant being in abeyance (temporary cessation or suspension) now since the Jews rejected it at Christ’s First Coming. (See Hebrews 8:8… “For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…”) And now the call to Jew and Gentile is the “Gospel of the New Man” until the 2nd Coming of Christ, when the “New Covenant” with Israel will then be established. 

HEBREWS 9 VERSE 15 has just brought the idea of a new inheritance into view through Jesus Christ’s Blood. Whose inheritance? Israel’s in the first place; for it was them only who were under the first testament…. “And For this cause looks backwards to the first testament and Covenant, an earthly promised inheritance after Israel was called and redeemed out of Egypt. And so Jesus Christ, in contrast to Moses, is the Mediator of this new testament. The argument being set forth is that if the blood of animals in that First Testament had sanctifying and purifying power, (and that for atonement of sins and drawing nigh unto God in the flesh, in the realizing of the earthly inheritance) how much more then the Blood of the 2nd Testament, and Covenant of Christ should effect a new and greater inheritance; an eternal inheritance in the calling out of the new man in Christ. (Ephesians 2) This eternal inheritance was first then, as it should be, offered to the Jew and then to the Gentile. (See Romans 1:16… “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Here, “salvation” refers to the FULLNESS of salvation – an inheritance of eternal glory and not only eternal life. Also see Romans 9:4)  

  • (Note in verse 15 that Paul interchanged the word “death” for blood. Being that the death of the testator being required is more readily understood.) VERSES 16–17 “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.” 

A Testament may be one person or a party, but a Covenant takes more than one person. A Covenant does not require blood; but a Testament must have the death of the testator and the proof of it. That is in other words, their blood, in order that the Will may be adjudicated. VERSES 18-21 “Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.” THE FIRST TESTAMENT is a reference to that ratifying with blood of Exodus 24:6–7, where the first testament was established upon the death/blood of bulls and of goats, thereby held forth as the “testator”. The Just idea being “… without shedding of blood is no remission (cancellation of a debt).”  [HEBREWS 9:22b] 

From whence came that idea? At the Creation of Man, the implied Covenant in the Garden between God and Adam is that all will be well unless Adam disobeys God’s Command of not eating from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil.  (Genesis 2:17) And when Adam and Eve rebelliously broke the Covenant Law, they suffered the accompanying Curse pronounced in the Covenant. “In the sweat of your face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return.” [Genesis 3:19] Adam’s sin broke the Covenant and brought the curse of “death” from God on man, as proclaimed, in dual manifestation form. 

  1. Spiritual death (in that day {24 hours}) 
  1. Physical death (in that day {1000 years – see 2nd Peter 3:8}, as Adam lived to be almost 1000 ) 

It is the 21st verse of Genesis 3 where we comprehend that the blood of animals was introduced to Covenant with Adam and his seed in order to extend mercy and to“partially” redeem. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”  That principle regarding blood was instructive, in that Abel’s offering of the animals was accepted… “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.  AND the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering…” [Genesis 4:4] These discover unto us the substitutionary law of God; in that “without shedding of blood is no remission” (cancelling debt) of sin.  

Furthermore, He said to Cain, Abel’s brother, “… if thou doest well, (that is present the blood and fat of animals for remission of sins)  shalt thou not be accepted (an allusion to being accepted into God’s Holiness and Presence)? And if thou doest not well (propitiate for your sins), sin (our sin nature) lieth at the door (opened for lack of remission).  And unto thee shall be his desire (to rule over you), and thou shalt rule over him (in the redeeming power of the testament of the blood) .” (Genesis 4:5-7) Whereas before, life was automatically without effort perpetuated by the Holy Presence of God and the tree of life, but when that life force was removed, man dies. (That ‘life’ force was removed because the Holiness of God cannot be around unholiness. In Hebrews 12:14 we are told to pursue holiness, without which no one will see God.) Once God removed this life force from Adam, his/our  sustenance, physical and spiritual life, is now reliant upon his labor; watching and praying, and by the sweat of hoeing to keep out the thorns and thistles, conjoined with the reliance upon sacrificial blood atoning offerings. (The need for Adam to physically toil and remove the thorns and thistles relates to us having to hoe the spiritual thorns and thistles which, according to Mark 4, symbolize the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches that choke the word, thus making us unfruitful. Adam’s fight against all predators that would take from his vegetation/fruit relates to us having to war against the spiritual powers that would keep us from bearing any fruit.) 

So without sacrificial death/blood, the law of the curse, death (that is; separation from God, which answers to His being Holy, realized in mankind from the Garden of Eden, and fully perfected and understood in the Law of Moses Romans 7) has no means for satisfaction whatsoever, as there was no warrant for the remission/removal of the debt/death penalty. (Death followed the curse for covenant breaking. “…you will return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:19) Offering of animal blood; that is to say its life, satisfies the Curse of the Law of God to a certain extent; in order that one’s sin/debt may be covered or atoned for, and for them to be accepted. (Albeit limited acceptance, seen in that although Adam and his seed realized a certain acceptance by God through repentance and sacrificial offerings, there was no restoration back into the Garden in intimacy lost). 

“…For the life of the flesh — is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” [Leviticus 17:10-16] 

Exodus 24:2-8 “And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him. And Moses came and told the people — all the words of the Lord, and — all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. And Moses wrote — all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent — young men of the children of Israel (there being no Mosaic priesthood as of yet), which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses (typically as High Priest) took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. (more on that later) And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took — the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.”  

What is being argued is the present Gospel “Covenant” and the future New Covenant with united Israel in the Millennial Kingdom both came as a result of a New Testament, on the same basis as the first, at the death of Jesus Christ. The Words of that Will is the Christian’s Bible.  

Paul has shown Moses as a type of Jesus Christ, as “High Priest” and Mediator, in the redemption of Israel out of Egypt, and into the promise of the inheritance of the Land of Canaan. Redeemed Israel entered into “Covenant” with God and afterwards received the first testament being sprinkled with the blood of calves and goats.  

Although it was not entirely necessary to have blood shed, much less sprinkled upon them, to have Covenant, this is what God had Moses do, and that but once, occurring before Israel broke the original Covenant of Exodus 24, forty days later.  

*God having in view Christ’s Blood, He was establishing the principles in this the shadow.  

*(The Lamb of God, after having been set apart 4 days (Exodus 12:3-6)“….the end of the Ages…” (Hebrews 9:26) not end of the world, but of the “ages” that represent 4 days, as a thousand years is a day unto the Lord when “..he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” at the end of 4000 years.) 

Moses, after Israel’s breaking of this original Covenant, became the sole acceptable Mediator, a clear type of Christ. In that effectively Moses’ “sinlessness” (that is without sin in regards to the sin of the calf idol) mediated in the interest of Israel, and that on the basis of “his” blood; the offering (in Exodus 24:8) that he presented to God first on the Altar, and then he sprinkled on the people. God was thus propitiated by that blood and mediation to extend “mercy” (mercy not being the same as New Testament grace) in a new “Covenant” through Moses’ merit only, with Israel (Read Exodus 32:30, 34:1-10) Moses later wrote “..the Lord was angry with me for your sakes…” (Deuteronomy 1:37) which is all completely in type with Jesus Christ’s Atonement (this is the imperfect shadow reflective of the perfect reality). 

Moses’ new Covenant offerings done on a continuing basis was effective in the extending of mercy and bearing with the sins of Israel in their pursuit of an earthly redemption unto an earthly inheritance. But eventually, the peoples’ hearts were discovered to be habitually inadequate, as God “….finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…” (Jeremiah 33 and Ezekiel 36 with Hebrews 8:8) 

Now the blood of animals only propitiated for bearing with the sins and the extending of mercy of those under the Mosaic Law. (Exodus 34:7) And that in the pursuit of a temporary earthly inheritance; whereas the Blood of Jesus Christ has the power of forgiving sins (as opposed to bearing sins) and extending “Grace” (as opposed to mercy) presently to His Gospel Covenant followers in the pursuit of an eternal inheritance, as well as in the Millennium to the Jews in their New Covenant in pursuit of their eternal inheritance.  

Now one must Scripturally and spiritually comprehend the difference between mercy and grace. Mercy does not reach as deep as Grace. Mercy bears with the sinner, but leaves no internal power to change the sinner’s character, thus the failure of Israel under the Mosaic Covenant. Whereas Grace (John 7:37-39, Acts 1) follows redemption’s forgiveness and has both the attribute of mercy and the added internal gift of the power of the Holy Spirit (grace then being the divine influence upon the heart), in that through the conscience (Hebrews 9:14), it may affect character change. Thus the foreseen success of the New Testament Gospel followers unto the inheriting, not only with the Millennial heavenly calling in view (Hebrews 3:1) but eternal inheritance; in the new heavens and earth. And additionally in the future success of those in the Millennial New Covenant with the united house of Abraham’s seed and the promise of a further eternal redemption and inheritance. 

So Exodus 24:6-8 is alluded to as the type to bring out the antitype in the Book of Hebrews Chapter 9 VERSES 12-22; where the acceptable Testament principle of blood in proof of substitutionary sacrificial death is exercised and displayed for the purpose of remission. It is Christ’s Testament in view, with His Blood as proof of death, and through its far greater acceptability, a much greater power of remission is extended in His Will on those whom His Blood is sprinkled. And that to be first unto those who receive the Gospel of the New Man, and secondly that a New Covenant unto Jews with greater inheritance is further bequeathed.  

And in the power of His Resurrection, He has become double surety; in that not only His Blood, but He being the Mediator or Executor of His Own Testament Will. That is in the extending the heavenly kingdom call to “…the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.” (Acts 15:14-18, Ephesians 2) And NOT UNTIL… “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David….” on the Earth. This is to be the New Covenant with the Jews that will be in answer to the irrevocable Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 22:16–17) that when fully extended, holds forth both eternal redemption and eternal inheritance. (Genesis 17:7,13,19 and Ezekiel 37:28 with Revelation 21:3) The realization of that inheritance is far beyond the promised temporal earthly blessings that accompanied the First Testament and the Mosaic Covenant. The receipt of those earthly promises of inheritance was strictly based upon keeping the Law. (Deuteronomy 28:1-4) But if the Law was broken, then the inheritance was forfeited, and the offenders were subject to its Curse. (Deuteronomy 28:15-68)  

Israel, having persistently broken the Covenant, were then hopeless subjects condemned under the Curse of the Mosaic Law. The experience being both of those who broke the original Covenant (Exodus 19:5-8) and then those who continued to break the Mosaic Covenant with God (Numbers 14:10, Deuteronomy 1, Hebrews 3:15-19), the condition being chronic is seen in the numerous times experienced afterwards as recorded by the prophets of God. 

All this leads us to the recognition of the fact that the plan of salvation, and restitution of ALL things, was first and foremost in the Creator’s plan. And that Covenant, its laws, rules and regulations were conceived and fixed according to the Plan of Salvation before the 7 Days of Re-Creation. This is seen clearly enough in Scripture… “ the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World”. (Revelation 17:8, Ephesians 1:4) That is Christ’s Blood and Death was foreseen in the slain blood of those animals in the Garden, and the Covering skins of clothing typed Christ’s robes of righteousness granted to those sanctified. (Revelation 3:16-18, 19:8) 

THE NEW TESTAMENT BLOOD ANSWERS TO CHRIST’S HOLY LIFE Now the Just principal under which God established and proceeded was in order to extend a New Covenant with Israel, so He must first release/rescue them from the Mosaic Covenant’s curses. (Read Leviticus 26:18-39) Now the Law is impersonal, in that it was one and the same, be it the offender or someone who takes responsibility for the offender’s actions, as surety, who answers to the debt, as long as the debt is satisfied.  In His appointed time, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born a Jew, circumcised according to the Law, fulfilled the Mosaic Law, in that He did not transgress it in any way. Yet He was falsely accused of being a transgressor of the Law of Moses; was condemned under the Law of Moses, and was executed without just cause. In this; Jesus Christ’s willing offering of Himself; He satisfied the demands of the Mosaic Covenant as the substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of Israel under the Mosaic Covenant, and thereby they, on receipt of that Blood sprinkling, are rescued from its Curse.   

He, having filled up with meaning its blood offering, and established the legal ground, in that Christ became the willing surety for the debt owed God (Hebrews 9:14, John 10:17–18), and the Law once being satisfied, be it by an innocent man or the guilty, no further pursuit of the guilty is warranted. This is the legal and just basis off which God rescues the guilty sinner and intends a New Covenant with Israel.  

Now the Surety of the New Testament answered the debt in such great abundance (that is to say provision beyond the necessity of redeeming justification unto eternal life) in that He prayed unto the Father for the power of the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon His followers that they might be brought beyond the borders of mere eternal redemption in His righteousness, that is to say in imputed righteousness; unto a worked–out personal practical righteousness worthy of eternal inheritance, as first born sons. (John 14:15, 7:39, Acts 1, Hebrews 2:10) Now this answers to HEBREWS VERSE 19 “…he (Moses) took the blood of calves and of goats, with water…” where the Blood mixed with the water shows the indispensable means of sanctification unto holiness sonship, that is the association of the Holy Spirit with the Blood of Christ.  Wherein, the scarlet wool is made white as snow, in the humility of the hyssop… These answer to man’s part in the sanctifying process; the willing response of the humble soul in the increasing light of his growing awareness by the Spirit/spirit in the enlivened conscience, with the practical applying of Christ’s Atonement death to the carnal nature.  

The Blood assures the Believer of relief of eternal debt and access for sins afterwards, whereas daily minding the things of the Holy Spirit assures fellowship and marks the way in faithful service unto worthiness of inheritance in the future Kingdom of Christ. Now the blood of the lamb kept them from the Death Angel as the blood on the doorpost represented that the death for sin had already been met there, in that it answered to God’s Judgment on the First Born. It was that substitutionary blood offering which God graciously gifted to Israel unto their redemption, and now what followed is typical of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Redeemed. “And they took their journey… And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, form before the people.”  [Exodus 13:21–22] 

HEBREWS 9 VERSE 23 This animal blood offering and presentation by the High Priest and Mediator, Moses, in the pursuit of an earthly kingdom inheritance, laid further groundwork in the hidden purposes of God since before the foundations of the earth. That is to say, Man will take dominion authority in the heavens and in earth. That is to be realized in the fullness of Jesus Christ’s Atonement as High Priest and Mediator, presenting His Own Blood in reference to the eternal redemption and eternal inheritance promises in both the heavenly realms and earthly realm, as His Atonement reaches into the very Presence of God in Heaven itself.  

Here is the antitype to the act of the blood being divided, as mentioned before. “And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.” (Exodus 19:6-8) So in the type, half of the blood of the animals was set apart for the Altar, (for God) and the other half for the sprinkling of the people. So it was in the patterns that we see the realities of the spiritual realm. Here it is revealed that Heaven’s Sanctuary had been defiled by an unholy presence, and was in need of purifying. That is to say, the necessity is seen in that God being Holy, He could not then be Holy if He were to have any alliance or tolerance with the presence of any unholiness. Verse 23 thus alludes to Lucifer’s defiant and defining unholy behavior in Heaven’s Throne–room itself. And it followed him into the realm he has been cast into (Job 4:17–18, 15:15, Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14) which greatly broadens the scope of Jesus Christ’s Blood Atonement to reach beyond man, to include the spirit realm, the sealing of satan’s fate, and Heaven itself. Thus as foreseen in the pattern; half the Blood went Heavenwards and half went earthwards.      

VERSES 27–28… “And as it is reserved unto men once to die, but after that judgment; so the Christ also having been once offered to bear the sins of many, the second time without sin (or apart from sin) shall be seen by those who are expecting Him to save them.”  

The Greek text reads as follows: “And for as much as it is determined to men once to die….”  the word “all”, not being a part of the text, is but a general statement, as not “all” men will die as Scripture reveals in 1st Corinthians 15:51, and 1st Thessalonians 4:17. That fallen man should die; God’s Holy Justice has determined it, and His Mercy has reasoned it. (Genesis 3:22–23) That His Judgment is right, has been proved out over and over in man’s history. (Genesis 6:6)  

That man should be judged, is the reality put forth so strongly throughout Scripture, and in particular here in Hebrews 9:27. Which answers obviously to the continued portrayal here in Hebrews of Christ’s current ministry as advocate and intercessor. For what else would His and our objective be? After having been established upon the Rock in eternal redemption, all now revolves upon what we build upon that foundation stone, that is to say all our works while on the earth are to be judged and recompensed after we die. “…let each (disciple) take heed  how he buildeth thereon…..Every man’s work shall be manifest, for the day shall declare it…” (1st Corinthians 3:10-17) It follows that there is to be someone who will grant an inheritance and someone to receive it.  

Christ, like Moses upon the mountain, was removed from our view. We can see what brought Moses down from his conversation and presence with God.. “…get thee down..” It was for judgment. And only Joshua, who was faithfully waiting and watching for him, accompanied him. (Exodus 32:17) So as Christ bore the sins of many at His First Coming, He shall not make further atonement, nor bear the sins of any upon His Return. For it is now past those days where God is showing His patience in the Age of Mercy and Grace in the calling out of a holy overcoming people, made up primarily from the Gentiles. But when the fullness of the Gentiles come in, and the times of the Gentiles finished, when Babylon’s cup of Abominations is full, He will come back, apart from sin. That is to say, far from expiating, but in Judgment. (Revelation 1:7) Yes, all will see Him and those who pierced Him shall wail. It is here that, from one view that the enemies of Christ are spoken of; the Nations and unbelieving Israel, but Hebrews 9:28 brings into view another class and a different appearing. It’s the Parousia of the First Resurrection; that of being caught up unto Him in the heavens, (1st Thessalonians 4:17) of those who are looking and expecting Him in anticipation of that salvation according to His departing Words of Luke 21:34-36… “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” This is a promise of recompensing for faithful service in catching up in resurrecting glory. Those who are awake and watching are but a small part of those redeemed by His Blood. As not all Redeemed are actively looking for His Return, let alone for salvation when He does. The last days’ church, to the vast extent, are self–assured in apathy and presumption of salvation secured, and believe they are Heaven–bound, looking only to their departure. They perceive not the threat, and will lose their eternal inheritance.  

The price of this salvation has been paid in the New Testament, the power of this salvation is realized in those who are in faithful service, who are then looking, for whom He shall appear, the Second time. (Philippians 3:8-21)