A Cleansed Conscience

Hebrews 9:1-14

June 3, 2001

 

Everyone has a conscience. It affects the way we think and live. Just listen to people talk, hear their excuses for actions, and observe the plastic looks portrayed. The conscience has a bearing on every action, work, and relationship. Many marriages are wrecked over guilty consciences. Children often rebel due to guilty consciences. It even determines how we approach God. The very idea of a sinful person approaching a holy God unnerves a thinking person. A conscience imprisoned by guilt enslaves a person in his worship, service, prayer, witness, and affections.

 

What is this conscience? "The conscience is properly man's inner knowledge of himself," writes Philip Hughes, "especially in the sense of his answerability for his motives and actions in view of the fact that he, as a creature made in the image of God, stands before and must give an account of himself to his Creator" [The Epistle to the Hebrews, 324]. "Inner knowledge of himself," as Hughes put it, implies that the searchlights of the soul peer into the caverns of the mind, discovering decaying bones and stolen treasures hidden by a bent toward sin. A man might live with decaying bones and hidden treasures if he never had to give an answer for them. But the Creator who gave life and the conscience to those who share in his image, also demands an accounting.

 

While  it would appear that a guilty conscience would drive a man to God, often the very opposite happens due to the grip of lostness upon the soul. Men will try every thing imaginable to relieve or avoid or stuff guilt. Paul explains that when a man rejects the revelation God has given in the conscience then he becomes hardened toward God and softened toward idolatrous and sinful behavior (Rom. 1:18-32). In the end temporary measures to salve guilt are only that-temporary, and offer nothing of eternal value that can give a person a right standing with God. To pursue creative means of dealing with the conscience is akin to grabbing after the wind. Ultimately such pursuits are elusive and empty. But God has made provision for sinful men to have clean consciences before him.

 

The first century audience receiving the Epistle to the Hebrews struggled over dealing with their guilt. Would they find relief if they returned to the ceremonial practices of Judaism? To do so would be to live under an old covenant that was "becoming obsolete" rather than knowing the experience of a new covenant relationship to God through Christ. It would not be the sacrifice of bulls and goats that would take away the guilt of sin. Only the death of Christ delivers us from the guilt of sin and liberates us to serve the living God. How can we be sure of this? Consider the "much more" of the death of Christ in cleansing our consciences from sin.

 

I. Not Quite!

 

The writer backtracks into territory familiar to his audience. They were brought up under the shadows of Judaism. They knew the intricacies practiced by the high priest as he sought to approach God on behalf of the people. So to help them understand the temporary nature of everything they had lived with and now what they considered returning unto, he paints a picture of a scene in the tabernacle and the work of the high priest.

 

1. An untorn veil

 

Rather than dealing with any symbolism found in "the earthly sanctuary," the pastoral author tells them "of these things we cannot now speak in detail." Mystics have given detailed applications of symbolism for every thread in the tabernacle. But not our writer since the point he wants to make is with all of the magnificence and pageantry of the old covenant practices, the average Joe still had no access to God. The veil remained untorn and the way to God inaccessible under the old covenant of law. Only in Jesus Christ was the veil removed and the way to God opened for all who believe.

 

The ancient writer believed that the Holy Spirit was the author of Scripture. His statement in verse 8 affirms this and demonstrates the continuity of Scripture by the application he makes. "The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time." Look at the tabernacle. Within it, if one could steal a look, would be "the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread." Here the priests in their order would move about to daily burn incense, offer prayers, and maintain the national worship. Beyond this was "the second veil...which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat." A sense of awe fills the mind when contemplating these consecrated symbols of worship under the old covenant. But there is a major problem. As long as the "outer tabernacle is still standing" or the focal point of worship, then the way to God has not been known. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. And he could do so only once a year. Every time he entered he did so with fear and trembling. It was not a joyous entry but the most solemn of occasions in hope that he would find acceptance by God for himself and all the people.

 

So what is this pastor attempting to do? He wants his congregation to wake up to the reality that under the old covenant, in spite of all the pageantry and symbolism, there was no access to God. The veil remained like an impenetrable wall between the sinner and Almighty God. "The way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed," he tells them. Why would anyone want to hang on to a practice that left the veil in tact?

 

Does some of this same spirit run through any of you? Because of the pageantry and symbolism that pleases your senses you hang on to a religious practice than cannot open the way to God. As the Gospel writers tell us, upon Jesus Christ's God-satisfying death at the cross, the veil that barred access to God in the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom! God opened the way to him through his own Son (Matt. 27:51).

 

2. An unaffected conscience

 

But wait a minute, one might insist. Were there not thousands of sacrifices offered and tons of gifts given under the old covenant? That is correct. But hear what our writer tells us, "Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience." It is not what we offer God that cleanses our conscience from sin. While none of us have presented blood sacrifices upon a brazen altar I would dare say that some have offered bloodless sacrifices and gifts in hope of clearing away the guilt of sin. The predicament faced by the high priest and all the people was that everything they did related to only external satisfaction. "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (10:4).

 

To further explain this our writer points out that the sacrifices offered were for the priest and "for the sins of the people committed in ignorance." It was the "slip-ups," the unintentional sins that were atoned for by the high priest. The willful, rebellious, arrogant, cold-hearted practice of sin had no atonement. That is why David faced a dilemma when he sinned against God by his willful acts toward Bathsheba and Uriah. His appeal was not to a quick sacrifice offered for his sin but to the mercy of God. "You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; you are not pleased with burn offering," David cried (Psa. 51:16). David had to look beyond the sacrificial system and the rituals of the tabernacle to have his conscience cleansed from the guilt of sin. He prayed, "Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness [chesed]" or covenant mercy (51:1). It was not the cut and dry statements of the old covenant that satisfied David in time of guilt. David trusted in God's covenant of grace, a covenant that he did not fully understand, but cast his hope upon.

 

3. An unaccomplished event

 

All of this boils down to an unaccomplished event. The worship of the tabernacle and ceremonies of the high priest were never intended to be the end-all for man in his relationship to God. They functioned in the realm of the "not quite" when it came to being in right relationship to God. Our writer observes of the old covenant sacrificial system, "Since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation." All of the patriarchs and prophets and people lived in the realm of the great "until." Everything done under the old covenant served as a stop-gap measure "until a time of reformation," until the fullness of time when God would send "forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal. 4:4-5). During the time of David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, it had not happened. But now, to the audience this writer addresses the "time of reformation" through Christ had come.

 

The word "time" is not the Greek term for chronological time but the word kairos, a term that refers to an event. In this case it was a momentous, even cataclysmic event that affected all of human history, even all of eternity. The "time of reformation" summarizes the incarnation, sinless life of Christ, atoning death, burial, and resurrection. It was a time of "reformation" or 'restoring what was out of line' or putting in a 'new order' as some have termed it. All of the practices in Judaism were fulfilled in this "time of reformation" in Christ. There was no need to revert to shadows when the substance had come!

 

We use the term reformation quite often to refer to the period in history in which the gospel was recovered from the ritualism of the Roman church. It was a time of restoring the church back to its New Testament beauty and reestablishing the centrality of Scripture in the life of Christianity. That term implies a cataclysmic change to us. Much more so, as it is used in our text, it refers to the momentous, sufficient work of our great high priest, Jesus Christ. Through him we move from the not quite to the much more!

 

II. Much More!

 

The writer was not denigrating the ceremonial practices of Judaism as if they did no good. For indeed these practices helped to boost the confidence of the people to seek the Lord, to find him as merciful and gracious. But they were "imposed until a time of reformation," demonstrating the inadequacy of the old covenantal practices in approaching God and knowing deliverance from the guilt of sin. The old covenant never secured anything for the people, even the most earnest people. Instead it pointed to the fulfillment in the new covenant through Jesus Christ. In contrast to an entire system that never secured anything for worshipers, the writer now points to how much more Jesus Christ has secured for all who trust in him.

 

1. Secured redemption

 

The contrast with the work of the high priest is intentional. He explains, "Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance." Leviticus 16 describes the scene as the high priest dons the white linen tunic covering linen undergarments, girded with a linen sash, and wearing a linen turban, he first takes a bull that he offers as a sin offering for himself and his household. With two handfuls of incense lofting aroma as he places it upon the coals of his firepan, he enters behind the veil carrying the blood of the slain bull. Upon the mercy seat and in front of it, he sprinkles the blood seven times to atone for his own sins. He slips out from behind the veil and returns with the blood of the goat of the sin offering, bringing its blood inside the veil and sprinkling it upon the mercy seat to atone for the sin of the people. He must even make atonement for the tabernacle itself due to the impurities of the people. He then lays his hands upon a second goat, the scapegoat, confessing the sins of the people over it so that as it is led into the wilderness it symbolically bears away the sins of the people. Philip Hughes aptly summarizes what the people were to see through all of this ritual:

Properly understood, the ritual of the Day of Atonement in its various parts was sacramental in character, inviting the people to look beyond the sign to the reality, yet to be fulfilled, when the perfect high priest would come, able to represent them without hindrance of sin in the presence of God, and would offer the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness and the removal of their sins forever [320].

In contrast we find Jesus Christ! "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come [hence the old covenant practices were temporary and were to be looked beyond to the Messiah], He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Several questions are answered in this text.

 

First, who secured eternal redemption? It was Jesus Christ, appearing as "a high priest of the good things to come" that secured redemption. The word, "obtained," is in the aorist tense and points back to one event that did the securing or obtaining of redemption. Literally, the phrase is translated, "after He had secured eternal redemption," thus pointing to the sufficiency of Jesus' work on the cross, redemption decisively secured there. Jesus appeared in heaven for us "after he had secured eternal redemption," not to secure it. Some have mistakenly thought that Jesus had to carry a basin of blood into the heavenly tabernacle just like the priest did in the earthly one. But the text makes clear that the death of Christ secured our redemption not a subsequent act.

 

Second, how did He secure eternal redemption? He answers, "Not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood." The use of "blood" in the language of Scripture always implies death, and typically a vicious death. Leon Morris has explained, "'The blood of Christ' means Christ's death regarded as a sacrifice for sin.... In this context blood is not death in general but death as seen as a sacrifice" [EBC, 86, cf. Morris' extensive treatment in The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, chapter 3]. Again, the language is very clear that the redemptive work that took place refers to the death of Jesus on the cross so that his entrance into heaven was through [Greek, dia or 'by means of' used instrumentally] his bloody death. The idea of a blood sacrifice appears primitive in our day. However we are not talking about pleasantries or socially acceptable behavior in this context, but the satisfaction that God's justice demands. How can a monetary offering satisfy Him who owns all? How can good deeds assuage the wrath of Him who has been offended by our sins? How can some inanimate object or non-human creature actually satisfy the wrath of God directed toward humanity? How can ritual or ceremony appease God who is not so silly as to be charmed like the brute gods of heathenism? How can God overlook the infinite stain of mankind's collective sin, much less the initial offense of our representative, Adam, in the Garden of Eden? It was not the blood of Christ in a basin or vial or container offered in heaven that secured eternal redemption, but the bloody death of the Son of God at the cross as God "caused the iniquities of us all to fall on Him" (Isa. 53:6). Is that where your hope rests?

 

Third, what did Jesus secure? While the priest could do nothing to "make the worshiper perfect in conscience," Jesus Christ, "through His own blood...obtained eternal redemption." The word "eternal" immediately qualifies what Jesus has done as distinct from the temporal work of priests. His work is eternal. The work specifically s called "redemption." The word literally means, "to release by the payment of a price." The price was "through His own blood." The payment made was not to man or to the devil, as some mistakenly say, but it was a payment to God. It was the demand of God's own righteousness. It is a release from the curse of the Law. One writer expressed it like this:

Like a black thundercloud the Law hung over men's heads, and they looked up to it in fear that at any minute the lightning of the divine judgment might flame out from its heart. What could be done? God took the initiative. Christ came and on the Cross bore for us the doom which sin involved...Christ bore the penalty which in strict justice we ought to have borne...Death was the curse of the Law, and that curse Christ took upon Himself [V. F. Storr quoted by Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 56-57, fn. 1].

The release points to deliverance from slavery to sin, from the penalty of sin, from the guilt associated with sin, and ultimately, deliverance from the wrath of God. Deliverance from slavery is at the heart of this term, and indeed, as our Substitute, Jesus Christ bore the price of our slavery so that we might be set free into the liberty of sons of God.

 

Fourth, how can I be certain that Jesus secured eternal redemption? This is the point of the "more perfect tabernacle, that is to say, not of this creation." As Jesus "entered the holy place once for all" he secured forever our release from sin's guilt and liberated us into relationship to God. While the priests were continually offering sacrifices (note v. 6), Jesus offered one sacrifice "once for all." This means that (1) the sacrifice of Christ can never be repeated; (2) it is complete and can never be added to; and (3) it is final, accepted by God in the "more perfect tabernacle."

 

A cleansed conscience is not found by improved meditation techniques or psychotherapy. It is the result of faith in Jesus Christ who has obtained eternal redemption for you by his complete, unrepeatable death on the cross.

 

Conclusion

 

Jesus Christ is the only one who can deliver you from the guilt of sin. Have you trusted him alone as your Redeemer? Look to Christ by faith, turn from your sin, and rest in the sufficiency of the crucified and risen Lord.

 

{Part II, dealing with the balance of the text, to be continued on June 10, 2001}

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