Would you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 8, it's page 1005 in the Pew Bible, if you
want to turn there, let me encourage you to turn there.
Hebrews chapter 8, this morning we're going to look at verses 1 through 6, and as Matt
mentioned, next week we'll look at the rest of chapter 8, but this morning I just want
to focus in on the first six verses of chapter 8.
Page 1005, let me pray for us as we turn to God and his word.
Father, as we have just sung, we have a complete salvation in your son, our savior, Jesus Christ.
So as we come to your word again this morning, we ask you would help us to see more and more
the beauty of him who is our complete salvation.
Be exalted this morning, Christ, in the reading and preaching and hearing of your word.
We pray this in your name, amen.
Hebrews chapter 8, 1 through 6, the writer says this, now the point in what we are saying
is this, always nice when a writer does that, isn't it?
Makes my job a lot easier.
Now the point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest, one who is seated
at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in
the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, thus it is necessary
for this priest also to have something to offer.
Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who
offer gifts according to the law.
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.
For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, see that you
make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.
But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old
as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.
So one of the TV shows that my two and a half year old son loves to watch is Thomas, the
tank engine.
And if you're not familiar with Thomas, it's a kid show about a bunch of friendly trains
who live and work on the imaginary island of Sodor.
And the sort of life goal of all these trains is to be, as they say, a really useful engine
for the owner, Sir Topham Hatt, who's bald, just like me, so I have an affinity with Sir Topham
Hatt.
And each of the trains is a character with his or her own little personality quirk, as
the unbelievably catchy theme song lets you know, Thomas, he's the cheeky one.
James is vain, but lots of fun.
Percy pulls the mail on time.
Gordon thunders down the line.
Emily really knows her stuff.
Henry toots and huffs and puffs.
Edward wants to help and share.
Toby, well, let's just say he's square.
Poor Toby.
It's embarrassing the number of times I've found myself humming that tune.
And if you know the song, I'm sorry for putting it in your head for the rest of the service.
There are two, there are four, there are six, there are eight.
Gotcha.
You know who you are.
Yeah.
But of course, my son and I don't just watch Thomas.
Thomas, we also love to play with our wooden Thomas train set.
So every once in a while, we'll clear off the dining room table and turn it into a big
wooden train track and we'll race our little wooden engines around and up and down and pull
the little wooden train cars and of course, get into little wooden train accidents.
It's all quite fun.
But then one day, after we had been watching and playing with Thomas for a while, we decided
to go see a real steam engine.
So we drove out to Essex to show Jack the real thing.
And I hadn't been up close and personal with a steam train before either, so I wasn't really
sure what we were getting into.
So as we pulled into the parking lot, I'm humming the Thomas song and ready to see some really
useful engines.
And then I found out that in real life, these things are massive.
We ended up standing right next to it when the whistle blew.
And it didn't just hurt our ears, it sort of shook our guts.
And then as it churned out of the station, you could just sort of see the sheer force and
power of this thing as it slowly began to pull the cars up the line and eventually picked
up speed down the track.
Now, if you can picture in your mind a little wooden toy train and the ferocious, powerful,
gut-wrenching reality of a steam engine, you'll start to get a picture of the contrast that's
at the center of our passage in Hebrews this morning.
And that contrast is actually between two places, between two locations or two spheres.
The one place is the earthly tabernacle that God told Moses to build where the Old Testament
priests had their ministry, which was a copy and a shadow, a representation, a representation
we're told.
It's the toy train, if you will.
And the other place is what our passage calls the true tent or the real tabernacle, the throne
of the majesty in heaven, the very presence of God where Jesus ministers on our behalf.
Not a mere representation, but the ferocious, gut-wrenching, powerful reality itself.
And in drawing this contrast between the earthly sanctuary and the heavenly sanctuary, Hebrews
wants us to see how much more excellent Jesus' ministry truly is.
Because he ministers in a much more excellent place, he achieves a much more excellent ministry
on our behalf.
That's where verse 6 takes us at the end of our passage.
And so this morning, we want to spend some time thinking about just that, the location
of Jesus' priestly ministry for us.
And we want to see how this makes a difference for us today.
Because after all, this letter that we call Hebrews was written to fuel our faithful endurance
in difficult days.
That's the real point of the letter.
So we have to ask, what difference does it make to the church in hard times, in trial,
to your life now, and the difficulties that you face?
What difference does it make to know that we have a holy and faithful high priest, not
on earth, in an earthly sanctuary, but in heaven?
Now, of course, it's hard for us to imagine how strange and how revolutionary the Christian
claims would have been in the first century.
Can't you almost hear certain Jews in the first century asking their fellow Jews who had
placed their trust in Christ, well, okay, if Jesus is the ultimate high priest, as you
claim, why isn't he ministering in the temple in Jerusalem, offering sacrifices, making prayers?
That's where priests belong, in the temple.
And at the same time, you can hear their pagan neighbors too, perhaps a bit confused, asking
pretty much the same thing.
Wait, so you follow this Jesus, and he's your priest?
Okay, but where's your temple?
How does he do me any good if I can't go visit him, and I can't give him my sacrifice to offer
to the gods?
What kind of religion is this?
Those are some of the questions that the earliest Christians would have been asked almost every
single day as others engage them about their faith in Christ.
But you know, isn't it still strange and revolutionary for us today?
Because aren't these some of the same sorts of questions that many today have about Christianity?
Why would you follow someone?
Why would you center your life around someone that you can't see, and you can't hear, and
you can't touch?
What good does that do?
So why is it good news that Jesus is our priest in heaven?
I want to look at three reasons this morning.
Why?
And the first one is this.
If Jesus exercises his priestly ministry in heaven, then that means it's accessible everywhere.
Now get the point that Hebrews is making about the wilderness tabernacle, and by extension,
the Jerusalem temple in verses 4 through 5.
Do you see it there?
He's quoting Exodus 25, 40.
And that's the point in the Old Testament story when God first starts telling Moses and
Israel to begin building the tabernacle, to start building this mobile sanctuary, this
tent that they could tear up and set down as they journeyed toward the promised land.
And eventually, God would allow Israel to build a more permanent temple in Jerusalem, but the
tabernacle and temple are basically functionally and theologically the same thing.
They're continuous.
But notice what Hebrews points out here.
Right in the Old Testament scriptures from Exodus 25, that from the very beginning, that
tabernacle, that temple wasn't meant to be permanent.
It was, he says, just a copy or a shadow of the heavenly pattern that God revealed to Moses
on Mount Sinai.
In other words, just like my son's wooden trains are just a small copy of the awesome reality,
the tabernacle was just a sketch, just a representation, a symbol of something much, much, much greater.
Now, on the one hand, we should realize that this is saying something really positive about
the Old Testament tabernacle, isn't it?
I mean, if we have eyes to see it, the tabernacle was a sketch of heaven itself on earth, a glimmer
of the unspeakable beauty of God's eternal dwelling place in the midst of his people.
Hebrews isn't trying to sort of denigrate the tabernacle.
But he's also saying that for all of that, it wasn't the reality itself.
It was just a shadow.
Could it give comfort to Old Testament believers?
Could it teach them things, true things about God and about God's redemption and about God's
future?
Absolutely.
But it wasn't the thing itself.
It was still full of limitations.
And one of the limitations of the tabernacle, which is obvious when you think about it,
was that it could only be located in one place at one time.
Because it was on earth, you could only get to it in one spot.
So if you wanted to participate in what was happening there, if you wanted to be where the
spiritual action was, so to say, you had to travel to get there.
And at least three times a year, Israelites were required to travel to the temple to participate
in annual festivals.
Just think of the cost and the planning that had to go into such a life and such trips.
Just think of the sorrow if you couldn't go and couldn't be present.
Some of the psalms that we have in the book of Psalms are written by people who, for one
reason or another, are distanced from the temple and can't get there.
And their heart longs to be back in God's presence.
But you see, what Hebrews is saying here, that now, exalted to heaven, seated at God's
right hand, Jesus' high priesthood is exercised in a place that isn't limited to one spot.
That now it's accessible and available everywhere.
And of course, we don't see it that way at first, do we?
To our default way of thinking, Jesus' exaltation to heaven makes him less accessible, right?
He's gone away and now we can't see him.
What good is that?
But that's because we don't have a proper understanding of the relationship between what
the Bible calls heaven and earth.
You see, generally speaking, we tend to fall into two broad ways of thinking about these
things.
On the one hand, there's the broadly sort of materialistic way of viewing heaven and earth,
which basically says that heaven doesn't exist.
It isn't real.
All that matters is earth.
And on the other hand, there's the broadly sort of dualistic way of thinking, which says
that heaven is all that really matters.
And earth is just either an illusion or basically evil or ultimately irrelevant at the end of
the day.
Do you see in your own life how people fall into one of those two categories?
And maybe even our own thinking kind of tends towards one or the other.
But you see, both of these views are incredibly problematic, aren't they?
The materialist still has to admit that there are unseen realities.
After all, take mathematical principles, right?
They are most certainly true, and they undergird the physical world.
And in a sense, they're true independently of the physical world.
If everything suddenly vanished in a black hole, two and two would still equal four.
So it seems that reality isn't just matter, just earth, that there are transcendent realities
after all.
But you know, the other way, the sort of dualist picture of viewing the world is also deeply
problematic, isn't it?
To just say that earth is an illusion.
Doesn't our deep yearning for justice say loudly that the events of this earthly life matter?
And to go a step further, when earthly suffering occurs, who can say that it's just an illusion
and isn't worth weeping for?
So this earthly life must be more than just an irrelevant waiting room
or an illusion that we're waiting to cast aside.
So the materialist view and the dualist view, they're both much too oversimplified
and they're much too problematic to be true.
But there's a third way.
There's the biblical view that's actually much more sophisticated and resonates much more
deeply with our experience.
You see, in the biblical view, heaven and earth are two dimensions that overlap and interlock
to form the whole of reality.
You see, when the Bible talks about heaven in the sense used here, it's not talking about
outer space, it's talking about the place where God dwells in fullness.
Heaven is God's dimension of reality.
That's what Jesus says in the Lord's Prayer, right?
Our Father who art in heaven,
your will be done on earth as it is
in heaven.
So heaven is a way of speaking about
that dimension where God
dwells and where God
reigns.
And that's why Hebrews can say in verse 2 that heaven
is, as it were, the true holy place,
the true tent,
the true tabernacle.
Not because the old one was false or the old one was bad,
but because the old one was a symbol
of the real thing
of God's dwelling.
And as I've said, heaven isn't something that's
far off.
You don't need a spaceship to get there.
No, it actually
presses down and impinges
and intersects
with our earthly side of reality.
So you see, when Jesus ascends to the
Father and takes his seat
at God's right hand
and becomes our minister in the
holy place,
this means that our
priest is not
now limited
to one place.
In the place where he ministers,
it touches on the rest
of reality, on all of it
at once.
And that's why Hebrews,
if you've been following our series,
can tell us again
and again
to draw near to God
through Jesus.
not because he wants us to pack up
and travel to some earthly temple,
but because Jesus,
our great high priest,
has gone into the real
and true sanctuary.
He's forged a path for us
into God's very presence.
Not entering a mere sketch,
but the real deal.
And so now,
no matter where we are,
we can draw near.
And friends,
that means that you don't have to travel
to a certain place
to be nearer to God.
There's no such thing
after the work
of Christ.
There's no such thing
as sacred
space
anymore.
Because if we have a true
and living high priest in heaven,
then any space
is a space
where women and men
can draw near to God.
Now think about
the implications of that.
We've perhaps all visited places
that seem more holy
or spiritual than others,
haven't we?
Places that seem to evoke
awe.
Perhaps an ancient cathedral
with high vaulted ceilings
and impressive
stained glass windows.
Or perhaps a quiet monastery
tucked away
up in the mountains,
far above the chaos
of ordinary life.
Places that seem special.
Places that seem
closer to God.
But friend,
consider
what Hebrews
is telling us.
That a person
praying
at the foot
of their bed
in the name
of Jesus,
a seemingly
commonplace
thing,
that that
is a more
holy
and all-filled
reality
than the most
impressive
cathedral.
That that person
is drawing
closer to God
than if he or she
were to travel
to the most serene
mountaintop monastery.
Friends,
don't underestimate
what Christ
has done for you.
And that means
no matter what place
you find yourself in,
if you turn to God
in Christ,
your prayers
are received
in the very throne room
of the universe,
the very control center
of reality.
You can be gathered
with a few friends
in the basement
of your dorm,
praying for God
to move in the hearts
of your friends.
friends.
You and your spouse
can be pacing
the floors
of your hallway
at 2 a.m.
with your sick child,
praying for patience
and wisdom.
You can be in the middle
of the office,
praying for clarity
about your work
and praying for graciousness
with your colleagues.
You can be on the other
side of the world
on a short-term
mission trips,
or you can be walking
the halls
of your high school.
Friends,
any of these places,
the places where
real-life trials come
and where endurance
is especially needed,
any of these places
can be a place
where heaven
and earth meet
and you draw near
to God
through the faithful ministry
of our heavenly
high priest Jesus.
So friends,
don't be embarrassed
that Christ is in heaven.
Rejoice.
Because if he is in heaven,
then his priestly ministry
is accessible everywhere,
at any place,
to any need.
But you see,
that's not the only reason
why Jesus' heavenly location
is good news for us.
It's also good news
because it means
that his priestly ministry
on our behalf
is always abiding.
As you think about it,
the old tabernacle, right,
was set up by human hands
and made of earthly materials.
And as we've said,
that doesn't make it
inherently bad,
but it does mean
that it wasn't meant
to last forever.
Eventually,
the thing was going
to wear out.
Who knows what
it would have looked like
before they actually
built the temple?
Who knows if any
of the parts
that they originally
built it with
were still the ones?
You know the old
philosophical problem?
If you have a boat
and you keep replacing
the parts,
is it still the same boat?
Who knows what
the tabernacle
would have looked like?
The thing was probably
wearing out perpetually.
And even the temple
in Jerusalem
didn't last forever.
It was torn down.
In AD 70,
the Romans destroyed it.
But you see, friends,
Jesus has entered
a sanctuary
that will never fade
and will never crumble.
No matter what happens
on earth,
no matter what circumstances
arise,
our hope
and our identity
as Christians
cannot be shaken.
Have you thought
about that?
If this building
that we meet in
tomorrow
were to fall
into the ground,
it wouldn't change
one bit
the true essence
of our church.
We'd have to figure out
where to meet next week.
That'd probably
be kind of tricky.
The elders and deacons
would have a pretty
stressful week.
But our worship
would continue
basically unchanged.
And our mission
would continue.
And our identity
would remain the same.
Why?
Because all those things
are rooted in Christ.
And the ministry
he's performing
for us in heaven
isn't blown
or tossed
or hindered
by earthly circumstances.
He certainly cares
about our earthly circumstances,
but none of them
could ever change
or stop
his ministry
for us.
And neither
can it change
or stop
his mission
in the world.
Now, of course,
I realize
there's not a great
probability
that our church
will crumble
into the ground
tomorrow.
Let's hope
that doesn't happen.
But for some of you
here this morning,
I wonder if you do
feel like things
are crumbling
down around you.
Maybe you're
drowning in debt.
Maybe your marriage
is lifeless.
Maybe you're agonizing
over hard decisions
that you face.
Or maybe you're
starting to realize
some unsettling things
about your own heart.
Maybe the image
that you've had
of yourself
as a good person
is starting
to crumble down.
But friends,
earlier in Hebrews,
we saw that
Christ's entrance
into heaven
on our behalf
was like an anchor
for the soul.
Christ is a priest
who lives forever
in a sanctuary
that abides forever.
And that means
if you've placed
your trust in him,
if he is your life,
and for those
communities for whom
he is their life,
that no trial
and no circumstance
can ultimately
tear you down.
not because
he'll necessarily
protect us
or shield us
from all hardship,
but because
he endures
and abides
through all hardship.
That there is
a fixed point
that will not
and cannot change
because he's in heaven.
And you know,
this abiding
means not just
stability
for the present.
Because you see,
the idea of heaven
in the Bible
means not just
God's dwelling place
in the present,
but it also,
in a sense,
points us to the future
that God has in store.
The Old Testament prophets
foresaw a day
when God's glory
would cover the earth
as the waters
cover the sea.
And John in Revelation
saw a day
when heaven
would come down
to earth.
When God would judge
injustice and evil
and vindicate his name
and dwell in the midst
of his people
forgiven
once and for all.
You see, friend,
heaven
is where
the world
is headed.
It points ahead
to the certain future
that God has in store.
And that means
that if Jesus
is our high priest
in heaven,
then he'll be our
high priest
for eternity.
And that means
we can have
a guaranteed
place
in God's new creation,
in the city to come,
as Hebrews will call it.
And it also means,
friends,
do you realize this,
that it means
that as we live
with Jesus
as our king
and as our priest,
that our community
becomes
a foretaste
of the future.
That our life
together as Christians,
worshiping Christ,
relying on his priestly work,
following him
as our king,
friends,
that's the future.
Now,
in and among us,
by his spirit.
Don't think
that the Christian life
is boring.
It might be
ordinary at times.
But friends,
the ordinary life
of a believer
is more glorious
than anything
you could imagine.
So if Jesus
is in heaven,
then what he's accomplished
is abiding.
It never fades.
The quality
of your relationship
and access to God
is not shaken
by circumstances.
And he will usher us
into God's future.
But last reason.
Last reason
why Jesus being
our priest in heaven
is good news for us.
It's not just
that his ministry
is accessible anywhere,
not just that it will
abide forever,
but it also means
that his ministry
is completely
effective.
that it does
what it was
meant to do.
Verse 1 tells us
that we have
a high priest
who's seated
in heaven.
Who's seated
in heaven.
He's sitting down
at God's
right hand.
Now,
being seated
at the right hand
meant typically
to be established
in authority
and in favor.
And this idea
of being seated
at God's right hand
typically points
to Jesus'
kingly identity,
his kingly office.
Princes were
the ones who sat.
Kings were the ones
who sat.
They sat
and they ruled.
But here,
Hebrews wants
to make a point
about Jesus'
priestly ministry,
you see.
Not just is Jesus
seated as our king
with all the rights
and privileges
of a sovereign.
But the one
who is seated,
what is he doing?
He's serving
as our priest.
He's ministering
to us.
And as we'll see
in chapter 10
by sitting down,
Hebrews wants us
to see that Christ's
work is finished.
That it's utterly
and totally sufficient
and complete.
That when he offered
himself,
that single
sacrifice
was enough
to cleanse
and forgive
the sins
of everyone
who places
their trust in him.
And now,
in the position
of utmost authority
and favor
at God's right hand,
Jesus assures us
that he's not only
willing to save,
but he indeed
has the power
and the right
to save
everyone who
comes to him.
You see,
because his sacrifice
wasn't brought
into a mere
representation,
but it was brought
into the reality
itself where it
really counts.
His sacrifice
has been brought
into the very
throne room
of the majesty
on high.
God's right.
And at last,
it atones for
our sins
and takes
God's redemptive
plan forward
and it brings
us peace
with God.
That's what
Revelation 5
was all about
that we read
earlier in the
service.
That the
Lamb,
Jesus,
crucified
for us,
is on the
throne,
exalted,
and is
ransoming
for himself
a people
from every
tribe
and language
and people
and nation.
Now,
friend,
if you're here
this morning
and you're
not a Christian,
I realize
that there's
a lot
in this
passage
that might
seem a bit
strange.
I hope
it's a little
less strange
as we've
been talking
about it,
but in the
end,
it all comes
down to
this,
knowing
peace
with God.
If there
is a God,
then surely
to be right
with him
is what
matters most
of all.
And as
Hebrews goes
on to show
because Christ
is in heaven,
having effectively
atoned for
sin,
he thereby
brings about
a new
covenant
between us
and God
that is a
new basis
for relating
to God.
One that's
no longer
dependent on
our performance
or our
works
or our
righteousness,
but one
that stands
on better
promises,
on the rock
of a better
mediator,
and friends,
the greatest
of those
promises is
that God
will remember
our sins
no more.
Complete
forgiveness
for all
who admit
that they
can't save
themselves
and who
take Christ
alone as
their representative
before God.
Now,
next week,
we're going
to talk more
about this
new covenant
and the
glory that
it is.
But for
now,
here's the
main point
as we read
in verse
one.
Not just
that there
is such
a high
priest,
but that
we have
such a
high priest.
So,
friends,
let me leave
us with
this.
Can you
say that
today?
Not just
that there
is such
a high
priest,
but that
I have
such a
high
priest.
That's the
difference
between
merely knowing
about Christianity
and having
saving faith.
To be able
to say,
not just
there is,
but I
have
Christ,
that I
am his
and he
is mine.
And in the
Christian life,
that's also
what produces
faithful endurance
in the midst
of difficult
days,
not just
knowing that
there is,
but friends
that we
have,
that you
have,
that I
have,
such a
great high
priest.
Such a
priest in
heaven,
who's utterly
accessible no
matter where
you are.
Such a
priest who
is utterly
abiding no
matter what
your circumstances.
Such a
priest who's
utterly
effective no
matter what
your sin.
Friends,
in Jesus,
we have
such a
high
priest.
Let's
pray.
Father,
by your
spirit,
would you
grant us
a deeper
vision in
faith of
our risen
and exalted
and reigning
high priest.
Lord,
help us
to know
the security
and the
joy that
comes from
knowing we
have a
priest not
on earth,
where things
fade and
wear out,
where they're
limited,
where the
benefits only
go so
far.
But,
Jesus,
that we
have you
in heaven
and that
in you we
have every
spiritual
blessing in
the heavenly
places where
it really
counts,
where it
really
matters.
Holy Spirit,
would you
breathe faith
into those
who don't
quite get
it yet,
who aren't
quite seeing
it,
help them
to see.
God,
help us to
repent,
to turn away
from the
things that
we've been
trusting in
your place
and to
cling to
you again
as our
upper and
uttermost.
Lord,
we pray all
this in
Christ's
name.
Amen.