155 - Forgiveness - Cleansing of Sin is Only Through Death [B]

Hebrews Lesson 155  April 16, 2009 

^NKJ Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Open your Bibles to Hebrews 9. Actually we are not at 9:15; we're down to about verse 19. Now we'll start about verse 19 just with a little review.

We've gone through this chapter of Hebrews in what may seem to some of you in excruciating detail.But it's been an extremely profitable study because we've gone back and we've looked at all of the background for this chapter in the Old Testament: the ceremonies related to the Tabernacle, the furniture of the Tabernacle, all of the ritual; and it has helped us to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for what God has done for us at the cross and what we have in Christ. That is part of the purpose that the writer of Hebrews had because he is addressing these Jewish believers in the 1^st century who come out of a background in serving in the Levitical priesthood and so they could truly appreciate all of the things that he's saying as he's connecting for them these Old Testament rituals and patterns and the observance on the Day of Atonement and how that is all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It's important for us to understand this because it helps us focus more on what we have in Jesus Christ and how He provided everything for us on the cross. These are some things that aren't always clearly understood by people, especially when it comes to dealing with sin and guilt and forgiveness. That's at the very heart of this latter part of Hebrews 9. 

Now when we looked at this end part of chapter 9, we saw that there is an emphasis here on this whole aspect of cleansing. I pointed out that there's this parallel between the pictures, the images, that are portrayed in the worship of Israel, the ritual of Israel, and the Tabernacle and the reality that we have in Jesus Christ 

So in verse 19 the writer of Hebrews said:

^NKJ Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law,

This refers to the events in Exodus 24 after the Mosaic Law had been given to Moses and he read it to the people.

he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself

That is the book of the Law – the covenant, the material on which it was written, the scrolls.

and all the people

^NKJ Hebrews 9:20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you."

^NKJ Hebrews 9:21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

Now as we closed out last time I was answering the question: what is the significance of the sprinkling of the blood? The significance is that this indicates that the nation is now set apart to the service of God. We compare that to the fact that when we trust Christ as our Savior, we are positionally set apart or positionally sanctified as believers. 

This is where you get the noun which is translated saint. We are saints because we are sanctified. We're not saints because of anything we do or because we do something special or we dedicate our lives to the service of God. We are saints because we are the sanctified ones. This is described by the Greek noun hagioi, the saints. 

This is pictured through this Old Testament ritual. It relates to understanding that forgiveness for sin only occurs because the sin penalty has been paid.  That's the emphasis on the blood. In Leviticus it talks about "the life is in the blood." When someone is alive and you cut them (you prick them) they bleed. When they are dead, the heart's not beating anymore. The blood's not circulating. The absence of movement of blood is an indication of death. So the Bible uses the imagery of blood to picture life as well as the shedding of blood to depict death. The sprinkling with the blood indicates an identification with death. 

The conclusion we came to last time was that the Law taught that all things are cleansed with blood. That is death. Because sin has affected everything, everything has to be cleansed. 

So just by way of review, four points. First of all, the sprinkling of the blood is a picture of being cleansed positionally for every believer. 

The second thing, being cleansed positionally is related to our phase 1 justification. Just to remind you that the Scriptures teach that the use of the word "saved" in three senses. We talk about the fact that we are saved when we first trust Christ as our Savior. At that instant we are justified. That's the term Paul really uses in Romans. But he uses the word "saved" in Ephesians 2:8-9. 

^NKJ Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

He uses a construction with a perfect participle there indicating a completed past action. So there saved is used to talk about your past justification. 

Then the word saved is used many times to refer to the present Christian life. We talk about being saved from the penalty of sin when we're justified, saved from the power of sin in our day-to-day walk. So we have passages like Philippians 2. 

^NKJ Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

It doesn't mean we work to be justified; but now that we are justified we work out the salvation – salvation from the power of sin in our day-to-day walk by means of God the Holy Spirit. 

Then the third stage is what we usually refer to as glorification when we are saved from the presence of sin. We are absent from the body; we're face-to-face with the Lord. Being cleansed positionally has to do with our position in Christ related to stage one salvation, justification. 

That is what is depicted in the Tabernacle when everything is cleansed and the people are cleansed. That is a picture of positional sanctification or being positionally set apart to the service of God. But that wasn't the end of it. They didn't sprinkle everything again but because of sin there had to be an ongoing ritual cleansing. This is related to the blood sacrifices that took place within the Levitical system and specifically the annual sacrifice of the Day of Atonement that just took care of those sins that occurred from the previous year to the present Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement occurred sometime approximately the end of September or early October according to our calendar. It was the first of the fall festivals. The Day of Atonement recognized that cleansing that occurred for the nation each year. These things all depict for us certain principles that are true for the Church Age. 

I pointed out last time that what we have is really four different kinds of forgiveness that are depicted in the New Testament. Now I want to go over this again. 

Some of you may say, "Okay, I'm going to pull my hair out because I understood this the first time." 

But I have had 5 or 6 questions in the last two weeks. That is because when we look at what is taught in the passages I've looked at in Colossians that many of you were taught some years ago – that there was no forgiveness at the cross – that forgiveness occurs when you are saved and forgiveness occurs when you confess your sins; but there was no forgiveness at the cross. 

Some of you are going, "Oh yeah. I remember that." 

Well, there are some people who haven't quite: "Okay I understand what you're saying, but I've got hear it 5 more times because I haven't quite got this put together yet."

So I want to rehearse it one more time and hopefully we'll get it as we move through the end of chapter 9.

Now we come to Hebrews 9:22.  The writer of Hebrews says:

^NKJ Hebrews 9:22 And according to the law

That is according to the Mosaic Law.

almost all things are purified with blood,

That's the principle that we've seen so far. That is all things are cleansed with blood. That is all things are purified (ritually purified) with blood. That is the death of an animal. Now what animals are we talking about? The reason that's important is because when we get into these verses, there is going to be an allusion back to this. Back in verse 19, Moses is talking about the blood of the calves and the goats, the sacrificial animals. He's just summarizes them with those two. We also have sheep of course and there were the bird offerings and things of that nature. So we get to verse 22.

and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

That is the vital principle. There has to be a death paid because that is the judicial penalty that God assigned to sin. It's not an experiential penalty of physical death. It is a legal penalty that God assigned to man at the instant that Adam sinned. He died spiritually, separated from God. Something happened to his immaterial make up so that his relationship with God is completely fractured and he can't understand the things of God (I Corinthians 2:14); and he can't have a relationship with God until that death problem, that separation from God, is completely solved. 

That's one dimension of that solution is the word forgiveness. This is the noun form, aphesis. It's really important sometimes when you look at a language to see that there are distinctions between how verbs and nouns are used even if they're the same word group. We have aphiemi, which is the Greek verb for forgiveness. Then we have the noun to forgive. 

If you just think about this, you think about a verb. What does a verb do? A verb is an action word, isn't it? It describes an action. You can see just from the essence of a verb that a verb is going to have a range of meaning because it's this action word. So it can have a broader range of meaning. But a noun talks about a specific thing. A noun is going to have a narrower range of meaning than a verb. This noun is used here in Hebrews 9:22. It has a type of meaning, a range of meaning for forgiveness that is a little bit different than the range of meaning for the verb. 

One of the ways in which this word is used is in an economic sense that when you forgive a debt, it means to cancel a debt completely; just wipe it out.  Somebody owes you something and you forgive the debt. It's completely removed. That is a different idea in our minds than the idea that somebody really mistreated me or they have gossiped about me or they have caused me harm in some way. Now I have to forgive them. That is a much more personal relational idea. Often in the way we talk, we think of forgiveness in that relational sense and not in that economic or legal sense. That's why we have to go back to understand that the foundational problem that man has with God is the assignment of that legal penalty of spiritual death to all mankind. 

So the solution has to be a solution that functions at the legal level. Theologians call this forensic. That's why they talk about forensic justification. It's legal justification. Forensic isn't just a word you hear watching CSI when you go home and turn on your recorders after Bible class at night or watch one of the other shows like that. Forensic has to do with the law and the courtroom. 

Now another place where we see this word used is in Luke 4:18. There Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament. So this is a translation of this word from a passage in Isaiah. 

^NKJ Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives

Now when you release a captive, the shackles are gone. They're free. They can walk out the jail door, the prison door.

And recovery of sight to the blind,

Now you either see or you don't see. You may not see well, but you either have sight or you don't have sight. 

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

It's that same word aphesis for forgiveness or cancellation, the complete removal of something. The word's also used in remission of sin. That's a major theme that you have with Peter in both his message to the Jews in Acts 2 and Acts 3 that if they turn and accept Jesus as Messiah, they will have the remission of sins. 

So we look at this key word for forgiveness and it has this idea to be released, liberated, or forgiven. The Art & Gingrich, the major Greek Lexicon, says:

It is the act of freeing or liberating or releasing someone from captivity; the act of freeing from an obligation. 

That could be an economic obligation, guilt or punishment. 

  It means pardon or cancellation.

Now that's the idea we have when we get over here into Colossians 1:14. Colossians 1:14 is a parallel passage with what Paul says in Ephesians 1: 7. We have this structure set up here that:

^NKJ Colossians 1:14 in whom

That is in the context - in Christ. 

we have

"We have" is a present reality. 

redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 1:7 says:

^NKJ Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Now in both of these passages you really have a classic construction in language like a parenthesis, and it's appositional. It means you have a word that defines another word. For example, at the beginning of one of Paul's epistles he may say, "This is Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ." You can take the phrase "the apostle of Jesus Christ" out of the sentence and it's still going to make perfect sense because apostle equals Paul. It's just saying something in other words that help you understand what the first word means. 

So what we have here is a situation where redemption is explained by the phrase "the forgiveness of sins." Now what happens is if you make a statement like "there's no forgiveness at the cross", the mistake that you're making is you're not thinking of forgiveness in that economic sense I've been talking about. You're only thinking of forgiveness in a relational sense. 

The context when that remark was made, when that was said, it was because there were a couple of pastors who were teaching that you don't need to confess your sins in order to be forgiven because you're just forgiven at the cross. So the reaction that was stated was that there is no forgiveness at the cross. It occurs either when you are saved or when you confess your sins. It was completely overlooked, the basic concept of this word meaning cancellation. So redemption equals forgiveness here. 

Aphesis can mean several things. It can mean cancellation. It can mean remission. It can mean forgiveness. But the main noun here is the word redemption. The word redemption means to pay a price for something. So if you've got a word that means to pay a price and then you've got another word that appears to be in apposition to it that has four different meaning; you pick the meaning that is in the range of meaning of the main noun. See what I'm saying? If redemption talks about paying a price and one of the options for the meaning of aphesis is to cancel a debt, then that's the meaning you go with. You don't go with not having mental attitude sins towards somebody who's harmed you. See what I'm saying? You choose the meaning that fits the context. The range of meaning for forgiveness is a financial term. So they have to equal each other. 

Once you plug in a financial idea and the cancellation of a debt to the meaning of aphesis, what Paul is saying in Colossians and Ephesians is that the price has been paid which means the debt is forgiven. It's not potentially forgiven. It's not forgiven if you trust Christ. He's talking about believers so in Him we have this. But guess what! We're going to see In Colossians 2 it's true for everybody because of what Christ did on the cross. It doesn't solve; it doesn't mean that you're automatically saved; it just means that objective legal penalty that had to be dealt before God could save us; it had to be paid. 

So we went from Colossians 1 and Ephesians 1 to Colossians 2. I pointed out as we did this – I want to set this up ahead of time that we're going to see some categories of forgiveness. 

1. First of all we have a judicial forgiveness. This is the forgiveness directed toward God at the cross. It is that cancellation of the debt. Who did we owe the debt to? The debt is the legal penalty that has to be paid. We talk about this even in English idiom. Somebody goes to prison. Why do they go to prison? They go to prison because they have a debt to society that they have to pay. They have broken the law and so they have to pay the price for breaking the law. It is a payment of a judicial penalty towards the judicial system. So there is a judicial forgiveness. It's directed towards God who's the Supreme Judge of the universe. It means that God cancels the debt of sin. This is for all mankind without distinction.

2. The second area of forgiveness that the Bible talks about is positional. This is only true for the believer. When we trust Christ, we are in Christ and we are positionally forgiven. Now Paul isn't talking about unbelievers in either Colossians 1 or Ephesians 1, so He's not saying in Him we have forgiveness but they don't. He's saying, "In Him we have forgiveness because I'm talking about what we have folks, not what they have or don't have. So let's keep on the subject here."
3. The third category is experiential forgiveness and that's the forgiveness of the believer's ongoing sins when we confess because that breaks our fellowship with God. We can't lose our salvation because every sin's been paid for at the cross. There wasn't a single sin that God's omniscience forgot. He knows every sin. He doesn't go, "Oops! You know I forgot to assign that one to Jesus." Or, "Oops! I didn't know that you were going to do that. Oops! That is too big for My grace." He doesn't say that. He knows every sin. He was able to design a perfect salvation and complete salvation so that all sin is paid for. So when we sin it doesn't threaten our salvation, it breaks our fellowship with God just like when a child disobeys his parents: he's not kicked out of the family, he doesn't lose his family membership; it just breaks that fellowship with the parents. So to restore that we have forgiveness based on confession, I John 1:9.
4. Then fourth we have a personal forgiveness towards one another based on what God has done for us. Ephesians 4:32. This is how we show that we love one another as Christ loved us. John 13:32-33

So we have forgiveness that's directed towards God where the justice of God cancels the debt of sin. This is emphasized in Colossians 1:14 and Ephesians 1:7 as I've already pointed out. 

It's also seen in Colossians 2:13-4. Now this is not an easy passage to translate because it has several participles in it in Greek. When you see these translators bring it over into English, they have done what translators should do. They have left it a little bit vague. A participle is a word in the English that has an "ing" on the end. But these words can have various shades of meaning which can be determined by context. 

When I teach Greek to pastors this is one of the things. I give them a list of different categories, different things that a participle can mean. I say, "You fill in the blank. You say, 'Does it make sense to say this was the manner in which it was done? Or because he did this.'" You do multiple choices. You plug in a word or two that will clarify the meaning. If it works, it's possible. If it doesn't work, then you know you can dismiss it. Sometimes you end up it could be between one or two of them. Then you have to work with it until it makes sense.

So we have this word "you being dead." 

^NKJ Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

See there's the "ing"? There's the participle. Being dead: the action of their death is before the main verb, which is:

He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

So "you being dead" or "when you were dead". That would be called the temporal adverbial participle. "When you were dead, He made you alive together with Him." You were dead first and then He made you alive together with Him." You were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh.

In Ephesians 2:1 he says:

^NKJ Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

It's spiritual death. You were in that state of spiritual death, separation from God. When you were spiritually dead, He made you alive together with Him.  That's the main idea here because that's the main verb. Everything else that's said in these two verses relates to that main idea that He made us alive together with Him. When we are dead in our tracks spiritually with nothing we could bring to God, He made us alive to Him. 

Now he's going to explain how He was able to do that. He does it with these next two participles that are translated the same way.

^NKJ Colossians 2:14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

But that's pretty nebulous and vague, isn't it? But we can do a lot better and we can make it a little more precise.

Remember the main verb is "He has made us alive together with Him." In the Greek that is called an aorist tense. It's a simple past tense. 

^NKJ Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

So the "when you were" happens previous to that. 

Then we have that next participle, "having forgiven you all trespasses." 

Now let me give you an idea of what I do when I'm translating a passage. 

1. I can say "He made us alive together in the manner of forgiving you his trespasses." Does that make sense? No, it really doesn't make sense. 
2. He made you alive together with Him because He forgave you of all trespasses. Yes, that makes sense. 
3. You could say, "He made us alive together when He forgave you all the trespasses." Now that could make sense. The trouble is when you continue to work through the verse; you find out that the forgiveness of the trespasses is related to wiping out the handwriting of requirements or the debt that was against us. That occurs when He nails it to the cross. So He doesn't make us alive when He nailed it to the cross, does he? He made us alive when we believe in Him. But the cancellation of the debt and the forgiveness of the trespasses occurred at the cross according to the next verse. So we can't use "He made us alive when He forgave us of the trespasses." 

The best way to understand this is, "He made us alive together with Him because He cancelled." That verb tense is an aorist participle tense with an aorist main verb. Now the rule of grammar (there are a couple of exceptions) is that generally the timing of that participle is dependent on the timing of the verb. The aorist participle comes before the action of the verb. So if it's a past tense verb, then the action of the participle has to precede that action. That means that the cancellation of the trespasses has to precede or come before His making us alive together with Him.

Now because it's an adverbial participle it has various meanings and cause is the only one that works. "He made us alive together with Him because He had already cancelled the legal guilt of our trespasses." That's the only thing that really makes sense. He had already done it. Because He had already cancelled it and solved the objective problem, now He can solve the personal individual problem. 

How do we understand the next clause, which is the beginning of the next verse? Well, if you plug in the different options, the only one that works is "He made us alive together" or "you were born again because He had already cancelled the debt, the trespasses." When did He do that? When He wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us or the certificate of debt. I like that. That's the idea of expiation that's in the King James. So He made us alive together with Him because He cancelled the guilt of our sins (wiped out.) when He wiped out the handwriting of requirements or when He cancelled the certificate of debt that was against us, which was contrary to us. 

He has completely lifted that out of the way. That's the idea. He has taken it out of the way. He has completed lifted it or removed it out of the way. He did it how? By nailing it to the cross. Or maybe take that as temporal: when He nailed it to the cross. Either one would work: by nailing it to the cross or when He nailed it to the cross. You might even say, "He completely lifted it out of the way because He nailed it to the cross." See that way, any of those three could work and there's no contradiction with any other passage in Scripture. That's how you work through these options. 

So what we're told here is that our regeneration (We're born again.) because something had already happened in the past that wiped out (cancelled) our debt. That legal debt is removed. 

But the problem is we're still spiritually dead, aren't we? That just cancelled the judicial problem toward God. But everybody is still born spiritually dead and lacking righteousness. That only gets solved when you trust Jesus as your savior. When you trust, believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins, at that instant what happens is that God credits to your account the perfect righteousness of Christ. He looks at you now as righteous and not unrighteous. He declares you to be just. That's the Doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone. So you're justified when you believed in Jesus and He regenerates you. He makes you alive together with Him.

So now you're alive and you're justified so that when you die you can go to heaven. You don't just go to heaven because He paid the penalty because that doesn't change you. It just changed God's orientation to us, which is included in those words that the Scripture uses: propitiation (which is not a word that's used too often any more) and reconciliation. God was in Christ. 

^NKJ 2 Corinthians 5:19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Then 1 John 2:2 says that Christ was the propitiation of the Father. He satisfied that judicial demand. Those things all work together: the redemption (the paying of the price), the forgiveness (which cancels the debt), the propitiation (which satisfies the justice of the Father) and the reconciliation (which changes His orientation to us because His justice has been satisfied.) The price has been paid. So because of that cancellation of the debt called expiation –

 these are great theological words that have been flushed away because we have such an anemic education today. 

You buy any of the new translations and they dumb down the language because these Bibles have to be able to be read by somebody who's got a 3^rd grade reading level or a 5^th grade reading level or 7^th grade reading level. They just can't handle these words. We're becoming impoverished spiritually because we don't have the vocabulary anymore to explain and understand these phenomenal things that God did for us at the cross. 

So that takes us through Colossians 2 and it gets us back to the passage we're looking at in Hebrews 9:22. That is, that we have this forgiveness. 

^NKJ Hebrews 9:22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

Now when does that forgiveness occur? When the blood shed? Yes. That's what that passage says. It is the same thing that we saw back in verse 12, that Christ entered. 

^NKJ Hebrews 9:12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained

Or, having found, having completed.

eternal redemption.

So all this happened at the cross. 

Now we get into the next verse.

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 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.

Now I don't know about you but I think that translation's a little fuzzy.

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 Therefore

Whenever we see a "therefore" we need to see what it is there for. It is a conclusion based upon the things that the writer has said already; that he is going to come to a conclusion based on all the principles he's laid out related to Christ's work His perfect cleansing in light of the temporal work, the temporal cleansing that had to be accomplished week after week after week, year after year after year by the human Levitical priests.

So he says:

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary

He uses this Greek word anagke which was a word that goes back and has a strong usage from Classical Greek times. Go back and read Aristotle on logic and this is a word that was used to talk about the fact that when you have the truth of certain propositions understood that they necessarily imply the truth of something else. In sentential logic you might have the statement, if A, then B. If A is true, then it naturally and necessarily follows that B would be true.  So that's what he is indicting here. The word anagke indicates a necessary compulsion or a logical necessity, something that must take place because of the way reality is. Reality is structured the way it is by the omniscient mind of God. He knew everything, every little detail, every piece of minutia that you can possibly come up with and beyond, God knew and comprehended simultaneously when He created everything. 

He created everything in such a way that reality could handle the violent shock that came to it when Adam sinned. That sin didn't just affect Adam personally in his fall, in his spiritual death; but it reverberated throughout all of creation and it changed creation. It changed laws of physics. It changed botanical structure. The ground was going to bring forth now thorns and thistles. It changes the structure of animals so that animals that were not meat eaters before are going to become meat eaters. That entails a slightly different gastrointestinal system. All of these things are going to happen. There is a tremor in the force almost that occurs; this earthquake of earthquake proportions (seismic proportions) that reverberates throughout all of reality. 

So what the writer of Hebrews is saying here is that in light of the necessity of cleansing for sin and that blood must be shed for full redemption and remission of sin, it was necessary that certain things happen. There was no other way to deal with the sin problem. It was an internal, logical, spiritual necessity because of the way God made things. 

So he says:

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary

Then we have funny little construction in the Greek that really doesn't show up in the English. I've tried to highlight this in the slide by inserting an asterisk where the first word would occur in the Greek. Then, I highlighted the "but" in yellow to indicate the second word, because you have this way of writing in Greek that if you're going to say "If this on the one hand, but this on the other hand." You do this by inserting these little words that we call particles in there, the men and the de. Whenever you see a men preceding a clause and then a de in the next cause, this should be translated on the one hand; but then on the other hand.

So he says:

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these,

These what? That's why we went back to the sacrifices mentioned back in verse 19 – the blood of calves and goats – these sacrifices. It was therefore on the one hand for the copies of these things in the heavens to be cleansed with these sacrifices, but on the other hand the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these sacrifices. 

So he is contrasting two different categories of sacrifices, one at the earthly level that is just a shadow of what has to take place at the heavenly level. We have to understand this as, on the one hand, but on the other hand. 

Now the next key word to look at is that word copies.

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens

This is a Greek word hupodeigmata which is really a word that is used more frequently in the Koine Greek of the New Testament than it was in the Old Testament period or in the Classical Greek times. The classical Greek preferred a different form of the word the paradeigmata. See hupa, para are interchangeable prefixes. A paradeigmata is where we get the English word paradigm. A paradigm is a pattern. A paradigm is a model for something that you can then take and apply across the board. It's the same idea in hupodeigmata as in paradeigmata. It means a sample or example, a pattern or a copy. 

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies

Or the patterns…

of the things in the heavens

Indicating that this is not the ultimate reality, but there is a prototype or an archetype that is in the heavens. 

The copy of the things that are in heaven. Now we see this word hupdeigmata used a couple of other times in Hebrews. It's not used very much in the New Testament. There are only six times that the word occurs in the New Testament; and three of them are in Hebrews – the passage we're looking at as well as Hebrews 4:11 and Hebrews 8:5.

In Hebrews 4:11 it's translated as an example. 

^NKJ Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest,

Talking about the Millennial Kingdom. 

lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

In other words, don't be a copycat with the Jews in the Old Testament who griped and complained to God when they're going through the wilderness. We don't want to have any copycats sins here; don't follow their example. 

Then in Hebrews 8:5 it talks about the priest who served the copy to the heavenly priests. 

^NKJ Hebrews 8:5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

Again it's talking about the furniture in the Tabernacle. 

He also uses another word "shadow." It's important. We'll come back and talk about that word in a minute as we get through this. So these are the ways in which these words are used. It's not a strong technical word; but it's an important word to understand that we've got a pattern, a copy on earth. A copy is a duplicate of an original. That original is in heaven. 

Tuesday night we talked about the Ark of the Covenant in heaven in the Temple of God. That's the original. The Ark of the Covenant that Moses built is the copy. That's the hupodeigmata. 

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens

That is the archetypical furniture. 

should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Now what are being cleansed are the copies of the earthly tabernacle: the earthy altar, the early altar of incense, the earthy Ark of the Covenant. They had to be cleansed with these sacrifices. 

The word there for cleansed is the word katharizo which is the word for cleansing or purification (same word that's used in 1 John 1:9). 

^NKJ 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It's an infinitive of purpose there, so here it's also an infinitive of purpose that the copies of things in the heavens need to be cleansed. That's his point. 

Now the rest of the verse we can handle pretty easily. It's that if it's necessary for the earthly things to be cleansed with the blood of goats and calves, don't you think the heavenly things also have to be cleansed? That's what he says. 

^NKJ Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves

Emphasis!

with better sacrifices than these.

But it needs a better sacrifice than these sacrifices. So let me give you a corrected translation.

Therefore it was necessary (because of the way things are and the way God made reality) on the one hand, for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified (to be cleansed, to be decontaminated from sin) but on the other hand the things in the heavens to be cleansed.

See, it picks up the same verb. It doesn't repeat it. That's called an ellipsis; but the idea is there.

But on the other hand it's necessary that the things in heavens need to be cleansed with better sacrifices than these (the bulls and the goats.)

Now that introduces a doctrine called typology. Now typology is part of the study of hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the academic word for interpretation, from the Greek word Hermes the messenger god in the Greek pantheon. He's the messenger. He's the one who interpreted the gods, who explained the gods.  So hermeneutics has to do with the science and the art of interpretation. So in the science of interpretation we have specific rules that you follow in order to understand things. Well part of this is just understanding how God uses certain symbols and what we call types. 

I remember when I was growing up in church and I'd hear the pastor talk about a type of Christ I thought that was one word – typeachrist – just one word. It wasn't for a long time that I came to understand what that meant because we don't use the word type in everyday language the way it's used in this theological sense, which comes from the Greek. 

There are three words used in talking about this. The first is the word we just mentioned, hupodeigmata meaning a sample or example or a pattern. I've talked about the fact that God has designed reality in such a way and history in such a way that you see repeated patterns down through history. What this does for us is as you read the Bible and you begin to see these patterns, you realize that God has not structured these things to happen by chance; but that God has woven these things together in order to set up certain patterns and certain pictures from the time of the creation and Adam's fall all the way up to the coming of Jesus Christ and His going to the cross. All of these picture in the Old Testament are designed to portray something about what Jesus was going to do on the cross. 

Now does that mean that everybody who read this in the Old Testament understood what these thing meant when they were taking a lamb into be sacrificed on the Passover? I think in some of the stronger types like that, they did understand that. 

You have John the Baptist saying when he saw Jesus:

^NKJ John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

They clearly understood that sacrificial connection. But other connections weren't as clear to them in the Old Testament. But they're made clear once they see the final product. 

All of a sudden it's like, "Yeah.  That fits. That fits the patterns."

You have some patterns that are real specific and some patterns that are a little broader and a little more nebulous. I like to use the word patterns. When it's real precise, we have the word type. It comes from the Greek word tupos that indicates a form or a likeness, a stamp or the impression that something makes on something else. For example when you put an impression in soft wax, a seal; then that is the idea there. The seal itself would be called the original form. Then it has a reflection in the wax that it makes the impression into. The word type though when it's used in the Scripture is more often used in a general sense and not a technical sense. 

Since the completion of the canon theologians have come along and taken this word and made it a technical word. We have to be careful. I remember reading a commentary by A. W. Pink not long before I went to seminary (back around 1973, and it was recommended to me by somebody I trusted. I didn't trust them ever again.) called Gleanings in Genesis. Everything that shows up in Genesis is a type of something. I mean every little detail. That is the abuse of typology. We have to be careful of that. There are many writers who do that and abuse that. We have to be careful. 

I think there are others who have gone to the other extreme who say there are no types whatsoever.  In seminary you discover there are huge debates about this. I think I it's clear that there are these patterns. Some are clearly stated. "Christ our Passover", as we saw last time with the Passover meal, is a clear statement that the Passover is a picture of Jesus Christ. We can clearly say the Passover is a type of Christ. The lamb is a type of Christ. There are other things that we can say are a type of Christ. But there are some things, like Joseph's coat of many colors, where I don't think we can say that. Scripture doesn't make those kinds of applications.

The third word that's used is this word skia that's translated shade in some passages, shadow, overshadowing. We might translate it foreshadowing, a pattern that foreshadows something. 

All three of these words are used in Hebrews 8:5 talking about the priests in the Old Testament.

^NKJ Hebrews 8:5 who serve the copy

Hupodeimata

and shadow

Skia

of the heavenly things,

That's the early furniture in the Tabernacle. 

as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern

The tupos. 

shown you on the mountain."

But tupos here isn't used in that kind of technical sense. It's basically a synonym for skia and hupodeigma. So they serve a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things. But those things are going to foreshadow something about the Lord Jesus Christ and they are built to a pattern, which meant that God showed Moses a blueprint, He showed him the actual prototypes in heaven so that Moses could remember that. What he built on earth was on the basis of that pattern of the heavenly prototypes.

Now we have another place where this word. For example, shadow is used in Colossians 2:16-7.

^NKJ Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

See this is relationship to the Old Testament law and the problem of Judiazers that came in and said, "You can't drink this. You can't eat that. You still have to observe all the festivals of the Mosaic Law."

Paul says:

^NKJ Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

^NKJ Colossians 2:17 which are

What?

a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

They picture something that God's going to do in the future. But the substance is of Christ. Ultimately everything points to Jesus Christ. 

So you have a lot of different passages that use for example the word tupos. The nail marks in His hand. Tupos then originally carried the idea of the result of a blow or what gives a blow or impression. From that idea developed the thought of a mark, a mould, a stamp, a cast, a form, a model, an outline or sketch. So what I have pictured there is a stamp that makes an impression on the soft wax. The soft wax is the copy. That's the type. In a technical sense one would also say that the original is the antitype. 

The confusing thing is in Greek they use both type and antitype to refer to both: both that which stamps and that which is stamped, that which is the mould and that which goes into the mould. They reverse. We see an example of that in Hebrews. That's why I'm bringing this out. Technically the way we usually talk about the type is the shadow and the antitype is what it pictures. 

Now this is just to show you that the word type often indicates something that is not technical. The nail marks in Jesus hand. That's a type, a nail type. The idols – it's used for the images that were made to worship. The Tabernacle was made according to the tupos, the type, the pattern of Moses. That's not a technical sense. He wrote letters of this kind or to this affect. Adam was a pattern of the one to come. That could be and probably is a technical sense. 

Other passages 

^NKJ Romans 6:17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

^NKJ 1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

^NKJ Philippians 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.

^NKJ 1 Thessalonians 1:7 so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.

^NKJ 2 Thessalonians 3:9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.

See all of these just use it in a very general sense, very similar to skia or hupodeigma. 

^NKJ 1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

It uses a different form of the word. Or they happened to them typically. It's an adverbial form. These words indicate various patterns that are said to indicate the sovereignty of God. Hupodeigma is almost always translated example. That's how it makes sense. 

The picture that we see here is that Christ had to cleanse the heavenly altar which is a picture of the propitiation, the satisfaction of the justice of God and the payment of the penalty due to the Supreme Court of Heaven. The only death that could qualify was the death of a perfect Savior.

So verse 24 says:

^NKJ Hebrews 9:24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true,

This is the heavenly dwelling place of God. He didn't enter just a mere copy of the true one which is like the priest in the Tabernacle or Temple.

but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

That is on our behalf, as our priest.

Then he says…and the word there for copy here – it wasn't a mere copy of the true one. It's antitype, tupos, which is a copy or an example. It's almost identical to tupos in this context. 

Then the next to the last verse says:

^NKJ Hebrews 9:25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another --

See the high priest has to do it annually, but Jesus just had to enter once because He comes with His death, which is unique. So the writer can then say in verse 26:

^NKJ Hebrews 9:26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world;

That idea there is since the beginning of the world.

but now, once at the end of the ages,

That is the culmination of the ages indicating that everything in the past has pointed to that event at the cross. 

He has appeared

to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Again we have the word athetesis, which means to annul. Notice again, wiping it out at the cross – not when you believe, but at the cross.

That answers a lot of problems and it gives us confidence to know that no matter what sin we commit or we've committed (it doesn't mean it's a license to sin) God in His grace has already dealt with every sin so that it isn't the issue. The issue is our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Let's bow our heads in closing prayer. 

Illustrations