The Abrahamic Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant: Part 14

John Plunkett
22^nd August, 2015

Last time, in Part 13, we started looking at the connection between the Abrahamic Covenant and blood. We also talked about the Testaments.

I would like to continue along the same lines today – especially with the topic of blood – a subject on which we still have quite a lot to cover.

As we continue now in Hebrews 9, we also return to the symbolisms of the temple, the priesthoods, the Sinai Covenant sacrifices and the symbolisms to their heavenly and spiritual counterparts.

Hebrews 9:
22: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission...

The author is referring to the Sinai Covenant law.

23: It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these {these blood sacrifices}...

The English word ‘purified’ here is from the same Greek word – 'katharizo' – as ‘purged’ in verse 22.

All of the items of the physical tabernacle – its furniture and its priests – were figuratively and symbolically purged, cleansed and purified – first of all by the sacrifice of animals and then by the sprinkling of the blood of those animals on the various items – even on the priests themselves.

But their heavenly counterparts that they symbolized (we can call them "the originals") were purified by a better sacrifice, as it says here. And by better blood. Why? How? Because it is the sacrifice and the blood of Jesus.

24a: For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands…

These "holy places made with hands" were the two main rooms of the physical tabernacle and temples... the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.

24b: …which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

I realize that there is a lot of repetition in these Abrahamic Covenant verses in the book of Hebrews. But I didn’t put it there. God did. And I believe that He did so for very good reasons.

We are in Part 14 of this series and I believe that this is an important subject. If I were to cut it short, I don't believe that I would be fulfilling what God wants me to do with the subject. I believe that He wants me to follow the Bible study on the Abrahamic Covenant verses right through until the very end of it. I will probably go to the end of the book of Hebrews and then cut it off there. But the more we look into it, the more it seems to open up to us. I believe that God wanted to put a strong emphasis on these very important concepts.

On the day of the Wave Sheaf Offering, the day after Jesus resurrection, and forty days later on the day of Jesus’ official ascension back to heaven, Jesus, who is our Melchizedek-order High Priest, did not enter into the physical Holy Place in Herod’s Temple; nor did He enter into the physical Most Holy Place.

Please remember that the human Jesus was a Jew and not an Aaronic Levite. So, as He, as a humna being, was not an Aaronite Priest or a High Priest, by His own rules and laws that He, as YHVH, had set, He did not have the authority to enter the physical holy places.

We could probably argue that, technically, after His death and resurrection, once He returned to the spiritual "God-state" as YHVH (the Logos), He could have resumed entering the Most Holy Place to sit on the Mercy Seat as He had done in Old Testament times.

We could also argue that those formerly holy places of His temple – what had been holy places – were not really, truly holy anymore. Even the temple itself was not truly holy anymore, once He had fulfilled everything that it – the temple – stood for. Even the priesthood was not holy anymore.

Even so, Jesus didn’t go back there. You will not find any record that Jesus, after His resurrection, went back to – or anywhere near to – the Jerusalem temple after His resurrection.

So then, what is the Hebrews author talking about here? Which Holy Place and which Most Holy Place did He go to?

Verse 24 calls it "the true" and that it is in "heaven itself." It is the true, heavenly anti-type of the earthly tent tabernacle and stone temples.

That is where He went. But why did He go there?

He went there because the annual Day of Atonement blood offerings were taken by the Aaronic High Priest into the physical Most Holy Place every year.

The room which, as well as being a symbolic type of the heavenly throne room of God the Father and of Jesus Himself, was also the earthly temporary dwelling of YHVH whenever He chose to visit and to intervene for His Sinai Covenant people – physical Israel.

In fulfilment of that annual Day of Atonement ritual, Jesus, as scripture tells us, took a sample of His own precious shed blood back to His Father’s Throne in Heaven. You can imagine Him there in the blindingly glorious presence of God the Father.

So I ask again: Why was (and is) He there? Why is He there in the presence of God the Father? The author of the book of Hebrews tells us that He is there "for us." He is there to intervene for His brothers and sisters in His role as a Mediator between us and God the Father.

I want to switch gears now by asking you this question:

Please think about Jesus in the Most Holy Place in the Tent Tabernacle or in the stone temple back then; and think of Him now in the throne room of God the Father. Does Jesus somehow feel restricted? Is He bored there? Is He in such a small space now as He was when He visited His earthly Most Holy Places?

In the Tent Tabernacle, the tiny cube of the Most Holy Place was a mere 10 cubits (15 feet) per side – length, breadth and height. In the stone temple, the dimensions of its Most Holy Place were twice as big; but still only 20 cubits. That is approximately 30 feet per side.

I paced them out yesterday to try to get some idea of their size, and neither of them were very big. I am sure that the heavenly throne room of God the Father is probably a little larger than those tiny rooms... as we shall see.

During this series we have frequently touched on the symbolism between the earthly tent tabernacle and the stone temples; so we should have some idea by now what they were like.

But what is the real thing like? These physical Most Holy Places symbolized God’s Throne Room in heaven. What is that like?

God gives us some hints in the Book of Revelation. Even so, I am absolutely sure that mere words, whether written or spoken, even in the Word of God, cannot do full justice to the magnificence of the real thing.

But let’s just try:

Revelation 21:
2: And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3: And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

Who is the "God" being referred to here? At the future time that is being spoken of, Jesus will already have been with His people on earth for a thousand years. So, as confirmed by other scriptures, this must be referring to God the Father coming to be with us.

5a: And He that sat upon the throne…

This is the same throne that was mentioned in Chapter 20 – the Great White Throne. It is now coming down out of heaven along with the New Jerusalem and the Tabernacle of God.

5b: ... said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said unto me, "Write: for these words are true and faithful."...
9: And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, "Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife."
10: And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11: Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12: And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
15: And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

This is the same city that Abraham looked forward to being in.

16a: And the city lieth foursquare…

Just as the Most Holy Place was foursquare.

16b: …and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal...

Exactly the same as in the most Holy Place.

17: And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18: And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass...

This is where God lives right now! These are just John's human descriptions of it. I am sure that it is even more fabulous than he was able to put down on parchment here.

19: And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20: The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass...

Look what John wrote next:

22a: And I saw no temple therein...

Why would God bring the tabernacle down from heaven, as He said He will in verse 3; but now, as John was inspired to write, there was no temple in the city?

The second part of the verse answers the question:

22b: … for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple
of it.

The symbolism is just astonishing! I don’t pretend to be able to totally understand it all. There are treble and quadruple symbolisms all mixed into it and we really have to dig into it. Even then, our human brains just do not have the capacity to understand it.

But does this statement in verse 222 contradict what it says in verse 3... that there is a tabernacle there and then, no, there isn’t one?

Let’s look at verse 3 again:

3: And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.

There may be some difference between the word ‘tabernacle,’ which is “skene” in Greek, and the one for ‘temple,’ which is “naos.”

I don’t know whether that is relevant or not; but what does this verse 3 say? It says that, at that point in time, the Tabernacle of God is with men. It says that He (God) will dwell with them. It says that God Himself shall be with them (with men). The logic of this indicates that God’s Tabernacle (skene) is somehow equated with God Himself. This is what we are told.

So verse 3 is in perfect accordance with verse 22, which tells us that the Lord God Almighty (God the Father) and the Lamb (Jesus) are the Temple of the Holy City.

So again, how can we even get our limited human minds around such amazing spiritual concepts? We really cannot. Not yet. But we will when we see these things coming to pass.

We really do want to be there! We really do want to see this!

It seems to me, when I read this, that the whole of the Holy City of the New Jerusalem will be God’s Throne Room.

I believe that the symbolism of the cube is very important. I have heard people say that it could possibly be a pyramid; but I don't believe that this would line up with the cubic shape of the Most Holy Places.

The length, the breadth and the height will each be 12,000 furlongs. If my source is correct, a biblical furlong is about 600 feet, which would make the length, the breadth and the height of the Holy City 1,400 miles each.

What about the fabulous wall of the city that will be made of jasper? I have always had a hard time getting my mind around a cube-shaped city, especially one that is 1,400 miles per side, having a wall!

But according to these scriptures it will have a wall, and a very huge one by human standards. 144 cubits is approximately 216 feet. Compared with this huge 1,400 mile city, a 216 foot wall doesn’t sound very big. But 216 feet is bigger than any wall that has ever been built by a human being.

Let's move on now into Revelation 22, where we'll pick up a few more points.

At the time and the place being prophesied of here, it appears that the only "antitype item" from the physical temples will be the Great White Throne which might be the antitype of the Mercy Seat that was located in the Most Holy Places. We see this in Revelation 22:

Revelation 22:
1: And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb...
3: And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him...

I believe that the throne of God mentioned here could be an antitype of the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Places.

If this is true that the Mercy Seat is the only spiritual antitype of the physical temple items, then there will be no altar. The last mention of an altar was way back in verse 7 of chapter 16 of the Book of Revelation.

It is interesting that verse 1 of chapter 22 mentions a river of water; so there may not be any reason for a laver, like the one the Sinai Covenant Levites used to wash everything in.

There will be no candles, candlesticks, lamps or lampstands, as there was in the physical tabernacle and temples:

5: And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

Previously there were candlesticks – actually lampstands. There were also spiritual symbolic ones. Seven are mentioned in Revelation 1 and 2, and are symbolic of the seven churches. Also in Revelation 11, we see two lampstands which are symbolic of the two witnesses.

But once the Holy City and God the Father come down to us, there will be no artificial light source whatsoever. It will not be necessary. At that time, not even the spiritual light of those seven churches and two witnesses. And of course, not even the physical light of the sun and the moon. Going back to chapter 21:

Revelation 21:
11: Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal...
23: And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24: And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25: And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

So here we have a few amazing glimpses into the future; but also, perhaps, a few amazing glimpses as to what it is like in God’s throne room right now.

Is it small and restrictive? Would Jesus be bored there? No! Is it a fifteen foot cube? I don’t think so!

Let's return now to:

Hebrews 9:
24: For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God {the Father} for us:
25: For yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place {actually the Most Holy Place} every year with blood of others;
26: For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
27: And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28a: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…

The main comparison here is between the word “often,” which is in regard to the multiple sacrifices of the Sinai Covenant, over and over, year after year, in comparison with the word “once” in regard to Jesus’ one-time, single New Covenant sacrifice.

There is another point here which is an important one for us to think about. Just "as it is appointed unto men once to die," Jesus accepted the fact that, in order to fulfil His Father’s will and the arrangement that they had made between themselves so long before (Revelation 13:8), just like all men, it was necessary for the human Jesus to also suffer death – which is likely the most unpleasant aspect of human life. In order to fulfil those things, He had to suffer it. In fact, Jesus’ atoning death was the very reason that He agreed to be born as a human being in the first place.

28b… and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

We all know that Jesus was – and still is – without sin. However, during His first coming, He was somwhat besmirched by the sins of the world – just by being with a bunch of human beings in the world. This "besmirching" was part of His sacrificial role – the role He had to play in His first coming.

By the time of the writing of the epistle to the Hebrews, that sacrificial role had been completed. He had paid the death penalty for us during His first coming. We know that the epsitle to the Hebrews was written well after the death and resurrection of Jesus – probably thirty or so years afterwards.

Jesus had already paid the penalty during His first coming for all the sins that have ever been committed and that have ever been repented of. Jesus paid the penalty for all of the sins that were committed before He was born and died. But what about the ones that were committed afterwards? What about our sins now? What about the sins that have been committed since – after – His death and resurrection? Those too? Yes. And even those sins that will be committed and repented of by human beings during the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment period.

The main thing is the repentance aspect. Even those billions who come up in the Second Resurrection will need to repent in order to have their sins covered by Jesus’ sacrifice.

The vast scope of the death of this one man – this one human being – is absolutely astonishing. It really is!

As we move on now into Hebrews 10, we are still in the symbolic discussion of the Sinai Covenant and its sacrificial law.

Hebrews 10:1a: For the law having a shadow of good things to come…

These "good things to come" are the ones that will come at the fulfilment of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant.

1b: … and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect...

We need to be careful with this verse because it is another of those verses that were used by ministers in the 1990s, when they were trying to use verses like this one to claim that Jesus’ death somehow reduced the Ten Commandments to nine, did away with God’s Holy Days, negated God's clean and unclean food laws, as well as all kinds of other laws.

However, "the law" that the author was writing about here is clearly referring to the sacrificial laws of the Sinai Covenant. These were the sacrifices that were repeated for approximately 1,400 years – with some breaks, as we know.

And as he says here, these laws were unable to bring the Israelites to perfection. But they were not meant to bring them to perfection!

Still, this doesn‘t mean that perfection isn't something that we shouldn't be striving for. It certainly is! We must remember that Jesus commanded His New Covenant people to“be ye {become} perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

So we do need to be striving after perfection. What the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews is implying to us is that, through the New Covenant, perfection is ultimately attainable, although under the Sinai Covenant it was not attainable.

2: For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

If the sacrificial laws of the Sinai Covenant could have brought perfection to the Israelites (which they couldn’t), then one-by-one, as each Israelite attained perfection, their offerings would have ceased.

But again, they didn’t! They couldn’t!

There is also a curious theoretical implication in here in this verse that, if any Israelite was perfected by his own sacrificial offerings, and if his sins were purged, then the Sinai Covenant laws would no longer apply to him. But, the author continues, if this happened, that Israelite would lose the conscience – and hence the knowledge – of what sin is.

This is a hard verse to get our minds around; but it means what it says: The worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

Let’s pick up a couple of verses in the epistle to the Romans that back this up and where Paul is saying basically the same thing:

Romans 3:20:
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 7:7:
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, 'Thou shalt not covet.'

By these verses (others as well), we understand that, during the Sinai Covenant period, which lasted for about 1,400 years, there were basically two segments to God’s Law:

Segment number one was the eternal, core, non-sacrificial laws of God, which included the Ten Commandments and which stated what sin is.

The second segment was that of "the deeds of the law" – the temporary sacrificial law. It was temporarily tied to the first segment until it was done away. It was temporality tied to the first segment in order to influence those who were subject to it. God loved those who hept it and wanted them to remain on the straight-and-narrow as much as was possible... which turned out to be not very much!

Again, the second segment was temporary; but the first segment was and is eternal.

When Jesus annulled the second segment by His death, please remember that the first segment remained – and was to be written on the hearts of all spiritual Israelites, including you and me.

Please always remember that the first segment remained.

Back to Hebrews 10:

Hebrews 10: 3:
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

Those Sinai Covenant law sacrifices – all of them; but perhaps especially the Day of Atonement ones – jogged the memories of the Israelites and refreshed their knowledge every year as to the seriousness of sin. Also of what sin is: the transgression of the law (I John 3:4).

Please note the present tense of the word “is” in verse 3. Please remember that, at the time that this epistle was written, the temple was still standing. This was thirty-odd years after Jesus died. The temple was still standing, the Aaronic priesthood was still in place and the Sinai Covenant sacrifices were still being offered, even though those sacrifices were by then unnecessary because Jesus and His sacrifice had already fulfilled their symbolism.

Under the Sinai Covenant, the sins of the Israelites were brought to their remembrance over and over again, every year, throughout those 1,400-odd years. By the very existence of those sacrifices, the Israelites were to continually remember their sins.

Why? Because God remembered their sins! And because their sins had not been taken away... certainly not by the sacrificial offerings of the Sinai Covenanty law. This is repeated in verse 4:

4: For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

So under the Sinai Covenant, as long as the Israelites' sins remained unforgiven, they were – and will be – remembered by God. But under the New Covenant He promises that He will forgive the iniquity of those who repent of it. Their sin He will remember no more:

Jeremiah 31:34:
"And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD': for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them," saith the LORD: "for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Once again, you choose! Which is the better covenant? Which is the superior covenant?

Under the Sinai Covenant, God remembered the people’s sins, and the taking away of their sins was an impossibility.

Under the New Covenant, God promises to forgive their iniquity and to completely take away, and even to forget, their sins. He will remember them no more.

Back to Hebrews 10:

5: Wherefore when He (Jesus) cometh into the world, he saith, "Sacrifice and offering thou (Father) would not, but a body hast thou prepared me:"

What body? Is Jesus own temporary physical body being referred to here? Yes; but only partially. Also His spiritual Body, the Body of Jesus Christ, the Church of God. There are many verses that back this up. We all know how to find them. We all know what the Body of Jesus Christ is.

The words quoted here in verse 5 and in the following two verses are really interesting because they are actually the words of David, inspired by God, and quoted from Psalm 40:6-8.

They were initially directed, by David, to the LORD. This is something to really chew on and to get your mind around because, as with some other prophetic Psalms, some of the grammar here strongly implies that David is writing, speaking, or singing these words on behalf of His holy descendant, the future human Jesus – the very same LORD who put these words into David’s mind, mouth, and pen, in the first place!

So, when the LORD, YHVH, the Word, the Logos came into the world as the human Jesus, He fulfilled these prophetic words.

Fast forward to 70AD at the destruction of the temple, forty years after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension: the Sinai Covenant and its associated sacrificial offerings and laws became totally 100% obsolete.

I am still not totally sure why God did not do away with them at the very time of Jesus’ death or resurrection. I am not sure why He waited a whole forty years to do it.

I do have some ideas, though. I think that, just maybe, He wanted to give the Israelites (mainly Jews) who were left in the Palestine area by then one final opportunity to repent and to attempt to live according to the terms of the Sinai Covenant... perhaps so that they could never say to Him that He never gave them enough opportunities.

But again, in verse 5, the sacrifice and the offering mentioned there are those that were commanded according to the terms of the Sinai Covenant. But it says that God had no real desire for them. He repeats this in verse 6:

6: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

As this was quoted from Psalm 40:6, we know that, at the writing of the epistle to the Hebrews, it was not really something new. But what this tells us is that although, to a certain extent, the Sinai Covenant and its sacrifices had a certain level of importance to God, He derived no real pleasure from them. He had no real desire for them. But they were added because of the transgression of the Israelites (Galatians 3:19).

The implication we see is that they were a means to an end. They were a test for the people to show God if they could obey Him.

So the Sinai Covenant sacrifices were ultimately not for God’s benefit; but for the people's benefit.

7: Then said I, "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God."

Again, this is quoted from David's written words in Psalm 40:7.

David wrote "I come to do thy will." Yes. We know that David came. He was born, he was raised up and he was chosen by God for the very purpose of doing His will. We know also that the Psalms and history of David prove that he deeply desired to do God’s will. Yes, he made mistakes, as we all do, and he sinned, as we all do. But he deeply desired to do God’s will.

Here again, it is like we are reading the words of David speaking on behalf of the future human Jesus. We know that there are many, many scriptures that tell us that Jesus came to earth to do the will of God the Father. But also, Jesus came to do His own pre-human will – His will from the time when He was still YHVH – still the Word – still the Logos. Jesus’ will was exactly the same as the will of His Father:

John 5:30:
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Continuing in Hebrews 10, the author now repeats, perhaps for emphasis, his quote from Psalm 40:6:

Hebrews 10:8:
Above when he said, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law"...

This "law" was that of the animal sacrifices and offerings – the law that was part and parcel of the Sinai Covenant. Now in verse 9, the author repeats his former quote of Psalms 40:8:

9: Then said he, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

He takes away the first – the Sinai Covenant – that He may establish the second – the New Covenant.

So God took away the so-called "first" covenant. It was not the Abrahamic Covenant. It was the Sinai Covenant, along with its sacrificial law.

10: By the which will {the Father’s will} we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Was a sacrificial offering, complete with the shedding of blood, really required to ratify the New Covenant as it had been to ratify the Abrahamic Covenant and the Sinai Covenant?

Yes, it was. But this time, "once for all." With the New Covenant, only one sacrificial blood offering was necessary. According to the supreme will of God the Father, Jesus’ spiritual brothers and sisters (including you and me) are sanctified through that one single sacrifice. That is amazing!

11: And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

At the time that the book of Hebrews was written the temple was still standing, and God had not yet completely taken away what He calls "the first" – the Sinai Covenant with its daily sacrificial offering ministry, which was unable to talk away sins.

With regards to the First Century Jews continuing with these sacrifices for forty years after Jesus’ death, it is almost like God is saying throughout this epistle, “What a waste of time! What a waste of effort! The one pure ultimate sacrifice that all these millions of animal sacrifices had been symbolizing and had been pre-cursers of throughout the past fourteen centuries, has been offered! It’s over! It's finished! It’s done! They're no longer necessary!"

12: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

“This man?” Yes, Jesus was still a human being when He made the first part of this astonishing offering – the sacrificial part of it.

And that offering was so great, it was enough to cover all sins forever – every sin that was ever committed and was ever repented of by every human being prior to that time – as well as every sin that would be committed and repented of afterwards. Now that’s lots of sins. But Jesus’ perfect sacrifice was sufficient to cover them all.

In effect, that is the very core of the New Covenant. That is the very core of the grace part of the Abrahamic Covenant. And that is the very core of the Gospel – the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

JHP/pp/jhp