Hebrews 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Verse 11 begins with the word “but”. Again, Jesus Christ is better. He is different. He is the God-appointed replacement for the Old Testament Levitical system. Jesus Christ has always been the Great High Priest. However, He was not always on this earth. There was a time in God’s timetable when Jesus Christ came to this earth as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. There was a day when He presented Himself as that Great High Priest. Jesus is the high priest of good things to come. Jesus Christ can and does change the heart of the recipient. Aaron could not affect the heart of the best of the people. He could not even change his own heart. The people could be blessed by having their sins atoned for by the sacrifices that God appointed. They would be blessed in trusting in the promises of God and they are blessed in that Jesus Christ came to be that high priest. The blood of Jesus not only atones for sin, but It provided the only means of the forgiveness of sin.
Jesus Christ came as the High Priest of a greater and more perfect tabernacle. God again reminds us that this tabernacle was not made with hands. Jesus Christ embodies this heavenly Tabernacle. There is also a heavenly Tabernacle building. The Bible talks of this. Aaron was touched by sin. He was guilty of leading the people into idolatry. Jesus Christ is different. He lived among sinners.

Hebrews 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

We can and we must go to Jesus Christ to be forgiven. He is untainted by sin. The Bible tells us those who are saved need to meditate on God’s Word day and night. We need to stop and take the time to think carefully about what God is saying here. The more those who are saved spend time in reflecting on what God has provided for us, the more we should praise His name loudly. Not in the distortions of the Charismatic movement. Rather in the way that the apostles did in their time. I know for me, the careful study of God’s Word causes me to see in a greater way what I have missed due to ignorance of the facts, and also causes me to appreciate what God has provided for me through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that will be the result of the careful study of God’s Word by God-fearing people. I realize those who take the Bible as a “text book” but refuse to allow the Holy Spirt to affect their hearts with the power of God’s Word, will never appreciate the blessings of God’s Word. Some of them, by the grace of God, will be broken and be saved. Many of them will have all of eternity in the lake of fire contemplating what they failed to humbly submit to while they were on this earth.
In verse 12 we see further why Jesus Christ is better. He did not take the blood of goats and calves to the cross. He took His own blood to the cross. His blood was not tainted by sin. His blood was not part of the fall. The Bible tells us that all of Creation groans awaiting God’s redemption. Jesus Christ is not part of that system. Jesus Christ was and is separate from sinners. Because that is the fact, He is able to obtain ETERNAL REDEMPTION for us. The Old Testament saints needed to bring their sacrifices on a yearly basis. Even those who trusted in the promises of God needed to bring their sacrifices on a yearly basis. We know that Simeon and Anna were an example of those Old Testament saints who were looking for the coming of the Messiah. They were looking for the fulfillment of the promise that they fully believed. They were privileged to see that promise fulfilled before their eyes. They did not live long enough to see Jesus Christ go to the cross. However, they saw and they handled this precious gift of God.
Through the book of Hebrews, God is helping those who are saved today to not be guilty of naturalizing the precious gift of salvation. We have the privilege of embracing that gift and walking in the light of just how precious that gift is.
A few days ago I talked of the desire of having some good “old fashioned” Bible conferences where the saints come together in anticipation of receiving a blessing from the clear and solid preaching of God’s Word. A conference where the speakers get up with the Word of God and humbly and boldly proclaim, thus saith the Lord. I read an account just the other day of a conference where preachers from different places got together just recently. The organizer of that conference talked of the blessings of that conference and he stated that he believed that if the preachers would only have heard the testimonies that were given at that conference, they would have gone home filled. Then he added that he knew that they all needed to hear the Word of God preached as well. So the question I ask is which is it? If the testimonies were good enough the fill the listeners up, what place did the Word of God have then. Testimonies are nice and can be good. However, I do not want to be a part of a meeting where human testimonies dominate the meeting. I want to be in a meeting where the proclamation of God’s Word dominates the meeting. God’s Word is absolute. God’s Word is without error. God’s Word works on the heart of the hearer and brings conviction. Testimonies work on the emotions and they might move someone to tears, but they are not the same as the Word of God.
God is telling us here of the precious nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. No human testimony can be a viable substitute for that fact.
Let us get together and let us proclaim again and again, the wonderful facts of the greatness and preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That should never get old to the child of God. There is no substitute for that. Let us get excited about that which is meat. Let us not substitute human experience for God’s truth. This I am sure is God’s plea to us today and every day. This is my plea in my feeble way for us. This is what we desire to do in every service we have. This is what we try to encourage with the devotionals that we send out. This is the only thing that will strengthen us in the inner man and give us that ability to stand with Peter and John and declare: “we must obey God rather than man.”
I truly believe we need to get into the meat of God’s Word so that we can appreciate these truths that God is setting before us. We need this as individual Christians and we need this as corporate Christians. The lost need to stand in amazement as they witness the excitement that God’s people have in sitting under the clear preaching of the Word of God. As we come to see the blessedness of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Great High Priest it will be a help to us in our walk with the Lord.
Pastor Bartel