Hebrews 9

Verse 1. " A worldly sanctuary." It does not mean anything of a sinful character; but it was an earthly arrangemement.
Verse 2-10. We have lost a great many things through being children. The Jewish converts were not up to it, and so the apostle stopped: he says, it is not the time to speak of these things. The great point is, that the way into the holiest was not made manifest whilst the first tabernacle was standing; but now the way is open, and he wants to get them, with a good conscience, into God's presence. So he shows them first that Christ is gone in, and then he opens the way for them. This chapter shows us Christ in, the next shows us ourselves. They have not got a good conscience here yet; the conscience is not yet purged. But they must be in first, before he will explain to them what is inside. It would be indulging mere curiosity to do so. God says, I cannot tell you anything on your standing; you must come on to mine. Many think they can get information about the things of God; but, as He did to Moses, He still says, " Draw near';" you must get to my level before I can speak with you. God's thought is to get us where we can learn of Him undisturbedly. Where does He write Christ on our hearts? Anywhere? Not at all! In glory. Many try to get acquaintance with the great things of God, who have never been experimentally through Hebrews, and this does great damage to souls. It is like the prodigal son looking in through the window, instead of going in at the door. We are to walk through the length and breadth of the land; and how am I to walk through unless I am in?
Verses 11-14. Now the conscience is purged. Can you say, I have stood before God, and there was not one single thing, one single blemish of any kind, upon me? It is not that He is just to me, but that I am just before Him. God has no more claim on me. Some commentators have said that the prodigal son kept his rags on under the best robe, so that he might look at them sometimes to keep him humble. You may smile *at the idea, but, nevertheless, a great many act on it. That is not what God has done. He has entirely moved Adam out of the way; and the soul never gets perfect liberty until it sees every shred of the old clothes gone, and nothing but Christ left. God said, " The end of all flesh is come before me." For a moment it was fulfilled in the deluge; for a moment everything was either dead or covered; and now, again, God sees no flesh before him: every one is either covered by the death of Christ, or lost. What would be the most incomparable blessing that could be conferred on us? Would it not be to get rid of the flesh? And God has got rid of it in Christ. There is no sense of deliverance until you get to Christ in glory; and you never get near Him unless you see His death.
Verses 15-17. This is the statement of the doctrine. We do not receive property until the testator is dead; so in the case of our Lord: death was not only for the redemption of the saints, but it also opened the way to the inheritance. You see, the moment the wrong end is cleared away, everything is fair with God. That is what He said to Cain: we will be on terms; there is no enmity in me; if you will clear everything away, there is nothing on my side. It is the same in the thief on the cross: everything that offends against God is taken out of the way, and then all is thrown open. In Exodus the blood was shed, and then, in a moment, they saw " the body of heaven in its clearness." The saying is, " I can forgive, but I cannot forget." That is not at all God's way; He says: Remove the offending thing out of my way, and everything is open to you. The prodigal son was in favor in a moment, as if he had never done anything wrong. There is no enmity on the part of God. I take a long time to be reconciled to God, and so I cannot believe He can so quickly be to me; therefore it says, " Be ye reconciled to God." The soul gets clear about the value of the blood long before it gets the thought that it is in perfect favor; it is a long time before you get to " in Christ." Every believer has it "through Christ;" but it is " in Christ." You do not get " in Christ " until the sixth chapter of Romans, and then it is " in " for the first time; before that it is " through."
Such souls are in Adam still, though I doubt not they are converted. But I say to them, change your ground; for " there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." The Galatians are properly Romans who have gone back from the eighth chapter. Romans brings saints out of the law; in Galatians they go back to it. So the apostle says, Of whom I travail in birth now; for I am not quite sure that Christ is in you. Every man in Christ is a new creation.
The word " eternal " is so often repeated in Heb. 9, because the first tabernacle was not eternal; this is; it is forever and ever.
Verses 18-22. If I understand Ex. 24, it was not the priest alone who did it all, which makes it still more interesting. We are seen coming up under cover of the blood with Him, everything thrown open to us.
Verses 23-27. The way into the holiest was " not made manifest;" while the pattern was standing the original was not opened. It was not that the tabernacle itself was defiled, but it was sprinkled to get a defiled people into it. The original is purified to get us in; it is all opened to us, and it cannot be defiled by our going in. There are no wicked spirits in Hebrews as you find in Ephesians. Hebrews is only our right to go in; the wicked spirits are inside; we must be in before we can meet them. You can hardly say that it is heaven itself, but the whole creation is defiled, as you often hear people say, feeling how everything is spoiled.
The holy place is the Jewish place. The holiest will not be visible during the millennium. Christ brought us in as His own house, and He brought in also the Jew; He brought in the heavenly company and also the earthly. The heavenly will be entitled to the holiest, and the earthly to the holy place. Christ has opened the way, so that I am as much cleansed for heaven as for earth; indeed, heaven is far the more certain of the two to you; you can " read your title " to heaven far more clearly than to earth. Why? Because the light is clearer there. A very small thing interrupts the soul-turns it aside. There is nothing we ought to desire more than to be in circumstances, in surroundings, pleasing to the Lord. It is a poor thing, indeed, if I do not seek to know the Lord in circumstances that are pleasing to Him, in surroundings that suit Him.
I often wonder evangelists do not bring more out the thought that the prominent thing that God had in His mind was never carried out until the death of Christ-the mercy seat. God says: The thing I told you to make first, not one of you has ever reached; but my Son has come out, and He is made the way. The
thought of God is to have man without a cloud in the brightest spot; and therefore when man w as found perfectly incapable, He says: I know what you most want, and what you want most I will give you first. I have no doubt the holiest was thrown open the first day; but, Aaron's sons bringing in strange fire, it was all closed up; after which comes the command to drink no wine. Wine is acting from impulse. Giving out a hymn because it is " on your heart," for instance, is impulse. I am not an individual when I come into the assembly; I am really a member of the body, under the government of Christ the Head.
Verse 28. There will be no question of sin at all then. Sin is not taken away yet, as we well know. This is future. He has taken away my sins, for how can I have sins if I be in Christ? But sin is in the world. The work is done which will put it away, but the full result is still future.