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This past spring a group of passengers bound for Los Angeles from the east coast sat aboard an airplane waiting for take off. After a long delay the pilot announced that there was a maintenance problem–the ground crew could not get the cargo door to seal properly. He told them that the mechanics had sent some digital pictures of the door to the airlines experts. But as good as the pictures were, the experts still couldn’t solve the problem. They needed to be there to see the real thing in order to fix it. The flight was cancelled, leaving the passengers to scramble for alternative flights.
Pictures are wonderful things, but ultimately they are not adequate substitutes for the objects they represent. Hebrews 9:1–10 makes a similar point. As great as the earthly tabernacle was, its ultimate purpose was only to represent or point toward something far greater.
We ought to spend more time studying the details of the plan of the tabernacle, for we can see from the author of Hebrews that they contain many lessons for us today (v. 5). The one lesson that Hebrews spends the time to teach us concerns the annual entry of the high priest into the Most Holy Place (cf. Lev. 16:1–34). We learn from the rituals of the high priest and from the veils that kept the Most Holy Place out of sight from all but the high priest that the presence of God was closed to sinful people (Heb. 9:8). This separation continues between God and humanity because the sacrifices aren’t able to cleanse the consciences of the worshipers. That is, they only dealt with the problem of sin at an external level (vv. 9-10).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Our understanding of the book of Hebrews, along with much of the rest of the New Testament, would be greatly enhanced by studying the Old Testament sacrificial system.
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