Yeshua: His Better Covenant ~ Part 6

Messianic Jews 9:23-28
Letter to the Messianic Jews

In my last post, we concluded our examination of Messianic Jews 9:15-22 ~ The New Covenant Validated by the Death of Yeshua. In this post, we’ll continue our mini-series on Yeshua: His Better Covenant which will cover Messianic Jews 9:23-28 concerning Yeshua As the Sufficient Offering for Our Sins.

Yeshua As the Sufficient Offering for Our Sins

“²³ Now this is how the copies of the heavenly things had to be purified, but the heavenly things themselves require better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For the Messiah has entered a Holiest Place which is not man-made and merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, in order to appear now on our behalf in the very presence of God. ²⁵ Further, He did not enter heaven to offer Himself over and over again, like the cohen hagadol who enters the Holiest Place year after year with blood that is not his own; ²⁶ for then He would have had to suffer death many times — from the founding of the universe on. But as it is, He has appeared once at the end of the ages in order to do away with sin through the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷ Just as human beings have to die once, but after this comes judgment, ²⁸ so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him.” ~ Messianic Jews 9:23-28 (CJB)

Wait a minute!! What is verse 23 talking about? Why do heavenly things require… sacrifices at all? Surely they are not defiled, as are the copies, such as the Tabernacle or Temple and its implements. The author of Messianic Jews, still thinking of the excellent efficiency of the sacrifice which Yeshua made, begins with a thought which is fantastic. Let us remember the letter’s primary thinking again is that the worship of this world is a pale copy of the real worship. The author of Messianic Jews says that in this world the Levitical sacrifices were designed to purify the means of worship. Now he goes on to say that the work of Yeshua purifies not only earth but heaven. He has the tremendous thought of a kind of cosmic redemption that purified the whole universe, seen and unseen.

Hugh Montefiore, a Jewish Anglican, writes on this verse:

“What our author meant was this: the purification of men’s consciences, made by means of the heavenly cultus [a system of religious worship], needed a better sacrifice to make it effective than the sacrifices which sufficed for the earthly cultus, which was a mere copy of the heavenly.” [1]

The Messiah’s blood made it possible for undefiled heavenly things to purify defiled sinners. For external cleansing, external sacrifices suffice (9:9-10); but for spiritual cleansing, spiritual ones are needed.

God has so organized the universe that human beings have to die once, not many times as did the animal sacrifices. Space and knowledge do not permit me to delve further into the topic of reincarnation. Suffice it to say that this is the Scriptures’ refutation of the concept of reincarnation, which is found in most Eastern religions. Reincarnation is based on the notion that although the body is naturally mortal, the soul is not; so that after one’s body dies, the soul that was in it migrates, perhaps after an interval of time, to another body.

But our text is correct in proclaiming that first everyone dies; and then, after this comes judgment. Human life is nonrepeatable, one’s actions in this life are judged after death, and there is no opportunity for amendment later.

Yeshua will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for him. Here is the most explicit statement in the Bible of the relationship between Yeshua’sFirst and Second Comings. His first coming fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 52:13-53:12, which predicted that the Messiah would die as an atonement for human sin and be raised from the dead, so that he could appear a second time to fulfill such prophecies as Isaiah 2:2-5 and 9:5-6 (6-7), which say that the Messiah will bring peace to the world and deliver his people Israel from oppression. However, since “not everyone from Israel is truly part of Israel” (Romans 9:6), only those who are eagerly waiting for Yeshua to return can have the assurance that they will be delivered.

My scribbled note in my RSV says that Yeshua purified earth and heaven with His sacrifice for our sins. He took His blood directly to the seat of God.

We have been and continue to be redeemed by His Blood.

In my next post, we move on to Messianic Jews 10:1-10 ~The Superiority and Finality of the New Covenant by examining Yeshua As the Once for All Sacrifice.

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[1] Jewish New Testament Commentary by David Stern.