Hebrews 9:1-14 NKJV
9 Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. 2 For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; 3 and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, 4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; 5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. 7 But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; 8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
These verses of Hebrews are a key text for the theology and practice of worship (properly understood as receiving) in the Christian church. It reveals how the Divine Service of the God’s Word and Holy Communion differed from the worship of the Israelites and worship in all other religions by it reliance on Christ as its High Priest before God in heaven and His gifts of a clean conscience through His blood.
A respected theologian writes in his commentary on Hebrews: “In all other religions, worship has to do with attempted rites of self-purification and contact with the divine realm by pure acts of devotion. With confessional Lutheran congregations, in the Divine Service, the congregation receives a clean conscience from Jesus, so that it can serve the living God with a good conscience. This text is best used to teach the congregation how to worship the triune God, and why that’s so important. Only those who have a clean conscience can approach the living God safely and profitably in God’s Divine Service, for without a good conscience the Father’s face is clouded, His Word is misheard, and His gifts are abused.
A guilty conscience regards God either as an indulgent grandfather or an angry judge. It mishears God’s Law as an impossible demand for total self-improvement or as a critical message of condemnation; it mishears the Gospel as a sanction for sin or as an indiscriminate message of affirmation. It takes God’s gifts as rightful entitlements or misuses them in self-indulgence.” (Hebrews Commentary, J. Kleinig, CPH, pg. 431)
God’s Divine Service delivers a good conscience by focusing the hearers on Christ’s blood that washed their conscience clean (Invocation, baptismal identity) and keeps it clean (proclaimed Word and the Lord’s Supper). This enables God’s people to approach Him confidently, without presuming on His good nature and desecrating His holiness, in order (through faith) to hear His voice and receive His blessings.
Let us pray: Thank you, God, for the blood of Christ. Amen.