Romans 8:3 supplies the true comment `weak because of the flesh'. But what the law could not do, God has

done by sending His Son. This is equally the teaching of Hebrews as it is of Romans. The law concerning the

priesthood was weak because of the flesh, and no perfection can come that way. God's answer is Christ, and Christ

as the Priest in the power of an endless life. The sacrifices, both in their nature and by their repetition, failed to

touch the conscience. He said, `Lo, I come', and coming, set aside all types and shadows by the offering of Himself.

A new section is introduced with verse 11 and opens with the words `But Christ'. Dispensational and doctrinal

changes are introduced by some such expression in other places. For example, in Acts 17:30:

`And the times of this ignorance God winked at; BUT NOW commandeth all men every where to repent'.

So, in Romans 3:21, when the apostle had brought the whole world in guilty before God, with no hope of

righteousness in themselves, he then introduces the wondrous provision of grace with the words:

`BUT NOW the righteousness of God without the law is manifested'.

Both the doctrinal and dispensational portions of Ephesians 2 are marked in the same way:

`BUT GOD Who is rich in mercy ... hath quickened us (made us alive)' (4,5).

`BUT NOW in Christ Jesus ... made nigh' (13).

When the apostle had clearly shown both the weakness and unprofitableness of the dispensation of type and

shadow, he swings the door of the new dispensation upon the same hinges, `BUT CHRIST:

`But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come' (Heb. 9:11).

The good things to come must not be interpreted only of the new life and the glory yet to be; they include, and

perhaps principally refer to, the dispensational change which set aside the types and shadows, and provide the

antitype, Christ. This may be seen by consulting Hebrews 10:1:

`For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things'.

We remember the opening words of chapter 8, and that the `principal thing' is a seated Priest in a heavenly

sanctuary. This important fact is again prominent. We have such an High Priest of good things to come, in contrast

with those priests whose ministry was confined to shadows. At 9:11 we have the subject of 9:1-5 resumed in the

words, `By a greater and more perfect Tabernacle'. Not only is this Tabernacle `greater and more perfect', it is `not

of this creation', for so the word rendered `building' should be translated. The use of this word `creation' is

noteworthy, for in 2 Corinthians 3-5 the New Covenant is linked with the new creation, and both with the

reconciliation. Israel were a people of types, and in this they foreshadow the purpose of the ages.

We noted in Hebrews 9:6 and 7, that the high priest entered into the holiest of all once every year, `not without

blood'. This therefore is the next item to be developed in the argument. Verse 12 continues:

`Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained

aeonian redemption for us'.

Negatively, Christ entered `NOT with blood of goats and calves'. Positively, Christ entered `by His own blood'.

As to time Christ entered `once', in contrast with the type of verse 7, `once every year'. The `aeonian redemption'

finds expansion in the succeeding verses.

While many are aware of the essential character of the death and resurrection of Christ, all are not so impressed

with the importance of His Ascension. Ephesians 1:19-23 stresses the ascension of Christ in connection with His

present headship of the church which is His Body, and Ephesians 4:8-10 sets forth the triumphant character of His

ascension when He led captivity captive. The present dispensation with its fourfold ministry is also essentially