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In Heb. 10: 15-17 this selfsame chapter is quoted again. Heb. 9:, which comes in
between these two quotations, is written expressly to show that Christ is the Mediator of
that very covenant of prophecy, and the word "testament" therefore, instead of helping
forward the Apostle's argument, tends to hinder it. After speaking of the sprinkling of
the Tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, he adds:
"And almost all things are by the law cleansed by blood; and apart from the shedding
of blood is no forgiveness" (Heb. 9: 22 not AV JP).
Having come so far we shall now be able to appreciate the general structure of the
chapter, which will be found to be chiefly concerned with:
The Old and the New Covenants.
Hebrews 9: 1 - 20.
A | 1. The First Covenant.
B | 1-10. |
a | 1-7. The Tabernacle. Worldly.
b | 8-10. Its significance. No way in. Conscience untouched.
B | 11-14. |
a | 11. Greater and more perfect Tabernacle.
Not of this creation.
b | 12-14. Its significance. He entered in. Conscience purged.
A | 15-20. The New Covenant.
We shall have to extend this structure to include 9: 21 to 10: 18, but this is a member
too large and too important to be introduced here. May the Lord Who is magnified in this
epistle to the Hebrews be magnified also in the daily life and spiritual conception of those
who are blessed under other terms than those of this New Covenant, which forms so
important a feature of the epistle to the Hebrews.