S21 || Eternal Redemption or Endless Rituals || Hebrews 9:6-12 || Session 21

Step past the tabernacle curtain with us as Hebrews chapter 9 guides a tour from the bronze altar to the mercy seat—and then beyond the veil. We trace the daily grind of earthly priests, the solemn entry of the high priest once a year, and the stunning claim that Jesus entered the true Holy of Holies with his own blood, once for all. If rituals could never clean the conscience, what finally can?

We unpack the tabernacle’s symbolism, where God’s glory hovered over the Ark and blood covered the law that condemned us. The picture was powerful, but it was provisional. The moment the veil tore, the message changed: access is open. No more annual returns to keep judgment at bay. Jesus' sacrifice doesn’t roll guilt forward; it removes it. We discuss sins in ignorance, the danger of willful sin, and why fear can be a faithful warning that drives us to grace rather than back to dead works.

From there, we dig into “eternal redemption.” Redemption is debt-settling language: the guilty are bought back by a price they could never pay. Hebrews stacks terms—eternal salvation, eternal inheritance—to show that the work is complete and permanent. That anchors assurance without cheapening obedience. We lift our heads, not to boast in ourselves, but to draw near with confidence and serve the living God. We also connect the dots across Scripture: no one was ever saved by the blood of bulls and goats. Faith has always looked to Jesus Christ [The Messiah], the better priest, the true tabernacle, the once-for-all offering.

If you’ve been carrying a heavy conscience or circling the same spiritual routines, this conversation invites you to rest where the Bible points—at the mercy seat fulfilled in Jesus. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review with the one question you still have about assurance or access to God.

Chapters

• 0:20 Setting The Scene: Hebrews 9
• 1:46 Touring The Tabernacle Layout
• 3:16 Daily Priests Vs. Yearly High Priest
• 4:55 Sins In Ignorance And Willful Sin
• 8:22 Mercy Seat And God’s Presence
• 10:02 The Torn Veil And New Access
• 12:20 Why Old Rituals Couldn’t Clean Conscience
• 15:21 Jesus’ Once-For-All Sacrifice
• 19:05 Eternal Redemption Defined
• 23:25 One Way Of Salvation Across Time
• 27:26 Assurance, Rest, And Obedience
• 30:32 Closing Blessing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:20

Today we're going on an archaeological sightseeing tour. I hope you'll come along with us. I didn't know that you knew we were going on that trip, but we are. We're going to visit a couple of religious sites, and I think you'll find it interesting. All of the audience will find it interesting. However, I have to warn you in advance, some of you will be very scared to enter this religious site, and you'll find out why today on Reasoning Through the Bible. We're going through the book of Hebrews, open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 9. If you were with us last time, we were right in the midst of explaining the geography, if you will, the physical layout of the tabernacle, later the temple. There was an outer court where there was a bronze altar where the animals would be sacrificed. There was an inner room called the holy place that had some furniture in it. And then there was a still yet inner room called the Holy of Holies, where there was the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments and the mercy seat. With that, we left off last time talking about Jesus being our high priest. Today we're going to see what he does in the tabernacle, both the earthly one and the heavenly one. So open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 9, starting at verse 6. Steve, can you read from there down to verse 10?

SPEAKER_01: 1:45

Now, when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship. But into the second only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

SPEAKER_00: 2:34

With this, the process of the priestly duties are described. The priests would work at the bronze altar where the burnt offerings occurred, and they would also work in the holy place, lighting the lamps and keeping the altar of incense going and placing the bread. They would go in day after day, continually. Once a year, only one man, the high priest, would go behind the inner veil and sprinkle blood on top of the Ark of the Covenant. The high priest would be a representative of the people going before God, whose glory was behind the veil. The earthly priest's sacrifice was not sufficient. So they had to keep doing it over and over, day after day, year after year. By contrast, Jesus made this sacrifice once, and he went once into the Holy of Holies, and his sacrifice was sufficient. Look at the end of verse 7. Notice that the offering there was for sins committed, it says, in ignorance. Most of our sin is committed very willfully and knowingly. The word of caution here is that we should be very afraid of sins that we commit in an ongoing basis, willfully, knowingly, and on purpose. Note Hebrews 10.26 says this: quote, if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. And of course, the general burnt offering was for all sins of the people, but the specific sin offering was made by individual people for sins of ignorance. Ongoing willful sin should scare us to death if you're a Christian. If someone is in ongoing, willful sin and that's not scaring them severely, we should question their salvation. Steve, any thoughts on that? That says here for the sins committed in ignorance, but I found oftentimes in my case and in most people's cases, the sins are willfully, knowingly, and on purpose.

SPEAKER_01: 4:55

And I was thinking about that verse you mentioned in chapter 10, and we'll get to that verse and talk about it in more detail. But one of the things here I'm thinking about of the sins committed in ignorance, and that doesn't mean that the people were stupid. It means unknowledgeable. I'm thinking of it possibly this way as an example. If you're driving and you're exceeding the speed limit of an area that you're going through, and you're not even aware what the speed limit is, you get pulled over by the police officer, and he says, You've been speeding through this area, the speed limit is such and such. And your case of, well, I didn't even know what the speed limit was. I didn't know that I was exceeding the speed limit. Well, that's not going to be a good case with the officer. He's more likely to give you a ticket. You're going to have to go to the judge, and that's still not going to be a good case to make in front of the judge. I'm sorry, Your Honor. I didn't know what the speed limit was, and I didn't even know that I was exceeding the speed limit. Therefore, I think that you should not hold me accountable. Well, most likely you are going to be held accountable. You were held accountable by the police officer and that he issued you the ticket, and now you're at the mercy of the judge. He can either not charge you, or he can lessen the charge, or he can let you off altogether. But your argument of I wasn't aware what the speed limit was is not going to be a good argument in front of the judge. The same thing with us. I think that there are certain things that we do that are offensive to God that we might not think are offensive to God. The good news is that if you are in Christ, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then he is our high priest. He covers us, his blood covers us, then that becomes our argument in front of the judge, in that we are covered through the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, those are for the people that are believers in Jesus Christ. If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ and you're not covered by that blood, and your argument in front of the judge of saying, Well, I didn't know that that was offensive to you, therefore you shouldn't hold me accountable, is not going to be in good argument, just like it was a good argument in front of the judge related to your traffic infraction. Just keep that in mind. And you said that people should be scared. Yeah, the ones who are willfully sinning for sure are the ones that should be scared, but there's also other things that are out there that are offensive to God that we might just be ignorant of. And we need to be aware that the only way that we can have protection from that is through belief in Jesus Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection.

SPEAKER_00: 7:48

Of course, these passages that we just read, these passages are explaining the priestly duties in the tabernacle. And in the priestly duties, the priest would make sacrifices at the bronze altar and then go in and do service inside the holy place. Once a year, the high priest would go behind the veil and he would sprinkle blood on top of the Ark of the Covenant. This is a picture of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. If you remember from the Old Testament stories and the accounts, the glory of God would hover over the Ark of the Covenant. When it was time to move, the cloud by day and the fire by night would rise and start to move. They would pack up the tabernacle and follow the cloud and the fire. When it stopped, they would reset up the tabernacle and the glory of God in the form of the cloud and the fire would hover over the Holy of Holies, over the Ark of the Covenant. The picture was that God would look down in the ark and see the Ten Commandments and realize that all the people had violated all the commands. But before he saw that, he would see the blood sprinkled on top of the ark. And that spot was called the mercy seat. The blood would be visible to God. The picture in the ceremony was that God's wrath would be appeased for one more year. Of course, the high priest had to come back next year and the following year and the year after that, ongoing, in order to keep this process going. Here, what it's saying is that our high priest, Jesus, would only have to go in once and his sacrifice was sufficient. Now, with this, let me read verse 8 again because this is important. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing. Now, what that verse is merely saying is that as long as the earthly tabernacle, or in the time of this was written in the temple, was as long as that was in place under the old covenant, the way to God is blocked. But when Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn and a way was made into the presence of God behind the veil. As long as the old system was still in place, the way is blocked to God. When the old system was done away with and the new covenant is in place, then the way is now open to God. The Old Testament tabernacle and priestly system was an example for us to see the gospel. When Jesus died, the veil was torn, and in that sense, the outer tabernacle was no longer standing. The old system was no longer standing. We can now, as it has said in Hebrews, we can now go boldly into the throne of grace. We can go in with confidence. Why? Because the veil is torn, the high priest has gone in before us, and his blood has made a permanent sacrifice. Steve, this is just so tremendous. And it's all here in all its glory in the book of Hebrews.

SPEAKER_01: 11:15

Yes, and as the writer gets more and more into using the symbolism of what the tabernacle and temple really was, it's really to me an eye-opener regarding what we have, in that we have a once and permanent offering sacrifice that was given through Jesus Christ. And we don't have to worry about it being done over and over again. Looking back up in verse six, it says that the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle. That's the outer area there, performing their worship. And then in verse 7, that the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, meaning that he couldn't just go into the Holy of Holies. He had to have a blood offering to go into that Holy of Holies to sprinkle on the mercy seat, as you mentioned ago. And guess what? He had to go in the next year, and then the year after that, and the year after that, and so on. It was never ending. There was no end in sight because he had to go in. But now that we have our high priest, Jesus Christ, who has gone into the actual temple and put his blood on the actual mercy seat once and for all, and he sat down at the right hand of God. We now have access to go into that throne room of God, as we've been told in the earlier verses and chapters. In fact, we can go in there boldly and plead our case and ask for mercy for our sins and the things that we have done and confess the sins that we have done and worship God any way that we want to. That veil has been torn. And that is what the author is getting here to these Hebrew people who would understand this sacrificial system more than anybody at the time because they had just come out of it, or at least were still involved with other people in the area that were still taking sacrifices to the temple and still offering them up. Yes, it's much of a relief for us, Glenn, that we are able to have that comfort in knowing that there's a final sacrifice, satisfactory sacrifice that is given for us and for our sin.

SPEAKER_00: 13:31

Notice in verse 7 that the high priest had to take the blood which he offers for himself and the sins of the people. Our high priest, the Lord Jesus, he did not have to have a sin offering for himself. So his sacrifice could be effective for all of us. How wonderful this is. Also, look at verse 9. Verse 9 speaks of the present time, which is a symbol for the present time. Apparently, when this was written, the temple and the sacrificial system was still in place. Therefore, we can date the book of Hebrews with clues like this and others similarly prior to 70 AD when the temple was destroyed. Also look at verse 9, and here's a discussion question. Can the sacrificial system clear someone's conscience and make someone right with God? Because verse 9 says the sacrifices offered under the old system cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. Steve, can the old system clear somebody's conscience?

SPEAKER_01: 14:37

No, it couldn't. And the reason why is because they had to bring their offerings every year. They had to bring their offerings multiple times for the years, depending upon what time of the year it was when an offering was to be given for themselves. And of course, we're here talking about the once a year when the high priest would go in and make an offering for all of the nation of Israel. So, no, and I think this is what it's saying is here, it cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience. That word perfect again means complete. It couldn't complete the conscious. Why? Because you had to do it again and had to do it over and over. And then in verse 10, it says that specifically that these offerings that were made were related to food, drink, various washings, regulations, things like that. There were some activities that you couldn't offer any type of a sacrifice to be cleared of. Murder was one of them. If you committed murder, then you couldn't offer a sacrifice and take it to the temple and have the priest offer it to God for that. That wasn't laid out in any of the Mosaic laws. I think that the author is just telling them look, our high priest and the offering that he made through his blood, Jesus Christ, even covers those types of sins that we don't have laid out that we can offer up in the Mosaic covenant, in addition to all of these other washings, food, drink, and other type of regulations. So once again, it's just such a peace of mind that comes to know that we can have a clear conscience from that standpoint that our all of our sins are forgiven, both past, present, and future. And of course, that doesn't mean that we need to go out and commit sins willfully. And again, we'll get into that when we get into chapter 10 and expand on that a little bit further. But it does mean that all of our sins are forgiven, all of our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00: 16:44

My friend, how much is a clear conscience worth? Well, you're not going to get it by going through religious rituals or going through some ceremony. If you really want your conscience cleared, it's only going to come in and through Jesus Christ. Look at verse 10. The Old Testament system relates to rules about food, ritual washings, and regulations on how to behave. Just go back and start in Leviticus, and you'll see many, many rules there about washings and how to handle food, and it just goes on and on and on. The Mosaic law had many of these. Following all of those are just going to add to the problems on your conscience. They're not going to take away a stained conscience. The Mosaic law was in place that says, until a time of reformation. Remember back in Hebrews 7.12, it spoke there of being a time of change in the law. Hebrews 8.13 calls the law obsolete. Galatians 5.18 says, quote, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Steve, what is better than the Old Testament law?

SPEAKER_01: 17:58

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is better than the Old Testament law. As the writer has said in the earliest chapters here, he's higher than the angels, he's higher than the prophets and Moses, and he's even higher than the Levitical priesthood. There is nothing that could be better than that. And that's such a wonderful thing.

SPEAKER_00: 18:18

Why anyone would want to go back under a system of rules and regulations in order to try to clear their conscience or be right before God is beyond me. The only way I can think of is why people would want to keep going under a system of rules is if they lie to themselves that they're actually keeping them, which they're not. Let's go ahead and read the next section, starting in verse 11. This is what really gets to the heart of the matter. Jesus made the real sacrifice in the heavenly temple. And this is really the heartbeat of the entire book. Starting in verse 11 says this. That is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Steve, look back at verse 11. What's that talking about? It says there the greater and more perfect tabernacle.

SPEAKER_01: 19:44

What is that? It's the tabernacle that is in heaven. It's the actual tabernacle that the earthly one was a shadow of. We are told that when Moses was built it, and even when David made the temple, the Way the temple was designed, and when he was passing it over to Solomon to build, he said that he had been given instructions in writing from God as far as how that temple should look and how it should be built. But it was still just a shadow of what an actual temple was. It was a pattern of that tabernacle. Here we have that Jesus Christ actually walked through into that holy of holy places in the actual tabernacle in heaven.

SPEAKER_00: 20:28

And it says that there in verse 11, the more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation. That's how we know it's the heavenly tabernacle. The next verse, verse 12, what did Christ do in this heavenly tabernacle?

SPEAKER_01: 20:44

It says that he entered the holy place once and for all, having obtained eternal redemption, meaning that when he went in and offered his blood there in that heavenly tabernacle, he did not have to do it again, like the earthly priests, high priests had to do. He wouldn't have to go back in next year or the year after the year after. No, it was a satisfactory sacrifice, and he only had to do it once.

SPEAKER_00: 21:12

How pleasing that is that he only had to do it once. How comforting that tells us a great thing is that his sacrifice is complete. It's it uses the word perfect in here. The means complete. It satisfied God. He only had to do it once, didn't have to keep going back over and over again. At the end of verse 12, Steve, how effective was Jesus' sacrifice?

SPEAKER_01: 21:37

It was for an eternal redemption. And that brings to mind: well, what does eternal mean? Eternal means forever, meaning that it is once and for all and doesn't have to be done anymore. But it also means that there is such a thing as a redemption that is eternal. We also couch that in the phrase of eternal salvation. And we have talked about that through a lot of our sessions, that once we become a believer in Jesus Christ and we are reckoned as righteous by God, not through the works that we do, but through his grace, then we have that eternal redemption. We have that eternal salvation. It also means that we don't have to do anything extra to get us there. As you have put in many of your sessions, Jesus didn't get us part of the way there, and then we have to do other things to get us the rest of the way there. No, verse 12 says that he obtained an eternal redemption.

SPEAKER_00: 22:39

That brings us to the word redemption. It's one of these big theological words. So let's talk about what that is. Redemption is the buying back of something that is owed. People are in debt, and the debt is due to sin. And so Christ redeems us and buys us back paying our debt. That is redemption. Now, note there that he redeems us. We don't redeem ourselves. We don't work our way out of our sin debt. No, no. He redeems us. Christ's payment is not only complete, but it's eternal. It's an eternal redemption. Christ did not pay temporary redemption, but permanent, eternal redemption. Once our sin debt is paid by Jesus' infinite payment, our debt is paid for all time. It's an eternal redemption, it says there. It is not the case that when we're baptized, our sins are washed up to that point in life. But after that, the sins we commit, we have to earn off ourselves. No, no. Our redemption is eternal. Notice that the permanent nature of Jesus' sacrifice, that's really throughout the entire book of Hebrews, tells us that Christ's payment is permanent. It's complete. Hebrews 5.9 says that Jesus obtained, quote, eternal salvation to all who obey him. Hebrews 9.15 says, through Jesus we have an eternal inheritance. 1320 says he did this through an eternal covenant. 7.25 says Christians are, quote, saved to the uttermost. 1012 says, quote, he offered one sacrifice for sins forever. 1014 says Christians are, quote, perfected forever. Several times in the book of Hebrews, Jesus is called a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek, ever interceding on our behalf. Here in 912, when it says eternal redemption in Christ, that also reinforces how people in the Old Testament were saved. People were not saved by the Old Testament sacrificial system, nor by keeping the Mosaic law simply because it was not sufficient and they were not sufficient. People were not redeemed by the Old Testament sacrificial system, nor by keeping the Mosaic law because they couldn't keep it. All you had to do was break it once. The blood of bulls and goats does not take away sin. People in all times, all places are saved only one way through the blood of Jesus. And that's true in the Old Testament. It was true before the Mosaic Law. And it's true in the church age. The only way we're saved is by grace through faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted as righteousness. Why? Because Jesus' payment brought eternal redemption, Hebrews 9:12. And it says there that it was true for all time, eternal. Steve, here's a question. If we add up all those verses I just mentioned, eternal redemption, eternal salvation, eternal inheritance, saved to the uttermost, and are perfected forever under an eternal covenant. He paid for sins forever and is forever interceding on our behalf. Does that sound like some sin on my part can lose my salvation? No, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_01: 26:27

And it's pretty clear to me that that's what it says there. All of those verses that you mentioned, we also would refer you to our study in Colossians. Colossians, I think, is a great study to settle that question of whether or not you can lose your salvation. But what it does is it tells us what we have when we're in Christ and what we have been declared and what the benefits and characteristics that we have. And to me, Colossians was beneficial to me in the way of knowing that, okay, for sure I can go and live a Christian life and move forward and not have to continually look back on the life that I had before and think that that is something that I need to carry along with me. We would ask you to go to our Colossian study and also listen to that. But let me read a couple of verses here, Glenn, from Romans to add to all those other verses that you just gave. Go to Romans chapter 3. I'm going to read a few verses here starting in verse 23. For all has sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This goes to what you said earlier, Glenn, in that there has always only been one way of salvation, and that has been through Jesus Christ. These verses here in Romans tell us that all of this activity that we've been talking about related to what the priest had to do and the offerings that were going up to God for the benefit of the people, of their sins committed in ignorance, and that the priest had to go in on his own for his own sake of his sins and others, that all of that was a foreshadow, but it was all come to a point at the time when Jesus Christ became a propitiation, a satisfactory sacrifice so that God could be both just and the justifier. As it puts here in Romans 3.25, this was to demonstrate his God's righteousness because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed. He overlooked the sins in all of those years prior to Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection on the cross and him going into the heavenly tabernacle. Then at that point in time, the sins were actually forgiven for all of the people of believers in the past and all of the believers at the present time, and also the believers that were going to be in the future. It was all culminated at the cross and at this time. There has always been one way of salvation, only way is through Jesus Christ. Romans chapter three here in these verses, I think gives a clear depiction of how that works.

SPEAKER_00: 29:53

This is such great, great teaching, simply because we can rest in Christ. If our salvation depended on mine and yours strengths to keep it, and mine and yours obedience in order to keep our salvation, we wouldn't last very long. But when it has all these passages telling us that our salvation is permanent, we can rest in that and fall at the feet of our Lord. And all we have to do is love him and obey his word. And we will want to because he has saved us, he keeps us. Therefore, we love him in return. What's the greatest commandment? Love. Love God and love your neighbor. If we have that, then we have Christ. We'll stop here for today simply because of time, but we're still going to have more of these lofty concepts. We're up here in this temple and we're going to stay there for a little bit longer next time.

SPEAKER_01: 30:50

Thank you so much for watching and listening. And as always, may God bless you.