I'd invite you to join with me in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 25. If you're visiting with us and you don't have a Bible, we've got a few Bibles available in the seat in front of you that can be found on page 745. We'll read the entire chapter here. In this chapter we hear of the great hope that will happen on the last day. when the Lord delivers his people from all of his enemies, including death itself. Isaiah 25. O Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you. And I will praise your name. For you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. For you have made the city a heap. Speaking of Babylon the great, the fortified city, a ruin, the foreigner's palace is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong peoples will glorify you. Cities of ruthless nations will fear you. For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall. like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners as heat by the shade of a cloud, and so the song of the ruthless is put down. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people. He will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord we have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. And Moab shall be trampled down in his place as straws trampled down in a dunghill. And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim. But the Lord will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands and the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down. lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust." Now turning for our New Testament reading to the book of Hebrews, chapter 9. We wrap up this particular chapter, this chapter that's focused on the so-called parable of the tabernacle. We'll focus on verses 23 to 28. But for a New Testament reading, we'll read the entire chapter as this brings this portion of the sermon, the written letters, written sermon to a close. We found on page 1281 if you're using your few Bibles. Hebrews chapter 9 beginning in verse 1. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence, it is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place. Having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold and which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. These things we cannot now speak in detail These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties. But into the second, only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened so long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic or which is a parable for the present age. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, verse 15, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a covenant is involved, the death of the one who made that covenant must be established for a covenant It takes effect only at death, since it is not in force, and so long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying this, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Now to verse 23. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all, at the end of the ages, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Our gracious God and Father, we do thank you for your word. And as rich and complex and deep as it is, we do recognize that we need your spirit's work in our hearts to enable us to understand the things concerning which the Old Testament spoke regarding your son. And help us to believe these things which are spoken and be faithful to execute our duties for the sake of Christ our Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen. Well, as I'm sure most of you all know, the holidays season is quickly approaching and for many of us, we are put into one of two particular camps this week. Half of us are either traveling to visit family and perhaps roughly half of the other of us have family coming in. to visit us. And of course, for those of us who live in Chicagoland and have family visiting from out of town, that typically means one thing, that we have to battle traffic to make it to the O'Hare International Airport to pick up our family members. I know for me, whenever I end up going home to Florida to visit my folks, it reorganizes my family's entire calendar. Even if I'm renting a car, it's great. My parents still show up at the airport to greet me down the corridor. They can't wait to see me, and understandably so. I don't know why you're laughing. But it's true that the arrival of loved ones, it reorients our family's entire schedule. My brother. Doesn't get much vacation time at his work, but he does take a vacation day anytime I fly home just to be able to greet me as I make it down the hall coming out of the airport. It's so funny to see my mom, you know, all five foot four of her kind of peaking, kind of, you know, with her head out, neck outstretched looking for me as if that's going to make the plane land any faster. But it tells us something of our own family's disposition and our own eager expectation It occupies our thoughts, our affections. It reorganizes what we consider to be our own priorities. Oh, I've got to get up early to battle traffic, you know, to make it to the airport. I can't come in to work today. You know, there's all these things that happen for the arrival and the eager expectation of the one you love. It governs your deepest affections. So the question we have before us is what is it that gets you up in the morning and But by that question, I don't simply mean the alarm clock. I've got a business meeting today, and I'm talking long term. What is it that governs the very things for which we long? What greater loves reorder those lesser loves? What organizes our own schedule? What Hebrews 9 does is it calls us to reorder those affections in light of Christ's return. That we should not be content simply to focus on what Christ has done in his first appearing, but it should lead us to long for his reappearance at his second return. Well, I guess it's his first return, his second appearing. And it's the first and second appearing of Christ, as you see here in this passage, that forms the bookends of this section, and not just the bookends of this section, but it really shapes our understanding of the whole goal and scope of human history, as we will see. We can break up this passage into two sections. You could see verses 23 to 26, we could simply call it the first appearing. And then verses 27 to 28, Christ's second appearing. So the first appearing of Christ, verses 23 to 26, and the second appearing of Christ, verses 27 Now I want you to imagine with me that you are an Israelite and it is the day of atonement. You can read about this in Leviticus chapter 16. Every year, once a year, on one day a year, the high priest would have to enter into the Holy of Holies, the only day of the year in which he could enter this portion of the tabernacle to atone for the sins of the people. You can imagine, as this is the most important day, as the entire nation is gathered around this tent in the wilderness, a silence falls as this one high priest enters, sight unseen. Once he passes through the veil, you don't know what it is that is going on. The only thing you know is what you were told. You were told that here is the priest bringing a sacrifice to atone for your sins, but a silence falls. Because there is this expectation. Will the Lord accept the sacrifices of this high priest? Or will he reject them? See, everything hinges on this one sacrifice. If the priest fails in his duty, there is no redemption. If the sacrifice is blemished, judgment falls. Think of all the repeated warnings you see in the book of Leviticus regarding this entire system, the way in which judgment strikes the priests if they offer a sacrifice unworthily. Here is a nation that stands with bated breath as the high priest enters behind this veil unseen to pray for the people, to make atonement for the people, and the people wait outside in eager anticipation for his return to receive word, to receive that good news that salvation has come, that their sins have been pardoned. Well, what we've seen for the past several sermons as we've made our way through Hebrews 9 is that the author of Hebrews is focusing on what he calls in verse 9, the parable of the tabernacle. In other words, that it is the day of atonement in this tabernacle system that depicts the end of the ages in such a way that the earthly temple system serves as a paradigm and as a template for grasping the arrival of the great high priest, the one who comes according to the order of Melchizedek. Here we are told and given a description of what Christ does, as it were, behind the veil as he has entered into heaven, sight unseen. There are three things Christ has done as our high priest at his first appearing. We see first, now what we see is the author's really beginning to weave together the various threads that he has been putting together, stringing together since Chapter 5. The first thing that we notice here regarding Christ's first appearing is that he has now entered behind the veil. Christ has ascended on high and passed through the heavens, as Chapter 4 tells us, to make intercession for us, to be our advocate. I remember when I first moved to Chicago three years ago, every Monday I would take the train down, just kind of bum around Chicago, see what the big deal was about regarding this city. And I remember making my way into the Chicago Architectural Center, if you've ever been there. I think they've relocated recently, but it's this massive scale model of the city of Chicago. It's a scale model that's estimated in the millions of dollars, and you take these tours. It takes a half hour, an hour just to walk around. It's the size of a room, maybe half the size of this room, something like that. And it gives you kind of a bird's eye perspective of the layout of the city of Chicago. Now, it's impressive in its own right. It helps you understand kind of the design and layout of the city, but it's only a map. It's no real replacement for the city itself. Well, what we've seen is that the earthly temple serves as that scale model for heaven itself. Revelation, you recall, reminds us that it's not that there is a temple in heaven, it's that the temple is heaven. Christ is the temple. And that this gives us a layout and an understanding that the centerpiece of all heaven is communion with God restored through the blood of Christ. Christ who makes intercession for us. Here we are told that Christ has entered into heaven to make heaven ready for us. He does this by purifying it by his own sacrifice. You see that there in verse 23. But secondly, it also tells us that Christ has entered into heaven to make us ready for heaven. As he pleads our case before the father, as he pours out his spirit on the church and sanctifies us and makes us ready for the day to come. And 40, 50 years ago, there was a famous Russian cosmonaut who traveled into space and he comes back and when he came back he gave this famous speech. He says, well, I went to heaven and I couldn't find God there. C.S. Lewis famously quipped, he goes, yeah, that's kind of like saying Hamlet went into an attic and he couldn't find Shakespeare there. It's kind of missed the point. I think there's a lot of skeptics that treat the ascension of Christ in a similar fashion. They go, well, where did Jesus go? Is he hiding on the dark side of the moon? Did he travel to Mars, to Jupiter? What is it that's taking place? Well, that's really missing the point of this. The idea is that Christ himself has passed behind the veil. He has entered into the invisible heavens. It's not simply that he's gone off to another planet. Christ has entered behind the veil to something that no human eye has seen, to make ready the marriage of heaven and earth, to be consummated on the last day. See, I think for a lot of us, the idea of Christ's absence, that we can't point to the sky and say, look, there's Jesus, creates some sense of doubt. And it's definitely a source of ridicule from skeptics. But what we should see here is that this is our source of comfort. The reason we don't see Christ is because he is in heaven making intercession for us. See, this parable of the tabernacle tells us where Christ is. He has passed behind the veil, sight unseen, much like the high priest under the old Second thing, Christ has entered behind the veil for a particular reason, verses 25 to 26. He has entered behind the veil to offer himself as the sacrifice. Again, what we've seen over the past several chapters is that the problem with the high priests under the old covenant was that they were all sinners. They all had to offer a sacrifice for themselves as well as for the sins of the people. You see that here in verse 25, the high priest on the day of atonement entered into a holy place and the point is made, with blood not his own. He's not able to come on his own merits. Even the high priest under the old covenant can only approach on the basis of God's mercy. Something has to atone for his sins and as we've seen and as we'll see again further in chapter 10, the blood of bulls and goats are not able to deal with sin. You know, what we saw at the middle of this chapter, that God accepts the blood of bulls and goats for a time as a placeholder, as it were, until the arrival of this high priest of a higher order, this priest who comes after the order of Melchizedek. You see, Christ comes not just as our high priest bringing up another sacrifice. Rather, Christ comes as the high priest who brings himself as the sacrifice. If Christ's blood was just like the blood of another bull, Christ would have to suffer repeatedly just like those bulls. Ever since the foundation of the world, the idea is ever since Adam's rebellion. The blood sacrifice has been in place ever since Genesis chapter 3. and yet they have not been able to take away sin. If Christ's blood was simply like another bull or goat, then Christ would have to suffer repeatedly. But it turns out that Christ's blood is better because he himself is the God-man, the Son of God made flesh, who lived a sinless life and offered himself as the Lamb of God, as John 1.29 tells us, to take away the sin of the world. This leads to the third thing that we see in verses 23 to 26 regarding what Christ has done at his first appearing. It's not simply that he has entered behind the veil to deal with sin, but now he enters behind the veil once for all, having dealt with sin. You think of the old covenant high priest. It's almost like this perpetual game of hide and seek. The high priest goes into the temple or into the tabernacle, and then he comes out. But guess what? He has to keep going back in and out, in and out. And here are the people of God. who keep being separated from their sympathetic high priest even if for a while because they know he has to enter back into the holy place to make atonement a year later. What we have before us is the recognition that Christ's sacrifice is so efficient, so efficacious that he enters and passes behind the veil, but when he returns, There isn't going to be another time where we're separated from the Lord. That when we see Him again, it is forever. And Christ does not have to offer a repeat performance of His sacrifice. Christ has offered up Himself, Hebrews tells us, repeatedly once and for all. There is no encore necessary. It is one and done. Christ's death puts an end to the sacrificial system in one fell swoop. So you don't see us sacrificing bulls and goats here this morning. There's no more need. But what we see is that here in verse 26, that this overarching parable of the tabernacle, again, I'm using that language from verse 9, portrays for us a picture of the end of the world. The moment that has come here, verse 26, at the end of the ages. I think for most of us who grew up in broadly evangelical circles, when we think of the phrase end times, we have these kind of convoluted timelines that kind of erupt in our heads. You remember the giant posters that you need kind of a PhD in political science to be able to interpret. and it seems to draw most of its interpretation more off of kind of 80s Cold War politics and, you know, your 13th rewatching of Red Dawn than it does the scriptures itself. For the four people who laughed, apparently you know what is one of the greatest movies of the 80s. Next to the Goonies. But for the New Testament, the phrase the end times doesn't deal with the final seven years of Earth's history. I think it's rather presumptuous to actually even assume that the founding years of earth history has to do with America as if it necessitates that America still has to be around. But more importantly, it's rather presumptuous to assume that the Bible would actually spend more time being concerned about the United States of America than about the Lord Jesus Christ. As we see that the Old Testament itself is concerned with one thing, the sending of the sun and the outpouring of the spirit. And it begins, it inaugurates the last days. That it is the arrival of Christ that initiates the beginning of the end. That's how the book of Hebrews has even begun. Long ago, in many times, in many ways, God spoke to us, to our fathers by the prophets, but what? But in these last days, he has spoken to us in his son. In other words, we're not waiting for the end times to commence. They have already begun. Christmas marks the beginning of the end. The first Christmas 2,000 years ago, as all of history barrels forward to this great moment, the arrival of our great high priest and savior. It reorients our perspective of even Christmas. That Christ was not born to give us another banker's holiday. Christ was born that he might die and bear our sins. And that Christ was raised that he might save. He might come to save us from our sins. As he enters behind the veil into heaven itself to present himself as that all-sufficient sacrifice and to intercede for sinners. It's the entire hope and focus of the Old Testament. That's what 1 Peter 1, verses 10 to 12 tell us. That the prophets spoke because it's the spirit of Christ speaking through the prophets concerning the suffering and exaltation of Christ. It's the very thing in which angels long to look. But what we find here, and I think the purpose, one of the main points of Hebrews 9 is that the arrival of the Messiah is foretold not simply in the words of the prophets, but in the tabernacle system itself. That the tabernacle presents to us a two-stage scheme of the end of the world that begins with the first arrival of Christ and his ascension into heaven and culminates on the last day when he returns. It's much more simple. and some of these convoluted posters that you see in some areas. And that leads to our second appearing of Christ, verses 27 to 28. Here, Hebrews 9 takes the big picture of the end times, that fancy word, ultimate things, eschatology, if you were, and now he applies it to the individual. See, in one sense, we could speak of all of history moving and barreling towards one particular goal, but the reality is that most people, in the grand scheme of things, are going to die before the end. We've got at least 6,000 years of human history under our belt of men, women, and children who have died before the end has come. So does this mean that what this sermon is about, what this passage is about, is irrelevant if you don't make it to see the end? Well, now what he does, he takes the end of time, what happens on the last day, and now he applies it. That becomes a truth for every man, woman, and child. It reminds us why this matters. Hebrews reminds us of the same end that befalls every man. Two things, death on account of sin and then judgment for our sin. Every man, regardless of when he dies, will be called to an accounting on the final judgment, whether he died in 1200 B.C., in 1954, in 2019, or 3752 A.D. I don't know when the end's coming, by the way, so. Nobody else does either, so if they write a book, just don't even buy it. The reality though is that each of us are in a collision course with death. That is our concern, that each of us have to face our own mortality. Hebrews 2.15 tells us that it is the fear of death that enslaves us. It is the fear of the final judgment that cripples us. And yet what we see here is the good news being applied to the life of the believer. that because Christ has ascended into heaven, that he has now passed through the veil, hidden from our sight. The Christian now has the audacity to look to the future, not with fear and trembling, but with hope, knowing full well that Christ has made full satisfaction for our sins. And there will come a day when he will emerge from behind the veil, like the great high priest of old, You will know that salvation has come. Note the parallel that's given here in verses 27 to 28. For man there is death once and then the judgment. So too for Christ, death. Although he dies not for his own sin because he was sinless, he dies for the sake of his people. So that when he returns what he comes in for his people, It's not judgment, but salvation. See the parallel? For man's sin, or I'm sorry, for man, it's death and judgment. Now Christ died, so he comes bringing not judgment, but salvation. It's not to say that Christ isn't returning as judge, but it's situating the judgment seat of Christ in light of the benefits that accrue to the believer. That when we stand before the great white throne of judgment, we will hear the word of not guilty. My sin for Christ's righteousness, Christ's righteousness imputed, reckoned on my account to me and received by faith alone. You see, Christ died to deliver us from the wrath to come. That is the entire purpose of the whole sacrificial system, everything to which the whole Old Testament pointed. The nations may tremble at the thought of Christ's return, but for the believers, the very thing for which we are to long eagerly for the day when we see our Savior face to face. The whole point I want you to see here as we've been working our way through Hebrews, particularly chapters 5 to 10, is that it is the sacrificial system. And in chapter 9, it is the temple that enables us to see the work of Christ. Not just the work of Christ as it leads up to the cross, but the work of Christ as it leads up even to his very return. In verses 23 to 26, Christ first appeared to deal with sin. And now in verses 27 to 28, there will come a day when Christ will appear once again, not having to deal with sin a second time, but to come bearing salvation for those who eagerly await his return. Not to those who are simply indifferent towards him. So the million dollar question we have before us. Are you eagerly awaiting his return? We're to be like Israel standing outside the tent on the day of atonement. As the silence falls and you're waiting with bated breath for the high priest to reemerge from behind the veil. I mean, to think of Israel. What is it that happens when Moses ascends to Mount Sinai to intercede on behalf of the people? At first, the people are expectant. They're excited. Oh, the Lord's delivered us from Egypt. How exciting. What's going to happen next? And then as you keep reading, everybody starts to look at their watches or sundials, whatever it is they had. And then after about 40 days, they go, well, maybe Moses died on the mountain. Maybe he's not coming back. I tell you what, let's build a golden calf. Let's take all this gold, let's take all of our possessions and melt it down and build a caftan and then worship this as the God who delivers us. Let's engage in all the sexual immorality and debauchery that we want. It's interesting, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10, he says that's exactly what Israel did on that day. Engage in sexual immorality, idolatry, and that was written so that you would not be like them. but so that rather you would wait with eager expectation for the return of Christ. Israel couldn't wait 40 days for Moses' return, and they were struck down in the wilderness. To serve as a warning to us, to remind us that our future hope for Christ's return ought to shape our present conduct. Christian life is not simply, we've been working through this in our Saturday morning men's book discussion, it's not simply about accumulating more biblical data. I don't want you to walk away going, oh, the tabernacle gives us a two-age eschatology, how wonderful. Now I'm going to go continue reveling in a life of sin and just kind of looking down on others. The whole point of this passage is to have you eagerly expect Christ's return and to examine your own heart, for me to examine my own heart as to why it is that we don't eagerly await Christ's return more than we do. You see, if our chief end is the glory and the enjoyment of God, then that ought to govern all of our present affections. As we travel that destination along the road, the path of righteousness that leads to Zion, Very simple question, maybe as a diagnostic to start getting the wheels turning as we contemplate this passage. I don't want you to go home in 10 minutes after the service over with, forget Hebrews 9, 23 to 28 ever again. I want you to think about this. Why is it that we even come to church? Is it because our parents make us? Is it because it's our job? Let me get the paycheck here. Is it because it gives us the warm fuzzies? It's because we like making business connections. It's because of the Sunday lunches. It's because of the music, beautiful as it is. If we come for any of those reasons, as our primary reason, we've missed the boat. We've missed the point. Or if we gather together with the eager expectation for that day, for when our Savior appears from behind the veil, so that He might be with us forever and we might be with Him forever. Even so, come Lord Jesus. That's how the entire Bible ends. Let's pray. Our gracious God and Father, we do ask that you would work in our hearts a deep longing for Christ's return, that you would enable us to see the work of Christ as our high priest more fully and more deeply, and to use that to instill in us a deeper love for Christ. as our Savior, and that this longing would reorder all of our lesser longings and desires. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.