Crystallization-Study Outlines Leviticus (2)
Message Three
Hebrews as an Exposition of Leviticus
Scripture Reading: Heb. 1:2-3, 8; 2:10, 17; 4:14-15; 10:5-10; 13:8
I. Leviticus is a book of types, a book of typology; the most fine and detailed types of Christ are in Leviticus:
A. Christ is wonderful and all-inclusive, and plain words are not adequate to reveal Him; types, which are actually pictures, are also necessary.
B. Because Leviticus is a book of types, there is the need for it to be expounded; the apostle Paul expounded Leviticus in the Epistle to the Hebrews—1:1-3.
II. Hebrews is an exposition of Leviticus—Heb. 9:14, 25-26; 10:5-12; 13:11-13:
A. In order to have the proper understanding of Leviticus, we need to see the connection between Leviticus and Hebrews.
B. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we have the reality of the types of the offerings in chapters 1 through 7 of Leviticus—Heb. 10:5-10:
1. The sin offering signifies Christ as the offering for the sin of God's people; our sin has been dealt with by Christ as our sin offering—Lev. 4; Heb. 9:26.
2. The whole sin offering, including its skin and all its flesh, with its head, legs, and its inward parts and its dung, was burned outside the camp—Lev. 4:11-12, 21:
a. This signifies that Christ as the sin offering suffered reproach outside the Jewish religion—Heb. 13:11-13.
b. Christ was crucified outside Jerusalem, which is considered a camp representing the Jewish religious organization—v. 13.
3. Christ came to replace the types of the offerings in Leviticus—Heb. 10:5-10:
a. As the unique sacrifice and offering, Christ took away all the sacrifices and offerings of the old testament and established Himself as the new testament sacrifice and offerings—vv. 7-10.
b. Christ came to be the real sacrifice and living offering, who offered Himself on the cross as the reality of all the offerings—9:14, 25-26; 10:11-12.
III. The central thought of Leviticus is that the universal, all-inclusive, inexhaustible Christ is everything to God and to God's people; as an exposition of Leviticus, the Epistle to the Hebrews reveals the marvelous, mysterious, and all-inclusive person of Christ—1:2-3; 4:14-15; 10:5-10; 13:8:
A. In the book of Leviticus itself we cannot see how great, excellent, wonderful, all-inclusive, and inexhaustible is the Christ whom we offer and enjoy as the offerings; for a revelation of the all-inclusiveness of Christ, we need to consider the aspects of Christ that are revealed in Hebrews.
B. Christ the Son is the center, the focus, of the book of Hebrews—1:2-3; 13:8.
C. In the New Testament, God speaks in the Son, in the person of the Son—1:2:
1. The Son is God Himself, God expressed—v. 8.
2. The essence of the book of Hebrews is God's speaking in the Son—v. 2.
3. God the Father is hidden; God the Son is expressed; as the Word of God and the speaking of God, the Son has declared the Father with a full expression, explanation, and definition of Him—John 1:1, 18.
D. In the Godhead the Son is the effulgence of God's glory and the impress of His substance—Heb. 1:3:
1. The glory is the outward expression, and the substance is the inward
a. With respect to glory as the outward expression of God, the Son is the effulgence of God's glory, the brightness of the Father's glory—v. 3.
b. With respect to substance as the inward essence of God, the Son is the impress of God's substance, the expression of what the Father is.
2. For the Son to be the effulgence of God's glory and the impress of God's substance means that the Son is God coming to us—v. 3; John 1:1, 14, 18.
E. In God's creation the Son is the Creator, the Upholder, and the Heir—Heb. 1:2-3, 10:
1. In the past all things came into existence in Him, through Him, and unto Him—v. 2; John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16.
2. In the present the Son upholds all things by the word of His power, and all things cohere in Him—Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:17.
F. The Son destroyed the devil; in the fullness of time, the Son came to become flesh by being born of a virgin so that He might destroy the devil though His death on the cross—Heb. 2:14; John 1:14; Rom. 8:3; Gal. 4:4.
G. Christ is the Author, the Captain, of our full salvation unto glory—Heb. 2:10:
1. God's eternal goal is to bring His many sons into glory, into the expression of God—v. 10.
2. As the Captain, Christ took the lead to enter into glory, and we, His followers, are taking the same way to be brought into the same glory, which was ordained by God for us—1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Thes. 2:12.
H. Christ is the Apostle and the Builder of God's house—Heb. 3:1-6:
1. The Lord Jesus is our Apostle, the One who was sent to us from God and with God; He came to us with God to share God with us so that we might partake of His divine life and nature—John 6:46; 8:16, 29; 10:10b.
2. In His humanity Christ is the material for God's house, God's building, and in His divinity He is the Builder—Heb. 3:2-6.
I. Christ is the merciful, faithful, and great High Priest—2:17; 3:1; 4:14-15; 5:5, 10; 6:20; 7:26—8:1:
1. Christ is able to be a merciful and faithful High Priest because He is both the Son of God with divinity and the Son of Man with humanity; His being merciful corresponds to His being a man, and His being faithful corresponds to His being God—1:8; 2:5-18.
2. As our great High Priest, Christ is great in His person, in His work, and in His attainment; He has passed through the heavens, and He sympathizes with our weaknesses—4:14-15.
J. Christ is the Forerunner, who has entered within the veil—6:19-20:
1. The heavens into which the Lord Jesus entered are today the Holy of Holies within the veil—v. 19.
2. As the Forerunner, the Lord Jesus took the lead to pass through the stormy sea and enter into the heavenly haven to be the High Priest for us according to the order of Melchizedek—v. 20.
K. Christ is the surety of a better covenant—7:22:
1. In verse 22 the word surety means that Christ has pledged Himself to the new covenant and to all of us.
2. He is the Bondsman, the guarantee, that He will do everything necessary for the fulfillment of the new covenant.
L. Christ is the High Priest who is able to save us to the uttermost—vv. 25-26:
1. Christ as our High Priest undertakes our case by interceding for us—v. 25.
2. Christ appears before God on our behalf and prays for us that we may be saved and brought fully into God's eternal purpose—v. 26.
M. Christ is the Minister in the heavens—8:1-2:
1. Christ, as a Minister of the true (heavenly) tabernacle, ministers heaven (which is not only a place but also a condition of life) into us so that we may have the heavenly life and power to live a heavenly life on earth, as He did while He was here.
2. Whatever Christ carries out as the heavenly Minister, He applies to us as the Spirit; whatever He ministers is transmitted into our spirit—1 Cor. 6:17.
N. Christ is the One who entered into the Holy of Holies in the heavens and obtained an eternal redemption—Heb. 9:11-12:
1. Christ accomplished redemption on the cross, but it was not until He entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies, that is, when He brought His redeeming blood to offer it before God, that He obtained the redemption that has an eternal effect—Col. 1:20; Heb. 9:11-12.
2. Since Christ as the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world by offering Himself once for all on the cross as the sacrifice for sins, His blood, which He sprinkled in the heavenly tabernacle, has accomplished eternal redemption for us; thus, we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ—John 1:29; Heb. 9:14; 10:12; 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:18-19.
3. Christ is the One appearing now before the face of God for us—Heb. 9:24.
O. Christ is the Initiator of a new and living way for us—10:19-20:
1. As the Initiator of a new and living way, Christ opened the way for us to enter the Holy of Holies by His blood through the veil, His flesh—v. 20.
2. Through the better sacrifices of Christ, we have boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies—9:23; 10:19.
3. Although the Holy of Holies today is in heaven, where the Lord Jesus is (9:12, 24), in 10:19 the Holy of Holies refers to the Holy of Holies in our spirit; our spirit is God's residence, the chamber in which God and Christ dwell—Eph. 2:22.
P. The wonderful, all-inclusive Christ typified in Leviticus and revealed in Hebrews is our eternal portion—Heb. 13:8:
1. All the aspects of Christ revealed in Hebrews are inexhaustible.
2. This wonderful, all-inclusive Christ is our eternal portion for us to enjoy.