Dave Havir - Hebrews 8 - 9

Dave Havir, focusing on Hebrews 8 and 9, suggests that the Day of Atonement takes on much the same meaning and ambience as the Passover. Atonement is certainly a day about Jesus Christ. God uses the holy days to help us understand the Kingdom of God, using physical analogies. Fasting is a way to access spiritual power. The Day of Atonement had instructions as to how to take care of the goat of sacrifice and the Azazel goat, or the escape goat. In the Old Covenant, the Day of Atonement was a highly significant day. Jesus Christ replaced the administration of the Old Covenant atonement offering and sacrifice; God the Father enabled Jesus to become a human being in order to empathize with our plight, enabling Him to be a High Priest and Mediator for mankind. Consequently, we are empowered to come boldly to the throne of God, a huge change from the Old Covenant. Instead of a physical tabernacle, we constitute the new spiritual temple, with the laws of God written in our hearts and minds. The law moved from the outside into the interior of the minds, with the intent magnified many times. It is easier to sin today, but there is more access to mercy. The blood of Christ has the power to purge our guilty consciences, something animal sacrifices could not do. Christ offered himself once for all. The Day of Atonement should release a power within us to control the impulses within us, as well as enable us to be kinder to one another.

Aaron * Azazel goat * Bearing sins of many * Atonement blood of Christ * Coming boldly before the throne * Day of Atonement * “Earning” salvation * Escape goat * Everlasting statute * Exodus 30:10 * Figuring out God * Grasshopper * Hebrews 1:1-2; 2:17-18; 4:14-16; 8:1-13; 9:1-19 * High Priest * Holy place within veil * Hyssop * Instruction about Aaron * Jesus as a mediator of a new testament * Jesus as High Priest * Leviticus 16:2 * New agreement * New Covenant * Old Covenant * Pattern of things in heaven * Red wool * Sacrifices and ordinances of first tabernacle * Sprinkled with blood * Ten commandments * White horse