It’s Not Just A Model

Hebrews 9:11-14

I was probably about 4 or 5 when I saw my first model train. It was fascinating to see that train go around the tracks, pull off onto a siding, and toy cattle load onto the train, It would then go around the tracks again and unload the cattle at a different platform, where they’d bee shuffled back into position to be reloaded. Is seemed almost miraculous.

More than 50 years later, The mechanism which resulted in what seemed so miraculous seem pretty simple and un sophisticated as compared to what is required to actually load cattle on a real train and ship them. Stops and switches forced the train to stop at exactly the right point so that the wheels would spin turning a device that pushed the toy cows up a ramp and into the car. After a certain number of revolutions it would lower the stop, raising the stop at the other platform, where the same mechanism pushed the cows off the car and into position to be reloaded.

The real life actions require coordinating the engineer of the train to properly position the train at the right time, various laborers to open gates, connect loading ramps, and convince the cows to walk into the unnatural environment of the cattle car despite their fear. Though the appearance may be similar to the model train the reality is much different. The same is true of the Old Testament priesthood Old testament Tabernacle and that of Christ.

He makes his offerings in a different tabernacle, not the earthly, man made model, but in the real one in heaven, built by God. The difference is at least as great as the difference between the holding pens of the model train and real holding pens. The difference between the sacrifice and what the Aaronic priests offered is similar to the difference between the toy cows, incapable of movement, and real cows, and the results are as different as the difference between the model train just moving the cattle to the other position to repeat the cycle and the real train actually transporting cows to an entirely new location.

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9:11-12)

Because the model train cows were not real, no gates were needed on the holding pens, and no doors were needed on the cattle cars. Because the tabernacle was only a model, the blood of animals could serve to simulate cleansing from sin. A different sacrifice was required to truly take away sin.

“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14)

While the blood of animals was good enough for the model, they would never work for the real thing. Hebrews 10:4 tells us “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

The model train, once it was set up, would continue to repeat the same actions unless something disrupted it. The real train, on the other hand, requires a live engineer to be in the cab, and live people to load and unload the cattle. While the model depicts a working business, a real business requires live people to work. Jesus Christ’s priesthood is not a model, but the real thing. Because he has fulfilled the requirements he is able to do for real what the model portrayed. Because the model could never takeaway sins, His sacrifice was needed even by those who lived under the law, just as the cattle on the model had to be shipped on a real train to the location where the model would be sold.

“And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9:15)

The High priest was a mediator between God, and man, the one who straightened out the differences between them by negotiating with both sides. As high priest, Christ was mediator of the new covenant. A testament is essentially a covenant that goes into effect on the death of the testator. In modern English, we usually call it a will. It has no force until the death of the person making the will. Other covenants or agreements are in effect until his death. By his death, Christ put his Testament into effect.

“For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” (Hebrews 9:16-17)