Previously, I proposed that Jesus is the best thing for your conscience because he provides an eternal redemption and he promises an eternal inheritance. This is what Hebrews 9 is all about. Last week I explained our eternal redemption in Heb 9:1-14. Now it’s time to see the eternal inheritance in Heb 9:15-28.
The Promised Eternal Inheritance
Hebrews 9:15-28 states its main idea right at the beginning, in Heb 9:15: That which awaits the beneficiaries of Jesus’ new covenant is a “promised eternal inheritance.”
Now the way an “inheritance” worked back then was very similar to how it works now. An inheritance is the thing you receive when your parents or grandparents pass away. A person spends their life building up an estate. And when they die, they pass that estate on to their heirs in portions.
That’s what this text is saying that Jesus does.
The text has been talking about a “covenant” (Heb 9:, 15), but in Heb 9:16, he’s suddenly talking about a “will.” At least, it feels sudden to us, but it’s not sudden at all.
You should know that the original Greek word for “will” (Heb 9:16-17) is exactly the same as the original Greek word for “covenant” (Heb 9:15, 20, etc.). This one Greek word could be used in a variety of ways, and we need two English words to capture the sense of it.
But a “covenant” and a “will” are closely related concepts, and the author plays off those concepts here in this text.
- “He is the mediator of a new covenant…” (Heb 9:15)
- “For where a covenant is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.” (Heb 9:16)
What he’s saying here is simply that an inheritance cannot pass on until the person owning it passes away. And that’s exactly what happened with Jesus Christ.
So those who trust in Christ and join his new covenant receive a promised eternal inheritance (Heb 9:15). But they can’t actually get it unless the one who promised it dies (Heb 9:16-17). Heb 9:18-22 references Exodus 24, where the first covenant was activated in those copycat, earthly places by constant death. But the new covenant was activated in the real place—heaven—by just one death (Heb 9:23-26).
Sometimes people think of the Old Covenant as being real and physical, and the new covenant as being spiritual and invisible. But this text looks at the differences differently:
- The old covenant was only figurative. The one making the covenant didn’t actually die. He had to kill an animal as a substitute to activate the covenant. And since it was only figuratively forgiving sins, the sacrificial deaths had to occur over and over again.
- But the new covenant is the thing that is real, not symbolic. Therefore only one death had to occur, since it fully and finally activated the will, so the heirs could receive the inheritance.
So what is the point of all this?
You can know your redemption is real and eternal, because the Lord Jesus died, activating his covenant, and passing on his full estate as your inheritance.
Application
Stop trying to cleanse your conscience through good deeds or religious activity! You can’t silence the inner voice of accusation by attending services or performing rituals. And you’ll never do enough good deeds to balance out the sin you have committed.
Instead, look to the inheritance that belongs to you because the Lord Jesus died.
And that begs a crucial question: What is that inheritance? What is it that we get after Jesus died that we couldn’t have gotten before he died?
The Old Testament people of God had the land of Canaan as their inheritance. They lost that inheritance when they rejected God as their God. But what is our inheritance under the new covenant?
Well, that’s what the author ends with: the general principle that all people die and face judgment (Heb 9:27), applied specifically to Jesus (Heb 9:28). Jesus himself died, and will one day face judgment. Though in his case, the judgment he faces will not be brought against him. It is his own judgment to put the world to rights and save his people from injustice.
And who will those people be? How can you tell who will be saved by him on the last day when he returns?
He “will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Heb 9:28).
Right here, the author informs us of what we inherit. The thing we get, now that Jesus has died, is Jesus himself. We are those who are waiting for him. Eagerly.
And if you’re tempted to think that’s lame and anticlimactic, because that’s not the sort of inheritance you were hoping for, and you wonder where all the fortune and glory is—
Then you need to go back to chapter 1 of Hebrews and remind yourself of who Jesus is.
It is no small thing to say that Jesus is yours. That he is your inheritance. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. Jesus is the one who upholds the universe by his word of power. He created the world, and he is the heir of all things.
And when he is your inheritance, everything that is his becomes yours. And you belong to his God and Father.
So as a final application: Let’s test your conscience right now.
If you found out that Jesus was returning this afternoon, how would you take that development? Would you embrace the news eagerly, as the solution you’ve been waiting for? Or would there be a nagging voice in your head that springs to life, reminding you of the grave danger you are in, rehearsing all the things you’ve left unresolved?
Would you feel as though Jesus’ return would cut you off from experiencing something “better” that you haven’t experienced yet?
I encourage you to wait for the Lord Jesus to return, and to wait eagerly. As you look ahead to his return, you ought not be wracked with guilt, anxiety, or distress. You can serve him now with a clear conscience, because you wait eagerly for him to become fully yours then, when he returns. He’s already dealt with your sin and that of the world. Now you’re just waiting for him to clean up all the undesirable effects of it.
Your eternal inheritance is the Lord Jesus himself, your great high priest. He provides you with the assurance that your redemption is eternal. And because of his eternal redemption and eternal inheritance, your conscience is clean.
Not just for a little while, but now and forever.
