They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
Hebrews 9:10
Only is one of those funny words. Saying only is never enough. It lights up our curiosity. When someone says only to us, we want more. More information. More details. More of an explanation. More reasons why it wasn’t enough.
We see this at the end of the movie, You’ve Got Mail. Tom Hanks has been rebuilding his relationship with Meg Ryan. He’s the owner of a giant bookstore and he put Meg’s tiny children’s bookstore out of business.
Joe Fox, Tom’s character, starts wondering out loud what would have happened if things had been different. If they had different jobs. Been different people. He then starts to explain that he would’ve asked for her number. Would have invited her out for coffee. A meal. And that would lead to their getting married and spending the rest of their lives together.
Tom tenderly looks into Meg’s eyes and says, “If only[1].” He’s comparing what’s happened in the real world with something different. With the words, if only, he’s asking a question. What might have happened if things were different. If they were different people. If they took a different path.
While the writer of this letter to the Hebrews isn’t thinking about the exact same thing as Tom Hanks, he’s asking the same question. He’s comparing all the rules, laws, and regulations of the old covenant with the new. He’s saying that they’re different. And that life will be different because of that.
He uses the word “only” to pull together all the rules and laws about food, drink, and all the different various ceremonial washings so people can think of them all together. All one thing. And why? So people can compare them to the new order.
And how could you possible put all those rules and regulations together? Actually, it’s pretty simple. They all have one thing in common. And that one thing is that they are all external. They are on the outside, trying to control what’s going on in the inside.
This idea of a new order is really interesting and important. He’s telling the Hebrews that all the rules in the old covenant were like a mountain road. They had to go up and down steep hills. They had to make sharp turns. Up. Down. Left. Right. We would say that they had to jump through a lot of hoops.
This new order was something altogether different from the first covenant. It takes all the twists and turns of the old covenant and makes them straight. The new order restores what our relationship looked like with God in the garden[2]. When their relationship with God was like walking through a beautiful garden in the cool of the day[3].
God wants to make everything right again. It requires God to heal and mend the brokenness that we’ve caused. To repair all the awful damage that we’ve created through all our selfishness. There are four kinds of brokenness that God’s repairing in and through Jesus.
Between us and God.
Between us and ourselves.
Between us and each other.
Between us and creation.
With respect, the first covenant was never going to make it. It was never going to satisfy and pay for all our debt that we’ve caused with God and others. The reason I can say this is that God never intended it to. It was a picture and not the reality.
The first covenant was something on the outside that could never change what’s on our insides. It couldn’t really clean us on the inside. It could never make our hard hearts of stone into something soft and alive[4].
All those laws, details, and rules were doomed to failure. The only thing they could do was to convince us of our being lost. That we could never, never, never fix ourselves. There’s no way to control what’s on the inside from the outside.
Forgiveness can only come when God himself takes over and pays the awful, eternal price that we could never pay. It took Jesus dying on the cross to make right all the wrong that we’ve done. All the wrong that we’ve caused. The old hymn puts it better than I ever could.
What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus[5].
Noodling Questions
Why are “If only” moments in life so painful? Explain.
What is it about God that he’s only create one way to be reunited with him?
How are the words forgiveness and only connected to one another?
[2] Genesis 1:26-31
[3] Genesis 3:8
[4] Ezekiel 36:25-27
[5] Nothing But the Blood of Jesus
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