The Death of a Testator
HEBREWS 9:11-17
11 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;
12 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.
(Under the Old Testament law, the high priest would have to continually enter into the holy place every year to offer the blood of goats and calves, but the blood of Christ was the evidence of the perfect blood sacrifice that only had to be presented once in order to obtained eternal redemption for the believer. The first covenant was under the Old Testament with the blood of bulls and goats, but the New Testament was sealed with the blood of Christ)
13 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:
14 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? (In other words, you don’t have to live with the burden of a conscience that is always worried about having to do some work or ritual in order to be accepted by God – all the work for the eradication of your sin was completed in the sacrifice of Christ once and for all – that’s what Martin Luther realize, of that the Just shall live by his faith in the finished work of Christ)
15 ¶ And for this cause he (Christ) 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.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
This is speaking about the legality of human wills not coming into legal affect until after the death of the one who made the will.
In other words, the will cannot be enforced, and the beneficiaries cannot realize the benefits of the will until after the death of the Testator.
That is why when wealthy people are murdered, one of the first things they look for is to who stands to gain the most from the death. Great wealth can come to people by the death of a Testator.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
The Death of a Testator
This word “Testator” is the legal term used for an individual who creates a will - or a person who has died leaving a valid will.
A person’s will is simple a legal document that passes on your inheritance to your nearest living decedents who are named in the will – you have to have them named in your will.
*When we speak of the Old and the New Testament – this word “Testament” is to do with a person's will – like how we would say "This is Joe Blogs last will and testament" and especially when relating to the inheritance of property in the case of land and estates.
**The prophet of this generation told us that Adam, when he lost the title deed to the inheritance of the earth, he lost three things – and he lost these three things for the entire human race because he was the head of that race like a father losing the family farm also loses it for all his downline of sons and grandsons – it’s a generational loss.
*So Adam lost - Fellowship with God, Eternal life, and dominion over the earth.
By one man’s sin (Adam) sin came upon the entire human race, but by one man’s obedience (Christ – the second Adam), the entire sin of the human race was all judged in him.
**But notice - for 2000 years we have not yet seen the inheritance of what Adam lost on behalf of the entire human race restored back to man again – even though the price has already been paid in full by the second Adam.
*The purpose of Christ death is so that we who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance of everything Adam lost – in that we can come into the possession of that inherence again.
***So we are being shown something here in these scriptures about how the death of a wealthy testator leaves the inheritance of their wealth to their living decedents, so that the death of the testator directly benefits their living decedents.
**And so Paul is showing us that the death of Christ has legally left us with an inheritance of what He had redeemed back to the human race of all of what the first Adam had lost for the human race.
***What the first Adam lost, the second Adam (Christ - by the power of the purchase price of His death at Calvary) has purchased back for us as beneficiaries of the New Testament of His Last Will and Testament.
MARK 14:24
24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
LUKE 22:20
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Notice carefully – “which is shed for many” in Mark14:24, and then in Luke 22:20 “which is shed for you” - This is to be an individual reality for each of us personally in that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for us personally as individuals.
***If there was only you who needed to be saved in the entire world, then Christ would have gone through the full suffering of the death of the cross just for you alone – that is what this verse is telling us.
*This word “Testament” in the Greek is the word “diatheke” {dee-ath-ay'-kay} which means a covenant
1) … the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will.
2) a compact, a covenant, a testament, e.g. God's covenant with Noah, etc.
*So this last will and testament of the testator can only come into full legal effectiveness after the death of the testator – and this is what Paul is speaking of with the death of Christ.
*It was the shedding of the Blood of Christ that was the confirmation of the New Testament. Because the Old Testament (covenant) required the shedding of blood in order to be legally effective.
HEBREWS 9:18-28
18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
23 ¶ It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands (as in temples of stone and mortar that were built by man), which are the figures of the true (the earthly temples built by man were only showing us a pattern of something else of the reality of what was in the heavenly); but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Sin entered the human race by Adam at the beginning of the world, but now sin is eradicated from the human race by the sacrifice of Christ)
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Christ bore all of our sins upon Himself to the judgement by His death on the cross. GALATIANS 1:4 says - Who gave himself for our sins…)
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time (this is referring to his second coming) without sin unto salvation.
This word “Salvation” here is referring to a future salvation = of the sum of benefits and blessings which the Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after the visible return of Christ from heaven in the consummated and eternal kingdom of God.
**This appearing of Christ the second time (and we have spoken on this before in detail in other services), refers to the duties of the Old Testament high priest going into the temple twice on two separate events on the day of Atonement which only occurred once a year. The first time he goes in is for himself, and then the second time he goes in is for the sins of the people – we read this in HEBREWS 7:27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
So Christ’s first appearing on the resurrection morning was the proof that He as our high priest was accepted by God, but then he had to go away the second time for 2000 years as our high priest to intercede on behalf of the sins of the people of seven church ages.
And so when Christ (our High Priest) appears the second time from the Holy Place (this is what the message has taught us of what has taken place in this hour, in that we have seen him in his appearing in this day – the whited wigged one has appeared to us. “Who is THIS Melchizedek.” “There is a Man here NOW who can Turn on the Light.” All these sermons that we have heard over the years - if we are message believers, then we believe these things of what the message has taught us. When he appears the second time it is to do with the salvation of restored inheritance.
***So then we know that this second appearing of Christ according to what Paul is telling us in Hebrews (of what we have seen in this day), comes with great expectations attached to it in that now the full blessing of the covenant of the testament of the will of the testator can now come into its full legal effect for the people of the living decedents.
***But the first thing that needs to be done, is to find out who those living decedents are of whose names are written in the will – like how that lawyers must find the lost relatives and identify them in order to carry out the will of the testator.
*There is a wonderful little story that was written in the late 1800’s by Frances Hodgson Burnett called “Little Lord Fauntleroy” – she is the same author that wrote “The Secret Garden”.
“Little Lord Fauntleroy” is a children’s a classic that was first published as a serial from November 1885 to October 1886 in St. Nicholas Magazine which was a popular monthly American children's magazine.
*It’s a truly wonderful little story (especially if you can find the original unabridged version) of a young American boy living in genteel poverty who suddenly finds out that he is to become the heir of an English Earl, and that he will be the Lord of a great English estate.
HEBREWS 9:28
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
*As message believers, we have been witnesses to this great event of the second appearing of Christ - The Mighty God Unveiled Before Us in this hour. As John the Baptist made Christ Known at His first coming by pointing him out to the public, so has the end time Elijah ministry made Christ known to us in His second appearing in this hour.
Yet the religious world has completely missed this great event just as they did at Christ first coming, they have actually shut him outside of their church doors as the scripture tell us of the Laodicean church age.
**We are told by the scriptures that the second coming of Christ would be as a thief in the night – of the time of the darkness of the Laodicean age. And so it would be that in the darkness of this last age that Christ would appear in the form of the SON light of the revealing of the Son of Man ministry of Luke 17:30.
MATTHEW 4:16
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
LUKE 17:30
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
**And so this priestly work of Christ of His 2000 years of intercessory work of seven church ages being at its end, there must of immediate necessity commence the work of the establishment of the identity of those who are the legal beneficiaries of the will of the testator.
***In other words, the beneficiaries whose names have been written in the deed have to be identified first before the benefit of inheritance of the will of the Testator can be made available to them – this is what the seventh sealed book of redemption was all about.
THE.BREACH.BETWEEN.THE.SEVEN.CHURCH.AGES.AND.THE.SEVEN.SEALS_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 63-0317E
111-2 {299} Talk about a jubilee, talk about a time when that Lamb walked forth... See, the Book's even sealed in heaven, the mysteries are. Say, "Is my name there?" I don't know; I hope it is. But if it is, it was put on the Book before the foundation of the world. But the first thing that represented that redemption, come the Lamb that had been slain from the foundation of the world. And He took the Book (Glory.) opened the Book, and tore off the Seals, and sent it down to the earth to His seventh angel to reveal it to His people.
**The names of all those who are written in the book of the testament of the will of the testator have to first be revealed before they can be rightly given the benefit of the inherence.
*The names of the living descendants of those who would be the beneficiaries of who are alive in this last age are written in the book of the testament.