Hebrews 9, A Sacrifice Once and For All

We now enter an in-depth look at how Jesus completes the old covenant, created by the Mosaic law.

9:1-5

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.  A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.  Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,  which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.  Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

The earthly tabernacle was described and constructed in the book of Exodus as the Israelites fled into the desert of the Sinai peninsula. It represented God present, living among this young nation-tribe.   In this passage the details of the inner sanctuary are described, based on the temple (present tense?!) and the past tabernacle.

9:6-7

When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.  But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

But the high priest went into an even more holy sanctuary, a dangerous and scary place!  The Holy of Holies was where God was physically manifested and could only be entered once a year.  The was a very serious thing.  Leviticus 16 gives specific details to Aaron, after two of his sons died for entering the Holy of Holies.  There is a legend, probably fictitious (see here) that claims that the high priest would have a rope tied around one ankle, for if God struck the high priest down, the worshipers would need a way to pull out his body!  This legend persists because it summarizes the fear created by the idea of entering into such a supernatural, holy, special place.

9:8-10
The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.  This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.  They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

The Old Covenant was all outward actions without necessarily changing the inward heart.  It was a metaphor, a symbol of things to come.

9:11-13
When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.  He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.

So Christ is our new high priest.  Which holy sanctuary did Christ enter?  The inner one, and that in heaven, not here in the Shadowlands.

9:14-15
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!   For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

The phrase "from acts that lead to death" could also be "from useless rituals".

The Lamb of the New Covenant replaces all the sacrifices of the old!  The writer's tone rises with excitement and enthusiasm, as we are members of the right kingdom!

9:16-18
In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.  This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.

In verses 16 and 17, the same Greek word is used, one meaning both covenant (contract) and testament (will.)  But here we have that strange use of covenant as "testament", as in "last will and testament."   Here the concept of a "will" or "last testament" is more meaningful since a person's will is not put into effect until after their death.

9:19-22
When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.  He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep."  In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies.  In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

The quote in verse 20 is from Exodus 24:8.  In the Old Testament sacrificial system, there was no forgiveness without the replacement death of an animal.  (The Old Testament sacrificial system was quite gruesome!)

9:23-26
It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.  Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.  Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The heavenly tabernacle is the real one....

"Once for all".  A simple and deep concept.  We resist it, as it is not human....

9:27-28
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

And then this Messiah will come again!