Hebrews 9 - How We Come Into the Presence of God!

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Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle

9 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 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. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

The author of Hebrews was obviously familiar with the structure of the tabernacle, and all of the regulations and rituals required to enter into God's presence. Each element he mentioned had symbolic significance in the life and history of Israel's relationship with God. They were all reminders of God's provision. The jar of manna was what God provided for them to eat in the wilderness. Aaron's staff struck the rock and water came gushing out. The tablets of the covenant contained the Ten Commandments, which were given by Moses to the Israelites setting them apart as God's holy people.

The ark was where God dwelt by his spirit, so there were angels protecting it. Later, Isaiah would encounter God in a vision and there were six angels shadowing and covering his presence. They cried out day and night, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, and worthy is he to receive honor and praise!"

6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 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. 8 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 functioning. 9 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. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.  

The author continues to show how the temple sacrificial system was looking forward to Jesus. Once a year the high priest came into the Most Holy Place to make atonement for the sins of the people. The blood was symbolic of the sacrifice obtained from the innocent, unblemished lamb that was taken from the flock. But once again this was all a foreshadowing of the sacrifice Jesus would make for us on the cross. 

The author mentions that the Holy Spirit was showing all of this. It reminds us that the Holy Spirit was working in the Old Testament. He didn't just come at Pentecost. Importantly, the first tabernacle had no real power to offer true forgiveness where people would find true peace. The author used all of this to connect the new Jewish believers the Christian faith. 

The Blood of Christ

11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here,[a] he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 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, thus obtaining[b] eternal redemption. 13 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. 14 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,[c] so that we may serve the living God!

Jesus entered a more perfect tabernacle than one built by human hands. He entered the Most Holy Place in heaven not through the blood of goats and lambs all through his own innocent and precious blood. Jesus was the unblemished lamb who offered himself through the Spirit to God the Father. In the end, the sacrifice Jesus made freed us to serve the LIVING GOD! 

15 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. 16 In the case of a will,[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command 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. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

The writer then compares the Old Covenant, as symbolized by the commandments, sacrifices, and laws the people could never obey. The Old Covenant had no power to deliver them from their sins or the power to keep these commandments. Then, he uses the example of a will to show that a will cannot go in effect until the one who made the will has died. In the case of the Old Covenant, the death came through animals and their blood sprinkled on the altar. The main requirement of the Law was there was no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. Something or someone had to die. Someone or something innocent needed to make payment for the sins committed by the guilty ones. 

23 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. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 , 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. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Jesus' sacrifice was so much better and effective, because he entered the real sanctuary. He entered into heaven and came into God's presence. Because of the true nature of his sacrifice, it satisfied once and for a holy and just God who demands justification for our sin. God cannot just "wink at" or "excuse" sin because of his just nature. He would not be true to his nature if he let sin slide. But God had a plan for us to be restored to a right relationship with us. Through Jesus the righteous requirements could be satisfied. God could accept us as holy and cleansed from our sin not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus has done on our behalf. 

The culmination of everything God had done to make himself known to the Israelites had now been fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus was the only one who could pay for our sin because He was BOTH human and divine. If he were only human, he would have to die for his own sins. If he were only God, he could not have died. This is the essence of the Christian faith and how were are saved. You might sum it up like this, 

"Jesus paid a debt he did not owe, for we who owed a debt we could not pay!" 

Have you ever considered the true nature of how Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, and his innocent blood for you accomplished the forgiveness you could never receive through the Old Covenant? 

Because of this we can enter into God's holy presence which would have been unheard of in the Old Testament. We can know and serve the living God! This is something quite extraordinary and something we should never take lightly.