The Word Made Fresh
1Now even the first agreement had rules for worship and an earthly sanctuary. 2The first tabernacle was built, and it contained the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3Then behind the second curtain was the Holy of Holies. 4It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant which was overlaid with gold. It contained the golden pitcher which held the manna, and Aaron’s rod that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5The glorious cherubim were on top of the mercy seat. But we can’t comment on these things in more detail now.
6Having put these together, the priests entered to carry out their rituals, 7but only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and could enter it only once a year, and he had to enter with the blood that he would offer for himself and the people for their sins, the ones committed unintentionally. 8The Holy Spirit indicates by this that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been described as long as the first tabernacle is still standing. 9This is a parable of the present time in which gifts and sacrifices cannot clear the conscience of the one who offers them, 10but deals only with rituals of food and drink and baptisms. These rules were made for the people until the time came for correction.
11Christ came as a high priest of the good things to come, and through the larger and more perfect tabernacle – the one not made with human hands as part of this creation – 12he entered the Holy of Holies once for everyone, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood that obtains eternal redemption. 13If the blood of goats and bulls, along with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, purifies those who have sinned, 14how much more will the blood of Christ who offered himself through the Holy Spirit to God without blemish be able to clear our conscience from meaningless things to worship the living God?
15This is why Christ has provided a new covenant for us, so that all who are called might receive the promised eternal life, because in him a death occurred that redeems us from the sins committed under the first will. 16When a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be proven 17because a will is only enforced after a death. It is not in force as long as its maker is living. 18That is why not even the first covenant was enforced without blood. 19For when Moses told all the people every commandment of the law, he took the blood of calves and goats along with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people 20and told them, “This is the blood of the agreement God has ordained for you.” 21He also sprinkled blood on the tabernacle and all the vessels used for worship. 22In fact, almost everything is purified with blood according to the law. There is no forgiveness of sins without blood being shed.
23And that is why the images of heavenly things must be purified with these rituals, but the heavenly things themselves require more effective sacrifices than these 24because Christ did not enter a sanctuary built with human hands as a mere copy of the first one, but rather entered into heaven to appear on our behalf in God’s presence. 25And he doesn’t have to do this over and over, as the high priest had to do by entering the Holy of Holies every year with blood that wasn’t his own blood. 26If that were the case Christ would have to suffer again and again since the creation of the world! But of course, he has come once for all at the end of the age to remove our sins by sacrificing himself. 27And just as it has been declared that we mortals die only once, and after that must face the judgment, 28so was Christ offered once to bear the sins of many and then will appear again, not to deal with sin, but to save those who eagerly await his coming.
Commentary
1-5: He describes the first tabernacle recorded in Exodus 40, which by New Testament times was part of Israel’s distant history, and he admits that “we can’t comment on these things in more detail now.”
6-10: He describes the ministrations of the high priest under the old order. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the high priest offered sacrifices for himself and the whole community, and entered the Most Holy Place in the center of the tabernacle with some of the blood of the sacrifice. Leviticus 16 describes the ceremony. The author’s point is that this ritual was imposed as a stop-gap measure until “the time comes to set things right,” that is, until the sacrifice of the Son of God.
11-14: That was the old form of atonement given to Israel to atone for sins until the new form arrived. The new atonement has Christ entering the true tabernacle, the one “not made with human hands,” (see 2 Corinthians 5:1) with the sacrifice of his own blood, a sacrifice sufficient to atone for all sins forever.
15-22: Under the old covenant blood was sprinkled on everything considered holy — the tent, the altar, even the scroll on which the law was written. The basic Jewish belief was that, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. The death of Jesus, then, and the shedding of his blood, sufficed for the forgiveness of the sins of the whole world, not just Israel. Another way of looking at it is that salvation and eternal life is the will of God for believers. The provisions of a will do not go into effect, however, until the death of the one who made the will. The death of the Son of God completes the requirement.
23-28: Christ offered himself as the sacrifice of atonement — a sacrifice that need only be made once for all — and just as human beings are decreed to die but once and then stand for judgment, so Christ died but once and will appear again to defend his followers (those who are waiting for him) in the judgment, that they may be saved.
Takeaway
This chapter explains why Christians don’t have to offer sacrifices as described in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ sacrificed himself once and for all for us for our salvation.