Hebrews 9King James Version
The earthly tabernacle and the true tabernacle in heaven. Christ entered the holy place once for all by his own blood. It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
The old sanctuary's furnishings and rituals are described in careful detail: the two compartments, the ark, the mercy seat, the annual entry of the high priest with blood, the Holy Spirit signaling through the structure that the way into the holiest was not yet open. Then the contrast: Christ entered the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, by his own blood, once, securing eternal redemption. As a testator's death activates a will, Christ's death activated the new covenant. He appeared at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and will appear a second time for salvation.
Every restriction of the old ritual, the veil, the once-a-year access, the repeated animal blood, was the Holy Spirit's way of saying the real access had not yet arrived. Now it has.
9:14: "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": the problem with the old sacrifices was not that they failed to satisfy God but that they could not reach the conscience.
A Jewish priest who has become a Christian, perhaps one of the many priests mentioned in Acts 6:7, hears this chapter read aloud. He has stood at the altar. He knows the smell of blood and the weight of the annual ritual. He knows the veil and what it meant to approach it. Hearing that Christ entered what that ritual only pointed at lands differently for him than for anyone else in the room.
The high priest of the old system, entering once a year with animal blood, a living picture of limitation. Christ as both priest and sacrifice, his death simultaneously fulfilling the testator role that activates an inheritance. The people called, who receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Chapter 9 works through the logic of sacrifice with unusual precision. The tabernacle structure itself was an argument: if the high priest alone, once per year, with blood, could access the inner room, the message was clear. Access was restricted, mediated, and temporary. Christ's entry into the true sanctuary was once, personal, and permanent. The conscience language in verse 14 shows what the old system could not touch: the internal sense of guilt.
Verse 27 arrives almost unexpectedly: it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. The author says it plainly, without softening. Death is universal. Then the next verse: Christ was once offered. The two facts belong together. Universal death, met by a single sufficient offering.
1Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
2For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
3And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
5And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
6Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
7But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
8The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
9Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
10Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
11But 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;
12Neither 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.
13For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14How 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?
15And for this cause he 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.
16For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
18Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
19For 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,
20Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
21Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
22And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
23It 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.
24For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
25Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
26For 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.
27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28So 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.