God Speaks
That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth. 2 There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place. 3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place. 4 In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.
6 When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties. 7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
16 Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead. 17 The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.
18 That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal. 19 For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool. 20 Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.” 21 And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. 22 In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
23 That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. 25 And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. 26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.
27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection
The authorship of the book of Hebrews is debated among scholars, but the theme of Christ being better than various elements of the worship system of the Hebrews is not. In this chapter Christ is presented as better than the tabernacle and better than the blood of animals. The tabernacle and its contents on earth were to be scale models of the real ones in Heaven. God originally established that by faith the blood of bulls and goats would purify people in the physical realm. All the implements of worship had to be sanctified by blood. In the spiritual realm everything is sanctified by the blood of Christ. Once every year when he entered the Most Holy Place, the High Priest had to offer a blood sacrifice for his own sins as well as those of the people. The blood he offered could not cleanse the consciences of the people who brought the sacrifices. Only when Christ offered his own blood on the real altar in heaven could consciences be cleansed forever. Christ’s blood confirms the new covenant (will) so that by faith people’s sin could be taken away and they would no longer face judgment.
Prayer
Dear LORD God, You gave Your people directions to construct scale models of the contents of the real tabernacle in Heaven. Please help us to study and understand what they mean and/or represent. Even now help me to worship You properly. Jesus, thank You that You are and provide the better way into the presence of God here now and in Heaven for eternity. By faith, the blood of bulls and goats was used to purify people in the physical realm under the old covenant. How much more the blood of the spotless Lamb of God (Jesus) purifies “our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” Jesus, You are executing an even better, (permanent) inheritance and final will through Your precious and powerful blood. It took Your suffering, shed blood and sacrificial death to earn our cleansing forgiveness from sin and acceptance into Your eternal presence. Merely saying thank you is not enough. Jesus, since You gave all You have and are for me, I give all I have and am to You. AMEN
Action
(Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
I will research what the Old Testament tabernacle looked like and how the priests functioned in it.
I will learn what the word atonement means.
I will pray and claim all that Christ made available to me by His permanent blood sacrifice.
I will discuss with someone how they can do the same.
Share
I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.