Reflections on Hebrews 9

Hebrews 09 (Contemporary English Version)


1. The first promise that was made included rules for worship and a tent for worship here on earth.
2. The first part of the tent was called the holy place, and a lampstand, a table, and the sacred loaves of bread were kept there.
3. Behind the curtain was the most holy place.
4. The gold altar that was used for burning incense was in this holy place. The gold-covered sacred chest was also there, and inside it were three things. First, there was a gold jar filled with manna. Then there was Aaron's walking stick that sprouted. Finally, there were the flat stones with the Ten Commandments written on them.
5. On top of the chest were the glorious creatures with wings opened out above the place of mercy. Now isn't the time to go into detail about these things.
6. But this is how everything was when the priests went each day into the first part of the tent to do their duties.
7. However, only the high priest could go into the second part of the tent, and he went in only once a year. Each time he carried blood to offer for his sins and for any sins that the people had committed without meaning to.
8. All of this is the Holy Spirit's way of saying that no one could enter the most holy place while the tent was still the place of worship.
9. This also has a meaning for today. It shows that we cannot make our consciences clear by offering gifts and sacrifices.
10. These rules are merely about such things as eating and drinking and ceremonies for washing ourselves. And rules about physical things will last only until the time comes to change them for something better.
11. Christ came as the high priest of the good things that are now here. He also went into a much better tent that wasn't made by humans and that doesn't belong to this world.
12. Then Christ went once for all into the most holy place and freed us from sin forever. He did this by offering his own blood instead of the blood of goats and bulls.
13. According to the Law of Moses, those people who become unclean are not fit to worship God. Yet they will be considered clean, if they are sprinkled with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a sacrificed calf.
14. But Christ was sinless, and he offered himself as an eternal and spiritual sacrifice to God. That's why his blood is much more powerful and makes our consciences clear. Now we can serve the living God and no longer do things that lead to death.
15. Christ died to rescue those who had sinned and broken the old agreement. Now he brings his chosen ones a new agreement with its guarantee of God's eternal blessings!
16. In fact, making an agreement of this kind is like writing a will. This is because the one who makes the will must die before it is of any use.
17. In other words, a will doesn't go into effect as long as the one who made it is still alive.
18. Blood was also used to put the first agreement into effect.
19. Moses told the people all that the Law said they must do. Then he used red wool and a hyssop plant to sprinkle the people and the book of the Law with the blood of bulls and goats and with water.
20. He told the people, "With this blood God makes his agreement with you."
21. Moses also sprinkled blood on the tent and on everything else that was used in worship.
22. The Law says that almost everything must be sprinkled with blood, and no sins can be forgiven unless blood is offered.
23. These things are only copies of what is in heaven, and so they had to be made holy by these ceremonies. But the real things in heaven must be made holy by something better.
24. This is why Christ did not go into a tent that had been made by humans and was only a copy of the real one. Instead, he went into heaven and is now there with God to help us.
25. Christ did not have to offer himself many times. He wasn't like a high priest who goes into the most holy place each year to offer the blood of an animal.
26. If he had offered himself every year, he would have suffered many times since the creation of the world. But instead, near the end of time he offered himself once and for all, so that he could be a sacrifice that does away with sin.
27. We die only once, and then we are judged.
28. So Christ died only once to take away the sins of many people. But when he comes again, it will not be to take away sin. He will come to save everyone who is waiting for him.
    
    

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    A comparison is made between the old and new covenants. The old covenant, as the writer explains, was not only a copy of the new covenant but through it the "Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the holy of holies had not yet been disclosed." (9:8) The arrangement of the old tabernacle with its holy of holies into which the high priest entered alone once a year with blood to atone for his own sin and the sins of the people was intended to convey the idea that the true way to God did not lie in this arrangement. It was "a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper's conscience." (9:9) These were merely "physical regulations . . . imposed until the time of restoration." (9:10)
    
    When the Messiah came, He became high priest in a "greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands." When He entered the holy of holies He needed do so only once, but the one-time sacrifice He offered covered for all people eternally. While the sacrifices of animals did nothing to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper, Christ's sacrifice of Himself does. His sacrifice clears our conscience of the need to do something, such as dead works, to appease for our sin. Instead we are freed to "serve the living God." (9:14)
    
    The writer goes on to explain the need for Christ's death. In doing so, he compares the covenant to a will. A will does not take affect until the one who made the will has died. In the same way, the new covenant didn't take affect until Christ offered up His own death. Furthermore, he points out that even the first covenant was "inaugurated with blood." (9:18) Blood representing death. When Moses read the newly written law to the people, which was the first covenant, he then "took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you." (9:19-20)
    
    This was all a copy of "things in the heavens" which had to be purified with the sacrifices of animals. But the heavenly things were purified "with better sacrifices than these." (9:23) They were purified with the sacrifice of the Messiah Himself. His was not a sacrifice that had to be offered repeatedly but only once for all. Otherwise He would have had to suffer and die many times. Instead, "He has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Having done this He "will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him." (9:28)