Something New Has Come!

Hebrews 9:11-14

¹¹But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹²he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Yesterday we examined the earthly “tent” that housed God’s work among the people. That worship life consisted of regular (and frequent) bloody sacrifices and an hierarchy among the priests, with only the High Priest for that year being allowed into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) which happens (still) only once a year. Now the writer turns to the Perfect High Priest who is able to offer up the perfect and final sacrifice.

It is significant that four of the twelve occurrences of “Christ” in Hebrews are found in this chapter (9:11, 14, 24, 28). He was anointed as High Priest to bear the sins of many and cleanse them with his holy blood, which he presented to God on their behalf. Thus the royal connotations of this title are sidelined in favor of his priestly office. Unlike the tent that was made by Moses or the temple that was made by Solomon, this tent was “not handmade” because it was not built by human hands but by God himself (cf. Mk 14:58). That tent with its holy places is “not of this creation,” which consists of the created heavens and the created earth. It transcends this creation and belongs to God’s domain. When Christ entered that place, he did not just pass through the various created levels in the cosmic hierarchy to reach God at its cosmic apex; he passed through the “greater and more perfect tent” in the heavenly realm to appear before God in heaven itself (4:14; 9:24).

Kleinig, J. W. ©2017. Hebrews. (p. 411 & 426). Saint Louis, MO: CPH.

The Role of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement and of Christ as High Priest in the Heavenly Tent

	The High Priest on Earth	Christ as High Priest in Heaven
Entry into the Most Holy Place	•    Entry into the second tent (the inner shrine) by himself once a year (9:7) •    Entry into the holy places annually (9:25)	•    Entry once for all into the greater and more perfect tent, not handmade (9:11–12; cf. 9:27–28) •    Entry into heaven rather than a handmade copy of it (9:24)
Sacrificial victims	Goats and bulls (9:12–13)	Jesus as the sacrifice (9:26; cf. 7:27)
Purpose of the sacrifice	•    On account of his own sins (9:7; cf. 7:27) •    On account of the people’s sins of ignorance (9:7; cf. 7:27)	•    To obtain eternal redemption (9:12) •    For the annulment of all sin (9:26) •    To bear the sins of many people (9:28)
Offering	•    Blood for himself and the people (9:7) •    Blood that is not his own (9:25)	•    His own blood (9:12) •    Himself (7:27; 9:14, 25; cf. the offering of his body in 10:10; the curtain of his flesh in 10:20)
Result of the offering	Purification of the earthly copies and antitypes of the heavenly places: the Holy of Holies with the ark and the mercy seat and the Holy Place with the altar for incense (9:23–24)	•    Purification for sins (1:3) •    Purification of the heavenly places (9:23b) •    Purification of the conscience for service to the living God (9:14)
The purpose of entry into the inner shrine	Appearance before God in the handmade holy places on earth on behalf of himself and the people (9:7, 24)	Appearance before the face of God in heaven on our behalf (9:24)

Kleinig, J. W. ©2017. Hebrews. (p. 428). Saint Louis, MO: CPH.

In all other religions, worship has to do with attempted rites of self-purification and contact with the divine realm by pure acts of devotion. In the Christian worship, the congregation receives a clean conscience from Jesus, so that it can serve the living God with a good conscience. The human priests and their offerings in the Tabernacle and later the Temple were a foreshadowing of the coming Messiah and His eternal redemption. If you would like to do further study into this fascinating aspect of God’s plan, the chart above should give you plenty to think about and digest.