Hebrews
9
- Now the first covenant had regulations for
worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
- A tabernacle was set up. In its first room
were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the
Holy Place.
- Behind the second curtain was a room called
the Most Holy Place,
- which had the golden altar of incense and
the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna,
Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
- Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory,
overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail
now.
- When everything had been arranged like this,
the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.
- But only the high priest entered the inner
room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered
for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
- The Holy Spirit was showing by this that
the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the
first tabernacle was still standing.
- This is an illustration for the present time,
indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear
the conscience of the worshiper.
- They are only a matter of food and drink
and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time
of the new order.
- When Christ came as high priest of the good
things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
- He did not enter by means of the blood of
goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own
blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
- The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes
of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them
so that they are outwardly clean.
- How much more, then, will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse
our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living
God !
- For this reason Christ is the mediator of
a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal
inheritance -- now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the
sins committed under the first covenant.
- In the case of a will, it is necessary to
prove the death of the one who made it,
- because a will is in force only when somebody
has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
- This is why even the first covenant was not
put into effect without blood.
- When Moses had proclaimed every commandment
of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water,
scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the
people.
- He said, "This is the blood of the covenant,
which God has commanded you to keep."
- In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood
both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies.
- In fact, the law requires that nearly everything
be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
- It was necessary, then, for the copies of
the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly
things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
- For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary
that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear
for us in God's presence.
- Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself
again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every
year with blood that is not his own.
- Then Christ would have had to suffer many
times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all
at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
- Just as man is destined to die once, and
after that to face judgment,
- so Christ was sacrificed once to take away
the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin,
but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Back |
Home |
Next