Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

But 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) he 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. For 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, how 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.

Hebrews 9:1-14 ESV

While Leviticus has a duly earned reputation for being the destroyer of Bible reading plans, it is, nevertheless, crucial for properly understanding the Pentateuch, the Old Testament, and even the New. I agree with John Sailhamer that the Pentateuch, that is, the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, ought to be thought of as one book in five volumes rather than five separate books. When viewed this way, we see the Holy Spirit’s clear design in the structure and symmetry within.

Genesis 1-11, which covers creation, the fall, the flood, and Babel, is a prologue to both the Pentateuch and the entire Bible. Genesis 12-50 recount the foundational promises that God made to Israel’s ancestors while they sojourned within the Promised Land. Of roughly the same length in word-count, Deuteronomy closes the Torah with Moses preparing Israel to finally enter the Promised Land and see God’s promises to the patriarchs fulfilled. Exodus and Numbers are also roughly the same size books and are mirrors of one another. As we have been seeing in Exodus, three major locations structure that book: Egypt, the wilderness, and Sinai. Numbers has a reverse series of locations: Sinai, the wilderness, and the border of Canaan.

At the center is Leviticus, which is filled with laws and rituals for how Israel will be able to worship Yahweh within the newly constructed tabernacle, particularly through the Levites as their priests. Indeed, the purpose of Leviticus is found in the final chapter of Exodus and the opening chapter of Numbers. In Exodus 40:34-35, we are told that whenever God’s glory filled the tabernacle Moses was not able to enter in. But in Numbers 1:1, we find God speaking to Moses within the tabernacle (or, tent of meeting as it is often called). The whole book of Leviticus is answering the question of how God’s sinful people could enter into His holy and sinless presence. The answer ended up being through lots of death and lots of blood. All of Leviticus is filled with instructions about the various sacrifices and offerings that the priests where to make on people’s behalf for any number of scenarios and sins.

Yet at the center of this central book is found the instructions for the Day of Atonement, the one day each year when the high priest alone was permitted to enter into the Most Holy Place, the inner chamber of the tabernacle, to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

I bring all of this up for two main reasons. First, the tabernacle and the priestly functions within is a major point of today’s text. Second, just as Leviticus and the Day of Atonement stood at the center of God’s law, so too does 9:1-10:18 stand at the center of Hebrews. Chapter divisions can make this matter a bit confusing since with thirteen chapters we would expect the middle of chapter 6 to be the center of Hebrews. Yet in terms of word-count, we are now at the center, which is fitting since the author is now going to describe for us the true, better, and final Day of Atonement.

AS LONG AS THE FIRST SECTION IS STILL STANDING // VERSES 1-10

After describing the glories of the new covenant that Christ has inaugurated (primarily by citing Jeremiah 31:31-34), the author now takes us back to the old or first covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai: Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. This verse introduces us to what the author will present in verses 2-7, which is a very broad overview of those Old Testament regulations. These can then be divided into two parts: verses 2-5 recount the two-fold structure of the tabernacle, while verses 6-7 describe the priestly duties associated with each section.

For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

Here the author gives us a brief sketch of how the tabernacle was laid out. As he notes, there were two main sections: the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (also called the Holy of Holies). It is worth noting that the golden altar of incense was actually within the Holy Place right before the entrance to the Most Holy Place, yet the author clearly associates it with the Most Holy Place for good reason. Indeed, in Leviticus 16:12-13, we find this association:

And [the high priest] shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil, and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.

I think we are meant to hear notes of Exodus 34, where Moses was not permitted to see God’s face lest he die. In the same way, even the high priest’s once-a-year entrance into the Most Holy Place had to be conducted under the cover of a cloud of incense to shroud him from Yahweh’s beautiful but deadly glory. Let us also remember that this was God’s glory radiating through a copy and shadow of the heavenly reality.

Of each item within the tabernacle, the author notes that of these things we cannot now speak in detail. I love this little phrase for two reasons. First, it implies that there is a great depth of detail that could be covered on each of these holy furnishings. Second, I sense a tinge of sadness in the author having to leave those details aside. A couple of weeks ago, I was speaking to some people who noted their amazement whenever a preacher can pull so much insight from only a small portion of Scripture. Over the course of my preaching each week for eight years, I have occasionally come to texts where I feared not having enough exposition and exhortation to be a normal-length sermon; however, never once have I stood in the pulpit on the Lord’s Day morning without having to leave behind insights and uses that have become precious to me. Since the Scriptures are inexhaustible, it must always be so. The Scriptures are like Narnia at the end of The Last Battle: the further up and further in you go in studying the Bible the more expansive you find it becoming. Thus, each passage screams for so much more forty-five-minute sermon can offer. Indeed, a day of communal discussion and wrestling with the sermon text together on the Lord’s Day would better satisfy. But, alas, of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

Here the author contrasts the ritual duties that were to be performed within the two sections. Priests were constantly within the Holy Place, but the Most Holy Place could only be entered by the high priest for the Day of Atonement. Even then, the high priest could only make that special entrance by making a sacrifice for himself. Here is how Leviticus 16:1-10 describes the sacrifices that the high priest must make:

The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died, and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot feel for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

Since the high priest was just as sinful as any other Israelite, he too could not enter the presence of God and live, except upon special command from Yahweh to do so and by offering sacrifice for his own sins first. Indeed, I believe that this purpose behind all the rituals and vast amounts of blood as prescribed in Leviticus: for an unholy people to have some degree of communion with the Holy One laborious, ultimately futile, and endless work was required. Thus, the author concludes:

By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Richard Phillips writes on these verses, saying:

The whole point of the tabernacle system of worship was on the one hand to show God’s intent to have fellowship with his people, while on the other hand showing that the way for this was not yet open. The key phrase is “not yet.” Therein is summed up the entire Old Testament religion. No, the way was not open to God; it was barred. But it was not simply not open, but not yet open–not yet, that is, until the time of Christ.

The writer of Hebrews conceives of these two rooms as a statement regarding worship and life in the two covenants. Life in the old covenant was life in the holy place. The priests were called to serve God. They had an indirect, mediated relationship with God, but they did not know him directly. They could not know him this way because their sin, though covered temporarily, was not yet removed. Year after year, the high priest took the sacrificial blood before God, so the people were not altogether rejected. But they could not and did not dwell in his direct presence.[1]

Indeed, note the definitive statement of verse 9 that under the arrangement of the old covenant worship “gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.” The conscience could not be perfected because the continuation of the offerings and sacrifices attested to their insufficiency. As awesome as entering the Most Holy Place must have been, each year’s slaughtered bull was a reminder that last year’s bull was not enough. The high priest’s own sin and the sin of Israel as a whole were not being dealt with nor put away. The sacrifices only permitted God’s people to walk along the razor’s edge of beauty and holiness glorious enough to be deadly. A time of reformation was needed. Copies prove the pattern, and shadows prove the sunshine. And that greater reality was desperately needed.

WHEN CHRIST APPEARED // VERSES 11-14

Verses 11-12 tell us exactly when that greater reality appeared:

But 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) he 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.

Notice that these two verses contrast verses 2-7. Where the layout of the tabernacle was described in verses 2-5, now the author again points out that Jesus entered the true tabernacle. His priestly ministry was not worked in the earthly copy and shadow but within the heavenly reality, the pattern upon which the earthly tabernacle was designed to resemble. The ministry of the priests was then described in verses 6-7, and verse 12 now describes Jesus’ priestly ministry. He did not simply enter the true and better Holy Place; He also took with Him the true and better sacrifice. He did not sprinkle the blood of animals upon the heavenly altar, the true mercy seat; He sprinkled His own blood.

Regarding the significance of Jesus’ blood, verses 13-14 note:

For 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, how 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.

R. Kent Hughes writes:

The limited efficacy of the old covenant could make people ceremonially clean as well as atone for sins of ignorance. For example, if an Israelite became ceremonially defield by touching a dead body, the remedy was ready. All he had to do was go to a priest who had in his possession the ashes of a red heifer that had been ritually sacrificed and burned with a mixture of cedar, hyssop, and scarlet wool. These ashes, mixed with water and ritually sprinkled on the defiled, would bring him external cleansing (cf. Numbers 19:1-13).

Considering that the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer had that much effect, “how 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” (v. 14). There is deep, glorious forgiveness in the new covenant, and it is available to all.[2]

Or perhaps we could simply say:

If therefore even the blood of animals sufficed to secure such an external purification, how much more shall the blood of Christ effect the moral cleansing of the conscience?[3]

Yet notice the effect of being sprinkled with Christ’s blemish-less blood: it purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Outside of Christ all our works are dead, even our good ones. As chapter 16 of the 1689 reads:

Works done by unregenerate men may in themselves be things which God commands and of good use both to themselves and others. However, they do not proceed from a heart purified by faith, nor are they done in a right manner according to the Word, nor are they done with a right end–the glory of God. Therefore, they are sinful and cannot please God, nor do they qualify a man to receive grace from God.

That is the very definition of dead, for the dead are unable to do anything. Yet our conscience is purified from those dead works and toward serving the living God. As Calvin notes,

We are not cleansed by Christ so that we can immerse ourselves continually in fresh dirt, but in order that our purity may serve the glory of God. He [the author of Hebrews] goes on to say that nothing can proceed from us which is pleasing to God until we are cleansed by the blood of Christ. Since we are all enemies of God before our reconciliation, all that we do is likewise hateful to Him. The beginning of true worship is therefore reconciliation. Because no work is pure or free from sin as to be pleasing to God by itself, cleansing by the blood of Christ which destroys all stains must necessarily intervene. This is the true contrast between the living God and dead works.[4]

Note again that Christ’s blood purifies our conscience, that is, our guilt of sin. The blood of bulls and goats was incapable of purifying anyone’s conscience since it only offered external purification. Jesus’ sacrifice, which, which was made in the true Holy Place, also beyond our external cleansing but also cleanses our conscience. Of course, this does not mean that a Christian will never be bothered by his conscience again. No, it means that the haunting guilt that reminds us that we are doomed to face the judgment of God is dealt with in Christ. Yet just dirt is more noticeable against something that is clean, the conscience of a Christian ought to be more active rather than less. It is the foundational guilt that is removed.

Let the evangelical quest for sufficient sincerity be laid to rest here. What I mean is the all-too-common situation that many believers find themselves in, which is the conscience-plagued attempt to judge the reality of their faith in Christ by the sincerity in which they believe. Now do not hear what I am not saying. Sincerity is certainly important when repenting of sins, but it is by no means the determining factor. In fact, I think that I can say with confidence that none of us has ever repented with full and complete sincerity, since our heart in this life is always going to be mingled with corruption. Indeed, our attempts at perfecting repentance by being as sincere as possible can easily become just another dead work for us to be saved from. Or maybe we can say it like this, if you were capable of perfect repentance, you would not need to repent at all.

The key is to stop looking at yourself and to look to Christ! Faith like a mustard seed is sufficient because the size of one’s faith is far less important than the object of one’s faith. Thus, Christ as the object of our faith is far more important than the size of our faith. Likewise, Jesus, not us, is able to purify our guilty consciences by dealing with our sin once for all. Verse 12 used that beautiful phrase again, and we ought to savor it. Christ entered the heavenly tent only once to cleanse all the sins of all God’s people. In doing so, He secured an eternal redemption, that is, He made certain God’s eternally purchasing His people back to Himself to be His treasured possession for all time. This is the means of the purified conscience, not walking the aisle, not being baptized at youth camp, not even the fighting of your pet sin, only the once for all sacrifice of Christ for our eternal redemption. Stop trying to cleanse your conscience through your own works and rest in the work of Christ.

Indeed, as if to further seal the absoluteness of this offering, we find the full Trinity at work. Just as God first made the world through Christ, so too is the new creation worked through Christ. Jesus appeared as our high priest, offering Himself as the sacrifice to atone for our sins. But He did so through the eternal Spirit and to God. This, of course, is also how the Scriptures also describe this redemption being applied to us: the Father ordains, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies. In other words, the fullness of our triune God is at work in our salvation.

As we come now our King’s Table, where we proclaim His redeeming death until He comes, let us set our eyes back upon that true and better sacrifice. Indeed, just as the sacrifice of bulls and goats upon the altar pointed forward to Christ’s perfect offering of His own blood, so too does the bread and cup before us point back to that securing of our eternal redemption. With such a great salvation before us, consider these words:

Are we, new covenant believers, inclined to take those stunning promises for granted? Do we assume that forgiveness and cleansing are trivial matters, granted cheaply? That access to the Holy One is our right rather than a privilege bestowed in his mercy on us who deserve wrath, banishment, and destruction? Rivers of blood from countless animal victims and daunting restrictions circumscribing approach to God were designed to impress on Israel both the gravity of their sinful pollution and the magnificence of God’s reconciling mercy. Pause to savor those promises–deep cleansing, open access, complete forgiveness–and give thanks to the Lord who made them and who kept them through Jesus, his Son and our priest forever.[5]

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[1] Richard Phillips, Hebrews, 291.

[2] R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews, 231-232.

[3] Geoffrey Wilson, New Testament Commentaries Vol 2, 403.

[4] Cite in Wilson, New Testament Commentaries, 403-404.

[5] ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12, 117-118.