The old Tabernacle points forward to the new

9 The first Tabernacle had, of course, its own regulations for worship, and it contained the earthly sanctuary. ² A double tent was constructed. In the outer one was the lampstand, the table and the “bread of the presence.” This is called “the holy place.” ³ After the second curtain came the inner tent, called “the holy of holies.” ⁴ This contained the golden altar, and the ark of the covenant, which was covered completely in gold. In the ark were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded and the tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above it were the glorious cherubim, which overshadowed the mercy seat. There is much we could say about all this, but now is not the time.

⁶ With all these things in place, the priests continually go into the first Tabernacle in the ordinary course of their duties. ⁷ But only the high priest goes into the second Tabernacle, once every year, and he always takes blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. ⁸ The holy spirit indicates by this that, as long as the original Tabernacle is still standing, the way is not yet open into the sanctuary.

⁹ This is a picture, so to speak, of the present age. During this period, gifts and sacrifices are offered which have no power to perfect the conscience of those who come to worship. ¹⁰ They only deal with foods and drinks and various kinds of washings. These are regulations for the ordering of bodily life until the appointed time, the moment when everything will be put into proper order.

The sacrifice of the Messiah

¹¹ But when the Messiah arrived as high priest of the good things that were coming, he entered through the greater and much superior Tabernacle, not made with hands (that is, not of the present creation), ¹² and not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood. He entered, once and for all, into the holy place, accomplishing a redemption that lasts forever.

¹³ If the blood of bulls and goats, you see, and the sprinkled ashes of a heifer, make people holy (in the sense of purifying their bodies) when they had been unclean, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who offered himself to God through the eternal spirit as a spotless sacrifice, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God!

The purpose of the blood

¹⁵ For this reason, Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. The purpose was that those who are called should receive the promised inheritance of the age to come, since a death has occurred which provides redemption from transgressions committed under the first covenant.

¹⁶ Where there is a covenant, you see, it is vital to establish the death of the one who made it. ¹⁷ A will laid down in covenant only takes effect after death; it has no validity during the lifetime of the one who made it. ¹⁸ That’s why even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment had been read out to the people by Moses, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has made with you.” ²¹ Then, in the same way, he sprinkled with blood the Tabernacle, and all the vessels used in worship. ²² In fact, according to the law more or less everything is purified with blood; sins are not remitted unless blood is shed!

The Messiah’s work in the heavenly sanctuary

²³ That’s why it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly objects to be purified in this way, while the heavenly things themselves require better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For the Messiah did not enter into a sanctuary made by human hands, the copy and pattern of the heavenly one, but into the heavenly one itself, where he now appears in God’s presence on our behalf.

²⁵ Nor did he intend to offer himself over and over again, in the same way as the high priest goes into the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Had that been the case, he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. Instead, he has appeared once, at the close of the ages, to put away sin by the sacrifice of his own self.

²⁷ Furthermore, just as it is laid down that humans have to die once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so the Messiah, having been offered once and for all to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time. This will no longer have anything to do with sin. It will be in order to save those who are eagerly awaiting him.