⁵ They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”^[a]

¹⁷ For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.

⁴⁰ “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.

³⁰ “Set up this Tabernacle according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.

¹⁹ “Every part of this plan,” David told Solomon, “was given to me in writing from the hand of the Lord.^[a]”

⁸ The altar must be hollow, made from planks. Build it just as you were shown on the mountain.

¹² David also gave Solomon all the plans he had in mind^[a] for the courtyards of the Lord’s Temple, the outside rooms, the treasuries, and the rooms for the gifts dedicated to the Lord.

²³ That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

²⁴ For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.

⁹ This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them.