The Earthly Tent

9 The first covenant had regulations for worship and for an earthly sanctuary. ² The first room of the tent was furnished with the lampstand, the table, and the Bread of the Presence.^[a] This room was called the Holy Place. ³ And behind the second curtain was the room of the tent called the Most Holy Place. ⁴ It had the golden censer for incense^[b] and the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered entirely with gold. Inside the Ark was the golden jar holding the manna, Aaron’s staff that had sprouted buds, and the stone tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above the Ark, the glorious cherubim overshadowed the atonement seat. We are not going to talk about these things in detail now.

⁶ After these things had been furnished in this way, the priests would always enter the first room of the tent to perform their ministries. ⁷ But only the high priest would enter the second section of the tent, once each year, and not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people committed in ignorance. ⁸ By this the Holy Spirit indicates that, while the first room of the tent existed, a way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed.

⁹ This tent is a picture pointing to the present time. Since it is only a picture, the gifts and sacrifices that are brought there are not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper. ¹⁰ They are only bodily regulations about foods, drinks, and various washings, which were in force until the time of the new order.

Jesus’ Blood

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that were coming,^[c] he went through the greater and more complete tent, which was not made by human hands (that is, it is not part of this creation). ¹² He entered once into the Most Holy Place and obtained eternal redemption, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. ¹³ Now if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who were unclean, sanctifies them so that their flesh is clean, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our^[d] consciences from dead works, so that we worship the living God?

¹⁵ For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant. A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance. ¹⁶ For where a will^[e] exists, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made the will. ¹⁷ For a will takes effect at the time of death, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is still living.

¹⁸ For this reason, the first covenant was not ratified without blood. ¹⁹ Indeed, after every command was spoken by Moses to all the people, in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats,^[f] with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people. ²⁰ He said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God established for you.”^{[g] 21} In the same way he sprinkled blood on the tent and all the objects for worship. ²² And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law. And, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

One Perfect Sacrifice

²³ Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in heaven be cleansed by these sacrifices, but it was necessary that the heavenly things themselves be cleansed with sacrifices better than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a handmade sanctuary, a representation of the true sanctuary. Instead, he entered into heaven itself, now to appear before God on our behalf. ²⁵ And he did not enter to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Otherwise he would have needed to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once and for all, at the climax of the ages, in order to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And, just as it is appointed for people to die only once and after this comes the judgment, ²⁸ so also Christ was offered only once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time—without sin—to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him.