Week 50 Hebrews 9
One of the Big Points in Hebrews is this: the OT sacrificial system had its limitations. Sure…what it offered was good. It was way better than nothing. But its ceiling was pretty low.
And Hebrews describes the New Improved System:
Christ has now become the High Priest over all.
He has entered the greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which is not part of this created world.
With his own blood he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
So there’s been a transition:
OT High Priest > NT Christ
OT animal sacrifices > NT Christ’s sacrificial execution
OT Holy Place (on earth) > NT Holy Place (in heaven)
Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. He is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people.
Christ died to set people free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.
The High Priests. The Holy Place. The cycles of sacrifices. They were all anticipatory material forms. Placeholders. Temporary agents. Waiting for the Primary High Priest to make the once-for-all sacrifice in the supra-material Temple.
The OTs human priests and real sacrifices at the visible tabernacle were dramatizing the extra-real Christ dying.
Note: quoted selections from Hebrews 9:11-15 (NLT)