Hebrews 9

1 – 3

The first agreement had rules for worship. And it had a place on earth for worship. The Holy Tent was set up for this. The first area in the Tent was called the Holy Place. In it were the lamp and the table with the bread that was made holy for God. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place.

In the Old Testament God was showing people how they could come to Him. God is the King of the universe and we do not come to Him just any way we want to.

The things that God told the Jews to do were to test them to see if they would do what they were told. It would be like a father giving his son a test to see if he would do what he was told before letting him drive a car.

4. In it was a golden altar for burning incense. Also there was the Ark of the Covenant that held the old agreement.

The Ark of the Covenant was covered with gold. Inside this Ark of the Covenant was a golden jar of manna and Aaron’s rod –the rod that once grew leaves. Also in it were the stone tablets of the old agreement.

We do not need a set of rules to live by written on stone because God’s Spirit is living inside of us and He shows us when we are doing wrong without having to be told.

This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:3

5. Above the Ark of the Covenant were the creatures with wings that showed God’s glory. The wings of the creatures reached over the mercy seat. But we cannot tell everything about these things now.

The mercy seat was on top of the Ark and it COVERED the tablets of the Ten Commandments which were underneath inside the Ark. This shows that their sins and the things that the Law says were all covered!

6 – 7

Everything in the Tent was made ready in this way. Then the priests went into the first room every day to do their worship.  But only the high priest could go into the second room, and he did that only once a year.

He could never enter the inner room without taking blood with him. He offered that blood to God for himself and for the people’s sins. These were sins people did without knowing that they were sinning.

There are times when we do things that we know are wrong but we do them anyway! This is a dangerous way to live!

If we keep on sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. Hebrews 10:26

Keep me from the sins that I do even though I know they are wrong. Psalm 19:13

8. The Holy Spirit uses this to show that the way into the Most Holy Place was not open. This was while the system of the old Holy Tent was still being used.

There was no way for men to come to God directly until Jesus paid the price for our sins. While He was on the cross, the curtain in front of the Holy of Holies was torn to show that we can now come to God through Jesus!
And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in half, from top to bottom. Mark 15:38

9 – 10

This is an example for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices offered cannot make the worshiper complete in his heart. These gifts and sacrifices were only about food and drink and special washings. They were rules for the body, to be followed until the time of God’s new way.

Some of the laws were common sense ways of staying healthy. Many of these laws were not understood by scientists and medical men until hundreds of years later.

11 – 13

But Christ has come as the high priest of the good things we now have. The tent he entered is greater and more perfect. It is not made by men. It does not belong to this world. Christ entered the Most Holy Place only once—and for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats and calves. His sacrifice was his own blood.

He entered the Most Holy Place and set us free from sin forever. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow are sprinkled on the people who are unclean and this makes their bodies clean again.

The sacrifice You want is a broken spirit.  Psalm 51:17

God hates the sacrifice of an evil person, especially when it is offered with an evil heart.  Proverbs 21:27

I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I will not even look at your peace offerings. Amos 5:22

Do I eat the meat of bulls? Do I drink the blood of goats? Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.  Psalm 50:13 – 14

14. How much more is done by the blood of Christ. He offered himself through the eternal Spirit as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make our conscience clean from dead works. We are made pure so that we may serve the living God.

When a priest killed an animal to cover your sins it did nothing to take away the guilt of your conscience for what you had done.

Hold on to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. 1 Timothy 1:19

15. So Christ brings a new agreement from God to His people. Those who are called by God can now receive the blessings that God has promised. These blessings will last forever. They can have those things because Christ died so that the people who lived under the first agreement could be set free from sin.

Men were weak and were not even able to come to God the way He showed them through the Law.

If you obey My decrees and My laws you will live by them. Leviticus 18:5

16 – 19

When there is a will, it must be proven that the man who wrote that will is dead. A will means nothing while the man is alive. It can be used only after he dies. This is why even the first agreement could not begin without blood to show death.

First, Moses told all the people every command in the law. Next he took the blood of calves and mixed it with water. Then he used red wool and a branch of the hyssop plant to sprinkle the blood and water on the book of the law and on all the people.

When someone leaves everything he has to you in his last will agreement, you cannot receive what he has given you until he dies. Jesus died and we receive our inheritance of the things He has promised.

20 – 22

He said, “This is the blood which begins the agreement that God commanded you to obey.” In the same way, Moses sprinkled the blood on the Holy Tent and over all the things used in worship. The law says that almost everything must be made clean by blood. And sins cannot be forgiven without blood to show death.

God has made it a Law that the only way that sin can be forgiven is when there is blood. So we could not just decide to live a good life and tell God we are sorry that we did some bad things. That would not be enough because is clean and nothing unclean can come near to Him unless it has been made clean by blood.

The Jews today are not seeing this because there is no temple and no sacrifice. They do not believe that Jesus’ blood was given for them so they are left with the idea of hoping that the good things they do will be more than the bad things they have done. If we could get to heaven this way then we could tell God that we deserve it!

23 – 24

So the copies of the real things in heaven had to be made clean by animal sacrifices. But the real things in heaven need much better sacrifices. For Christ did not go into the Most Holy Place made by men. It is only a copy of the real one. He went into heaven itself. He is there now before God to help us.

Many times in the Bible God has shown us things by showing a shadow of what they are. He has shown us what heaven is like in the things of the Temple. God is a great King and He is respected in heaven and surrounded only by things that are clean and show His goodness.

25 – 26

The high priest enters the Most Holy Place once every year. He takes with Him blood that is not his own blood. But Christ did not go into heaven to offer Himself many times.

Then he would have had to suffer many times since the world was made. But Christ came only once and for all time. He came at just the right time to take away all sin by sacrificing Himself.

Some people believe that when they have communion that Jesus is being killed again on the cross as they eat the bread and drink the juice. If this were true then it would mean that the first time Jesus died was not good enough.

27 – 28

Everyone must die once. After a person dies, he is judged. So Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And He will come a second time, but not to offer Himself for sin. He will come again to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

We live by the Words of God. God says that men only die once! There is no such thing as coming back in another body of an animal or person as the Hindus say.

The Hindus say that killing animals would mean that you killed one of your ancestors. They cannot keep from accidentally stepping on an insect or killing an animal in some other way so their religion cannot be lived out.