HebrewsChapter 9

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¹The first covenant had rules for worship. It also had a holy place here on earth. ²A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the holy bread. This room was called the Holy Place. ³Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place. ⁴It had the golden altar for burning incense. It also had the ark of the covenant, which was covered with gold. Inside the ark was the gold jar of manna. Aaron's staff that had grown buds was there too. So were the stone tablets of the covenant. ⁵Above the ark were the glorious cherubim. Their wings covered the place of mercy on top of the ark. But we can't talk about these things in detail now.a ⁶After everything was set up this way, the priests went into the first room all the time. They went in to do their holy work. ⁷But only the high priest went into the second room. He went in only once a year. And he never went in without blood. He offered the blood for himself and for the sins the people had done without knowing it. ⁸In this way the Holy Spirit was showing something. As long as the first tabernacle was still standing, the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been opened up. ⁹This is a picture for the present time. That's because the gifts and sacrifices people offered could not make the worshiper's conscience clean. ¹⁰They were only about food and drink and special washings. They were outward rules. They were given until the time God would make things new. ¹¹But Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now here. He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle. It is not made by human hands. It is not part of this created world. ¹²He did not go in by the blood of goats and calves. He went into the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood. In this way he won a redemption that lasts forever. ¹³People who were unclean by the law were sprinkled with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow. If that made them holy, so that their bodies were clean, ¹⁴Then how much more will the blood of Christ make our consciences clean! Through the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God without any flaw. His blood cleans us from deeds that lead to death. Then we can serve the living God! ¹⁵So Christ is the one who brings a new covenant between God and people. Through it, those God has called can receive the promised inheritance that lasts forever. They can, because Christ has died to redeem them from the wrongs they did under the first covenant. ¹⁶When someone leaves a will, it must be proven that the person who made it has died. ¹⁷A will doesn't go into effect until the person who made it dies. It can't be used while that person is still alive. ¹⁸That's why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. ¹⁹Moses told all the people every command in the law. Then he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, red wool, and branches of hyssop. He sprinkled the scroll and all the people. ²⁰He said, "This is the blood of the covenant. God has commanded you to keep it." ²¹In the same way, he sprinkled blood on the tabernacle. He also sprinkled it on everything used in worship. ²²In fact, the law says that almost everything must be made clean with blood. Without blood being poured out, there is no forgiveness. ²³The copies of the things in heaven had to be made clean with these sacrifices. But the things in heaven themselves had to be made clean with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴Christ did not go into a holy place made by human hands. That was only a copy of the true one. He went into heaven itself. Now he stands before God for us. ²⁵The high priest goes into the Most Holy Place every year with blood that isn't his own. But Christ didn't go into heaven to offer himself again and again like that. ²⁶If he had, Christ would have had to suffer many times since the world was made. But now he has come once for all at the end of the ages. He came to take away sin by sacrificing himself. ²⁷People are meant to die once. After that they face judgment. ²⁸In the same way, Christ was offered once to carry the sins of many people. He will come a second time. That time he won't come to carry sin. He will come to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him.