Text: Hebrews 9:1-11<\/p>\n
In Hebrews 8:5, the writer mentioned that the priests serve in a tabernacle that was a shadow of heavenly things. He returns to that subject in chapter 9, discussing the details of the tabernacle and the worship offered. It is discussed in the past tense because the Old Covenant had passed away with Jesus’ death on the cross (Ephesians 2:14-16; Colossians 2:13-17).<\/p>\n
Under the Old Covenant, the tabernacle was a physical sanctuary divided into two chambers. The first chamber was called the Holy Place and it contained the lampstand and the table of showbread (Exodus 26:35). The second chamber, the Holy of Holies, was separated from the Holy Place by a veil, which had the altar of incense before the veil (Leviticus 16:12) and the ark of the covenant behind the veil (Exodus 26:33). Within the ark were the tablets of stone on which were written the ten commandments (Exodus 25:16), Aaron’s rod which had budded (Numbers 17:10), and a jar of manna (Exodus 16:33). The ark’s top formed the mercy set with two cherubim, whose wings overshadowed the mercy seat.<\/p>\n
Twice a day the priests would trim the wicks on the lampstand and replenish the oil it burned (Leviticus 24:3-4). At the same time, incense was offered to the Lord on the altar of incense (Exodus 30:7-8). The bread on the table was replaced every Sabbath (Leviticus 24:5-8).<\/p>\n
Once a year, on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16:29-34), the high priest would enter the veil (Leviticus 16:2) after he had:<\/p>\n
No one else was allowed in until the high priest left the tent (Leviticus 16:17).<\/p>\n
All of these things were symbolic of things in the Christian age. But it also represented that the way to heaven was not yet open while the tabernacle stood. In fact, these items and rituals were unable to give the worshiper a perfect conscience.<\/p>\n
The ordinances were given as a temporary measure until the time of reformation. This is a reference to the change in law brought in by Jesus’ death on the cross. The worship in the New Testament emphasizes the spiritual rather than the physical (John 4:24). Thus, we see acts of worship today emphasizing the heart (Ephesians 5:19; I Corinthians 11:23-29).<\/p>\n
In contrast, Jesus came as the High Priest of “good things to come.” By this, the writer seems to be referring to the salvation of mankind (Hebrews 10:1). Jesus came into this world before salvation was offered to all of mankind. He then entered heaven after his death to be in the presence of God, the Father. Thus, the Old Testament tabernacle symbolized heaven with the Holy of Holies, and Christ did not enter the symbol, but the actual place as our High Priest.<\/p>\n
A Better Covenant Based on a Better Sanctuary Text: Hebrews 9:1-11 In Hebrews 8:5, the writer mentioned that the priests serve in a tabernacle that was a shadow of heavenly things. He returns to that subject in chapter 9, discussing the details of the tabernacle and the worship offered. It is discussed in the past…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":671,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4319","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/letter-to-the-hebrews\/a-better-covenant-based-on-better-promises\/","url_meta":{"origin":4319,"position":0},"title":"A Better Covenant Based on Better Promises","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A Better Covenant Based on Better Promises Text: Hebrews 8:6-13 Jesus has a greater ministry than the high priests in the Old Testament. As they did, He serves as a mediator between the people and God, but Jesus also mediated a new covenant between God and the people. This covenant\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4705,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/letter-to-the-hebrews\/a-better-covenant-based-on-a-better-sacrifice\/","url_meta":{"origin":4319,"position":1},"title":"A Better Covenant Based on a Better Sacrifice","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A Better Covenant Based on a Better Sacrifice Text: Hebrews 9:11-10:18 Entered the Holy of Holies with a better sacrifice (Hebrews 9:11-12) Under the New Covenant, Jesus is our High Priest of our salvation. Like the priests of the Old Covenant, he entered the true Holy of Holies (heaven) after\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":671,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/letter-to-the-hebrews\/","url_meta":{"origin":4319,"position":2},"title":"Letter to the Hebrews","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Letter to the Hebrews by Jeffrey W. Hamilton December 2018 Background Overview A Better Leader Christ is Better than the Prophets\u00a0(Hebrews 1:1-3) Christ is Better than Angels Because of His Deity\u00a0(Hebrews 1:4-2:4) Christ is Better than Angels Because of His Humanity\u00a0(Hebrews 2:5-18) Christ is Better than Moses\u00a0(Hebrews 3:1-4:13) Christ is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/8616389727_416725bd3d_o-205x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1897,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/letter-to-the-hebrews\/christ-is-greater-than-aaron\/","url_meta":{"origin":4319,"position":3},"title":"Christ Is Greater than Aaron","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Christ is Better than Aaron Text: Hebrews 7:1-8:5 Melchizedek was greater than Aaron (Hebrews 7:1-10) Melchizedek was brought up in the quote from Psalms 110:4 in Hebrews 5:6. The writer emphasized that Jesus was a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, but his audience wasn\u2019t prepared to understand this\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61520,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/learning-from-the-kings-of-israel\/the-defeat-of-the-philistines\/","url_meta":{"origin":4319,"position":4},"title":"The Defeat of the Philistines","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Defeat of the Philistines Text: I Samuel 5:1-7:14 God's Vengeance - I Samuel 5:1-5 The Philistines took the captured ark to the city of Ashdod and placed it in their idol temple. But the next morning, the idol of Dagon had fallen on his face before the Ark of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1114,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/the-lord-your-god-is-an-awesome-god\/gods-promises-are-sure\/","url_meta":{"origin":4319,"position":5},"title":"God’s Promises Are Sure","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"God\u2019s Promises Are Sure Text: Hebrews 6:9-20 Reading through the Bible, we find many promises of an eternal home in heaven with God. But how can you or I be sure that such a home is really there? None of us get to visit it beforehand. It is not like\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4319\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}