Hebrews 9:11, commentary and pictures

Christ has come as High Priest of the good things to come, ministering in heaven for humanity after offering His own life as the once-for-all atonement. The greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands is the true heavenly sanctuary made by God, with its Holy Place and Most Holy Place, not of this earthly building or order. The earthly sanctuary, priesthood and animal sacrifices were only types and shadows pointing to Him, and when He died as the perfect Offering type met antitype so that the veil was torn and those sacrifices lost all value. By His own blood He entered the holy place once and obtained eternal redemption, for His sinless, voluntary offering alone satisfies the law, purges the conscience from dead works, and reconciles repentant sinners to God at the mercy seat where justice and mercy unite. At the close of the 2300 days in 1844 He entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary for the closing work of atonement, the antitypical Day of Atonement and investigative judgment in which the sins of His faithful people are blotted out. Through Him believers may now by faith enter the true tabernacle and approach God, confessing and repenting of sin while He pleads His blood for them, living in holiness, obedience and unity until the work is finished.

The Greater Tabernacle

The greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands is the true heavenly sanctuary and temple, made by God and not of this earthly building or order. Through His death and resurrection Christ has come as High Priest of good things to come to minister there, and unlike mortal earthly priests He is priest forever. The earthly tabernacle and temple with their sacrificial services and priesthood were types and figures of that sanctuary, pointing forward to Christ and teaching Israel to look to the coming Saviour. When He came as the true sacrifice for the sins of the world, the earthly priesthood and its services gave way and passed away before His ministry. By offering His own blood He entered the holy place once and obtained eternal redemption.

That heavenly sanctuary has two apartments, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, the first and the second apartment within the second veil. Christ ministers in both apartments in priestly garments, offering the saints' prayers to the Father with incense. His work has distinct stages, for when He entered the holy of holies for the closing work of atonement His ministration in the first apartment ended and His ministration in the second began, while He continued to present His blood before the Father for repentant sinners. At the close of the prophetic periods, at the end of the 2300 days in 1844, He passed within the second veil and entered the second apartment to begin the investigative judgment and make the final atonement to cleanse the sanctuary.

The first earthly tabernacle was built according to God's directions and blessed by Him, and its careful preparation and assembly illustrate preparation for the heavenly temple. It was a pattern that prepared God's people to worship in that real temple not made with human hands where they are preparing to worship. God is now fitting His people for a place there, and like stones prepared for Solomon's Temple probationers must have the roughness of defective character removed and become living stones reflecting Christ. Their hearts must be brought into harmony with God's plans, for merely joining worshipers is not enough.

Christ the High Priest

Christ has come as High Priest of good things to come by entering the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, ministering in the true heavenly sanctuary after offering His own life as the once-for-all atonement for sin. Through His death and resurrection He became the minister of that heavenly sanctuary, of which the earthly tabernacle and temple with their sacrificial services were types pointing to Him. Having risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, He entered the holy place once by His own blood and obtained eternal redemption, and the earthly priesthood and its services gave way to His ministry. His blood, offered without spot to God through the eternal Spirit, does far more than the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer for purifying the flesh, purging the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit directed minds to this heavenly sanctuary, while those who rejected His first advent missed this light and could not benefit from His mediation.

He is mankind's great High Priest, the true Sacrifice to whom the eyes of the world are turned from earthly types, and unlike mortal earthly priests who entered with animal blood He entered by offering His own blood and serves as priest forever. With His death the earthly priesthood ceased and the sacrificial service that pointed to Him passed away, and He ministers in both apartments of the heavenly sanctuary, entering its most holy place at the end of the 2300 days in 1844 to make the final atonement and cleanse the sanctuary. Appointed by God, He humbled Himself in human flesh to represent humanity in heaven, and through suffering and death as Sin-bearer opened a new and living way to serve forever as High Priest for the whole world. Still bearing humanity, He ascended as the victorious Priest, the Man whose name is the Branch who bears the glory and sits and rules as priest upon His throne.

In that ministry He first entered the holy place and through His own sacrifice presented His people's prayers, repentance, and faith before God, purified by His merits and made acceptable through His sacrifice. In the heavenly temple of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies He offers the saints' prayers to the Father with incense. His work has distinct stages: when He entered the holy of holies for the closing work of atonement His ministration in the first apartment ended and His ministration in the second began, having completed one part of His work as intercessor. Yet He continued to present His blood before the Father for repentant sinners, and in 1844 He entered the most holy place to begin the closing work of atonement, pleading His blood for sinners before the ark of God's enduring law.

Having taken His own atoning blood into heaven's holiest place, into the heavenly Most Holy Place, He sprinkled it on the mercy seat and on His own garments and blessed His people. His humanity, hidden in sorrow during His earthly life, will appear in glory when He descends from heaven. At His second appearing in glory, at His second coming, He will declare that no further sacrifice for sin is needed.

Type Meets Antitype

The earthly sanctuary with its priesthood and animal sacrifices was a system of types and shadows pointing forward to Christ, His crucifixion, and His priestly ministry in a greater heavenly sanctuary. Those earthly tabernacle and temple services were figures given to teach Israel to look forward to the Saviour, keeping faith alive in the coming Redeemer and helping people understand His work. They taught the great lesson that sin had separated humanity from God and that access to Him required a mediator. Unlike the mortal earthly priests, Christ came through death and resurrection as the promised Messiah, the true and eternal High Priest and Mediator, the reality to which the Jewish rites pointed. By His own blood He entered the holy place once and obtained eternal redemption, and through Him the separation caused by Adam's transgression was overcome so guilty sinners could approach God and have communication with Him restored.

When Christ died as the perfect Offering, type met antitype and its fulfillment. The temple veil was torn, signifying that the sacrificial system had ended because the one final sacrifice had been made. With His death the earthly priesthood ceased, the sacrificial service that pointed to Him passed away, and animal sacrifices and ceremonial offerings became valueless and could no longer provide access to God. The eyes of the world are thus turned from earthly types to Him as the true Sacrifice, the Man whose name is the Branch who bears the glory and sits and rules as priest upon His throne, ministering in the greater and more perfect heavenly dwelling. At His ascension He entered by His own blood to bring the blessings of His mediation, and His heavenly ministry replaced the earthly service of types and shadows.

The blood of beasts could not satisfy the demands of God in atoning for transgression of His perfect law, because the life of a beast is of less value than the life of the offending sinner and therefore could not be a ransom for sin. The Jewish sacrifices and ceremonies had no saving virtue and no power to save apart from Him, continuing only until His perfect offering took their place. They were acceptable with God only as figures representing the perfect Offering. That Offering was Christ Himself, voluntarily offered, perfect and sinless and of infinite worth, meeting the demands of God's law and opening the way for guilty sinners.

Blood and Eternal Redemption

By His own blood Christ entered the holy place once and obtained eternal redemption, for through His death and resurrection He became the minister of the true heavenly sanctuary and the true sacrifice for the sins of the world, so that the earthly sacrificial service and priesthood passed away. Blood is sacred and must be kept distinct from what is common, because atonement comes only through the shedding of the blood of the Son of God, and the cleansing of the sanctuary with blood pointed to Christ's blood alone as cleansing from sin. His blood, offered without spot to God through the eternal Spirit, does far more than the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer for purifying the flesh, purging the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Christ is Himself both High Priest and victim, clothed in His own spotless robes of righteousness, and after shedding His precious blood on Calvary outside the city He enters into the holy place to cleanse the sanctuary. His self-emptying in taking the form of a servant is pictured by the high priest laying aside his splendid robes to serve in the plain linen clothing of a common priest, and His sacrifice exposed Satan's character and made his destruction unavoidable. His offering is cast as a crimson current in the direction of the Holy Place for the service of reconciling God to man, fulfilling the type in which the high priest clothed in white caught the blood of the slain sacrifice and cast it seven times toward the tabernacle or temple as an expression of perfection. That same work is fulfilled in the red heifer slain without the camp and burned to ashes as a whole and ample sacrifice, a divinely commanded ceremony with deep significance that has not lost its application to the present time.

As Sin-bearer, substitute, and surety He bore the punishment for sin so that through faith sins may be pardoned and sinners may return to allegiance to God, and by His suffering and death He opened a new and living way and entered the holy place to serve forever as High Priest for the whole world. His sacrifice satisfies justice and vindicates the honor of God's law, making Him the only hope of salvation and the means of reconciliation with God. At the mercy seat over the law God's justice and mercy unite, so that God can justly forgive and justify the repentant sinner, renew humanity's relationship with Him, and clothe the redeemed in Christ's righteousness.

Through His mediation the separation caused by Adam's transgression is overcome and the way is opened for guilty sinners to approach God. By voluntarily offering Himself as the perfect and sinless sacrifice, He restores the communication with God that Adam's transgression had cut off.

The 1844 Cleansing Judgment

At the close of the prophetic periods, at the end of the 2300 days, on the tenth day of the seventh month in 1844, Christ as High Priest of the greater and more perfect sanctuary entered its most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary and make the final atonement. What the Day of Atonement type led believers to expect was thus accomplished in heaven, for He ended His ministration in the first apartment and passed within the second veil into the second apartment in priestly garments. His ministry there is that of the enduring High Priest who entered not with animal blood but by His own blood, ministering in both apartments for those who can benefit from His mediation.

The sanctuary so cleansed is in heaven, not the earth, and its cleansing is not the earth's purification by fire. The event was not Christ's visible return and not the end of the world, but His entering the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to finish the atonement for human sin.

His work has distinct stages: after rising and ascending He first entered the holy place, presenting His people's prayers, repentance, and faith before God purified by His merits through His own sacrifice. Then His ministration in the first apartment ended and His ministration in the second began for the closing work of atonement, completing one part of His work as intercessor while He continued to present His blood before the Father for repentant sinners. In 1844 He entered the most holy place to begin that closing work, pleading His blood for sinners before the ark of God's enduring law, and this final atonement completes the divine plan of redemption and cleanses the sanctuary.

That closing ministry is the antitypical Day of Atonement and the investigative judgment, in which the sins of His faithful people from Abel onward are atoned for and blotted out. It began in 1844 with the review of the cases of the righteous dead, beginning with the dead, before judgment passes to the living.

Living by His Ministry

Through Christ believers may by faith enter the true tabernacle and approach God, with Christ as their Head and themselves as His household, for His ministry takes place in a greater and more perfect sanctuary not made by human hands and not belonging to this earthly order. After 1844 He entered upon another work of ministration there, and following Him by faith led believers to understand the closing work of the church and to give the third angel's warning.
While He pleads, each person must confess and repent of sin as Israel did on the earthly Day of Atonement, so that sin may be atoned for and blotted out, for in 1844 He entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to begin the investigative judgment, reviewing the cases of the righteous dead before judgment is pronounced on the living. That service also teaches duty, for the sacrifices to be accepted and God's presence to remain, those serving had to maintain holiness of heart, purity of life, reverence for God, and obedience to His requirements, since the sacrifices prefigured His sacrifice and kept faith alive in the coming Redeemer while teaching the plan of salvation.

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit directed the disciples' minds to this heavenly Sanctuary where Christ entered as High Priest after offering Himself as the great Sacrifice, whose atonement brings its benefits to His people when the earthly sanctuary and its sacrifices gave way to the heavenly ministry. The first and second angels' messages, followed by the midnight cry, were to prepare people to enter by faith with Jesus into the most holy place. Those who rejected Jesus' first advent and the message preparing the way for Him, and those who rejected these messages, missed and lost this light about His ministry there and could not benefit from His mediation and intercession, directing their prayers to the wrong place like worshipers offering sacrifices to the sanctuary Jesus had left, like offerings to a forsaken sanctuary.
Understanding His position and work, involving atoning sacrifice and mediation for humanity, is essential to exercising faith and sharing in the benefits of His mediation, which calls for earnest study of the truth and a life devoted to holiness. The sanctuary question is an important truth identifying His ministration with the heavenly sanctuary and its holy place, and understanding it rightly matters. It gives a clear conception of sanctuary truth about heavenly things, instruction given by the Holy Spirit for the last days to be repeated to God's people.

His present work is now in the sanctuary as interceding High Priest, making an atoning sacrifice and pleading in behalf of His people the efficacy of His blood. This present priestly work is to be represented to children and youth to establish in their minds the plan of salvation. By His own blood He entered once into the holy place to obtain eternal redemption, and His blood offered without spot to God through the eternal Spirit does far more than the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer for purifying the flesh, purging the conscience from dead works to serve the living God, which is the converting power that subdues faultfinding and makes believers of one mind and usable in His work.
God is fitting His people for a place in the real heavenly temple not made with human hands, for the first tabernacle built according to God's directions prepared the people to worship in that heavenly temple. Like stones prepared for Solomon's Temple, probationers must have the roughness of defective character removed and become living stones that reflect Christ. Their hearts must be brought into harmony with God's plans, for merely joining worshipers is not enough.