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The Reality of the Heavenly: Hebrews 9

A revelation of the transition from the temporal shadows of the Old Covenant to the eternal substance of Jesus Christ in expressed in Hebrews 9. The author states that the Levitical system—with its earthly tabernacle and repeated sacrifices—was never God’s final intent. Rather, it was a parabolē (symbol or figure) designed to prepare humanity for the true High Priest.

The Old was a shadow of the heavenly and Christ is that reality, Christ is the tangible image of the invisible God and the precise copy of His being, radiating His glory as affirmed in Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 1:15

1. The Heavenly Sanctuary and the True High Priest

(Hebrews 9:8–10)

The Levitical system was defined by separation. The existence of the "Holy Place" and the "Most Holy Place," separated by a curtain, signified that "the way into the holy places is not yet opened" (Hebrews 9:8). This, the dividing wall, Christ nailed tot he cross. The Holy Spirit gives us insight of this physical structure to teach that as long as the earthly system stood, humanity remained separated from the direct presence of God, so there was a need for a better High Priest.

Christ’s arrival shifted the priesthood from earth to heaven. He serves in the heavenly reality, of which the earthly temple was a mere shadow. The text emphasizes that the rituals of food, drink, and washing were merely "regulations for the body" imposed until the time of reformation. They could not perfect the conscience (syneidēsin) of the worshiper, pointing to the need for a better High Priest.

2. The Greater Tent and Eternal Redemption

(Hebrews 9:11–14)

When Christ appeared as High Priest of the good things that have come, He did not enter a tent made with hands—that is, not of this creation. In other words the temple made by the hands of men on a corrupt body, earth, which symbolizes the temple of the body in the new that the Spirit resided in, a body that awaits redemption. Jesus passed through the greater and more perfect tent, the heavenly one to enter the true presence of God.

  • The Means: He entered not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood.

  • The Result: He secured an eternal lytrōsin (redemption).

Unlike the old yearly Day of Atonement, which provided a temporary covering requiring repetition, Christ’s entry was "once for all." This establishes a reality where the believer is permanently redeemed, passed from death to life, through the finished work of Christ who entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies to be our great high priest.

3. Purification: Blood, Water, and Spirit

(Hebrews 9:13–14, 19–22)

In the Old Covenant, Moses sprinkled water and scarlet wool with blood on the book and the people to cleanse them. However, this only sanctified in regards to the "purification of the flesh."

This points directly to the superior work of Christ through the "eternal Spirit" (Hebrews 9:14).

  • The Argument: If animal blood could ritually cleanse an inanimate object or human flesh, "how much more" will the blood of Christ purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

  • Jesus passed through the greater and more perfect tent to enter the true presence of God through the His blood and the power of the Spirit.

This correlates with the three witnesses in 1 John 5:7–8 (the Spirit, the water, and the blood) and their Old Testament types:

  1. Water: The priests washed in the seas of laver; Christ brings the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5).

  2. Blood: The animal sacrifices covered sin; Christ’s blood removes or annuls the transgression.

  3. Spirit: The anointing oil set the priest apart; the Eternal Spirit empowered Christ’s ability, along with the sacrifice of his blood, to enter into the Most Holy Place (Hebrews 9:8; Hebrews 9:14).

    These three agree as one testimony from God: The water cleanses, the blood atones, and the Spirit makes alive and regenerates (Romans 9:15-16; Ephesians 1:13-14). 

4. The Mediator and the Inheritance

(Hebrews 9:15)

Christ is identified as the mesitēs (mediator) of a new covenant. The purpose is specific: "so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance."

A death has occurred that redeems us from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. This connects to Ephesians 1:13–14, where the "promised Holy Spirit" is the guarantee of our inheritance.

  • In Hebrews, the death and blood of the one establishes a new covenant.

  • In Ephesians we receive a wisdom and revelation regarding the Spirit in us, the "hope of his calling" and the "riches of his glorious inheritance."

5. Inauguration of the Covenant

(Hebrews 9:16–22)

The author uses the dual meaning of the Greek word diathēkē, which means both "covenant" and "will/testament." A will only takes effect upon the death of the one who made it.

Just as the first covenant was inaugurated with blood (Hebrews 9:18), the New Covenant required a death. This death validates the "will," legally granting the beneficiaries (the called) access to the promises of God.

6. Annulling Sin and the End of the Law

(Hebrews 9:23–28)

The climax of the chapter is the statement that Christ appeared at the end of the ages "to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26).

The Greek word for "put away" is athetēsin, which implies an annulment or cancellation.

  • Annulling Sin: Sin derives its power from the Law (1 Corinthians 15:56). By fulfilling the righteous requirement of the Law through death, Christ annulled the legal power of sin. He also gives the promised Holy Spirit which empowers us to live out God's righteous requirements, or fulfill the law not through the means of written code but through the New Living Way.

  • Grace vs. Law: Because the debt is paid, the believer is no longer under the supervision of the Law but under Grace. As we are released from the Law, we are free to master sin through the Spirit, rather than being condemned by it. Thus those led by the Spirit are not under Law, and those who walk by Faith (Galatians 3:12; Galatians 5:18).

Christ will appear a second time, not to deal with sin (which is already been dealt with, so the basis of judgment is believing in Christ, John 3), but to save those who are eternally redeemed by his blood and eternally sealed as his own by the Spirit, those who have a heavenly inheritance, who await the redemption of the body, the fullness of their salvation. These will enter the way Jesus has provided into the Most Holy Place, through his blood and the power of the Holy Spirit.

So we conclude the new has come, the old has passed away by a superior way, and that in the face of Jesus shines the unveiled glory of God, see The Glory of Christ: From Shadow to Reality.

Location: Alabama, USA

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