Hebrews 9:11-28
DavidH. Linden University Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, NM USA (revised September, 2011)
In this part of Hebrews we come, in my opinion, to the pinnacle of the entire book. Here we find the service of Christ, our Great High Priest, in His sacrificial, effective, one-time, unblemished ransom-offering. Without shedding blood He would always be welcome in heaven in His own righteousness, but by His blood He was qualified to enter heaven to represent sinners in the Presence of God, since He had atoned for them on earth. There Jesus continues to serve.
Here we also find the benefits to His own: His blood cleanses the conscience and thereby enables the true worship of God. As the Mediator of the new covenant Who died for His people’s unfaithfulness, Christ alone – and not the people by their faithfulness – has secured eternally their promised inheritance. The eternal redemption (9:12) secures the eternal inheritance (9:15). This passage is also the clearest in the Bible on the meaning of the blood of Christ.
Many Biblical themes converge in this passage, one that shows that the death of Christ is the crucial act of God in history and the means by which all the blessings of salvation come to us. The gospel of Christ is fused with human history. The Christian faith is not just a message; it rests squarely on the event of our Savior’s death at a specific location on earth. It also rests on His current advocacy for us in heaven. The gospel message cannot exist apart from God’s actions. It is more than a nice idea.
This passage begins by teaching that the first coming of Christ is the hinge of human history. The sequence is: God’s creation, man’s sin, and redemption by the God-Man, Jesus Christ. The time of reformation, or time of correction, came (9:10) precisely when the Redeemer appeared as high priest (9:11) at the end of the ages (9:26). The “end of the ages” refers to the Lord’s first coming, as it does in 1 Corinthians 10:11.
In Jesus’ priestly work, the ineffective has been replaced with the effective; the numerous sinful mortal priests with the one holy Priest Who lives forever; and animal blood with the blood of Christ that really does cleanse from sin. No longer does a priest enter the Presence of God to leave and appear again a year later after another death of an innocent animal. Our Lord Jesus Christ offered once, has entered the Presence, and is still there “for us” after 2000 years. He will come again to fulfill promises that had to wait for the redemption He accomplished in His sacrifice.
9:11,12 The ceremonial ministries of priests on earth are no longer valid. The new time has come (9:10), so this verse speaks not of good things yet to come, but good things already here, such as a cleansed conscience.
Christ came as High Priest. In a different Scripture, Jesus asserted His calling as Priest when He said of His impending offering, “for this reason I came into the world” (John 12:23-28).
The priestly work of Christ is given in the format of thepriests who were types of Christ. Thus, Christ has gone “into the inner place behind the curtain”(6:19,20). The greater tabernacle “not of this creation” is heaven (9:11). In 9:12 the Most Holy Place refers to heaven. We are accustomed to think of the ascension as Jesus going up, but 9:12 says through. By using “through” the writer maintains the imagery of other priests passing horizontally through a literal curtain. Jesus “has passed through the heavens” (4:14). In Hebrews His approach to the Father is greatly emphasized. Besides 6:19,20 and 4:14 above, Christ is exalted above the heavens (7:26). “We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.” (8:1,2).
Priests often entered the Holy Place without blood, but on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place with blood. It was his duty to take animal blood and sprinkle it before the Lord. Such a ministry was authorized and required by God. For Jesus to be a Priest, He too must have something to offer (5:1 & 8:3). He could enter the Lord’s Presence on His own and be welcome, but He could not enter the Presence of God to represent sinners unless blood had been shed for them. The sacrifice which produced the blood necessary for Christ’s priestly entry was His body offered on the cross. Other high priests entered by right of blood; this applies to Christ as well, but the blood of His mediation was His.
Handling Types It is important to understand that a type in the OT will not be identical to its fulfillment in the NT, just as shadow of a hand is not like a hand in every respect. In the OT the high priest carried the blood with him; the NT never says that Jesus did that. 9:12 does not say Jesus entered with blood as some translations say.[1] The language that Jesus entered by means of His blood or by His blood, is that His bloodshed on the cross is what gave Him the right to appear before God as our Priest. He does not appear there for us by means of, for example, some false argument that we have not sinned. He does not intercede by means of a plea that we should be forgiven apart from justice – as if God could overlook sin! He went by means of the satisfaction that His sacrifice had made for us. The figurative way to speak of that sacrifice is to call it His blood, because He shed His blood when He offered Himself (9:25). The literal blood itself was left on the ground at the foot of the cross. His appearance in heaven to represent us is genuine, effective and legitimate because what He had done for us on the cross was all that was needed for redemption and acceptance by God. It is in this sense that He entered the Most Holy Place by His blood. He pled for our release from punishment on the basis of what He had endured for us.
This is related to another issue in interpretation. Did Jesus offer anything when He appeared before the Lord in the Most Holy Place? We face here some Roman Catholic influence with its doctrine of repeated offerings of Jesus’ body and blood. The OT never says that the priest who presented blood in the Most Holy Placeoffered it in the Most Holy Place. In both the type and the antitype, the offering was prior to entering the Presence of God. The goat was killed outside the tabernacle and the Lord Jesus’ offering was outside heaven on earth six weeks prior to His ascension. There is only one offering event, the one Jesus made in His death. No sacrifice is made in heaven. It was made where human sin occurred – on earth!
Having obtained eternal redemption The language here is in a past tense.[2] That shows that before His entrance into heaven, Christ had already obtained the eternal redemption. This is important because if we miss that the obtaining was accomplished prior to His entrance, we might wonder if something happens in heaven that causes redemption. If so, that would again argue that the redemption is not accomplished only in the sacrifice on the cross and could occur later and elsewhere. Redemption always has in it the idea of a payment. (In Revelation 14:3,4, redeemed = purchased.) Since this is so, we must see that the death of Christ is a redeeming death (1Peter 1:18) and avoid all suggestion of any later redeeming activity in heaven. The fact of one event as the sole basis of eternal redemption fits the truth that Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary once, and that the redemption Christ obtained on earth is eternal.Thus there is no later act in heaven or on earth to secure redemption. Our faith does not redeem, the Lord’s Supper does not redeem; there is no continuing purging of sin. Redemption was finished by one payment on the cross. He has freed us from our sins by His blood (Revelation 1:5), by one sacrifice (10:14: 7:27). God has accepted that sacrifice and requires nothing more.
Since the redemption is eternal and Christ has obtained it, it is a certainty. It cannot be altered or affected by any other factor. It is not contingent on the response of faith; rather, it secures the needed faith, because we are redeemed (i.e., set free) from the sin of not believing.Redemption rests on one base, not two; it was acquired for us by Christ in His work as our Priest. His accomplishment will bring about its results in the lives of all sinners who are saved. That redemption is in fact what saves them. (See the comments related to 9:15 below.)
The Blood of Christ The Apostles Paul, Peter and John, as well as Hebrews, all speak of the blood of Christ as His voluntary sacrificial death. Because the life of a creature is in its blood (Leviticus 17:11), the shedding of that blood is certain death. For Jesus to shed His blood means He gave up His life in death as a ransom payment (9:15). Since such sacrifices were always for others, the blood of Christ means Christ was a substitutionary sacrifice (9:28). His blood is the object of faith (Romans 3:25) and the basis of justification (Romans 5:9). By it Jesus redeemed His church (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:19) and brought reconciliation ( Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:20) and purification (1 John 1:7).The blood of Christ in Hebrews appears at 9:12,14; 10:19,29; 12:24; 13:12,20.This is the greatest concentration in the Bible making reference to Jesus’ sacrifice in terms of blood.
Our High Priest in Heaven Jesus does not make offerings in heaven; His one and only offering occurred on earth on the altar of the cross. Yet He is still our Mediator Priest at the Father’s right hand, seated there because His offering is final, unrepeatable, and finished. As a Priest He never speaks for Himself and does not need to. Instead, He actively represents His people, intercedes for us, blesses us, and turns aside all accusations.
He represents. Since He has been granted admission as our appointed Priest, this guarantees our entrance (6:19,20) and shows our acceptance in Christ. An accepted offering indicates the acceptance of the one represented (Leviticus 22:17-25).
He intercedes. He lives to intercede (7:25) and help His weak children (2:18). He prays for our protection, unity, perseverance, joy, success in service, holiness and final glorification (John 17). His intercession is our security; no charge against us for our sin can succeed since He has already atoned for it. No accusation of sin, in fact nothing at all, can separate us from being in Christ (Romans 8:31-39; 1 John 2:1,2).
He blesses. Jesus’ death brings comprehensive benefits to His own – blessings eternally secured. Our Priest blesses us in benedictions beyond mere words. We bless when we say what we wish for the Lord to do. He blesses in words that describe what He does do. Numbers 6:22-27 is a priestly prayer with the kind of favor Christ as Priest bestows. His death removed the curse and the barrier to blessing (Galatians 3:13-15). Because He has acquired gifts for His own, He dispenses them richly: chiefly the ministry of the Spirit among us (Luke 11:13, Acts 2:33; John 14-16; Ephesians 4:7-16), and all the things promised eternally to Abraham (Ephesians 2:12). God does not bless the person under His curse, but since our curse has been absorbed by Christ, Jesus dispenses blessing graciously.
9:13 The writer now mentions that the blood of bulls and goats made a person to be outwardly clean. To this he adds the ashes of a heifer, which in Numbers 19 was used for those who had touched a dead body so they could be declared clean.[3] Such a ritual cleansing did not cleanse the conscience.
9:14 The blood of Christ is the offering of an unblemished Person, one Whose entire ministry was the result of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, including making an offering of Himself. It is contrary to human nature to do such a thing, yet it was the will of the Father. Jesus’ Messianic obedience was supported by and completed in the Spirit’s power. Jesus obediently offered Himself. Thus by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus as a man was able to offer Himself as a morally pure man.
The “much more” is crucial to Hebrews. It contrasts Jesus with the animals of 9:13. One must consider Who it is Who offered Himself. The animals were not filled with the Spirit, nor did they voluntarily die.Their blood was not precious as was the blood of Christ. (His blood was precious not because it was different in kind from the blood of other men, but because it was His.) To return to the religion of shadows and copies, and to sacrifices of mere animals and away from Christ is to move from much more to much less. It is always this way with apostasy.
The God-ward Aspect of the Death of Christ We often fail to emphasize that Jesus’ sacrifice was offered “to God”. A self-centered culture likes to hear little more than that it was “for me”. That Jesus died for others is very clear; it is the principle of substitution. Hebrews teaches that every priest’s offering is to God, never to man.Christ’s offering was to God, Who was propitiated in the death of Christ. It was God to Whom the ransom payment was made in redemption. It is God’s alienation toward His elect that has been removed; God is the victor at the cross in the destruction of His enemy Satan. God’s justice was satisfied in the death of Christ and our sins (against God) were removed from His sight. God provided our priest, and God was being obeyed and glorified by Him. It is a sentimental half truth to say the cross is Jesus holding wide His arms to us. It was Jesus’ offering to the Father.
The new covenant promises to faith a radical change of heart (8:10). This is the cleansed conscience, a benefit which comes because the blood of Christ the Mediator cleanses. Christ is not a Mediator Who simply passes on information from God. He is One Who has acted to change His people so that they will be the transformed people Jeremiah predicted under the new covenant.
Cleansing the Conscience This is Hebrews’ term for genuine forgiveness. Forgiveness happens in God the Forgiver. It is His judicial decision concerning us that happens the instant we believe. By faith in His Word we know in our hearts that we have peace with God, that our sins are truly all forgiven, that in Christ we are accepted, and that we have been given a title to all the benefits of God’s gracious salvation. Thus the conscience is at peace and our fear of His wrath has been removed (Romans 5:9). We have no sense of remaining under God’s holy rejection because Christ’s sacrifice has removed all danger of it from the one who rests in His finished work. Our conscience knows nothing more will be required by God. Justification does not mean Christians have no further accusation of conscience reminding us we are sinful and need to repent. In the Spirit’s work the conscience is brought to agree with the sober appraisals of God’s law that we always need cleansing. Because of moral weakness, we come to the throne of grace in great need and even embarrassment, but also confidently in Christ – not with a sinless conscience, but one that rests in Christ – though in need of help because of remaining sin. We find grace, mercy and help because Christ is our Great High Priest (4:15,16) Whose blood has atoned for us. The conscience rests in God’s forgiveness by faith in His blood (Romans 3:25). Hebrews is not teaching that we can look within and with a good conscience think of ourselves as completely sanctified; rather, it teaches that sin affects us easily (12:1). It presents only Christ as perfect in His obedience (5:9) and believers in a process of being made holy (10:14). The intercession of Christ is not a false argument that we have no more sin, but a plea that Jesus’ one offering has answered fully for our sins. His blood has satisfied God and cleanses our consciences. We make no offerings for our sins; we only confess them, and God is faithful to purify the conscience from them (1 John 1:9).
The Contrast “Acts that lead to death” (like 6:20) – or better dead works – is a way to look at sin from one angle. As transgression, sin disobeys; as defilement, sin is unclean. To speak of cleansing as 9:14 does, is to view sin as filth. Death is sin’s consequence. It is the execution of the sentence of condemnation. Death is a broken communion with God; its beautiful opposite is to “serve the living God.” The word serve is commonly used for worship. The OT priest could offer sacrifices of blood, and had to do so. With forgiveness and cleansing from sin secured by Christ, we may approach to offer the sacrifice of praise (13:15). This is a kind of service common to all of God’s people as a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5).
This amazing verse, 9:15! The blood Christ offered to God cleanses the conscience and opens the way to genuine worship (9:14). By saying that, the writer of Hebrews joined to the sacrifice of Christ the benefits that come from it. In 9:15 he links the promised inheritance (of Abraham) to the priestly service of Christ Whose ransom removes sin and thereby secures that inheritance. Defective obedience can never secure an inheritance; Christ’s obedience does. 9:15 must be one of the most amazing verses in the Bible. It joins together very large matters in a very brief statement. Christ’s mediation and ransom results in an unlosable inheritance for all who are called. This verse is like a bridge that links all the continents of earth together in one location. The ransom paid by Christ connects all these elements in the eternal purpose of God.