Just as God first made the world through Christ, so too is the new creation worked through Christ. Jesus appeared as our high priest, offering Himself as the sacrifice to atone for our sins. But He did so through the eternal Spirit and to God. This, of course, is also how the Scriptures also describe this redemption being applied to us: the Father ordains, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies. 

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 9:1-14 ESV

While Leviticus has a duly earned reputation for being the destroyer of Bible reading plans, it is, nevertheless, crucial for properly understanding the Pentateuch, the Old Testament, and even the New. I agree with John Sailhamer that the Pentateuch, that is, the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, ought to be thought of as one book in five volumes rather than five separate books. When viewed this way, we see the Holy Spirit’s clear design in the structure and symmetry within.

Genesis 1-11, which covers creation, the fall, the flood, and Babel, is a prologue to both the Pentateuch and the entire Bible. Genesis 12-50 recount the foundational promises that God made to Israel’s ancestors while they sojourned within the Promised Land. Of roughly the same length in word-count, Deuteronomy closes the Torah with Moses preparing Israel to finally enter the Promised Land and see God’s promises to the patriarchs fulfilled. Exodus and Numbers are also roughly the same size books and are mirrors of one another. As we have been seeing in Exodus, three major locations structure that book: Egypt, the wilderness, and Sinai. Numbers has a reverse series of locations: Sinai, the wilderness, and the border of Canaan.

At the center is Leviticus, which is filled with laws and rituals for how Israel will be able to worship Yahweh within the newly constructed tabernacle, particularly through the Levites as their priests. Indeed, the purpose of Leviticus is found in the final chapter of Exodus and the opening chapter of Numbers. In Exodus 40:34-35, we are told that whenever God’s glory filled the tabernacle Moses was not able to enter in. But in Numbers 1:1, we find God speaking to Moses within the tabernacle (or, tent of meeting as it is often called). The whole book of Leviticus is answering the question of how God’s sinful people could enter into His holy and sinless presence. The answer ended up being through lots of death and lots of blood. All of Leviticus is filled with instructions about the various sacrifices and offerings that the priests where to make on people’s behalf for any number of scenarios and sins.

Yet at the center of this central book is found the instructions for the Day of Atonement, the one day each year when the high priest alone was permitted to enter into the Most Holy Place, the inner chamber of the tabernacle, to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

I bring all of this up for two main reasons. First, the tabernacle and the priestly functions within is a major point of today’s text. Second, just as Leviticus and the Day of Atonement stood at the center of God’s law, so too does 9:1-10:18 stand at the center of Hebrews. Chapter divisions can make this matter a bit confusing since with thirteen chapters we would expect the middle of chapter 6 to be the center of Hebrews. Yet in terms of word-count, we are now at the center, which is fitting since the author is now going to describe for us the true, better, and final Day of Atonement.

As Long as the First Section is Still Standing // Verses 1-10

After describing the glories of the new covenant that Christ has inaugurated (primarily by citing Jeremiah 31:31-34), the author now takes us back to the old or first covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai: Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. This verse introduces us to what the author will present in verses 2-7, which is a very broad overview of those Old Testament regulations. These can then be divided into two parts: verses 2-5 recount the two-fold structure of the tabernacle, while verses 6-7 describe the priestly duties associated with each section.

For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

Here the author gives us a brief sketch of how the tabernacle was laid out. As he notes, there were two main sections: the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (also called the Holy of Holies). It is worth noting that the golden altar of incense was actually within the Holy Place right before the entrance to the Most Holy Place, yet the author clearly associates it with the Most Holy Place for good reason. Indeed, in Leviticus 16:12-13, we find this association:

And [the high priest] shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil, and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.

I think we are meant to hear notes of Exodus 34, where Moses was not permitted to see God’s face lest he die. In the same way, even the high priest’s once-a-year entrance into the Most Holy Place had to be conducted under the cover of a cloud of incense to shroud him from Yahweh’s beautiful but deadly glory. Let us also remember that this was God’s glory radiating through a copy and shadow of the heavenly reality.

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