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.
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who
are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a
death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions
committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved,
the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will
takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the
one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was
inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law
had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of
calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and
sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is
the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” And in the
same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the
vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is
purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness of sins.
Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be
purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with
better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy
places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but
into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our
behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest
enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then
he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the
world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the
ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is
appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so
Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will
appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who
are eagerly waiting for him.
