Hebrews 9:23-28

Results of Christ's Entrance Into Heaven

The very existence of Israel and all of the promises that she was to receive was dependent upon blood. The superior sacrifice of God's only Son was intended to cleanse all of the anti-types of the Jewish Tabernacle. Also, Christ's shed blood was used for the cleansing of heavenly things. Therefore, it had to be shed. While the blood of the old covenant was sufficient for its purpose, only the blood of Christ could purify the anti-types of the Jewish tabernacle and the heavenly things. The sanctuary Christ entered was heaven, the home of spiritual beings. Thus, a spiritual sacrifice was required. Christ is now before God's throne and will represent sinful man (Hebrews 9:23-24; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1).

Having seen Christ's blood is needed, it is important to recognize continual sheddings of it are not required. If there were a need for yearly sacrifices to cleanse man's sins, those sacrifices would have been required from the fall of Adam to the present. The single offering of Christ was all that was needed and is able to cleanse the sins of man from the time of his fall to the end of the earth. Christ came at the "completion of the ages," thus the last age of God's dealings with man. Jesus made His sacrifice at the beginning of this last age (Hebrews 9:24-26; Hebrews 1:2; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 1 Peter 1:2).

While the High Priest had to make an annual sacrifice to cleanse his own sins and the sins of the people, Christ, who was without sin, has no need of those yearly cleansings. Also, His sacrifice was perfect for the task and only needed once. So, like all men, He had to die once and face the consequences of sin. Of course, the sin He bore was not His own. "Appointed" means "reserved for," or "laid up." Jesus came as a sin bearer, or sin offering, the first time, but He will not do so the second time. We as Christians are like the people under the old law who awaited the return of the High Priest from the Holy of Holies. Jesus will come again as He promised (John 14:1-6) and as the writer assures his readers (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Christ's second coming is also mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, where we learn of the reward Christians will receive and the punishment non-Christians will receive (Hebrews 9:27-28).