Hebrews 9

1Now the first agreement had rules for worship and a holy place here on earth.

2The first sacred room was called the Holy Place. Inside stood the golden lampstand, the table, and the sacred bread.

3Behind the heavy second curtain hung the Most Holy Place.

4Inside stood the gold incense altar and the gold-covered Box of the Agreement. Inside the box lay the gold jar of manna. It also held Aaron's budding rod and the stone tablets of the Law.

5Above the chest, winged cherubim spread their wings over the mercy seat! But we cannot talk about all of this in detail now.

6When everything was set up like this, the priests went regularly into the first room to do their work.

7But only the high priest went into the second room. He went only once a year. He never went without blood. He offered that blood for himself. He also offered it for the sins the people had done without knowing.

8The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been opened while the first tent was still standing.

9This is a picture for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices being offered could not clear the conscience of the worshiper.

10They were only about food and drink and various washings. These were outward rules that applied until the time when God would set things right.

11But Christ came as the high priest of the good things that are now here. He went through the greater and more perfect tent, one not made by human hands, that is, not part of this created world.

12He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves. He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, and so He set us free forever.

13Priests sprinkled the blood of goats and bulls on dirty people. They sprinkled ashes of a young cow to make skin outwardly clean.

14How much more will the precious blood of Christ cleanse us! Through the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself spotless to God. His blood wipes our guilty conscience clean from dead religious rituals! Now we are truly free to serve the living God!

15This is why Christ is the go-between of a new agreement. He died to set people free from the sins they committed under the first agreement. So those whom God has called may receive the eternal inheritance He promised.

16Consider how a legal will works. A will requires proof that the person who wrote it has died.

17A will only goes into effect after death occurs. It has zero legal power while the person still lives!

18That is why even the first agreement required blood to ratify it.

19When Moses had announced every command of the law to all the people, Then he took the blood of calves and goats. He also took water, red wool, and a hyssop branch. He sprinkled the scroll and all the people.

20He said: This is the blood of the agreement that God has commanded you to keep.

21In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and everything used in worship.

22In fact, the law requires that almost everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

23So the copies of the heavenly things had to be made clean with these sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves needed better sacrifices than these.

24For Christ did not enter a holy place made by human hands, which is only a copy of the true one. He entered heaven itself, to appear now before God for us.

25The earthly high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year. He enters repeatedly carrying animal blood that is not his own.

26Christ does not need to offer Himself again and again! If He did, He would have suffered death repeatedly since creation. Instead, Christ appeared once for all time at the culmination of the ages. He wiped away sin forever by sacrificing Himself!

27Human beings are appointed to die once, and then face God's judgment.

28In the same way, Christ was sacrificed once to carry away the sins of many! And He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.