Hebrews 9:23–28

9:23–24 Verse 22 connected the purification (katharizō) of handmade instruments of worship and the forgiveness of human sins. This link makes sense of the consecration of the earthly tabernacle and its furnishings through blood. The products of defiled human hands had to be purged in order to serve as God’s holy residence. Such cleansing required bloodshed, the prerequisite for the forgiveness of sins. Now our preacher’s “how much more” argument takes a surprising turn: If animal sacrifices were needed to purify the handmade earthly tent, how much greater are the sacrifices needed to purify “the heavenly things themselves,” the Most Holy Place “not . . . made with hands” (v. 24, echoing v. 11)! This reasoning is consistent with the sermon’s pervasive theme: Christ and the new covenant surpass in every way God’s prior provision for his people (1:1–4; 2:1–4; 3:5–6; 4:14–5:10; 7:1–28; 8:6–13; 9:11–14; etc.). The “better sacrifices” refer to the one, unrepeatable self-offering of Christ himself, the innocent High Priest and sacrificial victim “without blemish.”

But why would “heaven itself,” untouched by human hands and undefiled by human sin, need “to be purified” (katharizō)? Perhaps the reference to “the heavenly things themselves” points not only to God’s heavenly sanctuary but also to the people destined to worship there. To be sure, since the tabernacle and its contents were “copies [hypodeigmata] of the heavenly things,” those “heavenly things” must refer to the transcendent Most Holy Place, which Moses beheld on the mountain (8:5). Yet the tabernacle’s consecration by blood was bound up with the forgiveness of worshipers who meet God there (9:22). This suggests that the “heavenly things” purified by Christ’s sacrifice may be the people of God, pictured as his living sanctuary.¹ The imagery of God’s people as his dwelling place appears elsewhere in the NT (1 Cor. 3:16–17; Eph. 2:20–22; 1 Pet. 2:4–8). In Hebrews such imagery appeared when Jesus’ greater glory was compared to that of “the builder of a house,” followed by the statement, “We are his house” (Heb. 3:3, 6).

However we construe the purification of “the heavenly things,” the preacher’s point is to reassert that Christ’s high priestly ministry occurs not in an earthly replica of God’s true sanctuary (8:5) but in “heaven itself.” Every high priest offers sacrifices for sins (5:1), so Christ needed “something to offer” (8:3). He offered himself to purify others of their sins (7:27; 9:11–14). These statements have prepared us for this decisive moment in redemptive history, the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement as the Great High Priest enters into the heavenly Most Holy Place.

9:25–26 The author explores the contrast between the repeated (pollakis in both verses) sacrifices offered by Levitical high priests and Christ’s once-for-all (hapax; v. 27) sacrifice of himself. The mention of the high priest’s entering the holy places “with blood not his own” shows that the Day of Atonement is in view. Previously, the infrequency of the high priest’s access to the Most Holy Place (“but once a year”) was cited to show that the way into God’s true sanctuary was not revealed under the old covenant (vv. 7–8). The once-a-year ministry of the Levitical high priest did, however, prefigure the once-for-all (ephapax) entrance of Christ into the heavenly Most Holy Place (v. 12).

From a different perspective, the fact that the Day of Atonement ritual took place over and over, year after year, showed that Levitical rites could never remove defilement from human consciences. If “the blood of bulls and goats” could take away sins, they would not have been “offered every year” (10:1–4). Christ brought infinitely more costly blood when he entered once for all into the heavenly Most Holy Place. Whereas the Levitical high priest presented “blood not his own,” that of slain goats and calves (9:12), Christ put “away sin by the sacrifice of himself ” (v. 26) when he was “offered once to bear the sins of many” (v. 28).

Because Christ’s offering was his own death, it is unthinkable that he would undergo this suffering “repeatedly [pollakis] since the foundation of the world.” Rather, he appeared “at the end of the ages [epi synteleia tōn aiōnōn],” the climactic moment in redemptive history. Christ’s incarnation, ministry, death, and exaltation form the complex of events marking the arrival of “the last days” (1:1–2; Acts 2:17) and “the end of the ages [ta telē tōn aiōnōn]” (1 Cor. 10:11; cf. Matt. 13:39–40).

9:27–28 General human experience further demonstrates that Christ’s sacrificial death could occur only once. The observation that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” refutes Eastern religions’ belief in reincarnation and Western materialism’s belief that physical death annihilates human beings’ personal existence. But our preacher’s real purpose is to draw a parallel to Christ’s experience. Others’ deaths will be followed by the last judgment (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:11–15). Christ, who died “to bear the sins of many” as the suffering servant (Isa. 53:4–5, 11–12), “will appear a second time,” just as on the Day of Atonement the Levitical high priest emerged from the Most Holy Place after sprinkling blood on the mercy seat (Lev. 16:12–19; Heb. 9:4–5). When Christ emerges from the heavenly sanctuary, he will appear a second time not for judgment, as in the case of fellow humans, but to bring the fullness of “salvation” to those who eagerly await him (cf. Rom. 8:19–25; 1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5; Phil. 3:20). The “salvation” that the Lord first announced to his apostles (Heb. 2:3) included not only the forgiveness of sins but also dominion in the world to come (2:5). Christ’s return in glory will complete his people’s salvation.