20  The New  Covenant—part 2  (9:1-14)

Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. And behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things have been thus prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship, but into the second only the high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (9:1-14)

God never asks anyone to give up anything without His offering something far better in return. The chief obstacle in the way of the Hebrews’ faith was their failure to see that everything connected with the ceremonial law (covenant, sacrifices, priesthood, and ritual) was preparatory and transient. So the writer painstakingly and definitively pursues a clear revelation of the better character of the New.

Consequently, in Hebrews 9:1-14 the Old and New Covenants are further contrasted. The first part of the passage (vv. 1-10) outlines, or summarizes, the characteristics of the Old, whereas the second part (vv. 11-14) outlines the characteristics of the New.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OLD COVENANT

Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. (9:1)

The first covenant was not worthless or pointless. God gave it, and He does nothing that is worthless or pointless. Through it He prescribed certain kinds of worship and a special place in which to worship. But it was temporary, signified by the earthly character of the sanctuary. The sanctuary and its worship were divinely instituted, but they, like the earth, were temporary. They were ordained of God and give a beautiful, meaningful, detailed picture of the eternal Messiah.

The writer of Hebrews makes many comparisons. He has compared the prophets, the angels, Joshua, and Aaron to Christ—always pointing out and proving Christ’s superiority. But he never depreciates the persons or the things he compares with Christ or with Christ’s work. In fact he exalts the prophets and the angels and Aaron and Moses and the Old Covenant. He does not compare Christ to persons or things that were insignificant or meaningless or worthless, but to ones that were God-ordained and faithful and purposeful. He does not try to build Christ up by running these down. Quite to the contrary, he magnifies them and praises them. In doing so, he exalts Christ all the more. The more the other persons and things are legitimately magnified, the more Jesus is magnified, the more superior He is shown to be.

The regulations of divine worship, the rites and ceremonies, were instituted by God to help show His Son, the Messiah, the true Savior. They were divine services, but they were also temporary services, performed in a temporary sanctuary. Verses 2-10 mention three things about the old worship: its sanctuary, its services, and its significance.

THE OLD SANCTUARY

For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. And behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail. (9:2-5)

Here is a brief description of the old sanctuary—first the Tabernacle and then the Temple. The emphasis here, however, is on the tabernacle. It was the first sanctuary and also the most temporary and the most earthy. Thus it serves to illustrate best the writer’s point. It was made largely of skins and was designed to be portable. Even from the human view, it was the essence of impermanence. It gave every impression of being transitory.

Only two chapters in the Bible are devoted to the creation story, whereas some fifty chapters focus on the Tabernacle (see especially Ex. 25-40). The Tabernacle is important and demands attention in our study, because it is a giant portrait of Jesus Christ. Everywhere you look in the Tabernacle you can see Him.

The courtyard of the Tabernacle was one hundred fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide. Its single gate, on the east side, was thirty feet wide and seven and a half feet high, allowing a large number of people to enter at the same time. It is a graphic picture of Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the way” and “I am the door.” Just as there was only one entrance to the Tabernacle, there is only one way to God—the only Way and the only Door, Jesus Christ. Christianity is exclusive, not because Christians make it so but because God has made it so. Throughout the centuries, of course, Christians have made the earthly church exclusive in many wrong ways. But God has intentionally made His spiritual, eternal church exclusive. It can be entered only through Jesus Christ.

The first article of furniture in the outer court was the bronze altar. It was made of acacia wood sheathed with bronze. It was seven and a half feet square, stood four and a half feet off the ground, and was topped with a bronze grate. The coals were placed underneath the grate and the sacrifice was placed on top. On the four corners of the altar were horns, to which the animal was bound when it was being sacrificed. The bronze altar is again a perfect picture of Jesus Christ, who Himself was a sacrifice for sin.

The next piece of furniture in the court was the laver or basin, also made of bronze. In it the priests would wash their hands, and even sometimes their feet, as they went about the bloody services of sacrifice. Here is a picture of Jesus Christ as the cleanser of His people. Once we have received forgiveness for our sins through Christ’s sacrifice of Himself, we still need His daily cleansing that restores fellowship and joy.

Still moving west across the courtyard, we come to the Tabernacle proper—forty-five feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high. The holy place took up two-thirds of this area, which means that the holy of holies was a perfect fifteen-foot cube. Only priests could go into the Holy Place, in which were three pieces of furniture. The writer of Hebrews mentions only two, because, as he says, he cannot speak in detail (9:5).

The Holy Place. On the left, as the priest entered, was a solid gold lampstand having seven branches, each filled with the purest olive oil. On the right was the table on which was the sacred bread, or show-bread. This table, like the base of the altar, was of acacia wood overlaid with gold. It was three feet long, one and a half feet wide, and two and a quarter feet high. Every Sabbath twelve loaves of fresh bread were set on it, one for each of the twelve tribes. At the end of the week, the priests, and only the priests, were allowed to eat the loaves.

Farther in and to the center of the Holy Place was the altar of incense. It, too, was of gold-overlaid acacia wood, one and one-half feet square and about three feet high. On this altar were placed the burning coals from the bronze altar in the courtyard, where sacrifice was made.

These three pieces of furniture also picture Christ. Everything in the outer courtyard was connected with salvation and the cleansing of sins. Jesus accomplished His sacrificial work on earth, outside God’s heavenly presence. The outer court was accessible to all the people, just as Christ is accessible to all who will come to Him. But in His heavenly sanctuary He is shut off from the world, temporarily even from His own people. From His heavenly place now, Jesus lights our path (pictured by the golden lampstand), He feeds us (pictured by the table of sacred bread), and He intercedes for us (pictured by the altar of incense).

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” Jesus said (John 9:5). When He left the world, the world was left in darkness, and only for believers is He the light of life. He is the light that directs our paths, the One who, through the Spirit, illumines our minds to understand spiritual truth. He is the One who, by the indwelling Spirit, guides us through the world of darkness. He is our light.

Jesus is our sustenance. He is our table of sacred bread. He is the One who feeds us every day, who sustains us with the Word. The Word is not only our food but our light. And the oil is the Spirit of God, who lights the Word for us. The altar of incense pictures Jesus interceding for us, the perfect Sacrifice becoming the perfect Intercessor.

The Holy of Holies. Behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, into which only the high priest could enter, and that but once a year, on the Day of Atonement. In this holiest of earthly places was only one piece of furniture, the ark of the covenant. In it were three very precious articles: a golden jar holding manna, Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. Made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, it was about three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches wide and two feet high. On the lid was the mercy seat, on which were the cherubim of glory, angelic figures made of solid gold. It was between the wings of those angels, on the mercy seat, that God met men. “And there I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel” (Ex. 25:22). If God and man were to meet it could only have been there.

Unfortunately, under the Old Testament economy only one person could ever enter the Holy of Holies, and then only on an extremely limited basis. For all practical purposes, men had no access to God at all. The regular priests could not get nearer than the outer sanctuary, and the ordinary person no closer than the outer court.

The central, in fact the only, thing in the Holy of Holies was the ark, which represents Jesus Christ, the true mercy seat. When we meet Jesus Christ as Savior, we are ushered into the presence of God, into the true Holy of Holies. God no longer communes with men between the wings of cherubim on a gold mercy seat. He communes with men in His Son, by whom the veil was torn in two. Jesus Christ is the mercy seat. Only on the basis of the blood of a goat would God have fellowship with Israel, and only on the basis of the blood of Christ will God have fellowship with men. John, in using the term “propitiation,” in 1 John 2:2, relates Jesus to the mercy seat, since that very word hilastrion is used for mercy seat in the Septuagint translation of Exodus 25:17.

The Old Covenant had a sanctuary with divine pictures and symbols, but it was earthly and temporary and it never provided true access to God.

THE OLD SERVICES

Now when these things have been thus prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship, but into the second only the high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. (9:6-7)

In its sanctuary the Old Covenant had divine services. Every day the priests had to trim the wicks and add oil in the lampstand and put incense on the altar of incense. Every Sabbath they had to change the twelve loaves of bread. They were continually in and out of the Holy Place, ministering in behalf of the people. Theirs was a never-ceasing work. In this they picture Jesus Christ, who does not cease enlightening and feeding and interceding on our behalf. This work of His is perpetual, continual, unceasing. How wonderful that our Lord never stops His priestly work for us. He is an ever-living High Priest.

Nothing, however, pictures Christ so perfectly as the work of the high priest in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), very briefly summarized in verse 7.

Whenever an Israelite sinned, his communion with God was broken. Consequently, the sacrifices for sin were never finished and the priests’ work was never done. In spite of the continual sacrificing, however, many unknown or forgotten sins would accumulate, for which no sacrifice had been made. The Day of Atonement was intended to make sacrifice for all those sins that had not yet been covered.

It was a great day for liberation of the conscience (see Lev. 16). The Israelite knew that whatever sins may have been missed in the daily sacrifices would now be taken care of. The slate would be completely clean, at least symbolically for a while. Yom Kippur was a time of release and relief. The devout Jew longed for the Day of Atonement. He could not himself go into God’s presence, but the high priest would go in for him and he would be delivered.

Very early on the Day of Atonement, the high priest cleansed himself ritually and put on his elaborate robes, with the breastplate (near the heart, signifying that he carried the people in his heart) and ephod (on the shoulder, signifying that he had power on their behalf) representing the twelve tribes. Then he began his daily sacrificing. Unlike Christ, he had to sacrifice for his own sin. Very likely he would have already slaughtered twenty-two different animals by the time he reached the event known as the atonement. It was an exceptionally busy and bloody thing that he did on this day. After finishing all these sacrifices, he took off the robes of glory and beauty and went and bathed himself again completely. He then put on a white linen garment, with no decoration or ornament at all, and performed the sacrifice of atonement.

In this ritual, the high priest symbolized Jesus Christ, who, in His true and perfect work of atonement, stripped off all His glory and beauty and became the humblest of the humble. He dressed Himself in human flesh, pure but plain and unadorned. In all of His humility He never lost His holiness.

When the high priest was done with the sacrifice of atonement, he put the robes of glory and beauty back on, picturing still further the work of our Lord. In His high priestly prayer, anticipating what would happen after the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus said, “And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (John 17:5). He was saying in effect, “Give Me back My robes. I’ve done the job of atonement. My work of humility is over.”

In the garment of white linen, the high priest took coals off the bronze altar, where sacrifice was going to be made. He put them in a gold censer with incense and carried it into the Holy of Holies. Here again is a beautiful picture of Christ, interceding for His own before God’s presence. Then the high priest went out and took a bullock purchased with his own money, because it was to be offered for his own sin. After slaughtering the bullock and offering the sacrifice, he had another priest assist him in catching the blood as it drained off. He swirled some of it in a small bowl and carried it into the Holy of Holies, where he sprinkled it on the mercy seat. The people could hear the bells on his robe as he moved about. He hurried out, and the people breathed a sigh of relief at seeing him. Had he entered the Holy of Holies ceremonially unclean, he would have been struck dead.

When he came out, two goats were waiting for him by the bronze altar. In a small urn were two lots to determine which goat would be used for which purpose. One lot was marked for the Lord and the other for Azazel, for the scapegoat. As each lot was drawn it was tied to the horn of one of the goats. The goat designated for Jehovah was then killed on the altar. Its blood was caught in the same way as that of the bullock and was swirled in the bowl as it was carried into the Holy of Holies. This blood, too, was sprinkled on the mercy seat, but this time for the sins of the people. Again he hurried back out.

He then placed his hands on the goat that remained, the scapegoat, symbolically placing the sins of the people on the goat’s head. That goat was taken far out into the wilderness and turned loose, to be lost and never to return.

The first goat represented satisfaction of God’s justice, in that sin had been paid for. The second represented satisfaction of man’s conscience, because he knew he was freed of the penalty of sin. Still again we see Christ. In His own death he paid for man’s sin, thereby satisfying God’s justice, and He also carried our sins far from us, giving us peace of conscience and mind. He satisfied both God and man. The two goats actually are two parts of one offering. “And he shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering” (Lev. 16:5). They represented propitiation and pardon, two aspects of the one atoning sacrifice.

THE OLD SIGNIFICANCE

The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. (9:8-10)

In the illustration of the old sanctuary and its services, the Holy Spirit is teaching at least three things. First, the worship of God was limited in the Old Covenant. There was no access to God. The people, and even the high priest, could come only so close. Second, the Spirit wants to teach the imperfect cleansing accomplished through the old sacrifices. The Israelites never really knew that they were forgiven. The scapegoat was sent out to be lost in the wilderness, but there was always the chance of his finding his way back to the camp. There was no freedom of conscience, no assurance of cleansing. Third, the Spirit is teaching that the Old Covenant was temporary. Whether the scapegoat found his way back or not, the sacrifices—the daily and the yearly—all had to be repeated. The Old Covenant was limited, imperfect, and temporary. The provision of the New Covenant had to sweep back over all the believers of the past to provide access, cleansing, and permanent salvation.

No Access (Limited Cleansing). While the Tabernacle still stood, there was no way into God’s presence. There was no access. The people could not even get into the holy place, much less into the Holy of Holies. The whole thing was meant to prove that without a Redeemer, without a Messiah, without a Savior, there is no access to God. The Holy Spirit was teaching the impossibility of access to God without a perfect priest, a perfect sacrifice, and a perfect covenant. By allowing the people to go no farther than the outer court, He was illustrating that through Judaism there was no access to Him, only a symbol of access.

Only when Jesus died and ascended to heaven did He lead “captivity captive” and provide believers access into God’s presence. ” ‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’ (Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?)” (Eph. 4:8-9). That is the source of full access to God, and it was provided because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, perfect priesthood, and perfect covenant. Jesus alone can take us to God’s presence in heaven. The way into the heavenly Holy Place could not be opened while the first Tabernacle was standing.

Imperfect Cleansing. Even with all the ceremonies and rituals, perfect cleansing from sin could not be accomplished. The specific imperfection mentioned in this passage is that of conscience. The Old Covenant was imperfect in every way, but the writer selected only certain elements to make his point.

Symbol (parabol) refers to setting side-by-side for the purpose of comparison. The old is being set beside the new and the two are compared. From this Greek word we get parable. The old was only a parable, an object lesson, for Israel. The old sacrifices were never meant to cleanse from sin, but only to symbolize such cleansing. The conscience of the person sacrificing was never freed from the feeling of guilt because the guilt itself was never removed. The cleansing was entirely external. Consequently, he could never have a clear conscience, a deep, abiding sense of forgiveness.

Temporary Cleansing. The cleansing, like the covenant as a whole, not only was limited and imperfect but temporary. It related only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. This system was never intended to last forever. It was not intended even to last through human history. It was instituted thousands of years after human history began and ended thousands of years before human history will end. As of now, it has been nearly two thousand years since the last sacrifice was made in the Temple.

Reformation is from diorthsis (used only here), which means “to make straight,” that is, to correct, to straighten out, to make right, to reform. Only the New Covenant in Christ set things right, and the old symbols, the old forms, were meant to serve only until this time, the time of reformation. The Old Covenant was never capable of setting things right between men and God. Its purpose was only to symbolize the setting of things right until the true, effective sacrifice was made—the sacrifice that “re-formed” man from the inside, not merely on the outside.

The old sanctuary and services and significance were meaningful and purposeful, very purposeful. But they were limited, imperfect, and temporary, and therefore ultimately unsatisfactory. They pictured Christ, but they could not do the work of Christ. Part of their purpose, in fact, was to show Israel that they were only pictures of better things to come. They not only pictured Christ but also their own built-in inadequacies.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW COVENANT

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (9:11-14)

Many characteristics of the New Covenant already have been mentioned or implied in the discussion of the Old. But the writer here focuses on several that are especially important in contrasting the two covenants.

Following the pattern used in showing the inadequacies of the Old Covenant (vv. 1-10), the new sanctuary, the new services, and the new significance are described briefly. As always, the point is not to demean the old but to show its shadowy incompleteness. To condense and paraphrase verses 13 and 14, the Holy Spirit is saying, “If these old things were so good as symbols, how much better are the real things they symbolize. If the external, physical, and temporary covenant accomplished its purpose so well, how much better will the internal, spiritual, and eternal covenant accomplish its purpose?”

THE NEW SANCTUARY

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation. (9:11)

First of all, Christ, as heavenly High Priest, has an infinitely greater sanctuary in which to minister. The old Tabernacle was designed by God, but it was made by men, out of material from the present physical creation. For that time and for that purpose, it was impressive. And on the inside, where only the priests could go, it doubtlessly was also beautiful. But it was only a tent. It is not mentioned here, but the Temple in Jerusalem, though immeasurably more magnificent than the Tabernacle, was also made by men with materials from the present creation, and was subject to the deterioration and destruction to which everything of this creation is subject.

The new sanctuary, however, is not made by men or on earth or of earthly materials. It is made by God, in heaven, and of heavenly materials. The new sanctuary, in fact, is heaven. Earth belongs to God, but heaven is His dwelling place, His throne, and His sanctuary (Acts 7:48-50; 17:24). As the writer of Hebrews has pointed out several times, Jesus Christ, like Melchizedek, is a priest-king. And He rules and ministers from the same place. His sanctuary and His palace are the same. In this passage, of course, the emphasis is on His sanctuary. Heaven is the perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. Christ ministers for us in heaven, in the throne room of God at God’s right hand.

The former priests had to go into the Holy Place by themselves—for the people, but not with the people. The same was true of the high priest in regard to the Holy of Holies, where he could not even take other priests. But our heavenly Priest takes His people with Him all the way into the sanctuary. He takes us into the sanctuary of sanctuaries, into heaven itself—not into the symbolic presence of God, but into the real presence of God. Not only has He gone before us, but He takes us with Him.

If we are believers, He already has taken us with Him. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, . . . and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). When we were saved, Christ at that time took us into the Father’s presence, where, spiritually speaking, we already live with Him and will forever live with Him. We live right now in heavenly places, in the presence of God—in His throne room and in His sanctuary. “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20).

THE NEW SERVICES

And not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (9:12)

How does Christ minister in His heavenly sanctuary? What does He do as our eternal High Priest? He does three things, primarily. First, His service is in His own blood, not that of sacrificial animals. The Sacrificer was the Sacrifice. Second, He made His sacrifice only once, and that once was sufficient for all people of all time. Third, He obtained permanent, eternal redemption. He cleansed past, present, and future sins all in one act of redemption.

THE NEW SIGNIFICANCE

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (9:13-14)

If the Old Covenant, weak and imperfect as it was, served its purpose, how much better will Christ’s New Covenant, powerful and perfect, serve its purpose. The new not only has a better purpose, but accomplishes its purpose in a better way, a perfect way. The purpose of the old sacrifice was to symbolize, externally, the cleansing of sin. It accomplished this purpose. The purpose of the new sacrifice, however, was to cleanse actually, internally (where sin really exists). It accomplished its superior purpose in a superior way.

Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain.
Christ the heavenly Lamb takes all our sins away,
A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they.

Isaac Watts

Jesus did everything He did on earth in obedience to the Father through the Spirit. Even, in fact especially, in His supreme sacrifice He through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God. In doing so, He provided the cleansing of our consciences from dead works to serve the living God. He frees our consciences from guilt, a joy and a blessing that no Old Testament saint ever had or could have had. In Christ we can “draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).

The former priests cleaned up the outside, and even that only symbolically, imperfectly, and temporarily. But Christ cleanses from the inside, where the real problem is. He does more than cleanse the old man; He replaces it with a new man. He cleanses our conscience, but He recreates our person. In Christ, we are not cleaned-up old creatures but redeemed new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17).

An evangelist tells a story from the days when he held tent meetings many years ago. One day, after a series of meetings was over, he was pulling up tent stakes. A young man approached him and asked what he had to do to be saved. The evangelist answered, “Sorry, it’s too late.” “Oh no,” was the response. “You mean it’s too late because the services are over?” “No,” the evangelist said, “I mean it’s too late because it’s already been done. Everything that could be done for your salvation has already been done.” After explaining Christ’s finished work to the young man, he led him to saving faith.

Our salvation is based on the covenant whose redeeming work is finished—on a sacrifice that has been offered once and for all, that is complete and perfect and eternal.