Jesus was the high priest

JESUS WAS THE HIGH PRIEST
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Hebrews 9:11 11But when Christ came as high priest
of the good things that are now already here, he went
through the greater and more perfect tabernaclethat
is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a
part of this creation.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Pre-eminent Priesthood
Hebrews 9:11, 12
W. Jones
But Christ being come a High Priestof goodthings to come, etc. Our Lord is
here representedas the pre-eminent High Priestin three respects.
I. IN THE TEMPLE IN WHICH HE MINISTERS.
1. The temple in which he ministers is itself pre-eminent. He has "enteredin
once for all into the holy place." He ministers in the true holy of holies, of
which the Jewishone was only a figure. He is not in the symbolized, but in the

veritable and immediate presence ofGod. "A minister of the sanctuary, and
of the true tabernacle, whichthe Lord pitched, not man." "Christ entered not
into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven
itself, now to appear before the face of God for us."
2. The accessto this temple is pre-eminent. The Jewishhigh priest entered the
holy of holies through the holy place. Our Lord passedinto the true holy of
holies "through the greaterand more perfect tabernacle, not made with
hands." It seems to us that "the greaterand more perfect tabernacle" cannot
mean either
(1) our Lord's human body or his human nature; or
(2) his holy life, "his perfect inward fulfillment of the Law;" or
(3) his glorified body; or
(4) the Church on earth.
No interpretation of this part of our text is without its difficulties; but that
which seems to us to be the true one is, that he passedthrough the visible
heavens as through an outer sanctuaryinto the inner sanctuaryof "heaven
itself." Our "greatHigh Priest hath passedthrough the heavens" (Hebrews
4:14), and "satdown on the right hand of the Majestyon high." The outer
sanctuary of the Jewishtemple was "made with hands," small and imperfect;
but the heavens which Christ passedthrough were createdby the Divine fiat,
and they are immeasurably vast and unspeakablyglorious.
II. IN THE ATONEMENT WHICH HE MADE. "Noryet through the blood
of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he enteredin once for all into
the holy place." The entering in through blood refers to the blood which the
high priests took into the holy of holies to" make an atonement" (cf. Leviticus
16:14-16). Christ is representedas entering the heavenly sanctuarythrough
blood. Not literally, but figuratively, must we acceptthis. He complied with
the condition of entrance into the perfectsanctuary as our greatHigh Priest.
He made atonementfor sin previous to his appearing "before the face of God
for us." But, unlike the Aaronic high priests, he needed not to make

atonement for himself. Forus and for all men he made the pre-eminent
atonement - the perfect atonement. How?
1. By the sacrifice ofthe highestlife. Not animal, but human life. Not a sinful
or imperfect human life, but a pure, holy, perfectone. He gave his ownlife -
the undefiled, the highest, the sublimest, the supremely beautiful life - as an
atonement for the sin of the world.
2. By the voluntary sacrifice ofthe highest life. Christ did not die as an
unwilling Victim. He freely gave himself for us. "I lay down my life, that I
may take it again. No one takethit awayfrom me," etc. (John 10:17, 18).
"Through his own blood," which was willingly shed for us, he effectedhuman
redemption, and then ascendedto his mediatorial throne.
III. IN THE BLESSINGSWHICH HE OBTAINED FOR MAN.
1. He has obtained eternal redemption for us. Man was in bondage. Wicked
powers had enslavedhim. He was the thrall of corrupt passions and sinful
habits; "soldunder sin;" "the slave of sin;" the "bond-servant of corruption."
Christ redeemedman from this bondage. He paid our ransom-price. "Ye were
not redeemedwith corruptible things, with silver or gold; but with precious
blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of
Christ." He is the greatEmancipator. He "proclaims liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to the bound." He delivers from the
condemnation, from the guilt, from the defilement, and from the sovereignty
of sin. "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." And this
redemption is eternal. Its benefits endure forever. It introduces man into
everlasting liberty and light, and starts him upon a careerof endless progress
and blessedness.
2. He is "a High Priestof the goodthings to come. These goodthings are the
blessings ofthe gospelage, the privileges which Christians now enjoy. Under
the former covenantthey were in the future; now they are a present
possession. Theywho lived during that dispensationhad the figures of gospel
blessings;we have the very blessings themselves. But there is more than that
here. Christ is a High Priest of goodthings yet to come. There are blessings
which we hope for in the future, and shall obtain through his glorious

priesthood. We look forward to the time when we shall enter upon the
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled," etc. (1 Peter1:4, 5). The blessings
which flow to man from his priesthood are inexhaustible and infinite.
Through him there will ever be "goodthings to come" for those who by faith
are interestedin his gracious and blessedmediation. - W.J.
Biblical Illustrator
Christ... an High Priestof goodthings to come.
Hebrews 9:11, 12
The Lord Jesus as a High Priest
Lewis Edwards, D. D.
God never destroys for the sake of destroying, nor pulls down the old to leave
a void in its place. The Divine method is to overcome evil by uplifting that
which is good, and to remove the good, afterit has served its purpose, by
introducing that which is more excellent.
I. Jesus Christas a High Priestmuch excels in the GREATNESS AND
PERFECTNESS OF THE TABERNACLE. Jesus Christentered "by a
greaterand more perfecttabernacle." Bythe tabernacle here we are to
understand, saysome, the expanse above, the stellar firmament, through
which Christ entered into the holy place. But the ablest commentators
understand by it the body of Jesus Christ. And the author of this Epistle
furnishes a strong ground for that interpretation in Hebrews 10:20. A hint to
the same purport is to be found in the text, for it is averred of this tabernacle
that "it is not of this building," that is, not of this creation. The humanity of
the Lord Jesus is the beginning of a new creation. But it is not the visible body
in itself that is intended by the tabernacle, as it is not the visible blood in itself
that is meant by the "blood"; but human nature in the person of the Son of
God, in which the Word has "tabernacled" among us, and by which He is the
"beginning of the creationof God."

II. Jesus Christ as a High Priestmuch excels in the GREATNESS OF THE
HOLY PLACE. There was no need for a specialword in this place to denote
the greatnessofthe holy place, as it follows naturally from the preceding
words. "Christ, by a greaterand more perfecttabernacle, entered in once into
the holy place";and if the tabernacle were "greaterand more perfect," it
follows of necessitythat the holy place was so likewise. The same thought
belongs to both. Christ entered through the tabernacle of His untainted
humanity to a corresponding holy place; He went into the holy place of the
eternal world; He entered into the holy of holies of the universe. But God
never does anything hurriedly; so Christ, after receiving the keys of the
invisible world, took forty days to appear to His disciples at different times, in
order to assure their minds that all poweris given unto Him in heavenand on
earth, and that a clear way, which no one may block, is opened unto them
from earth to heaven. Then He ascended, in quiet unruffled glory, to take His
proper place as the minister of the sanctuary, and sat down on the right hand
of Majestyon high. There is not a higher place in all heaventhan where Jesus
Christ is to-day in our nature. He is as high as God Himself could raise Him.
III. Christ as a high priest excels in the PRECIOUSNESS OF THE BLOOD.
The worth of the blood was owing to the worth of the life, and the worth of the
life to the greatness ofthe Person. When a man is martyred, the soul does not
die; nevertheless, the soul imparts worth to the life of the body, and confers
immeasurably more importance on the death of a man than the death of a
beast. But notwithstanding the greatnessofthe difference betweenman and
an animal, it is only a difference of degrees. Manis but a creature as well as
the animal. But the difference betweenman and God is as greatas that
betweena creature and the Creator. And yet, in the person of Jesus Christ,
the Creatorhas come into closerunion with humanity than that betweenour
souls and our bodies. Though, perhaps, it be not proper to say that God died,
yet the one who died was God. The infinite Personof the Son was in the
obedience;the infinite Personwas in the suffering; the infinite Personwas in
the death: imparting boundless worth and merit to all, so as to be a
"propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole
world." Because the Personis so great, the preciousness ofthe blood has filled
all heaven, and has converted the throne of Majesty into a mercy-seat.

IV. Jesus Christ excels as High Priestin the PERFECTNESS OF HIS WORK.
The Jewishhigh priest was obligedto go to the holy place every year, because
there was no effectualreconciliation;only the surface was a little washed, only
temporal forgiveness was administered. But the sacrifice of Christ effecteda
thorough reconciliation — there is no need for a secondattempt.
V. Jesus Christ excels as High Priest in the NATURE AND EFFICACYOF
THE REDEMPTION.He obtained eternalredemption or deliverance for us.
This follows necessarilyfrom the other part of the verse. As He went to the
holy place in heaven, it must be that the redemption is eternal. There is not a
higher court ever to reverse the verdict. The acquittal is from the throne of
God Himself.
(Lewis Edwards, D. D.)
The superiority of Christ's priesthood
Homilist.
The objectof right worship has ever been the same, but its mode has
undergone two great changes:
1. From no sacrifice to many sacrifices.
2. From many sacrifices to one — from the many mediations of Moses to the
one mediation of Christ.
I. CHRIST INTRODUCED HIGHER THINGS.
1. A higher system of teaching. More spiritual, clear, and diffusive.
2. A higher form of worship. More simple, personal, attractive, and free.
3. A higher state of union. Markedby broader views, higher aims, more
expansive benevolence.
II. CHRIST OFFICIATES IN A HIGHER SANCTUARY.
1. Heaven is a more extensive sanctuary. "Greater." Forall kindreds, &c.

2. A more Divine sanctuary. "Notmade with hands."
III. CHRIST PRESENTED AHIGHER SACRIFICE. His ownlife — the
most precious of all.
IV. CHRIST ACCOMPLISHED A HIGHER WORK. "Redemption" of
forfeited rights and paralysed powers;redemption from guilt and spiritual
influence of sin; impartation of pardon and purity to the condemned and
corrupt; and all this eternal.
(Homilist.)
The priesthood of Christ
D. Moore, M. A.
I. CONSIDERTHE PRIESTHOODOF CHRIST IN RELATION TO THE
PAST — AND THE RETROSPECTIVE EFFICACYOF HIS WORK IN
BEHALF OF THE WORSHIPPERSOF A FORMER AGE. To this view we
are led by the whole course of the apostle's argumentin this chapter, and the
various allusions to sacrificialrites containedin the Old Testament. The
doctrine of propitiation is the harmonising doctrine of the whole Bible. It
makes the narrative of patriarchal, Levitical, and prophetical life one history.
The men who lived under these dispensations all felt their need of mercy, and
with certain differences of outward circumstances,all soughtfor mercy in the
same way. The fundamental articles of religion have been the same in every
age of the world. Such is the antiquity of Christ's priesthood. It reaches far
back through all the religious economies under which fallen man has ever
lived. Christ is that true Melchisedec who has neither beginning of life nor end
of days. "He has obtained for us," says the apostle, "eternalredemption."
Rolling ages impair not the earnestness ofHis intercession, nor multitudinous
offences the worth of the plea He brings. "He ever liveth." "He abideth a
priest continually."
II. CONSIDERTHE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST AS FULFILLING AND
ANSWERING THE INDISPENSABLE CONDITIONS IN ORDER TO THE

COVENANT OF FORGIVENESSBEING PERFECT. The priest, in the
Levitical sense, is a public personwho deals with an offended God in the name
of the guilty, by offering an appointed sacrifice for sin upon the altar.
1. According to this definition, we see that in order to the desired
reconciliationthree things are necessary — a priest, a sacrifice, andan
altar.(1)First, there must be a priest. There was no priest under the covenant
with Adam upright, for this reason, there was no sacrifice. Manthen was
dealt with as innocent; he could come to God of himself. But the covenantwith
man fallen was altogetherdifferent; this was enteredinto with persons in a
different moral state, and made for a totally different end. It was a covenant
with sinners, with persons who had offended God and castthe words of the
first covenantbehind them. Hence the designof this new compactwas to
make peace, to reinstate man in the friendship of his Maker, and to repair the
dishonour done to the Divine government. But to give effectto this covenanta
mediating party was necessary. The prophet Zechariah expresses this
necessityin that fine passage, "He shallbe a priest upon His throne, and the
council of peace shallbe betweenthem both."(2) But, secondly, there must in
effecting this sublime negotiationbe also a sacrifice. "GatherMysons
togetherto Me," says the Psalmist, "those that have made a covenantwith Me
by sacrifice." The importance of this element of the priesthood will appear to
you, if you considerthat if a sinless mediator had been all that was required,
there seems nothing to forbid that our high priest should have been an angel.
But this appended condition of sacrifice, the irrevocable necessityof
bloodshed in order to remitted guilt made the mediation of angels impossible;
for are they not all spirits? — therefore, having no blood to shed. Hence, while
there was blood to be shed which shut out angels, it must be sinless blood
which shut out men. And yet the dictates of natural equity would suggestthat
the blood should be that of a man, and that he who should bear the penalties
of a broken covenantshould be of the same nature with the covenant
breaker.(3)And then, again, in order to a perfectpriesthood there must of
necessitybe an altar — an altar too of such infinite worth and preciousness
that it should both sanctifyand enhance the gift. Now, considering that the
sacrifice offeredup was nothing else than the human nature of Christ,
consisting of a body rent, broken, and a pure, holy soul, agonised, bruised,

smitten of God and afflicted, the only thing there could be to sanctify a gift in
itself so sanctified is the Divine nature with which this holy sacrifice was
united,
2. Here, then, we have satisfactorilyprovided for the three pre-requisites for a
perfect priesthood, namely, a priest, a sacrifice, andan altar. It should not
lessenour confidence in this gospelpriesthood, to find that all its constituent
elements centre in the same glorious person — that the victim to be sacrificed
is Christ, that the altar on which it is laid is Christ, that the priest who is to
slay and offer and carry the blood into the most holy place is Christ; for if all
these severalparts be necessaryto a perfect priesthood, how would it have
vitiated the whole oblation to have encounteredat any stage of its preparation
a mixture of infirmity. If, for instance, a perfect sacrifice had been offeredon
a blemished altar, or if though the altar were unblemished, the offering must
pass through the hands of a frail and erring priest. No, Christ will have none
to lay hands on His work, none to join Him in it. The wine-press of
humiliation shall be trodden by Himself alone. "Byone offering He hath
perfectedfor ever them that are sanctified."
III. CONSIDER THE PRIESTHOODOF CHRIST IN RELATION TO ITS
MORAL EFFICACY. The apostle, as you perceive, takes as the basis of his
comparisonthe two principal functions of the priestly office under the old
economy, namely, the oblation, or the offering of the sacrifice in a part outside
the precincts of the temple, and the presentation, or the carrying of blood once
a year into the holy of holies to he exhibited and sprinkled upon the mercy-
seat. Our Lord suffering without the camp exactly corresponds to the first
feature of this Levitical system, whilst His appearing for us continually in the
presence ofGod as plainly answers to the second. And in both, argues the
apostle, you cannot fail to discernthe measurelesssuperiority of the gospel
priesthood. Look at the characterof the sacrifice itself. "Notby the blood of
goats, but by His ownblood." Two verses further he puts the contraststill
more strongly — "If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling," &c. The sacrificesofthe law had a double use; the one real, and
the other typical; the one ceremonial, and the other spiritual; the one actual,
as conferring upon the worshipper certainchurch rights and privileges, the
other contingent as requiring a definite act of faith in the promise of the

Mediator. Well, the ceremonialefficiencyof this it was no part of the apostle's
argument to disparage. While the ancient ritual remained it served useful
ends. They did sanctify to the purifying of the flesh. They enabled the
excommunicated to join in public worship again, reinstated the sinner into the
privileges and immunities of church fellowship, and as types reminded the
worshipper of that higher union and fellowshipfrom which he had become
excluded by sin, and restorationto which would evidently require a nobler
sacrifice and better blood; for how could the blood of bulls and goats ever
take awaysin? Hence the force of the apostle's distinction in the text just
quoted, betweenpurifying the flesh and purging the conscience.Temple blood
may admit you to temple worship, and an outward cleansing may get you an
outward interest in the covenant;but if you aspire to peace, to a realised
fellowship with God, to anything of the tranquillity or joy of service — in a
word, if you desire to get a cleansing and a peace within, any rest for the
smitten troubled heart, you will feel that something better than blood of bulls
and goats is needed, and with adoring thankfulness will look up to that great
High Priest, who, carrying with Him His own all-cleansing blood, hath
entered into the most holy place. And this is the secondpoint of contraston
which the apostle insists — on Christ passedinto the holy place, that is into
heaven, as distinguished from that part of the tabernacle which was within the
veil. As one of the patterns of things in the heavens, this inner part into which
the priest went was guarded with zealous sacredness.The people were not
allowedto follow even with their eyes whilst he was in the actof passing
through the veil. Directly he had passedthe curtains were drawn as close as
possible that even the most curious might not see what was going on within;
whilst enshrined in the most sacredpart of the holy place itself were preserved
time-honoured pledges of the presence andprotecting power of God. But
Christ, argues the apostle, has passedinto a place far holier than your holiest.
The curtain which separates Him from human sight is the cloud spread before
the eternalthrone. Ask we a pledge of the Divine protection — a pledge that
He will not forgetHis holy covenant — a pledge that no penitent and believing
sinners are ever to be turned away — we have it in the fact that our
Melchisedecstands before the throne, that He combines in Himself all the
functions of an everlasting priesthood, being Himself the tabernacle of
witness, Himself the altar of sacrifice, Himself the Priest to offer, Himself the

Lamb to die; and in the exercise ofthis priesthood He stands in the midst of
the throne, exhibits the sacrificialblood openly that God may see it and
pardon, that angels may see it and wonder, that redeemed ones may see it and
adore, that the trembling sinner may see it and trust. Consider then, says the
apostle, considerHim in all the dignity of His nature, in all the perfections of
His sacrifice, in all the mightiness of His pleadings before the everlasting
throne, and you will feel that you have, as you ought to have, boldness to enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, you have, and should feel that you
should have, a merciful and faithful High Priestover the house of God, so that
if you will draw near with a true heart in full assuranceoffaith, in humble but
joyous hope, in childlike and tranquil confidence, in and through the merits of
the crucified, you shall both obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need:
(D. Moore, M. A.)
The high priesthood of Christ
DeanAlford.
The high priesthood of our Lord is a matter full of important consequences to
us relating to His sacredPersonand His work in our redemption. Of course
the term is one derived from the Jewishceremonialworship: and it is to the
books in which that worship is ordained, that we must look for its explanation.
I find the first ordinances respecting the high priest's office in Exodus 28.
There Moses is ordered to take to him Aaron his brother, and with many
prescribed ceremonies andadornments to consecrate him as priest; i.e., as
afterwards abundantly appears, as chief, or high priest. We need not follow
these prescribed ceremonies, further than to cull out from them the general
characterof eachportion of them, as applying to the office of our blessed
Lord. As they were to be without blemish or deformity, as they were to be
clothed in holy garments for glory and beauty, as they were not to defile
themselves with any uncleanness, so was He, as the very first condition of this
His office, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. They, these
priests of Israel, were like their brethren in outward form, but, unlike them,

were not to be made unclean by things which rendered others unclean. And so
Christ took on Him the likeness of sinful flesh, but did not become sinful: He
partook of the infirmities of our nature to the full, but did not partake of its
pollution. But, when the high priest is thus constituted and apparelled, what is
the first matter of which we read, belonging to his specialduty and office?
Precious stones are to be taken, two sets:upon both the sets are to be graven
the names of the tribes of the children of Israel: once, on two onyx stones,
which are to be worn on the shoulders of the high priest: the other time, on
twelve separate stones, whosenames are speciallydetailed; and this last tablet
is to be worn on his heart. We have here a double-feature of the office. The
high priest is judge; the high priest is intercessor. And this too belongs to the
reality of the high priesthood of Christ. All judgment is committed to Him.
And thus judging, thus ordering His Church, He bears His people written on
His heart. He can never forgetthem, for He represents them, and He loves
them as Himself, and He bears them on Himself as a memorial before God
continually. The next point which requires our notice is important, as
introducing a whole class of duties which mainly constituted the high priest's
office (see Exodus 28:36-38). Here we have the high priest in a new character:
that of one bearing the iniquity of others, who are made acceptable to God by
that his hearing of their iniquity. The plate of pure gold — the "Holiness of
the Lord" inscribed on it — must of course be taken as indicating, in
connectionwith his bearing their iniquity, the acceptancebefore God, as holy,
of the people of the Lord whom he represents. It will be enoughat this part to
say, that our blessedRedeemerhere also fulfils the reality of which these high
priests were a shadow. Notonly does He carry His people engravenon His
heart before God, but He presents them to God as holiness to Him, by virtue
of His having Himself borne their iniquities. Take the apostle's testimonyto
this in Ephesians 5:25. Then come, in the book of Exodus, the rites and
ceremonies ofthe consecration, orsetting apart of the priests to minister
before God. Concerning these, one remark before all is suggestedto us by the
writer of this Epistle to the Hebrews: — viz., that no man took the office unto
himself, but only those who were selectedand consecratedby God, as was
Aaron. The very name of the Lord by which we call Him, MessiahorChrist,
signifies the Anointed. But we now come to that which was by far the larger
portion of the duty of the priests of old, and of which we shall have much to

say as concerning our great High PriestHimself. "Everyhigh priest," says
our Epistle, "is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices."This was the priest's
especialoffice;to minister for the people in the things concerning God, and to
offer sacrifices forsin. Now almost every particular is explained by the writer
of this Epistle to have immediate reference to our Lord: and of those not so
mentioned several. are so obvious as to be unmistakable by any intelligent
Christian.
1. First of all why all these ordinances of sacrifice atall? Why all this taking
awayof animal life, and this sprinkling of blood, ceremonies ofa kind painful
and revolting now to our minds and habits? All these sacrifices, thus divinely
appointed, were ordained to signify greaterand spiritual truths: "the Holy
Ghostthus signifying," as we have it written here: God having a matter to
make known in His goodtime, which should be no type or shadow, but His
own very truth: and that matter being, the death and satisfactionofour
blessedLord, His eternal Son. But let us follow this out, considering Him as
our High Priest. "If He be a Priest," says the writer of our epistle, "He must
of necessityhave something to offer." And here we have God's High Priest,
whom He hath consecratedand sent into the world. By what offering shall He
propitiate Godtowards those His people? Who shall shed the blood that may
sprinkle our holy things and make them pure? Who shall go far, far away,
bearing upon his head the iniquities of us all? Hear His answer — "Lo I come
to do Thy will, O God." He is spotless. He unites in Himself our whole nature:
strike Him, and we are stricken:let His sacrifice be accepted, and we are
clearedfrom guilt: let that blood of His be carried into the holy place of God's
presence in heaven, and an atonement is made for us. There are severalether,
apparently minor, but really not less interesting points of comparison,
betweenthe high priests of old and our blessedHigh Priest and Redeemer.
Their sacrifices were imperfect, and of no intrinsic value or avail. They
therefore needed renewing continually, day by day. But His is perfect and all-
sufficing. It needs only to be believed in, and applied by the obedience of living
faith to the heart., Again: those high priests, by reasonof their being mortal
men, were continually renewedfrom time to time. None of them was
permanent: they came as shadows, and so departed: theirs was no abiding
priesthood, to which all men might look for atonement and acceptance.But

the Sonof Godabideth for ever: "He dieth no more, death hath no more
dominion over Him: in that He died, He died for sin once:in that He liveth,
He liveth unto God." Forever does the virtue of His blood endure: for ever
does His holy priesthoodavail. There is with Him no wearing out, no
forgetting, no failure of earnestness,no vacillating affection, no exhausted
pleading. He is for all, He is over all, He is sufficient for all, He cares forall.
So then, once more — inasmuch as they were human high priests, they were
fellows with their brethren. Was then theirs any advantage over Him? In that
land of Judaea, under the shade of those walls of Jerusalem, you might
perchance see the high priest holding conference with the erring or the
penitent: might see the venerable man of God, on whose brow was His
anointing, with the hand of the young offender laid in his, pleading eye to eye
till the tears chasedone another down the cheek glowing with shame: and
then might trace the judge of Israel watching, reminding, building up the
returning sinner in holiness. Shall we envy them? Were they better off than
we? Ah no! The sympathising high priest on earth, what is he to the
sympathising High Priestin heaven? Few indeed, and interrupted could be
such interviews: narrow indeed and partial such sympathies. But our High
Priestis not one who lacks leisure or powerto receive all who come to Him at
any time. It is for us, for the leastamong us, that the eternal Son of God is
thus constituted a High Priest: for our sins, for our wants, for our daily
feeling, and obeying, and approaching to God. It is to purge our conscience
from dead works to serve the living God, that His holy blood was offered: to
make us pure, upright, clearin purpose, and like to our God and Father.
(DeanAlford.)
Goodthings brought by Christ
W. Jones, D. D.
Here we may see what they be that in truth deserve the name and title of good
things, Not silver and gold, houses and lands. Christ at His coming brought
none of these, yet He brought goodthings with Him, namely, remissionof sins,
faith and other graces ofthe Spirit. These indeed are worthy the name of good

things. Forasmuchas our Priestbringeth such excellent things with Him, let
Him be most welcome to us. David said of Ahimaaz, "he is a goodman, and
bringeth goodtidings." Much more let us say of Christ our High Priest, "He is
a goodman, He bringeth goodtidings," that by the blood of His Cross He
hath reconciledus to God the Father, hath obtained a generalpardon for all
our sins, He hath prepared a place for us in His own kingdom; therefore let us
receive Him with all joy.
(W. Jones, D. D.)
The body likened to a tabernacle
W. Jones, D. D.
As Christ's body is a tabernacle, so is ours (2 Peter1:14; 2 Corinthians 5:1).
1. The name of a tent or tabernacle imports warfare. Soldiers have their tents.
2. There is a betweena tabernacle and a house;for a house is made of solid
matter, wood, stone, &c. A tent is made of old clothes patched together. So our
bodies are not made of the sun, of the stars, of the firmament, but of the earth,
which is a brittle thing.
3. A tent is weak, easilypierced through. So our body. A knife, a pin may
prick it, a fly may choke it. A tent is quickly up and quickly down. So is our
body. We come suddenly, and we are gone again in the turning of an hand,
though it be the body of a wise Solomon, of a strong Samson, a fair Absolom,
yet remember it is but a tent or tabernacle. The time is at hand, says St. Peter,
when I must lay down this tabernacle. Now as the tabernacle in the time of the
Law was kept neat, clean, and handsome, it might not be polluted with
anything. So let us keepour bodies from all pollutions.
(W. Jones, D. D.)
The entrance of Christ into heaven

John Owen, D. D.
I. The entrance of our Lord Jesus Christas our High Priest into heaven, to
appear in the presence ofGod for us, and to save us thereby unto the
uttermost, was a thing so greatand glorious, As COULD NOT BE
ACCOMPLISHED BUT BY HIS OWN BLOOD. No other sacrifice was
sufficient unto this end.
II. Whateverdifficulties lay in the way of Christ, as unto the accomplishment
and perfectionof the work of our redemption, HE WOULD NOW DECLINE
THEM, NOR DESIST FROM HIS UNDERTAKING, WHATEVER IT
COST HIM.
III. THERE WAS A HOLY PLACE MEET TO RECEIVE THE LORD
CHRIST, AFTER THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF; and a suitable reception
for such a person, after so glorious a performance.
IV. If the Lord Christ entered not into the holy place until he had finished His
work, WE MAY NOT EXPECT AN ENTRANCE THEREINTO UNTILWE
HAVE FINISHED OURS. He fainted not until all was finished; and it is our
duty to arm ourselves with the same mind.
V. IT MUST BE A GLORIOUS EFFECT WHICHHAD SO GLORIOUS A
CAUSE; and so it was, even "eternalredemption."
VI. THE NATURE OF OUR REDEMPTION, THE WAY OF ITS
PROCUREMENT, WITHTHE DUTIES REQUIRED OF US WITH
RESPECTTHEREUNTO, ARE GREATLY TO RE CONSIDEREDBY US.
(John Owen, D. D.)
Christ's work on earth and in heaven
W. Jay.
I. HIS WORK ON EARTH. "He obtained eternalredemption for us."
1. The blessing in question.

(1)Redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ, or deliverance from the sentence of
condemnation.
(2)Redemption by power from the dominion of sin, from the vassalage ofthe
world, and from the power of darkness.
2. The extensiveness ofthe attribute. "Eternalredemption."
(1)Completely.
(2)Absolutely.
(3)Emphatically.
3. Eternal in its procuring.
4. Eternity of the benefit.
(1)Formen, in distinction from angels.
(2)Forbelievers.
II. His APPEARANCE IN HEAVEN.
1. Where did He enter? "Into the holy place" — heaven.
2. With what did He enter? "With His own blood.
3. How often did He enter? "Once."
(W. Jay.)
Having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Redemption by Christ
C. W. H. Kenrick, M. A.
Calvary is the centralpoint to which, as all former ages, with a vague
expectancy, had lookedonward, so all subsequent ages look back, with hearts

filled to the full with gratitude and love. In the redemption there won for us
there are various points for us to notice.
1. Firstly, it was by His own blood that Christ entered in once into the holy
place. It was a sacrifice centring absolutelyin Himself. Christ trod the
winepress alone. His own blood was shed for the salvationof the world; none
other could mingle with it.
2. And Christ entered once into the holy place. We should mark this well. His
death was the single actof One who need never repeatit.
3. And the redemption thus won is as eternal for us as it is for Him who won
it. This side of the grave we have to struggle, to do battle as soldiers of the
Cross, "notas though we had already attained, either were already perfect"
(Philippians 3:12). But we may have sure and certainhope of eternallife, and
in this confidence may go forth conquering and to conquer. The redemption,
as far as Christ's work is concerned, has been made; and if we will but take
the crownfrom Him who offers it to us, no powerof earth, nor of hell, shall be
able to wrestit from our keeping without our consent.
4. And, lastly, Christ has obtained this eternal redemption for us. Without
boastfulness or self-assertion, we may lay stress onthat word, and remember
that in it Christ associateswith Himself the whole human family. We look
back down the stream of time which has flowedon to the present. We think of
all the lives that have been for a longer or shorter period borne upon that
mighty river — lives known and unknown, a blessing or a curse to their
generation. In all of these redemption has played its part. It has had an
influence and a power on those lives, whether it has been acceptedor not. It
has been either their hope and encouragement, orit has been a solemnwitness
rising up to protest againstevery deed of sin and shame. Man cannot live in
the knowledge andlight of immortality won for him by Christ, and be the
same as if he knew it not. For that knowledge he must be either infinitely the
better or infinitely the worse. And, for our greatand endless comfort, let us
never forget that the redemption is offered to eachindividual soul; for Christ
by His death made eachone of us His own, having paid the price which our
salvationcosts. And that actof surpassing love has been performed as though

no other soulbut thine required this tremendous sacrifice. Will you, then,
rejectso greatsalvation? will you refuse the eternalredemption Christ has
obtained for you?
(C. W. H. Kenrick, M. A.)
Our redemption
James Kidd, D. D.
I. Our redemption from captivity is effectedby our Lord in two ways:BY
PRICE AND BY POWER. Byprice paid into the hand of God as the moral
Governor; by power exercisedonSatan, sin, the world, and death.
II. Our Lord obtained eternal redemption for us BY SACRIFICE. This
implies reconciliation(Colossians 1:20-22;2 Corinthians 5:18-21).
III. Our Lord obtained eternal redemption for us BY SUFFERING
PUNISHMENT. This refers to law and justice.
(James Kidd, D. D.)
Redemption
D. L. Moody.
Once when I was revisiting my native village, I was going to a neighbouring
town to preach, and saw a young man coming from a house with a waggon, in
which was seatedan old woman. I felt interestedin them, and askedmy
companion who they were. I was told to look at the adjoining meadow and
pasture, and at the greatbarns that were on the farm, as well as a good house.
"Well," saidmy companion, "that young man's father drank that all up, and
left his wife in the poorhouse. The young man went away and workeduntil he
had gotmoney enough to redeem that farm, and now it is his own, and he is
taking his mother to church." That is an illustration of redemption. In the

first Adam we have lostall, but the secondAdam has redeemed everything by
His death.
(D. L. Moody.)
Release
Cycloaedia ofBiography.
In the debtors' prison at Sheffield, Howard found a cutler plying his trade
who was in jail for thirty cents. The fees of the court amounted to over a
pound, and this sum he had been for severalyears trying to earn. In another
jail there was a man with a wife and five children, confined for court-fees of
about five shillings, and jailer's fees of about eightpence. This man was
confined in the same apartment as robbers. All such debtors — and they were
numerous in England — Howard releasedby paying their debts.
(Cycloaedia ofBiography.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(11, 12) The changes oftranslation required in these verses are not
considerable in themselves, but important for the sake ofbringing out the
unity of the sentence and the connectionof its parts. But Christ having come a
High Priestof the goodthings to come (or, the goodthings that are come, see
below), through the greaterand more perfect Tabernacle, notmade with
hands, that is to say, not of this creation, also not through blood of goats and
calves, but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy Place,
having won eternalredemption. With Hebrews 9:11 begins the contrastto the
first verse. In that we read of the first covenantas possessing ordinances of

service and its holy place—both, however, “ofthis world,” and the following
verses describe the sanctuary itself (Hebrews 9:1-5) and the ordinances
(Hebrews 9:6-10). Now, the Mediatorof the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6),
“Christ,” whose name brings with it the thought of the satisfactionof all hope
and fulfilment of all promises, has appeared as High Priest; and entering into
the true Holy of Holies has accomplishedonce for all what the earlier
ministrations typified. This is the main thought; but in few verses do the single
words require more careful study. The various-reading mentioned above, “the
goodthings that are come,” is very interesting. It is not supported by a large
number of authorities, but amongstthem are the Vatican MS. (whose
guidance, it may be remarked, we shall soonlose, as the ancient text breaks
off suddenly in the middle of a word in Hebrews 9:14), the Claromontane
MS., and two Syriac versions. One strong argument in its favour presents
itself on a comparisonwith Hebrews 10:1 (where there is no doubt about the
reading), “the goodthings to come.” A scribe who had in mind those words,
confirmed by the repeatedoccurrence ofa similar thought in different parts
of the Epistle (Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 6:5), might easilysubstitute them for
words expressing a less familiar thought. The two phrases differ more in form
than in reality. In one we look at the new order of things, which is never to
pass away, as already introduced by Christ (see Note on Hebrews 1:2); and in
the other the same new order is thought of as future to those who waited
through long ages for“the Christ,” and in its consummation still future to
ourselves (Hebrews 6:5). The form of expressionreminds us of Hebrews 3:1,
where Jesus is calledthe High Priestof our confession(compare also Malachi
3:1, “the Messengerofthe covenant”):He is associatedwith “the goodthings”
as having brought them in, as Mediator of the covenant to which they belong.
Through (or, by means of) the more perfect Tabernacle, through (or, by
means of) His ownblood, Christ entered into the Holy Place. The two-fold
reference to the type is very plain. It was by passing through “the first
Tabernacle” thatthe high priest reachedthe Holiest Place;it was by means of
the blood of the sin-offering that he was enabled to enter into that place of
God’s presence (Hebrews 9:7). But what in the antitype answers to this
Tabernacle? The expressionofHebrews 4:14, perhaps, first presents itself to
the mind: if, however, we were right in understanding the words “that has

passedthrough the heavens” as descriptive of our Lord’s ascensionfar above
all heavens (Ephesians 4:10), it seems evident that this verse is no real parallel.
In Hebrews 10:20 the thought is somewhatdifferent, but yet sufficiently akin
to be suggestive in regard to these words. There the veil is spokenof as
symbolising “the flesh” of our Lord. Here we have in all probability an
extensionof the same thought, “the more perfect Tabernacle”being the
human nature of our Lord. We think at once of a number of passages
presenting the same idea: “The Word was made flesh and made His
tabernacle among us” (John 1:14); “He spake of the temple of His body (John
2:19); “The Father that dwelleth in Me” (John 14:10);“In Him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godheadbodily” (Colossians2:9). As in Him God gave to
the world the first true revelation of Himself (Hebrews 1:2), God’s dwelling-
place amongstHis people was a type of the Incarnate Word. The symbolism of
the presentverse compels us to think of the first and secondTabernaclesas
separate. It was otherwise in Hebrews 8:2, a verse which can only receive its
proper explanation when the words now before us are considered. There the
reference is to the High Priest who has already entered the Holiest Place and
has “satdown at the right hand” of God. The distinction of outer and inner
sanctuary has disappeared; and, carrying out more fully the thought of the
passagesquoted above, we may say that, as “the sanctuary” of Hebrews 8:2
symbolises the place of God’s immediate presence, “the true Tabernacle”
represents the place of His continued and unceasing revelationof Himself to
man, “in Christ.” There is no difficulty now in explaining the epithets,
“greater,”“more perfect,” “notof this creation.” By means of this assumption
of human nature He receivedpowerto become High Priest, poweralso to
become Himself the sin-offering. Once before only in the Epistle have we read
of this two-fold relation of our Lord to the sacrificialact. There it is
mentioned parenthetically (Hebrews 7:26) and by anticipation, here it is the
leading thought (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:10,
et al.). The efficacyof this offering is takenup again in Hebrews 9:13-14;the
entering into the Holiest Place, in the latter part of the chapter. A new thought
is introduced in the lastwords of this verse, “having won eternalredemption.”
Through the sacrifice atonementhas been made and sin expiated: the blessing
won, which in Hebrews 5:9 is calledeternal salvation(see Note on Hebrews
7:25), is here “eternalredemption.” The latter figure enlarges the former by

the additional thought of the payment of a price. The deliverance of man from
God’s wrath and the penalty of sin, which Jesus effectedby means of the
offering of Himself, is the “eternalredemption which He won” (see Hebrews
9:14, and Ephesians 1:7). The words, “for us,” are not in the text: they are too
intimately presentin the whole thought to need direct expression.
MacLaren's Expositions
; Hebrews 9:24-28Hebrews
THE PRIEST IN THE HOLY PLACE
Hebrews 9:11-14;Hebrews 9:24-28.
SPACE forbids attempting full treatment of these pregnant verses. We can
only sum up generally their teaching on the priesthoodof Jesus.
I. Christ, as the high priest of the world, offers Himself. Obviously verse 14
refers to Christ’s sacrificialdeath, and in verse 26 His ‘sacrifice of Himself’ is
equivalent to His ‘having suffered.’
The contention that the priestly office of Jesus begins with His entrance into
the presence ofGod is setaside by the plain teaching of this passage, which
regards His death as the beginning of His priestly work. What, then, are the
characteristicsofthat offering, according to this Writer? The point dwelt on
most emphatically is that He is both priest and sacrifice. Thatgreatthought
opens a wide field of meditation, for adoring thankfulness and love. It implies
the voluntariness of His death. No necessitybound Him to the Cross. Notthe
nails, but His, love; fastenedHim there. Himself He would not save, because

others He would save. The offering was ‘through the Eternal Spirit,’ the
divine personality in Himself, which as it were, took the knife and slew the
human life. That sacrifice was ‘without blemish,’ fulfilling in perfect moral
purity the prescriptions of the ceremoniallaw, which but clothe in outward
form the universal consciousnessthatnothing stained or faulty is worthy to be
given to God. What are the blessings brought to us by that wondrous self-
sacrifice? Theyare statedmost generallyin verse 26 as the putting awayof
sin, and againin verse 28 as being the bearing of the sins of many, and again
in verse 14 as cleansing consciencefrom dead works to serve the living God.
Now the first of these expressions includes the other two, and expressesthe
blessedtruth that, by His death, Jesus has made an end of sin, in all its shapes
and powers, whetherit is regarded as guilt or burden, or taint and tendency
paralysing and disabling. Sin is guilt, and Christ’s death deals with our past,
taking awaythe burden of condemnation. Thus verse 28 presents Him as
bearing the sins of many, as the scapegoatbore the sins of the congregation
into a land not inhabited, as ‘the Lord made to meet’ on the head of the
Servant ‘the iniquities of us all.’ The best commentary on the words here is,
‘He bare our sins in His own body on the tree.’ But sin has an effectin the
future as in the past, and the death of Christ deals with that, So verse 14
parallels it not only with the sacrifice which made access to Godpossible, but
with the ceremonialof the red heifer,’ by which pollution from touching a
corpse was removed. A consciencewhichhas been in contactwith ‘dead
works’{and all works which are not done from ‘the life’ are so}is unfit to
serve God, as well as lacking in wish to serve; and the only way to setit free
from the nightmare which fetters it is to touch it with ‘the blood,’ and then it
will spring up to a waking life of glad service. ‘The blood’ is shed to take away
guilt; ‘the blood’ is the life, and, being shed in the death, it can be transfused
into our veins, and so will. cleanse us from all sin. Thus, in regard both to past
and future, sin is put awayby the sacrifice of Himself. The completeness of
His priestly work is further attestedby the fact, triumphantly dwelt on in the
lesson, that it is done once for all, and needs no repetition, and is incapable of
repetition, while the world lasts.
II. Christ, as the high priest of the world, passes into heaven for us.

The priest’s office of old culminated in his entrance into the Holy of Holies, to
present the blood of sacrifice. Christ’s priesthoodis completed by His
ascensionand heavenly intercession. We necessarilyattachlocalideas to this,
but the reality is deeperthan all notions of place. The passage speaksofJesus
as ‘entering into the holy place,’and againas entering ‘heaven itself for us.’ It
also speaks ofHis having entered ‘through the greaterand more perfect
tabernacle,’the meaning of which phrase depends on the force attachedto
‘through.’ If it is taken locally, the meaning is as in chapter 4:14, that He has
passedthrough the [lower] heavens to ‘heaven itself’; if it is taken
instrumentally {as in following clause}, the meaning is that Jesus usedthe
‘greatertabernacle’in the discharge ofHis office of priest. The greattruth
underlying both the ascensionand the representations of this context is, as
verse 24 puts it, that He appears ‘before the face of God,’ and there carries on
His work, preparing a place for us. Further. we note that Jesus, as priest
representing humanity, end being Himself man, can stand before the face of
God, by virtue of His sacrifice, in which man is reconciledto God. His sinless
manhood needed no such sacrifice, but, as our representative, He could not
appear there without the blood of sacrifice. Thatblood, as shed on earth,
avails to ‘put away sin’; as presentedin heaven, it avails ‘for us,’ being ever
present before the divine eye, and influencing the divine dealings. That
entrance is the climax of the process by which He obtained ‘eternal
redemption’ for us. Initial redemption is obtained through His death, but the
full, perfect unending deliverance from all sin and evil is obtained, indeed, by
His passing into the Holy Place above, but possessedin fact only when we
follow Him thither. We need Him who ‘became dead’ for pardon and
cleansing;we need Him who is ‘alive for evermore’for present participation
in His life and present sitting with Him in the heavenly places, and for the
ultimate and eternal entrance there, whence we shall go no more out.
III. Christ, as the high priest of the world, will come forth from the holy place.

The ascensioncannotend His connectionwith the world. It carries in itself the
prophecy of a return. ‘If I go,... I will come again.’ The high priest came forth
to the people waiting for him, so our High Priest will come. Men have to die,
and ‘after death,’ not merely as following in time, but as necessarilyfollowing
in idea and fact, a judgment in which eachman’s work shall be infallibly
estimatedand manifested. Jesus has died ‘to bear the sins of many.’ There
must follow for Him, too, an estimate and manifestation of His work. What
for others is a judgment,’ for Him is manifestation of His sinlessness and
saving power. He shall be seen, no longer stooping under the weight of a
world’s sins, but ‘apart from sir,’ He shall be seen‘unto salvation,’for the
vision will bring with it assimilation to His sinless likeness. He shall be thus
seenby those that wait for Him, looking through the shows oftime to the far-
off shining of His coming, and meanwhile having their loins girt and their
lamps burning.
BensonCommentary
Hebrews 9:11-12. But Christ being come — As if he had said, Though the
types and legalceremonies couldnot make the worshippers perfect, yet
Christ, the antitype and truth, can. Here he comes to interpret and show the
end of the typical services he had spoke of; a high-priest of goodthings to
come — DescribedHebrews 9:15; that is, a dispenserof those benefits and
advantages whichwere prefigured by the Mosaic institutions, but could only
be obtained for us, and bestowedupon us, by the Messiah. Bya greaterand
more perfect tabernacle — That is, not by the service of the Jewish
tabernacle, (Hebrews 9:23,) but by a service performed in a greaterand more
perfect tabernacle above;not made with hands, that is, not of this building —
Namely, the building of this worldly sanctuary, or not making any part of this
lowercreation. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, &c., did he procure a
right to enter and minister in that tabernacle, but by his own blood — By the
merit of his death; he entered in once into the holy place above — That is,
once for all: not once, or one day every year, as the Jewishhigh-priest into the
holy place of the emblematicaltabernacle:having obtained — By his one
perfect sacrifice;eternal redemption and salvation for us — Of which all the
remissions, and all the benefits procured by the ministration of the Aaronical
priesthood, were but very imperfect figures. Beza, Pierce, andmany others,

by the greaterand more perfecttabernacle, understand our Lord’s human
nature. In support of which notion Beza says, that his human nature may as
properly be calleda tabernacle as his flesh is called a veil, Hebrews 10:24.
“But, not to dispute about the propriety of the figure, it appears an absurdity
to say that Christ entered into the holy place through his own human nature,
as through a tabernacle. He entered into heavenclothed with his human
nature, and not through it, as through a place:for, on that supposition, he did
not carry his human nature with him into heaven.” — Macknight.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
9:11-14 All goodthings past, present, and to come, were and are founded
upon the priestly office of Christ, and come to us from thence. Our High
Priestentered into heaven once for all, and has obtained eternalredemption.
The Holy Ghostfurther signified and showedthat the Old Testament
sacrifices onlyfreed the outward man from ceremonialuncleanness, andfitted
him for some outward privileges. What gave such powerto the blood of
Christ? It was Christ's offering himself without any sinful stain in his nature
or life. This cleanses the most guilty consciencefrom dead, or deadly, works to
serve the living God; from sinful works, suchas pollute the soul, as dead
bodies did the persons of the Jews who touched them; while the grace that
seals pardon, new-creates the polluted soul. Nothing more destroys the faith of
the gospel, than by any means to weakenthe direct power of the blood of
Christ. The depth of the mystery of the sacrifice ofChrist, we cannotdive
into, the height we cannot comprehend. We cannot searchout the greatness of
it, or the wisdom, the love, the grace that is in it. But in considering the
sacrifice ofChrist, faith finds life, food, and refreshment.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
But Christ being come - Now that the Messiahhas come, a more perfect
system is introduced by which the consciencemay be made free from guilt.
An high priest of goodthings to come - see Hebrews 10:1. The apostle having
describedthe tabernacle, and shown wherein it was defective in regard to the
real wants of sinners, proceeds now to describe the Christian system, and to
show how that met the real condition of man, and especiallyhow it was

adapted to remove sin from the soul. The phrase "high priest of goodthings to
come," seems to refer to those "goodthings" which belongedto the
dispensationthat was to come;that is, the dispensationunder the Messiah.
The Jews anticipatedgreatblessings in that time. They lookedforward to
better things than they enjoyed under the old dispensation. They expected
more signal proofs of the divine favor; a clearerknowledgeofthe way of
pardon; and more eminent spiritual enjoyments. Of these, the apostle says
that Christ, who had come, was now the high priest. It was he by whom they
were procured; and the time had actually arrived when they might enjoy the
long-anticipatedgoodthings under the Messiah.
By a greaterand more perfect tabernacle - The meaning is, that Christ
officiatedas high priest in a much more magnificent and perfect temple than
either the tabernacle or the temple under the old dispensation. He performed
the greatfunctions of his priestly office - the sprinkling of the blood of the
atonement - in heaven itself, of which the most holy place in the tabernacle
was but the emblem. The Jewishhigh priest entered the sanctuarymade with
hands to minister before God; Christ entered into heaven itself. The word
"by" here - διὰ dia - means probably through, and the idea is, that Christ
passedthrough a more perfecttabernacle on his way to the mercy-seatin
heaven than the Jewishhigh priest did when he passedthrough the outer
tabernacle Hebrews 9:2 and through the veil into the most holy place.
Probably the idea in the mind of the writer was that of the Saviour passing
through the "visible heavens" above us, to which the veil, dividing the holy
from the most holy place in the temple, bore some resemblance. Many,
however, have understood the word "tabernacle" here as denoting the "body
of Christ" (see Grotius and Bloomfieldin loc.);and according to this the idea
is, that Christ, by means of his own body and blood offeredas a sacrifice,
entered into the most holy place in heaven. But it seems to me that the whole
scope ofthe passagerequires us to understand it of the more perfecttemple in
heaven where Christ performs his ministry, and of which the tabernacle of the
Hebrews was but the emblem. Christ did not belong to the tribe of Levi; he
was not an high priest of the order of Aaron; he did not enter the holy place
on earth, but he entered the heavens, and perfects the work of his ministry
there.

Not made with hands - A phrase that properly describes heavenas being
prepared by God himself; see notes on 2 Corinthians 5:1.
Not of this building - Greek "ofthis "creation" - κτίσεως ktiseōs. The
meaning is, that the place where he officiates is not made by human power
and art, but is the work of God. The object is to show that his ministry is
altogethermore perfectthan what could be rendered by a Jewishpriest, and
performed in a temple which could not have been rearedby human skilland
power.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
11. But—in contrastto "could not make … perfect" (Heb 9:9).
Christ—The Messiah, ofwhom all the prophets foretold; not "Jesus"here.
From whom the "reformation" (Heb 9:10), or rectification, emanates, which
frees from the yoke of carnalordinances, and which is being realized
gradually now, and shall be perfectly in the consummation of "the age (world)
to come." "Christ… High Priest," exactlyanswers to Le 4:5, "the priest that
is anointed."
being come an, &c.—rather, "having come forward (compare Heb 10:7, a
different Greek word, picturesquely presenting Him before us) as High
Priest." The Levitical priests must therefore retire. Just as on the day of
atonement, no work was done, no sacrifice was offered, orpriest was allowed
to be in the tabernacle while the high priest went into the holiestplace to make
atonement (Le 16:17, 29). So not our righteousness, norany other priest's
sacrifice, but Christ alone atones;and as the high priest before offering
incense had on common garments of a priest, but after it wore his holy
garments of "gloryand beauty" (Ex 28:2, 40) in entering the holiest, so Christ
entered the heavenly holiestin His glorified body.
goodthings to come—Greek,"the goodthings to come," Heb 10:1; "better
promises," (Heb 8:6; the "eternalinheritance," Heb 9:15; 1Pe 1:4; the "things
hoped for," Heb 11:1).
by a … tabernacle—joinedwith "He entered." Translate, "Throughthe …
tabernacle" (ofwhich we know) [Alford]. As the Jewishhigh priest passed

through the anterior tabernacle into the holiestplace, so Christ passed
through heaven into the inner abode of the unseen and unapproachable God.
Thus, "the tabernacle" here is the heavens through which He passed(see on
[2562]Heb4:14). But "the tabernacle" is also the glorified body of Christ (see
on [2563]Heb8:2), "notof this building" (not of the mere natural "creation,
but of the spiritual and heavenly, the new creation"), the Head of the mystical
body, the Church. Through this glorified body He passesinto the heavenly
holiest place (Heb 9:24), the immaterial, unapproachable presence ofGod,
where He intercedes for us. His glorified body, as the meeting place of God
and all Christ's redeemed, and the angels, answersto the heavens through
which He passed, and passes.His body is opposedto the tabernacle, as His
blood to the blood of goats, &c.
greater—ascontrastedwith the small dimensions of the earthly anterior
tabernacle.
more perfect—effective in giving pardon, peace, sanctification, and access to
closestcommunion with God(compare Heb 9:9; Heb 10:1).
not made with hands—but by the Lord Himself (Heb 8:2).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
But; the Spirit, by this adversative But, opposethand applieth the truth to the
type, and brings in view the antitype, the office, tabernacle, sacrifice,and
ministration of Christ, which vastly exceedeththe Mosaicalone.
Christ being come an High Priest of goodthings to come;the High Priest
preferred is no less personthan God the Sonmanifested in the flesh, and
anointed to his office with the Holy Ghostand power, Acts 10:38. In the
fulness of time, before the antiquating and removing the former order, was he
exhibited and consecratedthe true High Priest, of which all the other were but
types, and bringing with him all those goodthings which were figured and
promised under that economy, all pardon, reconciliation, righteousness,
holiness, adoption, and glorious salvation, which were under that dispensation
to come, being present and exhibited with, as effectedby, this High Priestat

his first coming, but to be completed and perfected at his second, which is
intimated, Hebrews 9:26,28.
By a greaterand more perfect tabernacle;the anti-type of the Mesaical
sanctuary and tabernacle, where there was the holy place, and the holy of
holiest, correspondentto, and figured out by, these, was the more glorious
sanctuary of this High Priest;he passeththrough the tabernacle of his church
on earth, of which he is the minister, as hath been cleared, Hebrews 9:10, and
Hebrews 8:2, and so enters into the heaven of heavens, the holiest of all,
Hebrews 9:24, where God sits on his throne of grace.
Tabernacle here cannotsignify the body of Christ, for that is the sacrifice that
answerethto the legalones offered in the court, and without the gate,
Hebrews 13:11-13, and with the blood of which he enters the holy of holiestas
the high priest did, and he doth not pass through his flesh there, but carrieth
it with him. The word eskhnwsen, John1:14, may not only refer to the
Godhead’s tabernacling in flesh, but that Godthe Son incarnate tabernacled
in his church; those with whom Christ dwelt while on earth, for his human
nature dwelt or had a tabernacle in this world as well as his Deity; and this is
such a tabernacle where he in his whole personand his church may meet and
communicate together. This tabernacle is greaterthan the Mosaicalfor
quantity, as it refers to earth the place, even the whole world, where his
church is dispersed, beyond all comparisonlarger than its type, which was a
little limited and confined place;and more perfect than that, which was only
made of boards, gold, silver, brass, silk, linen, skins, &c. This being a spiritual
temple and tent, in which God will inhabit and dwell for ever, 1 Corinthians
3:9,16,17 2 Corinthians 6:16 Ephesians 2:12,20-221 Peter2:5; it is far more
glorious than that tabernacle, Haggai2:7-9.
Not made with hands; what is hand wrought, or made by men, is at the best
mouldering and decaying;but this was wrought by the Spirit of God himself,

most excellentfor the quality, permanency of the materials, and work,
Ephesians 2:22. Man had neither powernor skill to form, polish, frame, or
pitch this, Hebrews 8:2. Creationwork is God’s work, as to the old and new
creation. Hands may frame and pitch the other, and pluck it up; but he that
worketh, frameth, raiseth, createththis, is God, 2 Corinthians 5:5 Ephesians
2:20.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
But Christ being come an high priest,.... Christ is come, as appears from the
cessationofcivil government among the Jews, whichwas not to be till Shiloh
came;from the destruction of the second temple, into which the Messiahwas
to come, and did; from the expiration of Daniel's weeks, atwhich he was to
appear, and be cut off; from the coming of John the Baptist, his forerunner,
and from the preaching of the Gospelto the Gentiles, and the calling and
conversionof them, and the effusion of the Spirit upon them: and he is come
an high priest; he was calledto be one, and was constituted as such in the
council and covenantof peace;and he agreedto do the work of one; he was
typified by the high priest under the law; and he came as such into this world,
and has done the work of an high priest, by offering himself a sacrifice forsin,
and by his entrance into the holiest of all, with his own blood: and he is come
an high priest of goodthings to come;such as peace, reconciliation, and
atonement, a justifying righteousness,pardon of sin, eternal life and salvation,
which the law was a shadow and figure of; and which under the former
dispensationwere to come, as to the actual impetration of them by Christ;
who is calledthe high priest of them, to distinguish him from the high priests
under the law, who could not bring in these goodthings, nor make the comers
to them and to their offerings perfect;but Christ is the author and
administrator of them; and these things are owing to the performance of his
priestly office;and such rob Christ of his glory, as a priest, who ascribe these
goodthings to their own merits, or the merits of others: and the way in which
he is come is,
by a greaterand more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say,
not of this building; meaning the human body of Christ, which was greater
than tabernacle of Moses;not in bulk and quantity, but in value, worth, and

dignity; and was more perfectthan that, that being only an example, figure,
shadow, and type, this being the antitype, the sum and substance of that; and
by it things and persons are brought to perfection, which could not be, in and
by that; and this is a tabernacle which God pitched, and not man; which was
reared up without the help, of man: Christ was not begottenby man, but was
conceivedin the womb of a virgin, under the powerof the Holy Ghost; he
came not into the world in the way of ordinary generation, but in a
supernatural manner; and so his human body is a tabernacle, not of the
common building, or creation, as the word may be rendered, as other human
bodies are.
Geneva Study Bible
{6} But Christ being come an high priest of goodthings to come, {7} by a {h}
greaterand more perfecttabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building;
(6) Now he enters into the declarationof the types, and first of all comparing
the Levitical high priest with Christ, (that is to say, the figure with the thing
itself) he attributes to Christ the administration of goodthings to come, that
is, everlasting, which those carnalthings had respectto.
(7) Another comparisonof the first corrupt tabernacle with the latter, (that is
to say, with the human nature of Christ) which is the true incorruptible
temple of God, into which the Son of God entered, as the Levitical high priests
into the other which was frail and transitory.
(h) By a more excellentand better.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(11, 12) The changes oftranslation required in these verses are not
considerable in themselves, but important for the sake ofbringing out the
unity of the sentence and the connectionof its parts. But Christ having come a
High Priestof the goodthings to come (or, the goodthings that are come, see
below), through the greaterand more perfect Tabernacle, notmade with
hands, that is to say, not of this creation, also not through blood of goats and
calves, but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy Place,

having won eternalredemption. With Hebrews 9:11 begins the contrastto the
first verse. In that we read of the first covenantas possessing ordinances of
service and its holy place—both, however, “ofthis world,” and the following
verses describe the sanctuary itself (Hebrews 9:1-5) and the ordinances
(Hebrews 9:6-10). Now, the Mediatorof the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6),
“Christ,” whose name brings with it the thought of the satisfactionof all hope
and fulfilment of all promises, has appeared as High Priest; and entering into
the true Holy of Holies has accomplishedonce for all what the earlier
ministrations typified. This is the main thought; but in few verses do the single
words require more careful study. The various-reading mentioned above, “the
goodthings that are come,” is very interesting. It is not supported by a large
number of authorities, but amongstthem are the Vatican MS. (whose
guidance, it may be remarked, we shall soonlose, as the ancient text breaks
off suddenly in the middle of a word in Hebrews 9:14), the Claromontane
MS., and two Syriac versions. One strong argument in its favour presents
itself on a comparisonwith Hebrews 10:1 (where there is no doubt about the
reading), “the goodthings to come.” A scribe who had in mind those words,
confirmed by the repeatedoccurrence ofa similar thought in different parts
of the Epistle (Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 6:5), might easilysubstitute them for
words expressing a less familiar thought. The two phrases differ more in form
than in reality. In one we look at the new order of things, which is never to
pass away, as already introduced by Christ (see Note on Hebrews 1:2); and in
the other the same new order is thought of as future to those who waited
through long ages for“the Christ,” and in its consummation still future to
ourselves (Hebrews 6:5). The form of expressionreminds us of Hebrews 3:1,
where Jesus is calledthe High Priestof our confession(compare also Malachi
3:1, “the Messengerofthe covenant”):He is associatedwith “the goodthings”
as having brought them in, as Mediator of the covenant to which they belong.
Through (or, by means of) the more perfect Tabernacle, through (or, by
means of) His ownblood, Christ entered into the Holy Place. The two-fold
reference to the type is very plain. It was by passing through “the first
Tabernacle” thatthe high priest reachedthe Holiest Place;it was by means of
the blood of the sin-offering that he was enabled to enter into that place of
God’s presence (Hebrews 9:7). But what in the antitype answers to this

Tabernacle? The expressionofHebrews 4:14, perhaps, first presents itself to
the mind: if, however, we were right in understanding the words “that has
passedthrough the heavens” as descriptive of our Lord’s ascensionfar above
all heavens (Ephesians 4:10), it seems evident that this verse is no real parallel.
In Hebrews 10:20 the thought is somewhatdifferent, but yet sufficiently akin
to be suggestive in regard to these words. There the veil is spokenof as
symbolising “the flesh” of our Lord. Here we have in all probability an
extensionof the same thought, “the more perfect Tabernacle”being the
human nature of our Lord. We think at once of a number of passages
presenting the same idea: “The Word was made flesh and made His
tabernacle among us” (John 1:14); “He spake of the temple of His body (John
2:19); “The Father that dwelleth in Me” (John 14:10);“In Him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godheadbodily” (Colossians2:9). As in Him God gave to
the world the first true revelation of Himself (Hebrews 1:2), God’s dwelling-
place amongstHis people was a type of the Incarnate Word. The symbolism of
the presentverse compels us to think of the first and secondTabernaclesas
separate. It was otherwise in Hebrews 8:2, a verse which can only receive its
proper explanation when the words now before us are considered. There the
reference is to the High Priest who has already entered the Holiest Place and
has “satdown at the right hand” of God. The distinction of outer and inner
sanctuary has disappeared; and, carrying out more fully the thought of the
passagesquoted above, we may say that, as “the sanctuary” of Hebrews 8:2
symbolises the place of God’s immediate presence, “the true Tabernacle”
represents the place of His continued and unceasing revelationof Himself to
man, “in Christ.” There is no difficulty now in explaining the epithets,
“greater,”“more perfect,” “notof this creation.” By means of this assumption
of human nature He receivedpowerto become High Priest, poweralso to
become Himself the sin-offering. Once before only in the Epistle have we read
of this two-fold relation of our Lord to the sacrificialact. There it is
mentioned parenthetically (Hebrews 7:26) and by anticipation, here it is the
leading thought (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:10,
et al.). The efficacyof this offering is takenup again in Hebrews 9:13-14;the
entering into the Holiest Place, in the latter part of the chapter. A new thought
is introduced in the lastwords of this verse, “having won eternalredemption.”
Through the sacrifice atonementhas been made and sin expiated: the blessing

won, which in Hebrews 5:9 is calledeternal salvation(see Note on Hebrews
7:25), is here “eternalredemption.” The latter figure enlarges the former by
the additional thought of the payment of a price. The deliverance of man from
God’s wrath and the penalty of sin, which Jesus effectedby means of the
offering of Himself, is the “eternalredemption which He won” (see Hebrews
9:14, and Ephesians 1:7). The words, “for us,” are not in the text: they are too
intimately presentin the whole thought to need direct expression.
MacLaren's Expositions
; Hebrews 9:24-28Hebrews
THE PRIEST IN THE HOLY PLACE
Hebrews 9:11-14;Hebrews 9:24-28.
SPACE forbids attempting full treatment of these pregnant verses. We can
only sum up generally their teaching on the priesthoodof Jesus.
I. Christ, as the high priest of the world, offers Himself. Obviously verse 14
refers to Christ’s sacrificialdeath, and in verse 26 His ‘sacrifice of Himself’ is
equivalent to His ‘having suffered.’
The contention that the priestly office of Jesus begins with His entrance into
the presence ofGod is setaside by the plain teaching of this passage, which
regards His death as the beginning of His priestly work. What, then, are the
characteristicsofthat offering, according to this Writer? The point dwelt on
most emphatically is that He is both priest and sacrifice. Thatgreatthought
opens a wide field of meditation, for adoring thankfulness and love. It implies

the voluntariness of His death. No necessitybound Him to the Cross. Notthe
nails, but His, love; fastenedHim there. Himself He would not save, because
others He would save. The offering was ‘through the Eternal Spirit,’ the
divine personality in Himself, which as it were, took the knife and slew the
human life. That sacrifice was ‘without blemish,’ fulfilling in perfect moral
purity the prescriptions of the ceremoniallaw, which but clothe in outward
form the universal consciousnessthatnothing stained or faulty is worthy to be
given to God. What are the blessings brought to us by that wondrous self-
sacrifice? Theyare statedmost generallyin verse 26 as the putting awayof
sin, and againin verse 28 as being the bearing of the sins of many, and again
in verse 14 as cleansing consciencefrom dead works to serve the living God.
Now the first of these expressions includes the other two, and expressesthe
blessedtruth that, by His death, Jesus has made an end of sin, in all its shapes
and powers, whetherit is regarded as guilt or burden, or taint and tendency
paralysing and disabling. Sin is guilt, and Christ’s death deals with our past,
taking awaythe burden of condemnation. Thus verse 28 presents Him as
bearing the sins of many, as the scapegoatbore the sins of the congregation
into a land not inhabited, as ‘the Lord made to meet’ on the head of the
Servant ‘the iniquities of us all.’ The best commentary on the words here is,
‘He bare our sins in His own body on the tree.’ But sin has an effectin the
future as in the past, and the death of Christ deals with that, So verse 14
parallels it not only with the sacrifice which made access to Godpossible, but
with the ceremonialof the red heifer,’ by which pollution from touching a
corpse was removed. A consciencewhich has been in contactwith ‘dead
works’{and all works which are not done from ‘the life’ are so}is unfit to
serve God, as well as lacking in wish to serve; and the only way to setit free
from the nightmare which fetters it is to touch it with ‘the blood,’ and then it
will spring up to a waking life of glad service. ‘The blood’ is shed to take away
guilt; ‘the blood’ is the life, and, being shed in the death, it can be transfused
into our veins, and so will. cleanse us from all sin. Thus, in regard both to past
and future, sin is put awayby the sacrifice of Himself. The completeness of
His priestly work is further attestedby the fact, triumphantly dwelt on in the
lesson, that it is done once for all, and needs no repetition, and is incapable of
repetition, while the world lasts.

II. Christ, as the high priest of the world, passes into heaven for us.
The priest’s office of old culminated in his entrance into the Holy of Holies, to
present the blood of sacrifice. Christ’s priesthoodis completed by His
ascensionand heavenly intercession. We necessarilyattachlocalideas to this,
but the reality is deeperthan all notions of place. The passage speaksofJesus
as ‘entering into the holy place,’and againas entering ‘heaven itself for us.’ It
also speaks ofHis having entered ‘through the greaterand more perfect
tabernacle,’the meaning of which phrase depends on the force attachedto
‘through.’ If it is taken locally, the meaning is as in chapter 4:14, that He has
passedthrough the [lower] heavens to ‘heaven itself’; if it is taken
instrumentally {as in following clause}, the meaning is that Jesus usedthe
‘greatertabernacle’in the discharge ofHis office of priest. The greattruth
underlying both the ascensionand the representations of this context is, as
verse 24 puts it, that He appears ‘before the face of God,’ and there carries on
His work, preparing a place for us. Further. we note that Jesus, as priest
representing humanity, end being Himself man, can stand before the face of
God, by virtue of His sacrifice, in which man is reconciledto God. His sinless
manhood needed no such sacrifice, but, as our representative, He could not
appear there without the blood of sacrifice. Thatblood, as shed on earth,
avails to ‘put away sin’; as presentedin heaven, it avails ‘for us,’ being ever
present before the divine eye, and influencing the divine dealings. That
entrance is the climax of the process by which He obtained ‘eternal
redemption’ for us. Initial redemption is obtained through His death, but the
full, perfect unending deliverance from all sin and evil is obtained, indeed, by
His passing into the Holy Place above, but possessedin fact only when we
follow Him thither. We need Him who ‘became dead’ for pardon and
cleansing;we need Him who is ‘alive for evermore’for present participation
in His life and present sitting with Him in the heavenly places, and for the
ultimate and eternal entrance there, whence we shall go no more out.

III. Christ, as the high priest of the world, will come forth from the holy place.
The ascensioncannotend His connectionwith the world. It carries in itself the
prophecy of a return. ‘If I go,... I will come again.’The high priest came forth
to the people waiting for him, so our High Priest will come. Men have to die,
and ‘after death,’ not merely as following in time, but as necessarilyfollowing
in idea and fact, a judgment in which eachman’s work shall be infallibly
estimatedand manifested. Jesus has died ‘to bear the sins of many.’ There
must follow for Him, too, an estimate and manifestation of His work. What
for others is a judgment,’ for Him is manifestation of His sinlessness and
saving power. He shall be seen, no longer stooping under the weight of a
world’s sins, but ‘apart from sir,’ He shall be seen‘unto salvation,’for the
vision will bring with it assimilation to His sinless likeness. He shall be thus
seenby those that wait for Him, looking through the shows oftime to the far-
off shining of His coming, and meanwhile having their loins girt and their
lamps burning.
BensonCommentary
Hebrews 9:11-12. But Christ being come — As if he had said, Though the
types and legalceremonies couldnot make the worshippers perfect, yet
Christ, the antitype and truth, can. Here he comes to interpret and show the
end of the typical services he had spoke of; a high-priest of goodthings to
come — DescribedHebrews 9:15; that is, a dispenserof those benefits and
advantages whichwere prefigured by the Mosaic institutions, but could only
be obtained for us, and bestowedupon us, by the Messiah. Bya greaterand
more perfect tabernacle — That is, not by the service of the Jewish
tabernacle, (Hebrews 9:23,) but by a service performed in a greaterand more
perfect tabernacle above;not made with hands, that is, not of this building —
Namely, the building of this worldly sanctuary, or not making any part of this
lowercreation. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, &c., did he procure a
right to enter and minister in that tabernacle, but by his own blood — By the
merit of his death; he entered in once into the holy place above — That is,
once for all: not once, or one day every year, as the Jewishhigh-priest into the

holy place of the emblematicaltabernacle:having obtained — By his one
perfect sacrifice;eternal redemption and salvation for us — Of which all the
remissions, and all the benefits procured by the ministration of the Aaronical
priesthood, were but very imperfect figures. Beza, Pierce, andmany others,
by the greaterand more perfecttabernacle, understand our Lord’s human
nature. In support of which notion Beza says, that his human nature may as
properly be calleda tabernacle as his flesh is called a veil, Hebrews 10:24.
“But, not to dispute about the propriety of the figure, it appears an absurdity
to say that Christ entered into the holy place through his own human nature,
as through a tabernacle. He entered into heavenclothed with his human
nature, and not through it, as through a place:for, on that supposition, he did
not carry his human nature with him into heaven.” — Macknight.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
9:11-14 All goodthings past, present, and to come, were and are founded
upon the priestly office of Christ, and come to us from thence. Our High
Priestentered into heaven once for all, and has obtained eternalredemption.
The Holy Ghostfurther signified and showedthat the Old Testament
sacrifices onlyfreed the outward man from ceremonialuncleanness, andfitted
him for some outward privileges. What gave such powerto the blood of
Christ? It was Christ's offering himself without any sinful stain in his nature
or life. This cleanses the most guilty consciencefrom dead, or deadly, works to
serve the living God; from sinful works, suchas pollute the soul, as dead
bodies did the persons of the Jews who touched them; while the grace that
seals pardon, new-creates the polluted soul. Nothing more destroys the faith of
the gospel, than by any means to weakenthe direct power of the blood of
Christ. The depth of the mystery of the sacrifice ofChrist, we cannotdive
into, the height we cannot comprehend. We cannot searchout the greatness of
it, or the wisdom, the love, the grace that is in it. But in considering the
sacrifice ofChrist, faith finds life, food, and refreshment.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
But Christ being come - Now that the Messiahhas come, a more perfect
system is introduced by which the consciencemay be made free from guilt.

An high priest of goodthings to come - see Hebrews 10:1. The apostle having
describedthe tabernacle, and shown wherein it was defective in regard to the
real wants of sinners, proceeds now to describe the Christian system, and to
show how that met the real condition of man, and especiallyhow it was
adapted to remove sin from the soul. The phrase "high priest of goodthings to
come," seems to refer to those "goodthings" which belongedto the
dispensationthat was to come;that is, the dispensationunder the Messiah.
The Jews anticipatedgreatblessings in that time. They lookedforward to
better things than they enjoyed under the old dispensation. They expected
more signal proofs of the divine favor; a clearerknowledgeofthe way of
pardon; and more eminent spiritual enjoyments. Of these, the apostle says
that Christ, who had come, was now the high priest. It was he by whom they
were procured; and the time had actually arrived when they might enjoy the
long-anticipatedgoodthings under the Messiah.
By a greaterand more perfect tabernacle - The meaning is, that Christ
officiatedas high priest in a much more magnificent and perfect temple than
either the tabernacle or the temple under the old dispensation. He performed
the greatfunctions of his priestly office - the sprinkling of the blood of the
atonement - in heaven itself, of which the most holy place in the tabernacle
was but the emblem. The Jewishhigh priest entered the sanctuarymade with
hands to minister before God; Christ entered into heaven itself. The word
"by" here - διὰ dia - means probably through, and the idea is, that Christ
passedthrough a more perfecttabernacle on his way to the mercy-seatin
heaven than the Jewishhigh priest did when he passedthrough the outer
tabernacle Hebrews 9:2 and through the veil into the most holy place.
Probably the idea in the mind of the writer was that of the Saviour passing
through the "visible heavens" above us, to which the veil, dividing the holy
from the most holy place in the temple, bore some resemblance. Many,
however, have understood the word "tabernacle" here as denoting the "body
of Christ" (see Grotius and Bloomfieldin loc.);and according to this the idea
is, that Christ, by means of his own body and blood offeredas a sacrifice,
entered into the most holy place in heaven. But it seems to me that the whole
scope ofthe passagerequires us to understand it of the more perfecttemple in
heaven where Christ performs his ministry, and of which the tabernacle of the

Hebrews was but the emblem. Christ did not belong to the tribe of Levi; he
was not an high priest of the order of Aaron; he did not enter the holy place
on earth, but he entered the heavens, and perfects the work of his ministry
there.
Not made with hands - A phrase that properly describes heavenas being
prepared by God himself; see notes on 2 Corinthians 5:1.
Not of this building - Greek "ofthis "creation" - κτίσεως ktiseōs. The
meaning is, that the place where he officiates is not made by human power
and art, but is the work of God. The object is to show that his ministry is
altogethermore perfectthan what could be rendered by a Jewishpriest, and
performed in a temple which could not have been rearedby human skilland
power.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
11. But—in contrastto "could not make … perfect" (Heb 9:9).
Christ—The Messiah, ofwhom all the prophets foretold; not "Jesus"here.
From whom the "reformation" (Heb 9:10), or rectification, emanates, which
frees from the yoke of carnalordinances, and which is being realized
gradually now, and shall be perfectly in the consummation of "the age (world)
to come." "Christ… High Priest," exactlyanswers to Le 4:5, "the priest that
is anointed."
being come an, &c.—rather, "having come forward (compare Heb 10:7, a
different Greek word, picturesquely presenting Him before us) as High
Priest." The Levitical priests must therefore retire. Just as on the day of
atonement, no work was done, no sacrifice was offered, orpriest was allowed
to be in the tabernacle while the high priest went into the holiestplace to make
atonement (Le 16:17, 29). So not our righteousness, norany other priest's
sacrifice, but Christ alone atones;and as the high priest before offering
incense had on common garments of a priest, but after it wore his holy
garments of "gloryand beauty" (Ex 28:2, 40) in entering the holiest, so Christ
entered the heavenly holiestin His glorified body.

goodthings to come—Greek,"the goodthings to come," Heb 10:1; "better
promises," (Heb 8:6; the "eternalinheritance," Heb 9:15; 1Pe 1:4; the "things
hoped for," Heb 11:1).
by a … tabernacle—joinedwith "He entered." Translate, "Throughthe …
tabernacle" (ofwhich we know) [Alford]. As the Jewishhigh priest passed
through the anterior tabernacle into the holiestplace, so Christ passed
through heaven into the inner abode of the unseen and unapproachable God.
Thus, "the tabernacle" here is the heavens through which He passed(see on
[2562]Heb4:14). But "the tabernacle" is also the glorified body of Christ (see
on [2563]Heb8:2), "notof this building" (not of the mere natural "creation,
but of the spiritual and heavenly, the new creation"), the Head of the mystical
body, the Church. Through this glorified body He passesinto the heavenly
holiest place (Heb 9:24), the immaterial, unapproachable presence ofGod,
where He intercedes for us. His glorified body, as the meeting place of God
and all Christ's redeemed, and the angels, answersto the heavens through
which He passed, and passes.His body is opposedto the tabernacle, as His
blood to the blood of goats, &c.
greater—ascontrastedwith the small dimensions of the earthly anterior
tabernacle.
more perfect—effective in giving pardon, peace, sanctification, and access to
closestcommunion with God(compare Heb 9:9; Heb 10:1).
not made with hands—but by the Lord Himself (Heb 8:2).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
But; the Spirit, by this adversative But, opposethand applieth the truth to the
type, and brings in view the antitype, the office, tabernacle, sacrifice,and
ministration of Christ, which vastly exceedeththe Mosaicalone.
Christ being come an High Priest of goodthings to come;the High Priest
preferred is no less personthan God the Sonmanifested in the flesh, and
anointed to his office with the Holy Ghostand power, Acts 10:38. In the

fulness of time, before the antiquating and removing the former order, was he
exhibited and consecratedthe true High Priest, of which all the other were but
types, and bringing with him all those goodthings which were figured and
promised under that economy, all pardon, reconciliation, righteousness,
holiness, adoption, and glorious salvation, which were under that dispensation
to come, being present and exhibited with, as effectedby, this High Priestat
his first coming, but to be completed and perfected at his second, which is
intimated, Hebrews 9:26,28.
By a greaterand more perfect tabernacle;the anti-type of the Mesaical
sanctuary and tabernacle, where there was the holy place, and the holy of
holiest, correspondentto, and figured out by, these, was the more glorious
sanctuary of this High Priest;he passeththrough the tabernacle of his church
on earth, of which he is the minister, as hath been cleared, Hebrews 9:10, and
Hebrews 8:2, and so enters into the heaven of heavens, the holiest of all,
Hebrews 9:24, where God sits on his throne of grace.
Tabernacle here cannotsignify the body of Christ, for that is the sacrifice that
answerethto the legalones offered in the court, and without the gate,
Hebrews 13:11-13, and with the blood of which he enters the holy of holiestas
the high priest did, and he doth not pass through his flesh there, but carrieth
it with him. The word eskhnwsen, John1:14, may not only refer to the
Godhead’s tabernacling in flesh, but that Godthe Son incarnate tabernacled
in his church; those with whom Christ dwelt while on earth, for his human
nature dwelt or had a tabernacle in this world as well as his Deity; and this is
such a tabernacle where he in his whole personand his church may meet and
communicate together. This tabernacle is greaterthan the Mosaicalfor
quantity, as it refers to earth the place, even the whole world, where his
church is dispersed, beyond all comparisonlarger than its type, which was a
little limited and confined place;and more perfect than that, which was only
made of boards, gold, silver, brass, silk, linen, skins, &c. This being a spiritual
temple and tent, in which God will inhabit and dwell for ever, 1 Corinthians

3:9,16,17 2 Corinthians 6:16 Ephesians 2:12,20-221 Peter2:5; it is far more
glorious than that tabernacle, Haggai2:7-9.
Not made with hands; what is hand wrought, or made by men, is at the best
mouldering and decaying;but this was wrought by the Spirit of God himself,
most excellentfor the quality, permanency of the materials, and work,
Ephesians 2:22. Man had neither powernor skill to form, polish, frame, or
pitch this, Hebrews 8:2. Creationwork is God’s work, as to the old and new
creation. Hands may frame and pitch the other, and pluck it up; but he that
worketh, frameth, raiseth, createththis, is God, 2 Corinthians 5:5 Ephesians
2:20.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
But Christ being come an high priest,.... Christ is come, as appears from the
cessationofcivil government among the Jews, whichwas not to be till Shiloh
came;from the destruction of the secondtemple, into which the Messiahwas
to come, and did; from the expiration of Daniel's weeks, atwhich he was to
appear, and be cut off; from the coming of John the Baptist, his forerunner,
and from the preaching of the Gospelto the Gentiles, and the calling and
conversionof them, and the effusion of the Spirit upon them: and he is come
an high priest; he was calledto be one, and was constituted as such in the
council and covenantof peace;and he agreedto do the work of one; he was
typified by the high priest under the law; and he came as such into this world,
and has done the work of an high priest, by offering himself a sacrifice forsin,
and by his entrance into the holiest of all, with his own blood: and he is come
an high priest of good things to come;such as peace, reconciliation, and
atonement, a justifying righteousness,pardon of sin, eternal life and salvation,
which the law was a shadow and figure of; and which under the former
dispensationwere to come, as to the actual impetration of them by Christ;
who is calledthe high priest of them, to distinguish him from the high priests
under the law, who could not bring in these goodthings, nor make the comers
to them and to their offerings perfect;but Christ is the author and
administrator of them; and these things are owing to the performance of his

priestly office;and such rob Christ of his glory, as a priest, who ascribe these
goodthings to their own merits, or the merits of others: and the way in which
he is come is,
by a greaterand more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say,
not of this building; meaning the human body of Christ, which was greater
than tabernacle of Moses;not in bulk and quantity, but in value, worth, and
dignity; and was more perfectthan that, that being only an example, figure,
shadow, and type, this being the antitype, the sum and substance of that; and
by it things and persons are brought to perfection, which could not be, in and
by that; and this is a tabernacle which God pitched, and not man; which was
reared up without the help, of man: Christ was not begottenby man, but was
conceivedin the womb of a virgin, under the powerof the Holy Ghost; he
came not into the world in the way of ordinary generation, but in a
supernatural manner; and so his human body is a tabernacle, not of the
common building, or creation, as the word may be rendered, as other human
bodies are.
Geneva Study Bible
{6} But Christ being come an high priest of goodthings to come, {7} by a {h}
greaterand more perfecttabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building;
(6) Now he enters into the declarationof the types, and first of all comparing
the Levitical high priest with Christ, (that is to say, the figure with the thing
itself) he attributes to Christ the administration of goodthings to come, that
is, everlasting, which those carnalthings had respectto.
(7) Another comparisonof the first corrupt tabernacle with the latter, (that is
to say, with the human nature of Christ) which is the true incorruptible
temple of God, into which the Son of God entered, as the Levitical high priests
into the other which was frail and transitory.
(h) By a more excellentand better.

Hebrews 9:11-15 New American Bible (RevisedEdition) (NABRE)
Sacrifice ofJesus. 11 [a]But when Christ came as high priest of the good
things that have come to be,[b] passing through the greaterand more perfect
tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, 12 he
entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves
but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood
of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes[c]cansanctify those
who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, 14 how much more will the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit[d] offered himself unblemished
to God, cleanse ourconsciencesfrom dead works to worship the living God.
15 [e]For this reasonhe is mediator of a new covenant:since a death has taken
place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who
are calledmay receive the promised eternal inheritance.
Footnotes:
9:11–14 Christ, the high priest of the spiritual blessings foreshadowedin the
Old Testamentsanctuary, has actually entered the true sanctuaryof heaven
that is not of human making (Hb 9:11). His place there is permanent, and his
offering is his ownblood that woneternal redemption (Hb 9:12). If the
sacrifice ofanimals could bestow legalpurification (Hb 9:13), how much more
effective is the blood of the sinless, divine Christ who spontaneouslyoffered
himself to purge the human race of sin and render it fit for the service of God
(Hb 9:14).
9:11 The goodthings that have come to be: the majority of later manuscripts
here read “the goodthings to come”;cf. Hb 10:1.
9:13 A heifer’s ashes:ashes from a red heifer that had been burned were
mixed with water and used for the cleansing ofthose who had become ritually
defiled by touching a corpse;see Nm 19:9, 14–21.

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