Because he is speaking about the first covenant, the author talks today about the tabernacle where the duties of the priests were carried out. He speaks of the role of the high priest who went once a year into the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle with an atonement offering. He is going to compare the service of this priest to the service of Christ our great high priest.
"Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place." (Hebrews 9:1-2) The outer room contained the lampstand, the light from which represented the holy word of God. It also contained twelve loaves of bread, representing God's relationship with Israel and God's provision for Israel.
A curtain separated the outer room from the courtyard, and another curtain separated the outer room from the inner room, otherwise known as the Most Holy Place. Only the high priest could go behind the second curtain. "Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. The ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant." (Hebrews 9:3-4) Many scholars believe the incense offered on the golden altar represented the prayers of the people, that the gold jar of manna reminded the people of God's provision for them, that the staff that budded symbolized their rebellion against God, and that the tablets of the covenant within the ark were a constant reminder that the people had failed to abide by the covenant.
The high priest, when entering the Most Holy Place, would have been immediately faced with the knowledge of his own guilt and the guilt of his people. He would be aware that he was standing in the presence of a holy God whose laws they had all violated. Imagine what a scary experience this was! I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the high priest trembled in fear as he entered the Most Holy Place each year to intercede on behalf of the people. When confronted with the awesome holiness of God, and while acknowledging his own sins and the sins of his people, the priest might understandably feel terrified and discouraged. After all, God is so perfect and man is so imperfect. But within the Most Holy Place, on top of the ark of the covenant that held the tablets of the covenant that no one had perfectly kept, was something called the mercy seat. In the NIV we find this seat called "the atonement cover". Upon it the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the atoning sacrifice. The blood would cover the mercy seat, so that as God looked down from heaven upon the ark of the covenant, the blood was between Him and the tablets. The blood symbolically obscured His view of the laws which the people had broken. The blood, just like the blood of the Passover lamb, allowed judgment and wrath to pass over the people. This blood rolled their sins off them for another year, until which time the high priest would have to enter the Most Holy Place again and perform the same ritual. "Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now." (Hebrews 9:5)
"When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance." (Hebrews 9:6-7) As King David once said, we sometimes sin without even knowing it, so he prayed to the Lord, "But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults." (Psalm 19:12) Throughout the year, the people were to bring sin offerings for sins they knew they had committed. In the same way, we are to repent as soon as we realize we have sinned. But sometimes we sin without realizing it, so atonement must be made for sins of ignorance as well. The high priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year to intercede for the people because of sins they had committed in ignorance. Christ entered the Most Holy Place once for all time, sprinkling His blood not on an earthly mercy seat but on the mercy seat in heaven, atoning for both our known sins and our sins of ignorance.
The service the high priest performed every year could not make anyone perfect. It didn't make the priest perfect and it didn't make the people perfect. This ritual pointed to a sacrifice of atonement that would be able to impute righteousness to those who would believe on Christ in faith. Though we are not literally perfect, the blood of Christ covers our sins in the same way that the blood on the mercy seat covered the tablets of the first covenant. When God looks at us, He sees the blood of His Son---not our sins. "The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings---external regulations applying until the time of the new order." (Hebrews 9:8-10) These things were put in place until the time of the new covenant, until the time when the way into the Most Holy Place was opened to us all. This happened on the day Christ made Himself an offering of atonement for our sins, on the day when God reached down and tore the curtain (the curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple) in two from top to bottom. Now, through Christ our great high priest, we have direct access to the Father. Now we no longer need an earthly high priest to go behind the curtain to intercede for us with God. Christ intercedes for us forever, and because God would be rejecting the sacrifice of His Son if He rejected our prayers of repentance, God hears and honors our prayers for the sake of His Son.
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