The Hebrews author now precedes to show the superiority of the High Priest of the heavenly Tabernacle. The writer shows the superiority of the Lamb of God–Jesus Christ–over the inferiority of animal sacrifices. Being so establishes His right to be the mediator of the New Covenant with better promises. There is a heavenly home instead of an earthly home. There is only one sacrifice–Jesus Christ instead of daily sacrifices in the earthly Tabernacle.
My translation and notes on Hebrews 9:11-28
Jesus Is Priest of Heavenly Tabernacle
11 But now Christ has come as a High Priest of the good things to come through a greater and more perfect tent, not made with human hands, that is, not of this creation.
12 He entered the Holy of Holies only one time, not with the blood of goats and calves but through his own blood, to obtain eternal redemption.
[Jesus Christ is superior as High Priest (can cleanse the conscience, forgive sins, and restore fellowship with God). Instead of a yearly entering the Holy of Holies, Jesus went in only one time. His sacrifice was perfect and able].
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on the ceremonially unclean [people] (for [the purpose of] sanctifying the flesh) makes [them] ceremonially clean,
14 Then how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish cleanse yourp conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
[Compare 1 Peter 3:21. Jesus fulfilled the Day of Atonement (bulls and goats—Numbers 29:7-11 and Leviticus 23:26-32) but did not die on the Day of Atonement but on the Passover. There does not need to be an exact date fulfillment according to Dr Fruchtenbaum. A human sacrifice must be given for humans. Either we pay the penalty for our sin or a substitute. Jesus is the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). ‘Without blemish/spot’ is an important aspect of Jewish sacrifices. In Numbers 19:2, there is God’s instructions on the red heifer. The qualification/standard for this heifer are to have no flaws—spot or blemish and to never have a yoke (worked). The red heifer cannot have even more than three discolored hairs (or two adjacent to each other). The full law of God and the reasons why can be found in Numbers 19. It is to purify people and vessels that had come in contact with a dead human. See here and here. For other verses using the phrase ‘without spot’, see Numbers 29:17, 1 Timothy 6:14, and 2 Peter 3:14].
15 For this reason, he is the mediator of the new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance by a death for redemption from the violations under the first covenant.
[The New Covenant is superior because the High Priest and His offered atonement are superior. To Jesus Christ belongs the kingdom, the power, and the glory. The mediator is the go between (1 Timothy 2:5). In this instance, between God and humans. The called/invited are those who respond to the conviction of sin and freeing of our will by the initiation and ministry of the Holy Spirit to believe in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. That is God’s terms for salvation. What God promises, He keeps. Our inheritance is because we are adopted into God’s family (Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5, and John 1:12-13). Everyone is guilty of breaking God’s Ten Commandments (James 2:10) and need redemption].
16 For where there is a will, there must also be the death of the testator.
17 For a will [is] in force after death, seeing that it is not binding while the testator lives.
18 That is why not even the first [covenant] was initiated without blood.
[For the new covenant to be in effect, the testator needed to be dead. Jesus truly died, buried, resurrected, and ascended into heaven].
19 For after Moses had spoken every rule to all the people as the law commanded, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all the people.
20 He said, “This [is] the blood of the covenant which God has commanded youp.” [Exodus 24:8]
21 Likewise, he sprinkled blood both on the tent and all the utensils of the religious service.
22 In fact, according to the law nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, [there] is no forgiveness.
[Jesus had to die and shed His blood for our forgiveness. Substitutionary atonement is taught here. The penalty for sin is death (Ezekiel 18:4 and Romans 6:23). There is an eternal destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9), eternal torment (Revelation 14:11), eternal darkness (2 Peter 2:17 and Jude 1:13). Someone must be punished/sentenced for breaking God’s law. It is either me or someone else. The shed blood is proof of death. Clarke (COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE) writes: The apostle shows fully here what is one of his great objects in the whole of this epistle, viz. that there is no salvation but through the sacrificial death of Christ, and to prefigure this the law itself would not grant any remission of sin without the blood of a victim….every sinner has forfeited his life by his transgressions, and the law of God requires his death; the blood of the victim, which is its life, is shed as a substitute for the life of the sinner. By these victims the sacrifice of Christ was typified. He gave his life for the life of the world; human life for human life. For further information, see What is the substitutionary atonement? Some utensils and other objects were cleansed by water or fire].
23 Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the heavenly things should be purified with these but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
[Everything was dedicated with blood because everything in this universe, earth, and life has been contaminated by sin and experiences God’s curse. Death and the shedding of life blood (Leviticus 17:11) cleanses the earthly Tabernacle and all its utensils from contamination and to be dedicated to God. They are atoned for. Human effort is contaminated because all have sinned and are corrupted. Adam Clarke remarks: Purification implies, not only cleansing from defilement, but also dedication or consecration. All the utensils employed in the tabernacle service were thus purified though incapable of any moral pollution.
24 For Christ did not enter the Holy of Holies of human construction, [which is] a copy of the original, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us,
[Jesus was of Judah not Levi. Jesus followed the Law and would never have entered the earthly Holy of Holies. Jesus is THE High Priest of the order of Melchizedek and did enter heaven’s Holy of Holies. The way was not open to any human in the earthly Holy of Holies. In the same way, no one could enter heaven. Jesus has made the way by offering the one-time atonement for the forgiveness of our sins if we have our faith in Jesus alone. The Holy of Holies had the Ark on which the Mercy Seat rested and was overcovered by the Cherubim. The Mercy Seat was the throne of God on which the presence of God resided. So, it is in heaven. Jesus went into heaven’s Holy of Holies to the Mercy Seat and offered His blood to atone for sins. Vincent (WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT) writes on this passage: Under the old covenant, the bloodshedding was symbolical: the death of the institutor was by proxy. In the ratification of the new covenant, Christ himself was the covenant-victim, and a real cleansing power attaches to his blood as the offering of his eternal spirit].
25 Not, however, that he should offer himself frequently, like the high priest enters the Holy of Holies every year with blood not his own,
26 For then he would have had to suffer many times from the foundation of the world. But now at the end of the world, he has appeared one time to annul sin by the sacrifice of himself.
[There was only one sacrifice, never to happen again. Jesus’s sacrifice was accepted by the Father completely. Sin could now be annulled. The Greek word for ‘annul’ is ἀθέτησις athétēsis (G115). It means to void a law. JFB (JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN COMMENTARY) has this note: abolish: doing away sin’s power as well as the guilt and penalty, so that it should be powerless to condemn; as also its yoke, so that believers shall at last sin no more. Vincent adds: The sacrifice of Christ dealt with sin as a principle: the Levitical sacrifices with individual transgressions].
27 As it is appointed for people to die one time, and after that The Judgment,
28 So Christ was offered one time to bear the sins of many, and for those who look for him, he will appear the second time not to deal with sin but for salvation.
[Why ‘many?’ Jesus did not have to die for His own sins. Jesus never sinned (1 Peter 2:22, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, and 1 John 3:5. Compare Mark 14:24, Isaiah 53:11-12, Matthew 26:28, Romans 5:15, Hebrews 2:10, and Hebrews 9:28].