Art Toombs Ministries 

Online Bible Commentary

The Superiority of Christ’s Heavenly Realities
Hebrews 9:23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another-- 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. (NKJV)

 

The early Eastern Church (Dionysius and Clement, both of Alexandria), from the second century, claimed Paul was the writer of Hebrews. The Western Church later agreed.

Luke translated the letter to the Hebrews into Greek, according to Clement in the second century. Luke was with Paul during his second Roman imprisonment and was his amanuensis during Paul’s final days (2 Timothy 4:11).

It is likely that Luke was also Paul’s amanuensis for this letter. My conclusion is that this was Paul’s last writing, written in late 67-early 68 A.D.

In this letter, Paul is writing to Hebrews who have converted to Christianity from Judaism. Family and friends are pulling at them to return to Judaism, so Paul is ministering to these Hebrew Christians of the superiority of Christ.

In this passage, Paul continues to proclaim the superiority of Christ. Here, he writes of the superiority of Christ’s heavenly realities to earthly symbols.

Paul begins by writing “Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens” (v. 23a). He describes the earthly symbols of the Old Covenant as “copies”.

These earthly symbols were expressed in the law, handed down to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. They consisted of the tabernacle, the rules on food and drink, and the system of animal sacrifice, among other rules.

Next, Paul writes “should be purified with these” (v. 23b). Because they were copies, or examples, they were inferior and therefore required purifying through the aforementioned rules.

Paul continues with “but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these” (v. 23c). They were merely copies of the real thing, the “heavenly things”. These “heavenly things” required purifying by “better sacrifices”.

Next, Paul writes “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (v. 24). The tabernacle was a man made sanctuary. Christ, as high priest, never entered the earthly tabernacle.

Instead, he entered the “true” sanctuary, “Heaven itself”. He is there now and mediates as our high priest “in God’s presence”.

Paul continues with “not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—” (v. 25). Christ was superior to the earthly high priest because, unlike the earthly high priest, He did not need to “offer Himself often”. The earthly high priest entered the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, “often”, once a year on the Day of Atonement, with the sacrifice of animal blood.

Next, Paul writes “He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (v. 26). This verse gives us four reasons why the heavenly realities of Christ’s New Covenant, of His blood, are superior to the earthly symbols of the Old Covenant.

The heavenly realities of Christ’s sacrifice can best be remembered as four P’s: permanent; propitious; perfect; and personal.

(1) Permanent - Christ’s sacrifice was “once” (v. 26a).  The Old Covenant sacrifice was temporary. It needed to be repeated every year. Christ’s sacrifice was permanent, once was all that was needed.

(2) Propitious – Christ’s timing was perfect. His sacrifice came “at the end of the ages” (v. 26b), the end of the Old Covenant. It came after the Old Covenant had proven itself to be inadequate.

(3) Perfect – Christ’s sacrifice was not just to cover sin, but was to “put away sin”, to do away with sin (v. 26c). His sacrifice removed the sin and the guilt from sin. The Old Covenant sacrifice only covered sin, in order to allow worship. It did not remove sin and it did not cleanse the conscience of guilt.

(4) Personal – Christ’s sacrifice was “of Himself” (v. 26c). The Old Covenant sacrifice was of the blood of animals. Christ personally shed His blood, enduring the punishment for sin that we all deserve.

Next, Paul writes “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (v. 27). Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.

Judgment for Christians is their rewards in Heaven. Judgment for non-Christians is Hell.

Paul continues with “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many” (v. 28a). In the same way as men die once, Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, all those who accept Him as their Lord and Savior.

Paul concludes this passage with “To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (v. 28b). Christ first appeared on the scene to bear our sin and offer salvation. He “will appear a second time”, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation. 

Heavenly realities far outweigh earthly symbols. The Old Covenant only provided for earthly symbols. In contrast, the New Covenant of Christ provided for heavenly realities.

Unlike the Israelites of the Old Testament, we are living under heavenly realities. We are living in a privileged time in history.

The church age we live in is the last age. It is followed by the return of Christ as King.

These are all heavenly realities. The good times are here, but the best is yet to come!