New Covenant Priesthood Continued

Christ Is Better Than Aaron and the Levitical Priesthood (4:14-10:18) 

A New Covenant Priest Enters a Superior Sanctuary (1-5)

In this contrast, the author reminded readers of the two rooms in their Old Temple: one was an outer room where the priest performed ritual duties daily and the other an inner room only entered once a year. In the first five verses, the author described the basic furniture in each room. Of course, the Ark of the Covenant was not in the present Temple, having been lost before the Babylonians pillaged the Temple over five centuries before. The author recalled that since the Ark had been lost, they had moved the Altar of Incense into the Most Holy Place to serve as the Ark (1-5).

A New Covenant Priest Enters Heavenly Sanctuary with Superior Gifts (6-14)

In the former Tabernacle, the High Priest could only enter the Most Holy Place once a year with the blood of animals, and he could only offer blood for the unintentional sins of himself and others (6-8). The sacrifices the Old Covenant priest offered could not heal the conscience; they only performed ritual and incomplete help to the soul until the complete arrived (9-10). Jesus, on the other hand, entered the heavenly Most Holy Place, the one invisible to us (11), and offered His own blood. His blood was able to save because it forgave more than just unintentional sin. His blood, obviously superior, had the power to wash the conscience of guilt and enable the worshiper to serve the living God, instead of deadly rebellion and human lust (12-14).

A New Covenant Priest Enters the Heavenly Sanctuary as the Superior Mediator (15-28)

As a mediator, Jesus had to become human. Then, by His death, He could die to the Old Covenant and its requirements for us, thereby redeeming us from the law of death, and setting us free to receive our eternal inheritance (15-16). The author launched into an explanation of how the first Tabernacle of God was made holy with blood to make a point: forgiveness could not be experienced or even offered apart from death (17-18). His logic worked in this manner: the copies of the heavenly sanctuary, which would be the earthly tabernacles, would make people sacred, or set them apart as belonging to God through the shedding of blood (19). In the same way, the true Heaven, the true sanctuary separated from humanity, needed to be set apart by blood so God could join the true heavenly sanctuary with the true followers of Christ  (20-23). The souls of those who received His offering would once and for all be forgiven and set apart by one Sacrifice (24-26). Then, the author inserted this thought: Jesus offered Himself once, the first time, to bear our sins, but the next time He appeared, it would be to save those waiting for Him (27-28).