Hebrews 9:12 Commentary and Bible Study

Which holy place did Christ enter after he suffered and died on Calvary, and after he rose from the dead? Heaven, he entered in once into the holy place that the holy of holies only represented. He went in to the true holy place in heaven, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The Aaronic high priest was not permitted to enter the holy of holies to carry out his service without blood. What he took was the blood of bulls and of goats, animals which prefigured the sacrifice of Christ. Christ too could not enter the heavenly tabernacle, represented by the holy of holies, without blood. But now he was not offering token, symbolic sacrifices, but the real and effectual sacrifice, which the Lord provided (Genesis 22:8). Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God witnessed by John the Baptist (John 1:29). What he took was his own blood, as he fulfilled the role both of high priest and sacrifice. This was the true sacrifice of himself which alone could remove the sins of the world. He entered into the holy place, into heaven, and appeared for us before the Father, to present his perfect sacrifice, and that sacrifice was entirely acceptable to God. God had defined what it was that was capable of removing our sins, and now he provided exactly that himself. Here is the security of the covenant, for sinful men and women and young people do not produce the sacrifice that is acceptable to God. How could they ever do so, when all that they touch becomes polluted by sin. This must be a perfect sacrifice which is without blemish, else it is disqualified. It is the product of the perfect life, which the Lord Jesus lived under enormous provocation, and in which he triumphed where Adam failed, and resisted all temptation of the devil. He did not have to offer for his own sins, for he had none. He offered himself for his people.