Hebrews 9:1–10 The promise of a New Covenant raises an important question about the covenant that preceded it. Hebrews has called that covenant old and described it as near to vanishing away, but the institutions associated with it were not meaningless remnants of an abandoned religious system. God Himself established its priesthood, sanctuary, sacrifices, and regulations.
Their temporary character did not make them arbitrary. They belonged to a covenantal arrangement deliberately constructed to reveal both the reality of God’s presence among His people and the limitations that remained upon their access to Him.
Hebrews has already described the earthly priests as serving “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” and grounded that description in God’s command that Moses construct the tabernacle according to the pattern shown to him on the mountain. Hebrews 9:1–10 examines that sanctuary more closely. Its rooms, furnishings, priestly ministry, sacrifices, and restrictions formed a visible theology of access to God. Priests entered where ordinary Israelites could not, and the high priest entered where the other priests could not. Even his entrance into the innermost sanctuary occurred only once each year and never without blood. The covenant provided genuine access to God according to the means He had appointed, while the sanctuary itself demonstrated that this access had not reached its completed form.
> Hebrews 9:1–10 (WEB) Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lamp stand, the table, and the show bread; which is called the Holy Place. After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat, of which things we can’t speak now in detail.
Now these things having been thus prepared, the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services, but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people. The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place wasn’t yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing. This is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect, being only (with foods and drinks and various washings) fleshly ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation.
An Earthly Sanctuary Hebrews begins by acknowledging what belonged to the first covenant:
“Now indeed even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary.” The description “earthly” distinguishes this sanctuary from the heavenly sanctuary in which Christ ministers without disparaging the earthly one. The tabernacle belonged to Israel’s life in this world, was constructed from created materials, and was served by mortal priests, but every essential feature of its worship existed by divine command.
Hebrews is therefore not contrasting a merely human religion with a divine one. The tabernacle and the heavenly ministry of Christ belong to the revelation of the same God. The distinction is between an earthly pattern and the heavenly reality to which that pattern corresponded.
Israel did not invent its worship or determine for itself how sinful people should approach a holy God. God prescribed the sanctuary and its service, and the same God who established those institutions also established the boundaries within which they operated.
Those boundaries are central to Hebrews’ argument. The first covenant possessed genuine “ordinances of divine service,” but the form God gave those ordinances demonstrated that something remained incomplete. The sanctuary provided access while simultaneously regulating and restricting that access.
The First Tabernacle Hebrews begins its description with the first section of the sanctuary:
“In the first part were the lamp stand, the table, and the show bread; which is called the Holy Place.” These furnishings correspond to the instructions given in Exodus. The lampstand provided light within the sanctuary, while the table held the bread placed regularly before the Lord.
They belonged to the sacred space in which the priests performed their continuing ministry.
The significance of the room cannot be separated from who was permitted to enter it. The Holy Place was not available to every member of Israel. A person could belong fully to the covenant people, participate in Israel’s worship, and bring the sacrifices God commanded while possessing no right to enter the sanctuary. Entrance belonged to the priests whom God had appointed for that service.
The restriction was not an unfortunate obstacle introduced into Israel’s worship by human tradition. God Himself commanded it. The covenant that brought Israel into relationship with Him also established boundaries around His sanctuary. God truly dwelt among His people, but covenant membership did not mean unrestricted entrance into His presence. The first section of the tabernacle embodied both truths: Israel possessed a sanctuary because God dwelt among His people, and Israel possessed a restricted sanctuary because sinful humanity could approach Him only according to the conditions He established. Behind the Second Veil Beyond the Holy Place stood another barrier. Hebrews says, “After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of
Holies.” The sanctuary therefore contained degrees of access even within sacred space.
Priests who had legitimately entered the Holy Place still encountered a boundary they were not permitted to cross.
Hebrews associates the innermost sanctuary with the ark of the covenant, the tablets of the covenant, the manna, Aaron’s rod, the cherubim of glory, and the mercy seat. Each carried significance within Israel’s history and worship, but the author deliberately declines to pursue them individually:
“of which things we can’t speak now in detail.” His argument depends less upon assigning separate symbolic meanings to every furnishing than upon the arrangement of the sanctuary itself.
The Holy of Holies was the place most directly associated with the presence of God under the Mosaic covenant, yet a veil separated it from the regular priestly ministry occurring in the first section. The priests could enter sacred space and still remain outside the innermost sanctuary. The architecture itself expressed the character of access under that covenant: God was present among His people, but nearness to Him remained accompanied by separation.
The Priests Enter Continually Hebrews turns from the arrangement of the sanctuary to the ministry conducted within it: “the priests go in continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the services.” The first section was characterized by repeated priestly activity because the covenant required continuing ministry. Priests entered, performed the appointed service, departed, and returned as the worship of Israel continued.
That repetition fits the pattern Hebrews has already identified throughout the Levitical system. Mortal priests required successors because death prevented them from continuing indefinitely, and the sacrificial ministry required repeated offerings. The sanctuary likewise contained an ongoing ministry that never reached a point at which the priestly service could simply cease because its purpose had been permanently accomplished. Their entrance nevertheless constituted genuine access. The priests were not performing empty ceremonies. They ministered before God according to the arrangement He had established. The limitation lay in the extent of that access. Continual entrance into the Holy Place did not grant entrance into the Holy of Holies. Regular priestly ministry could proceed exactly as God commanded while the veil separating the innermost sanctuary remained.
The High Priest Alone The restrictions become sharper in the second section: “but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood.” Each qualification narrows the access. The priests entered the first section, but only the high priest entered the second. His office permitted an entrance denied even to other priests, yet his access was still governed by strict conditions. He entered on the Day of Atonement according to the requirements prescribed in Leviticus 16, and his entrance required sacrificial blood.
The high priest could not approach the presence of God merely because he held Israel’s highest priestly office. His position did not eliminate the problem of sin. Hebrews describes the blood as something he offered “for himself and for the errors of the people.” The mediator shared the sinful condition of those he represented and therefore required atonement as well. The arrangement displays the limitations Hebrews has traced throughout its discussion of the Levitical priesthood. Israel’s highest priest possessed access unavailable to everyone else, but he could not enter the innermost sanctuary whenever he wished, could not enter without sacrifice, and could not approach without provision for his own sin. His entrance demonstrated that God had genuinely provided a way of approach; the conditions surrounding that entrance demonstrated that this access remained incomplete. What the Holy Spirit Was Indicating Hebrews does not leave the theological significance of the sanctuary to speculation: “The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place wasn’t yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing.” The arrangement of the tabernacle was itself revelatory.
Hebrews attributes its significance directly to the Holy Spirit because its barriers, divisions, and restrictions existed by divine design.
This explains the author’s concentration upon the two sections and the access permitted within them rather than upon elaborate interpretations of every furnishing. The veil and the restricted entrance beyond it carry the argument. The sanctuary allowed the priests to approach while preserving a boundary before the innermost place associated with God’s presence. Ordinary Israelites remained outside the sanctuary, ordinary priests remained outside the Holy of Holies, and the high priest crossed that boundary only under exceptional and carefully prescribed conditions.
The wording of verse 8 deserves some care. The WEB renders the final phrase “while the first tabernacle was still standing,” but Hebrews has also used “the first tabernacle” for the first section of the sanctuary described in verses 2 and 6. The author’s argument concerns the standing and significance of the first-tabernacle arrangement, not merely the continued physical existence of a religious building. As long as that arrangement retained its appointed place, its very structure testified that unrestricted entrance into the presence of God had not yet been manifested.
The tabernacle therefore proclaimed both access and restriction. God had not abandoned His people or made Himself wholly inaccessible. He dwelt among them, received the worship He had commanded, appointed priests to minister before Him, and provided sacrifices through which covenantal approach was possible. Yet the architecture continually testified that the access available under that arrangement had not reached its final form. A Symbol of the Present Time
Hebrews describes the tabernacle arrangement as “a symbol of the present age.” The sanctuary represented realities beyond itself in much the same way that the previous chapter described its priests as serving a copy and shadow of heavenly things. Its continuing structure revealed something about the condition of access to God under the covenant to which it belonged.
The symbolism arose from the actual form of Israel’s worship. The worshiper could approach the sanctuary but could not enter it. The priest could enter the Holy Place but encountered another veil. Beyond that veil stood the Holy of Holies, into which only the high priest could enter and only under prescribed conditions. The system provided real covenantal approach while embodying distance from the immediate presence of God. The tabernacle therefore illustrated the incompleteness Hebrews describes with the language of perfection. Its inability to provide unrestricted entrance was not evidence that it had failed to perform its purpose.
Revealing that limitation belonged to its purpose. The sanctuary taught Israel what it meant for a holy God to dwell among sinful people while demonstrating that the problem of access had not yet received its final resolution. Unable to Perfect the Conscience The limitation expressed through the sanctuary corresponded to a limitation in its sacrificial ministry. Hebrews describes the “gifts and sacrifices” being offered as “incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect.” The sacrifices were genuinely commanded by God and accomplished what He appointed them to accomplish within the covenant, but they could not bring the worshiper to the completed condition Hebrews associates with perfect access to Him. The reference to conscience carries the argument beyond ceremonial standing. The Mosaic system could provide purification according to the requirements God established, but its repeated sacrifices testified that sin had not received the definitive resolution promised in the New Covenant.
Jeremiah had described a covenant in which God would remember the sins of His people no more. The continuing sacrificial ministry could anticipate such forgiveness, but its very repetition demonstrated that it did not itself bring that promised reality to completion.
The sanctuary and its sacrifices therefore communicated the same limitation from different directions. The veil remained because access was incomplete, while the sacrifices continued because the conscience had not been perfected. Neither observation makes the Mosaic institutions ineffective within their appointed sphere. It identifies the boundary of that sphere.
Fleshly Ordinances Hebrews includes “foods and drinks and various washings” among the regulations associated with the first covenant and describes them as
“fleshly ordinances.” As elsewhere in the argument, “fleshly” need not carry the sense of sinful or corrupt. These were bodily and ceremonial regulations governing purity and worship within Israel’s covenantal life. Food distinctions, ritual washings, and other ceremonial requirements ordered Israel as a holy people among whom God dwelt. They distinguished clean from unclean and regulated participation in covenant worship.
Their divine origin gave them genuine authority, while their sphere of operation also revealed their limits. External washing could provide the ceremonial cleansing God prescribed without perfecting the conscience.
Regulations concerning food and bodily purity could order covenant life without accomplishing the inward work Jeremiah associated with the New Covenant. Hebrews therefore places these regulations alongside the earthly sanctuary and repeated sacrifices because they belong to the same covenantal order. They were appropriate to the arrangement God established through Moses, but they were never presented as the permanent form of His relationship with His people. Until a Time of Reformation The regulations were “imposed until a time of reformation.” The word “until” places a limit upon their covenantal function. God gave these ordinances with real authority, but He did not establish them as permanent structures governing His people in every age. Their temporary character corresponded to the larger pattern already established from Israel’s Scriptures. Psalm 110 announced another priest after Aaron’s priesthood had been instituted, Jeremiah announced another covenant while the Sinai covenant remained in force, and the tabernacle itself was patterned after a greater reality.
The “time of reformation” is therefore not a divine attempt to repair an unforeseen failure in the Mosaic system. The former institutions reached the limit God had appointed for them when the reality toward which they pointed arrived. Their temporary character belonged to their function within the unfolding work of redemption. The Way Into the Holy Place The tabernacle was not a failed attempt to bring humanity into God’s presence. It was a divinely constructed witness to both the reality of His presence and the problem of approaching Him. God dwelt among Israel and provided genuine covenantal access through the priesthood and sacrifices He appointed, yet the form of that access continually testified to its own incompleteness. The Israelite remained outside the sanctuary, the priest remained outside the Holy of Holies, and the high priest entered beyond the veil only once each year with sacrificial blood for himself and the people.
Hebrews identifies the meaning of those restrictions with unusual clarity. The Holy Spirit was indicating through the sanctuary that the way into the Holy Place had not yet been manifested while the first-tabernacle arrangement retained its standing. The veil, the restricted priesthood, the repeated sacrifices, and the ceremonial regulations belonged together as features of a covenant that could provide the access and purification God appointed without perfecting the conscience.
The veil therefore did more than separate one room from another. It gave visible form to the unresolved problem at the heart of priestly mediation: God was present, His people could approach, and yet the way into His immediate presence remained guarded. The first covenant preserved that distinction by divine design. Its sanctuary taught Israel what access to a holy God required while its restrictions testified that the completed access toward which priesthood and sacrifice pointed had not yet been manifested.