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Hebrews 9:11-28

Hebrews 9:11-28 NCV

But when Christ came as the high priest of the good things we now have, he entered the greater and more perfect tent. It is not made by humans and does not belong to this world. Christ entered the Most Holy Place only once—and for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats and calves. His sacrifice was his own blood, and by it he set us free from sin forever. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow are sprinkled on the people who are unclean, and this makes their bodies clean again. How much more is done by the blood of Christ. He offered himself through the eternal Spirit as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make our consciences pure from useless acts so we may serve the living God. For this reason Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. Those who are called by God can now receive the blessings he has promised, blessings that will last forever. They can have those things because Christ died so that the people who lived under the first agreement could be set free from sin. When there is a will, it must be proven that the one who wrote that will is dead. A will means nothing while the person is alive; it can be used only after the person dies. This is why even the first agreement could not begin without blood to show death. First, Moses told all the people every command in the law. Next he took the blood of calves and mixed it with water. Then he used red wool and a branch of the hyssop plant to sprinkle it on the book of the law and on all the people. He said, “This is the blood that begins the Agreement that God commanded you to obey.” In the same way, Moses sprinkled the blood on the Holy Tent and over all the things used in worship. The law says that almost everything must be made clean by blood, and sins cannot be forgiven without blood to show death. So the copies of the real things in heaven had to be made clean by animal sacrifices. But the real things in heaven need much better sacrifices. Christ did not go into the Most Holy Place made by humans, which is only a copy of the real one. He went into heaven itself and is there now before God to help us. The high priest enters the Most Holy Place once every year with blood that is not his own. But Christ did not offer himself many times. Then he would have had to suffer many times since the world was made. But Christ came only once and for all time at just the right time to take away all sin by sacrificing himself. Just as everyone must die once and then be judged, so Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And he will come a second time, not to offer himself for sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.