Hebrews – Chapter Nine XXXIV

by Ed Urzi

“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; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another–” (Hebrews 9:24-25).

One of the more perceptive observations regarding the Biblical Scriptures is widely attributed to St Jerome: “The Scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for a theologian to swim in without ever touching the bottom.” Hebrews 9:24-25 validates that conclusion for anyone who is willing to wade into the depths of these verses.

For instance, we find one interesting aspect of this passage hidden below the surface of the original language…

There are three different ‘appearings’ of Christ mentioned in this chapter, using three different Greek words. Hebrews 9:26 speaks of the past appearing, when ‘he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.’ Hebrews 9:28 speaks of His future appearing, when He shall ‘appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’ His present appearance, however, is in ‘heaven itself,’ where He ‘ever liveth to make intercession for them'” (7:25). (1)

The “shallows” of Hebrews 9:24-25 reveal another important detail…

“The New Testament emphasis on the completion and finality of Christ’s sacrifice of himself for us has much practical application, because it assures us that there is no more penalty for sin left for us to pay. The penalty has entirely been paid by Christ, and we should have no remaining fear of condemnation or punishment.” (2)

To complete our analogy, this passage also alerts us to the flood of judgment facing those who reject Christ…

“Imperfect sacrifices must be repeated continually; a perfect sacrifice can be made once for all time, and genuinely put away sin (not just cover sin, as sacrifice under the Old Covenant). This is why Jesus’ acceptance of the Father’s wrath on our behalf did not need to be eternal, but once for all time and it was finished. This is also why God’s justice demands that the punishment of Hell be eternal; those in Hell cannot offer a perfect payment for their sin, so it must be continual – for all eternity. Just as much as we die once and face judgment, so Jesus only had to die once (not repeatedly, not continually) to bear our sins.” (3)

(1) Institute for Creation Research, New Defender’s Study Bible Notes (Hebrews 9:24) https://www.icr.org/bible/Hebrews/9/24/

(2) Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, Ml: Zondervan Academic, 2020) [pg 25].

(3) Guzik, Dave, Hebrews 9 – The Old Covenant and the New Covenant Compared (23-28). See https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/hebrews-9/