Hebrews 9:23-25
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
23 [a]Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified by these rites, but the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these.(A) 24 For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf.(B) 25 Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own;
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- 9:23–28 Since the blood of animals became a cleansing symbol among Old Testament prefigurements, it was necessary that the realities foreshadowed be brought into being by a shedding of blood that was infinitely more effective by reason of its worth (Hb 9:23). Christ did not simply prefigure the heavenly realities (Hb 9:24) by performing an annual sacrifice with a blood not his own (Hb 9:25); he offered the single sacrifice of himself as the final annulment of sin (Hb 9:26). Just as death is the unrepeatable act that ends a person’s life, so Christ’s offering of himself for all is the unrepeatable sacrifice that has once for all achieved redemption (Hb 9:27–28).
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