Hebrews 9

₁The first covenant had laws and rules that told the people how they had to serve God. It had a holy tent here on earth where people could serve God. ₂When the Israelites built the tent of the Lord, the first room was the holy room which had the lamp-stand and the table with the sacrificial bread.

₃Behind the 2nd curtain was the 2nd room, the most_holy room. ₄In this room was the golden incense-altar and the covenant box that was covered completely with gold. In the covenant box was the golden jar with manna, the staff of Aaron that had started to grow flower-buds and leaves, and the 2 flat stones of the covenant on which the 10 commandments were written. ₅On the covenant box were the images of cherub-angels where God appeared. The shadows of the cherub-angels' wings were on the lid of the covenant box, the place where God forgave the sins of the people and made them right with Him. There is no time to talk about each of these things in the tent of the Lord.

₆The Israelites prepared all these things and the priests always went into the first room of the tent of the Lord and they did the work which the priests had to do. ₇But only the high-priest went into the 2nd room of the tent of the Lord, once every year. He always took blood with him to sacrifice for his own sins and the sins that people did which they did not know were sins.

₈This is how the Holy_Spirit shows that the way to the true most_holy_place in heaven is not open while the first room is still there. ₉This first room is an example of the time we are in now. The priests sacrifice gifts and offerings, but those gifts and offerings can not help the people who serve God to stop thinking that they have done things that are wrong. ₁₀Those offerings were only about rules that said what people had to do and what not to do, things that other people could see. These were rules about things which people eat or drink and how they had to wash themselves to become pure. But these rules are important only until the time comes when God will make everything new and better.

₁₁But Christ came to be High-priest to bring the good things that we now have. He went through the greater and better tent of the Lord, the tent that was not built by people. It was built by God, and it is not in this world. ₁₂Christ went into the most_holy_place once and for all. He will never have to go in there again. He went into that tent, but not like the high-priests on earth with the blood of goats and calves. He died and He took in his own blood and that is how He saved us forever.

₁₃The priests sprinkled blood and ashes on people who were impure. The blood was from goats and bulls and the ashes were from a calf that they had sacrificed, after they had put the ashes into water. When the priests did this, they purified the impure people and then the people were pure. Then they could go into the temple again and serve God. ₁₄Christ became an Offering to God. The Holy_Spirit, who lives forever, helped Him to be a perfect Offering. That is why the blood of Christ purifies us much better than the offerings of goats and bulls, so that we can stop doing things that make us spiritually_dead and we will truly know what is right and what is wrong, so that we can serve the living God.

₁₅Christ has died to free the people who did wrong and sinned in the time of the old covenant and He became the Mediator of the new covenant. God has chosen people to belong to Him and Christ has made the new covenant so that those people will always have everything that God has promised them. ₁₆When a person has made a testament, the people who will inherit his money and things must wait until that person has died, ₁₇because people can do what the testament says only after the person who made it is dead. A testament can not help anyone if the person who made it is still_alive.

₁₈That is why there was also blood when God made the first covenant with his people. ₁₉After Moses had told the people about all the rules of the laws, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, he tied hyssop-branches with red wool and he sprinkled the blood and water onto the book of the laws and on all the people of Israel. ₂₀Then Moses said: ‘This is the blood that shows that God has made a covenant with you. God said you must do what this covenant tells you.’

₂₁Moses also sprinkled blood onto the tent of the Lord and onto everything that the priests used to do their work. ₂₂Yes, the laws say that the priests must purify almost everything with blood. God does not forgive sin if no blood is sacrificed.

₂₃The things in the tent of the Lord here on earth looked like the things in heaven. The priests had to purify these things on earth with these offerings of animals. But the things in heaven had to be purified with a better Offering, better than the offerings that purified his tent on earth.

₂₄This tent of the Lord here on earth was built by people and it looked like the true tent in heaven. But Christ did not go into the tent on earth. No, He went into heaven. Christ went into heaven to be with God. He went to heaven to help us. ₂₅Every year the high-priest of the Jews goes into the most_holy room to sacrifice blood, but he does not sacrifice his own blood. Christ went into heaven and He did not sacrifice his blood many times like the high-priest. ₂₆If Christ had sacrificed Himself more than once, then He would have suffered many times from the beginning when God made the world. No, Christ appeared once and for all at the end of this time to take away all sins. He sacrificed Himself to do that.

₂₇All people must die once and then God will judge them. ₂₈So Christ sacrificed Himself only once to take away the sins of many people. But when Christ comes again and appears the 2nd time, He will not come to die and take away sin. He will come to save the people who are waiting for Him.