"The Holiest of All" part LXXIII

HEAVEN ITSELF CLEANSED BY THE BLOOD
Hebrews 9: 23-24  It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the Heavens should be cleansed with these; but the Heavenly things themselves with Better Sacrifice than these. For Christ entered not Into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the True; but into Heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us.

Continuing with the SEVENTH SECTION
Hebrews 9: 1-28.
The Power of Christ's Blood to inaugurate the New Sanctuary and the New Covenant.

BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY

In the previous verses we saw how, at the dedication of the first covenant was with blood, both the book and the people and, later on, the tabernacle and all the vessels of its ministry, were sprinkled with blood. Even so, the writer tells us, the blood-shedding on earth was not enough, but there was a needs-be that the Heavenly things themselves be cleansed with the Blood of the Better Sacrifice, ere Heaven could be opened to us, and we obtain access to a Life in the presence of God. There must not a vestige or sign of sin be left there, to rise up against us. Such is the power of this Better Sacrifice and His Blood, that the Heavenly things themselves were cleansed by Him, and that Christ our Surety with His own Blood, entered into Heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us. The Heavenly things themselves cleansed, and Christ entered into Heaven itself for us,--- these are the two aspects of the Eternal Redemption here put before us. ( Now two questions come to my mind as I read this, why do, and how did, the Heavenly Sanctuary and the things in it become defiled?  The answer is that they were not defiled but instead there was a cloud of offense, sin, that separated God from the fellowship of man and the Hebrews His servants. God set a pattern for us to learn, the earthly things are a shadow of the things in Heaven. Genesis 2: 16-17, 3: 9-11; Isaiah 44: 6- 21; Lamentations 3: 39, 42-44; Psalm 97: 2)

The Heavenly things themselves cleansed. What can this mean? We speak of the Heavens being dark, black with clouds. The light of the sun is there, but clouded. When the clouds are gone the heavens are bright and clear. God's word speaks of our sins rising up as a cloud, as a smoke before Him. Our sins are come up before Him, are in His presence, written in His book of remembrance, calling for vengeance. God says to the Hebrews: "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins" (Isaiah 44: 21- 22). Just as the tabernacle had to be sprinkled and cleansed and hallowed from all the uncleanness of the children of man and the Hebrews, so the Heavenly things themselves by the Blood of Christ. As the Blood was brought in, every vestige of a thought of sin was removed out of God's presence; the Heavens were cleansed; the Heavens are now clear and bright, and the Love of God can shine out in noonday glory.

And this because Christ is not entered into the Holiest, made with hands, but into Heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for man. This is the great consummation to which all the teaching of the Heavenly Priesthood of Christ, and the True Sanctuary, and the Blood of the Covenant leads up. Heaven itself is now Opened up to man. Christ has entered, not simply on His own behalf, but entirely to appear before the face of God for man. Yes, for us, His entering in has obtained for us Boldness to enter in. His entering in was through the rent veil; there is now no veil now between God and man. We are called to draw near in the fulness of faith. We are taught, You are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to God. Before the face of God, in the presence of God, is now the home of the soul. Heaven is not only a locality, with its limitations, but a State of Life, that condition of spiritual existence in the full enjoyment of God's Grace and Love an intimacy, into which Christ entered. Christ passed through the Heavens, was made Higher than the Heavens. He ascended far above all the Heavens, that He might fill (fulfill) all things (Ephesians 4:10). Heaven itself, the Holiest of All, into which He entered, the presence of God, is now the sphere in which He exercises His Heavenly Ministry, into which He brings us in as an actual Life and experience, in which we alone can truly serve the Living God.

And what, we may well ask, what is the reason that so few of God's children can testify to the joy of entering in and having their abode here in the very presence of God? There can be but one answer, There is such a difference between being the heir of a promise and actually inheriting it. Each of the great words of our Epistle, as God's Gift to each one of His children, has an infinitude of meanings and Blessing and power in it. Christ a Priest forever; the power of an Endless Life; He is able to sympathize, able to succor, able to save completely; the True Sanctuary, the New Covenant of God's Grace, the Blood cleansing the Heavens, cleansing the conscience,--- all these are Divine Realities, with a power and a glory that the heart of man cannot conceive. It is only by faith and longsuffering that we inherit the promises. It is as we give up our whole heart and life to be just one act of faith in obedience, looking up and longing, praising and expecting, believing and receiving what God gives and worked in Christ, that this Life in the Holiest is ours. It is as our faith sees the Divine unity of the once for all and the forever, that we shall be bold to believe that the forever, the abiding continually, has in Christ been made ours once for all, and can be made ours in an entering within the veil as clear as that of Christ's. This faith will prove itself in longsuffering. First, as we diligently, perseveringly hold fast, and gaze and draw near and wait on God to take us within the veil; and then, as within the veil, in deepest humility and meekness and patience and resignation to God, we wait upon Him in service, to perfect us in the work for which we were admitted into His very presence.

But remember where all this begins, and wherein it all consists. Not without blood ! With His own Blood ! How much more shall the Blood of Christ! These words are the key to this blessed chapter of the opening of the Holiest to us. As we yield to the Holy Spirit, the Eternal Spirit, to testify to us how the Way into the Holiest has been made manifest, and what the Blood is by which it was done, and what the cleansing of our conscience in that Blood to enter in and serve the Living God, we shall in fulness of faith be Bold to draw near and enter in and there abide.


1. Think not that It will be too difficult for you to dwell always with your heart up yonder in Heaven. When the sun shines on you, you do not think of its distance; you rejoice in its warmth. It is so near to you; you enter into Him, and He enters into you, both as spirit. Even so with Jesus and the Heavenly Life. Heaven comes in. The kingdom of Heaven is come with Authority and power; the Holy Spirit gives and maintains Him in you. The veil Is rent, and the Light and Life of Heaven is come here where we serve in the Holy Place.
2. To open the Way to Heaven and to God, Jesus died to sin. He that hates and loses his life will find the Way to the Life of God. ( What is bound on earth is bond in Heaven and what you loosed in Heaven is loosed within us on earth.)
3. Just as the cleansing of the tabernacle was part of the dedicating of the first covenant, so the sprinkling the Heavenly Sanctuary, the cleansing of the Heavens with the Blood of the New Covenant, is our assurance that the Sanctuary Is Open to us, and that the Covenant is sure and will be fulfilled in us. ( The Authority and the power of an Eternal Life imparting the New Covenant of Grace and the Eternal Life has restored us to God's presence forever. It is because of NOT obeying this New Covenant sealed by an Eternal Life in the Blood, that the wrath of God will be released upon all flesh that does NOT obey or accept it. We'll see more on this farther in our study of the text.)