Hebrews 9:1-10
Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle
1Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.[a] But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
6When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. 9This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
The first covenant with God had man worshiping in an earthly temple, called the Tabernacle...Moses was given detailed instructions from God, about how to build the Tabernacle...In the Tabernacle was a lampstand, table, and consecrated bread in the first room...Inside the first room was a small area or another room, was a curtain...Behind this curtain was a room called the Holy Place, also called, the Most Holy Place...In the Holy Place was the gold covered, Ark of the Covenant...The Ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments...The Ark's cover was cherubim of the glory, made of gold...
Priests would enter the outer room regularly to preach and carry on their ministry...The priests could only enter the Holy Place once a year and never without blood, which the priest would offer God for his sins and sins of the people, that the people had committed and even sins that they were unaware of and/or had committed in ignorance....Sins are errors and mistakes we make...Sometimes, if not many times we sin and are unaware of what we have done (sinned)...
This was the old covenant...The Holy Spirit showed the way in this Most Holy Place once a year and only by the High Priest...The blood represented a loss of life of an animal, the sacrifice of a life for one's sin...The sacrifice was God's gift after we had sinned, our debt to Him for our specific sin or our sinning...This blood, these sacrifices affirmed our faith in the LORD...
We sin...God knew since our fall in Eden that we would sin...We now have sinned since the beginning of time...Sin has continued...Man is imperfect...Because of our sinful nature, we cannot stop sinning we need forgiveness...We must have a path, a plan, a method for forgiveness...We need to be able to go to Jesus and be forgiven...We need Him...God would give us a new covenant, better than the old one...
There were meat and drink and places to become ceremonial clean in the tabernacle, in the rooms where the priest would come before God in the old covenant...Now there is a new order...God's plan would now present us with a new covenant...The sacrifice of His Son, for us, for our sins...We would have Jesus and the blood He shed for us...His blood, His body represents the new tabernacle... We do not have to wait once a year to ask Him for forgiveness...We do not need a priest or High Priest to ask indirectly for our sins...We can now in the present time clear our conscience of sin, by repenting, confessing and asking Jesus for forgiveness of the sin or sins we have committed...