Hebrews 9:24

For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands like in pattern to the true, but into heaven itself; calling heaven the true holy place, and the inner tabernacle its antitype.

The church being spiritual, was made manifest in the flesh of Christ, signifying to us that if any one of us shall preserve it in the flesh and corrupt it not, he shall receive it in the Holy Spirit. For this flesh is the type …

"For Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with hands" (he says) "which are the figures of the True." (These then are true; and those are figures, for the temple too has been so arranged, as the Heaven of Heavens.) What sayest thou? He who is everywhere present, and who filleth all things, doth not He "appear" unless He enter into Heaven? Thou seest that all these things pertain to the flesh. "To appear," he says, "in the presence of God for us." What is "for us"? He went up (he means) with a sacrifice which had power to propitiate the Father. Wherefore (tell me)? Was He an enemy? The angels were enemies, He was not an enemy. For that the Angels were enemies, hear what he says, "He made peace as to things on earth and things in Heaven." (Col. i. 20.) So that He also "entered into Heaven, now to appear in the presence of God for us." He "now appeareth," but "for us."

The Jews greatly prided themselves on the temple and the tabernacle. Wherefore they said, "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord." (Jer. vii.4.) For nowhere else in the earth was such a temple constructed as this, either for costliness, or beauty, or anything else. For God who ordained it, commanded that it should be made with great magnificence, because they also were more attracted and urged on by material things. For it had bricks of gold in the walls; and any one who wishes may learn this in the second [book] of Kings, and in Ezekiel, and how many talents of gold were then expended. But the second [temple] was a more glorious building, both on account of its beauty, and in all other respects. Nor was it reverenced for this reason only, but also from its being One. For they were wont to resort thither from the uttermost parts of the earth, whether from Babylon or from Ethiopia. And Luke shows this when he says in the Acts: "There were dwelling" there "Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene." (Acts ii. 5, Acts ii. 9, Acts ii. 10.) They then who lived in all parts of the world assembled there, and the fame of the temple was great. What then does Paul do? What [he did] in regard to the sacrifices, that also he does here. For as there he set against [them] the death of Christ, so here also he sets the whole heaven against the temple. And not by this alone did he point out the difference, but also by adding that The Priest is nearer to God: for he says, "to appear in the presence of God." So that he made the matter august, not only by the [consideration of] heaven, but also by [that of Christ's] entering in [there]. […]

In order that, having again drawn back the veil of the word, we may with unveiled face behold the festival of the divine Passover, appealing thus to Jesus: Where wilt thou that we prepare to eat the Passover with thee? On receiving his reply that …

Since the Jews were greatly concerned about the temple, see how it is diminished in comparison to heaven. "a mere copy of the true one." For the temple was handmade and was constructed as a type of heaven.

465. – Then (v. 24) he shows that heavenly things are cleansed by better sacrifices. For the high priest expiated the sanctuary which was made with hands, but Christ has entered into the Holies not made with hands, for they were not, so far as …

The Jews greatly prided themselves on their temple, for nowhere on earth was there such a temple either in beauty or in magnificence. Since the Jews were captivated by material things, God commanded that it be constructed in the most magnificent manner. Therefore people came …

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,.... The most holy place in the tabernacle of Moses, or in the temple built by Solomon, and rebuilt by Zerubbabel, and repaired by Herod, which are the figures of the true; that is, the most holy place in the tabernacle and temple, was a figure of the truth of that type; see Heb 9:9 as follows. Josephus (m) suggests the same, when speaking of the most holy place; he says, that it was inaccessible to the priests, that it might be as heaven to God.

Christ's sacrifice, though offered upon earth, was by himself carried up into heaven, and is there presented in a way of daily intercession; for he appears in the presence of God for us.

For Christ did not enter into the holy place made with hands - He never went into the holy of holies at Jerusalem, the figure of the true tabernacle in heaven, chap. viii, 2. But into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us - As our glorious high priest and powerful intercessor.

Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands - He is not gone into the holy of holies of the tabernacle or temple, as the Jewish high priest does once in the year with the blood of the victim, to sprinkle it before the mercy-seat there; but into heaven itself, which he has thus opened to all believers, having made the propitiatory offering by which both he and those whom he represents are entitled to enter and enjoy eternal blessedness.

Christ alone beholds the Father without a veil, and is His perfect image. Through seeing HIM only can we see the Father. in the presence of God--Greek, "to the face of God." The saints shall hereafter see God's face in Christ (Re 22:4): the earnest of which is now given (2Co 3:18).

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands - Into the temple or tabernacle. The Jewish high priest alone entered into the most holy place; and the other priests into the holy place. Jesus, being of the tribe of Judah, and not of Levi, never entered the temple proper. He had access only to the courts of the temple, in the same way as any other Jew had; see the notes on Mat 21:12. He has entered into the true temple - heaven - of which the earthly tabernacle was the type. Which are the figures of the true - Literally, “the antitypes” - ἀντίτυπα antitupa. The word properly means what is formed after a model, pattern, or type; and then what corresponds to something or answers to it. The idea here is, that the “type” or “fashion” - the “true” figure or form - was shown to Moses in the Mount, and then the tabernacle was made after that model, or corresponded to it. The “true original” figure is heaven itself; the tabernacle was an antitype of that - or was so formed as in some sense to correspond to it. That is, it corresponded in regard to the matters under consideration - the most holy place denoted heaven; the mercy-seat and the shekinah were symbols of the presence of God, and of the fact that he shows mercy in heaven; the entrance of the high priest was emblematical of the entrance of the Redeemer into heaven; the sprinkling of the blood there was a type of what the Redeemer would do in heaven. Now to appear in the presence of God for us - As the Jewish high priest appeared before the shekinah, the symbol of the divine presence in the tabernacle, so Christ appears before God himself in our behalf in heaven. He has gone to plead for our salvation; to present the merits of his blood as a permanent reason why we should be saved; Rom 8:34 note; Heb 7:25 note.