Learn How to Study the Bible for Yourself
Today, we’re going to look at a Scripture that can be challenging to understand. The Book of Hebrews is often called the ‘meat’ of God’s Word, and it takes some spiritual growth and careful study to really grasp its depth. But with God’s help, we’ll walk through it together and see the rich truth He’s showing us.
For example, I have a man preaching against me and he just keeps on and on. And his people just keep on and on. But he just keeps digging himself into a deeper hole showing that he doesn’t understand Scriptures and shouldn’t be a pastor.
They resort to name calling like middle schoolers and mocking people who love to go soul winning. They speak about some of their own people. They mock them as well while they sit there. That’s who they are. They lie about people. They falsely accuse. They create different people who aren’t those actual people. They twist the truth. They show themselves.
For the sermons and Bible studies that I complete and preach here, I don’t copy them from other people. I study the Bible for myself, from cover to cover, and ensure that the Scriptures match. I want to show you the result of actual Bible study and not copying other preachers.
Pastors who don’t know how to study the Bible for themselves shouldn’t be pastors. Putting You Tube sermons on fast forward and then just taking what you want from them for your sermons versus studying the actual Bible for yourself is not being a pastor. Study to show thyself approved. That’s what we’ll do here.
Better Sacrifices Than These
I want you to take a close look at this Scripture, one that we just read:
Hebrews 9:23
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Now, at first glance, for someone who won’t slow down, read the chapter, study the chapter, read the entire Book of Hebrews, study the entire book, read the Bible, and study the entire Bible, one might think that the Bible is saying that the things in heaven need to be purified.
“It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”
Do things that are in heaven need to be purified with better sacrifices than the blood of calves and of goats? When people see this verse they automatically think of a heavenly tabernacle, a heavenly mercy seat, and things that are made with hands because they are fleshly. In our flesh, that’s what we think this verse says.
So, let’s go through this Bible Study of Hebrews Chapter 9 and see what the Bible actually means. It’s actually very simple once you see the truth of the Bible.
The Context of Hebrews Chapter 9
In Hebrews Chapter 9, the entire chapter is contrasting the old covenant with the new covenant.
The old covenant included a system of worship with earthly tabernacles, animal sacrifices, and rituals to follow.
The new covenant is mediated by Jesus Christ, with better promises, a better sacrifice, and a better sanctuary.
We’re going to go over a quick review up to verse 23 that you see right there. So, we’re going to talk about the Scriptures up to verse 23.
Hebrews 9:1-10 describes the earthly tabernacle with the holy place, the most holy place, the ark of the covenant, and the Levitical system.
Hebrews 9:11-14 then explains that Jesus Christ is the high priest of good things to come and entered into a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, offered himself through his sacrifice of his own blood, purging our consciences from dead works.
Jesus isn’t a Levite priest. He didn’t do everything one to one as was done by Aaron. He isn’t a priest after the order of Aaron. He doesn’t do things exactly like Aaron did. This is a new and better covenant.
When we get to verse 23, it’s summarizing a contrast. Earthly things were purified with the blood of animals. Heavenly things required a better sacrifice – the blood of Jesus Christ.
I am keeping that verse up right there so you can keep looking at it as we study it in great detail.
“Patterns of things in the heavens” = Earthly Tabernacle
The “patterns” refer to the earthly sanctuary that a shadow or copy of heavenly realities.
Hebrews 8:5
Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
Exodus 25:40
And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.
Hebrews 9:23
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
So the tabernacle of Moses was a physical representation of heavenly truths, not the real thing. It had to be sprinkled with blood symbolizing the need for cleansing from sin among men. The actual physical pieces of the tabernacle didn’t sin. They aren’t alive. The wood doesn’t sin and break God’s commandments. The gold doesn’t sin.
I want to make this clear. Men and women are the unclean things because of our sin. We know right from wrong. And we do wrong anyway. This is all about the sinners, the humans. Because of our uncleanness, things needed to be purified or cleansed.
“Heavenly things themselves” = Spiritual Realities, Not the Dwelling Place of God
There are two parts to that verse, Hebrews 9:25. We see the patterns of things in the heavens and the heavenly things themselves. The patterns of the things in the heavens equals the earthly tabernacle built with hands.
The heavenly things themselves equals spiritual realities and not the dwelling place of God. Does the place where God dwells need to be cleansed? Does the mercy seat, the throne of the Almighty God, the place where God sits, need to be purified with the blood of Jesus Christ? Does it?
Come on man. If you think heaven, where God is located, needs to be purified, then you shouldn’t be a pastor. It’s common sense. Really.
So, this is where most people stumble. The phrase, “heavenly things themselves” does not mean that God’s heaven was unclean. That would contradict many verses throughout the Bible. And you can’t do that.
Habakkuk 1:13
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
God cannot dwell with us until we all have new glorified bodies. We see that in the Book of Revelation. In our bodies, we cannot dwell with God. So, where is God? He’s in the heavens which are clean. God dwells where it is clean and purified already. He doesn’t sit on a throne that needs to be purified from sin.
Revelation 21:27
And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Nothing unclean enters. If nothing is unclean, why would it need to be purified?
Deuteronomy 26:15
Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Holy = Perfect = The Heavens
Holy surely doesn’t mean unclean. Holy is entirely perfect. Pure. That’s a definition of holy. Pure. But there’s people who teach that there’s a tabernacle and a mercy seat in heaven that needed to be purified by Jesus going there and sprinkling his physical blood after he arose from the dead. But the Scriptures never say this. Putting words in the mouth of God is very evil.
It’s only something that a high and lifted up person would do. This high, proud, and arrogant man likes to talk trash about the entire state of Kentucky while teaching that heaven needs to be purified.
Isaiah 57:15
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
If a pastor teaches that heaven needs to be purified, you should just get up and walk out. Find a better pastor. The high and lofty one, the Lord’s anointed, is not you. The high and lofty one is God Almighty, whose name is HOLY. His throne doesn’t need cleansing. Amazing. He dwells in the high and holy place. The state of Washington is not so high and holy and above Kentucky.
God made both places. And God put people with intelligence in both places. Only a lifted up man would try to act like every person in Kentucky is dumber than him. We all know that’s not true. Just another lie. Just another false accusation. Just another middle school mindset.
Hebrews 9:23
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
The heavenly things themselves equals spiritual realities. Spiritual truths. This refers to the real, spiritual access to God Almighty. The broken body of Jesus Christ, the moment he died, the veil into the most holy place was rent in twain. Jesus died for us. His blood was shed for us.
When Jesus died, his body was buried, his soul was not left in hell, and he arose from the dead. He didn’t do this to cleanse heaven. He did this to clean us so we can enter into heaven. So we can access the most holy place. He is our mediator. Jesus is our high priest.
The Blood of Jesus Wasn’t Shed to Cleanse Heaven
His blood wasn’t shed to clean heaven for us. His blood was shed to clean us for heaven. Heaven is clean and pure. We are not. Now, look, that’s what the entire Bible teaches from cover to cover. And it’s simple doctrine. Why in the world would you take that verse, twist it, and act like heaven needs to be purified?
Why? Because that man continues to lift up a false doctrine that says Jesus carried his physical blood into heaven and sprinkled his physical blood on the mercy seat so that we can be saved. He says if Mary Magdalene would have touched Jesus that she would have defiled the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Mary Magdalene, a woman who Jesus had cast seven devils out of before he died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead in an incorruptible body, would have defiled Jesus Christ. He cast seven devils out of her before he was in an incorruptible body. How could Mary Magdalene defile the sacrifice that the Almighty God of all creation made for us?
The truth: she can’t. She couldn’t if she tried. Never was going to happen. Never was even in God’s thoughts. But corruptible man comes up with this false doctrine, doubles down, triples down, quadruples down, and just continues to make it worse. Instead, the man should just say, I was wrong. But he can’t. Because he’s never wrong in his own eyes.
He thinks it’s okay to tell stories, lies, create a different person that doesn’t exist, he’s said so many lies about me, and he keeps adding to them. And then he starts to target other people that did nothing wrong to him. He creates new characters that don’t exist to make himself look better.
We need to be purified. Not the heavens.
What Did Christ Purify?
Jesus Christ purified us and opened the way for us to enter the heavenly presence of God. This matches within the entire Book of Hebrews and the entire Bible.
Hebrews 10:19-20
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Now we are his brethren. Now we have the boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. BY HIS BLOOD. I don’t take physical drops of blood from Jesus Christ to enter into heaven. Why should I let you into heaven? “Well, I have a physical drop of the blood of Jesus. Let me in.” That’s not how it works.
By a new and living way. He makes us a new creation. “Which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” The life of the flesh is in the blood. He shed his blood for us. Jesus gave his life for us.
Hebrews 9:24-26
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Follow What the Bible Actually Says
Now to appear in the presence of God for us. FOR US. Not to cleanse heaven. The high priest went in with blood every year. But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by bringing his physical blood and sprinkling it on the physical mercy seat in heaven, a spiritual place.
Is that what that says? No, the Bible doesn’t say Jesus took his physical blood that he shed on the day he gave his life into heaven and sprinkled it on the mercy seat.
The Bible says, “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Let’s read it again. “BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF.” The life is in the blood. His blood was shed from his body. That’s what shed means. His blood left his body and his body died. He gave himself for us.
The Bible doesn’t say his physical blood was required to be taken to heaven by Jesus and sprinkled on the mercy seat. Fairy tales. I am tired of fairy tales.
Colossians 1:20
And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
So, the blood of Jesus Christ sanctifies our access to heaven and not the location of heaven. His blood, his sacrifice, his giving of his life willingly, makes it possible for sinners to be purified, cleansed, and reconciled to God, and for the way into heaven to be open and available.
Without the blood of Jesus Christ, we would not be able to access the holy heaven where God dwells.
Why “Better Sacrifices”?
Hebrews 9:23
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Why better sacrifices? The animal sacrifices couldn’t take away sins. But the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, once for all, could take away sins. All sins.
Hebrews 9:12
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
BY HIS OWN BLOOD. By the sacrifice of himself. By giving his life for us.
Hebrews 9:26
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Better sacrifices refers to the one, final, perfect sacrifice, the death of Jesus Christ. The shedding of his blood. That is the better sacrifices. Jesus is better. The blood of Jesus is better.
The earthly tabernacle, being a pattern, had to be ceremonially cleansed with animal blood. The heavenly access to God, the real spiritual reality, required a better sacrifice: Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:23 isn’t saying that heaven is unclean. It is saying that access to the true, spiritual Holy of Holies had to be made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Christ’s blood wasn’t needed to purify heaven, but his blood was needed to sanctify the way into heaven for us sinners.
“Heavenly things themselves” = Access to God and the People Who Enter
Hebrews 9:23
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Now, let’s take this even deeper as God’s words continue deeper and deeper.
Why did Jesus die on the cross and shed his blood? It’s simple. It’s easy to understand. He died to cleanse us from our sins. That is “THE” reason. The entire Bible tells us this. Why make up something else that’s not there?
Heavenly things? “But the heavenly things with better sacrifices than these.” Who is Jesus bringing into heaven? It’s us. We are now being brought into heaven through Jesus Christ. Heaven wasn’t defiled. Man is defiled. And it’s now man, through Christ’s blood, who has the right to enter into heaven.
That’s what the entire book of Hebrews is teaching.
Scripture Proof that God’s People Are the “Heavenly Things”
Hebrews 2:10-11 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
He brings us into glory. We are now the heavenly things.
Ephesians 2:6
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
God’s people are already spiritually seated in the heavens because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 12:22-23
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
This is a direct connection between heavenly realities and saved people. The church of the firstborn is written in heaven. The spirits of just men made perfect are redeemed saints.
Jesus Purified the Way for Us to Be the “Heavenly Things”
The better sacrifice of Jesus Christ sanctifies the people who will dwell with God.
Hebrews 10:10
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Jesus already made the way for us. He is the way to heaven. He made that way through his blood and through the offering of his body. We are the things that are entering heaven through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are the heavenly things that needed to be purified. Don’t make it about physical things like a mercy seat. Don’t make it about physical things like a tabernacle.
Jesus died for us to cleanse us. We are made fit for heaven by the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s what’s being purified in the greater sense – not heaven itself. It’s the people who are now made heavenly citizens.
Yet Another False Accusation
I was accused of missing this verse. The man says I need to read the Bible. Well, I did. And I know the heavens don’t need to be cleansed from sin. God’s throne doesn’t need to be cleansed from sin. I don’t stand with the New World Translation. I stand with the King James Bible.
Hebrews 9:23
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
The heavenly things do not refer to the heavens needing to be cleansed. Instead, they point to:
- The real, spiritual access to God made possible through Christ’s blood.
- God’s redeemed people, who are now made holy, sanctified, and suitable to dwell in heaven.
The better sacrifice of Jesus didn’t cleanse heaven – it cleansed us so we could enter in.
And the Bible says, “But the heavenly things THEMSELVES with better sacrifices than these.” The Bible usually doesn’t refer to things like a mercy seat or a tabernacle as themselves because they aren’t a self. Humans are referred to as themselves. That’s another clue what this means.
1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Now, that’s the truth from the Bible. Jesus didn’t die and shed his blood to cleanse heaven. Heaven is clean. Heaven is pure. The way into heaven was made possible by Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:20
For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
We are the heavenly things that needed purifying and cleansing. Jesus says, “We are not of this world.” 1 Corinthians 15 says: “And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. We shall bear the image of the heavenly.” Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
And there’s many more Scriptures that teach exactly that we are the heavenly things that needed purification by the blood of Jesus Christ. I could keep going and going. But I think you get the point. Purified for heaven, not heaven purified.
Let’s pray.
Leave a Reply