The Holy Spirit is indicating this, that the way into the Holy Place wasn’t yet revealed while the first tabernacle was still standing;
Parallel translations
- KJV The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
- BSB By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
- NKJV the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
- NASB The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing,
- NLT By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Holy Spirit taught through this arrangement that the way to God was not yet fully opened while the old tabernacle stood. The system itself signaled its own incompleteness.
Overview
The author reads the tabernacle's design as a Spirit-given lesson: the restricted access showed that the way into God's presence had not yet been disclosed. The old order was a barrier as much as a means of approach. This anticipates the new and living way opened through Christ's flesh, described later in chapter 10.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- John 14:6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- Heb 3:7Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,
- Eph 2:18For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
- Heb 10:19–22Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
- John 10:9I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.
- Gal 3:8The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”
- 2 Pet 1:21For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
- Heb 9:3After the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,
- Acts 28:25When they didn’t agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had spoken one word, “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah, the prophet, to our fathers,
- John 10:7Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door.
- Isa 63:11Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?”
- Heb 10:15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
- Acts 7:51–52“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Heb 4:15–16For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 9:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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