Heb.9:23,24 – Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these things, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made by hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Some things are hard for us to understand this side of heaven. In these verses Hebrews tells us that heaven was cleansed by the blood of Jesus. We see pictures of this in the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon with the cleansing of the tabernacle and temple by the blood. Apparently the fall effected heaven in some way that we can’t quite understand on this side of eternity. Jesus offered His blood in heaven to open up the way of entrance for all of us. Because of this we can now come boldly before the throne of grace. Here is how Andrew Murray describes this mystery.
“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 Israel: I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Just as the tabernacle had to be sprinkled and cleansed and hallowed from all the uncleanness of the children of Israel, 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.”
Our sins blocked our entrance into the presence of God. Christ had to become one of us so that He Himself could open the way into the Father’s presence for this fallen race. This is too good to be true and way over our heads. No wonder the elders are on their faces in heaven and the angels and seraphim can’t stop singing. Holy, holy, holy; Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of your glory.
