Hebrews 9:7

But into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing.

The second designates the most holy place, or Holy of Holies, into which only the high priest could enter, and during which entry no lesser priest could ever stand in the sanctuary without, making it impossible to catch even a glimpse of that which was done within; and the high priest himself, far from having a continual access within the veil, could enter only under the strictest rules, and that upon only one day in the whole year, the Day of Atonement. Two points of emphasis appear in these verses: (1) the services of the high priest on the Day of Atonement, and (2) the great lesson so effectively taught by the Holy Spirit in such an arrangement.

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

Leviticus 16 details the duties of the high priest in making the atonement. He appeared before the door of the tabernacle with no less than four sacrifices, a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, both of these to be offered for the high priest and his family; and then there were two he-goats for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, these being for the whole of Israel. The high priest wore special linen garments for that occasion; and once used, the garments could not be taken out of the sanctuary. Further, he could not attire himself in those holy garments until he had washed himself in water.

First, he slew a bullock and proceeded to offer its blood within the veil as an atonement for his own sins; but, before doing so, he took live coals from off the altar of incense, near the veil, in a golden censer, having with him a handful of the finely beaten sweet incense which he burned in the censer in such a way as to cover the mercy seat with smoke. Then he took of the blood of the bullock and sprinkled it seven times upon the eastward portion of the mercy seat. The atonement for himself and his house thus made, the high priest then killed one of the he-goats, selected somewhat earlier by lot, and used its blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat in the same way he had sprinkled the bullock's blood; and this made the atonement for the errors and sins of the people. Significantly, there were also ceremonies of atonement for the holy place itself, and for the tabernacle, and the altar. It is not clear if there was a third entry within the veil or not; but certainly the high priest entered twice within the veil on that day, and possibly three times. From this, the meaning of "once a year" is actually "upon only one day in the year."

The remaining live he-goat, called the "scapegoat," was next used in one of the most amazing ceremonies of the old institution. The high priest laid his hands on the goat's head and confessed the sins of all Israel, after which the goat was driven off into some uninhabited place, thus "bearing away" the sins of the people.

After this, the high priest re-entered the sanctuary, took off the sacred linen clothes, dressed himself in his own priestly regalia, after another ceremonial washing, and then came out of the tabernacle and offered the two rams as burnt offerings. The contaminating power of sin was dramatically symbolized in the special arrangements observed when the custodian of the scapegoat, after letting him go, bathed himself and washed his clothes before re-entering the camp. Also, the flesh of the bullock and goat, after their blood was sprinkled, was carried without the camp and burned, not even the hide being saved; and the persons charged with such details could not return to the camp without bathing and washing their clothes.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THOSE SERVICES

The great significance of all that elaborate ceremony and its supporting services is simply this: the way into the Holy Place had not been revealed as long as the tabernacle services continued. The use of "tabernacle" here does not exclude the temple, as observed above, although it was still standing when Hebrews was written. As Milligan said, "It is plain enough that `the tabernacle' is used here symbolically for the whole system of Jewish worship.[6]

The ascription of purpose to the Holy Spirit in these verses shows that God was the author of all those rites, ceremonies, and institutions of the old covenant, and that God had a purpose in their design, a purpose here revealed. The purpose was to show dramatically the darkness of the Jewish institution. The people, even though they were God's chosen people, could not enter even the sanctuary, to say nothing of the most holy place where God's presence was symbolized. Only a relatively few priests could enter, and even they were excluded from entering within the veil, where only one of them, the high priest alone, might enter under the most limited circumstances, and upon only one day in the year. And even when the high priest entered, the mercy seat was first covered with smoke of incense, showing that, even after all the ritual, God would not really look upon the high priest, except as through the smoke that screened his unworthiness from the Lord. Let it be remembered that the Holy of Holies was a type of heaven, eternal redemption, and fellowship with God, and it will appear how far short of redemption were those types and shadows of it in the old institution. This cannot mean that the ancient worthy patriarchs were not saved; it is freely conceded that they were saved; but the HOW of such a salvation could not be known as long as the old system stood. Christ opened up "the new and living way, through the veil, that is to say his flesh" (Hebrews 10:20).