The Holiest of All By Andrew Murray

Doliest of ail
LXXIII.
HEAVEN ITSELF CLEANSED BY THE BLOOD.
IX. 23. It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the
heavens should be cleansed with these ;
but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these.
24. For Christ entered not Into a holy place made with hands, like in
pattern to the true ;
but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of
God for us.
IN the previous verses we saw how, at the dedication of the
first covenant with blood, both the book and the people and,
later on, the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, were
sprinkled with blood. Even so, the writer tells us, the bloodshedding
on earth was not enough, but there was a needs-be that
the heavenly things themselves be cleansed with the blood of the
better sacrifice, ere heaven could be opened to us, and we obtain
access to a life in the presence of God. There must not a vestige
or sign of sin be left there, to rise up against us. Such is the power
of this better sacrifice and its blood, that the heavenly things
themselves were cleansed by it, and that Christ our surety with
His own blood, entered into heaven itself, now to appear before
the face of God for us. The heavenly things themselves
cleansed, and Christ entered into heaven itself for us, these
are the two aspects of the eternal redemption here put before us.
The heavenly things themselves cleansed. What can this
mean ? We speak of the heavens being dark, black with clouds.