Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 9:12

"nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." — Hebrews 9:12 (ASV)

Neither by the blood of goats and calves. The Jewish sacrifice consisted of the shedding of the blood of animals. On the great day of atonement, the high priest took with him into the Most Holy Place:

1. the blood of a young bullock (Leviticus 16:3, 11), which is here called the blood of a "calf," which he offered for his own sin; and
2. the blood of a goat, as a sin-offering for others (Leviticus 16:9, 15).

It was by, or by means of (that is, dia), blood thus sprinkled on the mercy seat, that the high priest sought the forgiveness of his own sins and the sins of the people.

But by his own blood. This means by His own blood shed for the remission of sins. The meaning is that it was in virtue of His own blood, or by means of that, that He sought the pardon of His people. That blood was not shed for Himself—for He had no sin—and consequently, there was a material difference between His offering and that of the Jewish high priest. The difference related to such points as these:

1. The offering which Christ made was wholly for others; that of the Jewish priest was for himself as well as for them.
2. The blood offered by the Jewish priest was that of animals; that offered by the Savior was His own.
3. That offered by the Jewish priest was only an emblem or type—for it could not take away sin; that offered by Christ had a real efficacy and removes transgression from the soul.

He entered into the holy place. Heaven. The meaning is that, as the Jewish high priest bore the blood of the animal into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it there as the means of expiation, so the offering which Christ has to make in heaven, or the consideration on which He pleads for the pardon of His people, is the blood which He shed on Calvary.

Having made the atonement, He now pleads its merit as a reason why sinners should be saved. It is not, of course, meant that He literally bore His own blood into heaven—as the high priest did the blood of the bullock and the goat into the sanctuary—or that He literally sprinkled it on the mercy seat there. Rather, it means that this blood, having been shed for sin, is now the ground of His pleading and intercession for the pardon of sin—just as the sprinkled blood of the Jewish sacrifice was the ground of the pleading of the Jewish high priest for the pardon of himself and the people.

Having obtained eternal redemption for us. That is, by the shedding of His blood. For the meaning of the word redemption, see the comments on Galatians 3:13.

The redemption which the Lord Jesus effected for His people is eternal. It will continue forever. It is not a temporary deliverance leaving the redeemed in danger of falling into sin and ruin, but it makes salvation secure, and in its effects extends through eternity. Who can estimate the extent of that love which purchased for us such a redemption? Who can be sufficiently grateful to be thus redeemed? The doctrine in this verse is, that the blood of Christ is the means of redemption, or atones for sin. In the following verses the apostle shows that it not only makes atonement for sin, but that it is the means of sanctifying or purifying the soul.