John Calvin Commentary Hebrews 13:10

"We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle." — Hebrews 13:10 (ASV)

We have an altar, and so on. This is a beautiful adaptation of an old rite under the Law to the present state of the Church. There was a kind of sacrifice appointed, mentioned in Leviticus 16, no part of which returned to the priests and Levites. This, as he now shows by a suitable allusion, was accomplished in Christ, for He was sacrificed on this condition: that those who serve the tabernacle should not feed on Him.

But by the ministers of the tabernacle he means all those who performed the ceremonies. Therefore, so that we may partake of Christ, he intimates that we must renounce the tabernacle. For as the word altar includes sacrificing and the victim, so tabernacle includes all the external types connected with it.

Then the meaning is: It is no wonder that the rites of the Law have now ceased, for this was typified by the sacrifice that the Levites brought outside the camp to be burnt there. For just as the ministers of the tabernacle ate nothing of it, so if we serve the tabernacle—that is, retain its ceremonies—we will not be partakers of that sacrifice which Christ once offered, nor of the expiation which He once made by His own blood. For He brought His own blood into the heavenly sanctuary so that He might atone for the sin of the world.