Hebrews 9:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This is to point to what is higher. Until now there has been no reasoning; but next he reasons and says: “By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been opened while the former tabernacle still stands.” This was arranged, he says, so that we might know that the Holy of Holies, that is, heaven, was not yet accessible. Yet because we do not enter it, we must not think that it does not exist. We also could not enter the Holy of Holies.

At last he begins to contemplate more loftily what concerns the tabernacles.

The Holy of Holies, as an image of heaven, was inaccessible to the other priests. Meanwhile the first tabernacle, that is, the first one directly beyond the bronze altar, was always accessible to them.

It was a symbol of the lawful ministry. By this it was symbolically shown that, so long as this tabernacle stands, that is, so long as the Law has force and lawful services are performed according to it, the way of the saints is inaccessible.

That is, entry into heaven is inaccessible to those who perform such services. For them it is not merely unopened, but shut. This way was prepared for the one and only High Priest, Christ.

In this the Holy Spirit typologically indicated the way into the sanctuary. That is, through the law concerning the high priest’s entrance into the Holy of Holies, the Holy Spirit typologically indicated the Gospel that was to be revealed to mankind.

The Holy of Holies, says the Apostle, was inaccessible to the many because the service under the law still had force. One should know that, since this was done by God’s command, the divine Apostle said that the Holy Spirit made this manifest. By this he shows the dignity of the Spirit.

"The Holy Spirit signifying this." He signifies it through the inner arrangement of the first and second parts of the tabernacle, and through the veil that divides them and points to what follows.

"That the way into the Holies had not yet been made manifest while the first tabernacle still had standing." "Signifying this" means that the way to heaven had not yet been given to holy men who were in the flesh, while the present world still existed.

Just as in the time of the Old Testament only the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies once, so in the time of the New Testament only Christ entered the heavens once with His holy flesh.

The other holy men had not yet ascended into heaven with the flesh. Rather, while they were in the flesh, they remained in the world.

“The Holy Spirit showing this, that the way into the holy places was not yet manifest,” or, as in the Russian, the way into the sanctuary. More probably it is the way into the Holy of Holies, by which heaven is meant, as Chrysostom and others explain. The Apostle’s thought is that, while the Old Testament tabernacle existed, heaven was inaccessible to man. Jesus Christ opened the way there.

How does the holy Apostle Paul interpret the structure of the tabernacle in relation to the New Testament priesthood of the great High Priest?

Here are the Apostle's own words of interpretation. By this, that is, by such an arrangement of the tabernacle and such a state of the Old Testament priesthood, "the Holy Spirit indicates" through Moses the narrator.

He indicates "that the way into the sanctuary is not yet opened as long as the former tabernacle is still standing" (Heb 9:8).

This means that throughout the whole duration of the Old Testament heaven was closed and inaccessible to men.

In other words, men were far from God, both through moral separation from Him and through ignorance of the mysteries of God's divine economy for human salvation.

The Lord Jesus Christ brought these mysteries from heaven and proclaimed them in His Gospel.

He is properly seeking to indicate the typical and shadow-like character of the divine service performed in the tabernacle.

With this aim in view, he first sets forth the limited rights enjoyed by the Old Testament ministers in performing divine service.

The priests could not enter the Holy of Holies at all, while the high priest was permitted to do this only once a year.

By this very fact, according to the Apostle, the divinely inspired Scripture clearly indicated that the way to true holiness, to the throne of God, had not yet been opened to men while the front part of the tabernacle still stood (vv. 6-8; cf. είσοδος των άγιων in Heb 10:19 ff.).