It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

This paragraph, at the culmination of chapter 9, speaks of two appearings of Christ:

  • He appeared the first time to make salvation possible;
  • He will appear a second time to complete it.

With regard to the former, Hebrews has been repeating and reinforcing the message that the Old Covenant sacrificial system was only a temporary measure, preparing for the coming of Christ who has now offered Himself as the final, perfect sacrifice. He came the first time to bring in the era of salvation. He will come a second time to put the finishing touches to it. However much we may be enjoying salvation today, we can be sure there’s much more ahead:

 ‘…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.‘ (Philippians 1:6).

Francis Schaeffer spelled out something of what the finished work of Christ means in practical terms:

“When my conscience under the Holy Spirit makes me aware of a specific sin I should at once call that sin sin and bring it consciously under the blood of Christ. Now it is covered and it is not honoring to the finished work of Jesus Christ to worry about it, as far as my relationship to God is concerned. Indeed, to worry about it is to do spite to the infinite value of the death of the Son of God. My fellowship with God is restored.” Francis Schaeffer.