The Heavenly Sacrifice of Jesus in the Epistle to the Hebrews

(This, in a few words, is a popularized summary of what I have been working on for a while.)

Let’s imagine that you have a friend who is studying anthropology or comparative religion or something like that. He does not know the Bible at all, but he is presently studying the concept of sacrifice in different religions and has heard there is a lot about the topic in the book called Hebrews in the New Testament.  He wonders if you are willing to discuss Hebrews’ concept of sacrifice with him, once he has read it through a couple of times, since you are somewhat of an expert on the Bible, compared to him. What would your friend learn, reading through Hebrews?

From 5:1 and 8:3 he would learn that there is something called a high priest who is put in charge of offering gifts and sacrifices for sin on behalf of men.

From 5:2-3 and 7:27  he learns that the high priest has to bring sacrifices both for his own sins and for those of the people.

However, until chapter nine there is nothing about what constitutes these sacrifices. And even here the information is sparse.  Only in 9:7 do we learn what the sacrifice actually is:

‘but only the high priest goes into the second [tent], and he but once a year, and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.’

This is the first time your friend is able to picture what Hebrews understands by sacrifice: A high priest taking blood into a holy tent. If he had read Hebrews in Greek he would even know that ‘to offer’ also means  ‘to present’. So the image is actually a man, presenting blood inside a tent-sanctuary. 9:25 repeats this image: ‘as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood . . . ‘

Where did the high priest get this blood?

9:12 says it comes from goats and calves, while 9:13 (and 9:19) mentions blood from goats and bulls. 10:1 - 4 again refers to the yearly offerings and repeat what they are: Blood of bulls and goats (cf. 9:4).

So if you ask your friend a week later: ‘Hey, have you figured out the sacrifice thing in Hebrews,’ he would answer: ‘Yes, I have. It is a man presenting blood of bulls and goats inside a tent-sanctuary once a year. It makes perfect sense. Blood is a forceful means of purification and atonement in many religions.’

If you ask him how the priest got the blood, your friend would answer: ‘I don’t know. The text never says. It only mentions some dead bodies once (13:11). 

Hebrews in fact does not seem any more interested in the death of the animals than we are when we eat at McDonald’s. To us it is all about getting food. Similarly, in Hebrews it is all about presenting blood.’

You start thinking that Hebrews could have done better. Also Hebrews seems to have left out a whole lot from the material in Leviticus. And it is true that Hebrews is strangely selective, but it is for a good reason. Hebrews is creating an analogy between the high priest he finds in the Torah and Jesus, the superior high priest, and he selects only the details he needs to communicate the good news of Jesus’ priestly ministry and sacrifice.

So you ask your friend: ‘What about the where, when and what of Jesus’ sacrifice?  What have you discovered?’

Your friend has been doing his homework. He is smart enough to deduce that 8:3 must speak of Jesus, but here he only learns that he must have ‘something’ to offer. But a few verses before he has learned that Jesus offered/presented himself (7:27).

9:11-14 is more generous with information. Just as the high priest entered a tent-sanctuary with blood in order to somehow offer/present it, so Jesus entered heaven with his own blood to present himself. And this, apparently, had a wonderful effect on the whole sin-problem.

9:23-26 repeats the same image. Blood entered heaven (9:23) with Jesus after he died (9:26), when he appeared in the presence of God (9:24) and offered/presented himself (9:26).

10:10 says he offered his body, but does not specify where, but 10:12 says that there was only one sacrifice, so we must assume it is referring to the same event. 10:5-10 hints that it was his obedience as a human being that he presented to God.

‘So where and when did Jesus offer himself?' you ask your friend.

‘When he entered heaven,’ your friend answers. 'It's a perfect parallel to the high priest entering the tent.'

‘That is wrong,’ you say. ‘He sacrificed himself when he died on the cross, everyone knows that.’

‘Then why does Hebrews bother to tell the story of the high priest offering blood inside the tent? And why does he compare this to Jesus offering blood in heaven? Your friend is confused, because he knows you are somewhat of an expert on the Bible.

‘Every parable has its limitation,’ you answer.

But this is a horrible answer, revealing that even experts may be wrong. Hebrews is today recognised as a rhetorical masterpiece. The artistry with which it is structured surpasses every other text in the New Testament. Its Greek is superb. Its use of Old Testament passages creative and simply brilliant. Does this sound like a text that would spend nine chapters creating an elaborate analogy only to have it break down as it reaches its climax?

No! Jesus presented himself as a sacrifice in heaven after his resurrection. He presented his willingness to become a human of flesh and blood (2:9, 14; 10:5), he presented his life among us and his suffering (5:7-8; 2:9-17) his testing and obedience (2:18; 4:15; 5:8) his death on the cross (12:2), and his embodied exaltation in glory (1:3; 2:9; 10:10)  as the first fruit of a new humanity (2:8-10). He was the new Adam that succeeded where humanity failed, and his triumph over Satan, sin and death elevates all humanity (2:14-18). His perfect life forever annuls humanity’s sin (9:26) and gives us direct access to the throne of grace (4:16).

Why it matters

If Jesus’ sacrifice is offered in heaven, then death is neither the essence of his act of sacrifice nor the essence of the atonement. Instead blood is. And blood may be seen to represent life (Lev 17:11). The slaughter of animals is nowhere even mentioned in Hebrews and nowhere is Jesus’ death spoken of as a sacrifice.  His death in Hebrews has a different role than constituting sacrifice. His obedience unto death, even on the cross, and his subsequent exaltation in glory demonstrates a path we are all called to follow. But it is Jesus’ triumph over sin and devil wandering this path that is humanity’s hope. God is never described as a God who is unapproachable until someone dies. Instead what he desires is loyalty. This is the main theme in Hebrews. Hebrews’ God  does not desire sacrifices at all (10:5-10), except the sacrifice of a life devoted to him and our neighbours (13:15-16). This is precisely the sacrifice he got when Jesus presented himself to God (10:1-10).