Therefore, the first (on the one hand) was having right rules for veneration and for the cosmic devoted [place]. For a tent was prepared, the first [section] in which were the lampstand and the table and the presence bread, which is called “devoted.” After the second inner curtain, a tent that is called “devoted of the devoted,”
v.1-3The Holy Spirit divulging this…the path into the devoted [places] wasn’t yet apparent, having the first tent still in force
v. 8But (on the other hand) Christos appearing as Senior Priest for the good things that happened throughout the greater and more complete tent, not handmade (that is, not of this creation), and not through blood of goats and calves but through his own blood he entered once for all the devoted [places], having found liberation for the Era.
v. 12-13For Christos did not enter into handmade devoted [places] - reproductions of the true [places] - but into heaven itself, now to become apparent to God’s face for us.
v. 24
What were the devoted places under the old law?
Here, in Hebrews 9, we read about the Covenant the Israelites were under. They were to have a temple, within which the innermost part was called the “devoted of the devoted,” or as most of us have heard, the “Holy of Holies” or “Most Holy Place.” This is where the Ark of the Covenant resided, where only the High Priest could come into the presence of God only once a year. He had to completely ritualistically purify himself and only then could he enter to make atonement for the people with the blood of bulls and goats.
Under the new covenant, we no longer have the temple.
Our High Priest, Jesus, entered into a devoted place not made by human hands. His own blood was used for the purification process to make atonement. The devoted place He has entered is in God’s presence in heaven, not a reproduction here on earth. And in doing so, He has erased the need for the devoted places in the temple. We now have direct access to the Most Holy place that Jesus has entered into in heaven through His sacrifice.
In verse 8 the NLT reads, “By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.” As long as they were under the old law, there were restrictions. But now, as we will find out in chapter 10 verse 19, “we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.” We don’t need the temple and the ark and the rituals - all of the reproductions of what is the true devoted place - anymore. Through Jesus, we have direct access to God anytime at any place.