LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary

98 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII
to enter the Most Holy Place”, especially since the action of Christ doing this
very same thing in 9:12 is unanimously understood as nothing less than entry
into heaven itself? 23 N. A. Dahl 24 argues that far more than this must be
meant in 9:12 and 10:19. He notes that the sanctuary (ta. a[gia/to.n a[gion)
mentioned in these verses is not pictured by the author of Hebrews as the
same thing as the sanctuary of the Old Covenant as if both together are
foreshadowings of the “real” sanctuary of God’s presence in heaven. Rather,
the New Covenant sanctuary to which through Christ we have free access to
God is identical with heaven itself”, and has, as its “essential characteristic
… the presence of God and undisturbed communion with Him, as they exist
in heaven and in the age to come.” 25 The New Covenant sanctuary and
heaven itself are to be seen as one and the same, which together are both
foreshadowed by the Old Covenant sanctuary, and which together are the
New Covenant which completely perfects the Old. Furthermore, it is this
sanctuary, being the same as heaven itself, which the believer is said to
“enter” in the present time. Dahl argues that this sanctuary “is equivalent to
the ‘rest,’ the ‘sabbath Rest,’ and the ‘heritage,’ ‘the homeland,’ which is the
higher, eschatological counterpart of the land of promise.” 26 Therefore the
author of Hebrews constantly enjoins his readers to “draw near to God”
(7:19, 10:22) and “approach the throne of grace” (4:16) because he considers
such a thing possible in the present time, and not merely in the future.
In 9:11-12 the author of Hebrews speaks of Christ’s entering the
sanctuary to take place “through the greater and more perfect tabernacle”
and “by His own blood”. Precisely how does this “tent” and “blood”
function as “means” through which Christ enters into the sanctuary? J.
Swetnam notes that the central thought of 9:11-12 is that “Christ entered the
sanctuary” and the means of entrance are the parallel “greater and more
perfect tent” and “His own blood”. Swetnam argues that both the tent and
the blood can be understood as “attestors” which “proclaim, present,” and
“officially make known” as a “legal witness”. 27 He sees the sweep of chapter
9 to be discussing the official inauguration by God of a new diaqh,kh which
23 Williamson notes—interestingly enough, as the “final word” of his argument of a
Eucharistic interpretation of 9:1-14—“Christ, as high priest, has entered once and for all
(evfa,pax) into the presence of God through the greater and more perfect tent, which is (in?)
heaven itself, and that the sacrifice on the basis of which, by means of which (dia,) He makes
His successful entry into the heavenly sanctuary is that of Himself” (306). Attridge, though
downplaying a “realistically conceived heavenly journey made by Christ”, nevertheless finds
this passage referring to an “entry into the realm where God is truly worshipped” (248).
24 N. A. Dahl, “A New and Living Way: The Approach to God According to Hebrews
10:19-25”, Interpretation 5:401-12 .
25
Dahl 402.
26
Dahl 402.
27
Swetnam, “Tent” 98.