According to Hebrews 9:17, a covenant is ratified or dedicated (G1457) through a blood sacrifice, otherwise the covenant in question had no power, because it wasn’t confirmed. Notice how the verse is translated below:
For a covenant is sure over the dead victims: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the appointed victim lives. (Hebrews 9:17 EWB-CB)
for a covenant over dead victims is steadfast, since it is no force at all when the covenant-victim lives, (Hebrews 9:17 YLT)
This premise is supported in the Old Covenant in the manner in which that covenant was ratified under Moses (Hebrews 9:18-21), because neither was it of any force at all, until it was ratified or dedicated with the blood of bulls. Notice:
And Moses took the blood and sprinkled on the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah has cut with you concerning these words. (Exodus 24:8 LITV)
Likewise, then, neither could the New Covenant be of any power, unless it was ratified or dedicated with blood (Hebrews 9:16-17). Therefore, since Jesus was the appointed Victim (Hebrews 9:18; Romans 8:32), he had to die, if God’s purposes under the New Covenant could ever have any power.
Paul uses the same Greek word, hupodeigma (G5262), in Hebrews 9:23 that he did in Hebrews 8:5 to say that Moses made the Tabernacle to resemble or point to the figure or pattern (G5179) that the Lord had shown him on Mount Sinai. Paul then described the Tabernacle that Moses built in Hebrews 9:1-5, mentioning the lampstand, the table and the sacred bead, saying they were in the first room of the Tabernacle. Then he referred to the veil that separated the Tabernacle into two rooms and mentioned the Mercy Seat / Ark of the Covenant, which was overshadowed by the two cherubim, and also went on to cite the golden altar, the golden bowl of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded and the Tables of the Covenant (Hebrews 9:1-5). All these were shadows of heavenly realities. That is, they were physical things that pointed to spiritual things, and they had to be cleansed or purified for use in describing God’s relationship with men (Leviticus 16:14-20; Exodus 29:36-37; cf. Ezekiel 43:21-27).
If we are supposed to image heavenly things (1Corinthians 15:48-49), as God created man to do (Genesis 1:27), then we are the heavenly things that needed to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:22). Moreover, since the Scriptures testify that we are living stones built up to be the Temple of God (1Peter 2:5; cf. 1Corinthias 3:16), which Jesus builds (Matthew 16:18; cf. Hebrews 3:6), we are the heavenly sanctuary that must be cleansed (Daniel 8:14).
Christ has not gone into the Tabernacle made with hands, but, rather, has gone into heaven (the Holy of Holies; Hebrews 1:2-3) and into the presence of our heavenly Father on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24). This doesn’t mean Jesus must continually ask his Father to forgive us and consider his own unblemished sacrifice on the cross, as though the Father might forget to do so, but, rather, his eternal life through the Spirit in the place of his human life in the blood (Leviticus 17:11) stands in intercessory power on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25; 9:12, 14), because his life through the Spirit, as opposed to his life by blood (Hebrews 9:14), speaks of his death on the cross where his blood was poured out for our sins.
In contrast to the high priest’s need to continually offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as those of the nation, Jesus died and sacrificed himself only once in order to gain our eternal redemption. Had this not been so, he would have had to suffer and die continually from the very time of Adam’s rebellion (Hebrews 9:25-26; cp. 1:3; 10:10-12). According to Paul, Jesus died only once, because all men are appointed to die only once. We have only one life, and only one life has to be redeemed (Hebrews 9:27-28). When he is to appear the second time (Hebrew 9:28), he will appear without a sin (offering) for the salvation of those who believe (cf. 2Corinthians 5:21).
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