The writer of Hebrews has argued throughout the book that various elements of the Old Covenant were shadows or hints at the reality fully realized in Jesus Christ. Perhaps the most important of these comparisons is the assertion in chapter 9 that the Day of Atonement foreshadowed the work of Christ. Only some of the aspects of the Day of Atonement are important for the comparison, others are not mentioned. Entry into the Holy of Holies to make atonement is featured, but some of the other rituals are omitted.
The Tabernacle Jesus entered was not the earthly one, but rather the real heavenly one. This may not mean that someplace in heaven is a “perfect” tabernacle, physically similar to the tabernacle of the Old Testament. The tabernacle servers as a metaphor for the separateness of God in heaven. God is within the holy of holies and only those who are without sin may approach his altar. This does not mean Jesus had more work to do after his death on the cross in order to complete salvation. The cross is the provision of blood in the holy place and is completely sufficient for salvation. The writer of Hebrews nowhere implies Jesus had to perform some ritual in heaven to complete the atonement.
Jesus can be the perfect sacrifice because he is “unblemished.” This is a deliberate allusion to the Old Testament law which required a worshiper to bring a lamb from the flock which was “unblemished” or “without defect.” The animal to be sacrificed was to be the best member of the flock, not a sick, unhealthy animal that was not of any value. The sacrifices were never really perfect since there was not truly perfect lamb or goat. It was only in the person of Jesus that there was a possibility of perfection because he was the God-Man, perfectly unified and perfectly fulfilling all of the law.
As the perfect Sacrifice, Christ can provide a ransom for sin committed under the first covenant (9:15). Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, the one that administers the new salvation. The High Priest was the mediator of the Old Covenant, administering salvation to the people.
The concept of a “ransom” is introduced here for the first time in Hebrews. “Ransom” has a different meaning in modern English that perhaps was intended by the Greek word. A ransom is a price paid to a criminal to get them to release a person they have kidnaped. There might be other connotations of ransom, but we tend to think forest of a bad guy getting paid off, and somehow true justice is not served.
The Greek here does not have that connotation at all. This is the concept of buying a slave out of bondage, “to release or set free, with the implied analogy to the process of freeing a slave. This is the concept of redemption in the New Testament, God buying us out of the slave market of sin and giving us a new master, himself. It is wrong to think of the death of Jesus as a payment to Satan in order to “ransom” us back to God.
In Hebrews, the ransom for sin is the shedding of blood (9:16-22). The often quoted verse “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” is based on a common principle in the Old Testament of God requires the shedding of blood, a death, for sin. This is not because God is some maniac in heaven that demands death and enjoys killing. The only penalty for sin is death. One single sin does spoil the whole soul, and the sinner must die.
The “shedding of blood” is actually the mercy of God, allowing a substitute in our place. Even in the garden, Adam and Eve were covered with animal skins after the first sin. There was a shedding of blood to cover their sins. This principle runs through scripture, leading up to the cross, which was a “once for all” shedding of blood.