Hebrews 9:23 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

It was, therefore, &c. That is, it plainly appears from what has been said, it was necessary According to the appointment of God; that the patterns of things in the heavens Termed the figures of the true, (Hebrews 9:24,) namely, the covenant, the book, the tabernacle, with all the vessels of its ministry, which were shadowy representations of heavenly things That is, of the things of the gospel, whether belonging to the church militant or the church triumphant; should be purified with these Should be procured for, or opened and sanctified to the enjoyment of the priests and people, by these oblations and sprinklings with blood, and those other things which were appointed by the law to be all used for their purification. He says purified, or cleansed, not because the tabernacle and its utensils, the book of the law, &c., were unclean in themselves, but because through the uncleanness of the people they would have been considered as polluted if not thus purified. But the heavenly things themselves That is, the things whereof the others were patterns, the redemption, worship, salvation, and eternal glory of the church; by better sacrifices than these Namely, by the one sacrifice of Christ, expressed in the plural number, because it included the signification of all other sacrifices, exceeded them indignity, and was of more use and efficacy than they all. For by this alone could spiritual and eternal blessings, the privileges of God's church on earth and in heaven, be laid open to the enjoyment of guilty and polluted sinners. In other words, and especially as the Jewish tabernacle, including the holy and the most holy place, could not be entered by the priests, and opened to the prayers and other acts of religious worship of them and of the people, nor the utensils and ceremonies of the tabernacle service be sanctified to them, without the sacrifices and atonements appointed in the law; so the heavenly holy places represented by them, could not be opened for the reception of the prayers and praises of God's people while they are here, nor of their persons hereafter, except through the sacrifice and intercession of Christ. Or, as Mr. Scott paraphrases the passage, “It was then necessary by the appointment of the law for the exemplars or types of heavenly things to be purified by the sacrifice of innocent animals, and by the application of their blood, or they could not be acceptably used in the worship of God; but it was necessary, for more durable and immutable reasons, that the heavenly things themselves should be purified by an atonement of superior excellence, even by the one sacrifice of the death of Christ. In order to his efficaciously interceding for sinners in heaven, and opening for them the way to the mercy-seat, it was necessary that Christ should on earth, in our nature, shed his blood, and die a sacrifice on the cross; that he might have the infinite merit of that sacrifice to plead before the throne, in behalf of all who should come unto God by him; otherwise mercy, shown to sinners, would dishonour the justice and holiness of God, and their admission into heaven would, as it were, defile that holy place.”