V. 11.— But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.
But Christ being made an high priest of good things to come.— We have seen that the Gospel dispensation is termed the world to come, chap. 2:5; and this appears to be the meaning of good things to come. All the blessings of the old covenant were carnal; they referred to this world, as may be seen in the blessings promised for obedience, and the curses pronounced for disobedience. Leviticus 26 :; Deuteronomy 28 : But Christ is made an High Priest of a dispensation which conveys spiritual and eternal blessings.
The comforts and the blessings of time perish with the using; the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are unseen are eternal, and such are the blessings conveyed to us by our great High Priest. He is made an High Priest of good things to come — an High Priest for ever, chap. 6:2, and after the power of an endless life. Chap. 7:16. The Apostle had shown the superiority of our great High Priest to the priests under the law; and here he contrasts the tabernacle in which he ministers, with that erected by Moses. It was a greater and more perfect tabernacle. The former was only a pattern, the latter was the thing represented.
The one was of human workmanship, the other was made by God Himself. The Apostle explains, “ Not made with hands,” by not of this building, or, more literally, not of this creation. The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Acts 7:48. “ Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” Isaiah 66:1.
Some consider the greater and more perfect tabernacle, in which Christ ministers, to mean His body, in which He ministers as a priest, in which all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and this receives some countenance from Christ terming His body a temple, John 2:19-20; and from His being charged with saying that He would destroy this temple made with hands, and build another made without hands, Mark 14:58; but still it cannot be said that Christ entered once into the tabernacle of His own body, or that he is the minister of His human nature, as He is said to be of the true tabernacle. He is set at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. Hebrews 8:1. This is the sanctuary of which He is minister. This is the true tabernacle into which He has entered by His own blood. Chap. 9:12. Heaven itself is, then, the sanctuary where Christ ministers.