“Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too. If he were here on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there already are priests who offer the gifts required by the law. They serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: ‘Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.’ But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.”
I love it when an author gives signposts to help the reader understand their point. Today’s passage gets right to it: Jesus is our High Priest who sits directly beside God’s throne. If you thought the earthly Tabernacle (or Temple) was impressive — it was! — just imagine a heavenly one. That Temple was just a shadow compared to this true place of worship that God built. Anything man made is going to be far inferior to the direct handiwork of God.
The earthly priests are kind of like actors, mimicking the real worship happening in heaven. If Jesus were only an earthly human, he wouldn’t have even been eligible to be a priest at all because he was not from the tribe of Levi. However, because Jesus is someone completely different from any other priest, he doesn’t follow the earthly rules. He oversees an upgraded contract between God and his people, with a whole lot more in store for those who follow him.
If you use what you see around you on earth as a gauge for reality, you’ll be limited in what you can see. There is beauty here on earth, but there is also pain. There’s never enough time or resources to do everything that we could imagine wanting to do. We are limited by time, space, and human frailty. Jesus has something supernaturally better. This new covenant, or promise, from God is full of hope. Jesus has more for you than you could think to ask for or imagine. It will blow your mind! Don’t settle for what you see around you. Reality is so much bigger than that.