After the author of Hebrews describes the items resting in the Holy place and the Most Holy place, he then explains how each place was used. Hebrews 9:6-7 says, “These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.” The phrase “unintentional” sin is often referred to as “sins of ignorance.” The truth of the matter is that at the Day of Atonement the nation acknowledged its overall sinfulness. It focused on the reality that everything we do comes from a depraved heart and mind. It’s not so much the single sings that are atoned for on this day but the very fact of human sinfulness as a whole. Guzik writes, “Sins of ignorance were the specific aim of the Day of Atonement. It was assumed that known sin would be taken care of through the regular sin offerings and the daily sacrifices.”[1]

Andrew Trotter writes, “Lastly, atonement covers all the sins — intentional, unintentional, heinous, trivial of those for whom it is intended. No one was to enter the Tent of Meeting until the ritual was over because what was taking place there was for the whole of the community of Israel ( Lev 16:17 ), presumably because any interference with the sovereign action of God’s cleansing might bring an impurity into the equation that would nullify the purificatory act. The comprehensive nature of the sacrifice of atonement prefigures the comprehensiveness of the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross…” (see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/atonement/)

The purification of man’s ultimate sinful nature is a purification that is fully performed by God. God Himself, provided the sacrifice just as he promised Abraham. Instead of demanding Abraham’s only begotten son as the sacrifice, God provided His only begotten son as the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Abraham named that place in Genesis 22:14 which reads, “So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The LORD will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’” This is the “lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” Nothing else can be added to Christ’s work on our behalf. As the Lamb, he was the sacrifice. As the High Priest, he offered himself. Anything that one might want to add to the full sufficiency of that “sovereign act of God’s cleansing might bring an impurity into the equation that would nullify the purificatory act.” We can’t add anything to what Christ accomplished on our behalf and we can’t take anything away from it! When Jesus said “it is finished” he meant it!

[1] David Guzik, Hebrews, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Heb 9:6–7.