3. The Most Holy, the innermost compartment. At Leviticus 16:2 it is called “the holy place [Heb., haq·qoʹdhesh, “holy”] inside the curtain.” Paul apparently had this compartment in mind when he spoke of Jesus’ entry into heaven, saying that he did not enter into a “holy place [Gr., haʹgi·a, “holies”] made with hands.” (Heb 9:24) At Hebrews 10:19 Paul speaks of “the holy place” (NW); “the holiest” (KJ) (literally, the holies, or the holy places, the plural denoting excellence).

Symbolic Significance. The arrangement that God set up for man’s atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is called “the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands.” Christ entered “once for all time into the holy place” of this great spiritual temple “and obtained an everlasting deliverance for us,” writes the apostle Paul. (Heb 9:11, 12) On going into heaven and appearing before Jehovah, Christ entered into what was pictured by the innermost compartment of the tabernacle, namely, the Most Holy. (Heb 9:24, 25) Thus the tabernacle and its services served as “a typical representation and a shadow of the heavenly things.”​—Heb 8:5.