<p>9:24 <i>For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are only copies of the true ones; but into Heaven itself- </i>See on :23; the things in Heaven are us who are cleansed in Christ. It is stressed in Heb. 9:24; 8:2 that this Heavenly temple was made by God not by human hands.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Kingdom of Christ which is essentially His people, those over whom He has Kingly dominion is symbolized as a stone cut without hands (Dan. 2:44).&nbsp;We are the ones in heavenly places now (Eph. 1:3) who are cleansed by the Lord's sacrifice. Likewise Abraham looked forward to the Kingdom in terms of a city &quot;whose builder and maker is God&quot;;&nbsp;and God, we are told, has prepared that city for Abraham and his seed (Heb. 11:10,16).&nbsp;The coming down of that city/temple from Heaven in Rev. 21:3 is the fulfilment of Abraham's hope.&nbsp;The city/temple from Heaven has foundations (Rev. 21:14), just as Abraham expected (Heb. 11:10).&nbsp;The Lord has entered into God's actual presence, Heaven; and we are with Him there, cleansed, confident and unashamed before the presence of His glory. And this shall come to a literal fulfilment when at the last day we are presented &quot;faultless before the presence of His glory&quot; (Jude 24).</p><p><i>Now to appear in the actual presence of God for us</i>- The language of Romans 8 about His intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered is to be connected with Hebrews 5 speaking of the Lord groaning with strong crying and tears on the cross. The point being that the intensity of His prayer there, struggling for every breath, is the same essential intensity with which He mediates for us now. He died &ldquo;<i>for us</i>&rdquo;, and yet right now He appears &ldquo;before the face of God <i>for us</i>&rdquo; (Heb. 9:24 RV). Thus there is a connection between His death and His ongoing mediation &ldquo;for us&rdquo;. We must struggle with Him, framing and offering our words in the full realization of the agonizing effort He is willing to make to intercede. The Greek translated &quot;appear&quot; meaning to exhibit openly. We are openly exhibited to God by the Lord Jesus, he reveals our inner spirit, our essential desires, to the Father; for we are &quot;in Him&quot;. His appearance in God's actual presence is our appearance there.</p><p>Romans is full of legal language, of interceding, pleading, finding a favourable verdict etc., and refers this to the judgment and also to the cross. But Romans 8 uses these very ideas in relation to prayer, for in coming before the throne of grace now on account of the Lord's sacrifice, we come in essence before judgment. Coming before the throne of God in prayer (Heb. 9:24; Ps. 17:1,2) is the language of the judgment seat. If we become before His throne and are accepted, it follows that this is a foretaste of the outcome of the judgment for us, were we to be judged at that time. Our boldness before the Father in prayer will be the same attitude we have to Him at the judgment throne (1 Jn. 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14 all use the same Greek word).</p>