The passage
      v11. In Leviticus chapter 16 we are told of how, on the day of atonement, the high priest performed complicated sacrificial rites, then moved through the tabernacle to arrive in the Holy of Holies before the presence of the Lord. The writer of Hebrews takes up this imagery and points out that Christ, as a high priest who has saved his people through his own perfect sacrifice, has similarly arrived in the presence of the "Living God", having passed through the divine canopy, a heavenly tent not made with hands.
      v12. Israel's high priest offered a series of animal sacrifices before entering the tabernacle's inner sanctuary and passing through to the Holy of Holies. Jesus, on the other hand, has offered his own blood-sacrifice; he gave himself up to the cross. Unlike the sacrifices of Israel's high priest, Jesus' sacrifice achieves an eternal salvation and so he has entered the Holy of Holies without the need to move out again and repeat the sacrifice. Jesus' high priestly sacrificial work is complete and so he now dwells permanently in God's presence.
      v13. The old sacrificial system, with its shedding of blood, ashing, sprinkling of blood or sprinkling of the water of purification, had only a limited affect. The sacrificial system could only deal with cultic impurity caused by the inadvertent breaking of the law. Ritual cleansing (the writer uses the word "sanctify", but only in a limited sense), for example, could purify a person where they had come into contact with a corpse. So the system could make a person "outwardly clean", but was quite unable to deal with the stain of sin wilfully committed. The problem is, we have all knowingly broken God's perfect law.
      v14. The superior nature of Christ's sacrifice is now underlined. Christ's blood-sacrifice involved, not just the shedding of his physical blood, but the giving up of his whole spiritual being. The NIV capitalizes "Spirit" here in the sense of involving the Holy Spirit in Christ's sacrifice, but the writer is most likely speaking about Christ's eternal spiritual self. Yet, not only did Christ's sacrifice involve the offering of his eternal self, rather than that of an animal, the offering was a morally blameless, perfect sacrifice. The consequence of Christ's sacrifice involves spiritual cleansing, an inward cleansing of the soul, a washing away of the stain of sin, not just a washing away of outward ritual impurity. As a result of this cleansing, we begin to live in a Christlike way, we begin to be merciful as he is merciful.

The one true sacrifice
      In our passage for study, we are presented with a comparison between the character and benefits of Israel's sacrificial system and the character and benefits of Christ's sacrifice. Israel's high priest served in a man-made structure, a mere tent. He offered sacrifices which, although unblemished, were just animals, and he was forced to offer these sacrifices repeatedly. On the other hand, Christ, our high priest, has entered God's heavenly dwelling, a divine canopy. He has offered his eternal spiritual self, a perfect sacrifice, and one that does not need to be repeated. Israel's high priest could only achieve ritual purity for the people. Christ, our high priest, offered a sacrifice for sins which has completely cleansed his people from sin and obtained for us an eternal redemption that actually expresses itself in a renewed life of service to God.
      It's hard to believe that we could ever forget Christ's high priestly work and move back toward Israel's limited cultic system. Yet it's easy to do just that. Those of a catholic background can see the Mass, the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, as some outward act that can "sanctify" them, yet of itself it can only make us "outwardly clean." Those with a free-church background can see church attendance, Bible reading, even godly-living, as a mechanism for either gaining, maintaining or progressing their standing in the sight of the living God. The truth is, that although our piety may be worthy in itself, it cannot "cleanse our consciences", obtain our "eternal redemption", nor empower us to "serve the living God."
      Of our cleansing from sin Isaac Watts wrote: "But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away, A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they" (the blood of beasts). Sin no longer has a claim over us; we no longer stand guilty before the living God. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
      Of our redemption we are reminded that we who were once slaves, separated from the mercy and kindness of the living God, are now free. When Christ sets us free, we are free indeed.
      Of our service to the Lord we understand that our lives will never be lived in perfect harmony with God's will, but Christ certainly makes it possible for us to live with compassion.

v12
      oude di aiJmatoV tragwn kai moscwn "[he did not enter] by means of the blood of goats and calves" - Christ did not pass through the tent having offered an inferior blood-sacrifice. The writer generalizes the atonement blood-sacrifice which consisted of one bull, two rams and one he-goat.
      dia de tou idiou aiJmatoV "but ..... by his own blood" - dia here is probably "with" in the sense of means or agent (see above). Again, the imagery is of the high priestly sacrificial offerings which enable him to move into the tabernacle's inner sanctuary. Christ's move is sanctioned by offering a sacrifice which is "his own."
      efapax "once for all" - emphatic adverb used to emphasize the once only nature of Christ's sacrifice.
      euJramenoV (euJriskw) mid. part. "having obtained" - find. "Obtain" in the middle is common in classical use. Christ's sacrifice obtains for us ....
      aiwnian lutrwsin "eternal redemption" - Christ's sacrifice obtains an eternal purchase out of slavery, unlike that of the earthly atonement sacrifice which achieves only limited results and must be repeated.

v13
      spodoV damalewV "the ashes of a heifer" - Referring to the sin offering where the sacrifice of a red heifer's ashes are sprinkled on the outside of the tabernacle and added to the water of ritual purification, Num.19:4ff. This was possibly a high priestly duty, although not part of the day of atonement rituals. Probably the writer assumes the ritual is a high priestly duty and therefore includes it.
      rJantizousa (rJantizw) part. "sprinkled" - The sense of "sprinkled on those" either refers to the sprinkling of the water of purification or the sprinkling of blood on the people during the atonement sacrifice. For the writer, the details are unimportant since the effectiveness of the ritual is limited
      aJgiazei (aJgiazw) "sanctify" - The sanctification here is in the sense of the removal of cultic impurity. It is limited in that it is a "cleansing of the flesh" eg. the removal of cultic impurity caused by contact with a corpse, Num.19:11-23. The sanctification provided by Christ is of a totally different order in that it is of the inward being.