But three days after his death, Jesus was resurrected by God as a spirit. (1 Peter 3:18) Then he could enter the Most Holy compartment of God’s spiritual temple​—heaven itself. And this is precisely what happened. Paul writes: “Christ entered, not into a holy place [evidently referring to the Most Holy] made with hands, which is a copy of the reality, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the person of God for us.”​—Hebrews 9:24.

10. What did Jesus do upon returning to heaven?

¹⁰ In heaven, Jesus ‘spattered the blood’ of his sacrifice by presenting the ransoming value of his lifeblood to Jehovah. Yet, Jesus did more. Shortly before his death, he had told his followers: “I am going my way to prepare a place for you. Also, if I go my way and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you home to myself, that where I am you also may be.” (John 14:2, 3) So by gaining entrance into the Most Holy, or heaven, Jesus opened the way for others to follow. (Hebrews 6:19, 20) These individuals, who would number 144,000, would serve as underpriests in God’s spiritual temple arrangement. (Revelation 7:4; 14:1; 20:6) Just as the high priest of Israel first took the blood of the bull into the Most Holy to atone for the sins of the priests, the value of Jesus’ shed blood was first applied to these 144,000 underpriests.b