Welcome to HeBrews: A Better Blend. We have been studying our way through the book of Hebrews this year and, at least for me, it has been such a magnificent journey. I hope you have been blessed in some measure.
HeBrews: A Better Blend
Today we finish up our look at the 9th chapter of Hebrews by focusing on verses 23 through 28. You may read them here from the NIV:
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Isn’t that stunning? Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice that would once and for all take away the sin of all mankind. Never again would one more lamb or goat or ram have to be slaughtered to cover sin temporarily. Never again would the priest have to limit himself to approaching God only once a year to offer a blood sacrifice for himself and the people. Never again would the Holy of Holies, the very throne room of God, be off limits to common man. Never! Jesus was the Better Priest who offered the Better Sacrifice, His very life, to atone for or cover my sin and yours. His death on the cross opened the way for us to visit with God any time we desire and for our hearts to be made clean.
In his insightful commentary on the book of Hebrews entitled Be Confident, Warren Wiersbe relates a story of sharing a conference with a Christian psychiatrist whose teachings were spot on biblically. The psychiatrist told Wiersbe that “the trouble with psychiatry is that it can only deal with symptoms. A psychiatrist can remove a patient’s feelings of guilt, but he cannot remove the guilt. It’s like a trucker loosening a fender on his truck so he won’t hear the motor knock. A patient can end up feeling better, but have two problems instead of one.” (Wiersbe P.113)
The sacrifice of Christ did something that the Old Testament sacrifices could never do. The Old Testament sacrifices symbolized the cleansing of sin, but could never cleanse the heart of the person. Jesus’ sacrifice accomplished the internal cleansing of the heart and made it possible for all who would accept Him to become new creations.
Paul confirms this in 2 Corinthians 5: 17 (NIV). Immerse yourself in the incredible wonderfulness of this verse!!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
PRAISE GOD!! The new has come!
MEDITATION MOMENT: Are you living as if you are a new creation or are you subsisting on the crumbs of a stale, unforgiven life? It’s your choice my friend.
