Will the blood of Christ...

Hebrews 9:11-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; ¹² and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

¹⁵ For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. ¹⁶ For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. ¹⁷ For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. ¹⁸ Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. ²² And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³ Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵ nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷ And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

In is important that we keep in mind that those who were receiving this letter, were Hebrews. They were believers in Christ who were learning the ways of disciples as compared to the way they lived under Jewish law and religious tradition. It can be more difficult for those of us who do not know the Jewish traditions and are not as familiar with the law, to fully appreciate how completely Jesus fulfills everything that the Jewish people looked forward to in the coming Messiah. Still there are valuable applications for us in what is written to the Hebrews. Today’s text begins:  When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?     For our own application, let’s look only at the last part of that:   Will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?   Rather than a question comparing the sacrifices of the law to the sacrifice of Christ, it becomes a question of our own believing and receiving. 1 Peter 3:18 says: Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.    Romans 6:10 says:  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. It is not a question of what Christ has done. Jesus died to pay the price for all sin, for all people, once for all. Jesus fulfilled the requirement of the sacrifice for sin, once for all. So the question for us is:  Will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?  1 Peter 3:18 says: that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.    Romans 6:10 says:  He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Through Jesus physical death we are also able to live for God.

John 3:16 says:  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   That speaks of the future promise that we have through believing in Christ. But we are also to live in the present promise of Jesus sacrifice. We are to live with cleansed consciences, that is without guilt or condemnation for our sin. Romans 8:1 says:  So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.    Hebrews 8:12 says:  "FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE."    Because of Jesus sacrifice for our sins, God no longer holds those sins against us so we can live with cleansed consciences. It is more though than just  that our consciences are cleansed. We are to serve the living God, not in dead works, but in living works.    In John 10:10 Jesus says:    “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   Our believing in Christ offers more than a promise for our future. Believing in Christ should be evident in our life, not only when we die. So the question for us is then:  Will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?    Will we live to serve God?    Will we be alive in the Spirit?   Jesus was raised from death. His call to His disciples was, “Follow Me.”  That is still how He calls those who believe. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus says:  “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”     Our cross is not to die for our sins, Jesus did that once for all. If we will follow Christ, like Jesus, we will have died to sin and self and we will live for God.

Today’s text ends saying:  Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.     May we be among those who eagerly await Him, as we live the abundant life He came to give, serving God.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for the sacrifice of the cross. I will live for You, cleansed from my sin, following You in the abundant life of the resurrection.  Amen.