I came across this fitting comment that I want to share as we approach this serious bible passage.
If you can start the day without caffeine; if you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains; if you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles; if you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it; if you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time; if you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when through no fault of yours something goes wrong; if you can take criticism and blame without resentment; if you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend; if you can face the world without lies and deceit; if you can conquer tension without medical help; if you can sleep well at any time; if you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics;…
Then, you are almost as good as your dog. (Mike Atkinson, Mikey’s Funnies, 6-26-02, www.mikeysfunnies.com)
When it comes to living life ethically and morally, some people might find that a dog has more decency than they do.
While times since the writing of the book of Hebrews have changed, human nature hasn’t. The same mentality that characterized the audience of the book of Hebrews creeps into lives of countless people. In an attempt to soothe an uneasy conscience, ease doubts about personal worthiness, or make up for too many missteps, people turn their backs on God’s Grace and embrace a life of religion or in many cases avoid it all together via hedonism (love of self and recreation), somehow to find rest for their souls and relief for their consciences.
The writer was addressing Hebrew people who were very religious and because of that were very prone to lean on their culture and traditions to help them feel like moral people.
The message in Hebrews chapter 9 put an end to this kind of thinking with four words; “But when Christ appeared.” This message of Jesus’ work refutes continuing to perform external rituals for righteousness, and turns the attention from imperfect priests to the perfect High Priest Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 9 declares a better way to worship God without continuing religious rituals.
Hebrews 9:11-12 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; 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.
When Jesus died on the cross, His shed blood was a sacrifice for our sins. Then, He entered into heaven itself. He entered into the presence of God Himself; and there, He secured for those who trust Him an eternal redemption. That is to say, He purchased their forever freedom with His own blood!
The blood language might be a difficult idea for our culture. But it is an important fact that identifies Jesus Christ with the sacrificial animal for the purification of the Hebrew people. These acts were started in Leviticus 16 and 17, where God told Moses and Aaron that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” God continued and said “I have given it for you to make atonement for your lives on the alter.”
For a God-fearing person, blood, then, is used to purge impurity. Yet the message in this passage states that Jesus Christ’s sacrifice goes far beyond the purification of the flesh (outer person). There are major differences of the old ritual of purification. Besides the fact that the ritual was constantly repeated, Jesus blood sacrifice purifies our conscience. Something the old could never do.
The Apostle Paul wrote about it this way…
Ephesians 1:7-14
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of Jesus Christ and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan. God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.”
The Bible announces that every person who trusts in Him will enter into this relationship. Every person must trust Him and live life dependent upon Christ’s finished work…
HE WILL FORGIVE US FOREVER!
He will deliver you unceasingly. He will rescue you for all eternity.
In 2014 the Ebola virus was spreading all over West Africa, leading to a horrible, bloody death in most of its victims. Though urged to leave, Dr. Kent Brantly with Samaritan’s Purse stayed in Monrovia, Liberia, to care for sick Ebola patients. Then in July of that year (2014), he caught the Ebola virus himself. As his condition grew worse, he was flown to the United States in an air ambulance. However, before he left Liberia, one of his former patients, a 14-year-old Ebola survivor, gave him “a unit of blood” for a transfusion.
After his recovery in August 2014, Brantly donated his plasma to Samaritan’s Purse colleague Dr. Rick Sacra and freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, both of whom were receiving treatment for Ebola. Brantly, also donated some blood to another American Ebola patient, Dallas nurse Nina Pham.
Our bodies develop a defense when confronted with a virus, the immune system creates antibodies to specifically target the viruses, kill it, and keep it from coming back. Once a person has antibodies, they stay in their blood for life. If the Ebola antibodies found in an Ebola survivor’s blood can be imported into a struggling Ebola patient’s body, those antibodies can help the patient’s immune system fight off the deadly virus. Even though the sick person’s body is trying to make antibodies, an infection can be so overwhelming that the sick person’s immune system might not be able to keep up with the invading virus. As a result, the sooner someone gets a plasma transfusion, the more likely it is to help that person recover. (Sydney Lupkin, “Why Blood Transfusions from Ebola Survivor Dr. Ken Brantly Could Help Survivors,” ABC News, 10-14-14; www.PreachingToday.com)
In a much more potent and effective way, the blood of Christ cures the believer from much more than a deadly virus. He cleanses us of sin and guilt. Brantly’’s blood was effective in curing patients with Ebola, but those patients will eventually end up dying of some other condition. On the other hand, Christ’s blood is 100 percent effective in providing eternal life to everyone who is dying without hope. His blood that was sacrificed for us doesn’t just save us for this life. It saves people for all eternity!
To be saved means that God accepted Jesus’ blood payment on the cross for your sin. Trusting in Him means that your life is saved by His blood, but more importantly it is forever! If you haven’t done it already, trust Christ with your life and let Him set you free forever! More than that trust, Christ with your life, and…
HE WILL GIVE US A CLEAN CONSCIENCE.
The sacrifice of Christ goes beyond the purification of the flesh. It purifies our conscience from dead works to worship the living God.
He will deliver you from the bondage of condemnation. He will rescue you from the restriction of regret.
Hebrews 9:13-14 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?
Religious ritual can only make a person look clean on the outside. Christ’s blood cleans a person on the inside!
Since the author of Hebrews is speaking to a Jewish audience, he reminds them of a couple of Jewish rituals. One involved killing goats or bulls and sprinkling their blood for the “unclean.” The other involved, killing a red heifer, burning its carcass to ashes, and sprinkling those ashes on someone who had touched a dead body (Numbers 19). This made them ceremonially clean. It purified their flesh, i.e., it cleansed the outward body. On the other hand, Christ’s blood cleans the conscience! It purifies a person on the inside and outside!
When we try to satisfy a guilty conscience through religious rituals, through good deeds or through some act of penitence at best it is just cleaning on the outside. Now, doing good deeds can make you look good. But they are ineffective to clean your conscience on the inside. Verse 14 calls them “dead works.” i.e., no matter what you do, you can’t get rid of the debt of sin through works.
There is a Ziggy cartoon where Ziggy spots water dripping from the ceiling and says to himself, “I should fix the roof.” Then he notices how dirty the floor is and adds, “I should give the floor a good scrub, too.”
On a tour of his house, he also noted that he should fix the cracked plaster; he should clean out the closet; and he should use his time better.
In the end, Ziggy is sacked out in an easy chair telling himself, “I should stop should-ing myself.” (Fritz Ridenour, How to Be a Christian without Being Perfect, p.167)
The tremendous blessing of verse 14 states that under the blood of Jesus Christ a person is free from all the regrets and the bondage of self-condemnation and we can worship and approach God to worship Him.
It’s all about trusting in what Jesus has done for you. Notice, the Hebrew people are told to stop trusting in the “dead works” of a religious ritual, and start living life in dependence upon Christ. Trust Christ with your life, He will forgive you forever; and He will give you a clean conscience, and finally…
HE GIVES AN ETERNAL PROMISE.
This is the most amazing truth of the book of Hebrews. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ wipes out the consequences of sins committed under the old system and inaugurates the fellowship promised under the New Covenant.
Hebrews 9:15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order 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.
The New Covenant between us and God is a covenant with unconditional blessings for all who are “called” verse 15 says.
Those who receive this inheritance are “the called,” Holy partners in a heavenly calling.
So, who are “the called”? It is those who hear and believe God’s offer of eternal life. It is those who trust in the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And they receive the promised eternal inheritance.
- With His blood, Jesus bought your soul.
- He ransomed you from fear and God’s wrath.
- He redeemed you from sin,
- and now He gives you back to God
- and “we can worship Him in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24).
- That’s the condition of every believer in Christ.
Religion and rituals will never give anyone the kind of grace that trusting in Jesus Christ sacrifice can! Just like the Hebrew people, we are told to stop trusting in the “dead works” of religious ritual, and depend upon Christ shed blood. When we trust what Christ has done, we can worship God anytime and anyplace without any religious rituals.