On Tuesday we talked about the blood that the high priest would take into the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle (and later in the temple) once a year. Today we talk about the blood that Christ, our great high priest, took into the Most Holy Place in heaven once and for all.
"But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation." (Hebrews 9:11) The author has already established in the book of Hebrews that the priesthood of Christ is greater than the Levitical priesthood. Now his readers must understand that the blood of Christ is more powerful than the blood of any other sacrifice. Because of this, Christ did not take His blood into the Most Holy Place on earth. He took His blood into the Most Holy Place in heaven where it was sprinkled on the mercy seat of God. In contrast to the blood the high priest would sprinkle on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant to obscure God's view of the tablets within---the tablets that represented all the laws the people could not keep---the blood of Christ forever covers our sins. When God looks upon those who belong to Christ, He sees the blood, not the sin.
I want to say something to you who have trusted in Christ for salvation: when God looks at you He doesn't see a list of all your failures and mistakes. Maybe you see yourself that way, but He doesn't. So why not allow Him to correct your vision? Why not start seeing yourself as God sees you? Your work for the kingdom of Christ, and the testimony you give about Christ, will be far more effective if others see that you've allowed God not only to transform your character but to transform your opinion of yourself too. You are the child of the living God! I know that Satan likes to throw up a "funhouse" type of mirror in front of us, a mirror that distorts what we see so that we think we still look like the old creatures we used to be. Whenever he does that, on the authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ you can say, "That's not what I look like! That's not who I am! I am a new creature in Christ!"
Because the sacrifice of Christ was superior to all others, it is able to redeem us from sin forever. It is not like the sacrifice the high priest had to make year after year. "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12)
"The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Hebrews 9:13-14) Earthly sacrifices of earthly things could only provide a temporary covering for sins. This blood could not transform a person from the inside out. The blood of the Man from heaven is not only capable of covering our sins forever, but is able to transform us from the inside out.
Nothing else can do for us what the blood of Christ can do. No amount of good works and no performing of religious rituals can cleanse us from sins and make us righteous in the eyes of a holy God. The more we concentrate on checking off a list of rules, the deeper we sink into unprofitable legalism and the farther we grow from forming a meaningful relationship from the One who created us. Only Christ can change us from the inside out. Only Christ can provide the redemptive sacrifice needed to make up for all the ways we've fallen short.
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