May 25th 2019 – Hebrews 9:11-15

"11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant."

Hebrews 9:11-15

The contrast between the old and the new is continued in these verses, and this time emphasis is laid upon the blood of Christ as over against the blood of bulls and goats. There is a whole theology embedded in these words. We may look at it this way: why could the blood of bulls and goats not cleanse away sin? Precisely because bulls and goats are not moral beings and therefore their blood could have no moral value. The word 'blood' in Scripture signifies life laid down in sacrifice, and to speak of the blood of Christ means the sacrificial death that He died. Now why was His blood efficacious? Because it was the blood of One Who had never sinned. He 'offered Himself without spot' to God. That is the all-important factor. The sacrifice He made was of a life that was pure and spotless and holy and consequently wholly well-pleasing to God. This is the atoning element in Christ's work. God is holy, and demands holiness from His creatures, and nothing but this will satisfy Him. But holiness is what no man can offer God, for all have sinned and come short of His glory. But Christ offered Himself without spot on our behalf, and atoned for our lack of holiness by offering Himself in our place, laying on the altar of sacrifice a perfect righteousness, thus making up to God for what we could never give Him. It is this that gives His blood such infinite value and explains the phrase in 14, 'How much more….' It is indeed the dynamic of the gospel, and the repository of all saving and sanctifying power for the lives of men.