Tag: Hebrews 9:14
New Covenant Realities
Scripture reading for December 12: Hebrews 6-10
I love new things! Old things are nice to collect, but new things are more up to date. However, change and adoption of the new is difficult when we have to learn the new. This is what happened to many Jewish believers in the time of the letter to the Hebrews. The author spent time explaining the New Covenant and how it was better than the Old Covenant.
The Old Covenant had laws and requirements for those who broke those laws. The Old Covenant had promises for those who obeyed and warning for those who didn’t. Moses, God’s servant, was the mediator of the Old Covenant and Aaron and the Levites were the high priest and priesthood. These were men who had failings themselves and eventually died. The Old Covenant had a mobile tabernacle carried by the Levites, and God could only be visited at prescribed times by a certain few people. In fact, only Aaron the high priest could go in the Holy of Holies to meet with God once a year.
Under the New Covenant, Jesus Christ, God’s Son is the Mediator. He was perfectly obedient to the Old Covenant while here on earth and then could willingly become the sacrifice for laws broken under the Old Covenant. He could forgive sins and cleanse from sin, not just cover them temporarily. In Him, God would remember our sins no more! We would be adopted into God’s family as sons and daughters. We receive the gift of eternal life and a full inheritance in God’s family.
Jesus’ sacrifice was better because His body and blood were without sin. He offered it once for all to put away sin. (Hebrews 9:14) His blood was offered in heaven on the heavenly mercy seat when He rose from the dead. He lives forever and is able to be a perfect High Priest. (Hebrews 6:20) He can identify with us because He is a man and has lived on earth, experiencing our temptations. (Hebrews 4:15-16)
When we trust in Christ and His sacrifice for us, God gives us a new heart and sends His Spirit to live in us. (Hebrews 8:10-12) We become priests of the New Covenant here on earth! Our sins are forgiven and erased from God’s memory. We become the new dwelling place of God, living stones in His new body the church. We become children of our Father and can approach Him boldly without fear to find help in times of need or just to worship and have fellowship.
New Covenant people love to gather together and encourage each other. We know Jesus Christ is coming soon! We want to be ready and reach as many as possible before the full reality is unveiled when He appears! (Hebrews 10:19-25)
Once for All!
Scripture reading for August 18th: Hebrews 9
Key Scriptures: Hebrews 9:24-27 “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeated since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.”
The Hebrews Jewish believers were familiar with the Old Testament sacrifices which had been offered by priests for hundreds of years. They had to be offered over and over because they were imperfect and just a type of the final sacrifice. They were offered in an earthly tabernacle and then the temple at Jerusalem. This was also a type or model of the true temple in Heaven where God Himself was enthroned. The writer of Hebrews states that the resurrected Jesus Christ entered heaven itself with His own blood once for all to offer the last and perfect Sacrifice for the sins of the world. This sacrifice would be efficacious for all time, available for access by faith in Jesus Christ, the enthroned High Priest Who ever lives to make intercession for us. Jesus Christ is coming again! He will not deal with sin but will fulfill His promise of eternal life and a transformed body to all who are eagerly waiting by faith for Him!
Hebrews 9:14 “. . .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.”
Faith confession and prayer: Father God, thank You for sending Jesus Christ as the final Sacrifice for the sins of all the world. You left no one out and included all who would repent and believe! I am a citizen of heaven and await my Savior Jesus Christ and my full salvation of a glorious body like His glorious body. Fill me with the Holy Spirit today to empower me to be ready and share Christ’s great love and Good News!
Philippians 3:20-21 “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.”
Thankful for Christ’s covering!
Scripture reading for January 30th: Leviticus 2-5
Key Scriptures: Leviticus 5:5-6 “When anyone is guilty in any of these ways, he must confess in what way he has sinned and as a penalty for the sin he has committed, he must bring to the Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.”
When a person committed an unintentional sin under the Old Covenant, they must confess their sin and bring a sin offering. This was an animal, without blemish, to sacrifice to cover the sin. The priest confessed the sin over the animal and killed it, taking the blood and sprinkling it before the Lord. In this way sin was covered over.
Thanksgiving: We are so thankful that in Christ Jesus, we have the perfect blood already sprinkled on Heaven’s Mercy Seat. He is our High Priest as well! “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 9:14)