So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. (9.11-12)
The writer of Hebrews has been describing the tabernacle and the Day of Atonement, and then says that all of these were shadows that pointed to the reality of Christ. God paints a picture in the Old Testament, and then fulfills it in the New Testament.
He says, don’t you realize that all of those sacrifices never brought lasting cleansing? There was never a sure and abiding promise of the presence of God. That is why they had to be offered again and again, year after year. It was almost like those sacrifices postponed the judgment another year, put it on the credit card, and ultimately there was the need for someone to come and pay the balance.
What the writer of Hebrews is saying is that at the fullness of time, Christ comes, as it were, to settle accounts, to pay the balance and make lasting atonement for sin. Unlike the high priest, there was no need for Christ to offer sacrifices for his own sin. Instead of offering the blood of bulls and goats, he offers himself. His own body, and his own blood.
Notice, rather than demanding our blood, Jesus offers his own. Some people say, “I don’t like this angry God who requires blood.” But don’t you see that this portrait of God is different. Rather than demanding our blood, God offers his own.
Isn’t this amazing? That God would offer himself for us?
“Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Lord, thank you for what you’ve done so that I could come into your presence. Amen.
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