Redemptions Compared

One of today's readings came from Hebrews 9. In this passage we see the comparison between how the Jewish priests performed the rites of redemption, and then what Christ did as priest.

The first ten verses of this chapter describe what the tent was like. It had divided sections...areas where the priests could go, and only certain priests could in certain places but only after the appropriate sacrifices were made. The reasoning for this is found in verse 8 and 9:

By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9(which is symbolic for the present age).

BUT THEN Christ came along as High Priest. He was, as we already know from reading earlier in Hebrews, a different sort of priest. :)

He didn't need blood of goats and such like in order to enter the Holy Place. He died. He gave his own blood. It was a once and for all lifetime action. Instead of only being able to come in once a year, through the offering of goats and lambs (defiled blood because sin affects everything), he got rid of all that. :) His blood is pure and undefiled.

As we read in vv 13-14

13For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14how 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.

Doesn't it just show the greatness of who Christ is? :)

Christ only had to die once. For he was fully human and fully divine. He could only die once because "it is appointed to man to die once". What he did had to be complete. I liked how Matthew Henry put it

. Nothing more destroys the faith of the gospel, than by any means to weaken the direct power of the blood of Christ. The depth of the mystery of the sacrifice of Christ, we cannot dive into, the height we cannot comprehend. We cannot search out the greatness of it, or the wisdom, the love, the grace that is in it. But in considering the sacrifice of Christ, faith finds life, food, and refreshment.

Christ's blood and how it all works is to me somewhat a mystery....but it doesn't change that what he did, that he died for me, it is my life, it is what sustains me. Those who try to nullify it, are doing a disservice to themselves and to the gospel. Without Christ's death, all that we believe is worthless.

And to think...Christ is coming again. He will come "not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." And 'tis indeed a thing to look forward to.

I used helps from various commentators who did a much better job at going through this passage then I did. Check them out:
A Critical Commentary, John Darby, The Geneva Study Bible, B. W. Johnson, and Wesley. Check them out if you want to know more. :)