“Nor
did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the high priest
enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise
Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But
He has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin
by the sacrifice of Himself.” – Hebrews 9:25-26 (NIV)
In
the Old Testament, the payment system in place to cover man’s sins was the
blood of a spotless animal. There were also grain offerings and burnt
offerings, but blood must be spilled to cover the sins of a man. The key word
in that sentence is “cover”. These blood sacrifices were required annually and
you couldn’t perform them yourself; they had to be performed by a priest.
The significance of the above passage of scripture from Hebrews is that Christ gave Himself up willingly as the one true blood sacrifice that was sufficient to wipe out all of one’s sins once for all time. What the OT blood sacrifices covered, Christ’s blood sacrifice removed. I liken it to this: Take a red white board marker and write the word SIN. Now tape a piece of opaque paper over it. You can no longer see the SIN, but it is still there. Now write the word SIN in red again and then take the eraser and remove the SIN from the board. THIS is what Christ’s blood did for us. The board is clean … just as if we had never sinned in the first place.
Too many people have been duped into believing that they are good people who make mistakes, but are basically good, so it’s alright. God is for those that need a crutch to lean on. They don’t hurt others with their decisions. The fact is we are all inherently bad. We strive to do that which pleases us and are for the most part selfish, self-centered individuals. Even as believers who have received “the gift” of salvation, it is a struggle to ward off the old man who is suppressed, but still breathing within us.
The significance of the above passage of scripture from Hebrews is that Christ gave Himself up willingly as the one true blood sacrifice that was sufficient to wipe out all of one’s sins once for all time. What the OT blood sacrifices covered, Christ’s blood sacrifice removed. I liken it to this: Take a red white board marker and write the word SIN. Now tape a piece of opaque paper over it. You can no longer see the SIN, but it is still there. Now write the word SIN in red again and then take the eraser and remove the SIN from the board. THIS is what Christ’s blood did for us. The board is clean … just as if we had never sinned in the first place.
Too many people have been duped into believing that they are good people who make mistakes, but are basically good, so it’s alright. God is for those that need a crutch to lean on. They don’t hurt others with their decisions. The fact is we are all inherently bad. We strive to do that which pleases us and are for the most part selfish, self-centered individuals. Even as believers who have received “the gift” of salvation, it is a struggle to ward off the old man who is suppressed, but still breathing within us.
Understand
the significance of what Christ did all of mankind. You may not have asked for
it, but it is only because you were unaware of your need for it. Think about
all the pain and shame Christ willingly endured for each of us … and realize
that He would do it all again if necessary, to bring one more soul into God’s
kingdom. The good news in all this is that it is there for the taking … He never
need to go to the cross again. Amen! Until next time, walk with the King and be
a blessing!
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