11/10/24

The Blood of Christ

THE MAIN IDEA
The blood of Christ will never, ever fail us. 


OUR COVENANT IS IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS
Hebrews compares and contrasts Judaism, the old covenant, with Christianity, the new covenant. And it basically makes the case  that Christianity is the natural and necessary fulfillment and completion of Judaism. Covenant is  one of the key concepts in the Bible, and our covenant with God is being highlighted here. The  OT tabernacle and temple, as well as all the artifacts in them pointed to the covenant God  established with His people through the law of Moses. But by the time that the author of  Hebrews wrote any of this, those artifacts no longer existed. God’s plan, however, was to  establish His covenant with all peoples not with anything perishable, but with the blood of Jesus  Christ. 


OUR ATONEMENT IS IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS
Atonement means making payment or  making amends for something a person does wrong. Under the old covenant, the priests would  sacrifice animals twice a day—morning and evening. During annual festivals, the people were  required to sacrifice animals to make atonement for their sins. And then once a year, during the  Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the appointed high priest and only the high priest, would enter  the Most Holy Place with the blood of sacrificed animals to atone for his own sins and the sins of  the people, but only for accidental sins. The animal sacrifices symbolized and reminded the  people of God’s mercy and grace, which would not be available to them except through their  covenant relationship with God. However, the repetition of these rituals and the reality of death  revealed that the entire sacrificial system was limited. And so, while it is important to attend  church faithfully, to serve faithfully, to study God’s word faithfully, and to pray faithfully, no  religious ritual, no spiritual discipline that WE do can ever wash away our sins. Only the blood  of Jesus can do that. 


OUR SERVICE IS IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS
Verses 11-14 emphasize that Christ is the  answer, the solution, the fulfillment, and the completion of the first covenant. The verses get our  attention and wake us up to the one thing that is real and true and good and holy: Jesus Christ  and the covenant that we have in His blood. Where everything else fails, the blood of Jesus  Christ never fails. Family, career, education, even vacations are good. But if those things, in our  hearts, are more important and good than following Jesus as the Lord of our lives (as  demonstrated through our priorities and actions), then our idolatry needs to be toppled over and  overthrown in our hearts. The word of God is clear from beginning to end: God has both made atonement for us and established His unchanging, eternal covenant with us through the blood of  Jesus Christ, His Son, so that we might serve the living God (verse 14). In the Bible, to serve the  living God always means to worship God. We glorify God through our worship. And worship in  the Bible is never about just coming to church for an hour or two on Sundays but about devoting  our whole lives to Him. Biblically, worship begins with receiving from God the riches of His  love, mercy, and grace, and then giving unto God the glory that is due to Him. Worship is about  receiving first and then giving. That is true and proper worship. 


DISCUSSION
Human relationships are almost always “transactional” in nature. What are  some examples of the “transactional” nature of human relationships? How is our covenant  relationship with God, as explained here, different from the transactional nature of human  relationships?