Study #7191
Jesus Christ is our Passover! Jesus Christ is our eternal High Priest! Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God!
[Hebrews 9:13] For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
[14] How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Only by His perfect sacrifice and His eternal Spirit returning unto us can our sins be forgiven and our souls be completely cleansed from all unrighteousness.
Next we will see how the death of Christ made it possible for us to claim the promises of our Father's Will, which is His testament.1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Are you a child of God? If so, did you know that your heavenly Father left you a "will", a testament, full of "goodly" promises and blessings, including the incredible promise of eternal redemption and salvation, which is the promise of eternal life... if?
In fact, "it is written" that many of those "goodly" things He has included in His will, i.e. has in store for those who love and serve Him, are beyond our wildest dreams and imaginations! 1 Cor. 2:9 "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart [mind] of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." The thing is, even though you are an heir, even a joint-heir with Christ under whose feet ALL THINGS have been put in subjection (Heb. 2:8), you must still step forward and claim those promises.
Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if
so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
In today's study, Paul is going to explain that it is because He did pay the price and became our High Priest, that He is now the one and only mediator of the New Covenant, which means the one and only mediator between us and God.
Hebrews 9:15 And for this cause [for this reason] He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
In other words, we no longer need the sacrifice of animals nor the intercession of fallible earthly high priests.
You see, it was by His death in becoming our Passover, the one and only sacrifice for our sins, that He made possible the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant which neither the blood of calves nor goats could permanently atone for.
We therefore need always remember that those things and rituals pertaining to the earthly tabernacle were but types and shadows of the real thing, which was Jesus Christ!
And when He entered into the Holy of Holies once and for all time He became our High Priest who now sits at the right hand of God as our advocate, making intercession for us!
Then too, it was also by His death that He made possible the promise of eternal inheritance, even salvation which is the promise of eternal life.
You see, our Father made out His will, His testament, and included many blessings and promises in it to be granted to His heirs, "those which are called" (vs. 15)!
Of course we all know that when someone makes a will, the things contained in that will do not become effective until the testator, the one who made the will, dies!
Therefore, the promises contained in God's testament to His heirs, such as redemption and eternal life, were only made possible by His death. That is one of the reasons why Jesus Christ died on the cross.
In other words, as Paul just said, He died so that those which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance!
The wonderful news is, that IF you are one of His, you can even step forward and claim some of those many blessings and promises "To Day"!
Paul now explains to us about "wills".
[16] For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
He or she must first die, then the will goes into effect and becomes legally binding.
[17] For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.[18] Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Paul documents that for us.
[19] For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Then Moses said the following when he instituted the Old Covenant:
Here is the verse in the Law from which Paul quoted:[20] Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Exodus 24:8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
Here are the words Christ spoke when He inaugurated the New Covenant:
Mark 14:24 And He said unto them, This is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for many.
Hebrew 9:21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
However, it is only the blood of the Lamb of God that can spiritually cleanse our souls and make our garments white: Rev. 7:14 "And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.
And he said to me, These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white
in the blood of the Lamb."
[22] And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Therefore, it was necessary that the "patterns" of things in the heavens, those physical representations (shadows) of the things that are spiritual, had to be purified (cleansed) with blood! But again, those "earthly" sacrifices were not able to cleanse the heavenly (spiritual) things.
It would take "better" sacrifices to accomplish that!
[23] It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
In other words, animals have no spirit; that can return to us and "purge our consciences" for evermore.
Only His "eternal spirit" can do that and give us comfort!
That is why we read in the next verse that Christ Himself never entered into the earthly Holy of Holies, but into heaven itself!
[24] For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
He never entered into the symbolic, worldly, model sanctuary made with flesh hands.
Again, He has entered into heaven itself and now sits on the right hand of the throne of His Majesty on high to make atonement and intercession FOR US!
Paul wrote it to Timothy like this: 1 Tim. 2:5 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
This means you can kiss all the keeping of certain days and rituals and traditions of men's do's and don'ts goodbye and good riddance!
[25] Nor yet that He should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
To that end, Paul wants us to be sure we know and understand that it is because Christ was the perfect unblemished Lamb of God and our High Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec, there are no more blood sacrifices required nor services of any other high priest needed... period!
Again, it was through His "eternal power" that He offered Himself to God and shed His blood one time and entered in the Holy of Holies once and for all time.
The reason this is such an important point to understand is because otherwise, without that "eternal power", Christ's sacrifice would not have applied to those who have already lived and died in the flesh, such as Adam and Eve, Noah, etc., who all lived and died in the flesh before He came to this earth and paid the price!
But He did appear "in the end of the world" and paid the price for all, even those all way back to the beginning of this earth age.
That is why it is written He went and preached unto the spirits in prison and offered salvation to all those who waited until the promise of His coming was fulfilled (1 Peter 3:19-20).
[26] For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
[27] And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Actually, Christ explained this in detail to Nicodemus in John chapter three.
The fact is, if a person is not willing to come down from above ("anothen" in Greek) and be born of woman, he or she cannot enter into the kingdom.
John goes on to explain that even Christ was willing to come down from above and be born of woman and tabernacle in the flesh!
Remember we discussed this in an earlier study?
Our Father did not ask His children to do anything He was not willing to do Himself, such as die once in the flesh!
Note: Since it is written that it is given unto all men ONCE to die, you can totally rule out the false doctrines of reincarnation.
[28] So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time
without sin unto salvation.
So stay steadfast in His Word and look to those heavenly things; for your redemption draweth nigh!
Luke 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.THEY HAVE BEGUN!
Watch, watchmen, watch!
READ ALL OF HEBREWS, WHERE PAUL TELLS US WHY it is so important for proclaiming Christians to study both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Live Link to> Hebrews
To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.
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