Hebrews Study: The Need for Blood :: By Sean Gooding

Lesson 32, Chapter 9:11-15

“¹¹ But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. ¹² Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for 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, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ¹⁵ And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

Last week, we made the point that the Law, the Old Testament Law, was not enough to save anyone. In Hebrews 9:9, we are told that sacrifices and gifts could not make the giver perfect. Perfection is what is required by God so that He can fellowship with us. Since we are born with a sin nature, it is impossible for us to be perfect and please God. A few pastor friends of mine and I are in the process of reading through the entire Bible in 90 days. Right now, we are reading in the Torah, and not too long ago, I read through the Torah myself. When one takes the time to tally the number of sacrifices that were required by God to cover man’s sins, and that cover was just for Israel, it is astonishing. If you will take the time to read through Numbers 28, you will see the requirements for the sacrifices. Just for an example, here is Numbers 28:1-8 (CEV):

The Lord told Moses to say to the people of Israel: Offer sacrifices to me at the appointed times of worship, so that I will smell the smoke and be pleased. Each day offer two rams a year old as sacrifices to please me. The animals must have nothing wrong with them; one will be sacrificed in the morning, and the other in the evening. Along with each of them, one kilogram of your finest flour mixed with a liter of olive oil must be offered as a grain sacrifice. This sacrifice to please me was first offered at Mount Sinai. Finally, along with each of these two sacrifices, a liter of wine must be poured on the altar as a drink offering. The second ram will be sacrificed that evening, along with the other offerings, just like the one sacrificed that morning. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will please me.”

Now, if we take just the required daily sacrifices, they were 2 per day; one at 9 am and one at 3 pm, called the morning and evening sacrifices. From the time that the Torah was given to the time of Jesus was about 1,500 years. The Jews operated on a 360 calendar, so 720 animals per year over the course of 1,500 years was 1,000,000 animals just for this one required sacrifice. Then there was the Passover, the Day of Atonement, the Wedding Feast, the Feast of Trumpets, then individual people had to offer sacrifices for their own sins. You can see the amount of bloodshed that was required to satisfy God’s perfection.

• Jesus offered His Own Blood, verse 12

Jesus came and put a stop to the need for millions of animals to die by offering His own blood as a payment for our sins. As our High Priest, He would have offered His blood to God as the full payment for our sins and stopped the ritual killing of millions of innocent animals. Jesus’ blood was enough because He, like God His Father, was perfect. So God the Father took the offering of perfect blood as enough to completely wipe out the sin debt of ALL people who put their faith and trust in Jesus as Savior. His perfection is transferred to us forever, and it cannot ever be revoked. You and I, children of God, are justified, declared righteous (Romans 5:1), and then we are no longer under condemnation or judgment, according to Romans 8:1.

• Now we can Serve God, verse 14

Now that we are truly washed in the blood of Jesus, we can serve God. There is a sect of ‘Christians’ that deny the need for a blood sacrifice. They claim that this kind of requirement is too base and too cruel for a loving God. They are lost, not saved, and in need of redemption. If one does not trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, that person is not saved.

Romans 10: 9-10, (MEV)

“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Notice that one has to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Thus, Jesus had to die to be raised from the dead. People keep trying to change the Gospel, but Paul tells us not to listen, not even if it looks like an angel. Only the Gospel we have about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is true. All else are lies from Hell. See Galatians 1:8 (NKJV):

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”

• Eternal Life, verse 15

We have an eternal inheritance in Jesus. Just a few minutes ago, I heard a man online trying to show why we cannot have ‘once saved, always saved.’ These folks think we can get our salvation by faith but keep it by works. What rubbish. We are saved and preserved by Jesus. When Jesus talked about losing Judas in John 17:12, called the ‘son of perdition’, the understanding is that Judas was never saved. He is called a devil in John 6: 70-71:

“Jesus answered them, ‘Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!’ He was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. For although Judas was one of the Twelve, he was later to betray Jesus” (Berean Study Bible).

Judas was selected to show us that one can do all the things like saved people and not be saved. You can attend meetings, even perform miracles and hold office (Judas was the Treasurer), but without faith and trust in Jesus as the Messiah, you are lost. I mentioned last week that one of the primary jobs of the true New Testament churches is to protect and proclaim the Gospel. The purity of the Gospel is essential. Without it, people who think they are saved go to Hell.

Lord, please have mercy on us. The end is near; make sure that you are saved and that those you love hear the true, pure, unadulterated Gospel. Jesus is the ONLY WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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