In The Blood - Hebrews 9

Many years ago there was a break-in where I worked. There was video surveillance, but it wasn’t very helpful. However, the perpetrator broke a window to enter the building, and when he did, he cut his finger. Once inside, he found a band-aid, which he put on his cut, but at some point before leaving, the band-aid came off. 

The police investigator found the band-aid, and after running various tests on the dried blood, the police stored the information in their computer system. About a year later, they picked up a man for a crime, and they did the same tests on his blood. It matched the blood from our incident, and they pinned our break-in on the man as well. 

Apparently, there is key information about each of us in our blood. This is interesting as it relates to faith in Jesus. In the church, we read about blood, we talk about it, we sing about it, we reference blood in our prayers. Now, obviously many people are made queasy or light-headed by the sight of blood. Scientists are not sure why it affects some people and not others, but for some, just seeing blood lowers their blood pressure and heart rate. 

A person may faint at the sight of blood. But whether or not you would pass out if you saw blood coming out of someone, we can all agree that if you see blood, it’s not normal and probably not good. We need our blood to live; in fact, Leviticus 17:11 in the OT says this.God states, “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” 

The Scriptures even say that blood speaks. In Genesis 4, when a man named Cain kills his brother Abel, God says to Cain, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.” Clearly, there is important information in the blood, and this chapter of Hebrews is very concerned with blood. 

But what does all this blood tell us? What does it mean? What did God intend for the blood to tell the ancient Israelites, and the original audience of the book of Hebrews, and the church today?

Well, three things, which are listed for you on page 7 of the WG. The blood tells us that a life must be given to satisfy the justice of God, a life has been given to satisfy God’s justice, and that our lives must be given not to satisfy God’s justice, but to magnify His glory. So let’s look at each of these.

In God’s covenant with Moses and the Israelites - a covenant rooted in the covenant God made years earlier with Abraham - God instructed the Israelites in now to set up a place to worship Him that reflected or resembled heaven. There were rules or “regulations” (you see in verse 1) for worshipping within that earthly copy of heaven. In that “tent” or “tabernacle” that was constructed, there were two sections, the first called “the Holy Place” and second called “the Most Holy Place,” or “the holy of holies.” 

Both sections held various items which had special meaning and purpose. The second section, the Most Holy Place, symbolized God’s holy, heavenly throne room and that section was the earthly place of the presence of God. Notice the end of verse 5, “Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” The contents of the tent were very important, but they did not contribute to the point that the writer of Hebrews makes in chapter 9.

His point surrounds the blood ritual which God required of the high priest. When all the “preparations,” had been made, with the tent and its contents set up for worship, then, notice verse 6, “the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, [7] but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.” There were regular rituals which numerous priests performed in the first section throughout the year for worship. They took turns burning incense, lighting the lampstand, and replacing the bread on the table. 

But these priests did not have access to God’s very presence in the second section. Only one man could pass through the curtain - the high priest - and for him to do so, blood was necessary. He would enter on the Day of Atonement, once a year, and he would take with him the blood first of a bull and then of a goat. He would sprinkle the bull’s blood on the ark to make atonement for the sins of himself and his family. He would then sprinkle the goat’s blood on the ark to atone for the sins of the people according to the commands of God in the covenant with Moses, which we typically call “the Old Covenant.” 

What was the meaning of the ritual? Look at verse [8] 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).” In other words, this old tabernacle set-up symbolized the reality that something else was necessary for sinful people to enter the holy presence of God. 

Remember, at the time when Hebrews was written, the Romans had not yet invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the temple where these rituals were still taking place. And here was the insufficiency of the old system, look at the rest of verse 9: “According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.” The repetitive nature of the priestly rituals, the blood and other things, could not assure the priest or the people that their sin had been dealt with completely. 

Instead, see verse [10], the rituals “deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.” The old system did have value. God commanded it and the people benefited from it. The rituals did not completely soothe the conscience or bring spiritual renewal, but what the rituals, and specifically the blood, did tell the people was that a life must be given to satisfy the justice of God.

Further down in Hebrews 9, we read, “It is appointed for man to die once.” I’m sure at some time you’ve made reservations at a restaurant or somewhere for vacation. Each of us has reservations with death. We have an appointment with death. One day our biological functions will cease. Why? Well, because, as Romans 6 clearly states, “The wages of sin is death.” In other words, sin earns death. Because we are sinners, death awaits us, to satisfy the justice of God. It is true that the way in which many people die is unjust and tragic. 

However, the death of any person does serve justice because the wages of sin is death. Whether someone lives to an old age or dies very young, they die because God’s justice demands life as the payment for sin. Earlier I mentioned Leviticus 17:11. That verse also says, “it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” God gives life, and God does justly require life as payment for sin.

At some point, you’ve known the feeling of shame, or regret, or guilt? That’s your conscience, your inner sense of morality, your inward sensitivity to God’s moral law. The Scriptures describe the conscience as something that can be deceived, defiled, damaged, or made insensitive to the truth. 

A healthy and sound conscience is a blessing. While we don’t want to remain in shame or regret, those things do remind us that the separation from God caused by our sin is very real. Our natural separation from God is as real as the shame, regret, and guilt that haunts us. We have this inner sense that we owe a tremendous debt, and God’s Word tells us that blood must be shed - a life must be given - for our guilt. 

But also, it was clearly God’s intention for the blood to tell us that a life has been given. Look at verse 11. “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 

[12] he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. The blood told the Israelites that a way needed to be made for them to draw near to God, but also, the blood demonstrated that God Himself was making that way.

God was doing something about sin. God was dealing with it. And Jesus provided his own blood for our entrance into the heavenly presence of God. It’s important to note here that while the writer is dismantling Judaism as he urges these followers of Jesus not to return to it, he does still have great respect for that old system as God’s ordained way of dealing with His people for so long. Notice his respect in verse [13] For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh (which they did, temporarily), [14] how 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.Their covenants and system were great for a time, but something greater had finally arrived, something which their own father Abraham had been promised by God.

Now, through Jesus Christ, they could be purified not only outwardly, but inwardly as well. They could be purified from their dead works, which means from sinful deeds, to serve, which could also be translated to worship, the living God. In Jesus, all the separation symbolized by the old tent set-up is removed. 

There is a great deal of continuity from the old covenant to the covenant with Christ. In the old covenant, the people received an earthly, temporary inheritance. In Christ, God’s people receive an inheritance, but it is everlasting; it is eternal. 

And with both, there is death and blood. In these next verses, the writer of Hebrews makes this interesting reference to a “will,” like you or I would make before we die. Look at verse 15, “Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant since a death has occurred [a substitutionary death] that redeems [or ransoms] them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. [16] For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.”  Through a will, you distribute what belongs to you.

The Greek word translated here as “will” is in other places translated as “covenant.” A covenant is like a will in that a life must be given for the will to go into effect. For your will to go into effect, you must die first. The same is true with a covenant. Notice verse [17] For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. [18] Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 

The old priestly blood ritual mimicked what Moses did when the old covenant went into effect, verse [19] For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, [20] saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” [21] And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. [22] Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. [23] Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites.” The blood told them that the death of a substitute was required for them to know God. 

But again, the continual rituals were proof that the job was not done completely. Look at the rest of verse 23, “but the heavenly things themselves  [were purified] with better sacrifices than these. [24] For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Not that heaven needs purification, but that the heirs of God, his people, must be purified or cleared of our guilt by the shedding of blood. 

The sacrifice of Jesus is better, verse [25] Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, [26] for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus doesn’t have to perform the blood ritual yearly, like the old high priest did. Imagine if Jesus had to endure the cross over and over again. 

Logically, if Jesus’ sacrifice was not enough to remove our debt, verse [26] he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” The blood tells us that a life has been given to satisfy God’s justice.

Perhaps you understand this, but you still wonder, “Why blood? Why does God demand life as the penalty for sin?” That’s a good question, and there is a good answer. Of course, God’s command alone is a sufficient answer. He is God, and we don’t know the reasons for everything that happens. 

But regarding the question of why blood, the 11th century church leader Anselm, whose prayer we used earlier in worship, makes an excellent point. He wrote that because God is infinite, our sin against Him brings upon us infinite guilt. Our sin against each is the sin of one finite person against another. But our sin against God is sin against an infinite person. The result is an infinite debt. And if you have an infinite debt, well then you must pay everything you have.

The blood - your life - is synonymous with “everything you have or ever will have.” Some folks have more money than others, or more possessions, or talents. But we all get one life, and without your life, everything else you have is irrelevant. In the beginning, God told Adam that if he sinned he would die, and since that time, all people die. 

But even your physical death cannot settle your infinite debt. The blood of an infinite person was required, and God provided that blood through Jesus Christ. And so the blood tells one more thing: that our lives must be given not to satisfy God’s justice, but to magnify His glory. Look at verse 27, the writer says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, [28] so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

If you are in Christ, he has dealt with your sin. You should wait eagerly for his return, and in the meantime, how should you live? In Romans chapter 12, the apostle Paul tells the church, “present your bodies [your lives] as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. [2] Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God accepts the life of Jesus Christ for your sins, but he still demands your life. He demands your whole life for His glory. We must not pour our blood once and we’re done; we must pour our lives daily to magnify the greatness and the holiness of the triune God!

Jesus told his disciples to pray that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. How about that - something on earth reflecting the reality of heaven! Have you given your whole self to Jesus? Have you placed all trust in his blood, and will you offer up your whole life - your blood, and all that you are - to follow Him?

Let’s bow in prayer.