What About Blood?
Hebrews 9:6-12
Is an ancient, bloody religion relevant today?
The great nineteenth century evangelist Dwight L. Moody, once said: SLIDE 2
“I must die, or have somebody to die for me. If the Bible doesn’t teach that, it doesn’t teach anything. And that is where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in!”
EOLS: the blood of Jesus is the superior, solitary and sufficient sacrifice which breaks down every wall, so you can be FREE!
Christianity is a bloody religion!
The world often doesn’t understand the symbols of our faith.
In a day where animal rights often eclipse “people rights”, many do not understand the ancient faith, and the rituals of that other world that has long since passed.
Can you imagine what an outcry would ring forth if we announced “Today we shall make a sin offering”, and I brought in an animal and cut its throat here on this podium and began to pour blood everywhere?
I remember reading of a Cuban man who recently threw a large barbecue. It was his daughter’s high school graduation and this first generation immigrant was proud of her, and what she had accomplished! No big deal? But then, the rest of the story emerges. It seems that this man didn’t just have a barbecue, he slaughtered, gutted and cooked sixteen goats in his back yard! I don’t think his neighbors were very happy!
Can you imagine what an average day looked like to the ancient Jew? Go with me in your mind’s eye. Each and every day, the outer court of first the Tabernacle, and later the Temple was a flurry of activity. It was the Cuban man’s backyard to the power of ten!
The blood flowed like a faucet! You could not go near the center of worship without your senses being bombarded by the crimson flow of death, and life. Alabama is not the original Crimson Tide…downtown Jerusalem was! The Tabernacle in the Wilderness was where the tide rolled!
Can you imagine with me the Day of Passover, when every single home in all of Israel was required to kill a “paschal lamb”?
Can you imagine with me the highest and holiest day in all of Judaism-Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement?
It was on this day only that the High Priest, and he alone could enter into the Most Holy Place, into the very manifest presence of God in order to make
propitiation (to appease God’s wrath and receive standing before Him) for the sins of Israel.
Today, I believe the Lord would have us look to this day, to receive a fresh anointing of the old truth…
It is the Day of Atonement that is spoken of in Hebrews 9, as the mystery of Blood is unveiled.
Leviticus 23:26-27
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 27“Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.
A number of years ago, I came to a real crossroads in my faith about this issue of blood. In prayer and study I began to ask God : “why blood...why animal sacrifice Lord…did it really take all those animals, all that blood to please You…couldn’t you have just spoken a word, and people would turn to you? For that matter, you are God, and all-powerful, why did you have your people go to such great lengths just to reach you?”
The key to the “blood question” lies in that the blood is the life of the flesh (Lev. 17:11). When God instituted Yom Kippur as the highest and holiest day in Israel, He said:
Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”
Blood is life! Life is in the Blood! Blood is absolutely necessary for atonement!
As God began to unfold this great truth in my heart, and I began to realize:
What better call , what better substance could God have used to communicate His Way, and His Truth and His Life to humankind?
That symbol had to speak loudly, and it had to speak with a clarion call.
It had to speak across centuries and generations, over cultures and customs.
It had to break down every wall, and every divide, it had to be able to melt the most calloused, murderous, vengeful and spiteful heart as well as to mend and heal the broken, despised, and lost heart
It had to speak in a common language.
It had to unite and coalesce every human being who ever walked the face of this planet
It had to be a dividing line, something that would act as a line of demarcation.
A Holy and Righteous God’s anger was against all of sinful mankind. Life for Life was the only acceptable propitiation!
So, Christ’s blood calls to us to day; He took His precious, sinless blood to the Mercy Seat in Heaven, forever finishing the work that would appease God’s wrath towards all who would ENTER IN!
The Blood speaks the same thing in AD 2001 as it did in 1420 BC…it is the common denominator of mankind…
Blood is the very essence of life!
Blood at once has a certain, very basic allure, and a very basic repulsion to the human mind…
It’s making some of you squeamish even as I speak of it.
Men from every age have attempted to understand its power.
Hollywood knows its draw, the occult hold it central; the devil knows its sacredness, and uses it for perverse, evil purposes.
My friends, the common chord of all humanity lies in the blood that courses through our veins.
It is by virtue of the very human, tainted blood that runs through our veins, every one of us have missed the mark. Human suffering is the order of our days, and we are all on a collision course with hell, lost and without Christ.
Blood is life, sin is death, and somebody’s got to pay…and we are hopeless and helpless to pay the price…
and the only acceptable currency is life for life! We don’t understand it fully, but it is an absolute, immutable law, more constant than any physical law.
The life is in the blood, and
Hebrews 9:22
And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
As we look to the Scriptures…
Our passage in Hebrews is the New Testament explanation, of that mysterious day of Atonement spoken of by Moses.
Atonement means “to cover”. Yom=Day and Kippur=Atonement
The Day of Atonement was a day of affliction, a day of mourning, where all of Israel could be made aware of their profoundly sinful condition, and the High Priest could go before God, and only once per year, into the Holy of Holies in order to make propitiation, to gain standing and to cover the sins of the people for one more year.
The English translation is a correct understanding of the concept..
AT-ONE ment, it was a day where Israel could be brought “at one” with God, as the High Priest interceded on behalf of all the people.
An interesting note: SLIDE 9
The Hebrew word “kaphar” used to describe atonement, is the same word which is used to describe Noah’s action as he “pitched” the ark within to seal it to protect the inhabitants from the waters of judgment.
Likewise, the blood of atonement was a “seal” or a “covering” to seal off the judgment of God from Israel…it was the “slime” or the “pitch” that sealed the ark of safety…and effectively “appeased” the wrath of God.
Introductory Concepts:
Lets look to our passage and begin to mine the truths that God would have us see…first
The Old versus the New
Verses 6 and 11 contrasted
THE OLD THINGS: vs 6
“These things” refers to first the Tabernacle, and later the more permanent Temple.
Three courts, lavishly decorated with gold, silver, brass, skins, fine wood…
dozens of Levites working continuously preparing worship services pleasing to Jehovah.
The Outer Court, The Holy Place, and The Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies.
It was an incredible sight…it was a dynamo of activity, as men sought to meet with God .
Every day the priests were busy meeting at the brazen altar, making sacrifice, gathering around the table of shewbread, filling the golden lampstand, keeping the coals hot on the incense altar which stood in between the inner Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place.
The Most Holy Place, however…was reserved, because it was the very residence of God. Man could only approach the Mercy Seat of God…the cover of the Ark of the Covenant…once per year. And then, the high priest only, and not without blood.
Beautiful, rich and ornate as it was, it was only a copy of the good things to come.
THE NEW THINGS: vs 11
JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS HAS ENTERED INTO THE “NEW THINGS”, the “GOOD THINGS”…
My friends the High Priest of our souls has entered into the heavenlies, to the very throne of God, with a sacrifice of His own blood…
and there He sits at His right hand TODAY, for us, in “the Good Things” …He is SEATED because His work is complete...it is done…it is FINISHED. YOU MAY ENTER! He is priest of the GOOD THINGS TO COME! The old is past, finished! The NEW AND LIVING WAY is here!
THE OLD PRIEST
Aaron, the brother of Moses, was the first High Priest instituted by God over Israel. He was an unlikely hero, a man whose doubt and unbelief at times were his undoing.
He had failures as a father. Two of his sons, Nadab and Abihu, offered “strange fire” to the Lord in his temple. As a result, God consumed them with fire.
He had key failures as a leader …under his watch, Israel fell into idol worship with the golden calf episode.
He almost died when he joined his sister in a power struggle against their brother Moses. He understood not only a very graphic reminder of God’s judgment when his sister was turned instantly into a leper
but also the value of true repentance, and God’s infinite grace and mercy, as Moses interceded on behalf of a repentant brother and sister. She was instantly healed.
It may have been here on this day, that Aaron’s ministry was birthed in his heart as he saw God’s mercy in action!
But today, Yom Kippur, the very human and very fallible Aaron was the leader of the civilized world …today He was the leader of Jehovah-Worship in all the earth…
In his daily priestly service, Aaron resembles a royal figure, as he officiates and directs the daily activities of the priests and Levites. God had set him before all of Israel as a spiritual leader and mediator. The office required pomp and ceremony! Normally, he wears grand robes, with ornate embroidery. He wears a huge ephod with twelve precious stones embedded in it. The Ephod holds Urrim and Thummim, the sacred lots used to discern the will of God. He wears a regal headdress with a brass band that says Holiness Unto The Lord. It is a grand sight. All of Israel is aware of His presence, and He has the attention of every eye. He is Israel’s mighty deliverer and hero in his service.
But today, Yom Kippur, Aaron is dressed very simply, in a white robe, so white that it is blinding to the eyes. He wears none of the colorful and gallant embroidery and such;
Today, the ephod and the mighty headdress are in their storage place.
Today , he looks more like a slave than a king.
I see a man with a mixed track record. I see a man of faults and failure.
I see a man who knows the Grace of God. He knows it’s real because it’s been demonstrated in his own life.
I believe that by the end of His life Aaron began to realize just how much He needed that Blood that he carried in his gnarled hands…as he brought the sacrifices to God in the Holy of Holies.
It was one man entering in, while the multitude was kept out…
I see Aaron as he entered the Holy of Holies with a censer full of coals and incense
( a literal smokescreen to blind him from the overpowering Presence of Jehovah, and symbolizing worship and prayer as the only acceptable prelude to the Presence of God).
And He Entered In With Blood In His Hands
7But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;
In Verse 12, the new way…the perfect way comes to light:
12Not 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
…I see the large bowl containing the hot, syrupy, fresh goat’s blood. I imagine its heady aroma rising above the magnificent, specially prepared sweet incense smoldering in a huge cloud, enveloping Aaron’s entire body.
Aaron knew his faults and his failures. Aaron realized his humanity, and his imperfections. Aaron knew that his office was only temporary and his days numbered…He realized that the flow of animal blood could only go so far, it was a perpetually necessary flow…it would never, ever do away with sin, it could only temporarily satisfy God’s justice as it reminded the people that life is required for life!
Could we slip into Aaron’s shoes for a moment?
As he looks at his own blood-spattered white garment, his crimson hands with drying blood now forming in the deep cracks in his trembling hands…he may have uttered a silent prayer to Jehovah…
How long, oh Lord can this go on? I have done my best to obey, but my performance will never put away the sin of this people!
Will my remaining sons carry on this ministry? Oh Lord, be merciful to them. Be merciful to your people Israel, as you have been to me.
Could it be oh Lord, that the One, your Deliverer, spoken of by Brother Moses in the Torah will be the One who will crush the head of the Enemy of our souls? Could it be Oh Lord, that the Mighty Scepter spoken of by Father Jacob who will never depart from the House of Judah, will be the one who can fulfill this ministry that you have given?
He looks at his bloody, messy appearance. He’s wearing the outfit of a servant…
“Lord, I understand that when I wear the Ephod that your Champion will be a great king…but My Lord, help me understand… when I enter your presence I do so without my robes and my headdress…I can only come before you with animal blood…
How long oh Lord ? Your people wait in mourning…longing for the Day…Even so Lord, Come!
The day of Atonement was anything but a celebration: it was a day of travail and repentance. It was a day when Israel acknowledged sin before the Lord, and their helplessness to put away their own sin.
And the bottom line was, and is…
The Life Is In The Blood, and the question of life and blood has been settled once and for all!
THE NEW PRIEST
Jesus Christ the Righteous, the Great High Priest of Our Faith entered once and for all into the Holy of Holies…in the Tabernacle which is not made with human hands…
He entered into the very throne room of His Father, carrying His own precious blood,
His life which had been poured out to provide a new and living way!
His blood calls to us some 3500 years after the first day of Atonement…it calls to us saying:
“Do not worship from afar! YOU HAVE STANDING BEFORE GOD! The way has been made! Enter in!”
And it’s only by blood…the precious blood of a living Savior…a better way!
It’s the greater High Priest…the one whose work is FOREVER COMPLETED and He is SEATED.
I. The Sacrifice of Christ’s Blood Was SUPERIOR- It was precious, innocent blood
12Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood
In Matthew 27:4, Judas Iscariot, consumed with his own sin proclaimed to the chief priest and elders…“I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood”. Judas recognized it, but Judas did not enter in.
As the innocent blood was shed upon the cross of Calvary, a dying thief proclaimed “ this man has done nothing wrong”
And as this common criminal hung upon the cross of Rome for crimes committed, He witnessed innocent blood being shed .
What greater picture could he have of the power of the Blood? The Son of God shedding his innocent blood within a few feet of him…and that very day, He was with the Savior…because of innocent blood shed.
I Peter 1:18-19
8knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
It was a voluntary sacrifice of obedience…. Philippians 2:5-11 He made himself…He took upon Him …
It was precious, innocent blood…shed voluntarily, and it was shed so that you could enter in.
Obedience is the essence of sacrifice
I Samuel 15:21
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
As the mighty King David reflected in repentance before the Lord…in a personal time of “atonement” and affliction, the Holy Spirit spoke through him…
Psalm 51:15-17
15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.
Do we understand what the Word of God is saying here? My dear friends… it was NEVER about rote sacrifice…it was never just about a performance or a bloody ritual! The sacrifice is the result of obedience! The Blood brings brokenness, the blood and the sacrifice bring the worshiper near to God in obedience and into a position where the Lord can pierce a heart of stone and recreate it into a contrite, broken heart of a worshiper…
The sacrifices of God are a BROKEN spirit…only a broken heart can worship…only a broken heart can receive…only a broken heart can cry out in desperation for the God who will meet your deepest need..
Are you ready to cry out to Him today? Are you broken by His blood sacrifice, upon the Cross of Calvary?
Can you see him, preparing the way into the Holy of Holies with His own innocent blood, so that YOU may enter in?
Not only was the sacrifice of blood SUPERIOR,
The Sacrifice of Christ’s Blood was SOLITARY
but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption
One Offering! One Time! It is a done-deal!
Hebrews 10:11-14
11And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Aaron had to repeat the sacrifices year, after year after year. The animal sacrifice was only symbolic, it was not efficacious…capable of producing the desired effect.
There is no more offering for sin! Worshippers are forever perfected!
My friends, if we can assimilate this truth…that the work has been completed, the blood has been shed, and the price has been paid, then our works-based, performance based mentality of serving God will fall into oblivion!
It was precious, righteous blood that was shed one-time!
When we fall into the very human trap of working for reward… “if I can just do one more thing He will accept me…” then we denigrate the one time SOLITARY sacrifice of blood that was shed by a suffering Savior; the BLOOD that was shed by the Lamb of God as a once and for all way of ATONEMENT.
Through the one-time blood sacrifice of Christ we are at peace with God!
Colossians 1:19-20
9For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
CEASE YOUR FUTILE EFFORTS! My friends we cannot earn our way in, we cannot perform our way in. We cannot make another sacrifice which will somehow open the way…it is already once and forever OPEN!
ENTER IN, BY HIM my friend…the way has been made! Don’t stand on the outside and try to earn your way in! Come and worship! Come and be broken, and be made WHOLE.
Only by Blood…
Not only was the blood of Jesus Christ a superior, solitary sacrifice…
The Sacrifice of Blood Was SUFFICIENT
14how 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?
Aaron’s sacrifices were external. They could, through works and obedience, demonstrate outward cleanliness.
13For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh
The “blood of bulls and goats” refers to the day of Atonement, the subject at hand.
“Ashes of a heifer” speaks of the “ceremonial law” of Numbers 19, whereby a person could be cleansed after coming into contact with a corpse. The ceremonial law contained dozens of regulations which God gave to Israel in order to set them apart from the surrounding pagan culture, and for health and cleanliness.
Collectively, the apostle to the Hebrews is referring to “the externals”. All of the ceremonial law, all of the feasts, the “good Jew” could present themselves to God, clean in all aspects…on the outside. It speaks of an external, fleshly cleanliness.
How many of us here today, are able to put on a good show? How many of us have it all together…on the outside…
But how many of us are a hurting mess on the inside…because of the past, because of the present…
Consider for a moment, the Pharisee of Pharisees…the Apostle Paul
Paul was “as clean as they come”…by all external standards. He was the perfect Jew…outwardly clean in every respect.
He thought he was serving God by all of his externals and his drive to succeed…yet he was persecuting the Son of God! His external show had him on a collision course with hell.
What is it that could cause a man to forget his past as a killer and persecutor of Christians, and motivate him to teach Jesus Christ crucified, risen and coming again to the despised Gentiles? Why was his past irrelevant?
Would you be able to forget a past like that?
It was the internal cleansing…the cleansing of the conscience that comes by the sacrifice of Blood!
Look at VERSE 14!
14how 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?
Paul was a free man! He understood that by Christ’s innocent, precious blood he was
Justified and reconciled to God!.
Romans 5:8-9
8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
We have been justified (made as though we had never sinned) through His Blood! Our sins are not covered…they are GONE!
We can be FREE!
Tell me dear friend without Christ…if you could put away your past and have your conscience totally cleansed, would you draw near to the One who loves you, and gave Himself for you? HE CALLS TO YOU TODAY…ENTER IN!
Tell me dear Christian friend, if you could put away your past, have your conscience totally cleansed, would it empower you to serve the One who made the way for you?
Aaron saw it coming, in the bowl of goat blood that he held in his hand…
The thief on the cross saw it in progress, as he witnessed innocent blood being spilled for him…
Paul saw that it was done when he said in Philippians 3:13-14
… forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The High Priest of Our Salvation is here today…ready to meet your need.
His Blood Calls To You…It is SUPERIOR, it is SOLITARY , and it is SUFFICIENT BLOOD.
It is a sacred, Holy thing…
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!He is here, today…The Great High Priest whose blood was shed…so that you could have LIFE.
His blood has been offered…and it is available to you today. It is LIFE for LIFE. Someone had to pay…and Someone did pay…and He has made an everlasting covenant of blood with His people…
His Precious Blood breaks down every wall that will keep you from the Holy of Holies…it breaks down every barrier so that you may enter in…it
Reaches to you today…no matter what your spiritual condition may be!
Just as Aaron broke through the Veil, and into the Holy of Holies, once per year and only by blood; The Blood of Jesus breaks through EVERY wall which would keep you from Him, into the Holy of Holies…in the Hiding Place, in intimate fellowship with Him. The blood was shed that day, and the veil was torn. But walls develop in our lives which would keep us from walking in to the Mercy Seat.
Three Walls that Blood Breaks through:
Wall One:
I don’t feel that I need forgiveness…I have no confession… I’m a good person!
My friend, you’ve got the blood of an innocent man, the Lamb of God, all over your hands. You are dead in your sins. Look to the blood that was shed on the Cross of Calvary…consider your past…consider your present, consider your future. If you stand before God today, what do you bring? If you should step into eternity before you reach your home today, what will be your eternal destiny?
Will your good works be enough? How many good works are needed? How will you know when it’s enough. Do you really think you’d be ok to offer your works to God? If God deals with us in works, He is by definition arbitrary and capricious…and we must live our days in fear…and striving to do more and more…to enter His favor…working our way into His Grace.
Does it sound familiar? I’ve just described every world religion known to man.
Jesus reached down to mankind, He condescended to man, and His Blood was His Life that He imparted, so that you can have life, and have it more abundantly! Christianity is about a blood relationship! You are invited today.
The High Priest is here…an innocent sacrifice of blood is before you, and for you today…
Wall Two:
God can never, ever forgive me…I am without hope and lost…you don’t know what I’ve done.
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. Romans 3:23 says “the wages of sin is death”…all sin leads to death, and by virtue of the tainted, corrupt blood that runs in our veins, we are on a collision course with hell.
The Blood of Jesus is here to cleanse you today.. I Peter 1: 18-21
18knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
You were purchased, from before the foundation of the world, by the Precious Blood of Christ! Look to the Cross! Look to the Blood! It is the very life of God, and it is here for you today. The High Priest is here. The work is done. He is calling to you to come and give your life to Him.
Today is the day for you to enter in, lost one. The way has been made with a precious sacrifice of innocent blood
Your High Priest is here, ready to accept you by his precious Blood today…
His name is Jesus
Wall Three
To the Christian who has wandered far off…
You just don’t understand…I’ve made such a mess…I can never be back where I was with God…
No friend, you don’t understand…you’ve underestimated the power of the Precious blood of Christ…the enemy of your soul HATES it…He wants you to believe that there is no more forgiveness for you…that you are “too far gone”…
In the final great chapter of praise, the Revelation, John tells us that the precious, innocent Blood of the Lamb is chief among our weapons against the accuser of the brethren!
Revelation 12:-11
11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
My friend, do not underestimate the power of the Blood of Christ! Walk in newness of life!
The Blood of Jesus Christ speaks “PAID IN FULL, you are FREE!”
Come on In!
Ephesians 2:13-18
13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
I John 1:7-10
“If we walk in the light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another , and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
If you have been away, and you don’t know where to begin…
Go back to the last thing He spoke to you,
Go back to that time when you knew Him and walked intimately with Him
You’ll find Him there, arms open wide.
Go by way of Blood…
Your High Priest is Here…waiting
His name is Jesus.
INVITATION AND PRAYER/WORSHIP
