Proclamation:
"In fact, the law
requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and
without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. It
was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified
with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these. For Christ did
not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; He
entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.
Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the
high priest enters the Most Holy Place every
year with blood that is not his own. Then
Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But
now He has appeared once for all at
the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and
after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to
take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to
bear sin, but to bring salvation to
those who are waiting for Him." Hebrews 9:22-28 (NIV)
Explanation:
The unknown human author of
The Bible Book of Hebrews wrote these words under the influence of The Holy
Spirit of God. Without the shedding of
blood there can be no forgiveness of sin. (Hebrews 9:22) The author wanted the people of God to know that
The Old Testament ritual of annual animal sacrifices by the High Priest for the
atonement of human sin was no longer necessary. (Leviticus 14:19) The blood shed by Jesus, The Christ, on that
cross at Calvary as He sacrificed Himself, as The Lamb of God once and for all,
was all that was needed to take away the sins of the world. (John 1:29)
Application:
The blood that Christ shed,
as He sacrificed Himself in our place, cleansed us from all of our sins. God, The Father, sees us only through the
blood of Jesus. His blood covers all of
our sins. Our salvation is only possible
because Christ paid the price for us with His blood. (Ephesians 1:7) Jesus, who was without sin, shed His blood
for us and for the remission of our sins.
He did for us something that we could not do for ourselves and we should
be eternally grateful.
