October 26, 2010, Hebrews 9

Key Verse:

"And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. "

(Hebrews 9:22)

Central Truth:

We will all die once on this Earth and face the consequences. By the death of Jesus Christ, He paid the ultimate sacrifice and will take care of our sins forever.

"SHEDDING OF BLOOD"
In this reading at the very beginning we look at how ceremonies were taking place. There was a big tent, called "The Holy Place," set up with a table, a lampstand, and the sacred bread. There was a smaller tent inside the bigger one that was called "the Holy of Holies." In this tent, there was gold incense with the gold ark of the covenant containing the gold urn of manna. The high priest was the only one allowed in the smaller tent as he offered a blood sacrifice not only for his own sins but for the people's sins too. This was only done once a year. This was later changed so that everyone could enter not only the big tent but the smaller one as well.

Jesus Christ changed the above for all of us by sacrificing his own blood for our sins. He did not use goat blood or the blood of a calf to sacrifice for His sins. Jesus Christ used His own blood and died for us on the cross. He was the ultimate sacrifice.

As we compare this to the old covenant stated above, Jesus Christ only had to do this one time. In the old covenant it was done once a year. If this was the case for forgiveness of sins, then Christ would have to repeatedly sacrifice Himself over the course of history, but He chose to sacrifice for us only once and for all, for all of our sins.

By Jesus Christ laying down His life for us, we can have eternal life with Him in Heaven's "tent," the most Holy Place.