Hebrews 9:11-14 (HCSB)
But the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), He entered the most holy place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?
The writer of Hebrews has just outlined how the atonement was made by the high priest serving in the earthly tabernacle and temple, sprinkling the mercy seat with the blood of a bull and a goat on the Day of Atonement. These sacrifices could only assuage God’s wrath toward the sins committed by the people. They were powerless to transform either heart or mind, and therefore powerless to transform lives and behaviors.
But Jesus never entered the Most Holy Place of the earthly temple. Instead, when His task of self-sacrifice was completed, He ascended into heaven, entering the real temple, the one of which the earthly temple was a mere representation, a symbol.
And He did not carry with Him the blood of a bull or a goat. Instead, He carried with Him His own holy blood, poured out before God’s throne as an offering to pay for the sins of not only the people of Israel, but to pay for the sins of the whole world.
And, unlike the blood of the bull and the goat, which could only provide an external cleansing, the blood of Jesus reaches all the way to the soul, not just cleansing, but transforming; not just forgiving, but making new. And this blood opens the way for the Holy Spirit to dwell within God’s people, continually molding and shaping us into the very image of Jesus, guiding us into all truth, helping us to discern God’s will, and empowering us to do it.
Father, there really is a massive difference between these two covenant sacrifices. The former was merely a shadow, a faint representation of what was to come. The problem was that those to whom You gave the Old Covenant had come to believe that it was perfect, and that it needed nothing more. So, they closed their hearts to Jesus when He appeared as the messenger who would complete the work You were doing by establishing the New Covenant in His own blood. Help me, Lord, to never grow cold and satisfied with where I am right now, so that I close You out of my future, and cut myself off from all that You want to do in and through me. Amen.