Hebrews 9 has a lot to say about the blood of Christ. The key phrase is “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (vs 22) In the Old Testament, forgiveness was obtained through continual sacrifices. Annually there was the Day of Atonement, created by God as a corporate time of forgiveness. But throughout the year there were sacrifices for when an individual needed forgiveness. There was a need for constant shedding of blood because those sacrifices were imperfect as were the people offering the sacrifice. No matter how many sacrifices were made more had to be made.
Jesus provided the once and eternal sacrifice (v15) because he was both the perfect high priest and the perfect sacrificial lamb. It is His blood that provides forgiveness. It is His blood that washes us clean. Only one sacrifice was needed because the one offering the sacrifice was perfect and the sacrificial lamb was perfect. The shedding of blood was needed only that one perfect time.
We are not perfect. Nothing we do or say can make us perfect. But the blood of Jesus shed on that one day has the power to forgive and make us acceptable to God. Faith in Jesus—the sacrifice He made on the cross, the shedding of His own blood, and Jesus’ resurrection that validated the perfect sacrifice—faith in the blood brings us forgiveness. We may not be perfect but when covered by the blood of Jesus, God see only perfection. Let’s move, in faith, in the blood of the Lamb.
Read Leviticus 4:27-31 with the question in your mind, how has Christ’s blood become far superior to the old law. How will you respond?
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. -Revelation 1:5-6
