Lesson 13: The Better Sacrifice (1) (-28)
Observation
Outline
Cleansing by the Blood of Christ (-15)
Purification and Remission of Sins
(-22)
Finality of Christ’s Offering (-28)
Key Words/Phrases
Blood, how much more, cleanse,
conscience, Mediator of the new covenant, redemption, eternal inheritance,
testament, death, purified, remission, heavens, better sacrifices, presence of
God, once, appeared, bear the sins, a second time, salvation.
Segment Analysis
1. The
blood of bulls and goats sanctifies externally. But the blood of Christ,
offered through the eternal Spirit, sanctifies internally by cleansing the
conscience.
2. Having
been cleansed from sin, our purpose in life is to serve God. But in order to be
true servants of God, our lives need to be free from “dead works”, that is,
free from sin and unrighteousness (cf. Rom 6:21-23). Serving God involves more
than offering our possessions. More essentially, we must be holy in all that we
do. We should no longer offer our bodies to sin as instruments of wickedness,
but we must always live in a manner that is pleasing to God (Rom -19; 12:1-2).
3. The
death of Christ.
4. The
foremost promise in the new covenant is the forgiveness of sins (). Christ’s death fulfills this promise
because His blood cleanses our conscience from sins. Since He has put the new
covenant into effect, Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant. Having been
cleansed of our sins, we also inherit the other promises in the new covenant,
namely, receiving a new heart to obey God’s laws, being God’s people, and
having a personal knowledge of God.
5. Eternal
inheritance (cf. 1Pet 1:3-4).
6. Verse
15 tells us that Christ was the Mediator of the new covenant by means of death.
Verses 16 and 17 explain why death is necessary for the testament (or covenant)
to take effect.
7. Even
the first covenant was dedicated with blood (18). According to the law, almost
all things are purified with blood, and without blood there is no remission
(22).
8. While
the way into the Most Holy Place
was not made manifest in the old covenant, Christ has now appeared before God’s
presence for us.
9. The
high priests entered the Most Holy Place
every year, but Christ has appeared at the end of the ages only once.
The high priests offered the blood
of another, but Christ offered the sacrifice of Himself.
No word is said about the high
priests’ offering being able to remove sin, but verse 26 tells us that Christ
has appeared to put away sin.
10. The
finality of death and judgment is analogous to the finality of Christ’s
offering and its effect. Just as death is the end of all men and judgment
follows death, Christ’s offering spells the end of all offerings, and salvation
results from this final offering.
While the death of all men functions
as an analogy for the offering of Christ, they also stand in sharp contrast at
the same time. The death of Christ is contrasted with the death of all men, and
the salvation that He brings is contrasted with the judgment that men must face
(cf. Rom -19). The offering of
Christ has changed the destiny of men. Because of Christ’s death, we who
believe in Him will not be condemned at the judgment but will receive
salvation.
11. He
will appear a second time to those who eagerly wait for Him. Eagerly waiting
for the Lord Jesus involves holding onto our faith with patience while living
holy and godly lives (Rom -25; Php -21;
2Pet -14; 1Jn 3:2-3)
