Checking my account . . .

 

READ Hebrews 9–13

If someone put a million dollars in my bank account, my spending habits would change. But what if I didn’t know the funds were there? I’d likely remain my penny-pinching self. This illustrates the importance of knowing what I have in Christ and the better I know it, the more my life changes.

Hebrews was written to believers experiencing trials and needed to realize the fullness of what Christ did so they could face the challenges of being Christian in a contrary world. The author of Hebrews relates that reality in several ways. This section begins with this statement:

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:11–14)

Christ is “the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.” He died and His death “redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant” a covenant that they failed to keep. The sacrifices of animals was not sufficient to remove their sin even though “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (9:22)

Christ entered “not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things” but into heaven itself to “appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” He did not need to do this repeatedly like those OT priests and suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But He “appeared once for all . . .  to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (9:24–28)

This is an important clue to OT salvation: it was never through the sacrifices because the law was only “a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” and could not make perfect those who draw near because “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (10:1-4)

Instead, salvation came to those who in faith looked forward to the One who would come, the Messiah God promised to “those who are eagerly waiting for him.” This is salvation by faith, not by law.

When Christ came, “by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” and says, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more” and “there is no longer any offering for sin.” (10:14–18)

In other words, those with faith have redemption in their account by their faith not by law-keeping. The sacrifices were intended to be a result of that faith, not rituals that became meaningless.

So now what? Just as money in my bank would change my life, this redemption to my spiritual account changes the way I live. Hebrews says it this way:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us . . . let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience . . . . Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful . . . . For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries . . . . How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (10:19–31)

Thankfully, assurance is given: “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (10:39) The world, the flesh, and my spiritual enemies shout otherwise, therefore I need to continually remember, read and study what God has put to my account and as 12:1-3 says, keep my eyes on Jesus. He alone secured my salvation!