The Blood of Jesus - Jeremiah 51-52 and Hebrews 9
We don't like to think about blood. Blood makes us think of pain and the possibility of death. However, the Bible tells us that the life is in the blood, too. Therefore, there is something special about blood for us to consider. Human blood is precious, but the blood of Jesus is even more valuable. Let's think about the significance of the blood of Jesus this morning.
Jeremiah ended with a final word of the fall of Babylon and the fall of Jerusalem. Both fell because God was punishing sin. The wages of sin is death. Sin leads to destruction. God has to punish sin. He did so very definitively in both of these cases, and a lot of human blood was shed. God wanted them to see the seriousness of sin and to repent of it, so it would not continue to destroy them. Judah learned their lesson and turned to God after the exile, but the city of Babylon was never inhabited again, and it never will be inhabited again. God hates sin. Do we understand that or not?
Because God hates sin, He sent Jesus as our sacrifice and our high priest, so our sins could be forgiven. In the Old Covenant the high priest had to take the blood of the sacrifice into the holiest place and sprinkle it on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant once a year. That blood atoned for the sins of the people of Israel for one year. They still had to turn to God in faith, but He had made a way for their sins to be paid for. When Jesus died, He shed His unique blood for the sins of the whole world. How did this work? He died and He went to heaven, where He entered the Temple of Heaven and there He placed His blood on the mercy seat for us. His sacrifice was given once, and the blood was placed there once, so that all who turn to Him in faith can be saved once and for all. He paid His blood for the sins of the world. His blood was the price of atonement. God died in our place. Yes, the wages of sin is death, so Jesus died. There is no remission without the shedding of blood, so Jesus shed His blood for our sins. Then, He made it official by entering the holiest place in heaven for us. That is why we believe that "nothing but the blood" of Jesus can wash away our sins. Will you thank Him today and every day for doing what you could not do for yourself? Will you thank Him for loving the whole world? Will you give your life to Him? That is our only proper response to the blood of Jesus.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Lamentations 1-2 and Hebrews 10:1-18.
Jeremiah ended with a final word of the fall of Babylon and the fall of Jerusalem. Both fell because God was punishing sin. The wages of sin is death. Sin leads to destruction. God has to punish sin. He did so very definitively in both of these cases, and a lot of human blood was shed. God wanted them to see the seriousness of sin and to repent of it, so it would not continue to destroy them. Judah learned their lesson and turned to God after the exile, but the city of Babylon was never inhabited again, and it never will be inhabited again. God hates sin. Do we understand that or not?
Because God hates sin, He sent Jesus as our sacrifice and our high priest, so our sins could be forgiven. In the Old Covenant the high priest had to take the blood of the sacrifice into the holiest place and sprinkle it on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant once a year. That blood atoned for the sins of the people of Israel for one year. They still had to turn to God in faith, but He had made a way for their sins to be paid for. When Jesus died, He shed His unique blood for the sins of the whole world. How did this work? He died and He went to heaven, where He entered the Temple of Heaven and there He placed His blood on the mercy seat for us. His sacrifice was given once, and the blood was placed there once, so that all who turn to Him in faith can be saved once and for all. He paid His blood for the sins of the world. His blood was the price of atonement. God died in our place. Yes, the wages of sin is death, so Jesus died. There is no remission without the shedding of blood, so Jesus shed His blood for our sins. Then, He made it official by entering the holiest place in heaven for us. That is why we believe that "nothing but the blood" of Jesus can wash away our sins. Will you thank Him today and every day for doing what you could not do for yourself? Will you thank Him for loving the whole world? Will you give your life to Him? That is our only proper response to the blood of Jesus.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Lamentations 1-2 and Hebrews 10:1-18.