Better Blood!

Hebrews 9. I remind you to read each verse of these chapters because they are so rich, and it is impossible to uncover all the truths in such a short devotion as this. Today, we again zero in on just a few verses. Read vs.11-12. Now again, remember that this epistle was written to Hebrew Christians who were being drawn back into the old sacrificial system. And once again, the author is saying, "Don't go back. Why would you want to return to a system of rules and regulations when the work of salvation has been completed by Jesus Christ, the only perfect Lamb of God?" Jesus has entered a "better" Tabernacle, a Tabernacle not made with hands--a heavenly Tabernacle, and He, our "better" High Priest, has offered His own blood, the "better blood", in that Most Holy Place, once for all, having secured our eternal redemption.

Once a year the high priest of Israel, on the Day of Atonement, would enter in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle to offer a sacrifice for the sins of Israel. When Jesus died on the cross, He shed His blood for us, and then He ascended into Heaven to enter into that Heavenly Tabernacle, into the Most Holy Place, and there sprinkled His own blood on the Mercy Seat there in heaven. Now, every time satan, the accuser of the brethren, tries to bring accusation against me, all Jesus does is point to that blood on the mercy seat. The blood of bulls and goats, under the Old Covenant, only covered sin. But the blood of Jesus, under the New Covenant, removes sin for redemption, once and for, all and forever! At this point all I can do is sing:

"What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"

Remember, the writer of Hebrews is pointing out the "better" things of the New Covenant. And chapter nine is the "better" Tabernacle, the "better" sacrifice, the "better" blood. Why would anyone go back to the lesser?