In The Word
Read: Hebrews 9:16-28
16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. 22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
We continue to see how Christ is the perfect high priest in the scriptures and how He died once and for all. It took blood, and not just blood but powerful blood, for the first covenant to be inaugurated. Otherwise, it would still be existing, and we would still be bound by the law and the many regulations it had. Hebrews 9:22 says, “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without blood there is no forgiveness.” We see these throughout the old-testament that if people sinned against the Lord an animal would be slaughtered for their redemption. That is how things were in accordance with the law, but, when it came to the second covenant, one sacrifice had to be made for all the sins every individual committed and that was Jesus.
Christ didn’t enter a holy place created by men, but He entered the presence of God on our behalf. He had not done anything wrong like other priests, but He loved us so much that He took our fall for us to be forgiven. There was and still is no need for Christ to offer Himself again for the forgiveness of our sins.
You do not have to worry about if the priest will do a good job interceding for you or if he will be too focused on his many sins and forget about yours. Cast your cares upon the Lord and He will sustain you.