The Blood
Heb. 9:22 And almost all
things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no
remission.
There is an old gospel
hymn called “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus”. It goes like this: What can
wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Another verse from that song says: Nothing can
for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus; Nothing can for sin atone,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as
snow.
Isaiah 1:18 Come now,
and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins can be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be
as wool.
Psalm 51:7 purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Rev. 7:14 The latter
part… Washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
1 John 1:9 If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.
Ezekiel 11:19 And I will
give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the
stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.
There is another gospel
hymn called “There is Power in the Blood”. It goes like this: Would you be
whiter much whiter than snow? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
sin stains are lost in its life giving flow; there’s wonderful power in the
blood. The 2nd part of verse 2 says: Come for a cleansing to
Calvary’s tide; in that wonder working power in the precious blood of the
Lamb. Another hymn says: Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you
washed in the blood of the Lamb? Another part says: There’s a fountain flowing
for the soul unclean, O be washed in the blood of the Lamb.
That precious blood that
Jesus gave for us on Calvary is still in full flowing force today for all that
will yield to the voice of the Spirit and come to the foot of the cross and be
washed ever so clean.
Romans 3:23 states: For
all have come (fall) short of the glory of God. We are born with the nature of
sin, because of what Adam did. Rom. 5:12 – 18
Adam disobeyed God and
ate the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6,7).
In Gen. 2:15 – 17 God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The Lord has been so
good to us and has made the plan of salvation so easy for us to accept. John
3:17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the
world through Him might be saved.
Let’s look at Gen.
4:4. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat
thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Heb. 11:4 By
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he
obtained witness that he was rightness, God testifying of his gifts: and by it
he, being dead, yet speaketh. Abel was a shepherd, he took care of sheep. Cain
tilled the ground; he was like we call a farmer today. Cain seemed to be a very
hard worker, but in Gen.4:5 the bible says that God had not respect unto
Cain’s offering. When I look at this verse, I see that Abel had given his offering
to God with all of his heart. I see that Cain must have been a greedy person
that only gave the offering to God out of law and not love Cain did not give the
best of his vegetables because his heart was not right. It was Cain’s choice
what to give and he chose second best; not “the best”. So, this is what God
said about it in Gen. 4:5; but unto Cain and to his offering, He had not
respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. But, to
Abel, God had respect unto his offering. What did Abel give? The firstlings of
his flock. Abel was a shepherd. Taking care of those sheep was his life. I’m
sure he loved those firstlings that he chose to give to God. Those were young
lambs. If one was hurt or couldn’t get going, the shepherd would pick up the
lamb and carry it until there was no problem, like Jesus does in our lives when
we sometimes seem to get over our heads. Abel took those young lambs, that I
believe he loved dearly, but, because he had a greater love for God our Father,
he took them and shed their blood to give them to God. And God had respect unto
Abel’s sacrifice because it was a true sacrifice of giving one love for a
greater love.
Just like God gave, not
a pet, but His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the living Son of God; God gave
His Son and Jesus gave of himself for us. It was Jesus alone that made the
decision to give His blood; the true Lamb of God to die for you and me.
Cain was angry. That
anger of jealousy was raging. He developed murder in his heart. The heart of
Abel was full of love for God. The heart of Cain was full of jealousy, greed,
lust, and murder…a heart of stone. The third time the word of God mentions
blood. It was the blood of Abel that cried from the earth to God. The blood that
the first son of Adam shed. Cain killed Abel. And Abel’s spirit cried out to
God “and guess what?” God heard. And you know what? I can’t wait to give
Abel a big hug when I get to heaven.
These are the two sons;
Seth was the third son, born after Abel was dead.
I believe Seth’s
descendant was given the title of the sons of God, and Cain’s descendant was
given the title of the sons of men. See Gen. 6:2.
We either walk with the
ordinance of God or walk without God, there is no in between.
Lets look at Gen. 22:1,2
Abraham was told by God to take Issac his only son, which God had provided by a
miraculous miracle of Sarah in her old age, conceived and bare a son, as God had
promised, This same son is whom God told Abraham to take and to sacrifice.
Let’s take a look at this a minute. Would you sacrifice your own son, if God
asked you to?
This was not a casually
done thing, but Abraham put together himself and two of his young men and Issac,
his son, along with the wood for the sacrifice. The Bible doesn’t say if
Abraham told Sarah, his wife, but I don’t believe he told her.
So he’s on his way,
Abraham, Issac, and the two young men, with an ass (donkey) , on their way to
the land of Moriah, where God will
show Abraham which mountain to build the alter on and make the sacrifice. On the
third day of the journey, Abraham saw the mountain and told the young men to
stay where they were with the ass (donkey). He took the wood for the sacrifice
and laid it on Issac to carry, and Abraham took the torch, and knife.
On the way, Issac asked
Abraham, his dad, we’ve got the wood and the fire, but what about the lamb for
the burnt offering? And Abraham said that God would provide. Gen. 22:9 – 13
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an alter
there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Issac His son, and laid him on the
alter upon the wood.
And Abraham stretched
forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
And the Angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said,
here am I.
And He said, lay not
thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou has not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.
And Abraham lifted up
his eyes, and looked and behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and
Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the
stead of his son. And Abraham called that place Jehovah Jireh:
Let’s try to put
ourselves in the place of Abraham. He was going to do this thing that God had
told him to do. He kept this from everyone. He had an ache in his heart, but he
is going to and will obey the voice of God. Through pain, through heartache, through
temptation, he is staying true to the Lord, and God had respect unto Abraham’s
sacrifice, as he did Abel’s. God said we must come to Him with ALL OF OUR
HEART.
Instead of Issac’s
blood that was shed, it was the blood of that ram, that God provided. What a
MIGHTY GOD WE SERVE.
I remember when I was a
young boy, I oftentimes would go down from my house, back into a wilderness
area, for we lived on the last street and on the other side of that street was
government land, which was wooded in some parts and sandy in others, and we
lived at the end of that street, which on the side of us was a large creekbed.
Not a small area but very large, and dangerous with snakes and such. But, myself
and my best friend named Johnny were not afraid of the hazards. One day we were
back in that area a ways, and we came across a pit of slime, that was fresh. It
wasn’t there before, but here it was, about ten feet in diameter with gravel
up around it, since it had just been dug recently. It had bubbles forming when
we would chuck rocks in it. It was actually a sewage pit that someone left from
a septic tank trunk. As my friend and I were doing our thing with the rocks, a
terrible thing happened. The gravel began to give way from beneath my feet, and
down I went sliding into that murky mire of liquid sewage. I was completely out
of control of the situation, as my body submerged into the mire. I found very
quickly that there seem to be no bottom to that pit. My feet were not touching
bottom.
I had to swim to live.
As I put my hands out to the side of the pit, the gravel would just give way.
The stuff was like quicksand. It was very hard to keep my head from submerging.
This was not a funny situation from where I was. I was fighting for my life, and
then Johnny got down on his stomach and held out his hand to me, as I reached
out and grabbed his hand I splashed him with the slush, but he kept his hand
there, and then pulled me out. If Johnny would not have stretched out his hand,
I may have drowned.
That pit appeared in my
life again, but this time it wasn’t slush, it was sin,, and I fell way over my
head. As I struggled to pull myself out, I kept falling deeper in, just like
that gravel that gave way, when I dug my fingers and hand into it, trying to pull
myself out, it just wouldn’t hold.
And then, when I was at
my end, Jesus spoke to my heart, and said, I’m here, I’ve got my hand out
for you, to take hold of. There in that construction trailer, with just me and
the Lord, I gave my heart to Jesus. He pulled me out of that pit of sin, and
washed me white as snow, with his Blood.
I felt that cleansing
flow, purifying my soul as I stood and prayed for forgiveness, and accepted
Jesus Christ as MY LORD and Saviour. There was a change that took place
within my soul: “Praise God.” The old man was “dead”. This new man in
Christ Jesus cleansed and purified by the precious blood of the Lamb. Ready for
the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Matt. 9:17 neither do men put new wine into
old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles
perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
Lets look at Exodus 12:
1 – 14, and verse 22 – 24.
And the Lord spake unto
Moses and Aaron in the land in Egypt, saying, V.2 This month shall be unto you
the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
V. 3 Speak ye unto all
the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb
for an house:
V 4 And if the household
be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it
according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall
make your count for the lamb.
V. 5 Your lamb shall be
without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep,
or from the goats:
V. 6 And ye shall keep
it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
V. 7 And they shall take
of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of
the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
V. 8 And they shall eat
the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with water,
but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
V. 9 Eat not of it raw,
nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and
with the purtenance thereof.
V. 10 And ye shall let
nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the
morning ye shall burn with fire.
V. 11 And thus shall ye
eat it; with your loins girded, your shoed on your feet, and your staff in your
hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.
V. 12 For I will pass
through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite against all the gods of
Egypt I will execute judgement:
I am the Lord.
V. 13 And the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the
blood, I will pass over you, and the plaque shall not be upon you to destroy
you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
V. 14 And this day shall
be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout
your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
V. 22 And ye shall take
a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the
lintel and two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you
shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
V. 23 For the LORD will
pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the
lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will
not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your house to smite you.
V. 24 And ye shall
observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
Verse 5 says the lamb
was without blemish, the blood of the lamb was applied to the two side posts,
and over the door post, just like the blood of Jesus is applied to us, 1 Pet.
1:19. There in Exo. 12:8 – 11 they also partook of the lamb, in haste, fully
clothed.
When we accept Jesus
Christ as our LORD and Savior, we are washed in the blood of the LAMB, clean,
just like Matt. 12:43 – 45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,
“He was CLEAN”.
When Jesus saves our
soul, the blood cleanses us from all sin. Here in Exodus 12: They partook of the
lamb. We need to partake of the LAMB, ALL of the LAMB, not leave any. We need to
partake of “HIM” hurriedly. We have no time to waste, fully clothed, ready
to be called away at any moment. We have a lot of fruit to pick up. We need the
body of CHRIST.
Lets look at John 6: 53
– 58
V. 53 Then Jesus said
unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
V. 54 Whoso eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the
last day.
V. 55 For my flesh is
meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
V. 56 He that eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
V.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that
eateth me, even he shall live by me.
V. 58 This is that bread
which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he
eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
John 6:63 It is the
Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: The Words that I speak unto
you, They are Spirit, and they are Life.
Lets look at Corinthians
11:24 – 26 And when He had given thanks, He break it, and said, take, eat:
this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner
also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament
in My Blood: This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as ye eat
this Bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.
The agony Jesus went
through, so that we can be saved. Let’s look at Luke 22: 39 – 44 And he came
out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also
followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye
enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn
from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father,
if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: neverless not my will, but thine,
be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
And being in an agony he
prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground.
Let’s look at all of
Isaiah chap. 53 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD
revealed?
For he shall grow up
before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form
or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should
desire him.
He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we his as it
were our faces from him; he was despised, and esteemed him not.
Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken of God, and afflicted.
But
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
He was taken from prison
and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut out of
the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave
with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an
offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: He shall see of the travail of his
soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall his righteous servant
justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide
him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the
transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
Matt. 26:67, 68 Then did
they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of
their hands,
Saying, Prophesy unto
us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?
Matt. 27: 24 – 37 When
Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he
took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of
this just person: see ye to it.
Then answered all the
people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
Then released he
Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified.
Then the soldiers of the
governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band
of soldiers.
And they striped him and
put on him a scarlet robe.
And when they had
platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right
hand: and they bowed the knee before him,, and took the reed and smote him on
the head. And after that they mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and
put his own raiment on him, and led away to crucify him.
And as they came out,
they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
And when they were come
unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a scull, they gave him
vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he could not
drink.
And they crucified him,
and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet, THEY PARTED MY GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND UPON MY VESTURE
DID THEY CAST LOTS. And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his
head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
After reading these
Scriptures I believe we all should take a better look at how we are partaking of
the communion service, If we do? To take time and meditate on what that grape
juice and cracker represent. This should not be made into a ritual.
As all these Scriptures
we have just read proclaims, Jesus suffered and died, that we may live, and as
Jesus died, He also, rose again, that we may also. Not raise to damnation, but
unto life everlasting, with Jesus, in Victory.
But Jesus not only paid
the price that we may have victory at that day, (When we are raised) but right
now. Too. Just like when Adam was given dominion in the garden of Eden, Gen.
1:28 and God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have domination over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon
the earth.
Now Jesus has reinstated
us to once again have domination. Just like the song goes, “ There’s Power in
the Blood of Jesus” But our worst enemy, is ourselves, the flesh. First of all
we come to understand the word of God is what makes us strong, the Written Word,
and the Spoken Word. I don’t mean a nod of the head agreement, but a forceful,
literal stand. Just like a new babe in Christ to stand and testify, the flesh
speaks up and says no, don’t do it, but you know in your heart, you must,
because in the past you didn’t and you regretted it.
True Christians,
Righteousness, Santification, Holiness, comes more and more with each step in
Faith we take. As you see, unfortunately, not all Christians are continuing in
the walk of Righteousness, trying to grow. Some seem to think they’ve reached
the place they need to be and that’s it.
We must keep from coming
to the place of Rev. 2:4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because
thou hast left thy first love.
We must remember, we are
the Churches, not some beautiful building, we are the buildings of God.
1 Cor. 3:9, 1 Cor. 3:16,
1 Cor. 6:19.
We are bought with a
very heavy price, The Blood of Jesus Christ. John 10:18 Tells us Jesus didn’t
have to give His Life. He chose to.
Let’s take some more
time and look at some Scriptures telling us what the Blood of Jesus has done for
us:
Rom. 5:8 – 10 But God
commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us.
Much more than, being
now, justified, by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
For if, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Heb. 2:14 – 18
Forasmuch then as children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself
likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that the
power of death, that is the devil;
And deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
For verily He took not
on Him the nature of Angels; But He took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore in all things
it behooved him to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and
faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people.
For in that He Himself
hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.
Eph. 2:12 – 16 That at
that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the world;
But now in Christ Jesus
ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the Blood of Christ.
For He is our peace, who
hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between
us;
Having abolished in his
flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to
make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
And that He might
reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby:
Heb. 13:20 Now the God
of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd
of the sheep, through the Blood of the everlasting covenant,
1 Pet. 1:19 – 20 But
with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without
spot;
Who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you,
Rev. 5:1 – 9 And I saw
in the right hand of Him that sat on the Throne a Book written within and on the
backside, Sealed with seven seals.
And I saw a strong Angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the
seals thereof?
And no man in heaven,
nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to
look thereon.
And I wept much, because
no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
And one of the elders
saith unto me, weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, The root of
David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
And I behold, and, lo,
in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, And in the midst of the
elders, stood a LAMB as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes,
which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
And He came and took the
book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throe.
And when He had taken
the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the LAMB,
having everyone on them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the
prayers of saints.
And they sang a new
song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
1 John 1: 7 But if we
walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 Thes. 5:8 – 10 But
let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of Faith and
Love; And for an helmet, the hope of Salvation. For God hath not appointed us to
wrath, but to obtain Salvation by our LORD Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that,
whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Heb. Chapter 9 All –
Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a
worldly sanctuary.
For there was a
tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the
shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
And after the second
veil, the tabernacle, which is, called the Holiest of all;
Which had the golden
censer, and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was
the golden pot that had manna and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of
the covenant;
And over it the
cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak
particularly.
Now when these things
were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle,
accomplishing the service of God.
But into the second went
the high priests alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for
himself, and for the errors of the people:
The Holy Ghost this
signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest,
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Which was a figure for
the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that
could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the
conscience;
Which stood only in
meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them
until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an high priests of good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building;
Neither by the blood of
goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us.
For if the blood of
bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to
God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this cause he is
the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of
the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is
there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is of
force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all while the
testator liveth.
Whereupon neither the
first testament was dedicated without blood.
For when Moses had
spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood
of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled
both the book, and all the people,
Saying, THIS IS THE
BLOOD OF THE TESTAMENT WHICH GOD HATH ENJOINED UNTO YOU.
Moreover he sprinkled
with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
And almost all things
are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true;
but into heaven itself, now to which are the figures of the true; but into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Not yet that he should
offer himself often, as the high priests entereth into the holy place every year
with blood of others;
For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And as it is appointed
unto men the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the
second time without sin unto salvation.