The Blood Sacrifice

In the old Levitical system, sacrifices were made daily to make amends for the sins of the people. Once per year on the tenth day of the seventh month a special sacrifice was made. This day was called the Day of Atonement. The High Priest would wash himself in holy water, put on special clothing, and go into the Holy of Holies. He would use the blood of a bull to atone for his own personal sins and then the blood of a goat to atone for the sins of his people.

This was highly ineffective. The priest was sinful, the animal blood was not sufficient, and the sacrifices were unable to clear the conscience of the Israelites. When Jesus came everything changed. He willingly offered His perfect blood as an eternal sacrifice. Hebrews 9:14 beautifully states, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”.

According to Hebrews 10:10 when a person accepts the gift of salvation, they are made holy. Unfortunately, Christians often don’t comprehend what this means, and they still act as though they have to earn their way into Heaven. While we should honor God with all our thoughts and actions, our works are no longer necessary. Jesus’ blood was sufficient in reaching our defiled souls to remove spiritual death by purging all guilt that separated us from our Father and enabling us to serve the living God. There is a new covenant, and we are able to receive the promised eternal inheritance now that Christ has died and set us free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

The magnitude of this should not be lost on Christians today. Instead of focusing on trying to atone for our sins with our works, we need to focus on how great our Father is. If we could fully comprehend how deeply He loves us (enough to send His only Son to die for us) we would dedicate our lives to loving Him in return.