“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?”
Hebrews 9:14
He was God’s “eternal Exclamation Point.”
We know in grammar a period (.) denotes the end of a sentence. A semicolon (;) connects two sentences or thoughts together. A colon (:) signals “Still more to come,” while an exclamation point (!) provides extra emphasis to the message being sent.
In reality, the Old Testament was a “colon” Covenant—i.e., “there’s still more to come.” And, we know that that “more” was/is Jesus, “Who obtained a more excellent Ministry and became the Mediator of a better Covenant, which was established upon better Promises” (Heb. 8:6).
Or, another way to put it is Jesus put a period on the Old Covenant/Testament and an exclamation point on the New.
While beautiful in design and construction, the objects in the Tabernacle and Temple were temporal and always subject to “rust, rot and robbers” (Mt. 6:19-21). Likewise, the High Priest’s twice entering into the Holy of Holies on the annual Day of Atonement with blood for his sins and the sins of the people (Heb. 9:7) was no doubt both a solemn and sacred event.
But, it had to be repeated year after year after year.
And, no amount of “You’re forgiven” pronouncements by a priest could “cleanse one’s conscience” from the remembrance of sin and its guilt.
Only Jesus’ Blood could do that. Hallelujah!!
Hannah Whithall Smith, a Quaker who lived in the 1800’s, once wrote The Christian’s Secret of the Happy Life. In it, she described Christ’s cleansing and the Holy Spirit’s inner-working in our lives as “The Ministry of the Interior.” What a wonderful description of this work of Justification and Sanctification!
That’s why we should rejoice that Jesus accomplished what the Law and sacrifices could not do. No amount of “blood from goats, calves, bulls and heifers could cleanse us from the guilt of sin and a remembrance of our wrongdoings” (vv.12-13).
Again, only Jesus’ Blood can do that! Glory!!
While there were those who found release from their guilt even during the times of the Old Testament, it’s because (like Abraham) they “believed God and it was accounted to them for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3; James 2:23). They knew it wasn’t their adherence to the Law and religious keeping of rote rituals that made them right with God; it was their trust in Him.
Aren’t you thankful that Jesus’ Blood is still able to “cleanse your conscience” and safeguard you from the incessant indictments of the “Accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:9-10)? Never forget that Jesus is your Advocate/Defense Attorney (I Jn. 2:1) and will always defend you in the courtroom of your conscience as He says “Pardoned, not paroled.” Amen and amen.
By Tom Smith Morning Manna Dated February 22, 2011
