Hebrews 9:22-28 - Rut Wrecker
- Chad Werkhoven
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
God's grace is stronger than you are because of Christ's infinitely valuable atonement.
Hebrews 9:22-28 (NIV)
CONTEXT: One of the key themes in the book of Hebrews is that 'Jesus is better than...' The previous passages have demonstrated that Jesus is better than the Jewish priests and sacrificial system, which are described as only "a copy and shadow of what is in heaven" (Hebrews 8:5).
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Canons of Dordt
Point 2 - Limited Atonement
Article 3: The Infinite Value of Christ’s Death
This death of God’s Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins;
it is of infinite value and worth,
more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world.
Summary
You probably don't need much help understanding what it's like to be stuck in an endlessly repeating cycle. At work you deal with the same problems over and over, and it seems like at the end of the day there are always more issues needing solutions than what you began with, despite all the work you did. Others of you are at home day in and day out following the same dull routine that makes it hard to remember which day of the week it actually is.
The Old Testament sacrificial system was stuck in a very similar rut. Day after day, blood was shed as to atone (pay) for the sins - both of the priests offering the sacrifices and the of the people they represented before God. But day after day, the pile of sins needing atoning kept getting bigger.
Jesus came to put an end to this hopeless cycle. Jesus is our priest - the One who entered heaven itself to appear for us in God's presence - but He's far different than the human priests who were mere copies. Jesus did not enter heaven to offer Himself again and again the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Instead, Jesus appeared once for all to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself! Christ's blood was of such tremendous value that He only needed to be sacrificed once for the sins of many in order to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.
Dig Deeper
These five Canons that we're using as a roadmap to read through the Bible this year are commonly referred to by the acronym TULIP. Arranging the letters in the actual order of the doctrines they represent results in the much less attractive word ULTIP, but that helps explain why we started the year with Unconditional Election and have now moved to the second doctrine: Limited Atonement.
Although the 'L' is handy for spelling out the word T-U-L-I-P (after all, a tulip by any other name wouldn't smell as sweet... or would it??), people often mistakenly assume that somehow this doctrine implies that Jesus' atonement - they payment that He made as He shed His blood on the cross - is somehow limited in its value.
We'll discover why the adjective limited was attached to the word atonement in the weeks to come, but this second article makes very clear what so many passages like what we just read from Hebrews teaches: that far from being limited in value, the death of God’s Son... is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world.
It's this infinite value that has freed you from the otherwise endless and hopeless cycle of needing to placate God for each and every sin you commit. Understanding the overflowing worth of Christ's sacrificial death on your behalf is critical to fully experiencing the peace that comes from knowing why it is that God's grace is stronger than you are.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father in heaven;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for the forgiveness you've received because of the infinite value of Christ's atoning blood;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Matthew 26
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