The Blood Of The Covenant
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16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
19 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,
20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
23 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.
24 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 appear in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
26 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.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
In these verses the apostle turns our attention to the Blood of the covenant. Have you ever stopped to consider how bloody our faith is? We talk a lot about blood. We sing about blood,
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emanuel’s veins,
There is power in the blood
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb
As we have been going through Numbers in our Bible study looking at the ministry of the Priest and how many animals they slaughter every day. When we think of priest we my have this picture in our mind of a dignified individual wearing white robes, but if we could have seen the priest of the Tabernacle going about their ministry on an average day we would have seen men covered in blood, their garments soaked with blood, blood on their face and on their hands. They would have looked more like butchers than priest as we would imagine. And blood is such an offensive thing isn’t it? we don’t like to see blood. Like John Wayne used to always say in his movies when someone would ask him “does the sight of blood bother you?” and he would say “only my own” We don’t like to see blood especially our own.
story of Sam’s toe.
So why is blood so central to our faith?
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Blood has this inseparable connection to life. No blood is death. Death is always blood related. If you get shoot you die because of lack of blood, if you get stabbed you die because of lack of blood if you get decapitated, you die because you don’t have a head and so your heat stops pumping blood. If you drown you run out of oxygen which we need for our blood. So there is a lot to that statement the life of the flesh is in the blood. So then what is the connection between blood and our faith?
To understand this connection we must consider our condition.
17 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.
Death is our condition.
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Death, the great enemy of mankind, reigned. Sin, our sin, is the cause of death. So our great concern, the primary issue that faces mankind is sin. Sin must be dealt with if we are to have any hope and blood is the only remedy for sin, in particular the blood of Jesus Christ is the only remedy for sin.
This brings us to our first point and the theme our our passage this morning
There Is No Remission Without The Shedding Of Blood
There Is No Remission Without The Shedding Of Blood
the verse right in the centre of our passage this morning is
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
This is a monumental statement. So first, we see without the shedding of blood. The shedding of blood mean the death of someone or something, as we have establish life is in the blood. But it imply more than just death. it was a common saying among the Jews without the shedding of blood there is no atonement. By which they meant that the animal must shed its blood in death but also that the blood must be shed onto the alter, otherwise it is not effectual. An animal killed but not offered on the alter is just a dead animal. So the meaning of shedding implies offering on the alter.
Next we look at the word remission.
So then without the shedding of blood there is no release from bondage no forgiveness of sin, therefore without the shedding of blood there is no hope for mankind Sin = death and no blood=no forgiveness of sin.
And it is for this reason our that faith has this fixation on the blood of Christ it is because it is our only hope. And this is the central theme that ties the old covenant to the new covenant this is what the old covenant taught us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission and this is what the new covenant reveals to us that with out the shedding of His blood there is no remission. The old covenant the pattern of things and the new covenant the very manifestation of of the pattern.
The Pattern Of Things
The Pattern Of Things
The Apostle uses two images here to demonstrate the power of the blood. First
The example of the Will.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Here he makes a comparison between the covenant and a will. A will is a one sided contract where the testator decides all the terms of the agreement and the benefactor can either accept the terms or reject them but cannot alter them. This is like the new covenant. Jesus as the testator has declared the term that we can believe in Him and accept the payment he has made for our sins by faith if we accept these terms then we can become benefactors of the gospel. To as many as believed on Him to them he gave the power to become the sons of God, and whosoever believes on Him will not perish but have everlasting life. But we cannot alter the terms we can only accept or reject.
But particularly here the Apostle is drawing attention to the requirement of death. The will only becomes effectual after the testator dies. So it was also necessary for Christ to die that the new covenant might become effectual.
Then there is the second image. That point to the necessity of death. The ratification of the First covenant.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
19 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,
20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
So here the example is given of the ratification of the covenant when the Israelite were at Sinai. After God had given Moses the terms of the covenant and the Law and the people had agreed to those terms, again they could not alter the term they could only accept of reject them. So they accepted the terms and Moses sprinkle them and the book of the law with blood. Then also later when the tabernacle was completed he sprinkle the tabernacle and all the furnishings with blood. and it says that Almost all things are by the law purged with blood and then the theme the common foundational principle that is clearly in effect in both the old and the new covenant and the truth which ties the to together to show us that God has not changed and that He is the same yesterday today and forever that unchanging Law without the shedding of blood is no remission.
And these things were the patterns the picture the forshadowing of the eternal truth which in are passage are referred to as
The Heavenly Things
The Heavenly Things
23 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.
24 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 appear in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
26 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.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
23. this is why the old testament was so bloody this is why the priest offer sacrifices daily and they were covered in blood it was necessary that the pattern give us an accurate picture of the heavenly things. It was important that we understand the cost of our sins in terms of blood. Our sin cost us our life and the redemption of it can only be paid in blood.
6 They that trust in their wealth, And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him:
8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, And it ceaseth for ever:)
9 That he should still live for ever, And not see corruption.
You cannot afford the ransom of your life and this is what the blood sacrifices of the old covenant taught us so vividly.
Yet the heavenly things require a much greater sacrifice. Of course the ransom of our soul cannot be paid with the blood of animals, that was only a pattern.
24 Christ is that sacrifice so he did not enter into the earthly tabernacle made with hands to offer the blood of animals year by year. Rather He went into the true most holy place in heaven into the presents of God
25 and He didn’t go that He might offer Himself often like the high priest of the old covenant
26 It was not necessary for Christ to suffer since the foundation of the world His sacrifice was all sufficient but rather He went into the heaven once and for all to offer himself as a sacrifice to bring His own holy, and pure sinless blood his life to the Father
26 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.
To put away sin, Christ dealt with our sin, the primary concern of mankind the killer that caused death to reign. Christ appeared before the present of God to put away sin once and for all by offering His own blood as the ransom.
And so yes, the blood of Christ is very precious to us, yes plunge me beneath that flood wash me in the blood of Christ that I might be forgiven of my sins released from it’s bondage and delivered from death into everlasting life.
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
In the first appearance He became our sacrifice shedding His own blood for the remission of our sins and we have here the promise of His second appearance without sin because He has put it away for good and this appearance will be unto salvation. To bring to completion the work which He has begun.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.