There is Power in the Blood (2)
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In our series on the Ten Commandments, we are ready for the Sixth Commandment, which says, “You shall not murder.” (Deut 5:17). As I was preparing for that message, and remembering that we would be celebrating Communion today, I could not help but think of Hebrews 12:24. This verse compares the power of the word Abel’s blood speaks and the power of the Word Jesus’ blood speaks. In addition, because both of these men were unjustly killed, this verse is related to the Sixth Commandment and serves as a good introduction to my message next week.
I will begin my reading with vs. 22, which provides us with the context and end with vs. 25, which gives us the application. Let us now, hear God’s Word:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
May God bless this the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
In our text today, we learn three things:
There is Power in the Blood of Abel
There is Greater Power in the Blood of Jesus
…and finally, as our application, ...
See to it That You Do Not Refuse Christ’s Blood!
There is Power in the Blood of Abel
There is Power in the Blood of Abel
The author of Hebrews makes an amazing claim, it is this: After thousands of years, the blood of Abel still speaks!
Perhaps you are not familiar with who Abel was. He lived a long, long time ago. In fact, as the second child of Adam and Eve, he was the fourth human being who ever existed! There is something else you need to know about Abel, he was the very first person every murdered, and this murder was not just any murder, it was one of the worse kinds—fratricide—the killing of a brother by a brother! In addition, consider this, it was only a few decades earlier that Adam and Eve rebelled in the garden, and in that short period of time sin had so completely infected the hearts of humanity, that the worst crime one person can commit against another happened!
Next week, when we look at the Sixth Commandment in detail, we will learn that all life comes from God and is sacred to Him, but human life is especially sacred because humanity is made in the image of God. No one has the right to take any life without God’s permission. At the time Cain murdered Abel, humanity did not even have permission to kill animals, except for making sacrifices. If fact, it was an animal sacrifice that served as the catalyst for Abel’s murder. Cain raised the crops that fed this small community of people, and Abel tended to the flocks that were to be used for fiber and sacrifice. We don’t know why Cain chose to offer to God his grain as a sacrifice, perhaps it was pride in the labor of his hands. Perhaps he presumed that God would be more pleased with a bloodless sacrifice. Whatever the motive, it was a violation of the Second Commandment we looked at several weeks ago which teaches us to worship God only in the ways he has ordained in His Word.
As a result of his prideful presumption, God was not pleased with Cain’s sacrifice. Rather than repenting of his sin, Cain was filled with murderous jealousy towards his brother. In the book of Genesis, we read that God graciously warned Cain of this and urged him to repent, but sadly Cain’s heart was filled with murder. Sin always leads to death. God warned Adam and Eve of this in the Garden, and Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 3:23). Consequently, in a field, somewhere east of Eden, the blood of Abel was spilled. As Abel lips grew silent as the life blood left him, that very blood began to cry out for vengeance!
Ever since that day, new voices have been added to that cry for vengeance. Try to imagine all the voices that have been added to Abel’s blood. It must be a deafening roar! Yet, there is a cry even louder being heard in heaven, in fact, it is so loud that it is even heard here on earth. It is the cry of the blood of Jesus! As powerful is the voice of the blood of Abel is, the power of the voice of the blood of Jesus is even more powerful!
There is Greater Power in the Blood of Jesus
There is Greater Power in the Blood of Jesus
The author of Hebrews calls the voice of Jesus’ blood a “better word”.
What makes it a better word?
What makes it a better, more powerful word is the message that is spoken by Jesus’ blood. Although Jesus’ was unjustly killed, His blood does not cry out for vengeance, rather it cries out for forgiveness!
Those animals that God instructed Cain and Abel to sacrifice, they were temporary types pointing to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. The author of Hebrews goes into great detail explaining all of this. For the sake of time, let me give you just the highlights.
First, only the shedding of blood can atone for sin:
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
However, animal sacrifices cannot, in and of themselves, atone for sin:
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Consequently, the Old Covenant sacrifices where types pointing to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus:
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
The power of the word which the blood of Jesus speaks is so powerful, that to refuse it is to sign your own eternal death warrant in hell! There is no other voice that can atone for your sins. You can cry and plead for forgiveness, but there is no forgiveness apart from the blood of Jesus. Too many today, want to offer to God bloodless sacrifices just as Cain. Many are offended by the message of the cross and the blood of Jesus. Most people are relying on the fact that they judge themselves a “good person”; but God does not care what you or other persons say about your moral virtue. He has already weighed you upon His scales of justice and has reached a verdict, and this verdict is the same for every person:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Did you hear God verdict? You have sinned and fallen short of God glorious moral standard! Your good deeds do not outweigh you bad deeds. Perhaps your good deeds exceed all people. It does not matter, you have fallen short of God’s glory! This is why the author of Hebrews warns in the closing verse of our text:
See to it That You Do Not Refuse Christ’s Blood!
See to it That You Do Not Refuse Christ’s Blood!
One of the reasons Christ ordained the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, is to remind His people that they daily have to rely upon the blood of Jesus. Our sinful hearts naturally move us in the direction Cain took—we want to offer to God our own sacrifices rather than the sacrifice of Christ—we want a bloodless Christianity. As we meditate today upon the meaning of the bread and wine, we will hear a voice from heaven warning us not to refuse the blood of Jesus. It is a voice of mercy and the forgiveness of sins, but if it is refused it is a voice of wrath and judgement. The author of Hebrews warns us that if those under the Old Covenant “did not escape when they refused him warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who speaks from heaven.” Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us gratefully receive the blood of Jesus!