#DailyDevotion In The Blood Of Jesus We Are Greater Priests Than The Levitical
Hebrews 10:19-23
19Fellow Christians, with the blood of Jesus we can now boldly go into the holy place 20by the new, living way He opened for us through the curtain, the way of His body, 21and we have a great Priest in charge of God’s house. 22Let us then come near God, sincere in our hearts and convinced in our faith, because our hearts were sprinkled to take away our guilty feelings, and our bodies were washed with clean water. 23Let us cling to the confession of our hope and not waver in it. He Who made the promise is faithful.
Well that is pretty amazing. Under the Old Covenant, only the priests could enter the Temple proper and only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and that was just a model. Now with the blood of Jesus we can boldly go into the holy place. We do not enter through the curtain, which was torn in two at the death of Jesus. The real curtain is the body of Jesus. We enter that Holy of Holy through the body of Jesus, who is our great High Priest in charge of God’s house.
What can this mean? We as Christian have a higher, more perfect priesthood than the Levitical priesthood through the body and blood of Jesus. The Levitical priesthood would be anointed with oil and sprinkled with blood. We are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus and anointed with the Holy Spirit in baptism. Peter tells us in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will be given the Holy Spirit. 39What is promised belongs to you, to your children, and to all who are far away, all whom the Lord our God will call.” He writes in his first epistle ch. 3, 21 “In the same way also, baptism now saves us, not by washing dirt from the body, but by guaranteeing us a good conscience before God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,…” So the blood of Jesus washes us clean from our sin, takes away our guilty feelings, gives us a good conscience before God and makes our bodies clean so we may appear before God our heavenly Father.
We are God’s priests in Christ now. Peter also tells us in his first epistle ch. 2, 9 “But you are a chosen people, priests of the King, a holy nation, a people saved to be His own and to tell of the wonderful deeds of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” So we enter the true Holy of Holies in the heavenly places, made clean by the blood of Christ, through the body of Jesus, and we present our request to God our Father. Yes, with clean and pure consciences through baptism into Christ come boldly to God and draw near to him. When were still in sin, we acted like our first parents who hid from the LORD in the Garden. No more! We are no longer naked but are clothed with righteousness and the glory of Jesus.
Therefore as the text says, “Let us cling to the confession of our hope and not waver in it. He Who made the promise is faithful.” Our confession of hope is Jesus did sacrifice himself upon the cross, poured out his blood upon the mercy seat of the Father and sprinkled us with his blood in baptism. He who promised us this is faithful. Jesus crucified, dead and resurrected is our guarantee.
Merciful God and Father, we thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for our sins and opening to us the path to your mercy seat. Always give us your Holy Spirit that we may come boldly in this faith and receive from your right hand all good things. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.