#DailyDevotion Jesus’ Sacrifice Is Greater Than All The Sacrifices
Hebrews 9:24-28
24Christ didn’t go into a holy place made by human hands and just a copy of the real thing but into heaven itself, now to appear before God for us. 25And not to sacrifice Himself over and over again like that high priest going every year into the holy place with blood that is not his own. 26Otherwise He would have had to suffer many times since the world was made. But as it is, He appeared only once at the end of the ages to get rid of sin by His sacrifice. 27And as people are appointed to die once and after that the judgment, 28so Christ also was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, but those who eagerly look for Him will see Him again, not to deal with sin, but to bring salvation to them.
As I read this I cannot but think of Monty Python’s “Quest for the Holy Grail” as Arthur and his knights approach Camelot Castle, everyone is admiring it from afar and then a serf pipes up, “It’s only a model.” Well as we have mentioned before the Tabernacle and the Temple were a model of what the LORD had shown Moses on the mountain of the Heavenly Temple. Christ did not go into the model to appear before God for us but the real Holy of Holies. This no doubt was marked when the model below’s curtain was torn from top to bottom at Jesus’ death.
We should probably spend a moment on that phrase “for us.” For us or for you is what makes everything Jesus has done Gospel or Good News. If he didn’t do it for you but only for himself or perhaps even others it wouldn’t be good news, at least not for you. In saying “for us” we then know it is for you for it is for all people, of all times, and of all places, so you can always be certain and assured that you indeed are saved by Christ.
Jesus went into the Temple above with his blood. He didn’t take the blood of animals, of bulls, goats, sheep, or pigeons. They were a type that were pointing the people to Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s death on the cross. Those sacrifices had to be offered again and again. They were only a reminder of the sacrifice that was actually needed to redeem us from our sins and to make a propitiation, a covering for them.
Jesus only needed to appear once and for all with his blood to get rid of sin by his sacrifice. He was sacrificed only once to take away the sins of the people. As Jesus is greater than the angels, greater than Moses, greater than the Torah (Law), greater than the Sabbath, and greater than the priests and High Priest, Jesus is also greater than all of the sacrifices that came before him. If you are not certain you are saved you need only look at two intersecting lines, at a tree or a telephone pole and know that on the cross Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, was offered up for you.
We see we die once and then there is the judgment. From this we know we are not reincarnated to learn the lessons and to pay the debt we owe for our sins. Jesus has done that for us. Jesus is coming a second time in judgment. For those who believed in his sacrifice the judgment they receive is salvation—just as Israel’s judges delivered them from their enemies. For those who reject Jesus’ sacrifice, they are already judged but will receive from Christ Jesus the punishment due their sins as they rejected his sacrifice for them. Don’t be one of those people.
Heavenly Father, grant us faith in the all perfect sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us so we may receive salvation at his second advent. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.