Day 2261 – Hebrews 15 – Signed, Sealed, and Delivered…In Blood – Daily Wisdom

Welcome to Day 2261 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews 15-Signed, Sealed, Delivered...In Blood – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 08/06/2023

Signed, Sealed, Delivered…In Blood!

Hebrews 9:15-28

As we continued our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament last week, we explored the Reformation of Conscience. Only through the New Covenant and the heavenly Tabernacle can our body and soul be allowed access to God through our perfect High Priest, Jesus Christ.

This week, we will learn that to have hope of a future reward and peace and joy in the present world, we must embrace and embody the truth that we can escape tomorrow's judgment because today’s sin is forgivable.

Let’s read Hebrews 9:15-28.

 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

 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. 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. 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. 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.  Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 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.

Let me paint this picture. All humanity has fallen into a deep, dark crevice from which it is impossible to climb. This fissure marked by sin and death has brought us nothing but guilt and despair from Adam onward. Though many have tried to clamber back to the light through useless human means such as man-made religions, personal piety, and moral philosophies, none of these have succeeded. Others have tried to cope with their fallen condition by igniting their dismal light amid the darkness. They may do so believing the crevice isn’t so dark or deep, or that humanity is rising...

Welcome to Day 2261 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews 15-Signed, Sealed, Delivered...In Blood – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 08/06/2023

Signed, Sealed, Delivered…In Blood!

Hebrews 9:15-28

As we continued our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament last week, we explored the Reformation of Conscience. Only through the New Covenant and the heavenly Tabernacle can our body and soul be allowed access to God through our perfect High Priest, Jesus Christ.

This week, we will learn that to have hope of a future reward and peace and joy in the present world, we must embrace and embody the truth that we can escape tomorrow's judgment because today’s sin is forgivable.

Let’s read Hebrews 9:15-28.

 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

 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. 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. 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. 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.  Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 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.

Let me paint this picture. All humanity has fallen into a deep, dark crevice from which it is impossible to climb. This fissure marked by sin and death has brought us nothing but guilt and despair from Adam onward. Though many have tried to clamber back to the light through useless human means such as man-made religions, personal piety, and moral philosophies, none of these have succeeded. Others have tried to cope with their fallen condition by igniting their dismal light amid the darkness. They may do so believing the crevice isn’t so dark or deep, or that humanity is rising from the depths by a natural progression and will one day emerge into the light, or that all this talk of sin, death, and fallenness is mere fantasy. But the crevice remains. All people know intuitively that their current condition isn’t what it should be. We know deep down inside that we were meant for something better, that something’s missing or something was lost. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.’”

Amid this fallen condition came the Law—signed, sealed, and delivered by Moses and confirmed by a long line of Old Testament prophets. God gave it to Moses and the people of Israel, and it clearly points out our sinful, guilty condition. It describes the high elevation from which we have plummeted. It creates a sense of helplessness and a desperate need for someone or something to lift us from our condition. The Law doesn’t provide a permanent solution for escaping the pit. No set of rules or regulations can ever accomplish this. The very best the Law can do is to remind us of our condition, point us to greater hope, and offer a temporary solution in the cramped confines of the darkness.

Hebrews 9 tells us what’s needed to save us from the pit of sin and guilt—the blood of Christ. With the coming of the long-awaited Messiah, the means of eternal salvation was revealed. He did what the Law could never do. He descended into the darkness not to condemn us in our unholy condition, but to rescue us from it. He took on our entire human nature—but without sin—so He could shed His blood and die in our place as a once-for-all sacrifice for us. This ushered in a new arrangement or “covenant” between God and humanity. This new covenant is far superior to the old, with its rituals, regulations, sacrifices, and commands of the Law that could not lift us from our fallen condition and raise us into the light of salvation. This new covenant, mediated by Jesus Christ, was signed, sealed, and delivered…in blood. And not just any blood, but the blood of the spotless Lamb of God, who alone is able to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

In the remainder of Hebrews 9, the author focuses on the theme of blood, using it to contrast the old and new covenants, demonstrating once again that Christ is our superior High Priest. In 9:15–22, the author describes the critical function of sacrifice under the old covenant, which was a shadow and type of the new. Then, in 9:23–28, he emphasizes the vital role of Christ’s sacrifice in fulfilling the old covenant type.

9:15–22

Last week, in 9:11–14, the author of Hebrews introduced a strong contrast between the old covenant and the new. As in the old covenant, blood plays a central role in the new covenant, as a vivid symbol of sacrificial death—not the bloody sacrifices of goats and bulls, but the blood of Christ who “offered himself unblemished to God” to cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death” (9:14). What kind of “acts that lead to death”? Indeed, the works that characterize those who are spiritually dead, apart from the energizing work of the Spirit (Eph. 2:1–2); but also, works of self-righteousness that can never bring about healthy spiritual life—rituals, regulations, and rules that were never meant to bring eternal life.

In Hebrews 9:15, the author establishes the overarching theme of the rest of chapter 9—Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant. His death paid for the sins that could not be paid by the old covenant arrangement, thus enabling those who partake of the new covenant to inherit eternal life (9:15).

Utilizing a form of argument common among Jewish interpreters at the time, the author develops his argument based on two different meanings of the Greek word for “covenant”: its biblical sense (we looked at this two weeks ago), and its legal sense—a “last will and testament.” As it is today with a person’s last will, so it was in the first century. As long as the person who had executed the will was still alive, the stipulations of the will would not be in effect, and the heirs would not receive their inheritance. The same illustration applies to the first covenant, though in a way that demonstrates its inferiority. The author notes that even the first arrangement “was not put into effect without blood” (9:18). However, this was not the blood of the God-man, who was Himself the Creator, Redeemer, and Heir of all things. Instead, the old covenant was instituted by the death of calves and goats. Their blood was then sprinkled on the physical copy of the covenant and the people as a sign of their obligation to keep the Law, under penalty of death (9:19–20; see Exod. 24).

Not only were the people sprinkled with the blood of the old covenant, but so were the tabernacle and implements of worship (Heb. 9:21). Though there is no biblical record of Moses literally sprinkling the tabernacle and implements with blood, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus relays a similar idea from tradition. He writes:

And when Moses had sprinkled Aaron’s vestments, himself, and his sons, with the blood of the beasts that were killed, and had purified them with spring waters and ointment, they became God’s priests…He did the same to the tabernacle, and the vessels, with perfumed oil, as I said, and with the blood of bulls and rams.

The author of Hebrews may have had this same oral tradition in mind. Or he may have used the term “sprinkle” in a less direct sense, referring instead to the fact that the vestments, implements of worship, and the tabernacle would have been inevitably splattered with the blood of the sacrifices during worship.

Any reader of the Old Testament would readily agree with the author’s conclusion, “According to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” (9:22, NLT).

Blood was essential for ritual cleansing and for setting something apart for worship. The principle of the necessity of blood for atonement is summed up in Leviticus 17:11, which likely undergirds the author’s theology of Old Testament sacrifices: “for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life that makes purification possible.”

Two critical points of theology rest on Hebrews 9:22. First, sin is shown to be a terrible offense. It’s not simply a misstep, an indiscretion, or a lapse of judgment. Sin is a heinous transgression against a holy God who deserves our absolute obedience. Second, atonement for sin is costly. God doesn’t wink at sin. To do so would be to compromise His perfect, holy character. When we commit an offense, He doesn’t simply shake his head and say, “Oh well, to err is human.” Because sin is a horrible offense against a holy God, atonement for sin is costly. The costliest thing in God’s creation is life. An animal’s life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11). Therefore, it necessarily follows that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).

9:23–28

The old covenant sacrificial system, with its seemingly endless train of animal sacrifices and constantly flowing rivers of blood, couldn’t be the good news of perfect redemption God’s people had longed for. The value of the earthly sacrifices lay in their portrayal of heavenly truth (9:23). They pointed beyond themselves to something more perfect and permanent.

The author of Hebrews presents three strong contrasts in 9:24–26. First, Christ didn’t enter a holy place made with hands, but rather heaven itself (9:24). This underscores the fact that the earthly tabernacle was an old covenant copy and an anticipation of the new covenant reality and fulfillment.

Second, Christ didn’t offer sacrifices repeatedly, as did the high priests. He sacrificed himself once and for all (9:25). This atoning sacrifice of God’s Son was so powerful that it effectively paid for all sin—past, present, and future. The writer of Hebrews implies this when he notes that if Christ’s single death had not been sufficient, “Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world ” (9:26). However, because its power extends along every point in the timeline of human history from the beginning of creation to the end of time, He needed to suffer only once.

Third, Christ’s death was qualitatively different from the sacrifices of the old covenant, which had to be repeated because the stain of sin remained and required continual cleansing. While the old system might have covered over sin, Christ’s blood “do away with sin.” The Greek word for “do away away” is athetēsis, which in the legal realm means “a nullification.” Another essential word in this section is hapax, meaning “once,” used in 9:26, 28 concerning Christ’s atoning work. This word emphasizes the fact that Christ is not sacrificed over and over and over again: “But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (9:26); “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many” (9:28).

Hebrews 9 concludes with a word of warning to those who shrug at the superiority of Christ’s person and work and its implications for the finality of the new covenant.  Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment (9:27). This implicit warning is leveled at those who might foolishly put off a decision to trust Christ as Savior or ignore the gospel to indulge in the pleasures of this world. The author ends this chapter with a word of encouragement and hope for those who believe in Christ. Our Savior “will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (9:28). In the same vein, Paul notes that we are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment” (1 Thes. 1:10).

APPLICATION: HEBREWS 9:15–28

Stop, Think, and Be Wary, for Tomorrow We Die

A modern hedonistic philosophy could be summed up with the motto, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die” (see Eccl. 8:15; Isa. 22:13; 1Cor. 15:32). Translated into everyday vernacular, we might say, “YOLO—you only live once!” The ancient, Epicurean version of this philosophy, though, emphasized mental and emotional pleasure, especially freedom from the fear of death—not unlike a modern psychological approach to life that tries to secure serenity by human means.

The “philosophy” of Hebrews is just the opposite of that which stems from the vantage point of Hollywood, a glistening high-rise on New York’s Fifth Avenue or an ivory tower study overlooking Cambridge University. Whether our belief system is driven by physical indulgence, intellectual progress, or psychological health, the book of Hebrews confronts us with a stark reality and a stern warning: Stop, think, and be wary, for tomorrow we die!

The Bible looks at life—and the afterlife—from a different angle. As Solomon discovered, there’s more to life than food and drink (Eccl. 2). There’s more to death than the grave. Beyond the grave, there is God—our Creator and Judge. The real root of our human problems is not physical or psychological, but spiritual. The problem is sin, with its prospect of judgment. The problem of sin is not solved by economic prosperity, physical pleasure, intellectual progress, or inner peace. Hebrews teaches us that our sin problem can only be solved by forgiveness.

This leads me to a vital truth that addresses our desperate human situation. Understanding this truth, embracing it, and letting it transform our thinking and lives can lift us from despair/ and minister the spiritual serenity so desperately needed today. The truth is simple but insightful: Tomorrow’s judgment is escapable because today’s sin is forgivable.

The modern-day hedonists have part of the truth right: One day, we will die. But Hebrews reminds us that “after that to face judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Just as nobody can escape the reality of death, nobody can escape that day when we must face our God. However, we can escape the eternal judgment that comes as a just penalty for our sin against a holy God. The weight of our sin, which causes us to fall farther and farther from our heavenly Father, can be removed entirely by the blood of Christ.

Those who have never handed over their weight of sin to the Savior must face the judgment alone. Their tomorrow is bleak, and they have no sure foundation for a hope-filled life today. However, those of us freed from sin and guilt have reason to rejoice. We can look forward with eagerness to that great homecoming, when Christ Himself will bring salvation—not judgment—to those who have accepted Him as Savior/ and received forgiveness of sin (9:28). (Graphic)

The more earnestly we embrace and embody this truth—that tomorrow’s judgment is escapable because today’s sin is forgivable—the more we will be motivated to conform our lives to His holy character. And as we do, we will harvest not only fruits of righteousness/ and the hope of future reward/ but also peace and joy in the present world. It is all because the New Covenant was…signed, sealed, delivered…in blood.

Next we will continue our adventure through Hebrews as we focus on Great Benefits for Believers, in a message titled “One for All, Once for All, Free for All.” So please read Hebrews 10:1-18 in preparation.

As we continue our journey through the pages of the Bible, remember that the wisdom it offers is our guiding light in navigating the complexities of life. Until next time, keep seeking God’s wisdom and make it a part of your daily trek.

If you found this podcast insightful, subscribe and leave us a review, then encourage your friends and family to join us and come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

Live Abundantly (Fully)
Love Unconditionally
Listen Intentionally
Learn Continuously
Lend to others Generously
Lead with Integrity
Leave a Living Legacy Each Day


I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you next time...