May 1, 2017 ONCE FOR ALL
Hebrews 10: 10,14,21-23: “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified… and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;”
The book of Hebrews goes into great detail comparing the Old Covenant with the New Covenant, and makes it abundantly clear that the New Covenant that Jesus inaugurated is far superior to the Old Covenant. Under the Old Covenant, the priest were required to make periodic animal sacrifices to atone the sins they had committed, however, Jesus came and died on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins, cleansing us from all sin, once for all. There is no longer any sacrifice to be made for forgiveness of sin. Even though Jesus’ sacrifice was the perfect sacrifice that cleanses us from our sin once for all, some are still defeated by their sins of the past or by their present sin. Many find it difficult or impossible to accept the forgiveness of God, or to forgive themselves. We all have some ‘skeletons in the closet,’ we have all sinned, but the greatest news of all times is that God has forgiven us for all sin and has made us clean. (Don’t misunderstand; believers can sin, and when they do so, it is a serious issue. When a believer sins, then he or she is to confess the sin and then continue walking in fellowship with God.) We need to know that Jesus dealt with the sin issue once for all and no longer does our sin separate us from God. Perhaps we need to be reminded of, and conscience of, how blessed we are to live under the New Covenant. There are bountiful blessings under the New Covenant including being forgiven for all sins we have committed, having our heart and our conscience made clean, having Jesus as our great high priest who is seated at the right hand of God, having been joined to God as His sons and daughters, having the Spirit of God living in us, being transformed into His image-and the list goes on. We must realize that living under the New Covenant is not to be taken lightly as it required the death of Jesus to inaugurate the New Covenant. God gives a stern warning in Hebrews 10:29 for those who disregard or take lightly the New Covenant: “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of Grace?” We have been sanctified, or set apart by God, and now our life belongs to Him and we are to live according to His ways. Should we choose to live according to our ways, then we are guilty of “trampling under foot the Son of God!” We are wise to have a healthy fear of God. God sent His Son to die for us because He loves us; He gives us overflowing life, He gives us purpose in life, and He has now made it possible to enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with Him.
Colossians 1:21-22: “And although you were former alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach…”
Blessings,
Buddy
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