"We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life!"

(Romans 5:10 GNB)

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In part 5 we established that the blood of Christ was the price paid to make peace with God and buy us out of the bondage to sin that Adams actions consigned humanity to. Click here if you missed part 5. Here we will continue to consider the part that Christ's blood played in God's plan of salvation.

It is important to understand the scope of what the blood of Christ accomplished. His blood took care of sin forever. All sin, for all men, for all time. Past, present and future.

1. "Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people--free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!" (Ephesians 1:7 MSG)

2. "He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out." (Hebrews 9:12-14 MSG)

To understand how this can be, we need to understand that the efficacy of the blood lies in the life that it represents. The blood of Christ represented His life. So He in effect poured out His life through His blood. When we consider that Christ bore no less than the life of God Himself we see that God gave His life in Christ in our place. Put another way, God offered Himself in Christ as a replacement for all our lives and took the ultimate punishment of sin. If that doesn't do the job, I don't know what will.

1. "..the life is in the blood." (Genesis 9:4 GNB)

2. "And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and putting the word of reconciliation in us." (2 Corinthians 5:18-19 MKJV)

3. "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life within Himself," (John 5:26 MKJV)

His Life in the Blood

The Price He paid

None can match

For all mankind

To cover forever

Any debt incurred

For all sins

For all times

None can bankrupt

Sin having been dealt a final blow, no one need ever be separated from God on the basis of sin ever again. We are meant to live free of a conscience of sin. Let us look very closely at text written to make this exact point.

1. "The Law says that almost everything must be sprinkled with blood, and no sins can be forgiven unless blood is offered." (Hebrews 9:22 CEV)

2. "For Christ didn't enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn't do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin. Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ's death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation." (Hebrews 9:24-28 MSG)

3. Hebrews 10:1-23 MSG(comments in square brackets in between the text)

(1) The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old "law plan" wasn't complete in itself, it couldn't complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution.

(2) If they had, the worshipers would have gone merrily on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins.

[According to verses 1 and 2 the final solution is to no longer be dragged down by sin or as another version put it, "..the worshipers, when they had been once for all purged, would have had no more conscience of sin."]

(3) But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt.

(4) The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can't get rid of sin.

[Verse 4 shows that the ultimate objective is to get rid of sin]

(5) That is what is meant by this prophecy, put in the mouth of Christ: You don't want sacrifices and offerings year after year; you've prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.

(6) It's not fragrance and smoke from the altar that whet your appetite.

(7) So I said, "I'm here to do it your way, O God, the way it's described in your Book."

(8) When he said, "You don't want sacrifices and offerings," he was referring to practices according to the old plan.

(9) When he added, "I'm here to do it your way," he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan--

(10) God's way--by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.

[The term once-for-all, used in verse 10, means exactly that. It is done, never to be repeated again, because it's purpose had been accomplished. Once for all sin, for all men and for all times.]

(11) Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem.

(12) As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God

[The fact that Christ sat down indicated that the mission had been accomplished. God was satisfied, He was satisfied and all we have to do is accept it as done(i.e. believe).]

(13) and waited for his enemies to cave in.

(14) It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.

(15) The Holy Spirit confirms this:

(16) This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be written on paper, isn't going to be chiseled in stone; This time "I'm writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts."

(17) He concludes, I'll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.

[Verse 17 is further confirmation of God's intention. Sin, was no longer to be an issue. It was to never again, separate us from God.]

(18) Once sins are taken care of for good, there's no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.

[Verse 18 is very emphatic, there no more that can be paid in addition to what Christ has already offered. There is no offering of greater value to completely wipe out the cost of any sin in any age than that of the creator of the universe(Hebrews 1:1-4, Colossians 1:15-20 , John 1:1-4.]

(19) So, friends, we can now--without hesitation--walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body.

(22) So let's do it--full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out.

(23) Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word.

[Verses 19-23 reflect the fact that if we truly believe the case that has been made from verses 1-18, the net effect is that we would confidently come before God, no longer hampered by the conscience of sin.]

In part 7, we will look into our response to what Christ's blood has accomplished for us.

Selah

(To be continued..)

click here to read part 7

To view others instalments in the series, click here