HEBREWS 9:21

The Bible says in Hebrews 9:21-22, “Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” This verse is talking about one of the main requirements of the Old Testament law: the sacrifices and the blood that was shed in those sacrifices. The Old Testament law emphasized the responsibility of mankind to obey God’s laws. But even during that time there was an admission of the fact that man could not keep the law. Even during the time of the law there was a need for a provision for forgiveness. The word “remission” means forgiveness. But forgiveness could not be given unless there was a shedding of blood. That is because God is a holy God and He must punish sin. He does not allow sin to pass by without punishment. There must be punishment in order to satisfy God’s righteous demands for justice. Only an unjust judge would allow crimes to go unpunished. God is not unjust. Thank God that Jesus came into the world to give His blood for the sins of the world. If Jesus had not done that, we could not be forgiven of our sins.

The Bible says in Hebrews 9:23-24, “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” All of the material things that were a part of the sacrificial system were a pattern of things that already exist in heaven. They were not the true things. They were only “figures of the true.” In contrast to what the priests of the Old Testament did, Christ entered into the true tabernacle: into the presence of God in heaven. When the priests of the Old Testament went into the tabernacle, they did so for the sake of the people. They were serving the people of God and providing a benefit for the people of God. Now Christ is providing that benefit. Jesus does it everyday forever. And it is a much better benefit because Jesus is forever in the presence of the Father presenting Himself as our once-for-all sacrifice for sin.

The Bible says in Hebrews 9:25-26, “Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Notice the phrase “in the end of the world” that is found in verse 26. The times of the New Testament are called by the Holy Spirit “the end of the world.” That is because this age of the New Testament, which we might also call the age of grace, is the final age that the world will see before the return of Christ. The Old Testament age could not have been called the end of the world because the Old Testament age was followed by the New Testament age. We are already in the end-times. Jesus died for the sins of the world. The next event on the prophetic calendar is His return to the earth (the rapture followed by the Second Coming to the earth seven years after the rapture). This age of the New Testament will end at the rapture when the trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ shall be raised. As it says about the rapture in First Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

What is going to happen until the Lord returns? The normal cycle of life is going to happen, over and over again: birth, followed by life, followed by death for all people. But the most important thing for every person will be what happens to them after death. It says in Hebrews 9:27-28, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:27 states the obvious and yet it is a very powerful truth. There is enough truth in this verse to awaken everyone in the world to their need of a Savior. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” Life on this planet is temporary, and often very short. Compared to eternity life is very short for everyone.

“It is appointed unto men once to die.” The word “appointed” tells us something about death. It tells us that every human being has an appointment with death. A soldier in World War I by the name of Alan Seeger understood this. He wrote, “I have a rendezvous with death at some disputed barricade.” He was born at a time when almost all young men would be sent to some battlefield. That was not an accident. That was his appointment. God makes this appointment. When each person is born into the world, God has given them life. When each person is taken out of the world, God takes them out. Because God knows everything and because God is in control of everything, He sets this appointment. Remember this truth concerning your own life, and remember it concerning the life of anyone that you love. How else will you keep your faith when some great tragedy brings the end of life to someone that you love?

You must believe that God is in control and that He set the appointment. All men and all women must die. That is the way it works in the age in which we live. It will be this way until the return of Christ. Even if man finds a cure to every disease, man will still die. That is because of what happened in the Garden of Eden. God is so great that He took the curse of death and has used it to accomplish good. Christ became a man, and so Christ had to die. But He died for the sins of the world. Death that was once a curse for all of the human race became the means of salvation for all of the human race. Just as there was a purpose in the death of Christ, there is also a purpose in the death of each person. Somehow it fits into God’s great eternal plan. “It is appointed unto men once to die.”

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Every human being is responsible to God. Every person will stand before God to be judged. Because God gives the opportunity of life to everyone, everyone must give an account for what was done with the life that was given to them. This thought should lead every man and every woman to repentance. No one will get away with anything. There will be justice for all finally because the all-knowing God will bring judgment and justice. The Judge is coming, and His name is Jesus. Happy are those who know Jesus as Savior. Everyone else will know Him only as Judge.

The Bible says in Hebrews 9:28, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Notice carefully that this verse says that whoever is saved will appear before Christ “without sin.” That is grace. That is justification by faith. The only way to be without sin is to have Christ as Savior.

This verse also tells, in very simple terms, how to have Christ as Savior. It says, “unto them that look for him.” Of course, to look for Him means to look for Him and to have found Him. That is really what takes place when a person comes to Christ: that person looks to Christ and trusts in Him as Savior. Jesus said in John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” Whosoever looked to the serpent on the pole was saved. Whoever did not look up to it perished. Look to Jesus and live. Turn away from Him and you perish. How could Jesus on the cross be compared to a serpent on a pole? Just remember that Jesus became sin for us when He was hanging on the cross. He took the sins of the world upon himself, and He cried out to the Father, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

It says in Hebrews 9:28, “unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” It is interesting that it says “the second time.” The time when a saved person appears before Christ to be judged is called “the second time.” If the second time that Christ appears to me is the judgment, when is the first time that He appears to me? The answer seems obvious. The first time is when Christ came to me and saved me. Christ appeared to Paul the first time on the road to Damascus. Anyone who is truly saved has had a personal spiritual experience with Christ. That experience involved bowing at the feet of Christ and looking to Him for salvation. If you have not met Christ the first time in this life, then you will not be with him “the second time without sin unto salvation.”

The Bible says in Hebrews 10:1, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.” In the Old Testament the law was only “a shadow of things to come.” The law had a lot of symbolism, especially in regards to the sacrifice of the Messiah who is Jesus Christ. That is what is meant by the word “shadow.” The law contained only a shadowy representation of a more complete truth that would eventually be revealed. That truth has now been revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. And of course, the truth that we know about Christ as Savior will be even further illuminated when we see Him at His Second Coming and in heaven.

There was also an obvious weakness in the fact that the law required new sacrifices to be performed year after year. Because they continued to sin, more sacrifices were required. Also, the conscience of the people was still active. They knew they were still guilty, and so they had to keep making sacrifices. That is not true once you believe in Christ. Christ can give you a clean conscience forever. Christ can give you the comfort of knowing that all of your sins are forgiven forever. Concerning the continued guilty conscience of the worshippers of the Old Testament, the Bible says in Hebrews 10:2, “For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.” They were not purged from their sins by the law, and thus the law always left them with a consciousness of their sins. This implies that those who have been cleansed by Christ should no longer have a guilty conscience in the way that they did before they were saved. It is a wonderful thing to know that all of your sins have been cleansed, but such knowledge is only possible through faith in Christ.

Concerning the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the Bible says in Hebrews 10:3, “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.” The sacrifices did not cleanse from sin. They did not do the job. A better sacrifice was needed. That is why Jesus came into the world: “to give his life a ransom for many.” Those in the Old Testament had “a remembrance again made of sin.” That means that those who have belief in Christ do not have to remember their sins. The New Testament is all about forgetting sins. God said in Hebrews 8:12, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” If the Lord is not going to remember our sins, then we should not remember them either. He wants us to enjoy the forgiveness that He has given to us.

The Bible says in Hebrews 10:4-5, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me.” The only one who ever kept the law was Jesus Christ. Everyone else needed a sacrifice for their sins. Jesus came into the world to be the sacrifice for others. Hopefully you have seen your need of a Savior and have turned to Christ before it is too late.

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