The precious blood of Christ
Have you ever seen a movie where people are seeking a treasure, or something special or important, and they realize that it is hidden in a secret room? This secret room is not easy to find, nor easy to reach. The people looking for the treasure have to go through a maze, rigged with traps and riddles, to get to the room. As all the characters are going through, only the good guys make it. The traps and riddles are designed to keep the unworthy ones out, and only let the wise and worthy ones through.
This elaborate, complicated way into a secret room is what comes to my mind when I read what the priests would have to do to enter into the tabernacle. Reading through Leviticus, with the rituals and instructions, seems like an elaborate maze that if you don’t get just right will have some consequences and will certainly bar your way. And not just anyone could go into the tabernacle; only the priests were allowed because they had been anointed and made holy by God. Hebrews 9:1-10 briefly touches on what the priests would need to do, but the author even says “it is not possible to speak about these things in details right now,” because it would takes pages to describe, I would imagine.
Why was it so complex to get into the inner room? God’s presence dwelled in the inner room of the tabernacle and because He is holy, perfect, and without sin, no man, no human, is worthy to be in His presence. The rituals and sacrifices had to be performed to atone for the priests’ sins so they could enter into the tabernacle. And not just any priest could enter into the inner room: only the high priest could, and that was only once a year, and only after he performed a series of rituals/sacrifices that cleansed him.
What I think we really need to grasp, is before Jesus, the presence of God was off-limits. Access to God was not easy, and not really even possible for someone like me or you. We see in the Old Testament, that access to God’s presence was limited. God would come and make His presence manifest to certain people and for certain moments. Or the Holy Spirit would come upon certain people for certain situations. Or His presence would dwell in the tabernacle, where only a high priest could enter. God’s presence, God’s spirit, was not a part of someone’s day to day life.
God so very much wants us to be in His presence, both here on earth and for eternity, but our sin prevent us for doing so. Hebrews 9:22 says “according to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” But the atonement for sin with animal sacrifices still had its limitations. So God sent His son, Jesus—holy, innocent, and blameless—to be the sacrificial lamb to cleanse us of our sins so we might enter God’s presence in eternity rather than face eternal judgment.
How is it possible? What did Jesus’ sacrifice do that the Old Testament sacrifices did not? Hebrews points out that even though the High Priest, and priests, made sacrifices on behalf of the people, because this Old Testament system was just a shadow of the real, it could only “sanctify for the purification of the flesh” (Hebrews 9:13). The blood of goats, bulls, etc. only temporarily cleansed, and did not even thoroughly cleanse us. These gifts and sacrifices could not “perfect the worshiper’s conscience” (Hebrews 9:9). We could never be made worthy, under the Old System, to be in His presence.
Jesus being fully God and fully man was a far more worthy and perfect sacrifice than any animal. Jesus’ blood, unlike the animal blood under the old system, atones for our sinful deeds and our wicked thoughts. Moreover, His blood cleanses our spirits and makes us new. When I read Hebrews 9:14, I immediately thought of the hymn Nothing but the blood by Robert Lowry.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! Precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Jesus’ sacrifice, which was eternal and in the heavenly, true tabernacle, did what no earthly sacrifice could ever do for us. And this sacrifice, was a one time sacrifice for all sin for all time. (Hebrews 9:24-26). I love how Peter puts it when he says we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19).
Hebrews 9:14 says that Jesus cleansed us “to worship and serve the living God.” Jesus told the woman at the well that a time would come, “and is here now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). God’s presence used to dwell in the temple, or the tabernacle. But through Jesus Christ, the very presence of God lives in us. Paul reminds us that “[we ourselves] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in [our] midst” (1 Corinthians 3:16). Jesus’ blood cleansed our spirits, something the sacrifices under the old covenant were unable to do, so that the very Spirit of God could take up residence in us, so that we might worship God, in spirit and truth, and come boldly into His presence.
Don’t miss out on this—where we were once blocked access, Jesus blood’ has thrown the door wide open. Now, instead of a complicated maze to get to the inner room, we can boldly enter the the throne room. Now instead of God’s presence dwelling in a place we have no access to, His spirit dwells in us. Do you grasp the magnitude of what Jesus has done for us? His sacrifice allows us to be in the presence of the living, Holy God, in right-standing, without fear of judgment or condemnation.
While meditating on these verses, I was drawn to the story in the Old Testament about Moses and the presence of God. In Exodus 33 and 34, we learn a few things about God’s presence that I want to highlight in light of Hebrews 9.
God appeared as a pillar of cloud to Moses and the Israelites to lead them through the wilderness. Now, the Israelites saw the pillar, they were aware of His presence, but it was to Moses whom the Bible says God talked to face to face, “just as a man speaks to his friend.” After Moses would be in the presence of God, his face would shine from the radiance of God—and it was noticeable! So much so, that Moses covered his face with a veil because it freaked the Israelites out. We also learn that Moses asked to see God’s glory. But God told him that he could only see His goodness, because no man could see God’s glory and live.
I do not want to be like the Israelites who are only aware of God’s presence. I want to be like Moses, to whom God speaks as a man speaks to a friend. Psalm 103:7 tells us that “He revealed His ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The Israelites saw God move, but Moses knew God, knew who He was. And the difference was that Moses sought the presence of God. He embraced the presence of God. As believers, do we take for granted the presence of God? I’d venture to say yes. At least for myself, I have. Reading this passage gave me a fresh revelation of how great of a gift Jesus’ sacrifice was and how precious His blood truly is that it could give us access to God. God invites us into His presence because it is there that we are transformed. Like Moses, we become radiant from God’s presence as we reflect His glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that believers who have “had the veiled removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord.”
One other aspect of Exodus 33 stood out to me. God became unhappy with the Israelites because of their stubborn rebellion. So He told Moses to lead the people without Him, and that He would send an angel ahead to prepare the land. But, Moses refused to go without God’s presence. He says,
“If Your presence does not go, don’t make us go from here. How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the Earth (Exodus 33:15-16).
Moses knew that God’s presence was the treasure, the blessing. He knew that God’s presence was better than any earthly blessing God could have given them. He also knew that it was God’s presence that distinguished them from the world.
Let us not take for granted God’s presence. Let us, like Moses, refuse to go forward unless God’s presence is with us. Let us remember that it is in His presence that we are transformed and that we reflect His glory to the world, so the world knows whose we are.
And let us always be in awe and worship Jesus, for it is by His sacrifice, His precious blood alone, that we can enter in God’s presence.
