Thursday after the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 1, 2020 by under
Scripture: Hebrews 9:16-28 (NKJV)
9:16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” 21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Devotion
In general terms, a covenant is an agreement made between two persons. In Biblical terms, as the author of this letter to the Hebrews states, there can be no covenant made without the shedding of blood. The covenant is better understood as a testament when the direction is one-sided, and when a death is involved: “For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.”
The Father’s will and testament was to give man His only begotten Son (John 3:16). The Son’s dying will and testament was to institute His Holy Supper for the forgiveness of our sin (1 Cor. 11:23-25). Both of these gifts are “one-sided”, initiated and enacted by God alone. The giving of the Son and the Son giving of Himself constitute God’s great love for mankind. As the new High Priest, Jesus not only offered, but also became the sacrifice. In doing so, the testament was ratified by the shed blood of the Testator. The testament would be unique, for it was to include all people, not just a chosen nation. It would not be a relationship in time, but an eternal one which culminates in the resurrection and the life of the world to come.
Prayer: Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me; died that I might live on high, lived that I might never die. As the branch is to the vine, I am His, and He is mine. (TLH 342:1)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
