"The Blood of the Testament"
(No. 3293)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1912.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to
the Law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and
scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all his
people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has
enjoined unto you." Hebrews 9:19,20.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon, upon verse 20 is #1567, Volume 26–THE
BLOOD OF THE COVENANT.]
Blood is always a terrible thing. It makes a sensitive mind shudder
even to pronounce the word. But to look upon the thing, itself, causes
a thrill of horror. Although by familiarity men shake this off, for the
seeing of the eyes and the hearing of the ears can harden the heart,
the instinct of a little child may teach you what is natural to us in
reference to blood. How it will worry if its finger bleeds ever so
little–shocked at the sight, even if there is actually no pain! I envy
not the man whose pity would not stir to see a sparrow bleed or a lamb
wantonly put to pain. And as for the cruel man, I shudder at the
thought of his depravity. What exquisite pain it must have caused our
first parent–how keenly it must have touched the fine sensibilities of
their nature–to have had to offer sacrifice! Probably they had never
seen death until they brought their first victim to the altar of God.
Blood! Ah, how they must have shuddered as they saw the warm life-fluid
flowing forth from the innocent victim. It must have seemed to them to
be a very horrible thing and, very properly so, for God intended them
to feel their feelings outraged. He meant them to take to heart the
anguish of the victim and learn, with many a shudder, what a
destructive and killing thing sin was! He meant them to see before
their eyes a commentary upon His threat–"In the day that you eat
thereof you shall surely die." He meant Adam and Eve to witness the
harrowing appearance as the sentence upon sin was executed, stabbing at
the very heart of life, convulsing all the frame, sealing up the senses
and leaving behind but a wreck of the beautiful creature and not a
relic of happiness for it in the world. How dreadful must have been the
spectacle when the first pair gathered around the corpse of their
second son, slain by his brother! There were the clots of blood on the
murderous club, or the sharp stone, or whatever other instrument Cain
may have used in smiting his brother to the grave. How they must have
mourned and sighed as they saw the precious crimson of human life
wantonly poured out upon the ground and crying to God against the
murderer!
Yes, blood is always a ghastly and a terrible thing. It is so, I
suppose, because we recognize in it the destruction of life. Is it not
so, also–though we may not be able to define the emotion–because we
are compelled in our consciences to admit the effect of sin and we are
staggered as we see what our sin has done? All through the great school
of the Jewish Law, blood was constantly used to instruct the Israelite
in the guilt of sin, and in the greatness of the atonement necessary
for putting it away. I suppose that the outer court of the Jewish
Temple was something worse than ordinary shambles. If you will read the
lists of the multitudes of beasts that were sometimes slain there in a
single day, you will see that the priests must have stood in gore and
have presented a crimson appearance–their snow-white garments all
splashed over with blood as they stood there offering sacrifice from
morning till night! Every man who went up to the tabernacle or to the
Temple must have stood aside for a moment, and have said, "What a place
this is for the worship of God! Everywhere I see signs of slaughter."
God intended this to be so. It was the great lesson which He meant to
be taught to the Jewish people, that sin was a loathsome and a
detestable thing–and that it could only be put away by the Sacrifice
of a great life, such a life as had not then been lived–the life of
the Coming One, the life of the Eternal Son of God who must, Himself,
become Man that He might offer His own immaculate life upon the altar
of God to expiate the guilt and put away the filth and the
loathsomeness of human transgression!
Some of you will feel sickened at these reflections and object to what
I have already said as unworthy of my lips and offensive to your ears.
I know who these will be–the creatures of taste who have never felt
the loathsomeness of sin! Oh, I would that your sins would sicken you!
I would to God that you had some sense of what a horrible thing it is
to rebel against the Most High, to pervert the laws of right, to
overthrow the rules of virtue, and to run into the ways of
transgression and iniquity, for if blood is sickening to you, sin is
infinitely more detestable to God! And if you find that being washed in
blood seems awful to you, the great bath which was filled from Christ's
veins in which men are washed and made clean is a thing of greater and
deeper solemnity to God than any tongue shall be ever able to express!
I do not think anyone ever knows the preciousness of the blood of
Christ till he has had a full sight and sense of his sin, his
uncleanness and his ill desert. Is there any such thing as truly coming
to the Cross of Christ until you first of all have seen what your sin
really deserves? A little light into that dark cellar, Sir–a little
light into that hole within the soul, a little light cast into that
infernal den of your humanity and you will soon discern what sin is!
And, seeing it, you would discover that there was no hope of being
washed from it except by a Sacrifice far greater than you could ever
render. Then the Atonement of Christ would become fair and lustrous in
your eyes and you would rejoice with unspeakable joy in that boundless
love which led the Savior to give Himself a ransom for us, "the Just
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." May the Lord teach
us–thundering at us, if necessary–what sin means! May He teach it to
us so that the lesson shall be burned into our souls and we shall never
forget it! I could gladly wish that you were all burden-carriers till
you grew weary. I could gladly wish that you all labored after Eternal
Life until your strength failed, and that you might then rejoice in Him
who has finished the work and who promises to be your All-in-All when
you believe in Him and trust in Him with your whole heart!
Looking carefully at the text, I would have you notice the name given
to the blood of Christ, the ministry in which it was used and the
effect that it produced.
I. First, observe THE NAME GIVEN IN THE TEXT TO THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. It
is said to be, "THE BLOOD OF THE TESTAMENT."
You are aware, perhaps, you who read your Bibles thoroughly, that the
word here rendered, "testament," is more commonly rendered, "covenant,"
and although it would be wrong to say that it does not mean,
"testament," yet it would be right to say that it signifies both,
"covenant" and, "testament," and that its first and general meaning is
"covenant."
Let us take it so. The blood of Jesus is the Blood of the Covenant.
Long before this round world was made, or stars began to shine, God
foresaw that He would make man. He also foresaw that man would fall
into sin. Out of that fall of man, His distinguishing Grace and
Infinite Sovereignty selected a multitude that no man can number to be
His. But, seeing that they had offended against Him, it was necessary,
in order that they might be saved, that a great scheme or plan should
be devised by which the Justice of God would be fully satisfied, and
yet the mercy of God should have full play. A covenant was therefore
arranged between the Persons of the blessed Trinity. It was agreed and
solemnly pledged by the oath of the Eternal Father that He would give
unto the Son a multitude whom no man could number who should be
His–His spouse, the members of His Mystical Body, His sheep, His
precious jewels. These the Savior accepted as His own, and then on His
part, He undertook for them that He would keep the Divine Law, that He
would suffer all the penalties due on their behalf for offenses against
the Law and that He would keep and preserve every one of them until the
day of His appearing. Thus stood the Covenant and on that Covenant the
salvation of every saved man and woman hangs. Do not think it rests
with you, Soul, for what says the Scripture? "It is not of him that
wills, nor of him that runs but of God that shows mercy." He said to
Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion." To show you that salvation
is not by human merit, God was pleased to cast it entirely upon
covenant arrangements. In that Covenant made between Himself and His
Son, there was not a word said about our actions having any merit in
them! We were regarded as though we were not, except that we stood in
Christ and we were only so far parties to the Covenant as we were in
the loins of Christ on that august day. We were considered to be the
seed of the Lord Jesus Christ, the children of His care, the members of
His own body. "According as He has chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world." Oh, what Grace it was that put your name and
mine in the eternal roll and provided for our salvation, provided for
it by a Covenant–by a sacred pact between the Father and His Eternal
Son, that we should belong to Him in the day when He should make up His
jewels!
Now, Beloved, in a covenant there are pledges given–and on those
pledges we delight to meditate. You know what they were. The Father
pledged His honor and His word. He did more–He pledged His oath and,
"because He could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself." He pledged
His own word and sacred honor of Godhead that He would be true to His
Son, that He should see His seed and that by the knowledge of Him,
Christ should "justify many." But there was needed a seal to the
Covenant–and what was that? Jesus Christ in the fullness of time set
the seal to the Covenant, to make it valid and secure, by pouring out
His life's blood to make the Covenant effectual once and for all.
Beloved, if there is an agreement made between two men, the one to sell
such-and-such an estate, and the other to pay for it, the covenant does
not hold good until the payment is made. Now, Jesus Christ's blood was
the payment of His part of the Covenant! And when He shed it, the
Covenant stood as firm as the everlasting hills–and the Throne of God,
Himself, is not more sure than is the Covenant of Grace! And, mark you,
that Covenant is not sure merely in its great outlines, but also sure
in all its details! Every soul whose name was in that Covenant must be
saved! Unless God can undeify Himself, every soul that Christ died for,
He will have! Every soul for which He stood Substitute and Surety, He
demands to have–and each of the souls He must have, for the Covenant
stands fast. Moreover, every blessing in that Covenant which was
guaranteed to the chosen seed was, by the precious blood, made
eternally secure to that seed! Oh, how I delight to speak about the
sureness of that Covenant! How the dying David rolled that under his
tongue as a sweet morsel! "Although my house," he said, "be not so with
God"–there was the bitter in his mouth–"yet," he said–and there came
in the honey, "yet He has made with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure." And this sureness, mark you, lies in the
blood! It is the blood of Christ that makes all things secure, for all
the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus, to the Glory of
God by us!
You will ask, it may be, "What is the purpose of this Doctrine?" Its
purpose is this–To you who have believed in Jesus, Covenant mercies
are sure, not because of your frames and feelings, but because of the
precious blood of Jesus! Yesterday you were happy, perhaps, and today
you are downcast. Well, but the Covenant has not changed! Tomorrow you
may be in the very depths of despair, while today you are singing upon
the top of the mountain–but the Covenant will not change. That august
transaction was not made by you and cannot be unmade by you! It tarries
not for man, and waits not for the sons of men. There it stands fast
and settled, signed by the Eternal Signet, and your security is not in
yourselves, but in Christ. If Christ bought you–if the Father gave you
to Him, if Christ became a Surety for you, then–
"Nor death, nor Hell, shall ever remove His favorites from His breast;
In the dear bosom of His love They must forever rest!"
The name of the blood, as we find it in our own translation, is "the
blood of the testament" This teaches a similar Truth of God, though it
puts it under another figure. Salvation comes to us as a matter of
will. Jesus Christ has left Eternal Life to His people as a legacy.
Here are the words–"Father, I will that they, also, whom You have
given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My Glory." Now, a
will, as the Apostle rightly tells us, has no power whatever unless the
man who made it is dead. Hence the blood of Jesus Christ, the token of
His death, gives validity to all the promises which He has made. That
spear-thrust by the Roman soldier was a precious proof to us that our
Lord was really dead. And now, Beloved, whenever you read a precious
promise in the Bible, you may say, "This is a clause in the Redeemer's
will." When you come to a choice word, you may say, "This is another
codicil to the will." Recollect that these things are yours–not
because you are this or that–but because His blood makes them yours!
The next time Satan says to you, "You do not believe as you ought and,
therefore, the promise is not sure," tell him that the sureness of the
promise lies in the blood, and not in what you are or in what you are
not! There is a will proved in Heaven's Court of Probate, whose
validity depends upon its signatures, upon its witnesses and upon its
being drawn up in proper style. The person to whom the property is left
may be very poor, but that does not overthrow the will. He may be very
ragged, but that does not upset the will. He may have disgraced himself
in some way or other, but that does not make the will void. He who made
the will and put His name to the will, makes the will valid, and not
the legatee to whom the legacy was left. And so with you this Covenant
stands secure, this will of Christ stands firm! In all your ups and
downs, in all your successes and your
failures, you, poor needy Sinner, have nothing to do but to come and
take Christ to be your All-in-All and put your trust in Him–and the
Blood of the Covenant shall make the promises sure to you!
This is a sweet topic. I have not time, however, to enlarge upon it,
but I heartily commend it to your private meditations and trust you may
find consolation in it.
II. The blood which Moses called "the blood of the covenant" or, "of
the testament," was of the utmost importance in the ministry of the
tabernacle, for IT WAS SPRINKLED BY HIM EVERYWHERE.
First, we are told that he sprinkled it upon the book Oh, how
delightful this Bible looks to me when I see the blood of Christ
sprinkled upon it! Every leaf would have flashed with Sinai's lightning
and every verse would have rolled with the thunders of Horeb if it had
not been for Calvary's Cross! But now, as you look, you see on every
page your Savior's precious blood! He loved you and gave Himself for
you, and now you who are sprinkled with that blood and have by faith
rested in Him, can take that precious Book and find it to be green
pastures and still waters to your souls!
The blood was then sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat itself. Whenever you
cannot pray as you would, remember that Jesus Christ's blood has gone
before you and is pleading for you before the Eternal Throne of God.
Like the good Methodist who, when a Brother could not pray, cried out,
"Plead the blood, Brother!" Yes, and when you feel so unworthy that you
dare not look up. When the big tear stands in your eye because you have
been such a backslider and have been so cold in heart, plead the blood,
my Sister–you may always come where the blood is! There you see that
this sin of yours has been already atoned for. Before you committed it,
Jesus carried it! Long before it fell from your heart, the weight of it
had pressed upon the Redeemer's heart–and He put it away in that
tremendous day when He took all the load of His people's guilt and
hurled it into the sepulcher–to be buried there forever!
Then the blood was sprinkled upon every vessel of the sanctuary. I like
that thought. I like to come up to God's House and say, "Well, I shall
worship God today in the power and through the merit of the precious
blood! My praises will be poor, feeble things, but then the sweet
perfume will go up out of the golden censer and my praises will be
accepted through Jesus Christ! My preaching, oh, how full of
faults–how covered over with sins! But then the blood is on it and
because of that, God will not see sin in my ministry, but will accept
it because of the sweetness of His Son's blood."
You will come to the Communion Table tonight, most of you. But oh, do
not come without the precious blood, for the best place of all upon
which it was sprinkled was upon all the people. The drops fell upon
them all! As Moses took the basin and scattered the blood over the
whole crowd, it fell upon all who were assembled at the door of the
Tabernacle. Have you had sprinkling with the precious blood, my Hearer?
If you have, you shall live forever! But if you have not, the wrath of
God abides on you! Do you ask how you can have the blood of Christ
sprinkled upon you? It cannot be done literally, but faith does it.
Faith is the bunch of hyssop which we dip into the basin and it
sprinkles man's conscience from bad works. You say you have been
christened, confirmed, baptized–but all these things together would
not save one soul, much less all the multitudes who trust in them! They
are not sufficient for the taking away of a single sin! But you always
say your prayers, you have family prayers and you are very honest and
so on! I know all this–but all these things you ought to have done and
they will not make amends for what you have not done! All the debt that
you have paid will not discharge those that are still due! Know you not
that saying of the Scriptures, "by the deeds of the Law there shall no
flesh be justified in His sight: for by the Law is the knowledge of
sin"? You may work your fingers to the bone, but you can never weave a
righteousness that shall cover your nakedness before God! The only hope
for the sinner is to come and cast himself upon what Jesus Christ has
done for him–depending upon the groans, and agonies, and death of the
martyred Savior who stood for us and suffered in our place, that we
might escape the wrath of God!
I hope that there is never a Sunday but what I teach this one Doctrine
and, until this tongue is silent in the grave, I shall know no other
Gospel than just this–Trust Christ and you shall live! The bloody
Sacrifice of Calvary is the only hope of sinners! Look there and you
shall find the Star of Peace guiding you to everlasting day! But turn
your backs upon Christ and you have turned your back upon Heaven–you
have courted destruction, you have sealed your doom! It is by the
sprinkling of the blood, then, that we are saved. We must have the
blood of Christ upon us in one way or the other. If we do not have it
upon us to save us, we shall have it upon us to destroy us. "His blood
be on us and on our children," said the Jews to Pilate in their
madness–and the siege of Jerusalem was the answer to the cry! Worse
than was the siege of Jerusalem to the Jews, shall be the death of
those who do despite to the Spirit of Grace and despise the blood
of Jesus! But happy shall they be who, giving up every other
confidence, come to the Blood of the Covenant and put their trust
there, for it shall not deceive them!
III. THE EFFECT OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST claims our earnest
attention–yet the minutes are few in which I can enlarge upon it.
Whenever Jesus Christ's blood comes upon a man, the instantaneous
effect is something more than miraculous. Before the application of
Christ's blood, the man was distracted. His guilt and its consequent
punishment weighed heavily upon him. "Alas!" he said, "I shall soon
die, and then Hell will be my lot!" Oh, some of us will never forget
when we were in that miserable, burdened state! I declare before you
all that when I felt the weight of my sin, I wished that I had never
been born! And I envied frogs, and toads, and the most loathsome
creatures, and thought that they were so much better off than I,
because they had never broken the Law of God, which I had so wickedly
and so willfully done! If I went to my bed, I started with the fear
that I should wake up in Hell. And by day the same dread thought
distracted me–that I was cast off by God and must perish! But the
moment that I looked to Christ–do not mistake me–the very same moment
that I put my trust in Christ, I rose from the depths of despair to the
utmost heights ofjoy! It was not a process of reasoning. It was not a
matter which took hours and days–it was all done in an instant! I
understood that God had punished Christ instead of me, and I saw that,
therefore, I could not be punished anymore–that I never could be if
Christ died for me–and I was assured that He did if I did but trust
Him! So I did trust Him–with my whole weight I threw myself into His
arms and thought, at the time, that He had never had such a load to
carry before! But I found that He was able to save, even to the
uttermost, them that came unto Him–and what joy and peace I had in
that moment it is impossible for me to describe! And I thank God that I
have never lost it. There have been time of depression. There have been
seasons when the light of God's Countenance has been withdrawn. But one
thing I know–Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–I am a
sinner, and my soul rests alone on Him! And how can He cast me away,
since His own promise is, "He that believes and is baptized shall be
saved"? I have believed, by His Grace! I have been baptized as an
avowal of my faith! And He is not true if He does not save me! But He
must be true, He cannot break His word! O dear Friends, there are
hundreds here who have passed through the same blessed experience and
they can tell you that the blood of Jesus in an instant speaks peace to
the soul!
And this precious blood has this property about it that if the peace
which it first causes should become a little dim, you have only to go
to the precious blood to have that peace once more restored to you!
I would recommend any of my doubting Brothers and Sisters to come to
Christ over again as they came to Him at first. Never mind about your
experience! Never care about your marks and evidences. Never get piling
up your experiences. If you go to the top of some mountains such as
Snowdon or the Righi, you will find it all solid and firm enough, but
there are some people who want to get a little higher than the
mountain, so the people there built a rickety old stage and charge you
four pence–or sixpence to go to the top of it! And when you get up
there, you find it is all shaky and ready to tumble down and you are
frightened! Well, but what need is there to go up there at all? If you
would stand on the mountain, that would not shake! So, sometimes, we
are not content with resting upon Christ as poor sinners, and depending
on Him. We get to building a rickety stage of our own experience, or
sanctification, or emotions, and I know not what besides–and then it
begins to shake under our feet. Far better if we were like the Negro
who said he "fell flat down on de promise, and when he had done that,
he couldn't fall no lower." Oh, to keep close to a promise! Job says
that the naked embrace the rock for need of a shelter, and there is no
shelter like the Rock of Ages–
"None but Jesus Can do helpless sinners good!"
But I have not told you all the power of this blood, nor could I tell
you tonight. That blood gives the pardoned sinner access with boldness
to God, Himself. That blood, having taken away the guilt of sin,
operates in a sanctifying manner and takes away the power of sin–and
the pardoned man does not live as he lived before he was pardoned. He
loves God, who has forgiven him so much–and that love makes him
enquire, "What shall I do for God, who has done so much for me?" Then
he begins to purge himself of his old habits. He finds that the
pleasures that once were sweet to him are sweet no more. "Away you go,"
he says to his old companions, "I cannot go with you to Hell." Having a
new heart, a new love, a new desire, he begins to mix with God's
people. He searches God's Word. He makes haste to keep God's
commandments. His desires are holy and heavenly and he pants for the
time when he shall get rid of all sin, shall be quite
like Christ and shall be taken away to dwell forever where Jesus is!
Oh, the blood of Christ is a blessed sin-killer! They say that St.
Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Ah, but Christ drives all
the serpents out of the human heart when He once gets in. If He does
but sprinkle His blood upon our hearts, we become new men–such new men
as all the rules of morality could not have made us! Such new men as
they are who, robed in white, day without night sing Jehovah's praise
before His Throne!
Sinner, would you be saved tonight? Trust Jesus and you shall be!
Sinner, would you be saved upon a dying bed? Trust Jesus now and you
shall be! Sinner, would you be saved when the heavens are in a blaze
and the stars fall like withered fig leaves from the firmament? Look to
Jesus, now, and you shall be saved then! Oh, I would to God that some
of you would look to Him! Not for the eyes of your body to do it, but
for the eyes of your mind to do it! Think of what Christ is–God, and
yet Man. Think of such a Being suffering instead of you! What must be
the merit of such suffering, and what an honor to God's Justice that
such an One should suffer instead of you! Then depend upon Christ and
if you do so, your sins are forgiven you! Believe that they are. Then
will you feel springing up within your heart great love to Him who has
forgiven you–and that will become the mainspring of your new life! You
will start afresh like one that is born tonight. You will, indeed, be
born-again, for this is regeneration! Not sprinkling your face with
drops of water, but making a new man of you–generating you over again,
not by natural generation, but by the Eternal Father begetting you
again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead–the true and only spiritual generation! And then, as new
creatures in Christ Jesus, you shall go your way through this life up
to the eternal life, God's blessing shielding you and crowning you
forever.
The Lord grant you His blessing, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HEBREWS 9; EXODUS 24:1-10.
Hebrews 9:1. Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of
divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. That is, a sanctuary belonging
to this world, a visible sanctuary. That first covenant was to a large
degree a thing of outward rites and ceremonies, which the new covenant
is not–it is a covenant of spiritual and unseen realities.
2-5. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the
candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the
sanctuary. And behind the second veil, the tabernacle which is called
the Holiest of All; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the
covenant overlaid roundabout with gold, wherein was the golden pot that
had manna and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
and over it the cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy Seat; of which
we cannot now speak particularly. Because it was not his main purpose
at that time–he was writing an important Epistle upon the most vital
Truths and it would not do to encumber it with too many explanations.
6-9. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priest went always
into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second went the high priest, alone, once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself, and for the error of the people:
the Holy Spirit thus signifying that the way into the Holiest of All
was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing: which was a figure for the time then present, in which were
offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the
service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience. All these sacrifices
and ceremonies, although full of instruction, were not, in themselves,
able to give peace to the conscience of men. The new and better
Covenant does give rest to the heart by the real and actual taking away
of guilt, but this, the first Covenant, could not do. It is astonishing
that there should be any who want to go back to the "beggarly elements"
of the old Jewish Law, and again to have priests and an elaborate
ritual, and I know not what besides! These things were faulty and fell
short of what was needed even when God instituted them, for they were
never intended to produce perfection, or to give rest to the troubled
conscience! So of what use can those ceremonies be which are of man's
own invention, and which are not according to the New Covenant at all?
10-12. Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and
carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But
Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His
own blood He entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. [See Sermon #2075, Volume 35–
OUR LORD'S ENTRANCE WITHIN THE VEIL.] Christ has entered into the
true Holy Place–not into that which was curtained with a veil, which
was but a type, and which was put away when the veil was torn from the
top to the bottom as Jesus died. He has entered into the immediate
Presence of God and He has entered there once and for all, "having
obtained eternal redemption for us."
13, 14. For ifthe blood ofbulls and of goats, and the ashes ofan heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to thepuri-
fying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God [See Sermons
#1481, Volume 25–THE RED HEIFER and #1846,
Volume 31–THE PURGING OF THE CONSCIENCE.] Do you all feel the power
of that blood now? Oh, what blessing it is to know that the conscience
is quite at rest because of the purging worked by Jesus' blood! It is
Heaven begun below! We cannot serve God aright until we have been thus
cleansed. No, we dare not stand in that awful Presence while the
consciousness of sin is upon us! But when Jesus Christ says to us, "You
are clean," then, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." Then have we "access with confidence"
unto the Father through Him.
15-17. And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new testament, that
by means of death, for the redemption of the transgression that were
under the first testament, they which are called might receive the
promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must
also of necessity be the death of the testator For a testament is of
force after men are dead: otherwise it is ofno strength at all while
the testator lives. Whether it is a covenant or a testament, death is
necessary to make it valid. God's Covenants have always been sanctioned
and ratified with blood and the Covenant or the Testament of eternal
Grace is ratified with the blood of the Surety and Testator!
18-26. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without
blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people
according to the Law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with
water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop and sprinkled both the book, and
all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God
has enjoined unto you. 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. 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: nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest
enters 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 has He appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself [See Sermons #759, Volume 13–JESUS PUTTING AWAY
SIN; #911, Volume 16–THE PUTTING AWAY OF SIN and #2283, Volume
38–CHRIST'S ONE SACRIFICE FOR SIN.] What Aaron could not do by
entering into the Holy
Place year after year, Christ has done by entering into Heaven once!
And there is no more need of a sacrifice for sin, and they are grossly
guilty who pretend to offer Christ over again. The great work of
redemption is finished! Sin is put away and there is no more
remembrance of it. In the sight of God, Christ's one Sacrifice has
completed the Expiation of sin, Glory be to His holy name!
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. He shall come to complete the salvation of those for whom
His precious Sacrifice was offered all those hundreds of years ago. Now
let us read the passage to which Paul refers in verses 19 to 21.
Exodus 24:1, 2. And He said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, you, and
Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and
worship you afar off And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they
shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him. Nearer to
God than the people were allowed to come, but still at a distance from
Him. It was a covenant of distance–bounds were set about the mountain
lest the people should come too near. Yet they were near unto God as
compared with the heathen, but far off as compared with those who now,
by the teaching of the Spirit of God, have been brought near to God
through the precious blood of Jesus! Moses alone could come near to
Jehovah on Mount Sinai–the people could not go up with him–nor even
with the man who was their mediator with God, for such Moses was. But
you and I, Beloved, can go up with Him who is far greater than Moses–
with Him who is the one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ
Jesus, for God "has raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
3-8. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and
all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and
said, All the words which the LORD has said will we do. And Moses wrote
all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and built
an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve
tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel,
which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen
unto the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood, andput it in basins;
and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book
of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said,
All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient AndMoses took
the blood, and sprinkled it on thepeople, andsaid, Behold the blood of
the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these
words. There is a double power about the blood–towards God an
Atonement–that is the blood sprinkled on the altar. And towards
ourselves a sense of reconciliation–thus must the blood be sprinkled
upon us that we may prove its cleansing power.
9-10. Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, andseventy of
the elders oflsrael: and they saw the God of Israel: and there was
under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it
were the body of Heaven in His clearness.