Heb 9:18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19 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,
Heb 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Christ had to die for His will to go into effect. For anyone's will to go into effect the person has to die. Christ's will is the salvation of mankind.
God's will is the salvation of mankind.
Before Christ died there was a pointing forward to the need for Him to die.
Do people ever know what is in a will before hand? Yes. Some people make known what is in their will well before they die. Why? They want others to know what they're being given- or not being given. Can there be conditions on wills, things people need to do or not to do to receive what they were bequeathed? Yes. Sometimes people want others to know ahead of time what's in their will and what those conditions might be. Others set up wills and have stipulations right away, wanting those who will benefit from the will to act in a certain way, or do certain things or there is the threat they will be taken out of the will.
God's will is for us to love Him and worship Him as our Creator, as our Redeemer.
God's set up the entire first testament system to point towards our redemption in Him, through Him, by following Him, keeping the covenant between us and Him. The commandments we were given, those ten commandments that were put in the ark of the covenant, were given out of God's love. Those who love God and choose to worship Him above all else understand the love given to us in His commandments. Breaking the covenant meant choosing to go against God and God's commandments, God's will. Breaking the covenant meant we NO longer would be part of God's will.
Christ is the new testament. All that the old testament pointed forward to was realized in Christ. The promised redemption was to be fully realized. There was NO longer any looking forward to the realization of redemption, the will of God would finally go into effect because Christ shed His blood, Christ died. The plan of the will of God was for Christ to rise from the dead and after a short while He was to go to heaven to intercede there for mankind- the benefactors of the will of God would be decided. Before the full effects of God's will were to be realized and man's redemption would be complete in a new earth the reading of the will would need to be done. AND because the death of the will's owner would be temporary- this will was very special- is very special. We know the will of God is for us to be saved from eternal death, and this will be accomplished in time.
The death of the will's owner is necessary no one will dispute that.
Pointing towards the death of the Innocent Lamb of God almost all things needed to be purged by sacrifice. Christ saves us with His blood which was shed to purge us from our sins.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 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.
The heavenly needing better sacrifices makes sense doesn't it? Before Christ, as people looked for Him, the earthly was set up to point the way. After Christ the heavenly was to be fully realized, the way revealed entirely.
Heb 9:24 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:
Heb 9:25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
Heb 9:26 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.
One death. The Only death. Christ suffered ONCE for all. The holiness, the pureness of His sacrifice, His HOLY sacrifice was needed ONCE, not over and over and over again. Christ didn't die and rise, only to have to die and rise again and again and again. His perfect sacrifice is enough. The innocent blood enough for all the redemption necessary. While animal after animal died to point the way to the ultimate death of the perfect sacrifice, that perfect sacrifice's death was just that- PERFECT in all ways, enough for all applications needed to fulfill the will of God.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 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.
Man dies once, but that isn't the end of their life just yet.
After death's sleep men will be raised from the dead and judged. When that part of the plan of salvation comes into action sin will be done away with once and for all.
Christ will appear a second time. Our Savior appeared a first time on earth and completed His ministry. Our Savior will appear a second time and complete the plan of salvation. God's will - will be done in everything. This is the day we need to look for. As benefactors of the will of God we need to love Him and be loved by Him, not all will be benefactors in fact MANY will not be and this is the truth! Many will NOT accept salvation in Christ, many will NOT love God, many will not even believe in God. Because God will not force His will upon anyone, the benefactors will only be those who choose to be benefactors in all truth without any guile, without any falsehoods, without any deception.
We CAN'T allow ourselves to believe that those who do not follow the will of God will be part of the redemption offered. Too many are blinded into believing that God is a teddy bear God, huggable and loveable to all without any restrictions at all whatsoever, with no real will of His own. Yes, it's comforting to people to imagine they are going to heaven no matter what, that they are going to be with Christ no matter what, but God did NOT work that way in the old covenant, and He does not work that way with the new covenant. The same God has been there through it all-- God the Father that Christ came to earth to manifest to mankind, to reveal His Father's will. GOD DID NOT CHANGE! God did not poof into a loving God after being a harsh God. He's always been a LOVING God! People who do not understand this are deceived. Do you think maybe the Pharisees and Saduccees, and all those of the old testament didn't recognize Jesus as the one manifesting God because they in their own imaginations had Him pictured as something much different than what He really is? They'd warped God into being a God that was nothing like Jesus so they couldn't recognize His Son who came manifesting God to them!
God is love.
And we can't forget this--
Heb 9:24 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
Christ is in the heavenly sanctuary right now- for us. He's not in there asking God to let everybody into heaven regardless of everything. One day this will be said--
Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
There will be the unjust.
There will be the filthy.
There will be the righteous.
There will be the holy.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior may we be among those that through Him and Him alone are righteous and holy.
In His LOVE!
Amen.
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