The first ten verses of Hebrews 9 are a summary of the way the tabernacle (and temple) worship worked in the area of sacrifice: the layout and furnishings of the tent. As the Children of Israel journeyed towards the Promised Land, the tabernacle was set up every time they stopped. They carried the presence of God with them through the signs, symbols and instruments kept in the Tabernacle as well as the REAL presence – the pillar of cloud and of fire accompanying them. But no one could just go in, no one could touch and handle without the blood, without the cleansing, without being one of the priests.  We’ll remember accounts of death and grief that occur in the stories of desert wanderings when those laws were broken.  The Hebrew Christians lived in a society where this was still totally the way of doing things – and the writer wants to encourage them, to remind them that in Jesus they have discovered the BEST way, the new and living hope, the New Order.

Blood was shed once and for all on Calvary and began The New and Living Way.

Read the chapter carefully again – starting with what was familiar to the readers and then focussing on how much more JESUS has done and how FINAL, how ETERNAL that is – not over and over sacrifice – a blood-stained circle – but instead from that torn curtain, that ‘It is FINISHED’ a forward walk with God and the eternal consequences and benefits of Christ’s sacrifice once and for all.  Doing away with repeated blood washing and replacing it with once and for all – “But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (9.26) HURRAH!

Nothing but the blood.

Jesus breaks the cycle of repeated sin and repeated sacrifice through the cross. Jesus’ cry ‘It is finished’ is the Once and For all war cry – it is gone! 

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Reflection:

Spend some time reflecting on the Power of the Blood, the Power of the Cross to free you from EVERY sin. Even those that seem to entangle you now. Declare your once and for all freedom NOW. Jesus declares ‘It (yes, even THAT) is finished!’