Message Magazine’s Online Devotional for Monday, July 13, 2015
Based Upon Hebrews 9:13–14
“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying 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?” (Hebrews 9:13–14).
When you have an opportunity, read Lev. 16:6, 16; Num. 19:9, 17, 18. There you will find a brief description of sacrificial blood being shed and applied in the Old Testament economy.
I love how the writer of Hebrews quickly, and aptly applies the Old Testament lesson of sacrifices to our day. In those times, the Lord gave very specific instructions concerning the sacrifices and ceremonies that were to occur in order for the people who applied them by faith to be forgiven and cleansed from all defilement. We were all born in sin, therefore, we needed a means through which our connection with God could be restored. The Old Testament system was a training ground that pointed to, and represented Jesus Christ, who was the True Sacrifice needed to reconcile us to God.
The simple lesson for us today is that the Lord thought so much of us that He made provision for us every single day. From the time Adam sinned and He covered Adam and Eve with coats of skins, until this day, when He accepts the perfect substitution of Jesus, there is provision. If a moment ever passed when Jesus was off His square of mediation, intercession, and empowerment through the Spirit, we would all be destroyed! He never slumbers; He never sleeps. He ever lives to make intercession for us. Here’s the kicker: If we accept this blessing of covering by faith, we are safe from the penalty of our sins. But, if we habitually choose the momentary pleasures of sin, we will receive the consequences thereof, and that simply would not make sense. If God is so gracious to make daily provision for us to live in harmony with Him, would it not, at the very least, be a respectable thing to thank Him and accept the blessing? More than this, acceptance of the blessing affords us the privilege to live in the eternal bliss of God’s presence where sin, racism, classism, sexism, poverty, illness, malice, strife, and death will be eradicated and never rise again. Why not accept and thank God for the blessing of this precious gift today?
