We have many times gone to the store and placed our items upon the counter to have the total tallied up. At that point, the cashier would say: “The total comes to______.” Imagine being told that the total came to one pint of blood.
How would you react? Or how about you being told that your firstborn son’s blood would be required to bring the balance current? The church was something that needed payment. The total? The blood of Jesus (Acts 20:28). Notice the following with me about blood offerings and Jesus’s payment for us, and the church.
#1. Blood offering was essential in sin atonement. When the first sin was committed, the eyes of man were opened to the good and the evil that exists in this world. When Adam and Eve realized that they were naked, they attempted to clothe themselves (Genesis 3:7). Yet, according to God’s later action, their covering was not enough (Genesis 3:21). Now while the text does not say specifically this was a blood sacrifice to atone for sins, consider that an animal had to die for sufficient clothing to be made.
#2. O.T. offerings did not fully cleanse. Galatians shows how essential it was for Jesus to die (Galatians 4:4-5; 2:21). One understands based on these passages that while the Old Testament provided a “rolling forward” of sins, it did not fully cleanse. God wanted to institute a plan that would cover all mankind and their sins. A New Testament (covenant) was going to come (Hebrews 9:15-17). For the majority of the rest of this study, we will “camp out” in Hebrews 10. What is the text here stating? The offerings had to be done yearly (Hebrews 10:1-3). They were not enough to cleanse fully (Hebrews 10:4). The plan was for Jesus to come. These sacrifices were temporary. How does one know this? Isaiah and John discuss this very point (Revelation 13:8; Isaiah 53:5-7).
#3. Christ only paid the debt once! Have you ever bought a cell phone charger? Or a wallet? What if I offered to pay for those items, or better yet, what if I offered to pay for your house? That is a large bill. It takes years to pay. Jesus paid a great price for us. The sacrifice that was made was different from the Old Testament plan. Old Testament sacrifices were made repeatedly; Christ’s was made only once (Hebrews 10:6-14). Jesus’s offering was perfect (Mark 15:15-37). Jesus, upon the completion of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, had to gear up and get ready to come back and die again, right? Wrong (John 19:30; Hebrews 1:3, 10:10-12).
Jesus was successful. There was nothing more to buy. No more sins to purge. While we still need to repent, there is hope found in the blood of Jesus! What will you do now that you realize what was done because Jesus loves you? All this because God loves us (John 3:16). What will we do with it?