Have I Mentioned...?

...That I love the book of Hebrews?

I saw another cool little thing in Chapter 9 this week.

"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 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 hath enjoined unto you." ~(Hebrews 9:18-20)

The Old Testament verses for this is in Exodus 24:1-8.

What's cool about this, I thought, was the similarity of vs. 20 to Matthew 26: 26-28 which reads:

"While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body.
"And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them saying, Drink from it, all of you:
"For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

In the same way that the sacrifices of the Old Testament were a type of salvation from sins, the blood of Jesus is the way of salvation. And both covenants were dedicated with almost exactly the same wording. Cool? I think so.

Musings, Part 2

Last time, I spoke about a passage in Deuteronomy. This time, let's look at something entirely different, but equally cool. It's from Hebrew's chapter 8:4

" Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law."

I've always known the ascension of Jesus Christ was important. After all, it's the ending of His physical work on earth. He completed His job on the cross. He gave us a way to be saved.

But this verse brings the whole ascension thing to a whole new level, and to understand that, you have to know a little bit about the Old Testament law.

The Old Testament law is the law spoken about in this verse. It refers to priests who offer blood sacrifices for the people's sins. Under the Old Testament law, such sacrifices were sufficient. But, as the writer of Hebrews continues in verse 9 of the same chapter, the new testament, or covenant, is:

"Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant."

The Israelites broke the covenant, so Jesus came to earth to establish "a more perfect covenant." (vs. 6) Hebrews 7 dwells extensively on the subject of Jesus's priesthood. He is a priest, the high priest. His priesthood is especially important. His death on the cross established Him as a valid blood sacrifice, which is what washes away the first covenant. There could not have been a new covenant without a blood sacrifice, and Jesus was the priest who made that sacrifice. (Hebrews 9:22)

Now the question is, why didn't Jesus just remain on earth?

The answer is that His great sacrifice would have been invalidated. Jesus would have been relegated to the same role as the Old Testament priests. "If He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all."

Isn't that cool? The ascension of Jesus Christ is His stamp of permanency and validity on the new covenant. Without the ascension, there would be no salvation. I just love the book of Hebrews, don't you?