And every priest stands ministering daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away our sins. (Otherwise, the repeated sacrifices would have ended). But this Man (Jesus the Messiah), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… the work was now complete and the sinners now cleansed from their sins.
For by that one sacrificial offering He has completed the work for all those whose lives are changed and devoted to Him in obedience… for He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them… I will put My laws into their hearts, and into their minds I will write them…. and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Now where there is forgiveness for these sins, there is no need to have repeated sacrifices. And so, we have boldness and confidence to come to Jesus the Messiah by His sacrifice, by this new and living way… let us draw near to Him with a pure heart and fully assured of His work, having our guilty consciences cleansed and living for him with a clean heart and body…”
That’s a heavily paraphrased rendition of one of the most incredible things ever written. I really don’t have anything to add! It’s in the Letter to the Hebrews chapter 10, verses 8-22, one of my favorite sections. God is good!
Read more Word for Wednesdays.
4. November 2009 at 5:35 pm
having our guilty consciences cleansed
Ah. That was the thing that kept me from coming to the Lord. I didn’t think He could possibly forgive me. When I finally believed the truth, there were a million pounds taken off my shoulders. I was a crazy woman for weeks, running around crying and laughing all the time.
I can’t imagine carrying that kind of load anymore. I pray that others will come to know this forgiveness, and draw near to Him.
4. November 2009 at 10:26 pm
He has made it so easy to lay aside “playing church” and “being religious” so that we can just get on with living Christian.