There is no better feeling of relief than when a problem that has been monopolizing our thoughts for months, maybe even years, is finally resolved.  The problem was produced by us and others but a solution to resolve the problem presents itself clearly.  The wait is over; the heavy load of burden lifted.  The unknown becomes known.  There is no more worrying about what comes next with how we will cope in the wait. There is no more wondering and overthinking consistently about how it will all turn out and how you will deal with the fallout.  No more holding your breath until the verdict is given. The final, once and for all, solution has arrived.  All is well!

Hebrews 9, The Message

A Visible Parable

^1-5 That first plan contained directions for worship, and a specially designed place of worship. A large outer tent was set up. The lampstand, the table, and “the bread of presence” were placed in it. This was called “the Holy Place.” Then a curtain was stretched, and behind it a smaller, inside tent set up. This was called “the Holy of Holies.” In it were placed the gold incense altar and the gold-covered ark of the covenant containing the gold urn of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, the covenant tablets, and the angel-wing-shadowed mercy seat. But we don’t have time to comment on these now.

^6-10 After this was set up, the priests went about their duties in the large tent. Only the high priest entered the smaller, inside tent, and then only once a year, offering a blood sacrifice for his own sins and the people’s accumulated sins. This was the Holy Spirit’s way of showing with a visible parable that as long as the large tent stands, people can’t just walk in on God. Under this system, the gifts and sacrifices can’t really get to the heart of the matter, can’t assuage the conscience of the people, but are limited to matters of ritual and behavior. It’s essentially a temporary arrangement until a complete overhaul could be made.

Pointing to the Realities of Heaven

^11-15 But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.

^16-17 Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus’ death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.

^18-22 Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law—God’s “will”—he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, “This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God.” He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, “This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.” Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.

^23-26 That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren’t needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn’t enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn’t do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.

^27-28 Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus is the final, once and for all, solution to our sin problem. And ALL have this sin problem.  The Old System carved a path for The New and Only Way to reconcile with God.  No more ritualistic blood sacrifices of unblemished animals to “cover over” the sins of people once a year.  Now Jesus, our Messiah, he who knew NO SIN, went well beyond what the old plan provided as He willingly sacrificed himself once and for all—as the final solution to sin.  In Jesus, repented sins are now removed “as far as the east is from the west”— “to be remembered no more”!  Forever!

There is nothing we have done that Jesus will not forgive.  There is no one who repents that he will not hear and forgive.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

Jesus—The Final Solution.

Don’t overthink it.  Just believe, repent without excuses, and be saved for eternity.  Surrender to the One who knows us best and desires His best for us.

Pause to reflect:

Do we really believe what God has said and done to be really real? 

Do we truly believe that Jesus is the final solution? 

Can we trust Him with our lives? 

Have we surrendered all to Jesus?

The writer of Hebrews clearly emphasized that Christ’s sacrifice surpassed the sacrifices of the Old Testament. There will never be a greater sacrifice. Christ’s perfect sacrifice should affect the way believers see and serve God.  

Are we living in humbled obedience to God in Jesus Name because of our love for HIm?  Our behaviors will reflect what we really believe.

Lord,

I believe you are the final answer and solution for sin.  Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh, and fill me with your Holy Spirit of love, mercy, and grace. Daily restore the joy and peace of your salvation at work within me.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

True repentance is not just confession of sin but a sincere willingness to not do that sin again. If your conscience is not clear toward God in even one area of your life, repent and ask God to cleanse you because of his shed blood.

May it be well with your soul…