On this Memorial Day weekend we honor and remember the ONE who gave His life to give us freedom from sin and eternity with Him - the Lord Jesus - The Better Sacrifice.

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All Scripture is from CSB (Christian Standard Bible)

Jesus offers a New Covenant and a Clean Conscience. He is the fulfillment of all the Old Covenant shadows & symbols. 

Jesus is the Light of the world who lights our path, as symbolized by the 7-branched lampstand.

Jesus is the Bread of Life who feeds us, as symbolized by the Table of Presentation Loaves.

Jesus is our High Priest, the mediator who intercedes for us, as symbolized by the altar of incense. 

Jesus is the Better High Priest, who offered the Better Sacrifice, who ushered in a Better Covenant. But this better covenant required a bloody sacrifice. This was nothing new as thousands of gallons of blood from sacrificial substitutes had been spilled over the years.

During Passover, it is estimated that as many as 300,000 unblemished lambs were sacrificed at the Temple. (Most of this blood traveled down a trough to the Kidron Valley.)

Why were these cleansing ceremonies so BLOODY? God wanted it to be abundantly clear: SIN brings DEATH. Sin causes us to dishonor God and devalue people made in His image. The seriousness of our sin and the graciousness of our God was put on full display when our Perfect, Permanent High Priest offered Himself, as The Better Sacrifice! 

“There is a Fountain”

There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; 

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.

SIN brings DEATH, but HIS DEATH brings LIFE…because Jesus is the Better Sacrifice!

A mediator brings two parties together to make an agreement. Jesus is the mediator between God and man in this agreement (1 Tim 2:5-6), the New Covenant. This New Covenant carries the promise of the eternal inheritance. An inheritance is a promise that we can expect to receive in the future. This eternal inheritance is eternal life, having been fully forgiven for our unholiness, by our Holy God.

The death of Jesus has taken place for redemption - to purchase us - paying for our transgressions. Further, the death of Jesus was powerful enough to pay for those who lived and sinned BEFORE He died, those who lived under the first covenant, the Old Covenant. 

Hebrews 9:16–20 Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living. That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you.

The author explains how bloody and messy the old sacrificial system was - a reminder to everyone that sin brings death. Moses splattered calves’ blood on all the people at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24:7-8) where they made covenant with Yahweh and agreed to follow His commands. 

The tabernacle had its inner and outer furnishings (Ark & Altar) splattered with blood of both bulls & goats. The blood symbolized what sin earns… DEATH. Sin brings death. Sin Separates. 

Sin separates us from God. You can’t continue to live in sin and be right with God. No amount of good works can atone for our sins against our Holy God.

Sin separates us from people. Relationships with people are damaged because sin has entered in - gossip & slander, lies, jealousy, pride. Sinful pride keeps people for SEEKING forgiveness and EXTENDING forgiveness to others.

Hebrews 9:23–26 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that He might now appear in the presence of God for us. He did not do this to offer Himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. Otherwise, He would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 

The payment of Jesus is enough for all people in all places and all times - who turn from their sin and TRUST that is PAID IN FULL! 

If you sin today or tomorrow, Jesus isn’t going back to the cross. It is finished! The final sacrifice has been made, never to be offered again! In Communion we REMEMBER what Jesus has already done for us. We DO NOT REDO His death, we REMEMBER His death - ONE TIME For ALL TIME!

Jesus came 1st as a Suffering Servant, but His 2nd coming all will know He is the Conquering King. Jesus will return to bring judgment against His enemies, but He will bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. Oh what a great day that will be! We will be reunited with believers who have passed on. We all receive renewed bodies - no more sin nature and no more sickness or death! And we will SEE the ONE who gave His life to redeem us! Read more about Jesus’ return in Jn 5:28-29, 1 Cor 15:50-56, 1 Jn 3:2-3, and 1 Thes 4:13-18. 

Hebrews 10:1–7 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, as He was coming into the world, He said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but You prepared a body for Me. You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings. Then I said, “See— it is written about Me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, God.”

The author once again quotes from Psalms (Ps 40:6-8), to show that Jesus came to FULFILL the Law - to fully obey all of the Father’s commands. NO ONE had ever fulfilled God’s law completely. God didn’t want burnt offerings of substitute sacrifices - He wanted people to OBEY Him. But until this point, NO ONE had.

Jesus FULFILLED the Old Covenant Law, obeying the Father’s will in every way. The sinless One who had perfectly fulfilled the Old Covenant by doing the Father’s will, gave up His life so that we could be sanctified - set apart - made holy - in a New Covenant.

Hebrews 10:11–18 Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. He is now waiting until His enemies are made His footstool [Ps 110:1] . For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after he says: This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, the Lord says, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds, and I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts. Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

There is NO NEED for any other sacrifice…Jesus has perfected forever those who are sanctified - set apart - made holy. If the cancer of sin has been REMOVED there is full forgiveness! And where there is forgiveness, there is no longer the need for an offering for sin.

In the Old Covenant, only 1 person could enter that place - only 1 day of the year. But by Jesus’ death the curtain was torn. The separation (what the curtain represented) between our Holy God and unholy people has been removed! Since the blood of Jesus makes us holy, we can enter the sanctuary - the Most Holy Place - in the Presence of God - with BOLDNESS!!!!

Sin brings death - separation from God and people. And while you might be able to do enough good things to make restore relationships with some folks, no amount of good actions can pay for your SIN against God…we’re too poor to pay.

Kent Hughes then writes these powerful, true words:

“Jesus writes in bold crimson letters across our lives, “Forgiven!” No one can bring a charge against you that will stick in God’s courtroom.” 

Questions to Ponder 

Who are you TRUSTING? Are you trusting YOURSELF or will you bow your knee to Jesus? Are you really forgiven?

Who are you TELLING? When’s the last time you cared enough to share Jesus with another person? 

Who are you TALKING TO? We would LOVE to help! Or call up another Christian SOON!