Jesus’ Death Made Your Inheritance Possible

Today’s passage is Hebrews 9:15-28.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 9:15-22 (NIV)
¹⁵  For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance–now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
¹⁶  In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it,
¹⁷  because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
¹⁸  This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.
¹⁹  When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people.
²⁰  He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”
²¹  In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies.
²²  In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

On verses 15-22:  During my time practicing law, clients would often ask me to help them write their will.  A will is a legal document where a person spells out what they want to do with their assets and whom they want to gift those assets to as an inheritance when they die.   The person making the will signs it in the presence of witnesses.  All the gifts described in the will do not take effect until that person dies.  That’s why a will is often called a person’s “last will and testament”.  As verse 17 says, “a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.”

Why is this important as we study Hebrews 9?  It’s because here the writer of Hebrews likens both the old covenant under Moses as well as the new covenant under Jesus to a will.  Like a will, the old covenant and the new covenant were each a legal arrangement that described how God would give His inheritance (namely, forgiveness, acceptance, and great blessing) to His people.  Like a will, the old covenant and the new covenant were made with witnesses.  Just as a person’s will is also called a person’s last “testament”, it is no coincidence that the Greek word for covenant is also sometimes translated “testament” and thus in your Bible you have the Old Testament (containing the old covenant) and the New Testament (containing the new covenant).  But, for the purposes of Hebrews 9, the most important similarity is that, like a will, someone had to die in order for the old covenant and new covenant to become effective.   As verse 22 says, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”.  In the case of the old covenant, it was the death of bulls and goats that put the old covenant into effect.  In the case of the new covenant, it was the death of Jesus.

What can we learn from all this?  The new covenant is Jesus’ last will and testament.  Jesus shed his blood and died so that we could enjoy the benefits of that new covenant.

Hebrews 9:23-28 (NIV)
²³  It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
²⁴  For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
²⁵  Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
²⁶  Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
²⁷  Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
²⁸  so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

On verses 23-28:   One of the big themes of Hebrews is that Jesus’ sacrifice under the new covenant beats all the sacrifices ever made under the old covenant.   Under the old covenant priests went into a man-made sanctuary and made sacrifices again and again for their sins and the people’s sins (v24). Under the new covenant, Jesus’ sacrifice was so much more precious and powerful.  He entered heaven and made a one-time sacrifice that was enough to bring forgiveness and cleansing once and for all (v24-28).

Father, I recognize today that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.  May I never take for granted the fact that Jesus died so that we could benefit under His new covenant.  Because Jesus died, I now own an inheritance that rightfully and originally belonged to Him.  Thank You, Lord Jesus, for shedding Your blood so that I could be forgiven and become a child of God with a glorious inheritance.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!