Jesus, a superior, effective sacrifice

Hebrews 9:13-14 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? It’s impossible to live to love without Jesus. This reality is punctuated in these two verses by four things we learn about Jesus Christ. The continued aim of the author was to show the superiority of Jesus and the new covenant to the old covenant by showing how much better and more effective was Jesus’ sacrifice. First, Jesus had no blemishes, just as the animals that were sacrificed had no blemishes. Leviticus 1:10 “But if his offering is from the flock, of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer it a male without defect.” However, it was only the outward, physical nature of the animals that was without defect. Jesus’ perfection was moral and spiritual. He lived an unblemished life before God—100% perfection according to God’s Law and will. He obeyed out of love for His Father. Such is our obedience to love when it flows out of His life as we abide in Him. Second, Jesus offered Himself through the eternal Spirit. No priest or animal could take such initiative. Jesus willingly laid His life down as our high priest. His death was not a mistake, accident, or random act. He offered Himself so we would know what love does. The apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:16, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” The author emphasized the inner, eternal, spiritual nature of Jesus’ sacrifice in contrast with the limited, physical, outward nature of the animal sacrifices. The agency through which Jesus laid down His life was through the inner power of the Holy Spirit. As we love with Jesus, we also take the initiative and lay our lives down through the power of the Holy Spirit as a fragrant aroma of Christ. Our love for others isn’t something thrust upon us; rather, it is an inner working of the Spirit that makes our love an offering of worship. Third, His blood cleanses our consciences from dead works. Our consciences are aware to some degree that sin and self make our works defective or blemished. The old covenant was based on the works or deeds of the worshippers. So even when we love, our love isn’t perfect. We are aware that all of our works fall short of the glory of God. The blood of the sacrifices under the old covenant could symbolically cover the sins and effect a ritual cleansing, but the conscience was still aware of its failure and God’s righteous judgment of such failure. The blood of Christ, because it was offered with eternal and full knowledge of every sinful and selfish motivation, gives the conscience an answer before God. God cleanses the conscience through the blood of Jesus. His sacrifice and love are sufficient, so when God said, “I will remember their sins no more,” we know He can and does do what He said. Fourth and last, Jesus’ blood frees us to serve the living God. Because our dead works have been removed and we can freely approach the throne of grace and mercy, we have confidence that He will give us the grace to love with Jesus. We know that when God wants to use us to love someone, He will do it through the life of His Son abiding in us. We become servants of the living God. The active, living God does His work through transformed people who are at His service—living to love with Jesus.