n the March 25, 1991 issue of the U.S. News and World Report magazine, several articles on hell were featured. In the article entitled, “Revisiting the abyss” John Dominic Crossan of DePaul university was quoted as saying, “Once we discovered that we could create hell on earth, it became silly to talk about it in a literal sense.” Or, according to Stephen J. Patterson, a literal hell is “part of an understanding of the cosmos that just doesn’t exist anymore.” In other words, the concept of a real hell with eternal torment is silly to him. But maybe the most interesting quote came from the Rev. Mary Kraus, “My parishioners are upper-middle-class, well-educated critical thinkers who view God as compassionate and loving, not someone who’s going to push them into eternal damnation.” If they are correct, then Jesus’ death was silly too! Jesus wasted His life!        Jesus’ Blood. The Mosaic sacrificial system has been the focus of Hebrews 7-9 - the shedding of blood for cleansing from sin. The Holy Spirit has taught us that the Old Covenant was never supposed to last forever. It was temporary. It was only a copy, a picture, a shadow of something yet to come. Something better was coming. 2 Corinthians 3:9 says the old Mosaic Law - while inferior - had glory, but the New Covenant which was coming had more glory.        The Old Covenant came with mortal, sinful priests, faulty sacrifices, and an earthly tabernacle, Jesus came as the eternal high priest, a perfect sacrifice - Himself - and a divine tabernacle - heaven. The New Covenant brought not a type, not a shadow, not a picture, but the real thing.        The high priests under the Mosaic Law could only enter the Holy of Holies once a year and only after an animal’s blood was shed. But when Jesus, the eternal, faithful, and merciful high priest came, He entered the Holy of Holies - heaven - forever by His own blood. This is the message of Hebrews 9:11-12.     But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (NASB) Heb. 9:11-12       It is important to note that while the Greek word for “holy place” in verse 12 means holy, it is in the plural. That means it refers to the Holy of Holies. We will see in a few minutes that it also refers to heaven. That is where Jesus entered by His own blood.        Why The Blood? Have you ever asked, “Why did Jesus need to die? Why was blood necessary?” That question will be answered in the rest of this study. It is a question that I once asked myself. The first answer to that question is, “Jesus’ Blood Is Superior,” and it is given in the next two verses.        His Blood Is Superior. In the Old Testament goats, bulls, and calves were offered as sacrifices to provide temporary forgiveness of a person’s sins (Lev. 1-5). Sometimes a person needed to be “cleansed” on the outside too. Such cleansing was necessary if the person touched a dead person or gave birth to a child, for example.         < Back   Next >
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