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Hebrews 9:11-15
The author of Hebrews has spoken of the old covenant of the Law being “symbolic” until the time of the reformation which came through Jesus (Hebrews 9:6-10, NKJV). Hebrews 9:9, (NIV) states, “This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.”
In Hebrews 9:11-15 the author of Hebrews puts his focus on the insufficiencies of the old covenant Law being fulfilled through Jesus. Our High Priest, Jesus, came with the power to “cleanse your conscience” (Hebrews 9:14, NKJV) as He did not offer the blood of animals for a sacrifice, but offered His own blood as He, “entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 3:18-22). The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:10-11 (ESV), “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” The author of Hebrews then ties all this together as the reason for Jesus being our Mediator to God in heaven as he states in Hebrews 9:15 (NKJV), “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
This is a promise and example of Jesus, our Redeemer and Mediator to God in heaven.
The author of Hebrews helps us better understand the theological implications of the Bible in God’s great plan of salvation for humanity. The author of Hebrews is helping us to understand the reasons why God has implemented the things in the Bible in the order and fashion in which He did. God is faithful and just; He will give you the opportunity to find out for yourself, as He has with me, to discover that you cannot find peace for your heart through the things of this world, no matter how glamorously coated Satan presents them. It is only through submitting one’s life to Jesus – that He paid the price that sets us free from sin – that we cannot accomplish on our own because we cannot accomplish something that has already been accomplished for us. But we have to learn to trust in Him. “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6, NIV). Abram believed in God many years before the time in which God gave the Law to Moses, so if the Law did not yet exist, Abram, whom God later changed his name to Abraham, could only have gained righteousness in the LORD’s eyes through his faith in Him – the same way in which you and I may obtain righteousness – through believing that as the old covenant, given to man to show man his insufficiencies, was fulfilled by God Himself as He mediates the void left by sin in which no man, outside of the only pure man Jesus, can fulfill.
Dear LORD,
You have given us a passion, a desire, a void in our hearts that can only be filled through accepting the fulfillment of Jesus. Please help us to see that we cannot fill the void in our hearts on our own through the things or possessions of this world, but that it is a place that You created in our hearts for You, and only You can fill that spot through Your Holy Spirit given freely to all who will believe in You by accepting the free gift in Christ Jesus. You are love (1 John 4:8, 16), and love is not forceful –You will not force Yourself upon us; You are bound by love in that we must accept Your great gift of love for us for the circle of love to be made complete; from You to us and back to You, before the free gift of the love of Christ Jesus that fills the void in our hearts for eternity can be made complete – in Christ. Please open our eyes, hearts, minds, and souls to our Savior Jesus that it may be so. In Jesus name I pray, amen.