THE SHED BLOOD. Hebrews 9:15-22 Old Testament sacrifices didn't save those who offered them. Those people were saved by the sacrifice of Christ that was yet to happen, and the sacrifices they brought were in anticipation of the true sacrifice yet to come when Christ would "offer Himself without spot to God." God accepted the innocent substitutes without any blemish in view of the coming of Christ to die for their sins. The first covenant required priests to enter the Tabernacle day after day, and the high priest to go into the Holiest one day every year. The new covenant has one High Priest who passed through the tabernacle and entered once for all into the Most Holy presence of God. He entered with His own blood, offering Himself without spot to God. All on whose behalf it was offered are accepted.
There is no point in returning to a sacrificial system that symbolized the real. Christ has come. Christ's blood was effective, and by offering Himself, He Himself is the Mediator of the new covenant. Because of His mediation, not only are we accepted, but we can also participate in the blessings of the new covenant. All these blessings depend on the fact that the death of Christ took place.
A last will and testament requires death before it takes effect. When a person is a beneficiary of a will, the death of the “testator,” or maker of the testament, gives the heir full possession of the promises in the will. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the new covenant, made our redemption complete, and we are free from the consequences of all our sins. His death made it possible for the sins of those who were in the first covenant to be set aside in view of what would happen when He came. Since He had died, been buried, and has risen again, the complete and perfect redemption has satisfied all the demands of the law forever. The resurrection of Christ guarantees the effectiveness of redemption eternally.
The words “covenant” and “will” can sometimes have similar meanings, but a covenant is made between two parties, while a will is a one-party agreement. Through His death, our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled all the requirements for a will to be effective. We don’t do anything to earn the benefits of a will. The only conditions we need to meet to receive the benefits in this covenant are to repent, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and accept the benefits offered.
The need for blood to be shed or a life to be given to form a covenant is because something occurs as a result of the death of both covenanters. Christ has died as our substitute, so believers can say, “I have died in Christ.” The other side of the covenant, God’s part, is that “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.” He fulfilled both sides of the “New Testament” with His blood. The covenant between God and us has been confirmed by the death of Christ.
Leviticus 17:11, 14 tells us “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” That blood was to be poured out onto the earth; it was not to be eaten because it was a condition of the everlasting covenant. The pouring out of the blood represented the laying down of His life; the blood was the life. When it was poured out, it was open for all to see that “the wages of sin” were paid for by His death.
When our Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins, His life was ended. The poured-out life, His shed blood, ended our life of sinful, fleshly living. His resurrection began a new life because of saving faith in Him. Our sins and guilt have been removed once and for all; we are raised with Christ, seated with Him, and are accepted by the Father as worshippers.
These truths are revealed when we gather at the Lord’s Supper. These spiritual mysteries become real to us as we remember Him and publicly proclaim His death until He comes again. All the blessings of the new covenant are visible and taught as we gather and worship our living and glorified Lord.
After a person dies, the will can be read when a death certificate has been produced. The will does not have any effect in distributing its benefits while the "testator" is still living. Where a covenant is made, each participant in the covenant dies to themselves. When passing on an inheritance, there must be evidence of the covenant victim; for a covenant is only of force over dead bodies, for it is not binding as long as the covenant victim lives.
The first covenant, which we know as "The Old Testament," required sprinkling the book and the people, which demonstrated that a holy God could only deal with those who are holy. It did not come into effect without blood. Everything that was used had to have evidence that an innocent death had taken place and that blood sprinkled made it holy, separated to God. Anything to be used for God had to be cleansed by blood. This satisfied God's holiness, and He esteemed it cleansed. It is God's prerogative to declare on what basis He can bestow remission. The person under the value of the blood is not charged with his sins. We can partake of the blessings of the new covenant by believing in Christ absolutely.
The most significant symbol of life to us is blood. Without blood, we die. The use of blood in consecrating people and things for God's use wasn't because God finds a kind of glory in blood or in seeing something die. Rather, the shedding of blood symbolized the giving of life. When Jesus gave His life for our sins, that was so we wouldn't die (be separated from God) eternally, and so we would live with Him forever. He is the source of life and so gave His life on the terms of satisfying the new covenant. God could accept us and provide us with eternal life because the innocent Substitute shed His blood. What a blessing it is for us that He who died for us has the "keys of life and death," and though He "lay down His life, [He] had power to take it again." When Christ rose from among the dead, He was the Victor over sin and death.