The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 28 March 2022 – A Better Covenant In Jesus Christ
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TOPIC: A Better Covenant In Jesus Christ
READ: Hebrews 9:1-14 (NKJV)
- Then indeed, even the first [covenant] had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.
- For a tabernacle was prepared: the first [part,] in which [was] the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary;
- and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,
- which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which [were] the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
- and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
- Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing [the services.]
- But into the second part the high priest [went] alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and [for] the people’s sins [committed] in ignorance;
- the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
- It [was] symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience —
- [concerned] only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
- But Christ came [as] High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
- Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
- For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
- how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
THE MESSAGE:
Man is created to worship God. Worship in the earthly tabernacle featured prominently the offering of the blood of animals and ashes which were sprinkled on the worshippers annually by the priests to make them clean outwardly and occasionally. The regulations of the old covenant as good as they were, did not give the worshippers the desired access to God, as the gifts and the blood of animals being offered could not atone for man’s sins (verse 9). Also, they could not disclose the Way to the Most Holy Place, that is, the Presence of God (verse). The coming of Christ inaugurated a new covenant.
Christ is the High Priest and Mediator of the new covenant. He entered a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by man (heavenly), and by the means of His own blood once and for all. His sacrifice cleanses our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Beloved, have you accepted this sacrifice of Christ of Himself for us, as full perfect, and accepted sacrifice for sin at all times? Or, do you still engage in other secret sacrifices to support it? Jesus is the Way to the Most Holy Place that the first tabernacle could not reveal. He says: “I am the Way… No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Come to Him and through Him to the Father and you will be set free from all acts that lead to death and enabled to serve the Living God.
PRAYER: Thank You Father for my full and perfect redemption in Jesus Christ.
