Unblemished Lamb and High Priest
ICS Daily Devotions
Hebrews 10:5-10 (NKJV) Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’ ” Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
A bloodline runs through the Old Testament to the New Testament, all the way until the final atonement by the blood of Jesus Christ, which tells us that an innocent party must always take the place of the sinner, because blood must be shed for the forgiveness of sins. The purpose of this bloodline is for God to restore His relationship with us.
We see from the Book of Leviticus that God has taught His chosen people how to approach Him through the sacrificial system. Whenever blood was shed, it covered the sin of the individual or the nation. Nonetheless, the sacrificial system also served as a reminder of their sins because the blood of animals could only cover their sins temporarily but never remove their sins permanently.
Moreover, the opening Scripture shows that while the blood of an unblemished animal was able to appease God’s wrath temporary, it wasn’t something that He desired nor did it give Him pleasure. We also see that a High Priest was needed to minister on behalf of the people of Israel; nobody except he could enter the Holy of holies in the earthly tabernacle to offer temple sacrifices.
Praise be to God that He had a better and perfect plan. God had prepared a body through His only Son Jesus Christ, and the shedding of His blood to take away the sins of the world once and for all. God had intentionally established the unconditional covenant with Abraham so He could justly, and righteously send forth the Messiah to redeem mankind from their sins.
Jesus was the unblemished lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is also our High Priest who had gone into the heavenly tabernacle to minister on our behalf, and thereafter sat down beside the Father. Therefore, we have a High Priest who can sympathise with us no matter what we are going through.
Hebrews 4:15 (NKJV) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Sermon Series: The Power of the Blood
