He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
Hebrews 9:12,13
All you have to do is nothing and it happens. Your email fills up with spam. You get a test message from someone you don’t know. Your phone rings with a robocall. Just wait a minute and there will be some spam in your email inbox.
While you’re trying to deal with all this junk, it doesn’t help to know that we’re not alone. The numbers are mindboggling. There are about 4 billion robocalls a month[1]. And if you think that’s bad, there’s about 15 billion scam texts pers month[2]. Hold onto your hat because there are about 100 billion emails sent per month from cybercriminals[3]
If you want to make a big impression on someone, do something personal. Don’t use computer-generated notes or happy birthday greetings. Instead, type a personal, one-of-a-kind note. Or handwrite a note and send it. And if you really want to get their attention, send a short personal video to them.
We all want to be treated personally. We’ve never really liked having a “mail-merged” relationship with a company or anyone. Yes, technology has taken the insertion of our name into a paper letter into something much better. But it’s still just the same thing. Impersonal.
In the movie You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryans Shop Around the Corner bookstore’s been put out of business by the giant, Fox Books. Tom Hanks admits that he put her out of business, but that it wasn’t personal. Meg Ryan shoots back with the truth that we all want to hear. The truth that we all want to experience. “Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal[4].”
The same thing is true when it comes to our relationship with God. Sacrificing bulls, sheep, goats, birds, or grain doesn’t really cost us anything personally. Yes, we might have to pay for them, but they’re still on the outside. They’re something else. They’re not personal.
But Jesus takes sacrificing to a whole different level. He doesn’t bring something else. He doesn’t sacrifice something on the outside. Not on your life. He personally brings himself. And he offers his own body and blood. It doesn’t get any more personal than that. And while the personal sacrifice of Jesus is great, God didn’t stop there. He made it even more special because of just how far we were away from him.
Sinners. We are the kind of people that don’t just miss the bullseye once in a while, we miss it all the time[5]. When it comes to loving and following God’s gracious leading, we’re totally out to lunch. We don’t just miss the bullseye, we can’t even get anywhere close to the target.
Enemies. I don’t like to hear this kind of description, but it’s true. We’ve go this deep-seated hatred towards God. Because we don’t want anybody telling us what to do, we’re openly hostile towards God. The one who made us. The one who loves us. The one who dies for us.
And the results of Jesus personally paying for all our sins and rebellion are stunning. He doesn’t just pay for a few of our problems. He didn’t just whitewash over the walls of our broken-down lives. Not on your life.
The sacrifice of Jesus does what nothing else could ever do. Payment for all our sins has been made. Period. It’s no accident that he said “It is finished[6]” just before he died. All sins were paid for: past, present, and future sins were taken care of. No more sacrifices are necessary because oh his once-and-for-all payment for all sins.
In case you have any doubts about this, remember that Jesus was raised from the dead. This is the proof-positive that we’re made clean and justified before God[7]. That the overdue invoice for all our sin was stamped “paid in full” and nailed to the cross[8].
It’s no accident that the writer is reminding the Hebrews about all this. They were under tremendous pressure. Persecution was all around them. They were being chased from place to place. And when they got caught, it meant at least jail if not death on a cross or being torn apart by animals.
This doesn’t make the disappointments and pains of this world go away, but it does help. A few hours or days will seem like a small price to pay compared to all eternity. It encouraged the Hebrews to stay faithful, and it should do the same for you and me. On the cross he sealed our pardon, paid the debt, and made us free[9].
Noodling Questions
Why do we get so frustrated with all the stuff we receive?
How is something personal so much more valuable than everything else?
Describe the daily experiences and benefits of God being personal with you.
[5] Romans 5:8
[6] John 19:30
[7] Romans 4:25
[8] Colossians 2:14
[9] I will sing of my Redeemer P. P. Bliss (1876)
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