The Blood of Christ Offered to God

This is the Twelfth post from Chapter 4 of Friends With God: Living The Life Of Jesus In Us. Throughout this chapter and the previous chapter we have been exploring the doctrine of the “Penalty For Sin”, which was developed by Anselm of Canterbury in the 11th Century A.D.

The Blood of Christ Offered to God

As we have seen in this earlier post, the blood of Christ is representative of his life. When Jesus said you must “drink my blood and to eat my flesh” he simply meant that we are to emulate his life as if we are in the body of Christ. (John 6:48-65) To “drink my blood and to eat my flesh” also implies that in doing so we live our lives with great love and enjoyment- with all our heart, mind, and soul.

The book of Hebrews, however, takes the analogy of Christ’s blood to another level. Instead of drinking his blood and eating his flesh, Hebrews tells us that his blood was the sacrifice that Christ took with him into the Holy of Holies, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb 9:1-12) What does this represent?

In order to get the context, please read Chapters 9 and 10 of Hebrews. In it we are told that the Temple in Jerusalem was built on the same pattern as the actual Temple of God in heaven. What the priests did in the Temple on Earth was representative of what was to actually happen in heaven after Jesus was resurrected.

Jesus, after his resurrection, went into this heavenly temple, into the highly restricted area of the Holy of Holies, and offered his blood to God the Father. This was the area in the physical temple that only the High Priest could enter, and he went in only once a year. As his blood represented the New Covenant that we have with him (Luke 22:19-20, Matt 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24) Jesus is seen in this analogy to be presenting the New Covenant to God the Father.

Why would he do this? There is nothing mystical about this passage, or what Jesus did. Hebrews tells us that he did this so he could pave the way for us to actually follow him into the Temple and to also present his blood of the covenant to God the Father:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest (the Holy of Holies) by the blood of Jesus, (we, the brethren, enter the Holy of Holies. How do we do this…) By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Heb 10:18-20)

The New Covenant in his blood is that new and living way of life: which is following the example of his life in his flesh. It is a very simple analogy. Christ led the way into the Father by presenting his covenant to him. Anyone who lives by this covenant (by imitating Christ) will also be able to go into the presence of God the Father, in prayer, and he will accept him.

Animal Sacrifices Insufficient

The book of Hebrews is very clear that animal sacrifices can’t take away sin. Paul also tells us in Romans that God does not want animal sacrifices; he wants us to be living human sacrifices that are imitating the life of Jesus in our flesh:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
(Rom 12:1-2)

We imitate the life of Jesus through doing God’s will:

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. (so, what does take away sin?) Wherefore when he (Christ) comes into the world, he (God the Father) says, (now follows a quote from Psalm 40:6-8) “Sacrifice (of an animal) and offering (of grain) you would not (bother with, as it can’t take away sin), but a (human) body have you prepared me. (Heb 10:4-5)

The human “body” being spoken of here is the living sacrifice of Christ’s well lived life, and it is this living sacrifice which we are to emulate in our lives.

Paul then reiterates the same point from a different perspective: In burnt offerings (of animals) and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. (because they can’t take away sin) Then said I (Christ), Lo, I come -in the volume of the book it is written of me,- to do your will, O God.” (Heb 10:6-7)

This is the end of Paul’s quote from Psalm 40, Paul then explains what it means:

Above when he said, “Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not (bother with), neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law”; Then said he, “Lo, I come to do your will, O God”. He takes away the first (animal sacrifices), that he may establish the second (doing the will of God). By this will (doing the Will of God in our lives) we are sanctified through (because of) the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb 10:6-10)

Because Jesus offered his life as a living sacrifice for us to follow, when we follow his example we are sanctified (meaning set apart) to do the Will of God in our lives.

To do the will of God means the same as living by the New Covenant, which means the same as presenting the blood of Jesus to God the Father in the Holy of Holies, which is the same as drinking his blood and eating his flesh, which is the same as living in this new and living way.

In following Christ’s example, we are doing the will of God, we are set apart (sanctified) for a specific purpose:

After Christ had offered one sacrifice (his life that we imitate) for sins forever, (he then) sat down on the right hand of God; … For by (this) one offering (of his life) he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. (Heb 10:12-14)

Those who are sanctified are those who are set apart for the purpose of following the example of Christ’s life, and his words, and when they live this way of life they are perfected forever.

Doing The Will Of God

How has he perfected those who are set apart because they are following the example of Christ?

Paul could have continued in Hebrews 10 to quote from Psalm 40, which says I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart. (Psa 40:8). To do the will of God is to love God and his law with all your heart, mind, and soul. (Matt 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27) This is the foundational Old Testament concept that Christ constantly emphasised, and it corresponds with eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Jesus.

Paul, however, instead of continuing in Psalms, quotes from Jeremiah 31:33-34, which specifically relates to the New Covenant and what its purpose is:

The Holy Spirit also assures us of this, for he said: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts and will write them on their minds, and I will never again remember their sins and their lawless deeds." (Heb 10:15-17)

We are assured of our sins being forgiven, if we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Rom 8:14) There is no use having the Holy Spirit if we are not led by it.

We need the Holy Spirit, and to follow its promptings, to be able to love God with all our heart. Therefore, we live according to his way of life, if we are guided by his Spirit:

For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die. But if you, through the Spirit, mortify (stop) the deeds of the body (flesh), you shall live. (Rom 8:13)

By following the promptings of the Spirit, we demonstrate that we are in the New Covenant with God, and are now his sons:

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Rom 8:16-17)

When we partake of the living sacrifice of Christ’s life, by imitating his life in how we live, we are then not just living by the letter of the law, but also the spirit and intent of God’s laws, because these laws are then in our hearts and minds.

We are then being led by the Holy Spirit to understand the spiritual purpose of the law:

But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such (people) to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24)

It is only through doing the will of God, in following the lead of the Holy Spirit, that we will receive the promise of eternal life:

For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. (of eternal life) (Heb 10:36)

We now don’t need animal sacrifices, because Christ set us the example in his life of being a living sacrifice. He did this by his “doing the will of God”.

In order to follow Christ, we also must become living sacrifices “doing the will of God”. And we do this by having God’s law of love in our minds and hearts: I delight to do your will, O my God: yes, your law is within my heart. (Psa 40:8) Consequently, if we do the will of God, We therefore have complete remission of sins and no need for (sacrificial animal) offering for sins. (Heb 10:18)  

There is no “Payment for Sin” by Christ’s sacrifice, for his sacrifice is what we follow in our lives. There is nothing mystical about the sacrifice of Christ. It is very simple and logical.

To do the will of God is to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and this is what it means to drink Jesus’ blood and to eat his flesh. As Jesus said “do this and you shall live” eternally. (Luke 10:25-28) It is not at all mystical, but is a very practical and obvious requirement of being a follower of Jesus.

This foundational Old Testament scripture shows that, despite the fact that animal sacrifices are no longer necessary, the way to eternal life has not been changed by the New Covenant, as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Heb 13:8)

What therefore is New in the New Covenant? This will be discussed in the next post in this series.