Hebrews 9:15-22 (NIV) 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. 16 In the case of a will,[a] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”[b] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Please note in every text in the book of Hebrews, no matter who is being addressed, the theme is always the absolute supremacy of Christ. If he talking to believers who are still hanging on to Judaism, he says, “You don’t need the rituals and traditions. Christ is sufficient.” If he is speaking with unbelievers who have had enough exposure to the gospel to be intellectually convinced, he is saying, “Come on, put your faith in him. Rest in Christ. He’s sufficient.” If he talking to the sceptical, unconvinced, non-believing Jews, he is offering the same message, “Christ is superior to your religious traditions. He is supreme. He is sufficient.” While the message is always the same, the rhetoric may be stated in different ways depending on the particular audience. In summary, the theme for the book of Hebrews is the perfect Christ, supreme, superior and all sufficient. We need nothing in addition to Jesus Christ.
To review, in chapter 1 the author demonstrated to his readers, who were tempted to leave Christ and go back to Judaism, how Jesus is God’s final word to us. As the Son of God, He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature. He upholds all things by the word of His power (1:3). He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, supreme over all angelic beings (1:4-14). After a brief exhortation not to drift (2:1-4), he shows that Jesus is not only the eternal Son of God, He is also fully human. God’s original intent was for man to rule over the earth, but that was hindered by the fall (2:5-8). By His incarnation and death for our sins, Jesus recovered what we lost in the fall (2:9-10). As the Captain of our salvation, Jesus became man in order to bring us to God (2:11-15). Our text for this week continues the theme of Jesus’ humanity, showing us why He became a man: Jesus became a man so that as our high priest, He could offer Himself for our sins and come to our aid when we are tempted. Looking forward to sharing more thoughts about our all-sufficient Christ.
This portion gives us a glimpse of the majesty of the Son. It summons our worship of the One who came from God who is eternally God. We honor Him as the One whose name is above every name. Jesus is the preeminent One, who is eternal before and after creation, and the One whose destiny is sovereignty. To know Christ in His fullness is to know the Christ who fills without measure. Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty let him come to Me and drink .... I will cause rivers of living water to flow from his inmost being!”
