Jesus alone offers us freedom from eternal slavery and bondage to sin…
Blessedly, the writer of Hebrews shockingly pivots from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant with – “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? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” (Hebrews 9: 11-15)
From the Bible Dictionary – In contrasting Old Testament law and New Testament grace, “The law given at Sinai did not alter the promise of grace given to Abraham. The law was given to magnify human sin against the background of God’s grace. It should ever be remembered that both Abraham and Moses and all the other OT saints were saved by faith alone. The law in its essential nature was written on man’s heart at creation and still remains there to enlighten man’s conscience; the gospel, however, was revealed to man only after man had sinned. The law leads to Christ, but only the gospel can save. The law pronounces man a sinner on the basis of man’s disobedience; the gospel pronounces man righteous on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ. The law promises life on terms of perfect obedience, a requirement now impossible to man; the gospel promises life on terms of faith in the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. The law is a ministration of death; the gospel is a ministration of life. The law brings a man into bondage; the gospel brings the Christian into liberty in Christ. The law writes God’s commandments on tables of stone; the gospel puts God’s commandments in the believer’s heart. The law sets before man a perfect standard of conduct, but it does not supply the means whereby that standard may now be attained; the Gospel supplies the means whereby God’s standard of righteousness might be acquired by the believer through faith in Christ. The law puts men under the wrath of God; the gospel delivers men from the wrath of God.” (Pfeiffer 1018-1019)
As it says in the above verses from Hebrews – “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.” MacArthur writes that this particular word for redemption is found only in this verse and in two verses from Luke and means the release of slaves by payment of a ransom. (MacArthur 1861)
Jesus ‘offered’ Himself. MacArthur again writes “Christ came of his own volition with a full understanding of the necessity and consequences of his sacrifice. His sacrifice was not just his blood, it was his entire human nature.” (MacArthur 1861)
False teachers and false religion keep us trying to pay for our salvation which has already been paid in full by Christ. Jesus sets us free so we can sacrificially follow Him all the way into eternity. He is the only Master worth following because He alone bought our true freedom and redemption!
RESOURCES:
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.
Pfeiffer, Charles F., Howard Vos and John Rea, eds. Wycliffe Bible Dictionary. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1975.
