Hebrews chapter 9

vs 19

So there is the blood sealing that covenant. Unfortunately for the sacrificial animal population, it didn't end there.

vs 20

The idea being that all covenants have blood, and so here's the blood for this one.

vs 21

Because blood "cleans" things. And this is how we know they aren't talking about sanitation, because washing stuff in blood does not make it less likely to attract germs! When will people listen!

vs 22

It gets quoted a lot, but it's a long and bloody fact of God's history that forgiveness only comes through blood. It's good, then, to know that this is not just because God is a bloodthirsty bastard, but because he wanted all that stuff to point towards a sacrifice that actually needed to be made later on, so we'd recognise it.

vs 23

Copy, metaphor, reproduction - the point being that they had to speak the right message. So all that blood had a message for Israel - forgiveness and covenant are costly.

vs 24

Because Jesus is not the copy, he is not the reflection - he is the real deal. And the real deal, by the way, is heaven. I think that may have been mentioned before.

vs 25

That would just be stupid. You can't have God incarnating every year in some constant painful process. Well, I mean, you could, but then that would certainly remove a bit of his powerfulness, wouldn't it? Not being able to deal with the problem once and for all.

vs 26

When you're 2000 years away, language like "culmination of the ages" loses a bit of it's sting. I will freely admit that. I don't expect Jesus to waltz up any time soon. I have theological reasons for that, though, not just lack of expectation reasons.

But really, assuming that everything else in history stayed the same except that Jesus didn't come when he did (which is pretty much impossible, I know, but assume there was some other force that did what Christianity did), when would have been a better time for Christ to return? It was only 30 years before the temple would be destroyed, and it has never been rebuilt since. How could the Messiah return without a working temple to refer to?

vs 27

Ahhh, the third box from Two Ways To Live, and the most disappointing of the verses too. It really is just the beginning of an idea - to build so much theology into it, I don't know. It's true - people die once and face judgment. But it's really only said in the context of a bigger picture. That doesn't make it any less true, of course.

vs 28

People only die once, so the sacrifice for the punishment of sin only needed to be made once too. And that clears up the reason for Christ's return - he won't be coming back like the High Priest to the holy place. He'll be coming back to take his sheep home. To finalise the salvation contract. I can't wait. but I know I have to.