Hebrews 13:9-16 - Sanctifying Blood - April 1, 2020

Apart from extremely devout Jews and Muslims and Seventh Day Adventists, there are relatively few people today who believe that your diet – what you eat – will have an impact on your standing before God and your eternity. Why not? For Bible believing Christians, the answer is clear. First, to Jewish leaders who were convinced that they were made clean or unclean by what they ate, Jesus said there is nothing outside of a man that can make him unclean by going into him. But the things that come out of a man are what make a man unclean (Mark 7:15). Second, Paul provides confirmation in his letter to the Colossians: do not let anyone judge you in regard to food or drink….these are a shadow of the things that were coming, but the body belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). The New Testament puts a nail through the heart of any religious dietary restrictions (so feel free to let your Catholic friends know that it’s ok to dig into a steak on Fridays in Lent!). And in our text, the author of Hebrews picks up on that same theme. He warns his readers against being carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, including strange teachings about foods. His point is that we aren’t sanctified, that is set apart and made holy and acceptable to God by our diet but by blood. Jesus’ blood.

Like Jesus and the apostle Paul, the author of Hebrews draws us away from trying to earn the righteousness of God and instead to receive it from him through Jesus. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tent have no right to eat. What is this altar? Where is it? It’s a cross…a cross planted on Golgotha. It’s the altar Jesus built when he offered his body and blood as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. Through faith, through Baptism, through Absolution, through the Lord’s Supper (which we still retain possession of, even if we can’t practice it as frequently as we would like), through hearing and reading the Word of God, we are given Christ’s own righteousness and receive his holiness. That is how God sanctifies us today. Those who continue to live under the old covenant – or any religious system where salvation is based on works – have no right to eat from this altar because they prove by that behavior that they do not believe in Jesus, they do not accept that he is the Lamb of God, whose blood sets us free from sin.

In verses 11 and 12 the author compares and contrasts the Old and the New Covenants. He refers to the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament (Leviticus 16). The carcasses of the animals slaughtered for sacrifice on this annual Day of Atonement would be drained of blood. Then the high priest would carry the blood into the Most Holy Place as an atoning sacrifice, but the bodies would be burned outside the camp (Leviticus 16:27). He compares this to what happened on Calvary. Jesus suffered outside the gate. That is, he was crucified outside of Jerusalem (John 19:17). He suffered outside the city, to sanctify people by his own blood.

This sacrifice was repeated year after year after year – it was never really done, which served to point the people of Israel ahead to the real “Day of Atonement,” Good Friday, when Jesus himself would serve as both the High Priest and the sacrificial Lamb. He would suffer outside the camp and with his own blood enter the Most Holy Place in heaven to make his “once for all” payment for the sins of the world. His sacrifice doesn’t need repeating – not by the sacrifice of lambs, not by some ceremonial sacrifice made by pastors or priests (as the Catholic Church maintains to this day[1]). When Jesus cried from the cross it is finished (John 19:30), he announced to the world that his redeeming and sanctifying work is complete. No longer do we need to sacrifice lambs and goats because the Lamb of God has sanctified us by his own blood. His blood cleanses us from the infection of sin. His blood makes us holy people, people who belong to God and can stand before without any stain or stench of sin or guilt (Ephesians 5:27). Paul describes the reality of this cleansing in Romans 8: there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2).

What the blood of all the animals in the world could never do, God did for us by the blood of his Son. He has sanctified us – that is, made us holy and set us apart as his own people. He has purchased and won us from sin, death, and devil by that blood. We belong to him. Now what? What does that mean practically speaking for our everyday lives? Hebrews makes three applications. First, so then let us go to him, outside of the camp, bearing his disgrace. For we do not have a permanent city here, but we are looking for the city that is coming. We are to go where Jesus is – even if it means enduring the scorn and mockery of the world. He is outside of the camp. Now this doesn’t mean that we have to go back to Golgotha, because – frankly – we can’t. But we do have to go outside of the camp – that is we must leave behind any rules or regulations that claim to make us holier or more spiritual; that claim to offer the sanctification that only Jesus can offer. To go back to the Old Testament – or any novel religious system built on laws and rules and restrictions – is to live as if Jesus Christ had not come,  had not suffered, died, and rose again; it would be to reject the Gospel. Instead, we cling to Christ crucified and him alone. We trust him as he distributes to us the fruits of his sacrifice through Word and Sacrament as we await the heavenly city that is to come. That’s why I love the thanksgiving responses we use after we receive communion, from Psalm 136 and 1 Corinthians 11: give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His mercy endures forever (Psalm 136:1). Whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup. We proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (1 Corinthians 11:26). In that sacrament time and eternity truly meet, as we look back to receive through faith the gifts Christ won for us on the cross and look forward to his second coming in glory – to take us home to the heavenly city that is coming.

Second, through Jesus, therefore, let us constantly offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. The Bible makes a distinction between two different kinds of sacrifice. 1) There is the sacrifice of atonement that takes away sin. And 2) the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. The sacrifice of atonement was made by Jesus on the cross. This sacrifice can never be replicated or repeated – nor does it need to be. He finished that job once and for all (John 19:30). Then there are the ongoing sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. These are the sacrifices we offer whenever we put our trust in Jesus, when we confess our faith, whenever we offer him our hymns and songs and prayers.

But this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving doesn’t end there either, it also encompasses our entire lives. Here’s the third application, the third result, of being sanctified by Jesus’ blood: Do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Jesus’ blood not only sanctifies our lips to praise his holy name, he also sanctifies our lives to live for him. There’s an important point here to keep in mind that is often misunderstood or forgotten: God doesn’t need our good works. The love God commands us and enables us to show in our lives is not to be directed at him (as if we could anyway) but at the people around us, our neighbors (Luke 10:25-37). Paul makes this clear in his speech before the Areopagus: The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands. Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have (Acts 17:24-25) God doesn’t need our good works. He’s God. He doesn’t need our time, our compassion, the work of our hands, our money – or, today, a roll of toilet paper or a bottle of hand sanitizer. But in these trying times, our neighbor might. Living by faith in Jesus also means living in love for our neighbor. Works of love directed toward those who need them are integral parts of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to Jesus for all he’s done for us. In fact, in yet another example of his boundless grace, Jesus says that when we do good to others – especially other believers – it’s the same, in his eyes, as doing good for him: just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me (Matthew 25:40).

That’s the power of Jesus’ blood. Not only does his blood cleanse us from all sin and set us apart as God’s holy people – but it sanctifies us, sets us apart as his royal priests (1 Peter 2:9) who live every day in faith toward him and love toward one another. Amen.

[1] 1367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory."190 (https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm)