The Blood of the Covenant

What this episode covers

Old Testament Reading The Old Testament reading this morning is Exodus chapter 24, verses one through eight. And this is God’s holy, his infallible, his inspired word. Exodus chapter 24, verses one through eight. Then he said to Moses, come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him. Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and 12 pillars, according to the 12 tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, behold, the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. New Testament Reading And now turn to Hebrews chapter nine, verses 11 through 22. This is God’s inspired commentary on the passage that we just read, at least part of this is. Hebrews 9, 11 through 22. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not enforced as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. The Purpose of Redemption: Worship Last Lord’s Day, as we looked at the passage before this in Exodus, we considered how the destination that the Lord had set for the people of Israel was the promised land, the land of Canaan. That was why the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt. It was in order to give to them, to bring them into this land that he had promised their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so the destination was one reason why the Lord brought his people out of Egypt. But there was even a more basic, more fundamental reason why the Lord brought his people out of Egypt. And that more basic reason was that so his people w

Distinct summary based on available episode metadata or transcript content.