Covering to Cleansing

Ex 30:10 NLT) "Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by placing on its horns the blood from the offering made for the atonement of sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the LORD's supremely holy altar."

This morning we take a break from our current series from Proverbs to discuss one of the topics that moves me the most: the Blood of Jesus. Exodus 30 opens with God detailing to Moses the altar of incense. The Lord went into great detail about the dimensions, the type of wood, the placement, etc. This would be the first thing you encountered when entering the Tabernacle. Aaron, the High Priest, was to burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning and then again in the evening. While this was a ritual of worship the true purpose of any altar is death.

Our text outlines the death tied to this altar. The death spoken of here is the death of the animal killed for the 'Atonement' for sin. This annual "Day of Atonement" (Yom Kippur) was the day set apart every year where the High Priest would offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

The word atonement means 'to cover.' It is further explained in Leviticus 23:26-32. Suffice is to say that the blood of the animal was offered as a 'covering' for sin. (JBC Bible College Blood Covenant) However, the blood of the animal could never really eradicate the sin problem created by Adam. Animal blood was merely serve as a temporary fix, until the ultimate sacrifice could be offered - Jesus Himself.

The Hebrew writer explained it this way: For Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear now before God as our Advocate. He did not go into the earthly place of worship, for that was merely a copy of the real Temple in heaven. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the earthly high priest who enters the Most Holy Place year after year to offer the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, he would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all time, at the end of the age, to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial death for us (Heb 9:24-26 NLT).

So what does this mean to you? A few things:

1. Adam introduced two problems with his disobedience: Death and Sin.
2. The blood of the PASSOVER sacrifice was a symbol of God's deliverance from death, although it was only temporary.
3. The blood of the Atonement sacrifice was a symbol of God's deliverance from sin, although this was also temporary.
4. The blood of the Atonement sacrifice served as a 'covering' for sins.
5. The blood of Jesus cleansed us from sin once and for all.
6. Jesus was both that PASSOVER and Atonement sacrifice. He delivered us from both Death and Sin.
7. In Jesus, we graduate from temporary to permanent; from ritual to relationship; from depiction to definite; from Covering to Cleansing!

I enjoy discussing the many benefits of Christianity. I can do series' on the benefits (peace, power, protection, prosperity, etc.) from now until Jesus comes back, but the greatest benefit to life in Christ is the deliverance from Death and Sin.

The greatest peace we can experience is the peace of knowing that we are not covered, but rather cleansed. What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus!

Father, I do not walk in ritual, but rather relationship. I do not base my life on a depiction of truth, but rather a definite truth; the truth that Your Son died that I might live. My sins are not covered... I have been cleansed by the Blood of Jesus! I walk in perfect peace, power, protection, and might. I enter into this day with a clear conscience and a rested spirit. I have the confidence that I can accomplish anything set before me today, because I am internally at rest. My rest comes from the saving knowledge of Jesus the Christ. In Jesus' name. Amen.