We will conclude this seven-part devotional on the doctrine of the blood of Christ by turning our attention to the Book of Hebrews.

            It is interesting to note that Hebrews, often referred to as “the book of the better things,” makes more frequent reference to the blood than does any other New Testament book.  A brief survey reveals that this inspired book teaches some of the following truths regarding the blood of Christ.

            (1) “By his own blood he [Christ] entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (9:12).

            (2) “How much more shall the blood of Christ . . . purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (9:14).

            (3) “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (9:22).

            (4) “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus . . .  Let us draw near” (9:19, 22).

            (5) “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing?” (10:29).

            (6) “The blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (12:24).

            (7) “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate” (13:12).

            (8) “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will” (13:20, 21a).

            In the briefest of summaries, these eight verses teach that

(1) When God demanded blood as an atonement for sin, Christ did not offer the blood of a surrogate animal that merely covered sin temporarily, but His very own shed blood, which removed our sins fully and forever;

(2) The blood of Christ alone cleanses the conscience from the pollution of sinful thoughts and actions;

(3) God forgives sins on the sole basis of the by-faith application of Christ’s blood;

(4) Access to and fellowship with God occurs only because Christ shed His blood for our sins;

(5) To reject God’s proffered salvation is to repudiate the sacrifice of Christ, which action results in eternal damnation;

(6) Abel’s shed blood pled for condemnation, but Christ’s blood promises justification;

(7) As the perfect antitype, Christ suffered “without the gate” as an outcast, criminal, and vile sinner in order that we might be sanctified and fitted for life within heaven and upon the throne with Christ; and

(8) We have a covenant sealed with blood that has provided us with a perfect nature, is providing us with a walk that is being perfected, and will provide us with absolute perfection when we receive our glorified bodies.

            Thus, the doctrine of the blood of Christ begins with a curse unto death upon Him (9:12) and ends with a blessing unto life upon us who believe (13:20, 21).  To neglect or deny efficacy of the blood of Christ is not a sign of sophistication but of sophistry.  Apart from the blood, we may have ceremony but not salvation, and we may have religion but not righteousness.

            May we ever be faithful to a bloody gospel.