亚洲路德宗神学院“每周灵粮”
因为基督并不是进了人手所造的圣所（这不过是真圣所的影像），乃是进了天堂，如今为我们显在上帝面前，也不是多次将自己献上，像那大祭司每年带著牛羊的血进入圣所〔牛羊的血原文作不是自己的血〕
希伯来书 9:25,26
上帝是公正的。祂有完全的是非准则，并以此作判断。上帝的公义就是罪必须受到惩罚，凡事必须正确。
在耶稣到来以先的几个世纪裡，上帝让祂的子民庆祝赎罪日来平衡准则。那天，大祭司进入至圣所，带著献祭牲口的血站在上帝面前。那血是为他和他的百姓赎罪（即遮盖）。
但是每一年都有赎罪日，大祭司做著和前一年一模一样的事情，千多年来一遍又一遍。
为什麽要重複？因为杀死动物并不能满足上帝的公义。那麽，上帝为什麽要他们这样做呢？因为赎罪日是一幅关于藉牺牲来平衡公义天平的图画。
它预表耶稣的行为。耶稣是我们的大祭司，祂为我们站在上帝面前，不再是以动物的牺牲，而是以祂自己的牺牲。耶稣并没有一次又一次地献祭，而是牺牲一次。
基督在十字架上献上自己，三天后，上帝藉著使祂从死裡复活，对耶稣的牺牲作出了判决。清楚表明了上帝的判决：罪已经永远被除去！使我们不再需要每年在赎罪日的牺牲，我们得救了，一次作永远的果效！
祷告：
主啊，动物的血不可能带走罪孽。但是，祢的儿子耶稣的宝血洗淨了我所有的罪。谢谢祢。阿门。
Once for Always
ALS Weekly Devotions
Nor did [Christ] enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Hebrews 9:25,26
God is just. He has an absolutely perfect standard of right and wrong, and he judges according to that standard. God’s justice means that sin must be punished, and everything must be made right.
In the centuries before Jesus came, God had his people celebrate the Day of Atonement to balance the scales. On that day, the High Priest walked into the innermost room of the temple and stood before God with blood from animal sacrifices. That blood atoned for (that is, covered up) the sins of him and his people.
And the scales were balanced for a time. But every year, there was another Day of Atonement, and the high priest did the exact same thing that he had done the year before, over and over again for over a thousand years.
Why the repetition? Because God’s justice was not satisfied by killing animals. So why did God tell them to do it? Because the Day of Atonement was a picture of the one sacrifice that would balance the scales.
It pointed ahead to what Jesus would do. Jesus is our High Priest. He appeared for us in God’s presence, not with an animal sacrifice, but with the sacrifice of himself. And Jesus did not offer that sacrifice over and over again. He only offered it once.
And after Christ offered himself on the cross, God gave his verdict on Jesus’ sacrifice by raising him from the dead three days later. That was a clear indication of God’s verdict: sin has been taken away, forever! We do not need the yearly sacrifices of the Day of Atonement. We have been saved, once for always!
Prayer:
Lord, it is impossible for the blood of animals to take away sins. But the blood of Jesus, your Son, purifies me from all sin. Thank you. Amen.
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