SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS
Commentary by
June 15, 2008
Christ’s Sacrifice Has Secured the Forgiveness of Our
Sins
Hebrews 9:11 – 10:18
Key Verse: He [Christ] entered once for all into the
Many of the great old songs of the church are known as “gospel music.” Sing
these songs and you sing the gospel. The refrain of one old favorite is the
gospel in a nutshell:
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Gospel songs at their best teach us to sing biblical truth or what the Bible says about salvation. The Bible says all have sinned. Our sin is like a huge debt we cannot pay, a debt we owe to God. But God loved us so much that he sent his only son to pay our debt. He paid our debt in full by dying on the cross. His sacrificial death made possible the forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation with God. So we owe everything to Jesus because he “paid it all.”
The writer of Hebrews, sometimes
called “the preacher,” explains the gospel beautifully. Sin is a barrier
between us and God. Sin blocked our entrance to God’s presence in heaven. For
centuries the High Priests had offered repeated sacrifices taking the blood of
animals into the
It is crucial that we understand
God’s role in the sacrificial death of Jesus.
The Father and the Son were one in the plan of redemption.
Christ’s sacrifice established the new covenant by atoning for our sins. That new covenant offers us forgiveness and cleansing for our sins. Sin makes us dirty and guilty before God. But the blood of Jesus can “cleanse us from all sin,” making us holy and worthy of fellowship with God. Jesus’ blood washes the “crimson stain” of sin from our lives and makes it “white as snow.” Non-believers who trust Christ for the forgiveness of their sins typically feel “clean” within. Indeed they are clean! Their sins have been “washed away” by the precious blood of Jesus.
Another favorite gospel song, written by Fanny Crosby, expresses this same truth: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isaiah 1:18 inspired the blind songwriter to summarize the gospel in this lovely song. However, the writer of Hebrews influenced her as well. His influence is clearly evident in the beautiful phrase, “He’ll forgive your transgressions and remember them no more.”
So significant was the sacrifice of Jesus that when he had completed the mission God sent him to do, he could “sit down at the right hand of God.” The New Living Translation translates Hebrews 10:12 like this:
But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single
sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor
at God’s right hand.
That Christ did “sit down” at God’s right hand was verified for the preacher by the Psalmist (Psalm 110:1). In contrast with the priests, who could not sit down because they had to make repeated sacrifices, Christ could sit down in the Father’s Presence with a sense of fulfillment. His work was done. The perfect plan of redemption had been finished by the Redeemer!
Christ’s work of redemption has
inspired many gospel hymns but none more beautiful than the one composed by
Philip P. Bliss, “I Will Sing of My Redeemer.” The hymn was found in a piece of
baggage rescued from a fiery train wreck on December 20, 1876. Bliss was
traveling with his wife to
I will sing of my Redeemer and
his wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
from the curse to set me free.
I will tell the wondrous story,
how my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.
I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth over
sin, and death, and hell.
I will sing of my Redeemer and
His heavenly love for me;
He from death to life hath
brought me, Son of God, with Him to be.
Sing,
oh, sing of my Redeemer, with His blood He purchased me,
On the cross He sealed my pardon, paid the debt, and made me free.
Surely the writer of Hebrews would
agree that this song captures the essence of his own beautiful tribute to our
Redeemer!
(Contact Walter at walbritton@elmore.rr.com)