"We Are Made Holy by His Blood"
Have you ever thought of yourself as a holy object? Most Christians have not been taught to think about holiness in this way. In reality, holiness - or the more technical term "sanctification" - has often been presented in Christianity as something good to pursue but highly improbable to obtain. But what would you say if I told you that a part of the biblical understanding of holiness is that God has already made you "holy" by means of Jesus' shed blood and death for you?
Hebrews 10:22 says, "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water" (NIV). This is an invitation, and it follows from what we saw last week in verses 19-20: that we have access to God's presence, and are ushered into that presence right now, by being "carried" by Jesus into the heavenly sanctuary in his own blood. Because all of this is true, verse 22 invites us to share in something amazing with the words "let us."
The amazing reality to which we are invited is to "draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings." In Greek it's very evident that God is coaxing us into trusting him because he has shown himself trustworthy. We are invited to have true hearts, in the assurance of trust, as we come forward to God's outstretched arms.
But equally amazing is the means by which this reality is guaranteed and provided: "having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." Given the fact that verse 21 is, yet again, calling Jesus our high priest, Hebrews 10:22 uses Old Testament sanctuary language to talk about how Jesus makes us holy.
The book of Leviticus contains several passages that describe how inanimate objects, animals, places, and individuals are made holy: the priest sprinkles sacrificial blood on them, and then they are washed in clean water. The point is not that these items have suddenly become morally superior to other items, but that God has set them apart to be used by him for various tasks, activities, and missions that are holy because God is holy. And the point Hebrews 10:22 is trying to make is that Jesus, our high priest, sprinkles us with his own blood and washes us in water (a nod to baptism) in order to cleanse us from consciences that are not right with God and make us people who belong to him.
Friends, holiness (or sanctification) entails righteous living, but its foundation is Jesus' definition of "holiness": that he has already made you his precious property and you belong to him.
.
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
