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NOVEMBER 14
purified with blood, and without shedding of enters the Most Holy Place every year with
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blood there is no remission. blood of another— He then would have had
23 Therefore it was necessary that the to suffer often since the foundation of the
copies of the things in the heavens should be world; but now, once at the end of the ages,
purified with these, but the heavenly things He has appeared to put away sin by the sacri-
themselves with better sacrifices than these. fice of Himself. And as it is appointed for
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24 For Christ has not entered the holy places men to die once, but after this the judgment,
made with hands, which are copies of the 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him
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the presence of God for us; not that He He will appear a second time, apart from sin,
should offer Himself often, as the high priest for salvation.
DAY 13:Why does Hebrews have so much about blood, including a statement such as
“without shedding of blood there is no remission”(9:22)?

Beginning with 9:7, the writer examined the significance of the blood of sacrifice.This term is
especially central to 9:1–10:18 where the passage identifies the deaths of Old Testament sacrifices
with the death of Christ (9:12–14).Note,however,that this shedding of blood in and of itself was an
insufficient sacrifice. Christ had not only to shed His blood, but He also had to die—10:10 indicates
that He gave His body as a sacrificial offering.Without His death, His blood had no saving value.
The expression,then,“blood of Christ”(9:14) refers not simply to the fluid but to the whole aton-
ing sacrificial work of Christ in His death.Blood is used as a substitute word for death (see,e.g.,Matt.
23:30,35;27:6,8,24,25;John 6:54–56;Acts 18:6;20:26).By reviewing the significance of the blood sac-
rifices in the Old Testament, the writer was pointing to a pattern of lessons that prepared the world
to understand the necessity of Christ’s death.The emphatic phrase “without shedding of blood there
is no remission”(9:22) simply repeats the lesson that sin creates a debt that must be paid by some-
one.“It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul”(Lev. 17:11).The phraseology is reminiscent
of Christ’s words,“For this is My blood of the new covenant,which is shed for many for the remission
of sins” (Matt. 26:28). Remission means forgiveness in these verses—forgiveness for the sinner and
payment of the debt.Christ’s death (blood) provides the remission.

6 He roved among the lions,
November 14 And became a young lion;
He learned to catch prey;
He devoured men.
7 He knew their desolate places,
Ezekiel 19:1–20:49
And laid waste their cities;
“Moreover take up a lamentation for the The land with its fullness was
19 princes of Israel, and say: desolated
2
By the noise of his roaring.
‘What is your mother? A lioness: 8 Then the nations set against him
She lay down among the lions; from the provinces on every side,
Among the young lions she nourished And spread their net over him;
her cubs. He was trapped in their pit.
3 She brought up one of her cubs, 9 They put him in a cage with chains,
And he became a young lion; And brought him to the king of Babylon;
He learned to catch prey, They brought him in nets,
And he devoured men. That his voice should no longer be
4 The nations also heard of him; heard on the mountains of Israel.
He was trapped in their pit, 10 ‘Your mother was like a vine in your
And they brought him with chains to bloodline,
the land of Egypt.
Planted by the waters,
5 ‘When she saw that she waited, that Fruitful and full of branches
her hope was lost, Because of many waters.
She took another of her cubs and made 11 She had strong branches for scepters
him a young lion. of rulers.

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