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The Daily Word of Righteousness
A Giant Step Forward, #22
Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:26-28)
The idea of the above passage is that when we receive Christ we are held to be without condemnation, with a view toward the time when He appears to actually remove the sin from us. In the meanwhile we are to be walking in the Spirit of God so we are not obeying the lusts of our flesh.
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Galatians 5:16)
There is coming, prior to the appearing of Christ in the clouds of glory, an appearing of Christ to His people in order to finish the work of redemption. As far as one can tell, this second aspect of salvation has begun now. However, deliverance from sin will come only to those who, like Simeon and Anna of old, are really walking in victory and waiting for the Lord. It probably is true that most of the Christian believers will never realize a new day is here.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. (Hebrews 10:1,2)
Perhaps the expression in the above passage, "would no longer have felt guilty for their sins," is the basis for current Christian teaching that sins committed under the Law of Moses were not actually forgiven. Now, however, our sins are completely forgiven forever. The new covenant provides a superior forgiveness that is not related to our behavior, it is maintained.
Given the fact that Leviticus states the believers, having made the sacrifices, were forgiven, it is unlikely that the reason they continued to feel guilty for their sins was because they doubted God's Word. It probably was true, rather, that they realized they still were committing sin; thus they still felt guilty. As Paul would say, "the Law cautioned me concerning covetousness and so covetousness came alive in me and I died."
The new covenant, on the other hand, assures us that if we really are following the Lord and keeping His commandments there is no need to feel guilty, even though we realize we are not perfect. We are following Jesus and He is keeping us free from condemnation. The Law no longer is nagging at us about our behaviors that are morally impure or rebellious. Our conscience is clear.
To be continued.