By His Own Blood
Does the sacrificial death of Jesus reach your heart?
Verse of the Day
“He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”
Today’s Devotional
It is Easter morning. The tomb is empty. Jesus did the unthinkable, painful act of dying for your sins. And mine. Because that is how big God’s love is.
Let’s look at 2 places in the Gospels that today’s verse references. Matthew 27:50-51 says, “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split”. Then again in Mark 15:37-38, “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”
The following is from the HCSB Study Bible: “Jesus’ death at 3:00pm coincided with the afternoon sacrifice. Thus the priests were present in the temple to observe the rending of the curtain. The curtain of the sanctuary separated the holy of holies from the rest of the temple. According to Mishnah (the oral Torah), the curtain was 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and as thick as a man’s palm. It was so heavy that it took 300 men to lift it when it was wet. That it split in two from top to bottom shows it was torn by God. This signified that Jesus’ death granted sinners new access to God.”
New access to God. No more animal sacrifice. Because that was not working. That did not reach our hearts. Does the sacrificial death of Jesus reach your heart? If I’m honest, sometimes I forget how big this sacrifice was. I can’t imagine the Father God watching his Son die. When I think about that in terms of my own child, it makes me sick to my stomach. Imagine it for a moment. Your child being beaten, mocked and crucified in the hopes that one of the murderers would repent and turn to God. Accept the free gift of grace. Seriously, it makes me sick when I think of it in terms of my own child.
I can’t wrap my head around God loving me THAT MUCH. I am sinful and forgetful and selfish. But God still wants me. The more I learn about faith and love and God, the more I have to be ok with not being able to comprehend it all. It doesn’t make sense. But true, sincere love does not make a lot of sense to my human brain. The kindness of God – his relentless pursuit- is real whether I can wrap my brain around it or not. I don’t really understand how my cell phone works, but I use it everyday nonetheless. The same concept applies here: I don’t have to fully understand something to make it an active part of my life.
Today, as the tomb is empty, as death is defeated, as we have new access to God through Jesus, as we are forgiven, as we are loved, as we are continually pursued, as God attempts to capture new ground in our hearts, let’s just be thankful. Let’s bow before Jesus and thank Him for His willingness to die for each of us. Let’s accept with our whole hearts this gift that we cannot understand. Thank you, Jesus. By Your wounds…I am healed.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How are you using your access to God that Jesus made available for you?
How can you say “Thank you” to Jesus today with your life?
Is any part of your life still hiding from God? Bring it out today into the blood of Jesus.
Your heart is now the holy of holies. How does that make your perspective shift today?