From the time
I was about a week old until I was 17ish I went to the Roman Catholic Church
every Sunday unless I was contagious or in the hospital. The grade school I attended was right next
door and we would learn our catechism and attend additional services. Sometime in grade 2ish I took part in a new sacrament called penance. Though I don’t remember my first time I’m sure
it went something like this: wait
forever, go into the small, dark, scary room, kneel down, tell the priest the
bad things you did (or lie about it if you can’t think of any), then listen to
his absolution, leave and say prayers to be forgiven.
Little did I
know then that a man could never take the place of The Son of Man and what He
did for me. Jesus Christ was sinless (2Cor. 5:21;
1Pt. 2:22; Heb. 4:15) yet He died for our sins, rose again (1Cor. 15:3,4) to
sit at the right hand of God (Mr. 16:19; Heb. 8:1) and lives to make
intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). It
wasn’t until later that I realized Jesus had gone into the Heavenly Holy of
Holies to ‘pour His blood on the altar for us’, not a temporary atonement like
the blood of animals was, but an eternal atonement only possible by the blood
of the sinless Lamb.
The next day John sees Jesus coming to him and says,
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Jh. 1:29
nor by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He
entered once for all into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb. 9:12
…even as the high priest enters into the Holy of Holies every year with the blood of
others …now once in the end of the world
He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Heb. 9:25,26
So Jesus is
our last and high priest forever, the only one able to obtain a lasting
sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 10:10) because of His divinity- humanity and
sinlessness; not one that just covers them like animal sacrifices (Heb. 10:4),
but one that washes them completely away (Rev. 1:5; 1Jh. 1:7).
where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone on our behalf,
having become a high priest forever... Heb. 6:20 ISV
But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent
priesthood. … We need such a high
priest—one who is holy, innocent, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above
the heavens. Heb. 7:24,26 ISV
Jesus is our
mediator, to obtain our salvation from God.
We do not need a man to do such a job as Jesus has already provided what
is needed. We do not need to kneel in a
box and confess only to be absolved by another human being. We have the Precious Son, the Redeemer, and
our eternal High Priest Jesus Christ to forgive us and wash away our sins by
His sacrificed blood.
For God is
one, and there is one Mediator of God
and of men, the Man Christ Jesus, who
gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 1Tm. 2:5,6
And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new
covenant… Heb. 9:15
And there is salvation
in no other One;
for there is no other
name under Heaven given among men
by which we must be
saved.
Ac. 4:12