Without Calvary, you can’t be saved; without Eucharist, you can be saved. (Heb 9:22, 28)
Hi P101,
Without Calvary there would be no Eucharist. And thank you for providing the scriptures from the book of Hebrews, because this is an excellent starting point (after the study of Passover and The Last Supper and The Passion) for understanding the Eucharist!
Let’s look at the first text you cite *
Hebrews 9:22 According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. *
I think we both agree, as Christians, that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. We base that on the Jewish economy and the Sanctuary services. Animals were sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins on a daily basis. Once a year the high priest would go into the Most Holy Place and make atonement for all of the sins of Israel for the past year.
Now, I think we both agree that the sanctuary services were a type of the sacrificial offering Jesus would freely and willingly make of Himself. And believe it or not, we both agree that the sacrifice of Jesus was made one time for all mankind on the cross at Calvary, as you point out with the second verse you cited above
Hebrews 9:28
so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many,
Is that it? Is it all over now? Is there nothing to do?
No, Jesus entered the True Sanctuary, The Heavenly Sanctuary, of which the earthly sanctuary was just a copy.
And yet in that “copy” of the true and real, services were performed to purify and cleanse both the sanctuary and all the vessels of worship and all the people, which brings us back again to the first verse you cited above, and a few verses before it.
Hebrews 9:19
When every commandment had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves (and goats), together with water and crimson wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is ‘the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined upon you.’” 21 In the same way, he sprinkled also the tabernacle and all the vessels of worship with blood. 22
According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
And if the blood of calves and goats was used to cleanse and purify in the copy of the True Sanctuary, how does that transfer to the Real Heavenly Sanctuary with the Real True Lamb of God who is also our Great High Priest?
Hebrews 9:11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, 12 he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.
Notice in verse 14 that it is Christ’s own blood from His unblemished offering that cleanses us.
***Hebrews 9:22 According to the law almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 23 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified by these rites, but the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf. 25 Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; 26 if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. ***
Jesus sacrifice was made once for all mankind. That one sacrifice and the cleansing and purifying effects of it, for the forgiveness and cleansing of sin, is eternally available for all generations of mankind until He returns again in glory.
How do we access that cleansing blood of our High Priest who intercedes for us sinners with God? It is through the means Jesus Himself put in place for those of us who live hundreds and thousands of years after the event of Calvary…and that is His Supper…The Last Supper…The Eucharist…which Jesus as our High Priest gives us in His ministry for us.
Read Hebrews chapters 6 and 7.
Hebrews 6:19 This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Genesis 14:18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram…
No one can be saved without Calvary, Jesus. People can be saved without receiving Eucharist, or baptism, etc…yet that is because of God’s mercy and understanding of circumstances beyond human control which prevent people from actively participating in those blessings of grace and salvation.
But God grants most of us ample opportunities to discover and accept the fullness of His salvation and the blessings He provides to us. It is our duty to follow God in fullness and in truth as He guides us deeper in love in our relationship with Him. To ignore or resist God is death.
God bless all!!!