Hebrews 9:14 Commentary and Bible Study

If the blood of animals accomplished this much, that it sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, then how much more will the blood of Christ, the incarnate Son of God, accomplish? How vastly more precious was his life, and therefore how immeasurably greater was his sacrifice! This is the one of whom the Father said, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him’ (Matthew 17:5). This is the one who was loved by the Father before the foundation of the world (John 17:24), whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2). His life is of infinite worth, and therefore in laying down his life for sinners he is able to redeem a host which no man can number from an eternity in hell.Christ offered himself to God, laying down his life which was of infinite worth. It was an act of both his divine and his human nature, though what was offered up as a sacrifice was his human nature. His divine nature supported his human nature under the unbearable suffering of having to take our eternal punishment, and this is here referred to as the eternal spirit.But especially the thought here is that the conscience of the worshipper is satisfied only with his sacrifice. That satisfaction originates in the Father’s acceptance of the offering of the Son of Man, for the conscience cannot go any further than it has authority from God to go. Until it sees this perfect sacrifice, and the evidence that it has been accepted in God raising Christ from the dead, a man’s conscience will not speak peace to his heart, no matter how much he would like to comfort himself. What are the dead works which the conscience needs to be purged from? They are all the sins that we know we have committed, which have not yet been forgiven by the Lord. The term ‘dead work’ may be a reference to the uncleanness contracted by those who touched the dead, and which was to be cleansed with the water of separation made from the ashes of a heifer (Number 19). The conscience has a memory, and it cannot change the past or pretend that what God knows has happened has not happened. Our record of past sin stops us from serving God in an acceptable way. Only after the conscience is assured that sin has been forgiven can we offer true service to God, because true service must be motivated by love to God, and we cannot love God while we know we are under condemnation and facing his wrath.