6.2 The Cross, the Blood of Jesus, Redemption, and Testimony

⁷ They are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

¹³ The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹¹ For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

⁴ Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

⁵ But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

⁶ We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.

²⁷ Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.

²⁸ This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

³⁰ When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.

²⁸ Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

²⁴ and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

²⁵ God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.

²⁶ He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

⁸ But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!

¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

¹¹ Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

¹³ “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

²¹ God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

¹⁴ He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility

¹⁵ by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace

¹⁶ and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.

¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

¹⁸ For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

¹¹ But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation.

¹² He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,

¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!

¹⁵ Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰ by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body,

²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

²² let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³ Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

²² Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels

²³ in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

¹² And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, to sanctify the people by His own blood.

¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.

⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.