Clear Conscience, Full Heart, Can’t Lose
Hebrews 9:1-14
“...the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper... How much more, then, will the blood of Christ...cleanse our consciences.”
- Hebrews 9:9, 14
Can you recall a time where you were caught, red-handed? Dead to rights. You got that sinking feeling in your gut when you realized that you had messed up bad. Maybe it was in a lie? Maybe it was cutting corners at work? Maybe it was secretly slandering someone with your tongue, only to find out they were right behind you all along? You knew you did wrong, and the weight of your guilt lay heavy on your conscience.
For me, one occasion still stands out as clear as day. I was about 10 years old. My mom had to run a quick errand to the store, and on her way out the door she instructed me to practice piano for the ½ hour or so that she would be gone. I gave a quick response “Ok mom” and then promptly went about doing exactly not what she told me to do. On her return from the store, she asked me if I had practiced piano and I lied. Bold-faced & brazen. “How could she possibly know if I did or didn’t practice?” I smugly thought to myself. And then she walked into the dining room where my piano books were neatly stacked in a pile on the table. Right where they were when she had left. Untouched. Unpracticed. Guilty. I can still feel the pit in my stomach when I think about it now.
Today’s text from Hebrews 9 compares the “old way” of covering up the guilt of God’s people, with the “New Way.” No matter how many times Israel tried, they kept failing and had to seek God’s forgiveness through the sacrificial system. Hebrews 9:1-8 reminds me of Peter’s question to Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive?” and it makes me wonder if God ever asked himself that same question of Israel? You don’t have to read far in Isaiah (or other prophets like him) to see that God got fed up with Israel, and sick of the cycle of meaningless sacrifices without changed hearts, and lives. Something new had to be done.
Enter Jesus. The only one who can cleanse our consciences because he is the only one who can actually take away our guilt and restore us to right relationship with the Father. God has written his law on our hearts and in his Word and the Spirit prompts us and convicts us in times of temptation. But fighting against the Spirit will lead nowhere.
As C.S. Lewis wrote,
“We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road...There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake...We're on the wrong road. And if that is so we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.”
Looking at Israel in the Old Testament is like looking in a mirror. When we see Israel’s wrestling with God we should see ourselves. Everyone wants to live with a clear conscience. But nothing we can do will give us a clear conscience apart from the forgiveness we receive through repentance and faith in the work of Christ on our behalf. This Advent, fix your eyes and heart on the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world.
~ Jeremy Lyzenga