.
● Heb 9:13-14 . . 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, 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.
Basically; one's conscience is sort of like a moral compass, i.e. it provides people with a
sense of right, wrong, fairness, and justice. The conscience not only provides people
with some guidance in those areas, but it has the rather annoying propensity to sit in
judgment on its owner.
● Rom 2:14-15 . . For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things
of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the
work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their
thoughts alternately accusing or else defending themselves.
In it's current condition; the human conscience is unacceptable, and that's because of
its source. We have to go all the way back to the beginning for that.
● Gen 3:5 . . God knows well that when you eat of [the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil] your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil.
Was the Serpent's prediction true? Yes; to a certain extent.
● Gen 3:22 . .Then the Lord God said: See. The man has become like one of us,
knowing good and evil.
In other words; the Serpent neglected to inform Eve that the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil has a side effect that alters people's conscience. But is the alteration an
acceptable substitute for the people's original conscience; the one that came with them
when they were created?
No, because now people are "like one of us" i.e. like supreme beings.
● Ps 82:6 . .I said: You are gods
Along with their ill-gotten supremacy as beings came their ill-gotten supremacy in
matters of right, wrong, fairness, and justice. In other words; the current condition of the
human conscience is unacceptable because it was obtained by eating the fruit of a tree
known to be unsuitable for human consumption. As a result; the current condition of the
human conscience is diseased; hence the need to sprinkle it, so to speak, with Jesus'
blood.
The sprinkling doesn't cure a human's diseased conscience. The sprinkling is actually
for God's sake, i.e. it makes the human sense of right, wrong, fairness, and justice
tolerable for God to endure whenever somebody approaches Him in prayer and/or
worship. I don't think many fully appreciate that the human conscience is equally as
repulsive to God as a case of full-blown leprosy is to us.
Anyway; In the Old Testament, it was necessary to sanitize the people's conscience
each and every time they approached God; which back then meant either the
Tabernacle or the Temple. But a sprinkling of Jesus' blood is necessary only once, and
it's adequate for all time.
_
● Heb 9:13-14 . . 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, 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.
Basically; one's conscience is sort of like a moral compass, i.e. it provides people with a
sense of right, wrong, fairness, and justice. The conscience not only provides people
with some guidance in those areas, but it has the rather annoying propensity to sit in
judgment on its owner.
● Rom 2:14-15 . . For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things
of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the
work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their
thoughts alternately accusing or else defending themselves.
In it's current condition; the human conscience is unacceptable, and that's because of
its source. We have to go all the way back to the beginning for that.
● Gen 3:5 . . God knows well that when you eat of [the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil] your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil.
Was the Serpent's prediction true? Yes; to a certain extent.
● Gen 3:22 . .Then the Lord God said: See. The man has become like one of us,
knowing good and evil.
In other words; the Serpent neglected to inform Eve that the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil has a side effect that alters people's conscience. But is the alteration an
acceptable substitute for the people's original conscience; the one that came with them
when they were created?
No, because now people are "like one of us" i.e. like supreme beings.
● Ps 82:6 . .I said: You are gods
Along with their ill-gotten supremacy as beings came their ill-gotten supremacy in
matters of right, wrong, fairness, and justice. In other words; the current condition of the
human conscience is unacceptable because it was obtained by eating the fruit of a tree
known to be unsuitable for human consumption. As a result; the current condition of the
human conscience is diseased; hence the need to sprinkle it, so to speak, with Jesus'
blood.
The sprinkling doesn't cure a human's diseased conscience. The sprinkling is actually
for God's sake, i.e. it makes the human sense of right, wrong, fairness, and justice
tolerable for God to endure whenever somebody approaches Him in prayer and/or
worship. I don't think many fully appreciate that the human conscience is equally as
repulsive to God as a case of full-blown leprosy is to us.
Anyway; In the Old Testament, it was necessary to sanitize the people's conscience
each and every time they approached God; which back then meant either the
Tabernacle or the Temple. But a sprinkling of Jesus' blood is necessary only once, and
it's adequate for all time.
_
