Hebrews 9:20-22 - This is the blood of the covenant

9:20

“This is the blood of the covenant”, these are an adaptation of the words of Moses recorded in Ex 24:8. Jesus used very similar words at the Last Supper in Mark 14:24. Matt 26:28 adds that it is for the forgiveness of sins. Luke 22:20 uses the words “new covenant”. The gospel, the new covenant, is firmly rooted in the old covenant, and makes no sense without it. Moreover, the better understanding we have of the old covenant, the better understanding we will have of the gospel.

9:21,22

Under the old covenant everything was sprinkled with blood (Ex 29:10-21). If we read the books of the Pentateuch, where all this stuff is presented, and which the writer is using as his basis for this letter, one cannot help but be aware of the amount of blood that is going around. Gardener draws attention to the following various uses of blood in the Exodus passage: access to God’s presence, out ward purification and sanctification, inauguration of the covenant and the sanctuary. 9:22 closes with “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), the sacrificial animals were a substitute for the sinful man, Jesus is our substitute.