The Final Super Bowl

Hebrews 9:24-28

Imagine a world where there was a Super Bowl to end all Super Bowls. Where Tom Brady and the Patriots would never need to snap another ball; run another down; score
another last minute touchdown. Where players wouldn’t need to prove themselves year in and year out. They wouldn’t need to make any more sacrifices of blood, sweat and tears because the “once for all time” Super Bowl had been played.

With the Old Covenant, the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies once a year with the blood of goats and calves to sacrifice for the sins of the people. This sacrifice would make them ceremonially clean on the outside, but not the inside. Only God could accomplish that. Only God could offer the “Super Bowl” of sacrifices.

 ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!       Hebrews 9 NIV

The world loves a system like the Old Covenant. In fact, the world is built on a system like that where you earn what you get; where you climb your way to the top; where you accumulate stuff as a sign of success. It appeals to our pride; our desire to control; our sense of being able to do it ourselves. In fact, this is a system where you can earn your salvation.

But God’s system is the exact opposite. It is based on what only He can do. Only He can provide for our salvation; only He can make it possible for us to be cleansed on the inside; only He can make the ultimate sacrifice.

 ^26b …But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.    NLT

Jesus’ sacrifice is all that is needed. It is the Super Bowl to end all Super Bowls. Jesus didn’t go into a man-made sanctuary, but into heaven itself; into the very presence of the Living God so that we might do the same one day.

Imagine that, once for all time, being at home with the Lord.