Many people walk through each day monotonously, going through their usual routines without much direction or passion. For these individuals, days lack significance, leading them to live their lives without purpose. They live as if their days do not matter. Because we follow Christ, we know that this is not true. Every moment of our lives matters. After all, Scripture teaches that at the end of our lives, each one of us will face judgment for how we lived our lives.
The author of Hebrews 11 reminds us that every person will stand before God and face judgment based on how they lived their lives. He explains in this passage of Scripture that Jesus came to this earth as a perfect sacrifice to rescue the world from sin. As he wrote, he explained that Christ came as a perfect sacrifice “once for all time…to remove sin by His own death as a sacrifice" (verse 26). After offering sacrifice after sacrifice for sin, the author of Hebrews tells his readers that they no longer have to live that way. Jesus came as a "once for all" sacrifice that paid the price for the sins of the world. After explaining that Jesus was the perfect, final sacrifice, the writer of Hebrews continued saying, "And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people" (verses 27-28). Do not miss the truth in this statement: each person is destined to die one time. It is true. Everyone on this earth, barring those present when Jesus returns, will die.
There is no ignoring or escaping this truth that, unless Jesus returns, each one of us and everyone around us will face death. When we die, the writer of Hebrews explained, we will face judgment. In other words, we will give an account of what we did with our lives. Those who have placed their faith in Christ will celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross and be rewarded based on how they honored God with their lives. For those who did not place their faith in Christ, they will face judgment for saying "no" to Christ and experience a life separated from Him as a result. My friends, we have just one life. The decisions we make and the way we live our lives matter because one day, we will stand before God and give an account. This truth should motivate the way we live and the decisions we make every single day.
Take a moment to reflect on your life. When you stand before God one day, what do you want to be said about how you lived your life? Write it down. After writing this down, pray. Ask God to help you live a life that honors Him and points those around you to Him. Commit to taking steps to live a life that will honor God when you stand before Him and give an account for your life.
1That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth. 2 There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place. 3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place. 4 In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now.
6 When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties. 7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
16 Now when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead. 17 The will goes into effect only after the person’s death. While the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect.
18 That is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal. 19 For after Moses had read each of God’s commandments to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled both the book of God’s law and all the people, using hyssop branches and scarlet wool. 20 Then he said, “This blood confirms the covenant God has made with you.” 21 And in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the Tabernacle and on everything used for worship. 22 In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
23 That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.
24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. 25 And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. 26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. 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.
27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.
