A person’s conscience is a funny thing.
My earliest memory of what I would consider my “conscience” involves a little orange newt I found when I was 6 or 7 years old. I picked it up and thought it would be fun to throw it as hard as I could into a brick wall at point blank range.
Far from being fun, it made me feel sick to my stomach.
A little voice in my head informed me that I was a poor excuse for a human being. And that voice was right.
I tried to cover my tracks, so nobody would know of my dark deeds. But I still just couldn’t stand the time spent waiting for others to return to my location, and potentially catch me red-handed.
What about you? What sort of run-ins have you had with your conscience? And what is it like to wait for the eventual return of King Jesus?
Does your conscience inject your waiting with anxiety at what he will find, or with eagerness for his justice?
Maybe your conscience still accuses you of things you have done. Maybe it reminds you of your past, or of the secret desires you don’t wish to speak about openly. Maybe your conscience gives you a clean bill of health … for now.
Regardless, Hebrews 9 has some really good news for you: Jesus is the best thing for your conscience.
The chapter divides into two main sections. The first section (Heb 9:1-14) describes the “regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness” (Heb 9:1), culminating in the assurance of eternal redemption (Heb 9:12) through the eternal Spirit (Heb 9:14). The second section (Heb 9:15-28) elaborates on Jesus’ new covenant mediation, which provides an eternal inheritance (Heb 9:15).
So Jesus is the best thing for your conscience — for those two reasons. He provides an eternal redemption, and he promises an eternal inheritance.
If Jesus is your priest, nobody can take these things away. Your redemption. Your inheritance. And these two things will have a profoundly cleansing effect on your conscience.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll take a closer look at each section of this glorious chapter.
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