What impact does the blood of Christ have on those who believe?

Of the many different ways to answer that question biblically, consider the answer provided in Hebrews 9:14: “The blood of Christ . . . [will] purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” What does this mean?

First: Jesus’ blood will “purify our conscience.” “Conscience” here includes what the English word suggests: our sense of right and wrong, especially whether or not we are under God’s judgment for what we have done. See, for example, Hebrews 9:9: Speaking of the rituals ordained for ancient Israel, the author states, “Gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.” No matter how many animal sacrifices the Israelites offered, they knew that the penalty they deserved was not fully paid. They stood guilty before God. They could not access Him directly. And the regulations restricting access to the Holy of Holies to only the High Priest, and to him only once a year, underlined the inefficacy of the sacrifices. Those worshipping could not enter into the very presence of God. Something more was needed.

But “conscience” in Hebrews is also intimately related to “heart,” all of our inner desires and longings, as well as our will. In Hebrews 10:22, the author writes, “Let us draw near [to God] with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” The cleansing of our conscience by the blood of Christ leads to full assurance of faith, thereby enabling us to approach God Himself with a true heart – that is, with all our inner being truly focused on Him, delighting in Him, comforted in His love, embraced as His child, and loving Him with all our heart.

So in purifying our conscience, the blood of Christ is changing us thoroughly from the inside out.

With that understanding of “conscience,” consider the next phrase in Hebrews 9:14: Our conscience is purified from “dead works.” Think of these both as “works that are produced by deadness” and “works that can’t produce life.” Apart from Christ we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Apart from Christ, we are impotent; we can do nothing (John 15:5). So whatever deeds we do – whether those are acts that look like worship, or acts that seem to help another person or produce something worthwhile – are all sin-stained, the production of sinful, dead hearts. And such dead works logically cannot produce life. They cannot save us, they cannot make us alive when we are dead in trespasses and sins – no matter how religious those works may appear – nor can they effect life in any other person.

But when the blood of Christ purifies our conscience from such dead works, what happens? What are we now able to do? We are able “to serve the living God.” Note that the same verb translated “serve” in Hebrews 9:14 is translated “worship” in Hebrews 9:9. The blood of Christ enables us to worship the living God.

So now we can summarize the impact that the blood of Christ has on believers, according to Hebrews 9:14: Jesus’ blood cleanses us from the inside out, providing us with a clear conscience and purifying our hearts, so that we no longer offer to God unacceptable worship or sin-stained deeds, but, made holy, we draw near to God, truly worshiping Him in word, in thought, in affections, and in deeds, thereby glorifying His Name.

That is: The blood of Christ enables us to worship God.

Ponder that thought. We so often think of Jesus’ blood as saving us from hell, or as saving us from guilt, or as saving us from the power of sin, and thus saving us from destroying our lives. Praise God, His blood does all that. But it does even more. Jesus’ blood enables us to worship God in the only way He can be worshiped – in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).  The blood of Christ enables us to worship God on Sunday mornings – and indeed every hour of every day, as we display what He is like through our thoughts, our feelings, and our acts.

So, Christian: Jesus’ blood enables you to worship. Do so. Even today. Even now.