The Price For The Church

by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: And howl kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house. Acts 20:17-20

For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Acts 20:27, 28

The word purchased means the right price applied to the right place.

If I wrote a check to pay for a debt, but failed to send that check in to the whom I owed, would my debt be paid? No, I still owe the debt. A debt must not only be the proper price, it must also be paid to the proper place. The price for the church is God's blood, but the blood must be paid to the proper place. Let me show you what the proper place is.

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Hebrews 9:12

In the Old Testament, the High Priest killed two goats on the Day of Atonement. The blood of one goat was taken by the High Priest into the Holy Place to the Ark of the Covenant. On the top of the Ark of the Covenant was the Mercy Seat. Over that Mercy Seat were two cherubims beaten out of pure gold. Between the wings of those cherubims was the Glory of God. The blood from the goat that was sacrificed was applied to the proper place which was the Mercy Seat. If the blood did not get to the Mercy Seat, then it was the proper price, but not paid to the proper place. It would have been no more valid than that check written but not paid to the creditor.

If the blood of Jesus was left on the ground at the cross, that means it did not get to the Holy Place and is not valid. "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." It is not just the blood shed, but also the blood applied.

God told Moses to instruct the people to apply the blood of the lamb at the Passover. When He passed over and saw the blood of that lamb, He would withhold His judgment. God did not judge them based on His omniscience. He made a point of letting them know that He would not judge them only when He saw the blood. It was not enough that the blood was shed. The blood had to be properly applied.

How could God see the blood in the tabernacle? His glory was in the Holy Place, and the blood had to be taken inside the Holy Place and sprinkled on that Mercy Seat. That was the right place to take the right price. If the right price was paid on the altar in the courtyard, but left there, it would have been the right price, but the wrong place. If the blood Jesus shed on Calvary was not applied in Heaven, it was the right price in the wrong place and it cannot save anybody.

Jesus did more than just shed His blood for the church. He purchased the church with his own blood. To purchase it, He had to take the right price to the right place.

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Hebrews 12:24

It does not say that it is the shedding of blood that saves. It is the shed blood sprinkled that saves. When Cain had killed Abel God said:

What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Genesis 4:10

God can hear blood speak. The voice of Abel's blood cried to God from the ground. Blood can speak a language God can hear.

Thirty years after the blood had been shed, it still speaketh. Two thousand years after Calvary it still speaketh. From where does it speak? It has to speak to God, so there is a heavenly Mercy Seat just as there was an earthly Mercy Seat; Jesus, the High Priest, took His own blood to that heavenly Mercy Seat, otherwise it would not have been acceptable. It would have been the right price, but the wrong place. The blood had to get from the altar to the Mercy Seat.

The blood of Jesus had to be shed; otherwise He could have died without the inflicting of the wounds. Jesus went up to Heaven and sprinkled His own blood on the Mercy Seat. Right now that blood is talking. It is saying not to charge our sins to us because we have been purchased by that blood.

Cain's blood indicted him for killing his brother Abel. God's blood speaketh better things than that of Abel. God looks down, sees my sins, and starts to charge them against my record, but the blood starts talking. The blood says, "I have already paid for that sin." The Bible says that God will not impute or write down my sin against me because the blood is speaking. The blood is my canceled check, and that check speaks that the debt has been paid. There is nothing God the Father can do about my sins because Jesus has the canceled check there on the Mercy Seat. That is the price He paid for the church.

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.... I Peter 1:2

This does not refer to the elect according to the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ, but to the sprinkling of that blood applied to the proper place. Jesus did die and pay the price, but paying the price and getting the price to the right place are two entirely different things. If on the Passover, the blood of that innocent lamb was left in the back yard where the lamb was killed and not properly applied, the firstborn of the family would have been killed. It was not the blood shed back in the back yard that spared the life of that firstborn; it was that blood applied at the front door. It was not the blood shed on the altar that satisfied God; it was the blood applied in the Holy of Holies. It was not the blood shed on the cross that saves; it was that blood applied in Heaven.

When Jesus was resurrected, and Mary Magdalene saw him, Jesus said, Touch me Not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. He was the High Priest. He was taking the blood He had shed as the Lamb of God to the Mercy Seat in Heaven, to sprinkle it there. Between the time the High Priest took the blood in the basin and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat, nobody could touch Him. That is why He told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him.

Later He told Thomas to put his hands into His side. Why could Thomas touch Him when Mary Magdalene could not? Because when Thomas saw Him, He had already been to Heaven, sprinkled the blood, and the blood was already talking to the Father.

Jesus died for the church and purchased it with His own blood. The local church is composed of born-again people, who have been scripturally baptized, and have joined a certain assembly.

The Jews were going to the promised land. When they got there, they were going to build a permanent temple. On the way, all they had was a tabernacle, a tent. It was a portable place of worship. Jesus has bought us a home in Heaven, but we are not there yet. So He has also bought us a portable Heaven, which is called the church. He bought me a home in Heaven with his blood, and He bought me a home on earth while I am going to Heaven. He purchased it with the most precious and expensive thing, God's own blood. He not only bought my soul, my spirit, my body, a home in Heaven, but He also purchased the church with His own blood.