The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 364: Christ's Sacrifice Once for All (2025)
30 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.
Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 364. And there are 364 unbirthdays. We're reading the Revelation of John, chapter 18, 19, and 20. Hebrews, the letter to the Hebrews, chapters 9 and 10.
As well as the book of Proverbs, chapter 31, verses 26 through 29. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, maybe for the next trip, visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also...
You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe, receiving daily episodes and daily updates. It is day 364. We are reading Revelation 2 John chapter 18, 19, and 20, the letter to the Hebrews chapters 9 and 10, as well as Proverbs chapter 31 verses 26 through 29. The Revelation to John chapter 18, the fall of Babylon.
After this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority. And the earth was made bright with his splendor. And he called out with a mighty voice, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul and hateful bird. for all nations have drunk the wine of her impure passion.
And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich with the wealth of her wantonness. Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues. For her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
Render to her as she herself has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds. Mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed, as she glorified herself and played the wanton. So give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, A queen I sit, I am no widow, mourning I shall never see.
So shall her plagues come in a single day, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she shall be burned with fire. For mighty is the Lord God who judges her. And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and were wanton with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.
They will stand far off in fear of her torment and say, Alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city Babylon. In one hour has your judgment come. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her since no one buys their cargo anymore.
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Chapter 2: What does Revelation 18 reveal about the fall of Babylon?
the rider on the white horse. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like flames of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself.
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to strike the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. the beast and its armies defeated.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in midheaven, Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who sits upon the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and who worshipped its image.
These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone, and the rest were slain by the sword of him who sits upon the horse, the sword that issues from his mouth. And all the birds were gorged with their flesh. Chapter 20, The Thousand Years Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain.
And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed.
Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. and who had not worshipped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years. Satan's doom.
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Chapter 3: How does the imagery of Babylon connect to Old Testament prophecies?
For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant." For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it is established.
For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Hence, even the first covenant was not ratified without blood.
For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying, this is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you. And in the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.
Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood.
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Chapter 4: What significance does the judgment of Babylon hold for modern readers?
And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Christ's sacrifice takes away sin. Thus, it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites. but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy place yearly with blood not his own, for then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.
But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Chapter 10.
Christ's Sacrifice Once for All For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered?
If the worshippers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me.
In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. as it is written of me in the roll of the book. When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. These are offered according to the law. Then he added, behold, I have come to do your will.
He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
and every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins but when christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of god then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. For after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds. Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. a call to persevere.
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Chapter 5: What is the message behind the rejoicing in heaven in Revelation 19?
He was entering into the sanctuary. He was entering into heaven with the sacrifice of himself presented before God for the, oh my gosh, this is insane. Just like the priest would go into the Holy of Holies As Jesus ascends into heaven, he is the great high priest entering into the actual holy of holies.
Remember, the temple was made as a copy, as a foreshadow of what actually exists in reality in heaven. When the high priest goes into that copy, he's bringing with him something that's limited. But when Jesus Christ, the great high priest entered into heaven, he brought a sacrifice that is unlimited. His one sacrifice once for all. Hopefully that makes sense. It is remarkable and incredible.
And we get to conclude our story tomorrow. It has been an incredible journey to be able to walk with you. So please know that this journey is not over because we can continue to walk with each other, not just tomorrow, but even the day after tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that, because I will be praying for you. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.
I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.