Once for All

Hebrews 7:26-28

May 20, 2001

           

How can I, as a sinner, be in a right relationship to God? That question haunts the soul upon the recognition of two facts: there is a God who is righteous and I am a sinner-unrighteous. However bare one's understanding, these facts bring trouble to the soul. This is why many people mentally hide from truth: they do not want to know the truth about the nature of God or the nature of their own hearts. If you give the natural man a choice between entertainment and the exposition of Scripture that explains the nature of God and man, he will choose entertainment every time. Why hear the truth about God or the truth about my own heart? That's like volunteering for anguish! We must never be surprised at the opposition to the biblical gospel because it-the message about God, man, Christ, the cross, repentance, faith-exposes verities that sinful men do not want to accept.

 

Even when someone shows an interest in the biblical message they are easily distracted from pursuing God, knowing that the pursuit to know Him disturbs everything else in life. Thus the natural bent of anyone grasping these thoughts will be to find some way to make amends before God for one's sinfulness without having to abandon personal self-confidence and personal dependence. And so we find Martin Luther going through physical torment to alleviate the distress of his soul. All the while Luther was dependent upon Luther! The last thing any person wants to do is to deny himself and embrace Another as his only way to God.

 

But this is the message of Holy Scripture. Eternal salvation is taken out of man's hands-where it could never succeed-and rests in the gracious provision of God through Christ. God cannot be approached and known through any crafty plan by man. Many ingenious designs offer spiritual band-aids for the soul but they cannot remove sin and cannot open the way to a relationship with God. God is known and sins are forgiven only through God's High Priest, Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews demonstrates throughout this epistle that the foundation of Christ's high priesthood is central to the redemptive message and necessary for our worship. The necessity of moving from the shadow set forth in the Old Testament to the substance fulfilled in Jesus Christ and explained in the New Testament constitutes the writer's aim. With this in mind, let us ask, what has the High Priest done that no one else could do? Consider with me bold claims concerning the high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ.

 

I. Suitable High Priest

 

The fitness of a high priest to serve was spelled out in the Pentateuch. He must be of the proper descent. He could not defile himself by touching a dead person. He could not have any physical defect (Lev. 21). These qualifications made the man suitable to serve as an Aaronic priest. But none of this qualified him to actually take away sin or open the way to God. For as qualified as he might be with external proprieties, he lacked the internal and eternal qualifications to mediate the way between man and God. The author's recollections of the Aaronic priesthood were not to disparage the good this line had done or their obedience to the ceremonial laws, but to reveal that they were only shadows that never had power to open the way to God. Christ alone is the substance.

 

The turn of the language offers some striking emphases in this text. Let me give a more literal rendering as we proceed to expound it: "For we have such a One, indeed a well-suited high priest, holy, without evil, untainted, completely separated from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not have the daily necessity, just as those priests, first of all to offer sacrifices on behalf of their own sins, after that for the people; for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." How suited is Jesus Christ to have served and to continue serving as our High Priest before God? That is the issue the pastoral author sets forth. He does this by stressing the qualifications of Christ and then how Jesus is distinguished from the long line of Aaronic priests.

 

1. Qualifications

 

Have you contemplated the qualifications of Jesus Christ for the redemptive work He has accomplished? Not only is this revelation of Christ the basis for our salvation but it is also the foundation of our worship as Christians. For every quality of our Lord was necessary for us to know God; therefore every quality of Christ deserves our highest attention and praise. "For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens." The Greek text begins with the word "such a one" [toioutos] for emphasis. In contrast to the Aaronic priests, we have such a one who is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for believers (7:25). The permanency of Christ's priesthood and the eternal nature of his work are stressed by that little word, "such a one." The solitary nature of his work sets him apart from the ordinary run-of-the-mill priests who had served before the altar for centuries. He intends to focus our attention away from the transitory responsibility of the Aaronic priests who were merely laying the groundwork for such a one who would effect our salvation "once for all."

 

Notice how Jesus is described. First, he is "holy." There are two words for holy used in the New Testament. The most common one, hagios, "refers to the quality of separateness, of belonging to God," while this word, hosios, "signifies rather the character involved in that separation" [Leon Morris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, 72]. The writer uses additional terms to stress the "separateness" of Christ, while here he wants us to think upon the moral character of our Lord. The holiness of Christ differs from holiness in the life of a believer. We are holy because He is holy; we are holy because He has set us apart to Himself (I Peter 1:16; 2:9). The Aaronic priests were holy because God had set them apart as belonging to Himself, separate from the rest of Israel. But the holiness of Christ is natural to Him. He is holy in being and nature. He does not derive holiness; He is holy. As such "the perfection of his holiness offsets the deficiency, indeed the absence, of ours," comments Philip Hughes [The Epistle to the Hebrews, 272].

 

He is also called "innocent." The word is translated as blameless or without evil. This implies that there are never motivations for evil in the thoughts of Jesus Christ. All of us think of more evil than we actually do! But not so with Christ, for His innocence implies that at the root of his life there is infinite purity. The innocent or spotless lamb that would be offered on behalf of the people foreshadowed the innocence of Christ. John the Baptist picked up on this in his declaration: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) The implication is that Jesus is blameless in his nature so that he is qualified to offer Himself as a sacrifice of atonement.

 

 

As "undefiled" Jesus possesses personal integrity that qualifies him as our mediator. The word points to the "unstained character of Christ's person" [P. Hughes 272-273] which stands in contrast to "the ritual purity the Levitical high priest must be careful to maintain and the complete moral purity of Jesus" [Morris 72]. As long as a priest did not touch dead carcasses or have any personal deformities, he was considered qualified for his office. But these things were external, ritualistic, and offered nothing of eternal value to the worshipers who sought their mediation. Jesus Christ had no sins of his own to deal with nor did he have any disqualifying acts or habits or conditions that would hinder his appeal to God for us.

 

The next two phrases seem to summarize those of "holy, innocent, undefiled." For Jesus is declared to be "separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens." This phrase has given rise to a rash of interpretations, many which have led to aberrations and even heresies. But it seems that the writer pulls together what he has just stated and presses it to our consciences in two directions. "He is described as separated from us," writes Calvin, "not because he rejects us from his society [or company], but because he is uniquely distinguished from us in that he is free from all defilement" [quoted by P. Hughes 274]. The separation from sinners means that he is separated from the very thing that makes us sinners: our sin. Sin never had ground to work in Jesus' life. He never gave in to its temptation (4:15). To do so, even in the least way, would have disqualified him as our mediator. So, in the first place, he is infinitely qualified to propitiate before God for us due to his sinlessness. And in the second place, His exaltation above the heavens explains in tight language the result of Christ being "holy, innocent, undefiled": he accomplished our redemption from sin. "Exalted above the heavens," means that Jesus Christ completed the work of the cross and resurrection, culminating in his ascension and exaltation. Unlike the Aaronic priests who were all sinners and who repeated a process that never opened the way to God, Jesus Christ has been "exalted above the heavens" in demonstration of his triumph over the triumvirate of foes: sin, death, and Satan. This puts Jesus in great distinction from the Aaronic priests.

 

2. Distinction

 

What did the Aaronic priests do about their own sin? Leviticus 16:11 records that before Aaron could offer sacrifice for the sins of the people he had to do so for his own sins. "Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself." Three times he repeats, "which is for himself," so that Aaron and his sons would not think that they were excluded from the need for a mediator by virtue of their office. The repetition of this practice was a constant reminder to the Aaronic priests of their own sinfulness and inadequacy before God. And so our writer reminds his audience that were toying with reverting to a dependence upon the Aaronic priesthood and sacrifices, that Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, "does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people." Go back to the scene before the tabernacle. How encouraged are you about forgiveness when the one mediating for you has to offer a sacrifice for his own sin first? The people were to ask questions about this. They were to have reservations that caused them to look to God's final answer in Jesus Christ as their High Priest. They were to look beyond the shadow to the substance.

 

II. Satisfying High Priest

 

If God had been infinitely satisfied with the mediatorial work of the Aaronic priests he never would have established by oath this new priesthood in the order of Melchizedek (7:11). But he did establish it for the express purpose of having one high priest who would mediate one sacrifice once for all. The author writes of Christ, "who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up [literally, 'continually offer up'] sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." In one sweeping statement, this writer explains that what Jesus Christ has done in his death for us is complete so that it is unrepeatable, having accomplished precisely what was needed for our salvation.

 

1. Complete work

 

"For this He did" is emphatic in the clause. What the priests could not do due to their sin and the inadequate nature of their sacrifices, Jesus Christ did. The aorist tense of the verb points to the completeness of this work. It stands in contrast to the present tense verb describing the continual offering of sacrifices by the priests-for themselves and for the people. They kept offering sacrifices-and none ever took away their sin. Jesus "offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD" (10:12). Notice that "He" did this work; not the Aaronic or Levitical priests, not the sacrificial system, not some clever contrivance of sinful men!

 

The completion of the work, propitiating before God with reference to our sins, justifying sinners through the abundant righteousness of Christ and the effective righteousness in his death, Jesus Christ finished the work. In spelling out the gospel Paul writes, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (I Cor. 15:3). He did not say that Christ died and if you will add appropriate righteousness to this then you will be saved. Peter wrote, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed" (I Pet. 2:24). Peter even identified where this complete work took place: at the cross. There it took place with finality so that our Lord cried, "It is finished!" (John 19:30) John wrote, "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world" (I John 2:2). It is not Jesus and our works that propitiates God or satisfies His holy demands of justice due to our sin. "For this He did" declares Jesus Christ alone finishing the work of reconciling us to God through His own death at the cross.

 

How does this affect the way you are to look at salvation? You are to get the attention off of yourself, off of your performance, and off of your works toward righteousness. You must contemplate the death of Jesus Christ as being completely satisfactory for all God demanded for your salvation. Are you resting in the complete work of Jesus Christ alone?

 

2. Unrepeatable work

 

The next phrase needs to be emblazed on our minds: "this He did once for all." This verse completely dismantles seventy-five percent of the professing world of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that in the Mass Jesus Christ is crucified again as a sacrificial offering for the sins of the participants. Every time the priest lifts the host or wafer to consecrate it, then breaks it before the congregation, he is offering Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Participation in the Eucharist or communion then supplies saving grace in light of the re-crucifixion of Christ in the mass. But our text declares this as a fallacy! Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins "once for all." The work of the cross is unrepeatable! For the infinite satisfaction wrought by Jesus Christ before the Father on our behalf continues for eternity. You cannot and need not repeat what is perfectly completed.

 

But Roman Catholics are not the only ones attempting to add to the work of Christ as though it was inadequate to satisfy the divine demands for righteousness. Protestants are right in the thick of it as well! For often, people claim to believe in Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection, yet are scurrying about with earnest attempts to justify themselves before God. It happened at Galatia by means of circumcision and the ceremonial law. It happened in Colossae through adopting mysterious, esoteric practices to add to the work of Christ. And it was happening among the recipients of this epistle, as they were considering retreating to the sacrificial system to add merit to the work of Christ. Is this happening with you? Are you resting completely in the God-satisfying death and resurrection of Christ for your salvation? I do not think that I belabor the issue by bringing it to your attention. There are plenty of well meaning Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians in hell. They have heard the gospel of Christ, claimed to believe it, yet do not anchor their faith in Christ alone. They have conducted their own form of the Mass and penance rather than trusting in Christ alone.

 

In his last book published after his death, James Montgomery Boice spoke of what it means to trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation:

Justification because of Christ alone (solus Christus) means that Jesus has done the necessary work of salvation utterly and completely, so that no merit on the part of man, no merit of the saints, no works of ours performed either here or later in purgatory, can add to this completed work. In fact, any attempt to add to Christ's work is a perversion of the gospel and indeed is no gospel at all (Gal. 1:6-9). To proclaim Christ alone is to proclaim him as the Christian's one and only sufficient Prophet, Priest, and King. We need no other prophets to reveal God's word or will. We need no other priests to mediate God's salvation and blessing. We need no other kings to control the thinking and lives of believers. Jesus is everything to us and for us in the gospel [Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace? 88].


 3. Particular work

 

One of the strange errors among evangelicals today is to leave out the sacrificial, vicarious death of Christ. Some talk about Jesus Christ but leave out the bloody death of Christ, thinking it much too primitive and grotesque and even unnecessary. I told you last week of the pastor in another denomination I spoke with recently. I asked what he was preaching on the next Sunday and he bewailed, "Oh, tomorrow I'm doing something that we just don't do, I'm talking about blood and all of that stuff." He did it as though he was almost forced to discuss the bloody death of Jesus Christ. It was one of those things that evidently came up on the "Christian calendar" and it had to be mentioned, albeit reluctantly.

 

But not so with our writer! He has no hesitation to qualify what he meant by the divinely satisfying work of Jesus as High Priest: "because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." There is no doubt what he implied by such a statement. For he had just spoken of the sacrificial work of the priests and how they had to offer sacrifices for themselves and then for the people; but Christ did not need to do this. "He offered up Himself." No priest could even begin to think in these terms. For one reason who would have laid his life down for others? Perhaps some, we might say. But who would have been qualified by virtue of infinite perfections to offer his life for another before the wrath-filled justice of God? The priests had enough theological perception to know that God would not accept such an inadequate sacrifice! It was an impossibility of the Aaronic priests to offer themselves up to God as a host of sacrifices for sins. They could not even atone for their own sins much less that of the people. But Jesus Christ "offered up Himself."

 

The twelfth century commentator, Herveus, explains this with great clarity:

As four things are to be taken into account in every sacrifice, namely, what is offered, to whom it is offered, by whom it is offered, and for whom it is offered, he who is our one true Mediator, reconciling us to God by a sacrifice of peace, remained one with him to whom he offered, became one with those for whom he offered, and as the person who offered was one and the same with what was offered.... So great is this sacrifice that, although it is one and once offered, it suffices to eternity [quoted by P. Hughes, 278].

Jesus "offered up Himself" because "it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (10:4). He did this because "without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (9:22). He did this "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (9:26). He did this so that "by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (10:14).

 

Is your trust and confidence in Jesus Christ and the offering of Himself on your behalf before God? Anything less than this is not the gospel and it is not true Christianity (Gal. 1:6-9). Anything less than this leaves you in your sin and under condemnation even now (John 3:36). We have a superlative high priest upon whom we can cast ourselves and find eternal satisfaction before God!

 

III. Superlative High Priest

 

Here is the point of the matter: are you trusting in the weakness of the flesh for your salvation or the perfections of the Son of God who "offered up Himself" on your behalf? You might not have the least struggle with trusting in the Jewish sacrificial system or the Aaronic priesthood. But you might be trusting in other substitutes for Him who has "once for all" satisfied God on your behalf.

 

1. Weakness

 

The author reiterates, "For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak." The present tense indicates that this was still going on at the time of the writing. The Temple was busy with priests scurrying about performing their Levitical duties. New priests were being appointed according to the prescriptions in the Law. But all of them "are weak," so much so that they cannot accomplish the work of eternal salvation.

 

The reminder is quite simple: if you are trusting in anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead for your salvation, then you are depending on something that is too weak to stand before the fierce, consuming fire of God's judgment (12:29). I beg you to search your heart. Consider whether your confidence is in Christ alone. Does the Word of God through the witness of the Holy Spirit affirm that you are indeed in union with Jesus Christ and therefore stand justified before God right now?

 

2. Perfection

 

The priesthood of Christ is different from all the rest due to its eternal perfection: "but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever." There is an emphasis in this Epistle upon Jesus as Son of God. It is the Son in whom God has finally spoken (1:2). It is the Son whom the Father has begotten and declared that his throne is forever (1:5, 8). It is the Son who sits at the Father's right hand until all His enemies are at His feet (1:13). Moses was faithful in his house, but it is the Son who is faithful over the household of God (3:5-6). It is the Son appointed by divine oath to be a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (5:5-6). It is the Son who suffered and was perfected as the author of eternal salvation (5:8-10). It is the Son, "made perfect forever," who has finished the divine work given to Him on our behalf (John 17:4). Three questions must be asked of each of us:

Has Jesus Christ finished the redemptive, saving work necessary for your salvation?

 

Have you trusted in Jesus Christ, resting in his death and resurrection as fully adequate for your salvation?

 

If you answered, "No" or "I'm not sure" or "Not yet," then I have one final question: will you put your trust in Jesus Christ as your great High Priest even now?


Conclusion

 

This passage holds each of us accountable. For those who are not believers, you have seen that Jesus Christ alone can save you from the wrath of God and open the way to God for you. For those who are believers, you have seen that Jesus Christ is the foundation for our worship, praying, and living before God. Let us look to Jesus Christ as our great High Priest, who offered Himself up to God once for all.

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