By Chalcedony Williams
For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honour at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,
“This is the new covenant I will make
with my people on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
Then he says,
“I will never again remember
their sins and lawless deeds.”
And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
Hebrews 10:10-18 NLT
No one likes to repeat the same chore over and over again. I used to work in a restaurant with a self-service salad bar. Great for the customers, painful for me. I would spend 15 minutes filling up the pots on the bar, ensuring all the bits of food, spilled by customers, were cleaned up. Then I would stand back to admire my work – pristine. No more than 15 minutes later, I would return to the same salad bar to find the pots depleted once again and food spilt. With increasing levels of frustration, I would restart the process of restocking and cleaning. The role of salad bar host was a thankless one and there would seldom be a moment’s rest.
The writer of Hebrews makes a similar point about the role of the High Priest under the old covenant sacrificial system. In chapter 10, it says that the priests used to stand daily in the temple, repeatedly offering the same sacrifices that would temporarily cleanse people from sin, but never fully take their sin away. In other words, the spilt food is cleaned up, but the source of the problem – careless and untidy people – is still present, therefore the cleansing has to keep taking place. Not only that, but the priests in Israel were also a part of the problem so they were making sacrifices for their own sins as well as for the people.
But Jesus is different. He is a High Priest unlike any other because He did not qualify for the role by being born into the right tribe. He qualified by being an eternal being. He had the right to become our High Priest because He is the One to whom the priesthood belongs, the Son of God. Jesus was free from the sin problem that affected all the priests before Him and so, rather than relying on the imperfect blood of animals to cleanse His people, He offered Himself as a sacrifice. This sacrifice is applied to everyone who turns to Jesus in faith and repentance. His perfect blood has made us perfect by cleansing us completely and removing the sin problem from us. By cleansing us, our High Priest has made us holy, setting us apart from those still tainted by sin. This is sanctification.
Our verse today points out something interesting: our High Priest has perfected those who are being made holy. Whilst we have been sanctified, we are also being sanctified. We all know that we are not yet perfect, we wrestle day to day with temptation and, sometimes, we fail to choose righteousness. But thank God, our failings are no longer fatal because we have life in the Son. Our High Priest is now our representative before the throne of God the Father. He is pleading for mercy and showering us with grace. Even more promising than that, He has written His law on our hearts. His Word is at work in us, changing and transforming us as we submit to Him, receive His correction and repent when we slip.
In case you missed it, our High Priest has sat down. The work is done. He has perfected us and is perfecting us. Life in the Son means living without fear of condemnation because Jesus’ perfect life is our sanctification. If there is anything in you that does not yet reflect His perfection, our High Priest will certainly remove it from you as you receive His invitation to draw near to Him.
Ask: What was the problem with the old sacrificial system?
Seek: What two things in my life am I trusting Jesus to perfect?
Knock: Spend time in prayer, repenting of those things you have identified and asking Jesus to change you. Write down any scriptures that might help you.
(Upper Photo by Roberto Sorin on Unsplash)
(Inner Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash)
