In 1998, the year of my
wedding, I was with my father and we saw the previews for a movie named “Saving
Private Ryan.” My father was a sucker
for military movies, especially military movies that exalt characters giving
the last full measure of devotion for the benefit of others. Largely because he thought it was a situation
where humans could reflect the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Unfortunately, my father and I never got
around to seeing that movie, but I will never forget the scene from the
trailer, where Tom Hanks, in his dying breath, tells the Private Ryan that they
spend the entire movie trying to save, “Earn this.”
Fortunately, for us, in our
text today, we realize that there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn this
sacrifice. Nevertheless, in this epistle,
which was written to believers from a largely Jewish background, we see them abandoning
their New Covenant commitments to Jesus in favor of trying to earn their own
salvation. The author systematically presents a case for the superiority of
Jesus and the New Covenant.
In chapter 8, the author summarizes
his argument that Jesus as the High Priest of a New Covenant is better than the
Old, to me crescendo-ing at 9:12, where he asserts that it was not by the blood
of goats and calves, but rather with His own blood. We know that according to 10:4, it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. This allows us to parachute in to the climax
of his point in 10:11-14, our text for today. This is decidedly superior in
every way, and understanding this superiority provides the kind of motivation
needed for every Christian, especially
those suffering in the crucible of persecution, to persevere and remain
steadfast in the faith.
To understand the
superiority of the sacrifice we celebrate today, we must look at the sacrifice
to which we are comparing it. “And every priest standeth daily ministering and
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:” Every
priest. Under the law of Moses, you had lots of priests. Twenty four orders of
Levites, numerous priests in each order. To fulfill their divinely appointed
office they performed their service, year after year after year, daily. By
necessity, they could not leave their post. Each drew by lot his assignment and
once finished the next took over. Not a day could go by without their offering
sacrifices, again the blood of goats and calves or sheep and lambs, to secure
atonement, the covering of the sins of the people, who time and again brought
their animals for sacrifice to satisfy God's justice and secure forgiveness for
their sins of all kinds.
Imagine that, for centuries.
As one writer put it, rivers of animal blood flowed because of these
sacrifices. The same continued after the time of Christ (and even after His
resurrection and ascension) during the writing of Hebrews. The whole deal
didn't cease until the destruction of the temple under God's judgment in A.D.
70. Now they served a purpose for sure. Hebrews 10:1 called them a “shadow of good
things to come.”
Now, I am taking a class
called Old Testament theology right now.
My professor, just yesterday, was talking about how we deliver an Old
Testament message of theology. Yes, we
spend most of our time reading the Old Testament, but we cannot treat it like
the New Testament doesn’t exist. People
in this church know that Pastor Randy likes to do a countdown to big days on
the church calendar (or some of you look forward to celebrating days on the
calendar, like a wedding). One thing he
never does is tell us how many days PAST certain days on the calendar we
are. We no longer need to look forward
to things that have happened. For
example, my friend in this seminary class told us that he had only 65 days
until his wedding. We could all
celebrate with him. Yet, no one would
feel the same way if I said I was married for 8,322 days.
Once the final sacrifice has
come, there is no need for this SHADOW to continue. He offered a single
sacrifice for sins for all time, Hebrews 7:27 “Who needeth not daily, as those
high priests, to offer up sacrifices!”
As Pastor Travis said in the aforementioned sermon, when Jesus used the
words on the cross, “It is finished,” it was a legal adjudication. Nothing more
needed to be done. So, when verses 12 and 13 say, “But this man, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; From
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.” Now, I imagine that when you hear this, you
have visions of Jesus sitting in His Lazy Boy, waiting for those enemies to be
delivered so they can function as an ottoman for his feet. This is, in many ways, appropriate. There is a very real sense in which Jesus
could rest in a way that none of those other priests could. Piper notes, “It means that God is satisfied
with the sacrifice. God honors Christ with the seat at his right hand to show
how fully He is satisfied with the debt paid for sin. This is a great picture
to encourage us that our sins are fully dealt with.”
When my son was born, my
mother bought me a little pamphlet style book called, “Tips for Tired Dads.” This book was filled with ideas of things to
do with your kids that is active with them, but allows you, as the dad to
rest. The book had some statement about
how we sacrifice all day to work so they will not have to be without, yet we
cannot abandon the relationship providing the reason we work for them. Jesus
has the relationship with us as the reason He sacrificed for us. Jesus’ sovereign reign over all things had begun
upon His ascension into Heaven (How great a contrast to the earthly temple is
that?)
However, this rest that you
and I imagine is very different than the initial audience would have
imagined. The footstool mentioned in
Psalm 110 and several times in Hebrews was not analogous to a relaxing piece of
furniture that we use today, picked out at your favorite furniture store with the
most attractive fabric. This is graphic imagery from ancient Middle Eastern
warfare. Victorious kings would
symbolize their conquering ways by placing their boot on the necks of their
vanquished enemies. Joshua 10:24 says, “And it came to pass, when they brought
out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and
said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put
your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet
upon the necks of them.” It's a word picture of total subjugation and
submission.
If you are like me, you hear
people (whether political, war pundits or even announcers for the NBA playoffs
I like to watch) use the Expression we're going to put our foot on the neck of
our opponents. This is the word picture that the author of Hebrews was
expecting them to hear. Jesus was not merely the tired Dad I am at the end of a
long day of work. He was the Conquering Hero that had won his sheep the eternal
glory of victory through this one time Superior sacrifice!
So here's the point that further shows the superiority of Jesus' sacrifice in every way and why we should never turn our back on Him. His work on the cross in the once for all sacrifice has so thoroughly accomplished the work of redemption for all His own, that all He has to do in the meantime is sit at the Father's right hand, His kingdom reign already begun, is wait expectantly on high! He is waiting. We often see waiting as painful. Our anticipation (as mentioned before) often leads us to not relish the time between now and then. Waiting for our enemies to be vanquished can be painful. In the United States, we have enjoyed incredible liberty. We have been granted the right to worship God in our own way. However, we see some vestiges of that slipping away, and we worry. We see elected officials, take away these liberties, and we see ourselves ceding ground in spiritual warfare.
Make no mistake, come they
will, either by voluntary conversion, faith in Christ and the gospel message,
or by compulsive subjection when He returns with myriads of angels when every
knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Then the kingdom will
be consummated, evil banished, the dead raised, and the new creation ushered in
its full splendor, physical as well as spiritual.
Inherent within this is a
warning that not all are friends of Christ. And a horrible and terrible
judgment awaits. Later in this chapter
(verses 26-29), it talks about the punishment of those who are not
believers. So, if you are an unbeliever,
please initiate a conversation with us through this page, and we’d love to tell
you more about that. But the final verse
in our text today says it much better than I ever could, “For by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” What a glorious word! It means to be made complete, finished, or
fitting. Of course I, as an attorney,
will continue to go back to Pastor Travis telling us that the legal case
against us was finished at the cross.
Think about this. The tense of the verb is important. (You didn’t know we’d be hitting on grammar
today). He HAS PERFECTED. This is a past act with ongoing circumstances. Past in that Jesus has already accomplished
everything. How ongoing? For all time! Jesus'
perfect priesthood, culminates in His sacrifice for all those who are being sanctified
for all time! We are set apart for God,
to belong to Him and be used by Him, has resulted in our being made perfect in
God's sight.
Richard Phillips wrote, “Popular
Christian bumper sticker theology says, ‘I'm not perfect, just forgiven.’” Sinners
like you and I understand this thoroughly.
However, in a very important sense, this is not true! In the eyes of God,
you have been made perfect because you are in Christ! We are beneficiaries of His
perfection. His righteous life is imputed to us, so that when God looks at us,
He sees the perfect life of Christ!
Of course, there is a
process that is not yet complete, but a Christian's sanctification is so certain
of achievement that it is now viewed as accomplished: "You have been made
perfect." We are perfect, fit, complete. This is our identity, our
destiny, our reality. It is the spiritual gravity of every Christian's life to
which we are being pulled and shaped and sometimes shoved by the Spirit of God
living within us. We cannot escape it, and if we do, that simply bears
testimony that we are not in Christ at all. Those who possess faith in Christ
simply cannot go on living as they did before. We are different because of what
has happened-not by a power that is from us, but a power that is from heaven,
where Christ reigns for us and in us.”
This is the story of our lives that is so much better than the movie, “Saving Private Ryan” could ever be! As great as that movie may have been, the gift they gave Private Ryan (to come home and live with his mother, like his brothers could not) would one day go away or be obsolete. Private Ryan did not live forever. Private Ryan could not continue forever in the salvation Tom Hanks and his crew did. We, on the other hand, not only CAN do that with our gift, but we definitely will. It makes no sense for us to go back and try to earn our salvation, like many in Hebrews were doing. We will be living fruitful lives for God. So, sit down and rest, as God makes our enemies our footstools. So far as justification and forgiveness are concerned, rest is your proper place, and peace in Christ Jesus is your lawful portion! And, realize that the reason we can call this Good Friday is that because of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice, “It is finished.” On Sunday, we will be able to say, “O Death, where is they victory? O Grave, where is thy sting?” The reason we can say those things in the Resurrection is because Christ accomplished the overcoming of our sins on that Good Day many years ago!
