Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:24-28
September 28, 2008
This passage is the concluding part of the author’s argument about Christ’s service in the heavenly sanctuary, an argument tailored to his primary audience of newly minted Christian Jews of his time. Jesus Christ is the unique perfect High Priest who eliminated for all time the necessity for repeated human intercession before God on our behalf.
9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands – the representation of the true sanctuary – but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us. 9:25 And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, 9:26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice. 9:27 And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, 9:28 so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.
How should I understand that Jesus ‘put away sin’ by suffering death on a cross some 2000 years ago? What does it mean that Jesus bore my sin? My starting point is to admit that my understanding is only partial and that I am just part of the crowd of those who are waiting for the promised time of full understanding. What I do understand is that I have the peace of knowing that my sin has been dealt with, even if I am not yet aware of the full implications of that truth. I am also told here that a final chapter of God’s plan is yet to come. Some day I will get the “rest of the story.’
Dave, feeling dumb but loved.
-sdg-
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The knowledge of not knowing acts for me as one of the most encouraging affirmations of the truth but also the mystery found in Christ’s death on the cross. I’m glad you said what we can know in light of this mystery- the really important part. That he appears now before God for us v. 24 is a key. One thing I used to forget is that God (Jesus Christ) entered and lives in time and is forever now living in human flesh. This humanity of Christ is so important to my understanding of God in time and also in space.
I also get a lot of comfort from the fact that Jesus is there alongside the Father to turn my incoherent prayers into something fit for God’s ears. I do hope that Jesus doesn’t have to work too hard at it!