Theme: The Christian faith is ONE of a
kind
1) ONE Final Day
2) ONE Savior
The church year is designed to help us
cover a wide variety of topics while staying connected to the main Christian
holy days. Although the church year fits within the calendar year, it doesn’t
exactly follow it. For us, the beginning of the church year is rapidly
approaching. It starts with Advent, which this year is the last Sunday in
November, just two weeks away. Every year, as the church calendar comes to an
end, we consider the Final Day when our Lord Jesus will return.
It makes sense that as we end the church
year, we would consider the End Times. But this time is also appropriate for us
because we are the very Christians living near the end. As we mentioned last
weekend, there is only one more prophecy that the Lord has yet to fulfill, and
that is His second coming. Interesting that the entire church year, is
bookended by an Advent. First, the birth of Jesus, and second, His final
coming.
In our portion for study today we see
how the Holy Spirit employs a certain concept to give us strength as we wait
for that Final Day to arrive. In these verses he emphasizes the totality of
God’s judgment by showing how our Christian faith is one of a kind. It’s all
about One Savior and One Final Day. We ask for the Spirit’s guidance and
blessing to be upon our hearts today as we read our text from Hebrews 9:24-28:
For
Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25
not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy
Place every year with blood of another-- 26 He then would have had to suffer
often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages,
He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is
appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was
offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He
will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Within Christianity there are several
different beliefs about the End Times. Some believe that after you die you have
second chance through the prayers of loved ones, even though our very text says
that men are judged when they die. Others believe that Christ will return to
earth at two different times. But one thing that all agree on is that there
will be one, final day. The differences lie in what happens before that day.
Jesus Himself was pretty clear about this final day in His ministry. When
talking about judgment day He said, “But
of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but My
Father only (Matthew 24:36).” It’s quite easy to see, there is only one
day; eventually this present world as we know it will pass away.
That prospect alone presents a sad
picture for us because we live in a wicked world and we struggle at avoiding
that wickedness. I’ve often wondered in hindsight, what would have happened if
Christ returned when I was committed that sin? How foolish and reckless to live
so dangerously when my eternal relationship with God hangs in the balance. On
our own, those are the kinds of thoughts we’d be left with when contemplating
the final day.
But there’s more to the story of our
lives than our sin. Just as there is one Final Day, so there is one Savior.
Because we have a Savior we can follow Jesus’ instructions for that day. Not
living in sin or depression because of our failures, but lifting up our heads
with confidence and hope because our redemption has arrived (Luke 21:28).
The reason why Jesus is our One Savior
is because of His role as our Sacrifice. To the casual observer it would seem
that Christ’s humility and death would be on the lesser side of the spectrum of
things He did. This was the Man who walked on water, calmed storms, healed
diseases, even raised the dead, and almost subdued and empire. So many amazing
things yet the way He suffered stands out as the greatest. Because His
suffering and death is what made Jesus the Savior.
And we get a hint of the power behind
that sacrifice in our text. In contrast to the multitudes of sacrifices in the
Old Testament Jesus only had to shed His blood once. That of course, is because
none of those lambs, goats, or bulls from the Jewish ceremonies could really
atone for anyone. They were pictures of the coming Messiah; visual reminders
that life would need to taken and blood would need to be spilled in order for
the debt of sin to be paid in full. The animal sacrifices were valuable because
they were pictures, but Christ is much more. Christ’s sacrifice is power.
That’s what the writer means when he
says at the beginning that Christ has not entered the holy places that are “copies of the true, but into heaven
itself.” Literally, the thought is that Christ’s work is not a picture, it
is reality. It’s beneficial to bring in the picture of the Old Testament
sacrifices to make the connection that they served but it’s just as important
to remember the distinction. There were many pictorial sacrifices; but only one
real sacrifice. Both were sacrifices, yes, but they were drastically different
in effect.
The writer also tells us exactly what
Jesus did through His literal sacrifice. Two interesting phrases show us what
atonement means for our lives. The first is in v. 26: “…now, at the end of the ages, Jesus has appeared to put away sin by
His sacrifice.” “To put away” was used as a legal phrase in Greek culture.
Another way of thinking about it would be an annulment of something. Whatever
was put away was considered discarded and once it was put way it no longer had
any authority or bearing on the person’s life.
That’s what the sacrifice of Jesus does
to sin. Because he put sin away, it no longer has any authority in our lives. But
in order for that work to be effective, He also had to carry those sins on His
own shoulders. Sin doesn’t just disappear on its own, nor is wickedness
magically eliminated from the earth. That’s why the Lord will return on the
Final Day and judge the world in righteousness. The very thing He will be
judging is sin; for God’s holiness demands that He punish sin, or He would no
longer be holy.
This judgment was put into motion when
Jesus died on the cross. For that’s what He needed to do to claim true victory
over sin. The putting away of sin in verse 26 would have meant nothing if Jesus
did not also bear that sin as we’re told in verse 28. He had to carry sin and
make it become His own, so that we can say that we are free from it. That’s why
Paul told the Corinthians that Jesus literally had to become sin for us, even
though He Himself never sinned. This is why Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would “bear our sorrows and carry our griefs.”
On its own, the promise to put away our
sin means a lot. But without someone to carry that sin for us, it means
nothing. This is what makes Jesus’ sacrifice one of a kind, just as there will
be one, final Last Day. Sin is now put away from us. God gives us protection
from it through faith in Jesus, His Son. But it is still present. We ultimately
await a day when sin will be destroyed forever; a day we’re told, when even
death itself is hurled into hell.
The one, singular theme of the Bible is
that Jesus is the Savior who made this perfect sacrifice for sin. Notice the
progression. One theme about One Savior who made One Sacrifice. Our text is
perhaps the best example of that theme in the entire Scriptures. Three times in
these verses alone, the word “once” is used to talk about Christ’s work. The
Greek understanding of this word carries the idea of something so rare that it
is the only, single occurrence of it in the entire history of the world. In
addition to this, the book of Hebrews uses the phrase “once for all” to
describe Jesus’ atonement at three different points, the closest being in verse
12 of chapter 9.
We don’t need anymore evidence to
believe that Jesus is the Savior. In fact, there is nothing that could be any
clearer that God’s own inspired record; both in the repeated use of the words
“once” and “one” and in the singular testimony of the entire Bible.
But these verses leave us with one more
thought that’s tacked on to Christ’s victory over sin and death. It’s our theme
for today, The Final Day of Judgment. Like that day on the cross, there will be
only one day of judgment before God. And all we know about that day is that it
could come at any moment, it will come suddenly, and only God knows when it
will happen. There’s a natural feeling of fear that comes over us when we think
about how sudden and swift the end of this world could be. But with the
backdrop of Christ’s sacrifice in view, we should not fear. That’s precisely why
the Holy Spirit connects the two thoughts of atonement and judgment together in
this section; so that we stay prepared but also that we aren’t overcome with
fear.
Sadly, too many people are living for
this world. Too many have an entirely physical focus of life and they think
little, if at all, about sin and their Savior’s sacrifice. Truly, if our focus
is only about today, we should be terrified on the final day. I encourage you
to have the same focus that Paul instructed the Roman Christians to have: And do this, knowing the time, that now it
is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when
we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let
us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let
us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in
lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts (Romans 13:11-14).
Everything is prepared. The table is set
if you will. Jesus says as much in His final Biblical quote, “Surely, I am coming quickly.” You
don’t have to fear. We are ready and we are prepared. We have faith that is
like no other because it attaches us to the One Savior who made the One
sacrifice for the many who couldn’t. Keep your focus on Him. Not just in
church. Not just with your fellow Christians. But with all and in all things. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all
understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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