GOD HAS SPOKEN BY HIS SON
Meditations in Hebrews
Hebrews 9:24-26
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HAVING spoken of the necessity of sacrifice and of the better sacrifice which Christ made, these next verses speak of the tremendous value of this sacrifice for us. We can appreciate this value as we look at the step by step account of it that the apostle sets before us in these verses.

Firstly, the value of Christ's sacrifice is that he appeared with the proof of it in heaven and not just in a copy here on earth. Christ did not enter a man made sanctuary but heaven itself, that is right into the holy presence of God, who is the judge of all things. This a tremendously important truth. Christ's work as the God-man was and is so perfect and sufficient that he could come into the very presence of God. It shows us that Christ completed in his life and his death all that God required of him to atone for the sin of his people. The Ascension of Christ into heaven is a wonderful declaration by God that Christ is the all-sufficient and perfect Saviour that we need. If his work of atonement had not been perfect, God would not have welcomed him into his holy presence, because Jesus had taken responsibility for all the sin of all his people, and so to enter heaven before that sin was purged would have been impossible.

Secondly, the value of Christ's sacrifice is seen in that he appeared before God for us. Jesus is our advocate with the Father. He has gone there to represent us, and plead for us, and plead for our forgiveness and acceptance by God, and for our place in God's eternal kingdom. As our advocate he could not appear for us unless he had an argument and plea that would achieve success before God. In our own courts of law in England many cases are not brought before the courts because there is insufficient evidence to convict. It is a waste of time and an insult to the court to bring cases that can't be proved. Again, when a lawyer is consulted about some matter of gaining compensation for a wrong done, or gaining acquittal when there has been a miscarriage of justice, before that lawyer advises a client to go to court, there must be certainty that there is sufficient evidence to gain a good result. So in the case of Christ as our advocate with God, he could not have entered the court of heaven unless he had an unassailable case for the release of his people from their sins. Such is the value of his sacrifice for us.

Thirdly, the value of Christ's sacrifice is seen in the sacrifice he brought to gain our forgiveness and cancelling of our debt to God. He came with such a sufficient sacrifice that no more sacrifice was needed. This is so different to the Old Testament order. There the sacrifices had to be repeated again and again, because such sacrifices could never atone for sin. Christ did not have to enter heaven with his sacrifice, and then return to earth, die again, and come again with a further sacrifice, and that to continue again and again. No! Christ's offering of himself once was so perfect in every way, that once offered it atoned for the sin of all his people, from the day they were born to the end of their lives here on earth. This value of his sacrifice is seen in two ways. The first is in the fact that as a human being he was sinless, and had no sin of his own to purge. In this way he was able to bear the sin of his people in their place, and direct all his sacrifice to the atonement of their sin. In the second place who Jesus was, that is the Son of God, the eternal divine Word, gave his life infinite value before God, and so to give his life for others makes his sacrifice more than sufficient to meet the debt of all their sin. Christ died once for all. He offered for our sins his own blood, and this once shed and poured out was and is sufficient to wash away all our sin. His blood has infinite value to cleanse us from our sin.

Such is the value of Christ's sacrifice, and such is the efficacy thereby of his advocacy for sinners, that he appeared once for all in heaven before God for us, and by this to do away with sin for his people for ever.

Christ entered heaven, never again to leave it. He entered heaven as man as well as God, and so opened heaven to all human beings who are in him by faith and so have an interest in his death, and have him as their advocate with the Father.

Christ remains in heaven as a perpetual appearing for us. Always and all the time there is evidence before God that Christ has done away with sin for ever for all his people whom he represents. He has ended sacrifice by his perfect sacrifice. There is no need for any more sacrifice for sin now that Christ has brought the evidence of his perfect sacrifice before God. Such is the value of the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

Jesus is highly exalted, and given a name above every name. This exaltation is his by right, not just because he is God himself, but because of the perfection and glory of his perfect sacrifice for sin. Because of this all creation must eventually honour him and bow before his name. For us who believe, because of what Christ has done for us, and what he means to us, we bow so readily before him, and worship him, the Lamb who was slain, and cast our crowns he won for us before his thrown as expression of our love, worship and submission, and our thanksgiving for his love and grace to us.