GOD HAS SPOKEN BY HIS SON
Meditations in Hebrews
Hebrews 9:27-28
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THESE two closing verses of this chapter present to us the importance of the sacrifice of Christ for us as our high priest before God. The two verses do raise questions in the mind, but the meaning is clear and it is this straight forward meaning I will concentrate on.

The apostle baldly states the one terrible certainty of human life, and that is that we all have to die. By death here we have to understand the fact of leaving this human life on this earth. This physical body comes to an end, we cease to breathe, and life in this world ends and our lifeless body decays. This is what the apostle is speaking of, but the fact that he then immediately speaks of judgement indicates that bodily death in this world does not end conscious existence. If we have to face judgement after this life is over, then we must be able to be conscious of it, and be able to face the consequences of that judgement. This is something we do not like to think about, and which in our western world today is ignored. The fact of physical death is not ignored, though it is put at the back of the mind, what is ignored is the fact of judgement after this life is over. People generally just refuse to believe it.

There is one other thing we need to face. The apostle says it is man's destiny to die once. Not twice, or three times, but once. We don't have nine lives like the cat is said to have, where if we get it wrong the first time we can correct things the next time. There is no second chance, nor is there some place other than this world that we get a second chance. It is in this life that we determine our eternal destiny. When this life is over, what has been determined by our life here on earth will be our conscious existence for ever and ever. This brings out the terrible importance of this matter. We must get it right in this life, and so the 'hope so' syndrome just won't do. The issue is too important to leave an element of doubt or chance. It is here that the Bible makes things so plain, and points us to the one place where there is certainty in the face of death. This brings us again to the importance of Christ's death for us as our high priest. The fact that he died and rose again gives us this certainty that what he says about life and death and our eternal destiny is the only certain one. The devil has created all sorts of faiths and religions to confuse us, and the majority seem to be confused, and hold on to their confusion with sincere faithfulness. The devil is so clever because in all religions there are good points which attract different sincere people, and by this he deceives the soul, and wins us for everlasting loss and woe.

Here is the importance issue. It is the fact that after this life is over is the judgement. The fact of judgement is the fact that after this life is over we have to face our creator and maker, and answer for our lives here on earth. The great thing we need to be certain of is that there will be no charge against us on this day, and the judge of all the earth will pronounce us righteous in his sight, and welcome us into his eternal glory. Here is the importance of the sacrifice of Christ as our High Priest for us. This is spoken of in the next sentence in the text before us - "so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people." The answer to our need, and that which gives certain joy in the face of death, is to have Jesus as our High Priest. We take him as our high priest when we take him at his word by faith, and trust in his priestly ministry for us.

Here is the blessed truth about Christ as our High Priest, if so be we have him as our High Priest by faith. His death takes away our sin completely so that when we face the judge of all the earth, there will be no sin against our name accusing us. In his death he took our sins upon himself and took them from us. He bore responsibility for them, and he bore their just punishment in our place. By this act of supreme love, grace and mercy he removes all our sins away from us, and we stand before God without any sin accusing us, for Christ has satisfied completely God's law on our behalf and as far as we are concerned. Here is the one great certainty as we face the last enemy of physical death, and by this we are saved from the ultimate death of separation from God and all good for eternity.

So is there any threat of judgement for us or of condemnation. No! For those who trust in Jesus Christ's, his once for all death is all-sufficient to cleanse us from our sin so that there is no spot of defilement upon us. Christ's death was such that there is now no more need for him to die again, because he has answered the need in his one complete death for all who are waiting for him. The result is that when he comes again, whether at the end of our earthly life, or whether at the time of his return to this earth to judge the living and the dead, he will come to grant us the completion of the salvation he has purchased for us.

We enjoy the certainty of salvation now in this life by faith, and we live in the light of the blessing of the love of God, and his care and protection and blessing, but we still live in this sinful world, and have to express the new life in us through a sinful and corrupt flesh. Our salvation, though certain, will not be complete until Christ comes for us and takes into his everlasting habitation and into his eternal glory.

Christ promised this to his disciples at the time of his Ascension, or at least it was promised to them by the angel who spoke to them as they gazed up into the sky. This is our joy, and this is what we wait for. For every true believer in Jesus is this joy of looking forward to the completion of our salvation which Christ has already bestowed upon us. This we are waiting for with earnest expectation. We wait for him, Jesus our Saviour, for heaven is not heaven without him, and it is to be with him whom our soul loves, which is the chief joy of eternal life.