Slices
Prepare
Pray or sing: ‘Just as I am, without one plea / But that Thy blood was shed for me, / And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, / O Lamb of God, I come! I come!’ (Charlotte Elliott ).
Bible passage
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Explore
The high priests of old entered the Most Holy Place (v 25), a limited, ‘localised’ presence of God. But Jesus ‘entered heaven itself’, God’s very presence (v 24). Gordon Fee writes: ‘Presence is a delicious word… Nothing else can take the place of presence, not gifts, not telephone calls, not pictures, not mementos, nothing.’*
Professor Fee adds, ‘Ask the person who has lost a lifelong mate what they miss the most; the answer is invariably “presence”.’* Being banished from God’s presence was the greatest tragedy of the fall (Genesis 3:23,24). Redemption is all about restoring this precious gift: ‘My Presence will go with you…’ (Exodus 33:14). In the incarnation, God clothed in flesh his promise of presence; and today, Jesus’ parting promise of abiding presence (Matthew 28:20b) is realised in the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Around the world, people set out on pilgrimage to ‘holy places’. But through Jesus’ sacrificial death (v 26) his followers enjoy the unique privilege of access to God ‘in boldness and confidence’ (Ephesians 3:12, NRSV) – access to a holy presence which is not confined to special times or places.
*Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, Hendrickson Publishers, 1996, p9
Respond
‘He will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them’ (Revelation 21:3). How excited are you about this final fulfilment of God’s promise of presence?
Deeper Bible study
‘The reader with a disturbed conscience is likely to find more help in Hebrews than almost anywhere in scripture.’1 Why should this be so?
As I begin this second week of studies in Hebrews, I am reminded of the call to see Jesus (2:9); to consider Jesus (3:1); and to look and continue to look to Jesus (12:2), who is the same yesterday, today and forever (13:8). He is greater than angels; greater than Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, Joshua and David; the guarantor of a better covenant (ch 7); and, in today’s passage, he is offering a superior sacrifice in a greater sanctuary.
This is a profitable moment for me to consider the phrase ‘once’ or ‘once for all’, which is used seven times in the New Testament with reference to what Christ has done for us.2 These verses expound, in effect, the meaning of Jesus’ triumphant cry on the cross, ‘Done! Finished!’ The finished work of Christ means that he has done everything necessary to accomplish the salvation of those who trust in him. No one can take away from what he has done; and no one can add to it. The saints of the church triumphant worship the Lamb upon the throne, ‘looking as if it had been slain’.3 This explains the extraordinary words in Charles Wesley’s hymn: ‘with what rapture / gaze we on those glorious scars’.4 I offer my own rapturous gratitude in whatever form seems most appropriate.
I conclude today’s explorations by noting the three occurrences of the verb ‘appear’ in this passage: Christ once appeared (v 26); he is currently appearing for us in God’s presence (v 24); and one day he will appear again (v 28), not to whisk us away to some immaterial sky-heaven but to inaugurate the new heavens and new earth5 in which righteousness dwells and thus triumphantly to complete what he has already finished!
The resurrection confirmed the effectiveness of Christ’s work on earth. How much more can we be confident that Christ will bring us safely to our bodily resurrection and life everlasting!
1 Raymond Brown, Christ Above All, IVP, p154 2 Rom 6:10; Heb 7:27; 9:12,26,28; 10:10; 1 Pet 3:18 3 Rev 5:6 4 ‘Lo, he comes’, 1758 5 Rev 21
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year:1 Kings 3–5; 1 Corinthians 11
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for mission enabler Neil Jackson who would have been speaking at local mission partner, Missional Generation’s gathering today about ways in which Scripture Union can help them become more effective in building lifelong faith with the 95.
