Hebrews Chapter Nine, The Security Christ Offers

 

Hebrews 9:12 Not with blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption

 

The writer conjures the imagery of the high priest of the Aaronic priesthood entering the Most Holy Place during the Day of Atonement. Described in Leviticus chapter 16, it was a very solemn day for the nation of Israel. It was a reminder that what the high priest did, he did for the whole of the nation of the Jews. The blood offered on the mercy seat within the Holiest of All was for all Israel. Caiaphas, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said much the same regarding our Lord.

“Nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish,” John 12:50. Antagonistic toward Jesus, Caiaphas was compelled to prophesy, holding the office of high priest that year, verse 49. Christ’s death was for all the people of Israel. But it was for even more than that: “and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad,” John 12:52. In Isaiah, we read that the prophet concurs, writing, “Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be MY salvation to the ends of the earth,” Isaiah 49:6.

 

While the animal sacrfices served for the cleansing of the flesh (Hebrews 9:13), Christ’s blood is efficacious for so much more. Again, while the blood of goats and calves served for temporal atonement, the sacrifice of Christ is forever, and is good forever. Nothing can be added to it; neither can it be done again. Listen to the double emphatic in this verse: “He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

 

Going forth with the offering of His own blood, shed for the remission of sin, Jesus did this “once for all.” That is, He died sacrifically one time for all humanity. Everyone that ever lived, or will live, was in view when the Lord suffered on the cross for our sakes. What was the result? Jesus obtained eternal redemption. It is implicitly noted that this is not for Himself. Christ our Lord didn’t need redemption; He was (and remains) the sinless God-man. The redemption (to buy something back) was for us. The writer wanted his readership to know that this redemption has a specific quality about it. It is eternal. The pardon we receive in Christ is forever, everlasting, never-ending, et al. When someone comes to faith in Christ they receive eternal life, by virtue of Jesus’ once for all sacrifice, having obtained eternal redemption.

 

Salvation cannot be lost. If it can, it is not eternal and the Bible stands in error. Worse, the God whose Bible it is stands in error. This clear language, expressed numerous times in Hebrews, demonstrates the believer’s position with God; it is one of safety and serenity, restiing in the accomplishment God’s Son wrought, not our own effort or works. Religion appeals to human effort; if religion had its way, Christ’s sacrifice would need to be perpetuated over and over again to tether the adherent. Not to Christ, mind you, but to the denomination that holds them prisoner by virtue of fear. Rome wields tremendous fear, that failing to attend Mass, failing to receive the Eucharist, etc., jeopardize one’s immortal soul. That is why such “sins” are named “mortal sins.” You risk hellfire by not patronizing Rome’s list of edicts. Catholic Answers says of this, “A mortal sin is one that “destroys in us the charity without which eternal beatitude is impossible. Unrepented, it brings eternal death.”

 

Rome certainly teaches falling away. Why? Religion’s greates weapon is fear. One must adhere to the dictates of religion, or risk being anathametized, or accursed of God and removed from the Roman Church, without which, there is no salvation. But Christ says that without Him, there is no salvation, and it through faith in Him, not participation in any church, that saves. Being saved adds you to the church, and if you are excommunicated as a Christian you don’t forfeit salvation. The church—NO church—has the power to strip someone of eternal life, given freely by God through faith in Jesus Christ. Only God can do that, and He will not, Romans 11:29, 1 Peter 1:5.

 

Mind you, we do not need Rome’s perversions to stray from the truth of what Jesus our Lord has done for us. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, much of what passes for Prostestantism, or even Evangelicalism is a mire of rules and fear, waiting to ensnare the heedless. These institutions fail the litmus test, when John comands us to test the spirits. Instead of freedom in Christ, it is bondage to their dogmas. The definition of a cult is exlusivity, and a certain fear that one is outside of the circle that makes you one of them. Rome’s pope, Joseph Smith, Ellen White, Charles Taze Russell, et al., decree extra-biblical (and often unbiblical) additions to Scripture, confusing and distracting from the simplicity that is in Christ, 2 Corinthians 11:3.

 

I diverged here simply to make a point about the gravity of what this verse relates. If we believe Scripture, then we must accept the discourse carried on through Hebrews chapters 9 and 10, that Jesus alone provides salvation. He did it one time for all mankind, and the gift of eternal life is just that: something that, once received, never ends. It cannot be lost; it will not be taken. If we are partakers of the heavenly calling and truly saints of God, then eternal life is ours. Do we want full assurance of faith? Love the brethren and adopt the servant attitude our Lord manifested when He washed the apsotles’ feet, John 15:12, 1 John 3:18, 19. Christ obtained eternal redemption, and He beckons us to take up His yoke and find rest for our souls, Matthew 11:28, 29. As the writer earnestly pled with the Hebrew Christians of his time, so he calls out now. Trust the Lord, for, “whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame,” Romans 10:11.