Hebrews Chapter Seven, The Foundation For Eternal Security

 

Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

 

The word “therefore” appears when a verse or passage preceding its arrival establishes a point the writer is emphasizing. In verses 23 and 24 he contrasted the priests of the Aaronic priesthood, who could not continue because of death with Christ, who continues forever and has an unchangeable priesthood. Verse 25 begins with the idea of the author stating, “because of these truths…”

We come to a most remarkable expression of Jesus’ salvific power in this verse. Jesus Christ is also (because He is forever) able (capable, competent, proficient) to save (rescue the spiritually dead from God’s judgment on sin). But it is more than this. He is able to “save to the uttermost.” “Uttermost” in the Greek is the word, “panteles,” and translates, “full ended, i.e., entire, complete, perfect. The word is meant to express, ‘finally and completely in all ways.’” Hebrews 7:25 is a beautiful expression of our eternal security in Christ. Once saved, always saved, because Jesus Christ saves us finally and completely in all ways. He is the Author (originator) and Finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12:2. The HCSB renders this phrase in Hebrews 12:2 as, “the source and perfecter of our faith.” Scripture makes the doctrine of falling away a difficult and tenuous one to hold onto with complete Biblical candor. The emphasis isn’t on mankind holding onto God; it is on God, who died on the cross for man. He began and completed salvation, and we receive this precious gift by believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior. Eternal life is ours at that moment, given to us who, by faith, have chosen to trust in Him, and being sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, who now abides in us as we become a temple for God to inhabit.

 

Note the proviso: Jesus saves to the uttermost only those, “who come to God through Him.” Jesus said, “All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand,” John 10:8, 9, 27, 28. Religion is man’s proxy for God. Those who came before, and those who came after, have added to, taken away, or entirely done away with the message of the gospel and the Bible as a whole. But Christ tells us that these are, one and all without exception, thieves and robbers. They are void of spiritual wisdom, and therefore void of spiritual efficacy. Socrates and Greek philosophy, or Buddha and his desire to banish craving, Mohammad and the establishment of the theocratic state of Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism and their temple rituals, et al.

 

All have one thing in common: they exclude the true God of the universe who expressed Himself exclusively in Scripture and through His incarnation as a Man on earth. The Bible warns many times over that false christs will arise to lead away many, endangering even the elect, according to our Lord. Those who are His sheep will not hear these voices, but will only follow Him. “This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols,” 1 John 5:20, 21. John wrote his first epistle to warn the saints to avoid those that try to mislead us from serving Christ, as well as to establish our faith in the Son of God. His final caution should be a clarion call for every saint: keep yourselves from idols.

 

The writer of Hebrews expresses that only by coming to God through the person of Jesus Christ will avail us in being saved to the uttermost. John’s cautionary finale makes good sense in light of how narrow the door of salvation is. Many pretenders have joined the contest for winning souls, or in this case condemning souls since their only purpose is to turn the seeker from God, and thus from eternal life. Perhaps the advocates of many religions know nothing of this, being ignorant, still having the veil over their eyes that Satan has cast on the unbelieving world, 1 John 5:19, 2 Corinthians 3:15, 16. But the demonic powers that these religions are fronts for are not naïve; they knowingly erect these strongholds for the sole purpose of destroying us before we may come to Christ in faith.

 

Is it narrow minded or hateful to call all religion false, dangerous, and demonically inspired? Whether intended or not, whether ignorant or deliberate, every religion substitutes its church/clergy/sacraments/liturgy for God. The faith that saves is replaced with a system of works to be saved by, that no person on earth can attest to the veracity of. Only in death would the follower of any given religion know if they truly achieved the state their religion boasted of, because a works system does not provide assurance; it provides help so you can save yourself. Religion is the oldest self-help program, fostered by Satan in Eden when he lied to Adam and Eve, promising godhood but delivering death. Such will be the end of all who practice religion and do not know the true God and eternal life, which is found only in Jesus Christ.

 

Why may the Christian claim what the religionist cannot? Because Scripture is clear that hundreds of eye witnesses saw Jesus before, during, and after His death, talking to, eating with and learning from our Lord before His ascension, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. Christ is God come in the flesh. He alone came from Heaven and may say without reservation both the nature of its reality and humankind’s reception of it, John 3:13. The Christian faith is built on the bedrock of historical happenings and witnesses, including more than 500 people seeing the risen Christ after His death. On this practically grounded, historically verifiable testimony the disciples of Christ went out to turn the world upside down, Acts 17:6.

 

Finally, we come to the portion of the verse that answers the question “how.” Christ always lives, and His life is an intercessory one. He is our Advocate in the Heavenlies, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Satan, the accuser of the brethren (see Revelation 12:10), lives to sully or tarnish the saints in God’s perception. One might say that he is a prosecuting attorney of sorts. Jesus is our Advocate, our defense lawyer, who pleads our innocence before the Father not on any merit of our own, but through His own sinless virtue, 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 2:14. Intercession means, “mediation or intervention.” Oxford states that the word is of Latin origin and can mean, “the action of intervening on behalf of someone.” Our Lord pleads His meritorious victory over death, sin, and Satan on our behalf and the Father, well pleased with His only Begotten Son, sees the blood and pardons sin. Whether we are coming to Christ for the first time, or the five millionth time for forgiveness of sin we know that we have what we petition for, 1 John 1:9.

 

Let it be noted one more time that Christ only makes intercession on behalf of those who come to God through Him. We must be His, one of His sheep who hear His voice and follows Him as He stated in John chapter 10. That is why the verse concludes with the clarification that Jesus intercedes only for “them.” “Them,” by simple exegetical deduction, would be, “those who come to God through Him,” stated earlier in the verse. Knowing Christ is imperative. It is not peripheral. Many will perish serving a Christ that did not actually exist. Religion has created manifold Christs; but they are the work of the Devil, attested by the fact that works is the emphasis of every religion. One might say it is the proud “I will,” attitude of Lucifer from Isaiah 14:13, rather than the humble attitude of the converted believer who says, “God did,” Romans 8:3.