Our Risen Savior, Exalted Above the Heavens

Introduction

I would invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews 7. We are going to look at verses 26-28. I have titled this sermon “Our Risen Savior, Exalted Above the Heavens.” The latter part of this comes from verse 26. Our Savior has risen today, in other words, He is lifted up, or He has been exalted. Indeed, He has been exalted over the grave, for it could not contain Him. Yet, our Lord Jesus, is exalted far greater than the grave, He is exalted above the heavens.

My hope for us this morning is that we would see our Lord Jesus as majestic. A mere mortal could not have gone through the events of Passion Week. He would have quit. It took someone far greater than a human being, someone Majestic. And He is our Lord Jesus Christ. As we see Him as majestic, I want us to see Our Risen Savior in three ways as Hebrews 7:26-28 puts it. First, Our Risen Savior is “The Greater High Priest” in verse 26, second, The Once for All Sacrifice in verse 27, and third, He is The Son, Perfect forever, in verse 28.

Let us read Hebrews 7:26-28, starting in verse 26…

1. The Greater High Priest (v.26)

Look with me at verse 26, where we will begin our time this morning. You will see that the author begins with having “such a high priest.” We come to this text at the very end of chapter 7. I like to call these verses a quick summary of the entirety of chapter 7. So, what is the reason for having such a high priest? If you would look back at verse 23, you will notice that “the former priests” are mentioned. And as we go through these 3 verses, you will notice the vast contrast between the priests of Old and Jesus, Himself. Jesus is “such” a high priest in comparison to those who were under the sacrificial system.

It is fitting for us to have Jesus as high priest. In other words, it is ‘right,’ or proper that Jesus fulfills this role. You could also say that it was necessary that Jesus is our high priest. As we will see, Jesus is the only One who could fill this role to the fullest. Contrasting verses 23 and 24, we see the limitations of the high priests, namely that they were unable to continue serving because they died. Verse 24 tells us that Jesus continues forever, and that His priesthood is permanent. This is the backdrop for verse 26 and why it is fitting that we have such a high priest.

What is of interest for us is that the way in which Jesus is detailed is very different from what was read in verses 23 and 24. In those verses, the usage of Jesus’ name is evident. However, in verse 26 and verses 27-28, the name Jesus is not used. Instead, the author tells us about who our high priest is through a series of attributes. I want us to look through these attributes in order with our minds set on our great high priest.

The author begins with holy. Unlike the high priests of old, Jesus Christ is a special kind of high priest. He is set apart for a singular specific work. The high priests of old were set apart for a certain work, but this work would not go on forever. One day it would be superseded by Christ who is far better, and the day that we celebrate the finished work of our high priest is, today, resurrection Sunday. The priests had their portion of land given to them, and Christ has His portion in His bride, the people of God, regenerated by the washing in His blood. Jesus is "such" a high priest. This verse distinguishes His nature only to and for Himself. So, not only is Jesus holy in and of Himself, but His work as High Priest is holy work as well, only can only be performed by Jesus.

Jesus was and is innocent. There was no evil found in Him (Psalm 16:10, Luke 23:22, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus is the only one who was completely and totally undefiled. If there was one attribute that would contrast Jesus with humanity, it would be the topic of defilement. Isaiah 53:9 and 1 Peter 1:19 declare that there was no deceit or falsehood that could be found in the Lord Jesus. There was not one wicked thought that went through His mind. He was not defiled in the face of temptation. I am reminded by the severe temptation that Jesus went through. The one that gets me the most is the temptation to eat after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights (Matthew 4:2-4). I don’t know about you, but it would have been very difficult to go even a few days without eating anything. Especially with the lives we live in America. Yet, Jesus goes this duration of time and resists the temptation of the devil. Just like Hebrews 2:14-18, Jesus goes through EVERY temptation, remains spotless, and does so, so that He can sympathize with us. He has done all this with NO SIN. This is what it means to be undefiled. This is a title and attribute that could ONLY be given to Jesus Christ.

Jesus is separated from sinners. Now that may seem like an odd point to pull out in an Easter morning service, but thanks be to God that Jesus Christ is NOT like one of us! Because there is no sin in Jesus Christ, it is reasonable to put together the truth claim that He is separated from sinners. Now, during His earthly ministry, He was involved in the lives of sinful people. The disciples were not sinless because Christ was around them. What this does mean is, Jesus is separated from every human being regarding indwelling sin. It does not exist in Christ because He is holy. See, the priests of old were sinners and they had to deal with the indwelling sin that they had. We will deal with this more in verse 27.

The last attribute the author gives to us is where the title of the sermon comes from and that is that Jesus is “exalted above the heavens.” The majesty of Christ is seen in that He is not bound to the earth. Every human being that dies, whether via burial or cremation, his or her remains remain on the earth. Not so with Jesus. He resurrected from the grave and further He did so as a Divine manifestation of His majesty, He is exalted above or beyond the heavens. He is greater than the heavenly host. Christ being exalted is not just a cliche that is used. In verse 26, it signifies His victory over death and the grave. So, yes, Christ, our great High Priest has risen, He has risen indeed.

2. The Once for All Sacrifice (v.27)

Let us now turn our attention to verse 27 and look a little closer at Christ, the Once for All Sacrifice. The contrast continues with the high priests and Jesus. Might I say that verse 27 is the clearest verse in all Scripture when it comes to Jesus’ superiority over animal sacrifices. This is so strongly stated that Jesus has no need whatsoever to offer up a sacrifice of any kind. This speaks of His sinlessness and His perfection. Jesus does not need to offer a sacrifice for His sin. There is a great separation between Christ the Atoning Sacrifice and all the other, daily, sacrifices that were offered.

There is something else that is for us to know as well. This text tells us that both the high priests and Jesus Christ offered a sacrifice. There are two things I want us to ponder for a few moments. 1. The cleansing to be approved, and 2. The sacrifice that was offered.

The high priest needed to be cleansed. He was unable to come before the altar with sins attached to him. Now, the priest is not the saving agent, but he was the mediator to God on behalf of the people’s sins. Exodus 29:1-2 tell us what was required of the priests. “Now this is what you shall do to them to set them apart as holy to minister as priests to Me: take one bull from the herd and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil: you shall make them of fine wheat flour.” The text goes on to having the high priest to be washed by water as well. Why do I bring this up? Because the high priest needed to be cleansed from his sins. He needed to be approved by God to offer sacrifices and this is what God required of him.

Now we know that Jesus did not have to go through these steps to be cleansed. This is what is so amazing about our Lord Jesus. Jesus was acceptable to God because He is God! This is what verse 27 implies by Jesus not having to offer a sacrifice up for Himself before He could forgive the sins of the people.

In a similar way, the sacrifice that is offered shows the greatness of our Lord Jesus. We could say that today we are still celebrating His offering of Himself as the atonement that we desperately need. Would we say this about animal sacrifices? Would anyone on this planet remember an animal sacrifice that was given to please God? The obvious answer is, no! The Bible in its entirety leads us to Jesus, not to a person’s favorite animal that was sacrificed! The Bible speaks about the Jesus both in His pre-incarnate form as in when He created the earth, and in His incarnate form when He literally walked the face of this earth. No sacrifice, as big and plentiful as they could have been are spoken of in this way. Remember the multitude of sacrifices we saw last week on Palm Sunday? Are they spoken of throughout Scripture? Yes, there are mentions of the sacrifices, but all the sacrifices have an end goal and that is that Jesus Christ would be exalted and lifted up.

It can be said that one of the most obvious ways the sacrifices of animals and the sacrifice of Christ is in duration. Look down with me at the end of verse 27, what does it say? “Because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” Verse 27 speaks to the sufficiency of Christ's atoning work on the cross. Notice, here, His sacrifice is "once for all" (Romans 6:10). He does not need to be sacrificed over and over again (Hebrews 9:24-26). In a much broader sense, Hebrews 10 details and compares/contrasts the OT sacrificial system and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Three verses for our consideration. First from verse 10, "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, second, from verse 12, "but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time," and third, from verse 14, "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." Thus, Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection from the grave that we celebrate today happened one time! We do not come year after year on Easter morning and celebrate that Jesus Christ literally rose from the grave on each celebratory occurrence.

Clearly, verse 27 tells us that Christ’s sacrifice, one time, is enough. No other sacrifice is needed thereafter. Praise be to God! For He has truly given us everything that we need, and He has done so by the giving of His own Son to be crucified, so that He could raise on the third day, victoriously triumphant over sin and death itself.

One more note about verse 27 and that is that Jesus “offered up Himself.” Jesus Christ was in complete control of the moments of His earthly pilgrimage. Therefore, He had complete control of the days leading up to His death. Right now, Jesus is in complete control of everything that is happening on this planet. Titus 2:14 tells us that Jesus Christ, who is our God and Savior is the One "who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify for Himself a people for His own possession." And because He has raised, we are purified because He took on your sin and my sin, crushed it, and purified Himself of it.

3. The Son, Perfect forever (v.28)

Our third point comes from verse 28. I want us to see in this text that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is Perfect Forever. As the author has done in both verses 26 and 27, verse 28 begins with a contrast. The Law that needed to be given to show man his sin, needed to have the sin forgiven. The law does not save, for all it can do is hold people under it. It is by grace that we are saved, and that grace is manifested in the resurrected Christ.

The beginning of this verse tells us that the priests that are brought forth as agents of sacrificing were “weak” in themselves. We have seen earlier why this is the case. They were sinful themselves and they were unable to live forever because of the wages of sin. They were also weak in a spiritual sense. Let me ask you a question. How easy is it for you and I to get distracted with things? How about this question. Have you ever fallen asleep while praying? Now, I am not condemning you if you do. Why? Because I cannot count how many times I have throughout my Christian experience, fallen asleep while praying! You and I are weak! Did Jesus fall asleep when He prayed? No! Who did? That’s right, His disciples, several times.

What the author of Hebrews wants us to see in verse 28 is the majestic glory of Jesus Christ in comparison to the frailness of human beings. Now, the premise of this verse comes to us from Psalm 110:4. Turn there with me. Psalm 110, I am going to begin reading in verse 1 and read through verse 4… It is plain to see the majestic nature of this text. We also see the perfectness of Jesus Christ. The strong scepter from Zion that is stretched out for total dominion is given to the perfect and majestic One as said in Hebrews 1:3, 8, and 13. Turn back with me to Hebrews 7:28.

The word of the oath is the promise of God that He will not change His mind that Christ is His priest forever, He has sworn this as we saw in Psalm 110:4. We could get into the particulars about the Law and the word of the oath. What you and I need to know and remember this morning is that God keeps every promise. When He said that His Son would be priest forever. Guess what? His Son will be priest forever!

Conclusion

We conclude this morning with the glorious and simple truth that our Savior has risen. You and I know the implications of His rising from the grave, but I would like to encourage you with a few things to apply to our lives.

1. When you meditate upon our Lord Jesus, what goes through your mind? Are thoughts like what we saw in verse 26 going through your mind? Do you consider your Savior as innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens? Have you pondered as to what these things mean? Or the significance of them? Brothers, Christ isour risen Savior. He is our place of refuge in Whom you and I can trust. He is majestically pure and holy. This is our God!

2. With this in mind, do you see the high calling on your life to imitate Christ, to live as He lived? Christian, this is what you are called to! It is the greatest life that could ever be lived! Count it a privilege this morning that you are called to follow after the very Creator Himself! You and I don’t follow after a mere human being, alone. No! We serve the risen Christ. May our lives reflect our trust in this truth we celebrate this morning.

3. Finally, may the risen Christ bring great joy to our lives. There are many reasons to have joy in the Christian life, but the resurrection of Christ is, in my opinion, the GREATEST reason to have joy. He died and rose again, so that you and I could have new life! Let us rejoice this day and every other, for this precious gift from our Lord Jesus!

Let’s pray.

Benediction

2 Corinthians 2:14- “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and may He continue to manifest in you the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”