Hebrews 8:1-6

Appetiser

“The Epistle … partially withdraws even the curtain which screens from us the scenes of heaven, by its description of the official functions of our great High Priest within the veil.”

This is what we read in the General Preface to John Owen’s An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews (in volume 1 of a 7 volume work!)

How true! And what a privilege we have, to gaze into heaven, and see Jesus at work there as our High Priest. May the Lord be pleased to impress the glory of this on our hearts today.

Main Course

Jesus’s finished ministry, v1

The atonement for our sins is complete.

1:3: this idea is repeated here. Notice:

When He sat down: “After he had provided purification for sins”, cf. “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” in 7:27b.

Where He sat down: “at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Same here, with a little variation: “at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.”

This emphasises that Christ has, with God’s explicit authorisation and approval, presented the sacrifice necessary to take away the sins of His people. That’s why He sat down: the work of atonement is done. No more sacrifice needed. The effect of this is highlighted here:

5:8-10: “he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him”.

Because Christ has faithfully obeyed God as our representative, and because He is without sin, and because He was appointed by God for this task (cf. 5:5), He (not simply what He did, but He Himself) has become the source of eternal salvation for His people.

Notice who it is for: “for all who obey him”. This is the “we” who “have such a high priest”. You obey Him

by acknowledging Him as Lord: He sits at God’s right hand!

by submitting to Him as High Priest: you don’t try to save yourself, or turn to others to save you, but fully trust His finished work;

by living a life characterised by obedience to Him as God; He is God’s Son! Notice that the text doesn’t say that this obedience saves you; Christ does. But those He saves are known by their obedience to Him. If we say we’re Christians but live like a pagans, we have no grounds to be assured of our salvation.

Remember Jesus’s words on the cross: “It is finished.” John 19:30. There He announced what Hebrews 8:1 confirms to be true.

Implications

The sins of those for whom Jesus died are forgiven. The fact that he sat down tells us that His work in providing a sacrifice for our sins is done. It also means it has been accepted. The atonement He provides is limited in extent, with unlimited power to save.

Limited atonement: Christ died not for everybody, but for those God gave Him: in John 17:2, He prays to the Father:

John 17:2 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

This is really important to bear in mind, because:

Unlimited power to save: His sacrifice being offered and accepted means that those for whom the sacrifice is made will definitely be saved. This is a great encouragement “for all who obey him”: your obedience may be imperfect, but Christ’s sacrifice is the grounds of our acceptance, not our obedience. There is no sin in us, in our past, in our future, for which that sacrifice is not enough for.

We don’t contribute to our salvation. As Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:13-15

John 3:13–15 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’

The way we are saved is that we look to Christ. There is no other way to be saved. He has gone into Heaven, and those who believe in Him to be saved from their sins, as Moses’ people looked to the bronze snake to be healed from the poisonous snake-bites, are saved. )You can read the incident referred to by Christ in Numbers 21:4-9.)

Jesus’s ongoing ministry, v2a

Christ’s heavenly session

Notice that His ministry is described in v2 as something happening now: Christ “serves”, in the present tense. How does this relate to His completed service, as we’ve just read? Perhaps you already asked the question when we read Hebrews 7:25 last time around.

The answer is in a different aspect of Christ’s work as High Priest for His people. Remember the job of the high priest, Hebrews 5:1. It is “to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin”, but also, “to represent the people in matters related to God”. It is the same high priest, the same ministry, but a different aspect of that same ministry.

In terms of atonement for the sins of His people, Christ’s ministry is complete: He “sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven”. But in another sense, that of representation, it is continuing and will forever continue: He “serves”, in that “he always lives to intercede for them” (7:25)—and as we see in that verse, our salvation depends on it. This ongoing ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is what is referred to as Christ’s heavenly session. The Holy Spirit now indeed is withdrawing the veil, allowing us to see Christ at work, right now.

He’s described at another place as “standing”, cf. Acts 7:55-56. This implies that He is active.

Acts 7:55–56 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’

Also, Jesus spoke of His representation of His people before the Father in Heaven; Matthew 10:32

Matthew 10:32 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

32 ‘Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.

What this is not: caution needed!

Not a “frenetic” Christ, sometimes sitting, another time standing. This is what is called “analogical” language, or comparative language. We ascribe the functions of a man (the high priest) to the heavenly Christ, to interpret His work; we often do this is where we take earthly words to describe heavenly realities. Christ’s work is both finished and ongoing, but viewed from different aspects.

Not Father vs. Jesus. It would be horrendous if we pictured some sort of conflict of wills between the Father and Jesus, or Jesus begging His Father that He would spare His people. Their will is one. Their love for us is one. They are one. Salvation is being brought to us from the Father, through the Son by the Spirit.

Not a reapplication of His sacrifice. What we’ve learned about Christ’s atoning sacrifice still stands. It is not being reapplied in Heaven. It is not being reapplied or replayed, at least not in a legitimate sense on earth. “It is finished.” He is the sacrifice, and He’s already there, as the Lamb that was slain.

What this ministry is, perhaps could be best understood in light of what Jesus said to Peter in Luke 22:31-32, especially when we compare it with how Christ prayed for His people while on earth, recorded in John 17:9, 15.

Luke 22:31–32 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

31 ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’

John 17:9 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.

John 17:15 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

So I understand Christ’s heavenly session primarily as Him praying for the people He died for to be kept by the Father.

Implications

We have true help in time of need, Hebrews 4:14-16. To be a Christian is to be carried by God all throughout our lives. Jesus provides for our every spiritual need to be able to face life here on earth.

Are you tempted? Turn to Jesus for strength to overcome.

Are you discouraged? Turn to Jesus for lifting up.

Are you overwhelmed by your trials? Look to Him for strength to endure in faith.

Are you lost for direction? Do you struggle to see how in a given situation you can make the God-pleasing choice? Christ is your wisdom.

When we sin, we must look to Christ in Heaven, 1 John 2:1-2.

1 John 2:1–2 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Although becoming a Christian means you will sin less, you will not become sinless until the day of your glorification.

Our relationship with God cannot be broken, Romans 8:34-39.

Romans 8:34–39 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You can’t earn your God’s love, and you can’t sin yourself out of it. And it’s because of Christ.

His people will persevere to the end, Luke 22:31-32.

Luke 22:31–32 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’

It is impossible to work your way into God’s Kingdom, and also to fall out of it. Again: this is because Christ.

Jesus’s ministry is the heavenly reality, v2b-6

Notice the thread running through these verses: where is Jesus’s ministry carried out? We read: “at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven” (v1), “in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being” (v2a). Since the Spirit will explain the significance of this in detail in the following chapters, all the way to 10:18, I shall not go into much detail here.

The priests’ offerings were done in the shadows, v3-5. The key verse here is v5, which quotes Exodus 25:40. The Levitical priests we met in chapter 7 served in a man-made Tabernacle. But it was not man-designed: it was God-designed. Very precise description was given in how to build it, and its furnishings, and how to serve there, and who can serve there. This is where God would dwell on earth, among His people. We learn from this

that we cannot live with God without a sacrifice for our sin. This is why the priesthood was needed, to offer both gifts and sacrifices. The intricate nature of the Old Testament sacrificial system should make this abundantly clear. And therefore Jesus’s offering Himself on the cross was not an optional extra, a nice thing to have: without it, He is a priest without a valid offering. And we would have no salvation.

that the Old Covenant was glorious. It is divine, just as much as the New. It is a reflection of Heaven. We must not discard it, and not read it. We must see it in light of the New, yes: but we must see it, and for that, we must read it. Read and love your Old Testament: without it, you have half a Bible.

that God’s worship is not a free-for all, but is regulated by Him. He prescribes what is acceptable to Him, and what is not. Unlike idolatry, where people make up both the god and its worship, the worship of the One True God is to be done according to His will; this is His prerogative. He is unique, and so is His worship.

Jesus’ offering was made in the reality the shadows were pointing to, v2b. It is not only God-designed, but God-built. This is not the shadow, but the reality that cast it on earth. Somebody once said that the Old Testament is like a dimly lit house: all the furniture is there, and you can make the contours out, but the light comes when we come to the New Testament, and now we see everything clearly. This is very true, and very tangible in the case of the Tabernacle and the ministry of the priests there. Again, look at v5. They all make sense because of Christ and His ministry in Heaven, “the true tabernacle set up by the Lord”.

Therefore, the covenant He mediates is better than theirs, v6. Jesus brings about everything that the priests, their ministry, and even the tabernacle foreshadowed. The Old Covenant is now fulfilled in the New, and the better promises are ours in Christ. All that was hoped for is made a reality by Christ Jesus. What this all means, we will discover in the coming weeks as we go deeper into the exposition of this great truth. For now, let me just draw two final implications:

Implications

Christ builds His Church. Moses built the earthly tabernacle; the Son of God the original, in heaven, in which He serves as Christ, our High Priest, 3:3-4. This existed before the earthly one did. The outpost of that heavenly reality is not a shadowy Tabernacle any longer, but the Church, made up of the people who obey Christ. The Church is His. We don’t build it; Christ does, from Heaven. He does so by bringing to life those for whom He died. He does so by the Holy Spirit. We should trust in Him, not our evangelistic efforts, whether their “slickness”, perfection, our winsomeness, even our soundness in doctrine. These are good, but He gives life, not these, and not us. We are utterly dependent on Him. Let’s do things God’s way, praying in dependence on Him, and trust Him to do the rest.

Christ keeps His Church. We can be tempted to win people for Christ by our efforts, and likewise to try and keep them there. But we can’t keep anybody: not ourselves, not others. As it is for God to save, so it is for Him to keep. So let us pray for one another, love one another, encourage one another, challenge one another: let’s be God’s family, but let’s leave the keeping us in it up to God. You are responsible for your brother or sister as a brother or sister, not as their saviour.