Tuesday 16th
Hebrews 5:1-10
NIV (v9-10) – ‘. . . and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.’
ESV (v9-10) – ‘And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.’
Our word today is ‘effective’, another word is efficacy, our great high priest is an effective high priest because he has made an effective sacrifice, we read later in Hebrews chapter 10 that Jesus came to do his Fathers will ‘Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”’ Going to the Cross was God’s will for him and afterwards it says in verse 10 ‘And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’ Then later in verse 14 ‘For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.’
The fact that the sacrifice Christ our high priest has made on our behalf was effective or sufficient means that we do not need anyone else to act as our go between, (we considered this last Thursday 11th) and secondly it means that we can be assured of our eternal salvation, if I have committed my life to Jesus I AM saved. This means that the doctrines that the Roman Catholic Church teaches of confession, penance, indulgences, and purgatory are completely alien from what the Bible has to say. Christ HAS for sin atonement made, what a wonderful Saviour, we are redeemed! The price is paid! What a wonderful Saviour. Hebrews is very clear that no priest on earth has any power to take away sin, (Hebrews 10:11) but continues ‘But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.’ His single sacrifice for sins was sufficient, Jesus accomplished his mission, and it was an effective mission.
The effectiveness of Christ’s once for all sacrifice means that when we come in repentance to the Cross, our sin is dealt with, it is taken completely away, we are as we sing in the hymn, washed in the blood of the Lamb, we are both justified and sanctified and we enter into a new covenant relationship with God as our Father. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. Let’s remind ourselves of what Peter had to say on this matter, ‘knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.’ 1 Peter 1:18–21
Let us thank God for the effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice, for as we also read in Hebrews ‘He ever lives to make intercession for us.’ Its effectiveness is for all of eternity which is where we continue tomorrow.