His Once For All Sacrifice

The New Covenant results from the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus and his enduring priesthood, which is based on his resurrection life.

The Letter to the Hebrews highlights key aspects of Christ’s ministry, especially his Priesthood and once and for all Sacrificial Death. The Letter stresses the non-repeatable nature of his sacrifice for sin and the permanence of his Priestly Office. He has “achieved the purification of sins” that no animal sacrifice or priestly predecessor ever could.

[Matterhorn - Photo by Samuel Ferrara (Lugano, Switzerland) on Unsplash]

Jesus now intercedes for us as our Faithful and Sympathetic High Priest. His sacrifice dealt with our sins “once and for all.” After he “achieved the purification of sins,” he “sat down” at the right hand of the “majesty in high places.” This last clause alludes to the first verse of Psalm 110. In it, God commands the Messiah (in the present tense):

• “Sit at my right hand until I make your foes your footstool <…> Yahweh has sworn and will not repent: You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” – (Psalm 110:1, 4).

• “But he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. Thereafter, expecting until his enemies be made the footstool of his feet” – (Hebrews 10:12-13).

The “Son” occupies a permanent position as our Faithful High Priest and representative in God’s very presence. He “sat down” in the Real Tabernacle, where he remains to this day and intercedes for us. This contrasts with the Levitical High Priest, who only entered the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle or Temple once each year, and he never sat down or remained to intercede continually for God’s People.

Psalm 110 is the primary text of the Letter to the Hebrews for establishing the “better” priesthood of Jesus, emphasizing his appointment as our High Priest. The Psalm’s fourth verse is also prominent in the Letter - “Yahweh has sworn and will not repent, you will be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

• “And what we say is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there rises another priest who has been made not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For it is witnessed of him, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. <…> And inasmuch as it is not without the taking of an oath. For they indeed have been made priests without an oath; but he with an oath by him who says of him, The Lord swore and will not repent, You are a priest forever. By so much also has Jesus become the guarantee of a better covenant” - (Hebrews 7:15-22).

The Letter to the Hebrews bases its arguments for the superiority of the New Covenant on Christ’s High Priesthood and Death. This covenant was inaugurated by his non-repeatable sacrifice, which made the “former covenant obsolete” and inaugurated the vastly superior New Covenant - (Hebrews 8:13).

The declaration that his Priesthood will endure “forever” is not metaphysical speculation about Christ’s “eternal” nature but instead highlights the permanence of his Priestly Office because of his resurrection life. Since God raised him from the dead, Jesus now “lives forevermore.”

All this contrasts Christ’s Priesthood and Sacrifice with the Levitical priesthood with its animal sacrifices that necessitated an endless cycle of new priests and repeated sin offerings due to human mortality, and the inability of animal blood to purify sins and the human conscience - (Hebrews 9:13-15).

ONLY ONCE!

The priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” differs significantly from the Aaronic priesthood. Rather than one generation of priests after another, this priesthood is based on Christ’s once and never again sacrifice and his endless resurrection life.

For this reason, Kesus holds the priesthood “unchangeable,” it is “not transmissible.” Unlike the Aaronic priesthood, the “Son” is the only High Priest ever “after the order of Melchizedek.” There will never be another.

The Letter emphasizes the non-repeatable nature of his sacrifice and the permanence of its effect by applying the Greek adverb 'ephapax' several times when describing his sacrifice, a term which means “at once, once only, once-for-all.” For example:

• “But now, once for all [‘ephapax’], upon the conclusion of the ages, for a setting aside of sin through his sacrifice, has he been manifested, and since it is in store for men once for all [‘ephapax’] to die, but after this judgment, thus, also, the Christ, having been offered once for all [‘ephapax’] for the bearing of the sins of many, a second time, apart from sin, will appear to those who for him are ardently waiting for salvation <…> By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all” - (Hebrews 9:24-28, also Hebrews 7:23-27, 10:10).

To return to the “shadows” of the impermanent system of endless priests and repeated animal sacrifices, even though we now have the benefit of the Sacrifice and Priesthood of Christ, would be foolhardy in the extreme. We would risk suffering eternal consequences for such an offense against the Son of God.

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• The Purification of Sins - (Having achieved the purification of sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God to intercede for his people as their faithful High Priest)

• God's Supreme Word - (God has spoken His definitive word in His Son. All previous words given by the prophets were preparatory, promissory, and partial)

• His Priestly Qualifications - (Jesus qualified to become our high priest by participating fully in human suffering, weakness, and death)

• Une fois pour Toutes - (La promesse d'une Nouvelle Alliance s'accomplit dans le sacrifice une fois pour toutes de Jésus et de son sacerdoce)