His Unique Sacrifice

The Letter to the Hebrews highlights several aspects of the Son of God, especially his priesthood and sacrificial death. In doing so, the stress falls on the permanence of his office, and the non-repeatable nature of his sacrifice. In his death, he “achieved the purification of sins.” Therefore, he now intercedes “forever” for his people as their faithful and sympathetic High Priest. His sacrifice dealt with sin “once-for-all.”

The Letter begins by stressing that after he “achieved the purification of sins,” Jesus “sat down” at the right hand of the “majesty in high places.” The wording of the passage alludes to the first verse of Psalm 110 where God told the Messiah to “Sit at my right hand until I make your foes your footstool.”

[Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash]

The Author intends for us to understand that the “Son” now occupies a permanent position in the presence of God. He “sat down” in the heavenly Tabernacle. He remains there to this day. This contrasts with the Aaronic High Priest who only entered the inner sanctum once each year, and he NEVER sat down.

The Letter introduces Psalm 110 which becomes a primary proof text for the “better” priesthood of Jesus. It emphasizes his appointment as the High Priest of his people, the Assembly. The fourth verse of the Psalm is also prominent in the Letter - “Yahweh has sworn and will not repent, you shall be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

The Letter bases its arguments on the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus, and it discusses the “superior” New Covenant inaugurated by his non-repeatable sacrifice. His act that made the “former covenant… obsolete” – (Hebrews 8:13).

The declaration that this new priesthood will endure “forever” is not metaphysical speculation about the “eternal” nature or divine sonship of Jesus but highlights the permanence of his priestly office.

This again contrasts his priesthood and one-time sacrifice with the Aaronic priesthood and its animal sacrifices that required an endless cycle of new priests and repeated sacrifices due to humanity’s weakness and mortality, and the inability of animal blood to purify sins and the human conscience.

The “Son” occupies his office permanently because of his endless resurrection life. In other words, his life and exalted status as our “High Priest” endure because of his bodily resurrection. He will never die again.

ONLY ONCE

The prophesied priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” differs significantly from the Aaronic priesthood. Rather than one generation of priests after another, along with repeated animal sacrifices, this priesthood is based on his once-for-all sacrifice and his endless resurrection life.

Therefore, he holds the priesthood as “unchangeable,” and “not transmissible.” Unlike the Aaronic priesthood, the “Son” is the only High Priest “after the order of Melchizedek.” There will never be another.

The Letter emphasizes the one-time 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:

• (Hebrews 7:23-27) – “And they indeed have been made priests many in number, since by death they are hindered from continuing, but he, because he abides forevermore, holds his priesthood un-transmittable. Wherefore also, he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near to God through him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needs not daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this he did once-for-all [ephapax] when he offered himself.”

• (Hebrews 9:24-28) – “…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.”

• (Hebrews 10:10) – “By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once-for-all [ephapax]”.

As for the recipients of the Letter, why return to the “shadows” of the former and impermanent system of endless priests and repeated animal sacrifices since they now benefit from the permanent and glorious reality according to the “Word of the Son”?

If any man does so because of pressure or persecution, he may escape trials for the present. However, he will not escape a far more severe punishment in the future since he has rejected the “purification of sins” provided by God through the “once-for-all” sacrifice of His Son and our High Priest.

[Download PDF Copy]

RELATED POSTS:

• Purifying 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)

• Guarantor of the Covenant - (Jesus mediates the better covenant inaugurated by his sacrificial death, thereby rendering the old one obsolete – Hebrews 8:6-13)

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