For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; (25) not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another——(26) He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages. He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (27) And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, (28) so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

The author of Hebrews is unknown but the epistle was written to Christian Jews who were tempted to revert to Judaism to escape persecution and the first readers of Hebrews were having a hard time letting go of the physical temple and sacrifices. The author is repeating the major themes of the truth of the superiority, supremacy and all sufficiency of Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death for our sins – and the impossibility of salvation by human works or worth. This was a once and for all sacrifice unlike the annual and temporary sacrifice of the Jewish High Priest. Man can do nothing to earn salvation: no penance, personal determination, self denial, good deeds. The Old Testament sacrificial system cannot erase sin. We are to put our trust in Christ.

In verse 27 we are told that we are appointed to die once, then judgment. Death is not a natural process. It is a reality because man sinned and God ordained the penalty for sin is death. It is God’s curse on our sins. God sovereignly appoints our days on earth – it is never an accident when we die. Death is final and we don’t get a second chance to receive Christ. What happens when we die depends on what happens before we die. For when the saved die they go directly into the presence of the Lord. Christ died once to bear our sins but is coming again to finalize our salvation. This second coming will NOT be in reference to sin for the faithful since that issue was completely resolved at His first coming.

At the second coming we will be given our resurrected bodies which never wear out, never suffer injury, never grow old, never get sick and never die. The faithful are going from the land of dying to the land of the living. The background of our verses is the ceremony of the Day of Atonement for the children of Israel. They didn’t have a final forgiveness but one that every year had to be renewed. Religion does not put away sin. Ritual does not save. Liturgy does not save, does not put away sin. Only Christ Jesus has put away sin by sacrificing Himself.

Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. (24) But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. (25) Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him; since He always lives to make intercession for them. (26) For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefined, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; (27) who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. (28) For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

The author of Hebrews is unknown but it is written to Hebrew Christians to avert the danger of their returning to Judaism under the threat of persecution. In our verses today, the author wants us to see the superiority of Jesus as our High Priest. Jesus is a priest forever. In contrast to the Levitical priests, Jesus offered no sacrifice for Himself as He was sinless and only sacrificed for the people. (The Old Testament priest had to offer a sacrifice for his own sins before he could offer one for the sins of others.) The sacrifice of Christ completely satisfied God. Jesus did not offer that sacrifice annually but once and for all. The sacrifice He offered was not of animals but of Himself; perfect, sinless and anointed with all power and authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus remains our High priest forever. The earthly Levitical priesthood was temporary but Christ’s priesthood is eternal and superior. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, not mere man. What we cannot do for ourselves God has done for us in Christ. No other sacrifice is necessary. None will be accepted. None is possible.

Someone who needs salvation is lost, incapacitated and in immediate danger of perishing; he/she cannot save themselves. Spiritually, every person needs to be saved from God’s wrath and eternal judgment. We are born spiritually dead. We cannot see the light of the gospel nor do we want to. In this condition we don’t even want to be saved. We are hopeless, helpless and lost. But God, while we were dead in sin made us alive in Christ. What man cannot do Jesus is able to do. We are saved totally the instant we trust in Christ. What God begins at this moment He promises to bring to completion. We are easily tempted to turn away from Christ when trials or disappointments hit – to turn to the world that offers techniques for coping. Or, we salve our pain by pursuing material comforts of worldly pleasures. Jesus is able to save – salvation is not a joint project between God and man. God saves us through faith – we are responsible to believe in Jesus Christ but we are unable to believe the gospel unless God grants faith to us as His precious gift.

We cannot save ourselves. God has done it for us. The work of salvation has been completed in Christ. Nothing can be added to the value of what Jesus has done.

For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. (2) He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. (3) Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. (4) And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. (5) So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten you.” (6) As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”;

The author of Hebrews is unknown. Our verses today begin the main section of Hebrews on Jesus as our High Priest. The Old Testament provides us, on the one hand, with the sense of the sovereignty, majesty and power of God. On the other hand it confronts us with the reality of human failure and needs. In light of these points the importance of sacrifices and priests emerges. We need to understand who God is and who we are. The only way to approach God was through His ordained mediator and the fact that all the Old Testament priests were themselves sinners points to the Inadequacy of the Old Covenant priests and the need for the perfect and forever High Priest, Christ Jesus, who provides us in His completed work with access to God.

In the Old Testament priests alone were designated to make offerings to God on behalf of the people. In due time Jesus Christ offered Himself as the perfect and final sacrifice for our sins. The gospel has to do with our fundamental alienation from God because of sin and the gracious provision God has made in His Son. Christ was designated by God as our perfect priest forever. The author’s point is that Christ jesus, in His prayers and obedience through His suffering, shows He can sympathize with us in our suffering. He is the perfect and forever High Priest who is the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Eternal salvation in Christ is here contrasted with the temporary nature of Old Testament sacrifices.

Any system of salvation by good works makes Christ’s death unnecessary. We are saved by faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from works, but the kind of faith that saves necessarily results in good works. The High Priesthood of Christ and its ramifications is the primary subject of the epistle to the Hebrews.