Heb 9:24-28 - The Lord Has Done Great Things for Us
This Thursday our nation accords honor to those who fought for our country in the armed forces. November 11th, all across our country, we turn our thoughts to them and their sacrifices for us. We celebrate them with waving flags and parades in every town, and though there is nothing wrong with a parade, but marking the occasion with pomp is not at the heart of Veterans' Day. I think the more important thing is simple, heartfelt gratitude to those who have served. We ought to be grateful. It's true that some people are not, but they ought to be. We owe the lives we get to lead in large part to the sacrifices of soldiers who fought for our country throughout the years.
In a sense though, there isn't a Veterans' Day for the hidden war that is unfolding all around us. Veterans' Day is about those who returned from battle. But in the great spiritual war, not one of us escapes with his life or her life. Except for a few like Enoch and Elijah and those who live just before the end of time, we are all destined to suffer death. That is the cruel reality of sin at work in us and in the world and all its dreadful consequences of decay, disease, and infirmity. So maybe a Memorial Day, a day to remember those who died in service to our country, but not a Veterans' Day.
But there is a veteran of this war, One who truly did return to proclaim His victory, One who will return again to bring the war to an end. He is Jesus, the Lord. And today as we hear the words of Hebrews 9:24-28, we take up the theme, "The Lord Has Done Great Things for Us." [Read text.]
The text speaks of three great things that He has done for us: First, Jesus advocates for us. Secondly, Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. And finally, Jesus will return for us.
The first sentence says, "For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence." It says that he appeared for us in God's presence. That's different from just saying that He appeared in God's presence. God is everywhere. No one can pass beyond His presence. That's not what is meant. He entered heaven itself on a mission to seek our advantage. He went before God for us.
This is a sanctuary made with human hands. It is in many ways a copy of the true one in heaven. Most of the details are chosen to remind us to the true Temple in heaven above. Where else do you find an altar, for example? Even more important was the Temple in Jerusalem. That place was purpose built to reflect the relationships and arrangements of spiritual things in the heavenly Temple. God Himself gave the specifications for Solomon's original Temple.
Jesus was many times in the Temple of His day. When Jesus was consecrated to the Lord as Mary and Joseph's first born. When Jesus was a twelve year old boy. When He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial animals. Of course, He did all these things as He kept the Law on His mission to save us, but the text before us today, tells us something remarkable.
Jesus entered into the Heavenly Temple, the true sanctuary, for us. In the Tabernacle and later the Temple, God commanded that they be constructed with three nested areas, the Courtyard, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The Israelites would bring their sacrifices to the Courtyard and turn them over to the priests, the sons of Aaron. But only the priests would enter the Holy Place. And only the High Priest on the Day of Atonement would enter the Most Holy Place.
They were human beings like us, born of Adam. They were sinners like us. They had trouble listening to the Lord, just like us. But because God was drawing vivid pictures of the real Temple in heaven and more importantly of the promised Savior, those priests had to be mighty careful to follow every ceremony. They had to be consecrated in order to be able to come into God's presence and offer the sacrifices. They dared not approach the Lord relying on their own righteousness; they were only to come covered with the righteousness God gave them.
Jesus was different. He is human but not born of Adam. He was the seed of the woman promised in Eden. His mother was Mary, but His Father was God. He is God and man in one, sent by God for us. So He lived as we should have. He never failed to take God seriously. He never failed to do the right thing. He entered not the Courtyard, or the Holy Place or the Most Holy Place. He came before the presence of God in heaven bearing His perfect sinless life to lay it before the Father so that His justice would be satisfied. One infinite life for all of our lives.
Jesus didn't give up some earthly things. He did not sacrifice a little time or effort or money. Earthly sacrifices have their place on earth. Here we are to use the earthly things that God has placed into our lives, use them for the good of those we are entrusted with caring for, use them for our congregation and for our neighbor. There such sacrifices have a place, but they would never do in heaven.
Likewise, our vets have often sacrificed their comfort, their blood and sweat, their dignity, serving, but again those sacrifices have no place in heaven. They are for this earth.
Maybe you have it in your mind that you must somehow make up for your sin. It is in our nature to try to make God happy ourselves. We sin against Him. We don't listen carefully to what He says. we find some pleasure that we would rather worship than God. We open our mouths and say horrible things sometimes rather than loving things, or we keep our mouths shut when we know we ought to be speaking the truth out loud. Maybe you came here today partly as a token sacrifice of your time to appease God, but know this. Even the sacrifices offered in the earthly Temple were also not sufficient. Over and over the blood of animals was spilled, so that the blood would cover sin, but it never lasted. It never paid the full price. It was only a picture of the One who was to come. The Lamb of God. Only He could do what needed to be done.
Jesus sacrificed Himself. As the greatest High Priest, he came bearing the perfect life. "Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many."
What remains now to be sacrificed? Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. His blood is the fountain and source of all life in all blood. His sacrifice was more than enough to pay for every sin. Worth more than all the animals ever sacrificed on Israel's altar. God said, "This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased." God said, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead." This is the meaning of Jesus' words on the cross, "It is finished - paid in full."
Yes, Jesus is the once and for all sacrifice for sin. Every sinner's sins paid for with His blood, but He is not an animal, nor even a man in Adam's image, so that after He had made the sacrifice, Jesus put off death by His divine power on the third day. He did it to show you that He had succeeded for you. He did it to show that death had now power over Him, and so it now has no power over you eternally. That means that we have new lives to live now that are not overshadowed by sin and death. We do not end in the grave. We are not bound for everlasting condemnation in hell. God has accepted Jesus' sacrifice for us, so the life we live, we live to God. Thankful. Yes, one day, death will come for us, but it will not have a grip on us. Rather we will rise to eternal life, and Jesus is the proof.
More than that He isn't staying away forever. This time where He seems not to be here, is the time of faith. This is the time to trust Him at His Word. Did He not breathe on His apostles and say, "Whoever hears you, hears Me. And whoever hears Me, hears Him who sent Me." This is the time to listen to Him when He speaks through the called pastors of His Church. This time He has given us is to share that Word, to call to those who do not yet hear with the powerful Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.
Jesus is returning, and then the judgement of all mankind. Look at your unbelieving neighbor. Recognize that Jesus is waiting, so that your neighbor can hear. Think about what God has given you to share with him or with her. Think about what God has blessed you with so that you can serve them as Jesus served you. Recognize that God will do the talking, and that it may not go according to any sort of timetable you might like. Recognize that there will be opposition and persecution. After all they will treat you as they treated your Savior.
Then recognize that the real veteran is with you. The one who went through death to life for you and returned and is returning again. And recognize that we celebrate the real Memorial Day of this great war on November 1, All Saints' Day. That is where we will be soon, gathered with all whom Jesus has saved. Not there by our own goodness but by His. Then, when this is your vision of your life, then, when you see Christ in heaven for us, gratitude will rule our hearts, not fear. Love will be our rule, not selfishness. Thanks be God. Amen.