Christ Had Offered
For All Time
A Single
Sacrifice For Sins
When he said above, “You have neither
desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and
sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “See, I
have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the
second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest stands day after day
at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never
take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for
sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting
“until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single
offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy
Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, “This is the covenant that I
will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in
their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” he also adds, “I will
remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” When there is forgiveness
of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
The continual sacrifices made by the
priests since the time of Moses could never change anyone’s sinful standing
before God. But the one-time sacrifice of Christ on the cross – the sinless One
dying for the sinful – perfected us forever in the eyes of God. Jesus’ once-for-all
payment for our sins was sufficient.
We are perfected forever to stand
before God because of the perfect work accomplished by Jesus on the cross. This
is the assurance of our salvation. God is the perfect judge, and He can declare
the guilty perfect.
Our Daily
Bread – January 20, 2007