Once and for All

The New Covenant results from the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus and his superior priesthood 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 resulting Priestly Office. He has “achieved the purification of sins” that no animal sacrifice or priestly predecessor ever could.

[Photo by Samuel Ferrara on Unsplash]

Jesus now intercedes continually for us as our Faithful and Sympathetic High Priest. His sacrifice dealt with our sins “once-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 where God commanded the Messiah:

• “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. Henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet” – (Hebrews 10:12-13).

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

Psalm 110 is the primary text of the Letter for establishing the “better” priesthood of Jesus, emphasizing his appointment as the High Priest of his people. 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. His one-time 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 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 sacrifices 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-for-all sacrifice and his endless resurrection life. Therefore, Jesus holds the priesthood “unchangeable,” it is “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:

• “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 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 since we now benefit from the Sacrifice and Priesthood of the Son of God would be foolhardy in the extreme. We would risk suffering eternal consequences for such an offense against the Son of God.

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SEE ALSO:

• 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)

• Then He Sat Down - (Jesus is the Son whom God appointed as our merciful and faithful High Priest after his suffering, death, and resurrection)

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

• Sacrifice 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)