Destined To Die Once, And After That To Face Judgment

Hebrews 9:27-28 - And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.


2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Application:

· I will die once as a consequence of sin. I will face judgment after death. Christ has brought me salvation from sin and judgment.
· The extent to which I please Christ corresponds to the measure of the rewards I will receive
· The clear anticipation of Christ’s return calls me to perseverance

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Presence

Hebrews 9:24-28 - For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.


Romans 8:34 - Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Hebrews 4:3 - For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Application:

· I can rejoice with the certainty that I will never be condemned
· The rest God calls me to enter is not my rest but His rest, which He invites me to share
· The clear anticipation of Christ’s return calls me to perseverance

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Copies Of The Heavenly Things

Hebrews 9:19-23 - For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.


Exodus 24:8 - And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Leviticus 17:11 - For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

Hebrews 8:5 - They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”

Application:

· Only after I agree to obey the Lord can I participate in His covenant with Him
· Atonement is a gracious gift. Atonement ransoms my life from the deserved judgment of the Lord
· Christ entered with His own blood the sanctuary of God’s presence

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Will

Hebrews 9:15-18 - Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.


Exodus 24:8 - And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Application:

· Since Christ’s death has been duly attested, the promised eternal inheritance is available to me
· The payment of sin’s penalty requires a death
· Only after I agree to obey the Lord can I participate in His covenant with Him

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Already Here

Hebrews 9:11-14,27-28 - But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God…And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.


Hebrews 10:1 - For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Application:

· Christ introduced the new order with its new priesthood, new sanctuary and new sacrifice
· Christ brought salvation, in all its glorious fullness, for me on the cross
· Christ was the one who offered the sacrifice, and He was the sacrifice itself

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

The Way

Hebrews 9:8-10 - By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.


John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Hebrews 10:1 - For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

Application:

· Jesus is the only way to God, and He alone can provide access to God
· The very repetition of the sacrifices bore testimony that the perfect, sin-removing sacrifice had not yet been offered
· Christ introduced the new order with its new priesthood, new sanctuary and new sacrifice

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Cherubim Of The Glory

Hebrews 9:5-7 - Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.


Exodus 25:17 - “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

Leviticus 16:1-2,34 - The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat…And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Application:

· Atonement is an act of grace where God makes those who were once alienated from Him now one with Him. That God’s throne is capped with this signifies His great mercy
· The word for atonement cover is the same word used of Christ
· The Israelites had to make atonement annually. Christ became my atonement once and forever.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV