This Man

This Man

Hebrews 10:12-14

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

            The epistle to the Hebrews is concerned with the relationship that exists between Old Testament and its revelation of God, and the New Testament and its manifestation of God. The Old Testament revelation of God was dark, and in shadows, by pictures, types, promises, and prophesies. The message of the Old Testament was given over a period of about fifteen hundred years, in different lands, by different prophets, and in different methods “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,” (Hebrews 1:1). God in wonderful condescension spoke to the fallen race of men in the scriptures of the Old Testament, it is in deed wonderful condescension and grace, that God would speak to such as had rebelled against His Sovereign Majesty, and made themselves enemies to their Most Glorious Creator.

           The worship of God under the Old Testament was regulated by the Law God gave to Moses, or that fiery law (Deuteronomy 33:2) that God gave to Moses beginning at Mount Sinai. That Law pictured Christ, in its various ceremonies; for example, the Passover Lamb (Exodus 12:3-10) pictured Christ who is the true Passover for the people of God. For on whomsoever God sees the blood of Christ sprinkled, the conscience of the sinner at rest for the sake of the blood, God will Passover or pardon that sinner. The sinner and his God both look on, and have respect unto the worth of the blood of Christ to put away sin, because it is God’s own blood, shed for the cleansing of sin (Acts 20:28; Revelation 1:5). All the ceremonial Law pictured Christ, and to that end was it given, Christ Jesus is the true substance or the body that cast the shadows (Colossians 2:17) of the Old Testament, so that the key to understanding the Old Testament scriptures, and the worship of God in the ceremonial Law is Christ. Where Christ is not held in view the vail is yet upon the face, (II Corinthians 3:13-16; Isaiah 25:6-8) but when Christ is seen in the reading of the Old Testament all is plain to faith (Luke 24:25-33, 44).

             The Old Testament scriptures began the revelation of God in type and shadow through the law and ceremonies which pictured Christ. In the New Testament, God is manifest in the flesh of a man. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1; 14). John the Baptist (the last of the Old Testament prophets) “bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:15-18) “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (I Timothy 3:16). One of the three Persons of the Godhead, namely God the Son, robed Himself in the flesh of man, in the likeness of sinful flesh, (Romans 8:3) yet without sin, (Hebrews 4:15) and came into our world as one chosen out of the people (Psalm 89:19) and in Him God has revealed Himself (II Corinthians 4:6); God was manifest in the flesh. God the Son came in the person of Jesus Christ and has communicated to us all the truth of the Godhead that created intelligence is capable of receiving in this world and that God is pleased to reveal, given our present state. Oh! What wonderful grace, what unfathomable condescension, that the Lord and King of glory should speak to such as we, and not only so, but that He would be made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, (Hebrews 2: 9) even the death of the cross, (Philippians 2:8) to redeem us to God, by His blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation (Revelation 5:9) that He might bring us to God (I Peter 3:18).

            Christ Jesus, God the Son, bare our sins in his own body on the tree (I Peter 2:24) the blood by which the children of God are redeemed is God’s own blood, for He said to the Ephesian Elders “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28). And by this purchase God provided Himself and offering for sin; as it is written “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:8).         

            “It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”(Hebrews 10:4). The death of a beast could never take away the sin of a man, but the death of the beasts under the Old Testament were only shadows, signs, figures and types of the good things to come under the New (Hebrews 10:1). The New Testament substance (Colossians 2:16-17) that cast the Old Testament shadow is Christ, who, in Himself is the only firm and substantial foundation in things pertaining to God and everlasting salvation; (Isaiah 28:16) and the good things to come, are all the good things that were accomplished through the death of Christ, even as “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him” (Isaiah 53:10). For “He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.” (Psalm 68:20). First and foremost of the things accomplished by the blood shedding and death of Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testaments demands, or the fulfillment of the law and the prophets by Jesus Christ, for, or in the stead of, the children of the everlasting covenant of grace. For it was the children of the covenant only, that had interest in the covenant obligations of Christ, as Surety, Mediator, Prophet, Great High Priest, and King; Christ acted in all His offices for, and in the stead of, the children of the covenant.

      Our Lord Jesus Christ came on mission from His Father to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 3:1); and the Son of God tabernacled, or pitched His tent, or “dwelt among us” (John 1:14; 2:19-21) in a human body, actually in a complete and whole human nature, that is, “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3) or human flesh as it is after the fall of man; all the while Christ remained “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;” (Hebrews 7:26). Christ Jesus destroyed the works of Satan in the nature that Satan had ruined in the fall of Adam. Of the soul and body of Jesus Christ, God required restitution of the honor of his law; for the infractions of His covenant children against His most holy and righteous law. And in the human nature of the children of the covenant, Christ Jesus obeyed the law of God to its jot and tittle, (Matthew 5:17-18). Therefore the children of the covenant have no chargeable sin; because Christ has by Himself purged our sins (Hebrews 1:3) Christ has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, (Galatians 3:13) and to the account of the children of the covenant, God has charged the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. God has imputed the righteousness of Jesus Christ to the children of God. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1), here are two statements; (1.) there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, these cannot be condemned, not now, not ever, no sin can be held against them in the sight of God; and the reason is that all their sins were laid on Jesus Christ, who bore them in His own body on the tree and put them away forever (I Peter 2:24). (2.) The children of God walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Here is the character of the children of God, they are not of the world (John 17:14, 16; I John 3:1) therefore they are not guided and led about by the things of the world, the world is not their chief concern; they must use the things of the world because they are in the world, but the world is not their home or desire, for they seek a city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). (2a.) The children of God walk not after the flesh, that is, The children of God do not seek to be justified by the works of the flesh, that is, by the deeds of the law (Romans 3:20), for they have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3) or in their personal obedience of the Law of God for justification before God. The only righteousness that is desired by the children of God is that, that is in Christ Jesus, “even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:” (Romans 3:22) the children of God agree that all our righteousnesses are filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6) and that “in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18), therefore any righteousness that is in any manner or degree of my own production and held by me as my justifying righteousness, is filthy rags (Philippians 3:8-9; Isaiah 64:6), in my sight and in the sight of God.     

But this man: this one unique and peerless man, is the one and, the only, Savior of sinners, for this Man is God in human flesh “God was manifest in the flesh” (I Timothy 3:16). “And the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14) that is, God the Son was made flesh. God the Son took human flesh into union with Himself. Therefore this Man is God and man in one Person, one Person with two distinct natures, He is the God-Man Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace. It is the infinite exaltation of the Godhead of Jesus Christ that gives infinite efficacy to all He under takes in His own person, as a public representative of the church of God; for “not for himself” (Daniel 9:26) was Messiah cut off; in all that Christ Jesus did in His walk through this world He acted as representative of the people of God. In all that Jesus Christ did, the church of God has a part, every individual member of the church is reckoned of God in union with Christ in all His finished work. Christ Jesus is the appointed substitute and representative for the children of God. It is He who acts in the room and stead of the children of God and in whom the children are accepted (Ephesians 1:6); who has by Himself satisfied the law of God toward all His members (Isaiah 42:1; I Corinthians 12: 12,13,27) having justified them by His blood forever. If these two words (substitution and satisfaction) be properly understood, the gospel may be understood or comprehended. Christ Jesus is the only accepted substitute for sinners, men will stand before an infinitely holy God in the substitute who God has appointed; or in their own person; and if men face God in their own person without the intercession of Christ they must perish to all eternity.

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, the priests of the sons of Aaron offered continually the same sacrifices which were required by the Law of Moses. Those sacrifices could never put away sin (Hebrews 10:4); though those sacrifices were offered continually by order of God in the law; still they could never put away sin; to put away sin was not the purpose of those sacrifices; the purpose of those sacrifices was to point to the one who would forever put away sin, that is Christ Jesus. All the slaughtered Lambs of the Jewish ceremonial law; all the blood poured out, taught  that God requires death in case of sin against His Law, which is sin against God Himself. God requires death in case of sin, God will and must punish sin, for God is holy, just, and true; “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4). Someday we who are now mortals shall possibly understand the heinous evil of sin; now we may know it is an affront to God, an insult against His infinite perfections, a calling to question His wisdom, purpose and rule. Unbelief is horrible sin, for in essence unbelief accuses God of baring false witness. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” (I John 5:10). Unbelief is sin in its deepest dye; unbelief therefore must be punished to all eternity for it is accusation against the truth and holiness of God. Unbelief is a mental attach on the person, purity, truth, goodness, and holiness of God.

The record that God gave of Jesus Christ is “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17; see also Matt. 17:5) and that His Son made one sacrifice for sin forever (Hebrews 10: 12-13). By the sacrifice being offered only once, it is proved that it was of infinite and absolute efficacy, as to it’s purpose and extent (the sacrifice of the Son of God achieved exactly what was intended in the offering) for the person who offered was God and what He offered was Himself (Acts 20:28; with Hebrews 9:26). All who believe the record that God gave of His Son have eternal life, for it is written “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” (I John 5:11). In the Gospel of John it is written, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36). “..The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). God gives a heart and will to believe the gospel (Ezekiel 36:26; Psalm 110:3), by giving of the life that is in His Son (I John 5:11). Our Lord Jesus declared “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my Hand.” (John 10:28). Christ Jesus is the fountain of living waters, His elect are the vessels into which He pours of His life. (Jeremiah 2:13; John 4:10-14).

The life that is in Christ Jesus is the life that He puts in His members by His Spirit; Christ Jesus is the fountain of that life, the elect of God are the vessels wherein He puts of His life. In declaration of this truth Christ Jesus said “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5). Of this union in life the Holy Ghost declares “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:29-32). Of this union in spiritual life it is written “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ…hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” (Ephesians 1: 17 with Eph. 1:22-23). The union of Christ and His people is from everlasting to everlasting and can never change, for it is in God, as it is written “And ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” (I Corinthians 3:23) so also “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (John 14:19-20). Our Lord Jesus Christ purchased with His own precious blood those who have had union with Him from everlasting, the union is according to the stipulations of the everlasting covenant of grace, which is between the Father, and the Word, and the Holy Ghost. (I John 5:7; Hebrews 13:20). “And every priest (of the sons of Aaron) standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;”(Hebrews 10:11-12).

            “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God:” The fact that Christ Jesus sat down on the right hand of God demonstrates very many wonderful things:

(1.) Christ Jesus has fulfilled the law and the prophets for the children of God (Matthew 5:17-18; Daniel 9:26); He has magnified the law and made it honorable (Isaiah 42:21), therefore:   God is reconciled through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for ever (II Corinthians 5:18-19; Hebrews 10:10). The God of truth called for the sword of justice (Zechariah 13:7) and with fury poured out, (Isaiah 27:4) buried the length of its sharp, two edged shaft into the human nature of our Lord Jesus Christ; mitigating nothing of His wrath against the sin of His elect, for it was the sin of the children of the covenant that Christ Jesus bare in His own body on the tree (I Peter 2:24).

(2.) God now rests in the accomplished death of our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 9:31). Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the appointed Head, Representative, and Substitute for the children of the covenant; died, that death which the law of God had pronounced and demanded against sin. Christ Jesus died as the accursed one of the law of God (Galatians 3:13); He endured the curse, because the Lord had laid on Him the iniquity of all the children of God (Isaiah 53:6). All the sin of each and every member of the church of God was imputed to Jesus Christ as Man and Mediator of the covenant of grace, the sin of His people was made to meet on Him, and He, with no complaint died under the stroke of vengeance in the stead of His people. The integrity of the law of God is unchallenged; for the law demanded death in case of sin, and all for whom Christ died, have died in Him, and the law demanded strict obedience, and all who are Christ’s have obeyed the law of God in Him.

(3.) God is now, the “God of peace” (Hebrews 13:20) for Christ “is our peace, who hath made both (Jew and Gentile) one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us:” (the Old Testament Law) (Ephesians 2:14) “having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20) “having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace;” (Ephesians 2:15). In the human nature of Jesus Christ, God punished sin once forever; all the fury, wrath, and vengeance of an angry and ineffably Holy God was poured out on Jesus Christ who is the sinners substitute; Christ Jesus bore the sin of His elect in His own body on the tree and satisfied the justice of God toward the children of the covenant forever (I Peter 2:24).      

(4.) Gods justice stood opposed to the free exercise of the love of God toward the children of the covenant. The love of God for His children was never diminished, for He changes not (Malachi 3:6); but His justice called for the sword of truth and vengeance against the sin of His elect. The elect had been sanctified or set apart in Jesus Christ from everlasting, (Jude 1; I Corinthians 1:2; compare with Exodus 13:2 and Ex. 13:12 where it is shown that the primary meaning of “sanctify” is to “set apart”) where in union with Christ; God had kept them. In the fall of Adam, the children of the covenant were brought into the ruin of the fall with all the race of natural men, but because God had before the foundation of the world sanctified the elect in Christ Jesus, the sword of justice was plunged into the human nature of the surety of the children. Christ Jesus answered the furious, vengeful demands of the justice of God, in His bloody, violent, and shameful death at Calvary. As the cursed one, Christ Jesus died in the stead of His chosen people, Christ Jesus laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:14-15); He has “delivered us from the wrath to come” (I Thessalonians 1:10); Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:13). Therefore God has said “I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.” (Hosea 14:4). “I will love them freely, that is; without a cause in them, the cause is to be found in the sovereign good will and pleasure of God Himself.

(5.) There will never be another sacrifice for sin; the sin debt of the children of the covenant has been paid in full forever (Hebrews 9:24-28) there remains nothing to be done, the work of redemption is finished (John 17:4; 19:30) Christ Jesus has crushed the serpents head, ruined his power and government forever (Genesis 3:15; Hebrews 2: 14; I John 3:8). The Man Christ Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God, and He has prayed the Father and the Father has sent forth the Holy Ghost to gather the elect and redeemed children of the covenant from among men (John 14:16).

(6.) The glory of the grace, mercy, and redemptive character of God is manifest in God giving His only begotten Son for sinners. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (I Timothy 1:15). The first cause in all that God does is the manifestation of His Glory; what a wonderful comfort this is to the children of God; that the Father is glorified in His election of His children to eternal life, and that the Son is glorified in His redemption of those given Him of the Father, and that the Holy Ghost is glorified in His regenerating work in the children of the covenant.

(7.) The resurrection, ascension, and cession of the Man Christ Jesus is proof positive that the sins of the Children of God is put away forever. That God is perfectly pleased with the finished work of Christ in putting away the sins of His people, and that God fully accepts those who are in vital union with Christ as one with and in Him. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6). We know that God is satisfied completely with the children of the covenant in Jesus Christ, for God Has accepted Jesus Christ and all His members as one with Him, therefore the immutable stability of the Jesus in His exalted position at the right hand of God, is the assurance of the same immutable stability of all His members (I Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30).

            “From hence forth expecting till his enemies be made his foot stool.”  Heb. 10:13. The children of God in themselves, before regeneration, and by the birth nature, are enemies of God and His Christ (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21). But these are by grace, to be made friends, they are to be shown their standing in Christ as covenant children of God and heirs according to the promise of God. For, “all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isaiah 54:13) And the final place of the children of God is to sit down with Christ Jesus in His throne, for Christ Jesus has said “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 3:21).

The enemies here intended are all antichrists of all ages, and of what ever sort for there are many. “He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” (I John 2:22). Those who deny the sovereignty of God in salvation and reprobation, of necessity, deny also, the God who is sovereign in salvation and in reprobation; these detest the idea of the God who according to His own good will and pleasure chooses one and passes by another. And this is precisely what the God of the Bible has said about Himself. For he said to Moses “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy.” (Exodus 33:19) In these words the God who has revealed Himself in the Bible and who has declared Himself in our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:18); has emphatically declared His right to absolute sovereignty over all His creation, and that He also exercises His absolute sovereignty. God’s glory is His goodness, and His goodness is shown in His choosing some from fallen and ruined creatures to eternal life in Christ Jesus; about whom, the God of truth has this to say “there is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18). It is from this group of ruined creatures, that the God of all mercy and grace has called His elected ones to everlasting glory in Jesus Christ. Oh! What wonderful mercy, that the race was not instantly plunged into the everlasting burnings when our natural federal head sinned against God.

The enemies here intended, no doubt include the religious leaders of that day, and may I add; that it is the same in this day, for it is pastor smooth sayings; that attains and holds the large congregations, and this is their aim for their words picture their heart, for they say “if you preach the doctrine of the scriptures you will not hold a congregation. But the faithful minister of the gospel is content to preach the word of God faithfully and wait for the Holy Ghost to call whom He will by the preaching of the gospel.

Whether the enemies here intended are religious, or profane they are to be made the foot stool of Christ. For our Lord Jesus said “Not everyone that saith unto to me , Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:21-23). All the religious works of these religious people were works of iniquity, they used the words that are found in the scriptures, and attended church services during their life on earth; but the Jesus they heard their pastor preach was “another Jesus” (II Corinthians 11:4), who is the “want to be savior” of “another gospel “ (Galatians 1:6).

For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those who our Lord Jesus has perfected are the sanctified; these sanctified ones are those who the Father chose to salvation (II Thessalonians 2:13) in eternity past and set apart (sanctified, Jude 1; I Corinthians 1:2) in Christ Jesus to the end that they would be, in time, perfected in Christ; by His life of perfect obedience to the law of God (Matthew 5:17-18) and His sufferings and death, which is His one offering, only once offered, verse fourteen.  These sanctified ones are the elect of God from eternity past, Christ Jesus is their sanctification (I Corinthians 1:30) for they are set apart in Christ, in covenant union in Christ; from all eternity, therefore before they fell in Adam they were sanctified in Jesus Christ. And because Christ Jesus is the Surety of the covenant (Hebrews 7:22) the sin of the elect was charged to God’s Christ, (Isaiah 53:6; II Corinthians 5:21: Galatians 3:13; I Peter 2:24) who stood as a Lamb as it had been newly slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 5:6; 13:8). In time the Holy Ghost regenerates the elect through the preached word (Romans 10:14-17; I Peter 1:23; John 6:63; Philippians 2:16). By the preaching of the gospel the Holy Ghost puts His laws in the minds, and writes them in the hearts of those who our Lord Jesus redeemed at Calvary (Revelation 5:9). “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain.” (James 5:7). Therefore “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” (Hebrews 10:23). “And  therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” (Isaiah 30:18). 

A.J. Ison