… When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high …

Sin in the Old Testament is seen as something which makes a person “unclean” and the solution, then, is for the person to be purified or cleansed from that uncleanness. The imagery is a poignant one. Of course, this is talking about spiritual uncleanness. God is pure, absolutely holy, and we are not. In fact, the English word unclean occurs 219 times in the Bible. Indeed, the basic problem we have as human beings is ubiquity of sin, and therefore, the imagery that we are all unclean, in need of a washing, a purification, a cleaning.

David, the man after God’s heart, requested, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:2). God promised through Jeremiah, “I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me” (Jer 33:8). And it was in Jesus that God fulfilled His promise when He “made purification of sins.”

Imagine not taking a bath for a week, and becoming grimy and dirty, hair getting greasy, dirt under the finger nails, the accumulation of filth picked up in daily living and not washing your hands. Then, imagine taking a long, warm shower with scented cleansers. Jesus has washed us, removing all the spiritual grime and filth with His cleansing power of grace. We are now clean, those of us who have trusted Christ as Savior. Sin and judgment have been washed away.

Our passage then tells us that this purification is a one time deal. Jesus sat down after it took place. Three times in this book of Hebrews, Jesus is said to have “sat down” (see Hebrews 10:12, 12:2, also 8:1) and the idea is that the work is finished. In the Mosaic Law, the work of the priest was never finished, our verse here being a sneak preview of what is emphasized later in the book of Hebrews.

The work of cleansing has been provided, once for all—but the application of it awaits confession in the individual. Scripture tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Just as Jesus sat down when after providing the cleansing, we too, must sit down in the sense of resting from our spiritual efforts to make ourselves clean. Faith means accepting that He has made us clean.

Lord, I was once wallowing in my spiritual filth and stench, but You have made me absolutely clean. I can’t thank You enough.