¹¹ Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; ¹² but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God…

The recurring theme throughout the letter to the Hebrews is the contrast between Christ and the Law. Here we find another summary statement, and again the conclusion ought to be obvious. Christ is superior!

We have already noted that the priest of the Mosaic Law functions within what is called the Levitical system. All Israel was ingrained with the notion that the priests presented the sacrifices to God which had been brought by the people. Their work was never done, but repeated time after time. Even in the Atonement offering, the work was repeated every year. To miss a year or to simply stop making those offerings would have been unthinkable.

The nature of these sacrifices, in themselves, point to the ineffectiveness of them. To be sure they were commanded by God, but they could not do what the people needed from them, namely to “take away sins.” They were, instead, a vivid reminder, always before the people that they were sinners. What a contrast to the Lord’s Supper, which Christians are instructed to repeat, but not as a reminder of our sinfulness, but rather a reminder of His once-for-all sacrifice that has, indeed, taken away our sins.

The writer alludes again to Psalm 110, when he writes, “He …sat down at the right hand of God…” In fact, this image of Christ with God is repeated often in the New Testament (see Matt 26:64; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2). Many have observed that there was no chair in the tabernacle where the priest offered the sacrifices, pointing to the idea that their work was never finished. Yet it is emphasized that Christ sat down after His once-for-all-sacrifice, further emphasizing the completeness and finality of what He did. The Lord will never arise from the throne to make Himself an offering again. “It is finished,” was His cry from the cross (John 19:30).

We could never write about this enough; we need to continually stress this truth. That is one big reason why the Lord commanded us to remember Him in the breaking of bread. That is why we categorically and strenuously disagree with those who teach today that the priest in the church repeatedly offers up Christ, re-sacrificing Him for the sins of the people. This flies in the face of the book of Hebrews. We underline the wonderful truth that Christ died once for all (Heb 7:27), He entered the heavenly Holy Place once for all (Heb 9:12), and we have been sanctified once for all (Heb 10:10) through His sacrifice.

Lord, once for all, I was saved by the sacrifice of Your Son. All praise to You.