Hebrews 9:24-28 [Last Judgment—CWS B]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
November 11, 2018
In the name of Jesus Christ, the Judge of all people, dear friends, The last day. We like last days, don’t we? Students are already looking forward to the last day of school and exams before Christmas. That last day brings an end to the stress and schedule of school. Some have a target date set for retirement—the last day of work after a long career—freedom! If you plan a vacation, you’re looking forward to the end of the busyness of that last day before you leave, because then you can relax, put your head on the pillow, and anticipate the joy of vacation. These “last days” are the kind of days that you mark on your calendar! The Last Day—the real Last Day of this world—is one that Christians look forward to with anticipation because that day will bring an end to our stress in this world. It will bring freedom from sin. It will begin an eternity of joy with God. You and I can’t look forward to that day by marking a date on the calendar, however. Judgment Day, the Last Day, the Day of Resurrection—whatever you want to call it—is the day that Jesus Christ will come again. And I promise you, CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN! I don’t know if your Bible has this, but in the Bible I like to use there is a kind of introduction section before each book of the Bible. It helps to tell you things like who wrote the book and who received it first and when it may have been written and any special circumstances surrounding the writing of it. Usually there is an outline of the book too. Well, in good introductions to the book of Hebrews, you would find that we don’t really know who wrote it, although that doesn’t stop some from saying it was Paul or Barnabas or Apollos. Most believe that, considering the content, it was written to Jewish converts to Christianity who lived in Rome prior to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and that these Christians were, because of pressure and persecution, sliding back into Old Testament ways and laws. This was harmful to their faith because in doing so, they were “undoing” what Jesus had done for them—in a way. The author’s intent is to show that Jesus is better than all of those Old Testament things that were intended only to point to the promised Savior and that salvation comes through faith in what Christ has done and not by observance of God’s law. The author does that by drawing on Old Testament pictures of worship life. There are two pictures like that in our lesson today. The first one is this: For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. To put it simply, Jesus’ going into heaven is better than going into the tabernacle or the temple. A house of worship is wonderful—we appreciate that we can come to ours each week, but for those people, going to God’s house or someone seeing the high priest go into the Most Holy Place in that temple doesn’t compare to—by faith—“seeing” Jesus go into heaven!
A temple or a church is only a “copy” of heaven, the writer says. Jesus did a lot more than go to church; he went directly into heaven after he laid down his life here and then rose victorious over death. There in heaven, he is at his Father’s side and rules over all things. These people were forgetting what Jesus had done and what his ascension meant. They needed the reminder that heaven is better than their church building and that Jesus is better than their priests! They were losing their focus on Christ and sliding back into their old ways of doing things—returning to pre-Christ, temple worship and ways. This was so dangerous because they would forfeit salvation in Christ by doing so! The second Old Testament thing through which God intended to point the people to their Savior, but which was now causing them trouble, is found in most of the rest of the lesson today: Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many. Do you see what he’s saying? Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is better than the Old Testament sacrifices brought by the people and offered by the priests. The people were used to bringing a sacrifice as an offering to God. The priests were used to making those sacrifices for the people. They knew that the high priest would go into the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, once a year to sprinkle the blood of animals on the Ark of the Covenant. That happened on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But Jesus’ sacrifice was better than all that! Now you may hear all this and say “Of course, heaven is better than the temple and of course Jesus’ sacrifice is better than any animal sacrifice by any priest!” But maybe we do something that is kind of like their sin of sliding back into old ways that neglect Jesus and what he has done. What if a new Christian—or a long-time one for that matter—just doesn’t “feel” forgiven? Have you ever felt that way? What if you or someone else feels so bad about their sin that they have determined they’ve got to make it up to God somehow, that they’re going to do some especially good things to make up for the bad things. That’s nothing more than a sacrifice to pay for sin, right? And God doesn’t work that way. You and I can’t make up for our own sin. The truth is in the text: Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many. And could it ever happen that we love the beautiful church building we have and love the whole busyness of a Sunday morning and maybe really get into serving (however we do that), but all the while we’re forgetting that this is about Christ and his glory? This isn’t just a something we do, a routine, a good habit even—we do all of these things to focus on Jesus and heaven! Everything here is only a copy of heaven; it’s not the real thing! We want to focus on the real thing!
Oh, we can sin and backslide and misunderstand or forget just as those people did! Thank Jesus that he did come the first time to pay the price for sin—ours and everyone’s! That’s a done deal; Jesus did it—the life, the death, the rising from the dead, and the ascension—all to take away our sin. Forgiveness has been won! The impossibility of eternal life for sinful people is now possible! I can tell you this for sure: Jesus did everything necessary to take away our sin and give us the confidence of heaven when he came the first time. So when I tell you that CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN, it’s not to re-do what he has done, but to bring the salvation he has won! That’s what God says right here: and (Jesus) will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. All the Old Testament sacrifices could not pay the price for sin and bring salvation. They had to be repeated day in and day out for thousands of years to admit sin and express a trust in the forgiveness that the Messiah would bring. But when Jesus bore the sin of the whole world it was a one-time sacrifice that did pay for the world’s sin. There is something in regard to this that I hear Christians say and some churches teach which really disappoints me. Maybe you’ve heard this too. They say that Jesus died for all who will believe. But God says in his Word that Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world—for all people. So complete was Christ work, so effective his sacrifice, that all sins of all time of all people have been paid for. But the truth in these words today stands beside that truth—the benefits of Christ’s work are applied only to those who believe. Only those who trust in what Jesus did and look to him as their only Savior from sin—only they will receive the blessing of eternal life in heaven with their God. That’s what it says in the last verse: Jesus will bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. A lawyer was defending his client who was accused of theft. It wasn’t going well, so the lawyer attempted a more creative defense. “All my client did was insert his arm across the counter and into the cash register and remove a small sum of money. As a matter of fact, it was just his arm that committed this crime. My client’s arm can hardly be seen as my client. I don’t understand how you can punish the entire individual for a crime that was committed by a single limb.” The judge saw through the flimsy defense immediately and answered the lawyer: “You have stated the dilemma well. So by using your line of reasoning, I will sentence only the defendant’s arm to one year of imprisonment. As a courtesy to the defendant, he may either accompany his arm or he may not, as he chooses.” After handing down the sentence, the judge sat back in his chair with a smug smile on his face. He had played along with the lawyer’s defense, but had still outsmarted him. The defendant and the lawyer smiled as well. With the assistance of his lawyer, the defendant detached his artificial arm, laid the criminal limb on the bench, and left the courtroom a free man.
Nothing like that could ever happen when facing the Judge of all mankind. There is no wiggling out of justice, no clever explanations allowed, no way to trick or deceive Jesus Christ in the final courtroom. The perfect Judge will judge righteously and perfectly and it will come down to only one thing that determines the guilt or innocence of every person—did they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior? In his gospel, Mark puts it so simply: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (16:16). It is tragic that so many reject Christ now and will only realize that he truly is Lord and Savior at the Day of Judgment when it is too late. For all eternity they will know the truth of Jesus’ love and how they refused to believe it and they will live apart from that love forever. You and I could not possibly want that for anyone. We want no one to hear from the Judge: Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). If you are a Christian and you know the truth of Judgment Day, how can you not say something about Jesus and his love to people you know who need to hear it? We want others to have what we have, don’t we? We want friends and family, neighbors and coworkers, to be able to look forward to that Last Day like we do—with excitement and anticipation! Judgment Day doesn’t scare us! It will be a great and glorious Day of Resurrection. Our salvation is secure because Christ has done all that is necessary for it. Our hope is in Him and we look forward to hearing him say to us and to all who believe: Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world (Matt. 25:34). On that day the door on this earthly life will be closed and the door to an amazing future with our God and all believers will be opened. No, you can’t mark that date on the calendar, but you can look forward to it just the same by joyfully anticipating CHRIST COMING AGAIN and sharing that good news with others. May it give you comfort and peace and a message to share. CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN! Not to re-do what he has done, but to bring the salvation he has won. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.