◄ What Does Hebrews 7:22 Mean? ►

As Church age believers, we rejoice that Jesus is our Saviour Who redeemed us from the irreversible penalty of sin and its enslaving power over us, by His amazing grace. We have been justified in God's sight because we placed our faith in Christ. The penalty for our sin was paid in full, because we trusted Christ's sacrificial work on the Cross as the propitiation for our sins.

How we rejoice that the wages of sin have been paid in full by Christ on our behalf, and we have been declared righteous in His sight. How we rejoice that we are clothed in Christ's righteousness and become new creatures in Him.

As Church age believers, we understand that we are not under the Law, but under grace. The Law was given to Israel to point them (and us) to Christ - the promised Saviour. The perfect Law of God was a daily reminder to Israel that every man is a sinner in need of a Saviour. Because every man falls short of the glory of God and His perfect righteousness, Christ Jesus came to fulfil the Law on behalf of fallen man so that whosoever believes on Him will not remain under condemnation and perish but will receive abundant, everlasting life.

However, it was very difficult for Jewish Christians in those early days of the Church, to understand the full implications of Christ's sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection. They had to realise that Christ fulfilled the whole Law on our behalf. They had to understand that in Him, we have been set free from the curse of the Law. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by being made a curse for us. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life to all who believe that Christ died for our sin according to the Scripture and was raised from the dead according to God's written Word.

It was hard for Jews in the first century Church to grasp that the Mosaic covenant, which their forefathers had followed for many centuries, had been superseded and surpassed by a new and better covenant, the covenant about which Jeremiah and other Old Testament prophets had spoken. Many Jewish believers found it very hard to accept that the new covenant in Christ's blood had superseded the old covenant given at Sinai, and which was a shadow of things to come.

The book of Hebrews was written in the early days of Christianity to teach Jews that Jesus Christ was the One about Whom their Scriptures spoke. It was written to show that the old covenant could not save. It could only highlight our sinfulness and our need of a Saviour. Hebrews was written to bring believers into a deeper understanding of God's unfolding plan of redemption and into a realisation that Jesus was God's prophet (like Moses), God's King (like David), and God's High Priest after the heavenly order of Melchizedek (and not after the earthly order of Levi and Aaron).

Only a perfect Man could redeem fallen humanity from the deadly consequences of our sin but only God Himself was good enough to pay the price for sin. And so God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, into the world, clothed in human flesh to live a perfect life and die the sacrificial death that would satisfy God's wrath against the sin of fallen humanity and guarantee eternal life to all who would believe.

We were dead in our sins and at enmity with God, and the sacrificial offerings of the old covenant covered the sins of fallen men for a time, but could not remove them. Christ's sinless life and the shedding of His blood was the one, only, and perfect sacrificial offering which He made on our account and qualified Him to become the guarantee of a better covenant, as promised by God in the Old Testament. 

The glorious truth that Hebrews reveals to Jew and Gentile alike, is that forgiveness of our sin and God's amazing gift of salvation to all who believe in Him, does not depend on what WE do but on what CHRIST did on our behalf. Jesus is our surety. He, Himself is the guarantee of a better covenant to all who believe. 

Heavenly Father, how I rejoice to know that Jesus became the guarantee of our great salvation, through a better covenant that was cut at Calvary when He became sin for us and willingly sacrificed His own, perfect life on the Cross. Thank You that Jesus is the greatest Prophet of God and will one day reign on earth as King of kings and Lord of Lords. And thank You that today He is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us as our Great High Priest. Keep me ever mindful of all that Christ has done for me, and may I live my life for His honour and glory. This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.