ONCE AND FOREVER.
Hebrews 10: 11-14 And every priest indeed stood day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, those which could never take away sins: But He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet. For by one offering He had perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Continuing with the EIGHTH SECTION
Hebrews 10: 1-18.
The New Way into the Holiest.
BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY
In the last verses of chapter 8, where the Eternal Priesthood of Jesus had been set forth, He was spoken of as one who need not daily to offer, for this He did Once for all, when He offered up Himself--- a Son, perfected Forevermore. And so in chapter 9, with its teaching of the efficacy of His Blood, we had the thought repeated, Christ entered in Once for all. Not that He should offer Himself often, else must He have often suffered; now once had He been manifested; Christ once offered shall appear a second time. The contrast is put as strongly as possible between the sacrifices ever repeated, and the offering of Christ Once for all. So, too, in the beginning of our chapter the impotence of the sacrifices year by year continually is proved from the fact, that the conscience once cleansed would need no new sacrifice; as a fact, they only renewed the remembrance of sins. And now, in the concluding verses of the argument, the thought is summed up and pressed home anew. The priest stood day by day offering oftentimes; Christ offered one sacrifice forever. By one offering He had perfected forever them that are sanctified. The Once of Christ's work is the secret of its being forever: the more clear the acceptance of that Divine Once for all, the more sure the experience of that Divine forever, the continually abiding working of the Authority and power of the Endless Life.
Once and Forever: see how the two go together in the work of Christ in its two principal manifestations. In His death, His Sacrifice, His Blood-shedding, it is Once for all. The propitiation for sin, the bearing and the putting away of it, was so complete that of His Suffering again, or offering Himself again, there never can be any thought. God now remembers the sin no more forever. He has offered one Sacrifice forever; He has Perfected us forever. No less is it so in His resurrection and ascension into Heaven. He entered Once for all through His Blood into the Holiest. When He had offered one Sacrifice forever, He sat down on the right hand of God. The once for all of His death is the secret of the forever of the power of His Sacrifice. The once for all of His entering through the Blood, the power of the forever of His sitting on the Throne.
What is true of Christ is true of His people (the mystery Israel of God and the apple of His eye, those who live by trusting in His Faithfulness emphasis added). The Law of His Life is the Law of theirs. Of the Once for all and the Forever of His work on earth and in Heaven, their lives and spiritual experience will feel the power and bear the mark. See it in conversion. How many have struggled for years in doubt and fear, simply because they did not apprehend the once for all of Christ's atonement. They could not understand how it was possible for a sinner once for all to receive and then believe and be saved. No sooner was it made plain to them that the punishment was borne, that the debt was paid, once for all, all becomes clear and they counted it their duty and joy at once to receive and accept what was so finished and so sure. And they could see, too, how the once was forever--- the Authority and power of the Endless Life bearing them on into the forever of God's presence.
And no otherwise is it with the believers entering within the veil, into a life of unclouded and unbroken intimacy with its accompanying fellowship. We saw in Christ's work the two manifestations of the once and the forever. It was not only in the death and Blood-shedding, but in the entering into the Holiest and the Blood-sprinkling in Heaven. To many it appears at variance with all the laws of growth and development, that there should be a once for all of an entrance within the veil. And yet there are witnesses not a few who can testify that when the once of Christ's entering in was revealed in its infinite power as theirs, all doubts vanished, and not only Boldness but the Authority and power of access was given, which brought them into an experience of the Eternal and unchanging power of the Heavenly Priesthood, and of the Kingdom within as set up and kept by the Holy Spirit, which they never had thought of. And that once was followed by the forever of the continually abiding, which the Priesthood of Jesus was and is meant to secure.
But He, when He had offered one Sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet. We have said before, the Epistle would fill us with the thought of a Heavenly Christ; nothing less than the Knowledge of that can enable us to live as the partakers of a Heavenly calling. Let us fix our eyes here again upon Christ as Lord and Priest- King. The once of Sacrifice and death issues in the forever of the nearness and the Authority with its power of God. The once of our entrance into the death of Christ and His life, brings us back to the intimacy and fellowship with Christ in the Love the Authority and power of the Father in Heaven. His forever is one of Victory, and of the Blessed expectation of its full manifestation in the subjugation of every enemy. Our life within the veil may be one too of possession and expectation combined; the enjoyment of the overcoming life, with the going on from strength to strength in the Victory over every foe. Between these two pillars--- on the one hand, this ONCE FOR ALL, on the other this FOREVER, the Way into the Holiest passes and brings us to the Throne of God and of the Lamb.
1. The time when the long and patient preparation was perfected in this once for all was in God's hands. Christ waited on the Father. Even so, our full participation in it is not something we can count a thing to be grasped; in the faith of it we bide God's time, seeking each day to live in a redemption that is perfected and eternal. Through faith and longsuffering we inherit the promises.
2. Once for all. That covers my past completely--- my past not only of guilt and shame, but of sin with all its consequences. Forever. That covers my future, with all its possible needs. Between these two, in the present moment, the Now of daily life, I am saved with an everlasting Salvation; the To-day--- of the Eternal Spirit, even as the Holy Ghost said, To-day--- mates the Once and the forever a daily present reality.
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