Jesus Will Welcome Us Home
There’s an important assumption in our text today that goes against the grain of what the world around us would like you to think. God says in Hebrews 9:27,
“it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment.”
The default trajectory of sinners is not heaven. That trajectory is not ‘resting in peace’ or reincarnation or purgatory or fading into nothing, as those who reject an afterlife would like to believe. Our passage teaches that the default trajectory for sinners is judgment.
Starting with Adam, every one of us has sinned against God. We have rejected God in order to be our own Gods. And in doing so we have committed the highest act of treason against the most holy being. Doing so puts us in the camp of “children of Wrath like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2). That’s the fundamental problem that our sin creates for us and the Bible makes clear that it’s a much bigger problem than we like to think.
From Genesis 3 and on, the whole storyline of the Bible unfolds the solution of how God deals with our sin problem: How do we get back to the way things were in the Garden of Eden before our sin? How can we once again dwell in the presence of a holy God, without being destroyed for our sin? How do we rid ourselves of guilt? These are the questions that our text in Hebrews 9 sets out to explain. So let’s pray and then we’ll jump into our text.
Father your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Thank you for speaking your truth to us. Thank you that every word in this book is breathed out by you and is profitable for us. Help us receive it, and be changed by it. Let it reorient our hearts to long for and to trust in Jesus. I pray this in Christ’s precious name. Amen.
Turn with me to Hebrews 9 verse 23:
“Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”
Right away the author points us back to old covenant sacrifices, so to set the stage for our text, we need to first remember the Day of atonement. The major thing that you and I have in common with the Israelites (the Hebrews) is our sin problem. And although they too had the same tendency to underestimate their sin, it was actually quite a bit more difficult for them to ignore it. Not only did they have their conscience and the law reminding them of their sinfulness. But also, they could literally smell it. Blood and guts and the smell of burning flesh were a constant reminder of the ugliness and the seriousness of their sin. They knew that sin was the reason for the sacrificial system. It was why millions of animals had to be slaughtered by the priests as sacrifices. Day after day, year after year, generation after generation. And at the very heart of this sacrificial system was the day of atonement.
This was a day like none other. It was an especially important and sobering day. The whole nation would fast and prepare for this day, when the high priest would sacrifice a bull and a goat for his own sins and for the sins of the nation over the past year. He would then take some of the blood from the sacrifice and enter into the most holy place on earth: inside the tabernacle - modeled after heaven itself - and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice in the presence of God. That is how he made purification for their sin. What he was essentially doing was “cleaning up the mess” they had made through their sins that year. It was like an annual reset.
It’s kind of like if you were to get into such terrible credit card debt - that you need someone else, a donor to come every month and pay your monthly minimum interest payments just to keep the debt collector away until an actual solution for your debt is found.
That’s similar to what the priests did on behalf of the people every year with the sacrifices, and it was a constant reminder of their sins not dealt with. The old covenant’s Day of Atonement is the backdrop against which we see the better, new covenant counterpart: in Christ’s work for us, as our high priest.
So if you’re looking for an outline, the way we’ll trace that in our text this morning is by paying attention to the word “appear.” It shows up 3 times in our text, and it will highlight the main points in our passage. And the first point is:
1. Jesus now appears – in heaven for us
Verse 24,
“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”
The first difference between Christ’s high priesthood and the old priesthood is it’s location. The old covenant priests served in a tent on earth that mimicked the throne-room of God in heaven. They served in a copy of the real thing.
No high priest (who entered the most holy place) ever looked around the tent and thought to himself: this is it, we’ve made it home. This is the place of eternal rest that we are all longing to return to.
No. This sinful priest was in a tent on earth, cleaning up the mess for another sinful year, he was probably wondering when is the messiah going to come? Will this have to go on forever?
There was nothing permanent about it. It was a tent. A tent is not your home, it’s what you go camping in, temporarily. It was a temporary copy meant to point them to a future reality and it’s location on earth was a reminder of that.
But in the new covenant, our high priest, Jesus, entered a better place. He ascended into heaven itself. He entered the actual throneroom of God and he sat down (as we saw back in Hebrews 1). This was the final destination, and it’s finality is made clear in the words “now to appear.” (Christ entered (past tense) into heaven itself, now to appear (present tense) in the presence of God on our behalf. Our high priest entered heaven itself and has not left.
Right now, at this very moment, there is a real man (with a real body) in the unrestricted presence of God in heaven - but more than that… he is there for you. That’s what priests do, they mediate, they represent someone else.
Jesus had already been in the presence of God for eternity before becoming a man. But when he rose and ascended into heaven to appear before God, he did so as our high priest. He did it for you and me. In John 14:3, right before the ascension, Jesus assures his disciples: I go and prepare a place for you … that you also may be where I am.
It’s like a refugee getting the exciting news from Arrive ministries saying: We’ve got a placement for you. It’s been secured. There’s a home here reserved for you.
The very fact that our high priest right now appears in heaven for us, assures us that there’s a place reserved for us, and it’s guaranteed by Jesus himself.
That’s why we sing,
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great high Priest who's name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hand
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
Our high priest entered heaven itself and is there now, guaranteeing a place for us.
And this leads us to the second point:
2. Jesus has appeared – to deal with sin decisively (25-26)
“25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
The reason the high priests had to repeat their sacrifices every year, is because they didn’t have a sacrifice sufficient to deal with sin decisively.
And that should remind us that our sin is a much bigger deal than we realize.
As finite creatures, we cannot truly grasp the infinite wickedness of our treason against our Holy God, against goodness himself - in order to be our own Gods. Scripture makes it clear that the just and proportionate punishment for our sin is hell. Our guilt before God is infinite, so nothing short of perfection is sufficient to save us from it. Even ten million imperfect sacrifices on repeat couldn’t get rid of it.
That’s why verse 27 is so serious.
“it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
This warning that the default trajectory for every sinner is to face God’s judgment is heavy; but it’s actually a mercy. Cruelty is offering false hope and reassurance to someone headed for destruction. Hebrews doesn’t offer false hope. It warns us of reality. If you reject Jesus there is no hope for you. Nothing you could ever do is enough to pay for your own sin. The warning here is God’s mercy because he loves you, and he’s made a real way to deal with your sins once for all.
That’s why the second “appear” in verse 26 brings us back to the cross. Christ “has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
Only a perfect sacrifice can deal with sin decisively. And Jesus is that perfect sacrifice! He lived the perfect life we could not live and died in your place so that if you put your trust in Jesus, his death counts for you! His perfect sacrifice decisively deals with the sins of all who trust in him. Like we sang last week: what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Only his sacrifice for our sin is sufficient to pay for our sins one for all.
So, when our high priest entered into heaven for us, he entered victoriously because he had dealt with our sin decisively. He is not only the perfect high priest, but he is also the perfect sacrifice who paid for what we deserve.
Our forgiveness is complete because his perfect sacrifice was enough to put away our sins. Not just passed over or cleaned up. God declares you not guilty. All your debt has been repaid. God says,
“I will remember your sins no more.”
His death for you means you are totally forgiven. For the Christian, every sin: past, present and future, has been dealt with decisively on the cross.
That’s the new reality for the Christian.
Now if you haven’t put your trust in Jesus, I invite you to trust in him today. Ask him to forgive your sins and to give you a new life. And if you have questions about that, I would love to talk with you more after the service. There is a real hope for you, because a perfect sacrifice has been made for our sin.
Now one thing I’d like to briefly mention is the feeling of guilt. Your complete forgiveness does not mean that you will never experience feelings of guilt on this side of heaven. It’s one of the realities of not being home yet.
So what do you do if you’ve put your trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, but you can’t shake the feeling of guilt? That can be guilt from remaining sin that you’re still fighting, or maybe it’s past sins that stir up shame and guilt.
I want you to know that the church is the right place for you. The church is where the completely forgiven, but not yet home, remind each other of what Jesus has done to our sin – he’s put it away. He remembers it no more. You are completely forgiven. And we remind each other of that by looking together and pointing each other to the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice for us. We sing words like
When Satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin
Because a sinless Savior died
my sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me.
When we sing, and preach and read and pray and take communion together we remind our own hearts, and one another that Christ’s work was enough to put away all our guilt. He has dealt with our sins decisively on the cross. And that brings us to our third and final point:
3. Jesus will appear – to welcome us home
“27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
Jesus is coming back for you! You’re not home yet, but you will be! One day (a real day like today) either at your death, or when Christ appears, your eyes will see Jesus. In a moment, you will be transformed. Glorified body, no more trace of sin. And you will be welcomed home to the place secured for you – in the presence of God.
Hebrews makes it clear that because Jesus decisively dealt with our sins at his first coming, we have nothing to fear in his second coming. In fact, we eagerly await his return as our savior who will come to welcome us home.
These verses are not here to guilt trip Christians for any lack of eagerness. He’s reminding us, stirring up our eagerness, by showing us the eternal inheritance waiting for us.
Now it can be hard to even imagine being welcomed home the way the Bible describes, and in part it’s because it’s hard to imagine ourselves without any sin. We believe it, but it’s so outside of our known experience that it can hinder our imagination. It’s like we can’t help but think there will always be a trace of disappointment in the father’s love for us. That can quickly kill your eagerness. And it’s a lie. One thing that has helped me is to look to the father’s love for his perfect Son, Jesus. I imagine the father’s welcome when Jesus entered heaven victorious, perfect, righteous. I picture the father’s words:
“This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”
Can you imagine that? The perfect righteous Jesus being embraced by his father.
Christian, you will be received by the father with the same love with which he delights in his son.
Imagine your welcome: You will be radiant, like a bride adorned for her husband. There will be no trace of sin, no guilt, no disappointment; you’ll be clothed in Jesus’ perfect righteousness, you are united to Christ and the father loves you, with the love he has for his Son. He gave his son for you! Nothing in this world can compare to the father’s smile when he welcomes you into his eternal joy!
Two brief points of application to help us foster our eagerness for Christ’s return:
1) Daydream about heaven
Feed your affections for it. Nothing you can dream of or imagine can surpass the joy that actually awaits you when Jesus returns. Your eagerness and anticipation cannot possibly outmatch what’s actually secured for you. So let the joys of this life, the good things of earth, help you with that. Let the best sunrise, and feasts, and mountains, and the gift of marriage, and getting coffee with an old friend, and the smile of children; let them remind you that these are just a taste, a shadow intended to make you all the more eager for the fullness of joy waiting for you at home. Pastor Joe has a whole book on this topic, The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts, and I would highly recommend it to help you with this.
2) Be homesick for the redemption of all things
In addition to the joys, this world is also full of sorrows and brokenness. We know it… many of which run so deep that they cannot be fully redeemed in this life. But scripture reminds us that when Jesus comes back, he will make all things new. The former things will pass away and every sorrow will be finally and completely redeemed.
“your sufferings at this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to you.”
And because of that, we can take heart in Revelation 21 here and now, and be homesick for that final redemption of all things.
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Jesus will make all things new when he returns to welcome you home. And that brings us to the Table.
At the table we remember, from 1 Corinthians 11, that when we eat the bread and drink the cup we “proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” We say “he’s coming back for you!” and until that day, his death is sufficient for you.
Every Sunday when we reach out to take the bread and the wine we are looking back to the death of Jesus (in your place) and proclaiming (to ourselves and to one another) that His death is sufficient for me, until he returns for me.