The Seated Priestly King (Hebrews 1:3)

The Glory of Christ in Hebrews 1:3

Father, it is our earnest desire that we would be able to understand your word and see the glory of Christ that is revealed in the pages of scripture. We thank you for this sacrifice for our sins that Christ has provided and made for those who belong to him.

We pray that through our study of this scripture and this passage this morning that you would be glorified in helping us to understand the profound nature of that sacrifice and the profound nature of his exaltation.

Open our eyes to your word, we pray. Open our hearts that we may be obedient to it. We pray that you would illumine your word to us that we may present to you lives of obedience and faith. We ask this in the name of Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Well, we are going rather slowly through these opening verses of Hebrews in case you haven't noticed that. I'll just let you know that. Working our way through each of these seven statements, and it might not be appropriate to say that we're going slowly, maybe it would be better to say we're moving through this deliberately and intentionally.

Does that sound better? Because if you say slowly then it implies that there is some speed at which we should be going through it that we're not going through it. And so Jim is moving rather slowly and that kind of implies that it would be better if he were going more quickly.

And we could have taken this in a really quick fashion. We could have just read through these first four verses and I could have shown to you the seven statements that are here given to us relating to the Lord Jesus Christ and given you a couple of sentences in regard to each of these statements and then just moved on.

And that would have helped us to get an overview, I think, of what the author is trying to communicate, namely that Christ is the perfect revelation of the Father and He is the perfect revelation of the Father because He shares the nature and the works of God.

And that would have been almost like flying at 30 ,000 feet over the passage. But I'm convinced that these seven statements are here not in a haphazard or careless fashion, but that the author of Hebrews, whoever he was, intentionally gives to us each one of these sentences because he is laying a foundation for what is to come later on in the book.

In fact, each one of these seven glories of Christ is later expounded upon in the book.

Of Hebrews.

And so he is laying these things out at the beginning to build a foundation so that later on as he explains these things, he's already asserted them here in the beginning. So this is in every way an introductory passage to Hebrews because he is introducing us to the themes that later on he's going to develop.

And so it serves us well to take our time to kind of methodically, intentionally, and deliberately, but not slowly, work our way through these opening statements in Hebrews so that we can lay this foundation adequately, and then later on we can kind of see how the author develops these themes.

So that's what we're doing. We've covered five of the seven so far. We have seen that the first five pertain mostly to the person of Christ, who he is by nature. There are elements in these first five statements of his work, but mostly these statements regard his nature, who he is.

Is he merely a man? Is he just another man? Was he a good teacher? A Jewish rabbi? Was he an angel? Was he some sort of a Hebrew mystic? What was his nature? And we see that he is the heir of all things, the one for whom all things are created.

He is the creator of all things, the one by whom all things are created. He is the outward, visible radiance of God's glory. He is the exact representation of the nature of God himself, and he upholds and directs and carries and bears all things, every last thing, to its appointed heir as he upholds all things by the mere word of his power.

Those are statements regarding the glory of Christ. And now we come to these last two statements, and we're going to put them together not because we're trying to speed up, but because these two things, like two previous statements, go together.

And in fact, Scripture often puts these two ideas together, that he has made purification of sins, that's the first one, and he has sat down at the right hand of the Father. These two statements, these two truths about Christ, are two more of the glorious things about the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are combined in Scripture often, as you're going to see later on.

I'm going to read you a number of passages where these two things are put side by side, hand in hand. And they kind of go together because there's a sense in which both of those statements describe something of the work of Christ.

The first describes what it is that he did, he sacrificed himself for sins, he made purification.

Of sins.

The second one describes the completed, the final, and the perfect nature of that work, and what has resulted out of that work. So those are the two statements we're going to look at today. So here's how we're going to do this, we're going to do it like we have done it in the weeks past.

We're going to first go through each of these statements and say what it is that the statement means, what is the theology, what is the author teaching us here, and then we'll wrap it all up by kind of handling the implications of these two great truths.

So you see them there in verse 3, after saying he is the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on.

High.

So those are our two statements, he has made purification for sins, and he has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So let's look at the first one, that he has made purification of sins.

Unlike the first five statements, this one really specifically gets to the heart of what it is that Christ came to do. The first five deal with things that he does, he upholds all things by the word of his power, he displays the glory of God, he communicates to us the nature of God, those things describe different works that Jesus does.

In this statement we get to his central work as a priest, and so there is a priestly element here as the language of priestly sacrifice and priestly work comes into view with those words he has made purification for sins.

The first five statements primarily focus on who it is that Christ is, and you can't really talk about the nature of Christ without, in order to prove who he is you have to talk about what he does. He is God, and so of course he created all things, he is the one for whom all things are created.

He displays the glory of God, and he upholds all things by the word of his power. You have to describe things that he does if you're going to assert that he is divinity in human flesh, that he is the divine person in human flesh.

But this one zeroes in and focuses in on the work that he has done, namely what it is that he came to do in his first coming which was to make purification for sins. It is interesting that this is listed as one of the glories of Christ when you consider the group to whom this letter was written.

Remember this is likely a Jewish man, we don't know the author, but it's likely a Jewish man, at least he had a profound understanding of Jewish history and Jewish scripture. Likely a Jewish man writing to an audience of Christians who were likely composed mostly if not exclusively of Jews.

Now what did the Jews think of the idea that their Messiah would die on a cross and suffer at the hands of a Roman government? Was that something appealing to them? Was that something that a Jew in his natural mind would have thought was a glorious thing for the Messiah to endure?

It's not. In fact Paul calls that idea and that thinking the preaching of the cross foolishness. To the Jew it was a stumbling block, to the Greek it was foolishness. The unregenerate mind looks at such a message and says this is hideous, this is really stupid, this is really foolish, it's quite offensive to say that our Messiah would die on a cross.

And yet the author of Hebrews leads with this. Right here out of the gate, this is what he leads with, that he has come and made purification.

Of sins.

He's talking about the death of the Messiah. And rather than hiding that as if it's something of which they should have been offended or something that might offend them, he lists this as a glory of the Messiah.

And I can't help but notice and assert this morning that those things which are foolishness to the world and offensive to the world are glory to a believer. The things that the world considers offensive and foolish, that is our glory.

We look at the death of Christ and we see something of infinite wisdom, infinite value, infinite glory and majesty. The world looks at the death of Christ on the cross and they see something that is foolish, stupid, inane, worthless and offensive.

It is the regenerated heart that looks at the death of Christ entirely different than an unbeliever does. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 when he says that we, in our message of the gospel of Christ, are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

In other words, there is a smell about you in your gospel proclamation, there's a fragrance.

About you.

What kind of a fragrance? Well, it depends on the audience to which you are speaking. Paul says, to the one an aroma of death to death and to the other an aroma of life to life and who is adequate for these things.

To the proclamation of the gospel is to those who are being saved the sweet smell of life. It is wisdom, it is glory, it is majesty, it is grand. To the one who is perishing, the preaching of the gospel is the stench of death.

Have you ever smelled a dead and rotting body? There's almost nothing more putrid than that. If you haven't, you really should bless yourself by taking that in at some point so you can really understand what Paul is describing there.

It is a putrid stench in the nostrils of unbelievers. Now, yesterday, this is just on his side, I had the opportunity of preaching the gospel at the funeral of the founding pastor of our church. I got up and I gave a gospel proclamation, a gospel message there.

It was rather straightforward and pointed. I always try to do that at funerals. While I was doing that, I was aware that there are people whose faces I was looking at that were rejoicing at the sound of that, delighted in hearing it.

There's just a glow about them. At the same time, there were people in that crowd who were staring at me and would have drug me out of that place and stoned me, I think, if they had the opportunity to do so, because it was a putrid sound to them.

They hated it.

Why?

Because what is offensive to the world is a glory to the believer. Well, he leads with something that is a glory to the world, even though it might be offensive to the believer. I want you to notice the intimacy of this particular aspect of the work of Christ, that he made purification of sins.

The previous statements that he—just contrast it, for instance, with the previous statement. He upholds all things by the word of his power. That's really generic. It's kind of nonspecific. It's something that is equally true of the cell that is in your body right now and an atom that is part of a galaxy in the far distant reaches of the known universe.

It is equally true of what is going on here, as well as what is going on at distances away from us, which are incomprehensible to us. But the statement that he made purification for sins, this is not something that pertains primarily to the atoms in the galaxies in the far distant part of our known universe.

That deals with you, right? Now we're describing something that is personal. This is personal and intimate to me and to you. This regards something that he has done for us specifically, for his people.

We're not talking about quarks and atoms and photons and all of that stuff anymore. Now we're talking about me and my relationship to the Lord, you and your relationship to the Lord, and what Jesus Christ has done pertaining you and your specific sins.

Not just sin in general, not just people in general, but you particularly and your particular.

Sins.

Every last high crime that you have committed against God as a believer is dealt with in this passage. So now we're talking about something that is intimate and particular and specific. And notice that the author does not go into great detail about the death of Christ.

He just, he sort of takes everything that can be said about the death of Christ and he summarizes it and boils it down into one very concise statement. He made purification of sins. I don't think you could reduce the good news of the death of Christ into anything more concise than that.

It is intimate, it is specific, and yet he is describing something there with eternal and unimaginable consequences for us. And yet he sums it up into this one very concise statement. Now, for the rest of the book of Hebrews, he's going to unpack that sentence and he's going to look at that, the death of Christ, from every angle as if turning over a gem in his hands and looking at all the sides of that gem.

He's going to unpack that and unfold that and deal with all of the ramifications and answer all of our questions. But here he doesn't do that. Here he just states it. Here it is. This is one of the main themes of the book of Hebrews and it is a theme that he is going to develop later on.

Now, let's look at that word purification. He made purification for our sins. That word kind of conjures up, at least it would in the mind of a Jew, maybe it doesn't to you, it conjures up in the mind of a Jew the idea of atonement.

It was something that was intended to remind them of the day of atonement and what happened at the day of atonement and we're going to unpack that later on. But he is calling up imagery here of Old Testament sacrifice.

And this word purification can be used in a number of ways. I'll give you three of them and you'll be able to see which one of these three the author is using it here. The word purification was used sometimes to describe a cleansing from outward defilement, exterior external defilement, or disease.

So for instance, when the leper comes to Jesus in Mark chapter 1 verse 40 and he says, if you are willing, you can make me clean. That's the word. What was the leper describing there? The leper primarily was not concerned necessarily with cleansing from his sin or atonement or the sacrifice of Christ.

That wasn't in view. The leper was describing there a cleansing from this outward physical defilement of leprosy. And he knew that Jesus could purify him or make him pure. That refers to outward cleansing from physical defilement or disease.

A second it was used, it is used in scripture of a cleansing from sin, the sanctifying work of God in which we participate. Second Corinthians 7 verse 1, therefore having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves.

That's a command to us. And it's the same word used here. Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So this word describes something that we do.

We participate with God as we pursue holiness and mortify sin and pursue sanctification. We are pursuing God and pursuing sanctification and cleansing ourselves from an inward spiritual defilement that would, that affect the sin has in the life of a believer.

Third, it is used of atonement or expiation or propitiation, all big words, but it has to do with the removal of the guilt of sin from a believer. Hebrews 9 verses 22 and 23 says, and according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed.

That's the word. All things are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness. Therefore it was necessary for the copy of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

So there the author in Hebrews 9 is describing and it, the removal or the expiation of the guilt or the weight of sin. Now since he says here in chapter one, verse three, that he has made purification or sins, what is he talking about?

Outward defilement? Is he talking about the type of cleansing that you and I pursue in our day to day walk? He is not. He is describing here the removal, the expiation, the satisfaction for the guilt and the weight of sin before a holy God.

Christ has made purification or satisfaction for that. It is of our sins that he has cleansed us. That tells us that what is in view in the author's mind here is specifically what Christ has done for his people in terms of their sin and the weight of sin upon them.

This was his central work. This is what Christ came to do. Remember the angel said to Joseph in Matthew chapter one, verse 21, you will name him Jesus because what? He will save his people from their sins and not, not you'll name him Jesus because coming to establish an earthly kingdom and rule over Rome, that wasn't in view.

He was named him Jesus because he will cast his enemies into a lake of fire.

No, that's yet future.

He will name him Jesus because he comes to deal with the sin issue on behalf of his people. He will save his people from their sins. Mark 10, 45, Jesus said the son of man didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

That is the central work. This is the central defining characteristic of the work of Christ at his first coming. He didn't come to show us a better way. He didn't come to correct our misunderstandings in the Old Testament.

He didn't come just to be an example to us of love. He came to purify his people of their sins. That is what he came to do. And if your idea of the work of Christ does not have that as the, this gravity at the center of who you think Christ is and what you have done and what he has done, you have an inadequate view of who Christ is and what he has done.

He came to make purification for his people. This same idea that is stated here is expanded later on in the book of Hebrews. I'm going to read to you a couple of passages here. You can, if you want, turn to them, but it's chapter 9 of Hebrews and chapter 10 of Hebrews.

Chapter 9 and chapter 10 really pick up this theme as the author kind of unpacks and unfolds it in all of its glory, glory detail, glorious detail, not gory details, glorious details. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 says, when Christ appeared as a high priest to the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.

That is to say not of this creation and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption for the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of heifer, sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctified for the cleansing of the flesh.

How much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Now notice the references there to something being sanctified or the reference to sanctification and being cleansed by the blood of this high priest.

Hebrews chapter 9 verse 23, therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. Notice the reference here to cleansing.

Verse 24, for Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor was it that he would offer himself often as the high priest entered the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.

Otherwise he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and in as much as it is appointed to men to die once and after this comes the judgment.

So Christ also having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him. For the law since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of the things can never by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make perfect those who draw near.

Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered because the worshipers having once been cleansed would no longer have the consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

In other words, Christ has done something that no Old Testament priest and no Old Testament sacrifice could ever do. He actually purified his people from sins. And the argument in chapter 9 is that if the sacrifices of the Old Testament can do that, they would have stopped.

The priest would have gone home and said, honey, today we did it. We finally offered the last sacrifice. We have fully atoned for the sins of the people.

It's all done.

The price has been fully paid. No more animals. We put a sign on the outside of the temple door. Nothing else to be done. But no Old Testament priest could do that. Their work went on and on and they had to do it year by year, day after day.

Why?

Because the blood of bulls and goats could never do what Christ has done, which is to make purification for his people of their sins, to purge us and to take away our sins.

From us.

That is what Christ has done. And this work that he did is most necessarily tied to who it is that he is, to who he is, his person. And that is why the author begins with those grand statements. He's the creator of everything.

He is the heir of everything. He is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of his nature, and he upholds all things by the word of his power. He is God, a very God in human flesh. That is why he can make purification for our sins, because of who he is.

There were tens of thousands of Jewish males who died on Roman crosses. Crucifixion was in no way a rarity. Jesus was not the first person to die on a cross. He was not the last person to die on a cross.

So why is it that we as Christians believe that this one particular Jewish male, Jesus of Nazareth, was able by his death on the cross, which looked just like the other two Jewish men dying on a cross outside of Jerusalem that day, outwardly it looked identical.

Why is it that we believe that this particular man is able to take away the weight, the infinite and eternal weight of my sin and your sin and the sins of millions of others, and then to clothe us with an infinite and perfect righteousness every last one of us?

Why is it that we believe that about him and not about any other particular Jewish man?

Why?

Because he is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature. Because he is God, he is infinitely righteous. Because he is God, he is infinitely glorious, and that is the one who died on the cross.

That is why he can bear all of that weight of all of that sin, and that is why he can provide all of that glorious righteousness to his people, because of who he is. So these two things, his person and his work, they go together, they must and always go.

Together.

Now there are other questions regarding the nature of what Christ did that we're going to answer later on in the book of Hebrews. I'll give you a list of questions, of things that we're going to tackle later on.

It's just stated here, so I'm just kind of introducing it, I'm just laying it out there in front of you and tying it to things that are in this immediate context, but there are all kinds of other questions that are raised.

For instance, what did the sacrifice of Christ entail? Why was his suffering efficacious, and how efficacious was it? Does his death merely make salvation possible, or does his death secure fully and finally and infallibly the salvation of all for whom it was offered?

That's the question. How is his death applied to me? How permanent is the application of his death to me? Can the death of Christ be undone? Can the death of Christ be repeated? Can the death of Christ be nullified?

Is there anything other than the death of Christ that is necessary for my salvation? For whom did Christ die, and for whom was his sacrifice made? All of those questions pertain to the death of Christ, and all of those questions will be answered later on in the book of Hebrews, when we have the time.

For now we will move on to the second thing, which is connected to his work, and that is the seventh and final statement that he has been seated, or he has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

The end of verse three, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Now the previous statement calls to our mind the priestly nature of the work that Christ did, his work of sacrifice and shedding his blood.

It is intended to call to our mind the imagery of the Old Testament day of atonement and the sacrifices the priest who would offer the blood first for himself and then for the people, and that he would do this, and it was a continual sacrifice.

The language is intended to portray that. But there is something stunning here about this next statement that he has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Do you know what an Old Testament priest never did?

Sit down. There was no chair in the temple, there was no couch, no barka lounger in the tabernacle, because the entire system of the Old Testament priesthood was premised on the fact that this was to go on continually.

The incense was to burn continually. The bread was to be put out and refreshed continually. The sacrifices were to take place continually. The priest came and went in shifts, because this work was going on every day, it was going.

On.

All the high and holy days, it was going on. Every day of atonement was going on, Passover was going on, thousands upon thousands of.

Animals.

Priest after priest after priest for generation after generation after generation after generation for hundreds of years, for centuries came, and they did this work, and they sacrificed animals, and they made offerings, and they gave sacrifices, and they shed blood, and they burned incense, and they burned offering, and this went on continually and perpetually, day after day, always.

The priests were never done, because the debt was never paid, because purification was never made, and all of those sacrifices, and all of those animals, and all of that blood was a reminder of the debt that we owe, a reminder of what was necessary.

And so the work of the priest went on continually. The idea that a priest would offer one and only one sacrifice, and then sit down because his work was done, listen to that with Jewish ears. A Jew would say, what?

One sacrifice?

One offering?

One shedding of blood, and then he's done, and then he sits down? You see, this is markedly different than all of the other sacrifices that the nation of Israel is familiar with. That's the contrast that's being made.

All of those things look forward to that reality. All of those sacrifices, and the blood, and the animals, all of it anticipated this one great sacrifice. Everything was intended to be a picture of that, so that when he came, he could offer one sacrifice of infinite value, and then sit down, because he is done.

He doesn't have to do it year after year. He doesn't have to do it continually. He doesn't have to offer perpetual sacrifice. He doesn't need to be re-sacrificed over and over again. It is a once and for all, finished, complete, perfect sacrifice.

And when he had made that, he sat down with the right hand of the majesty on high, because nothing else needed to be done. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 11 to 14 makes this argument.

Listen to this.

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, but he, that is Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sins, for all time sat down at the right hand of God, waiting for that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet, for by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

Final, complete, once, done, and he has sat down. And there he sits at the right hand of the throne of God. That is his position. Now, what does it mean? What does this idea of the right hand of God mean?

Because you see it repeated in scripture, so it's a good thing to have in our minds what that means. Now, God obviously doesn't have a body. So if God doesn't have a body, he doesn't have hands, and therefore he doesn't have a right hand.

So this is an anthropomorphism that in a very figurative way describes something that is literally true. The figurative expression is that Christ has sat down at the right hand of the father. What is literally true is that Christ has been seated in the position of prominence, preeminence, majesty, glory, and honor on the throne of God at the right hand.

That is the position of honor of the majesty on high. That is what it is. So in Old Testament language and ancient Near Eastern literature, they would use this expression someone who was at the right hand of a king or a potentate or a sovereign.

And it was used in a couple of different ways. It was used of an individual who held the position of a king's primary minister. In other words, it was a position of delegated authority and responsibility.

And the one who sat at the king's right hand was delegated by the king to do certain things with his authority and his power. We use similar language today when we say that he's my right hand man. We talk about somebody being our right hand man.

What are we describing? Look, I can give this to this guy and with my authority, my position, my blessing, he just does what I ask him to do. In the same way, Jesus Christ is the delegated representative of the father as the son.

He's equal to the father. But who is it that mediates the father's rule in the kingdom? It's the son. Who is it that will judge all men? It is the son. Who is it that mediates our relationship with God?

It is the son. Who is it that communicates the nature of God to us? It is the son. He is the mediator. He is the one who sits at the right hand of the father into whose hand the mediation of all things is given.

Jesus said, all authority of heaven and earth has been given to me.

All of it.

That is his position. Second, it's a position of honor. It's a position where somebody who deserved that honor and was worthy of that honor would be seated. You didn't seat peasants at the king's right hand.

You didn't seat slaves at the king's right hand. You seated somebody who is eminently dignified and worthy of that honor at the king's right.

Hand.

This is saying nothing more than that Jesus Christ has taken the throne in heaven. With all of the authority and the majesty and the glory and the sovereignty that that entails, he has been seated at the right hand of the father.

The language that is used here comes right out of Psalm 110, which we read at the beginning of our service. And if you're not familiar with Psalm 110 yet, you will be by the time we're done with chapter one of Hebrews.

And not only that, you'll be familiar with Psalm 110 by the time we get to the end of the book of Hebrews, because Psalm 110 is the Psalm that stands almost as the backdrop against which all of the book of Hebrews was written.

Psalm 110 is the most quoted Psalm in all of the New Testament. File that away in the back of your mind for the next time you're playing Bible trivia,.

It might come in handy.

What is the most quoted Psalm in all of the New Testament? It is Psalm 110. It's quoted five times in the book of Hebrews alone. Five times. This is the language that is used here of the son being seated at the father's right.