Hebrews 10:11–14

Under the law, the priest stood. In the tabernacle there was a table, a lampstand, an altar; but there was no seat. The priest kept standing, because his work was never finished — always doing, never done. How like that is much of the work today, where there is no rest for the soul. Provision is made for doing, but never for knowing that a work is done forever.

Under the law, the priest of Israel offered up the daily sacrifice, and the blood of it was good for the day on which it was shed. It neither covered past sins nor future sins. Fresh sins called for fresh blood. There was no lasting value in the blood that was shed. God required constant sacrifices, and the sins of the people required constant offerings. Daily sins had to be met by the sacrifice of that day; but the conscience of the one coming to God was never at rest.

Suppose they could have cleansed the conscience, giving the offerer complete relief about the whole question of sin. Then they would have stopped being offered. We never go on doing what is already done. In fact their effect ran in exactly the opposite direction. They did not clear sins from the conscience for good. Instead, by set ceremony, they brought sins to mind again at least once every year.

Every day the priest stood at his post at the altar, ministering there. He only repeated the same service the next day, or at the next occasion for which that sacrifice was commanded. But all of it was useless when it came to taking away sins. Daily offering — then there was no lack of devoted service at the altar. The same sacrifices — then they did not fail through any neglect of the ritual. So where did they fail? The failure was built into them. For the blood of bulls and of goats could never take away sins.

The Apostle spoke of a powerlessness that belonged to the very day he wrote — one that neither time nor repetition could remove. Still, the daily sacrifices were being offered up. If the case rested for eternity on those sacrifices, it was hopeless. How completely and decisively the sinner is driven to the one perfect sacrifice of Christ! It is that, or nothing.

In the Old Testament order of things every priest stands, and never sits down. He never sat down, because his work of sacrifice was never done. Day after day he was ministering and offering, often the same sacrifices, bulls and goats — we read of it in the book of Leviticus. Those sacrifices can never, never take away sins. There is a difference of only one letter between the work of a priest of Aaron's line and such a high priest as ours. It is the difference between "never" and "ever." He sits forever because the work He does is done forever.

The priest under the Levitical system could never sit down, for the obvious reason that his work was never done. There is remarkable force and meaning in the way the inspired writer puts this. "Every priest" — "stands daily" — "offering repeatedly" — "the same sacrifices" — "which can never take away sins." No human language could set out more vividly the dreary monotony and complete uselessness of the Levitical ceremony. How strange that the Christian world, with such a passage of holy Scripture in front of it, has set up a human priesthood with its daily sacrifice!

Under the law, the priest stood. There was in the tabernacle a table, a lampstand, an altar; but there was no seat. The priest stood all the time, because his work was never finished — always doing, never done. Much of the work we see today is like that: the soul gets no rest. There is provision for doing, but never for knowing that a work is done for ever. In contrast with that, our Lord, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down. We know He is at work for us — praying for His people's needs, and all that. But as for the sacrifice, He has offered it — it is finished. What could add to the value of that sacrifice? He offered one sacrifice for sins; there it stands alone in its grandeur, and nothing can add to it.

"After He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat down." Remove the comma, if it is in your Bible. It does not say He offered a sacrifice for ever, because that would suggest an offering that never ends. It says that when He had offered it once, then He for ever sat down. His seat is eternal, as far as His work goes.

"By one offering He has perfected for ever those who are sanctified." That phrase "for ever" means more than eternally; it means without a break. It carries permanence before God, with no interruption. It is not the word that speaks of eternity, though of course it is that too; but it is permanently perfect before God. Christ is always sitting at the right hand of God — "always" here is the same word — and so our conscience is for ever perfect. Scripture uses it in Hebrews 10:12 to show He has nothing more to do.

The offering made to God on the cross was such that God can say of those who come to Him, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." And the One who made that offering for us pleases God so much that He is now sitting at God's right hand. As for the sacrifice, He has "sat down in perpetuity": there is no repeating it. And as for those He made that perfect offering for, Scripture says, "By one offering He has perfected in perpetuity the sanctified." The sacrifice is perfect, and so is the result. The worshippers, once purged, can stand before a holy God with no more conscience of sins. In this way they honour the work of Christ, and show their faith in what God says about it.

"For ever perfected." No man who understands this can talk of fresh applications of the blood of Christ, or of repeated or continued sacrifices for sins. This takes away the whole system of repetitions and fresh applications. This one sacrifice stands alone, and for ever perfects.

In Hebrews 1:3 the Son has set Himself down "at the right hand of the Majesty on high" because of who He is as Son of God. He did this after having "by Himself" made purification for sins. In Hebrews 10:12 the Lord Jesus again sets Himself down "at the right hand of God." This time it is because of the greatness of His finished work, in that He "offered one sacrifice for sins." That sacrifice never needs repeating, because its effect is infinite and eternal.

The contrast in priesthood is also very striking. The high priest descended from Aaron was weak himself. He needed a sacrifice for himself. He always stood and could never sit down, because he could never present to God a finished work. But the holy, innocent, unstained Son of God offered one sacrifice for sins and sat down — and that forever — at the right hand of God. He has nothing more to do about atonement for sins. He is only "waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet."

Hebrews 10 uses His seat at God's right hand to show that the work is perfect and finished. It is not always in progress, as with the Jewish priest. If anything, it proves that Christ is not ruling among His enemies. He is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. In Hebrews 10 He has completed His offering for His friends. From now on He waits for another thing: vengeance on His enemies. "The kingdom," in the full and literal sense of the word, will witness that.

Christ is not yet sitting on His own throne. When He had finished the work on the cross, God said to Him, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." But the day is coming when He will put down His enemies and sit on His throne. According to the Scriptures, the present state of things is this: Christ is sitting at the right hand of God — until He makes His enemies His footstool. Look at all the wars and uproar and misery and wretchedness and superstition around us. Do you think that Christ is sitting on His throne?

In Hebrews 10:13 we find a remarkable break in the flow. Verse 12 gives the work of the Lord Jesus and its effect, and verse 14 gives the glories of His work in contrast with the many sacrifices of the law. But in between come these words about waiting. ... "Sit at my right hand." Scripture does not present the Lord as now sitting on His own throne, but soon He will. He is now on the Father's throne, but when He sits on His own throne we shall sit with Him (Revelation 3:21, and see Matthew 25:31).

And the Lord Jesus Christ, rejected by man, is sitting at God's right hand as Man, waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. Patient grace is working in the meantime to call sinners to the knowledge of the salvation He has accomplished.

They are not made His footstool yet. If they were, He would not allow matters to go on in the world as they do now. It is another thing that God is doing now. He is gathering out His joint-heirs, and, having this purpose, He says, Sit at my right hand until the time when your enemies shall be made your footstool.

We may well wait if Christ is waiting; but we wait in suffering and conflict. He is waiting to reign. Then He will cause full blessing to flow out for His own, whether in heaven or on earth, and He will banish evil from both.

Christ is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. We must wait for it, to see the world set right... The idea that goodness is to have its rights in this world is to forget the cross and Christ. We cannot have our rights until He has His, for we have none except His.

Whenever the Holy Spirit teaches this subject fully, His special theme is "once," "once for all." That rules out a sacrifice that continues, as well as one that is repeated… He was not standing and offering repeatedly, like the Jewish priests. When He had offered one sacrifice, He sat down for ever. That is, He did not have to get up and offer anything more. The reason was that by that one offering He had perfected the sanctified for ever.

I am perfected for ever (the words "for ever" meaning not merely for eternity, but what is uninterrupted). As Christ is always at the right hand of God, so we are uninterruptedly before God. There is never a moment when the believer is not the righteousness of God, as standing in Christ… He is my witness that I am perfect — a perfection that never changes.

The precious blood of Christ has settled the whole question of guilt, and settled it for ever. So the believer is perfect as to his conscience (9:9). He could never reach that under Judaism. He knows that all his sins are forgiven (10:14, 17). He has reached the goal that was in view. In this sense he is perfected, though he still has sin in him and, if he is careless, may fall into it. He is not yet perfected as to his person. But he is perfected as to his condition before God — pardoned, and pardoned for ever, by the offering of God's Son.

Those sanctified by His blood are "perfected in perpetuity" by it. Once purged, they have "no more conscience of sins." But this does not mean "no more consciousness of sins" — that is, of committing them. It means we are conscious of the power of that work, which stays before God for us always. There is never a moment's break in this.

Scripture looks at sanctification in two ways. It can be something still going on (1 Thessalonians 5:23). It can also be a settled condition (1 Corinthians 6:11). In Hebrews, apart from one verse, it means a settled condition (2:11; 10:10, 14).

"Sanctified," in the letter to the Hebrews, never means inward sanctification by the Spirit of God… "Sanctify" means "to set apart." When a person believes, God sets him apart from the rest of the world. He puts all the value of the precious blood of Christ upon him… So everyone who believes is sanctified in this sense, and is therefore "perfected forever" by the one offering (v. 14).

The one glorious sacrifice of Christ is of infinite value to God. In righteousness it lets Him bring even the weakest believer into His presence as PERFECTED FOREVER. God says you are perfected forever. It is not because of the amount of your faith or service or walk. It is only because of the infinite value to Him of the one offering of Christ for your sins.

He may be conscious of sin and failure, and there will surely be repentance and confession. This is God's way of restoring the soul when communion has been interrupted… But as to the conscience, Jesus has judged and borne all sins. He has put them away, so that they can be remembered no more… No one who understands this can speak of fresh applications of the blood of Christ, or of repeated or continued sacrifices for sins.