Hebrews 9:42

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

This evening’s Bible verse is Hebrews 9:24: “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.”

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the Jewish high priest entered the Most Holy Place at the heart of the tabernacle or temple to sprinkle the blood of sacrifice on the mercy seat and so make atonement “for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel” (Lev. 16:17). On that day, too, God appeared to the high priest “in the cloud over the mercy seat” (Lev. 16:2). Like the “cloud” of Christ’s transfiguration and ascension, this wasn’t a garden-variety weather cloud, but the glory cloud that had led the Israelites out of Egypt. The glory cloud made visible the immediate presence of God. The high priest didn’t enter the cloud. He sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat and backed out, glad to have made it out alive one more time.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that the Most Holy Place served as “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Heb 8:5) and that “the true things” are those “in heaven itself” (9:24). This not to say that there is a literal, physical tabernacle in heaven into whose inner sanctuary Christ entered at his ascension. It is to say that the Day of Atonement provides us with a suggestive (but limited) image of the human Christ’s ascension into the very presence of God.

The differences between the “copy” and the “true” are perhaps more important than their similarities. The high priests had to sacrifice for their own sins. Christ, being “tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15) did not. The high priests offered “the blood of bulls and goats,” which cannot “take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). Christ offered his own blood, through which “we have redemption” and the full “forgiveness of our trespasses” (Eph. 1:7). The high priests entered the Most Holy Place, but went no further. Christ was welcomed into the glory cloud itself. The high priests had to renew the atonement every year. When “Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb. 10:12): Christ’s sacrifice is eternally effective. The high priests retreated from the Most Holy Place, returning to their normal daily lives. Christ remains forever in the immediate presence of God, but not absent from us: he poured out his Holy Spirit ten days after the ascension so that he also remains forever with each of us together and individually.

And now for the most staggering phrase: Christ did all this “on our behalf” (9:24). Martin Luther wrote, in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews: “For Christ to have ascended profits us nothing, if he ascended for his own sake. But now our glory and joy is in this, that he went there to our advantage.” Anglican theologian, Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, expanded the application of the clause so that it is without limits: “All that the incarnate Son did and does is on our behalf.” Christ became human on our behalf. He lived a sinless—but far from easy—life on our behalf. He died on our behalf. He rose on our behalf. He ascended on our behalf. Now he rules over all things on our behalf (but more about that tomorrow). All on our behalf.

We labor too often under the burden of false images of God. God is not a stern master who demands perfect obedience at all times or else. He’s not even a curmudgeonly God who grudgingly saves us because he sorta promised he would. Christ is the true image of God (Jn 1:18, Col. 1:15, Heb. 1:3) and everything he has done and still does is “on our behalf.”

May our celebration of Ascension Day draw us closer to the Father, Son, and Spirit whose love for us is such that the triune God acts “not for his own sake,” but “to our advantage.” It is humbling to be so loved.

Your brother in Christ,

Max