[11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
Live long enough and you’re likely to get a little jaded. If that describes your life, or people close to you, then I’m concerned this verse might sound a little too good to be true. Since this verse addresses the foundation of God’s relationship with us, let’s take a closer look.
We get jaded when people close to us keep breaking promises to us. We become distrustful when people say they forgive us, then bring up that sin over and over again. We are hardened when institutions we reply on let us down time after time.
Worse yet, we get jaded remembering when we have repeated the same or similar sins. The harder we try to live consistently caring lives, the deeper we feel our failures.
Because we become jaded, we might bring a little skepticism to this Scripture passage. The Jewish priest needing to offer sacrifices every day for the sins of God’s people makes total sense. But Jesus offering himself as that same sacrifice once for all people? Nothing in our daily lives suggests anyone would do this for us. In fact, nothing suggests that anyone could do this for us.
That’s the point. Remember that Jesus is just like us in that he’s fully human. But Jesus is also fully divine. Jesus could do for us what no one else could do. In fact, Jesus did do what no one else could do. The proof is his resurrection from the dead.
If you have doubts about God’s grace through this one act being sufficient for your salvation, take it to our Heavenly Father in prayer. It is our Heavenly Father who will strengthen your faith through passages such as this. Our Heavenly Father will continue to bolster your faith until he gathers you to himself or until Christ returns.
Kevin Wilson 360 